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Big Five Model

Created by Hellen Marquezini, Paula Jancso Fabiani and Rodolfo Maritan

One approach of leadership is the Trait Theory. The firsts authors who described some characteristic of this perspective were Francis Galton (1822–1911) and Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881). Carlyle developed his ideas during the Victorian era and believed that great leaders were synonyms of great man (Judge, Bono, Ilies & Gerhardt, 2002). In other words, the idea of “great man” leadership effectiveness depends on personal traits of the leader.

In Galton’s book “Hereditary Genius” he presented two points that guided leadership discussions, (a) some individuals have leader characteristic that make them able to change and impact the future of organizations, groups and institutions, and (b) these leaders have hereditarian or genetic characteristics (S. J. Zaccaro, 2007). Hence, theses genetic traits are immutable leadership traits. This theory describes that leadership is something that the person has instead of something that could be learnt. Individuals who have some characteristics would differentiate leaders from followers. However, studies like Galton’s did not consider the contexts that leaders.

In the second half of XX century, the heritable perspective started to change, and leader traits were integrated with personal characteristics that allowed leaders to be effective in organizations and situations. Stogdill (1948, p. 65) concluded that “persons who are leaders in one situation may not necessarily be leaders in other situations’’ and this promoted studies with a focus on differences between leaders and non-leaders.

However, different studies analyzed relations between leaders and leadership situations and observed a lack of theory connecting these topics, reinforcing the results of Stogdill (1948) that the effectiveness of a leader change depending on the situation that he/she is involved.

The definition of leader traits is “ relatively stable and coherent integrations of personal characteristics that foster a consistent pattern of leadership performance across a variety of group and organizational situations.” (S. J. Zaccaro et al., 2004, p. 104). Zaccaro et al (2004) add that some characteristics represent personality, cognitive abilities, skills and expertise.

Zaccaro (2007) pointed three components that should be considered in this shift of leadership traits from inherent to mix of personal traits:

● “Leader traits are not to be considered in isolation but rather as integrated constellations of attributes that influence leadership performance.

● Leader traits concerns the inclusiveness of a variety of personal qualities that promote stability in leader effectiveness.

● Leader traits specifies leader attributes as relatively enduring, producing cross-situational stability in leadership performance” (S. J. Zaccaro, 2007, p. 8).

One of the most important approaches to discuss personality traits of leaders is the Big Five Model. The Big Five model is a form to structure personality traits and they could serve as a taxonomy for classification (Barrick & Mount, 1991). In the 1980’s trait approach gained new opportunities for studies using new statistical methods and rotation design of studies that used charismatic, personality, cognitive abilities, motivation, social skills and intelligence as attributes of leadership. The image below presents the model.

These videos present more information about trait perspective

Big Five Model:

Development of Trait Approach on Leadership:

In the 1980’s one of the lines of research that started to grow was Charismatic Leadership, this perspective used several types of methods and measures to identify leader traits (Zaccaro et al, 2004). Riggio (2012) defined charismatic leaders as “individuals who are both verbally eloquent, but also able to communicate to followers on a deep, emotional level.” Charismatic leadership is about creating a vision and captivating people emotionally with the message. Some leader traits highlighted by Zaccaro (2001) that could predict charismatic attributes were: cognitive ability, self-confidence, socialized power motives, risk propensity, social skills, and nurturance.

Charismatic leaders may affect an organization and the individuals they lead in a strong, positive way. However, this leadership style can also lead to dangerous situations if used in the wrong manner. The following are the pros and cons of a charismatic leadership style.

Pros

● Extremely motivating and encouraging

● Fosters a sense of friendship, cooperation, and community

● Makes subordinates and followers feel noticed and appreciated

● Builds momentum for sustainable change

Cons

● Can cause leaders to concentrate on themselves rather than their followers

● Can encourage self-centered behaviors

● Often seen as superficial or presumptuous

Charismatic leadership is another trait-based leadership theory, which emphasizes the leader’s ability to convince the subordinates to work towards a specific vision. It’s often related to other leadership theories, especially since it relies on personal characteristics of the leader. But it is a powerful theory on its own and charismatic leaders can help create lasting changes in an organization.

