WHO SHOULD RULE - DOES PERSONALITY MATTER

The study of leadership and personality has a long and controversial h istory. A review of trends and empirical research on relations between personality characteristics and leadership is presented. It is conclu ded that fragmentation and a narrow focus have been characteristic of most empirical research on leadership personality. The total space enc ompassing leadership issues has been compartmentalized into subareas s uch as leader traits, behaviour styles, and the situational view. It i s argued that leadership is a multifaceted phenomenon that cannot be c aptured by focusing on a small number of variables. A holistic approac h attempting to cover a range of traits so as to discern more complex trait patterns in relation to kinds of leader behaviour in different o rganizational settings is needed to gain an in-depth insight into the complexity of leader behaviour and leader effectiveness. Fragmentation of individual functioning needs to be reduced. Research should also f ocus on the dynamics of the relationship between leader characteristic s and leader behaviour in different social settings. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.