Page 251 - DCOM102_DMGT101_PRINCIPLES_AND_PRACTICES_OF_MANAGEMENT

Unit 13: Motivation and Leadership

Limitations of the Trait Theory Notes
(a) It assumes that leadership is an inborn quality. This is not always true but, leadership
qualities may be developed through training also.

(b) A leader may prove very successful is one situation due to some traits, but may fail
in another situation.
(c) The theory also fails to mention the traits which are necessary to maintain leadership.
Measurement of a trait usually occur after a person becomes a leader.
(d) There cannot be any common list of personal traits found in all successful leaders.
(e) Personal traits are only a part of the whole environment. By emphasizing merely on
the personal traits, the other qualities of a leader are ignored.

Applications of Trait Theory
Despite the limitations of trait theory, people still think in terms of leadership traits. For
example, in many hiring and promotion decisions, the decision maker selects people, he
or she should have "leadership potential". There is nothing wrong about such a choice, but
is this an effective strategy? Probably not. Using valid systems for employee selection
results in higher-quality employees than basing decisions on non-job-related personality
traits.
2. Behavioural Theory of Leadership: According to this theory, a particular behaviour of a
leader provides greater satisfaction to the followers and so they recognize him as a good
leader. The behavioural approach is based on the premise that effective leadership is the
result of effective role behaviour. A leader uses conceptual, human and technical skills to
influence the behaviour of his subordinates. The behavioural theory does not concentrate
on the traits of leaders; it inspires study of the activities of leaders to identify their
behavioural patterns.
The inability of the trait approach to consistently define specific traits that would
differentiate successful and unsuccessful leaders led to the conclusion that emphasis on the
behaviour of leaders (which could be measured) rather than emphasis on traits (which
could not be measured) were an appropriate new research strategy. Beginning in the late
1940s and continuing through the early 1960s, research based on this emphasis was
conducted at Ohio State University and the University of Michigan.
(a) The Ohio State University Studies: A team of Ohio State University researchers including
Edwin Fleishman conducted extensive surveys. The goal of the research was to:
(i) Identify the behaviours exhibited by leaders.
(ii) Determine what affect these behaviours had on employee satisfaction and
performance.
(iii) Identify the best leadership style.
To do this, questionnaires were developed to assess leadership styles. The Leader
Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) was designed to tap subordinate
perception of the leader's behaviours, while the Leader Opinion Questionnaire (LOQ)
measured the leader's perception of his own style.
After an analysis of actual leader behaviour in a wide variety of situations, two
important leadership behaviours were isolated:

(i) Initiating-structure behaviour (IS): Clearly defining the roles of leader and
follower so that everyone knows what is expected. This includes establishing

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