Since charismatic leaders are willing to take risks and look beyond the horizon, they can have a positive impact on an organization or society. Unfortunately, the leader doesn’t necessarily need to follow a strong moral or ethical vision. History has shown us that charismatic leaders can lead subordinates astray and cause havoc while working towards their vision.

For a long time, leadership research has primarily focused on “good” leadership and has until recently ignored the “bad” or “dark side” of leadership. Leadership research has extensively dealt in the past 30 years with the most powerful form of leadership behavior that has been described so far: the charismatic approaches of transformational and charismatic leadership. Dark leadership represents a part of leadership reality and describes the dark part of the coin, a selfish and impulsive leader, which may nonetheless be as effective or successful as bright and pro-socially oriented leaders (Furtner, 2017).

The Dark Triad personality traits — narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism — can be toxic and damaging in the workplace. But be aware that someone exhibiting these traits may initially be a high achiever and potentially charming, conscientious and achievement-oriented.

The idea of connecting Machiavellianism principles to leadership starts with the story of Niccolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli was an Italian bureaucrat who wrote the book “The Prince” in 1513. His work essentially created guidelines for leaders to control others through manipulation and deception. The author’s name has been lent to a style of leadership and management associated with cynicism, deceit and guile.

In 1970, studies of Machiavellism led to clarifying Machiavellian personalities as toxic and hostile, with these leaders regarding others as objects or means for personal manipulation (Kessler et al, 2010). Machiavellians are not necessarily hostile, vicious or vindictive. They can and do function well in stressful, competitive, unstructured situations such as bargaining. Their coolness and emotional detachment may serve well to achieve a positive result. Their acuity and sensitivity may make them particularly skilful in negotiations. Coolness, perceptiveness and charm can be particularly useful in tough bargaining situations.

The following have been identified as Machiavellian traits (Furnham, 2010):

● Resistant to social influence

● Hides personal convictions well

● Changes positions in argument readily

● Resistant to confessing

● Highly convincing when telling truth

● Suspicious of others’ motives

● Situationally analytical

● Does not assume reciprocity

● Withholds judgement of others’ likely moves

● Able to change strategy with situation

● Says things others want to hear

● Sensitive to information about others

● Exploitive, but not viciously so

● Exploits more if others can’t retaliate

● Not susceptible to appeals for compliance, cooperation, or attitude change

● Never obviously manipulative

● Prefers fluid environment

● Preferred by peers as leader

● Preferred by peers as work partner.

The trait theory gives constructive information about leadership. It can be applied by people at all levels in all types of organizations. Managers can utilize the information from the theory to evaluate their position in the organization and to assess how their position can be straightened in the organization. They can get an in-depth understanding of their identity and the way they will affect others in the organization. This theory makes the manager aware of their strengths and weaknesses and thus they get an understanding of how they can develop their leadership qualities.

References

Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The big five personality dimensions and job performance: a meta‐analysis. Personnel psychology, 44(1), 1–26.

Furnham, A. (2010). The Machiavellian Leader. In The Elephant in the Boardroom (pp. 140–151). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Kessler, S, Spector, P, Borman, W, Nelson, C, Bandelli, A & Penney, L 2010, “Re-Examining Machiavelli: A Three-Dimensional Model of Machiavellianism in the Workplace,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 40, №8, pp. 1868–1896.

Kirkpatrick, S. & Locke, E. (1991). Leadership: Do traits matter? Academy of Management Executive, May, 48–60.

Lord, R.G., De Vader, C.L., & Alliger, G.M. (1986). A meta-analysis of the relation between personality traits and leadership perceptions: An application of validity generalization procedures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 402–410.

Stogdill, R. M. (1948). Personal factors associated with leadership: A survey of the literature. The Journal of psychology, 25(1), 35–71.

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