Personal characteristics that enable leaders to be effective - Essay Example

? Effective Leadership Personal Traits of the Leaders Submitted to [Pick the Contents Introduction 3 Research Question 3 Literature Review 3 Research Methodology- Design, Sample & Limitations 6 Discussion & Findings 7 Conclusion 12 References 13 Appendix A- Survey Questionnaire 15 Personal Traits Required for Effective Leadership Introduction Humanistic approach of management has revolutionized the manner in which role of managers was perceived earlier. Now the emphasis is more on leading the teams instead of managing them. The management theories of leadership that emerged during 20th century also assert that personal attributes of leaders play a vital role in organizational efficiency and effectiveness. For today’s managers, it is important to identify what these personality characteristics are, in order to perform well in the leadership roles. This research is concerned with identifying personal characteristics of the leaders that enable leaders to be effective in their given roles through analysing literature available on the subject matter along with quantitative findings of a survey. Research Question What are the personal characteristics that enable leaders to be effective? Literature Review There are many leadership styles that have emerged over the period of time which include autocratic, transformative, transactional, bureaucratic, charismatic, participative, Laissez-faire, task-oriented, servant and relationship oriented leadership styles (Kim and Yukl, 1995). Analysing these theories helps in understanding that there is no one ideal leadership style that can be adopted by today’s managers in perform effectively. However, there are various theories that explain that personal attributes and characteristics of the leaders have a direct impact on the motivation and performance levels of their respective teams and organizations (McCrae and Costa, 1995). Some of these theories include trait, contingency, situational and behavioural theories. Trait theories are a combination of theories presented by Gordon Allport and Odbert (1936), Raymond Cattell’s sixteen personality factor, Eyesenck’s three dimension of personality and five factor theory. A cumulative approach presented by these theories explains that the leaders possess certain personal characteristics that make them more suitable for a leadership role. According to trait theories, a leader is expected to be open to new experiences, conscientious, extravert, agreeable, emotionally stable with lack of psychoticism. Considering the impact of external factors, contingency theories were proposed (Fiedler, 1986). According to this set of theories, a leader is expected to be task and relationship oriented. The contingency theories themselves consist of path-goal theory, normative decision making and situational leadership theory (Fielder, 1964; House, 1996). All these theories recognize the notion that behaviour and skills inventory of the follower has a direct impact on the effectiveness of the leader. Therefore, a leader is expected to have capability of examining the needs of the follower and have reasonable flexibility to alter their leadership style accordingly. According to Hersey and Blanchard (1969), there are four leadership styles that can be used by the leader by combining directive and supportive behavioural approach. These leadership styles include telling (high directive, low support), selling (high directive, high supporting), participating (low directive, high supportive), and delegating (low directive, low supportive). On the other hand, path goal theory claims that it is the nature of task and follower that should be considered by a leader while identifying a suitable behaviour according to requirement of the circumstances. These leadership styles include supportive (relations oriented), directive (task oriented), achievement oriented, and participative leader behavior (House, 1996). Another important theory that can be helpful in indentifying the effective leadership traits is transformational theory which was presented by James McGregor Burns and then Bass (1985). Bass (1985) presented four factors that can be considered as criteria for transformational leadership. These factors include intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and an idealized influence. Transformational leaders are expected to instigate creativity, desire for new opportunities and innovation in followers by challenging the current status themselves (Yukl, 2003). Secondly, a transformational leader is expected to provide personal consideration to its followers by developing supportive relationships with them. The communication channels remain open that provide followers with an opportunity to air their concerns and share their ideas. Thirdly, a transformational leader is expected to be able to inspire and motivate their followers and also provoke them to perform effectively and efficiently towards performance of common goals. Lastly, a leader is expected to act as role model for the desired behaviour. Where all the above theories focus on leaders’ personality and profile of the followers, functional theory gives due consideration to team dynamics as well. According to functional theory, a leader is expected to be effective if they are able to understand the requirements and personal motivations of the individual team members and also drive whole team towards common objectives by improving team performance and inter-team relationships (Zaccaro et al., 2000). According to this theory, there are five main leadership functions which include environmental monitoring, organizing subordinate activities, teaching and coaching subordinates, motivating others, and intervening actively in the group's work (Yukl, 2003). The theory further defines that a leader is supposed to provide clarification for the role of its followers, provide benchmarks and standards and also make teams and follower accountable for their organization (Hackman and Walton, 1986; Hackman and Wageman, 2005). A critical analysis of this theory helps in understanding that a leader has to have emotional stability and intellect to ensure that individual team members are well-motivated and inspired. In addition to that, a leader has to have strong interpersonal and communication skills along with basic cognitive ability and knowledge of the subject matter so that they can guide the team and also maintain equilibrium within team. After critically examining these theories, it can be deduced that personality and competence of the leader has a direct impact on their efficiency and effectiveness. Where these personal characteristics have a tendency of affecting leadership style, these traits can be permanent as well and may form part of leader’s habits and overall behaviour. Therefore, it can be said that a leader is required to be intellectually aware and strong so that they can assess the requirements of the situation and followers. Secondly, a leader should have amiable interpersonal and communication skills so that they can develop a trust worthy relation with the team and within the team. Being knowledgeable, a good mentor and monitor, emotionally stable, flexible, open to opinions and challenges, are some of the personal characteristics that a good leader is expected to have. Research Methodology- Design, Sample & Limitations The research is conducted with the help of mixed research methodology which involves using qualitative as well as quantitative research techniques. The research comprises of data gathered through primary i.e. survey, and secondary sources i.e. books and journal article. Since