TRAIT THEORY OR ALSO KNOWN AS THE GREAT MAN THEORY
Most 20th century leadership theories fall into one of five approaches –
Trait, behavioral, power-influence, situational, and integrative.
Great-man theories gave rise to trait theories, leading to situational theories, which
shaped the literature of the time. Trait theories of leadership are the basis of longstanding
explanations of the phenomena of leadership. In its earliest form, trait theory provided an
easy explanation for the complex set of individual characteristics that together form a
leader. The origins of Trait theory are found in the writing of the English philosopher
Thomas Carlyle (1969) and the great man theory. The great man theory of leadership
states that some people are born with the necessary attributes that set them apart from
others and that these traits are responsible for their assuming positions of power and
authority. It was this genetic heritage, or specific innate traits and characteristics that
made these people different from those who are followers. Earlier leadership was
considered as a quality associated mostly with the males, and therefore the theory was
named as the great man theory. But later with the emergence of many great women
leaders as well, the theory was recognized as the great person theory. A leader is a hero
who accomplishes goals against all odds for his followers. The theory implies that those
in power deserve to be there because of their special endowment. Furthermore, the theory
contends that these traits remain stable over time and across different groups. Thus, it
suggests that all great leaders share these characteristic regardless of when and where
they lived or the precise role in the history they fulfilled.
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Assumptions of the Theory
The assumptions of great man theory are:
The leaders are born and not made and posses certain traits which were
inherited
Great leaders can arise when there is a great need.
To support or not to support the assumption, is it acceptable in 2011?
The assumptions can actually be opposed as well as supported with reasonable examples.
If we look at the great leaders of the past such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,
Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth I, and Abraham Lincoln, we will find that they do seem to
differ from ordinary human beings in several aspects. The same applies to the
contemporary leaders like George W. Bush and Mahatma Gandhi. They definitely
possess high levels of ambition coupled with clear visions of precisely where they want
to go. These leaders are cited as naturally great leaders, born with a set of personal
qualities that made them effective leaders. Even today, the belief that truly great leaders
are born is common. But the idea that leaders are ‘born and not made’ is no longer
uncritically accepted by many. Further, the belief that there is only one set of traits that
will guarantee leadership ability has also been dismissed through research. Trait theory
research conducted in the 1940s found that ‘a person does not become a leader by virtue
of the possession of some combination of traits’ (Stogdill 1948:64), rather there are
situational factors that are influential as well.
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25 years ago the study of leadership traits regained popularity. A resurgence of research
since 1980 has claimed that it is the leader’s actions and reactions in specific situations
that make a person a successful leader. While there is not one set of traits that guarantee
an individual’s ascension to leadership in any given situation, the possession of some will
make it likely that a person will be granted or assigned a leadership position?
As it turns out, these characteristics have much in common with the qualities previously
associated with great man theories. These include physical features (E.g. height);
personality factors (e.g. extroverted); education and ability-related characteristics (e.g.
speech fluency). This is hardly surprising: traditionally, members of the upper class were
in leadership positions. With access to education, sanitation and nutrition, they and their
offspring were typically healthier, taller and smarter than those of the lower classes.
Criticism
Many of the traits cited as being important to be an effective leader are typical masculine
traits. In contemporary research, there is a significant shift in such a mentality. Traits
such as height, weight and physique are heavily dependent on heredity, whether genetic,
social or a combination of the two, whereas others such as knowledge of the industry are
contingent on experience and learning. Trait theory is now expanded to include this wider
range of inherited and acquired qualities. Thus, leadership resides in and amongst people,
and it is likely that leadership will only be effective when the position is held by people
with these characteristics. Traditional criticisms of Trait theory include: it has failed to
create a definitive list of leadership traits; it fails to take the situation into account; it is
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not a useful approach for the training and development of leaders as the traits it examines
are not easily changed or acquired. Critical theorists have noted that the research focuses
almost exclusively on male leaders and male respondents. Other critics have noted the
failure of this theory to acknowledge that leadership traits are a receiver characteristic.
The follower must accept these traits as necessary and/or sufficient for effective
leadership, or the leader will face difficulty in persuading others to follow.
Lastly, creativity, charisma, and flexibility are not included in Trait theory, yet they are
the focus of later leadership theories. This shows that the trait theory has left out many
other important characteristics for leadership pf a person.
