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195 tally of the managers who switched and failed. It should be pointed out, however, that to the extent that
leadership calls upon the exercise of certain administrative skills, it is reasonable to expect that some
transfer of these skills to new positions should be possible.
200 16. Let us consider the two sides of the trait issue. The individual committed to the belief that there is a
leadership trait, or a pattern of leadership traits, can point to the findings which show that intelligence,
sociability, initiative, and other traits or attributes are related to leadership status. He can also point to a
205 number of individuals who performed outstandingly well in a wide variety of leadership tasks. He can
further claim that studies which are inconclusive cannot be taken as proof that leadership traits do not exist.
After all, the investigators simply may not have been bright enough, they may have been insufficiently
210 persistent, the true leadership trait or trait patterns may act yet have been identified, and he knows — and
you know — of people who keep getting into leadership positions.
17.The person who goes along with Stogdill, Mann, and others would have to admit that there are some
215 personality attributes like intelligence which are related to becoming a leader. The relationships are not
large, however, and they are more likely to be incidental to leadership than central. Someone who is
intelligent, sociable, tall, and competent is also known by more people and is therefore more likely to be se-
lected for a leadership position.
220
18.It is certainly true, and perfectly understandable, that the individual who is seen by one group of
people as trustworthy, intelligent, or willing to assume responsibilities will probably look intelligent,
225 trustworthy, responsible, etc. to another group of similar people. He will, therefore, be more likely to attain
another leadership position, as has been demonstrated in a number of studies as well as in many everyday
situations.
19. The question is whether the individual who looks like a leader and is therefore chosen to fill a
230 leadership job will also turn out to be an effective leader. In other words, will he really do what he is
supposed to do, and will he do it as well as or better than others who are called upon to perform a similar
task?
20.A position of authority certainly does not imply competence or excellence in the person exercising
235 that authority. While a doctor may have numerous patients, this is no assurance that he is actually able to
cure people. He may, in fact, be a poor diagnostician and an inept practitioner who, by means of a good
bedside manner, manages to look and act the part of the outstanding physician.
240
21. More importantly, it is often too late or quite irrelevant to ask how a person got to a position of
leadership once he has achieved it. People become leaders for any number of reasons, and very often the
245 choice of a particular individual is quite fortuitous. What does concern us is the question of how to choose
the person who will be effective or how to improve his performance.
22.Another question, whether we can select the effective leader on the basis of his psychological traits,
250 is more difficult to answer. As before, there is no evidence that there are any particular traits which make a
person an effective leader. An individual's height and weight, or verbal fluency, may have assisted him in
being elevated to a position of leadership, but the number of inches of height or the number of pounds of
weight do not correlate with his performance.
255 23.The most telling piece of evidence against the leadership trait theory comes from a variety of studies
in which the same leaders were observed or compared with others on different leadership tasks. The logic
260 of this procedure is quite compelling. We may not know the nature of the particular leadership trait or of
the personality attributes which make a man an effective leader, but whatever they may be, they should
enable him to perform better over many different situations. As we said before, a leadership trait, like any
other personality trait, is defined as an attribute of personality which is constant over situations. We should
not call an individual intelligent if he can solve arithmetic problems in school but not in a business
265 situation. We should not call him mechanically adept if he can work with gears but not with levers. Thus, if
there is such a thing as a leadership effectiveness trait, the same people should emerge as effective no
270 matter what the situation might be.
24. A number of important studies indicate that this is not the case. One study showed that the ratings of
navy officers while on shore duty were totally unrelated to the ratings of these same officers on shipboard
275 duty. Thus, effectiveness in one situation was quite unrelated to effectiveness in another situation.
25. Fiedler and his associates (1966) conducted a large field experiment in cooperation with the Belgian
280 navy. It involved the assembly of 96 different three-man teams, each of which were given four identical
tasks. One of these tasks consisted of writing a letter urging young men to join the Belgian navy as a career.
The second and third tasks consisted of trying to route a ship convoy through 10 and then through 12