the given secondary is available on print and online media therefore no ethical approval is required. The research sample comprises of ten respondents that were randomly selected from different cadres and managerial levels in their respective organizations. The survey questionnaire comprises of nine close-ended questions with no environmental restrictions imposed on the subjects. The research can have a limited generalised application due to small research sample and extensive use of secondary sources. Discussion & Findings In order to further support these theoretical claims, a short survey was conducted to evaluate the traits and behaviours that can be related to effective leadership styles. When asked if the leaders are born and not made, 60 percent gave positive answers whereas 30 gave negative responses along with 10 percent taking no instance. Given this answer, it can be deduced that a leader is expected to have a permanent persona and these personality attributes are expected to remain consistent over the period of time in different situations. Hence, it can be said that a leader’s personality has a direct impact on their efficiency in the leadership role. In response to second question regarding display of strict and rigid leadership approach, 70 percent gave negative answers whereas 30 percent gave positive answers. There is still a reasonable percentage that supports this approach whereas in theory, an autocratic approach is only effective when a follower posses low skills inventory and needs high monitoring. However, analysing the background of the respondents helped in understanding that employees from junior cadre and relatively fixed organizational structure i.e. public organizations supported this approach which further provides affirmation for the theories discussed above. Third question was meant to identify if a leader should be able to understand the personal motivations and requirements of its followers. An overwhelming 80 percent of respondents gave positive answers that supported the findings of traits and contingency theories regarding importance of leader to be emotionally strong, open and flexible. Through fourth question regarding dependency of leader’s effectiveness on situation, around 70 percent gave positive answers which provided affirmative evidence of leader’s ability to assess situational factors as a criterion of effective leadership (Vroom and Jago, 1995). Therefore, a leader should have emotional stability and high emotional quotient that would help them in assessing situational requirements. Fifth question was regarding role of leaders in maintaining effective team dynamics. 80 percent respondents gave positive responses. In the light of this finding, it can be a leader is supposed to be agreeable, open to new ideas and have ability to make necessary decisions after assessing requirement of the team. Around 60 percent supported the idea of leaders being open to challenges and new ideas in response to sixth question. Therefore, it can be said that risk taking, seeking for opportunities and generation of new ideas are personal traits that a leader is expected to have. In response to seventh question regarding leader’s ability to adapt and remain flexible, 50 percent responded with positive answers whereas 40 percent gave negative answers which were against the findings of the theories discussed above. Critical analysis of the respondents’ background asserted that respondents with jobs involving low skills inventory i.e. junior titles and roles, considered flexibility as an unnecessary characteristic for an effective leader. Same can be supported with the help of situational leadership theory where autocratic leadership style is more suitable when followers have low competence. 100 percent positive responses were received from the respondents when asked about knowledge and strong interpersonal skills being criteria for effective leadership. The findings provided affirmative evidences for the findings of theories discussed above. Conclusion Through literary and quantitative analysis, it was deduced that personality of a leader has a direct impact on their effectiveness. With the help of various management and leadership theories, a set of personality traits was identified that an effective leader is expected to have. According to the findings of the short survey and theoretical implications, it was found that an effective leader should be knowledgeable, able to adapt to situation’s requirement, open to new ideas and challenges, charismatic, influential, flexible, emotionally strong and have strong interpersonal skills and amiable relationship with their followers. Hence, it can be concluded that personality of a leader has a considerable influence on their effectiveness in the given role and there are defined traits that act as a benchmark for effective leadership. Total Word Count: 1787 Words References Journal Articles Allport, G.W., and Odbert, H.S., 1936. Trait-names: A psycho-lexical study. Psychological Monographs, 47(211). Eysenck, H.J., 1992. Four ways five factors are not basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, pp. 667-673. Fielder, F. E., 1986. The contribution of cognitive resources to leadership performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, pp. 532–545. Hersey, P., and Blanchard, K. H., 1969. An introduction to situational leadership. Training and Development Journal, 23, pp. 26–34. House, R. J., 1996. Path–goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated theory. Leadership Quarterly, 7, pp. 323–352. Hackman, J. R., and Wageman, R., 2005. A theory of team coaching. Academy of Management Review, 30, pp. 269-287. Kim, H., and Yukl, G., 1995. Relationships of managerial effectiveness and advancement to self-reported and subordinate-reported leadership behaviors from the multiple-linkage model. Leadership Quarterly, 6, pp. 361–377. Vroom, V. H. and Jago, A. G., 1995. Situation effects and levels of analysis in the study of leader participation. Leadership Quarterly, 6, pp. 169–181. McCrae, R.R., and Costa, P.T., 1997. Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52, pp. 509-516. Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman, A. L., and Marks, M. A., 2001. Team leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 12, pp. 451-483. Books Burns, J.M., 1978. Leadership. N.Y: Harper and Raw. Bass, B. M., 1985. Leadership and Performance. N. Y,: Free Press. Cattell, R.B., 1965. The scientific analysis of personality. Baltimore: Penguin Books. Fielder, F. E., 1964. A theory of leadership effectiveness. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology. New York: Academic Press. Yukl, G., 2003. Leadership in organizations. 4thed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Appendix A- Survey Questionnaire 1. Do you believe that leaders are born not made? Yes No Don’t Know 2. Do you believe a leader should be strict and rigid? Yes No Don’t Know 3. Do you believe that a leader should be able to understand the personal motivations and requirements of its followers? Yes No Don’t Know 4. Do you believe a leader’s effectiveness is dependent on the situational factors? Yes No Don’t Know 5. Do you believe that maintaining team dynamics is a function of effective leadership? Yes No Don’t Know 6. Do you believe that a leader should be able to take risks? Yes No Don’t Know 7. Do you believe that adaptation and flexibility is a criterion of effective leadership? Yes No Don’t Know 8. Do you believe that a leader should have strong interpersonal skills? Yes No Don’t Know 9. Do you believe that a leader should be knowledgeable enough to lead the team? Yes No Don’t Know Read More