Leader’s Personality Traits according to the Theory
There is little consistency in the research as to how much of an influence these traits have
on leadership and leadership ability. An analysis of 20 studies on leadership conducted
during the 1940s revealed 79 unique traits; however, 65 of these 79 traits appeared in
only one study, and only four (extroversion, humor, intelligence and initiative) appeared
in five or more studies (Stogdill 1948). A further review by the Centre for Excellence in
Management and Leadership (CEML 2002; Perren and Burgoyne 2001) listed over 1,000
traits, distilled to 83 more or less distinct attributes. While possession of some, many or
all of these does not guarantee leadership success, there is evidence that effective leaders
are different from other people in certain key respects. The current study of the Trait
theory states that leaders share certain personality traits that differentiate them from
followers.
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Depending on the research, these traits include:
achievement, alertness, ambition, athletic ability, cognitive ability, cooperativeness,
critical thinking, emotional stability, energy, honesty and integrity, humor, initiative,
insight, intelligence, judgment, leadership motivation (the desire to lead but not to
seek power as an end in itself ), motivation, originality, persistence, popularity,
problem-solving skills, responsibility, self-confidence, sociability, social judgment
drive, solution-construction skills, status, tenacity, tolerance, verbal facility and etc
Researchers have sought to categorize these traits to help understand and predict
leadership ability; however, even when researchers agree on many of the above traits, the
categorization of these traits into specific characteristics has proven difficult. These
means, the great man theory will no longer be accepted if it keep stressing on the certain
types of traits that are important for leadership.
Now that it is clear that traits alone are not sufficient to explain or to give rise to
successful leadership. Rather traits are a precondition or precursor for action such as role
modeling, formulating a vision and setting goals. Possessing certain traits only makes it
more likely that the person will become a leader or be given leadership authority.
However, it is by no means clear that these observable traits have any causal role in
propelling people into leadership. More importantly, there is no agreement about what
mix of traits really distinguishes leaders from others; and methodological doubts remain
about attribution errors, suggesting that many of these traits are observed in
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leaders because they are leaders, and their apparent manifestation is consequent to the
many other factors that constitute leadership.
There are both theoretical and methodological reasons for considering the link between
the traits of potential leaders and their tendency to be perceived as leaders. A 1986 study
focused on the question of how personality relates to leadership emergence. From the
receiver’s perspective, the assessment of leadership traits in others will create the
perceptions of the other’s leadership qualities. Hence, the traits of potential leaders need
to correlate with the traits that the receiver/ followers both expect and view as important.
This study indicated that the traits most followers believe are important are intelligence
and dominance. More research on the follower’s beliefs of necessary traits will be helpful
in furthering the understanding of this theory.
Importance of the chosen leadership Theory
The great man theory or also called trait theory is important as it provides a few essential
abilities needed in order to become a leader. According to the Binary’s leadership
manual, some traits that have been considered for leadership trait theory such as high
energy level, appearance, self-reliance, aggressiveness, persuasiveness and dominance
are important in order to be a good leader. If one is not aggressive in achieving the
targeted goal or one is not self reliant when working in group then how is it possible to
come up with a confident and stable decision or how will he lead the others if he is not
relying or more to say, no confidence on his own ideas and instructions. therefore
although great man theory has been criticized that not all muscular related traits and there
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are other traits that are more important than what great man theory has listed to be
considered for good leadership, it is still acceptable for some of the traits from great man
theory to be applied in real life. Probably any traits related to physical and appearance
can be minuses and some other trait like persuasiveness can be followed by followers.
This is because many leaders today are not those who are tall and has louder voice. If we
Look at Apple’s Steve Jobs, Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. They are not muscular and 6 foot tall but they are good leaders who are made up
of valuable leadership characteristics. Therefore, in order to be a good leader, there a lot
of leadership traits that one should adapt to and some of them can be accepted from Great
Man Theory.
Conclusion
Prompted by the great man theory of leadership, and the emerging interest in
understanding what leadership is, researchers focused on the leader –
Who is a leader?
What are the distinguishing characteristics of great and effective leaders?
This gave rise to the early research efforts to the trait approach to leadership. The great
man theory or traits theory focus on appearance and assumptions that leaders are born
and not made. This is fully disagreeable as there any other characteristics and ability that
is needed to be a leader apart from having the aggressiveness, appearance, high energy
level and dominance.
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Reference:
1. Binary leadership Manual
2. Effective leadership by Lussier / Achua, third edition
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