Good Essay About Leadership Trait

Results

Data was successfully collected from twenty eight students who formed our participants for the study. The effectiveness of the leadership training program was assessed by plotting a graph of the students’ average self-rate score on different leadership traits in the Likert-Scale before the training program and comparing it with the average self-rate score after the training program. A first graph was plotted to show the self-rating of the students on different leadership traits before the commencement of the leadership training program and after the post-test, another one was plotted to show the growth or the lack of it on the different traits. Upon the collected data, inconsistencies could be observed in the results given that some of the traits showed that there was a significant drop rather than actual growth at the end of the leadership training program. This was against the expectations of the study and hence going against the hypothesis that a significant growth in leadership traits would indicate the successfulness of the program.
With the comparisons of the average self-rate score of the students before and after the program, only perceptive, dependable, outgoing, sensitive and empathetic, as shown in Appendix 1, were the only traits that registered growth at the end of the leadership training program. Their average score ratings show an increase at the end of the program hence meaning that these were the traits that the students registered growth in. The rest of the traits show a significant drop in the average score rating after the program. This indicated that the students did not register growth in these traits and thus the program was ineffective in building these leadership traits in the students.

Discussion

Building upon previous research studies on leadership traits and leadership effectiveness, conducted by Cowley (1931) & Wall (1998), we acknowledged that leadership traits had a significant role in leadership effectiveness and hence a growth in leadership traits would go a long way in building leadership skills. As a result, we formulated the hypothesis that a significant growth in the leadership traits would indicate growth in leadership skills and hence indicate the successfulness and effectiveness of the leadership training program. Upon data collection and data analysis, we proved that our results went against our hypothesis. As shown in Appendix 1 below, only five leadership traits showed significant growth while the majority of the traits showed a significant drop in the self-rate average scores. This would indicate the leadership training program was ineffective and unsuccessful in cultivating leadership skills to the students.
Upon further discussions, we found out that one of the major reasons as to why the results went against our hypothesis was the lack of seriousness by the students in participating in the survey. Although we had taken to explain carefully to the students that this was our academic research, the students participated in filling the leadership trait questionnaire as if it were another routine survey that they had to participate in. Most of the students filled the LTQ hurriedly without taking time to understand the specific questions in the questionnaire. This was the same scenario in self-rating themselves in the Likert-Scale. We noticed that the students were in a hurry to give their responses so as to attend to other issues while others only participated so as partake in the refreshments at the end of the exercise. The lack of seriousness among the students in the giving of their responses affected the credibility of the results and thus a drop rather than growth in a majority of the leadership traits in question.
The problem of the students over-rating themselves at the beginning of the program could also be a possible explanation to the unexpected results. This is simply because at the beginning of the program, the students did not understand what it meant to be a good leader and thus over-rate themselves. But as the program went on, they now realize that being a leader is not as easy as they thought and hence rate themselves lowly in the post-test. Particular aspects of the program also led to a growth in some of the traits. An example is raising funds to help needy children in China. Many students empathized with the needy children and as a result rated themselves highly in the empathic leadership trait. The training’s emphasis on “it is not about how much you get but how much you give” also led to growth in some traits such as empathic.
Furthermore, another possible explanation could be the fact that the post-test did not take place on the day that the program ended. The post-test took place on March 7th 2015 while the pre-test had taken place on January 31st 2015. This meant that the post-test took place a month or so after the pre-test had taken place. This is a very short time to assess the growth of the students on different leadership traits. It is possible that within this time-period the students’ had not grown in various leadership traits. This would mean that the post-test was taken too soon and at a time when student growth on the different leadership traits was negligible.
In future, we propose that researchers take time in explaining and clarifying to the participants of the study on the seriousness of the survey. Researchers should be able to explain carefully to the students on the need of taking the survey with the seriousness it deserves so as not to affect the credibility of the results. The participants should also be encouraged to give accurate and true responses that reflect their position rather than making wild guesses or falsifying. Also, there is the need of conducting post-tests at the very end of any program so that the results can truly represent the actual change or the lack of as result of an intervention

References

Cowley, W. H. (1931). Three distinctions in the study of leaders. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 26, 304–313.
Wall, M. (1998) The Leadership Trait Questionnaire as a measure of Personality Traits of Emergent Leaders in the Organisation. Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.
Appendix 1