MBA401 People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership Workshop Week 8 Characteristics and Traits of Leaders COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of Kaplan Business School pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. 2 Workshop Objectives • To understand the impact of characteristics and personality traits on leaders. • To understand how leaders are impacted by the role of motives and needs. • To identify the issues surrounding the debate as to whether leaders are born or made. • To understand the different types of leadership behaviour. • LO3 - Describe contemporary approaches to leadership. • LO4 - Analyse the characteristics and psychology of different leaders. • LO5 - Apply leadership skills across a variety of domains. Leadership Characteristics • Characteristics associated with leadership are classified into three broad categories: – Personality Traits & Emotional Intelligence – Leadership Motives & Needs – Cognitive Factors & Intelligence 4 • Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving (APA, 2016) • Leadership effectiveness is influenced by personality. • Different personality traits impact on the context of work, task accomplishment and personal satisfaction. 5 Personality Traits Personality Traits • Warmth • Reasoning • Emotional Stability • Dominance • Liveliness • Rule-Consciousness • Social Boldness • Sensitivity • Vigilance • Abstractedness • Privateness • Apprehension • Openness to Change • Self-Reliance • Perfectionism • Tension 6 THE 16PF Source: Cattell (1946) Activity - Personality • Using your 16PF results that you did before today’s lecture, form groups of 3 or 4 and discuss their implications for your leadership. • Log your reflections in your journal. 7 Emotional Intelligence • Self-Awareness • Self-Management • Social Awareness • Relationship Management 8Source: Goleman (1996) Activity - Video • An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge - creating perfect harmony without saying a word. • https://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like _the_great_conductors • Using your understanding of the ‘meaning of leadership’ (Week 7), how is this leadership? • What do you think are the personality traits conductors would have? • How are the conductors being successful? • Log your reflections in your journal. 9 Leadership Motives and Needs • Effective leaders have frequently been distinguished by their motives and needs. • Leaders have an intense desire to occupy a position of responsibility for others and to control them. • This desire is evident in four categories of motives and needs: – Power – Drive and achievement – Tenacity and resilience – Strong work ethic 10Source: Dubrin (2013) The Power Motive • Effective leaders have a strong need to control resources. • Personalised Power Motive – Seek power to further their own interest. • Socialised Power Motive – Seek power to achieve organisational goals or a vision. 11Source: Locke et al (1992) Drive and Achievement Motive • Leaders are known for working hard to achieve their goals. • DRIVE – A propensity to put forth high energy towards achieving goals and to be persistent in applying that energy. • ACHIEVEMENT – A desire to find joy in accomplishment of goals or their vision. 12Source: Locke et al (1992) Tenacity and Resilience Motive • Motivational characteristics of leaders are that they are tenacious and resilient. • Tenacity multiplies in importance for organisational leaders because it does take a long time to implement a new program or to consummate a new business deal. • The tenacious leader is resilient when they bounce back from a setback through their continuous efforts. 13Source: Locke et al (1992) 14 Motive? 15 Motive? 16 Motive? 17 Motive? 18 Motive? Activity - Motives • Rank each motive from 1 to 4 based on your own leadership aspirations/motives. • Turn to the person next to you and explain why you have done so. • Log it in your journal. • Power • Drive and Achievement • Tenacity and Resilience • Work Ethic 19 Cognitive Factors & Leadership • Cognition: – The mental process or faculty by which knowledge is gathered. – Leaders must have problem-solving and intellectual skills to effectively gather, process, and store essential information. • Cognitive Factors: – Cognitive or analytical intelligence – Practical intelligence – Knowledge of the business or group task – Creativity – Insight into people and situations – Farsightedness and conceptual thinking 20 Influence of Heredity & Environment on Leadership • Does heredity or environment contribute more to leadership effectiveness? • Are leaders born or made? • Individuals inherit a basic capacity to develop personality traits and mental ability that sets an outer limit on how extensively these traits can be developed. • Environmental influences, in turn, determine how much of an individual’s potential will be developed. • Genetics play a role in determining leadership potential. • Emotional intelligence reinforces leadership is a combination of inherited and learned factors. 21 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl3gKkhHAvw 22 Video – Born or Made? Strengths & Limitations of the Trait Approach Strengths • Serves as a guide to leader selection. • Can guide individuals in preparing for leadership responsibility. Limitations • Does not identify which amount of characteristics are absolutely needed. • Can breed an elitist conception of leadership. • Different situations call for different combinations of traits. 23 Leadership Effectiveness • Leadership Effectiveness means helping group members attain productivity. • Effectiveness is based on two dimensions: – Objective Data • Sales, Production, Cost-Cutting. “Performance” – Subjective Data • Judgments by others about the leader’s effectiveness. “Perceptions” 24 Gender & Leadership 25 • Women are more likely to exhibit higher levels of people skills than men AND consequently men and women have different leadership styles. • However, this naturally draws criticism and controversy due to the insufficient evidence to draw decisive conclusions. • INDIVIDUAL differences among women and men are probably far more important than any relatively small overall average difference between the two gender groups. Activity - Gender & Leadership 26 • Read article R8 - Zenger Folkman 2012, ‘A study in leadership women do it better than men’ www.zengerfolkman.com • Then as a group: • Which gender supplies better leaders for organisations? • Why do you think this is the case? Discuss in groups and be prepared to present back. Summary • Personality traits impact on how a leader will behave. • Emotional intelligence also impacts. • Leaders are neither born nor made in their entirety; but more a combination. 27 Any Questions? • From today’s workshop: – What have you learned about leadership? – What has surprised you? – What have you learned about yourself? – How could you apply these learnings in the workplace? – How could these learnings be reflected in Assessment 2? Activity – Journal Reflection Assessment 2 - Overview • Refer to subject outline. Any Questions?