Traces Theory Presentation

Traces theory is a leadership model (or perspective) according to which leadership is something that is born with a person, is something intrinsic, is to possess a series of characteristics (such as sociability, verbal fluency, intelligence, initiative, sensibility to other people’s needs, self confidence) which immediately distinguishes them from the non leaders. Given that leadership is a matter of traces, the best way to evaluate a person’s capacity to be a leader is through questionnaires and personality and skills tests.

The big difficulty in applying this Theory was to isolate a finite group of traces and well defined characteristics held by all leaders and thereafter assured that these characteristics weren’t present in the non leaders. So, in the fifties, was concluded that the definition of traces and characteristics common of the leaders were not enough to define what is leadership. From there, investigators began to search in the group behaviors an answer for the true leadership definition.

 

 

 

Translated from Portuguese by Susana Saraiva, Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese translation specialist. Contact: spams@sapo.pt.