Leadership

(Trait Approach –
Case Study)

Dr. Shaymaa Bayoumi

2
Personality traits-
Simple Symbol
Personality Test

Northouse - Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition

3
© 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.
Simple Symbol Personality Test

Look at these shapes: a circle, square, squiggle, and triangle.

4
Triangle…

• For centuries, the triangle has symbolized leadership.

Remember the ancient Egyptians?
• Of the four symbols, the Triangle most closely represents
leadership. Triangles are ambitious and very interested in
their careers.
• You are an overseer, an expediter, a leader, a person of
action.
• Your mantra is "Get it done." You want to make things
happen now. You ask others "when?" instead of "how?" or
"why?"
• Your watchword is now. Not one day, not some time, not
tomorrow, but now.
• You are often charismatic, a person who likes to be the boss
and likes to give orders. You like to be in control.
5
Triangle
• You are decisive – you like to make decisions – decisions for
yourself and decisions for everyone else.
• You see yourself as assertive. Others may see you as aggressive.
• As a child, when using a colouring book and crayons, you had
difficulty staying within the lines. You do not like restrictions.
• Your positive traits: leadership, decisiveness, ambition, focused,
results-driven, self-motivated.
• Potential pitfalls: impatience, aggressiveness, self-centeredness.
• Potential career choices: CEO, president of a company,
entrepreneur, executive, manager, supervisor, surgeon, attorney,
politician, military officer, pilot, administrator.
• Triangle’s Motto: "Follow me."

6
Square…
• Of the four symbols, the square places the most emphasis on
organization and structure.
• You are an organizer. You may be constantly organizing people
and things around you. You are an excellent administrator who
enjoys working with figures, statistics, programs, and software.
• Your mantra is "Get it right, even if it takes all night."
• Your watchword is, "How?"
• You believe in the status quo and work ethic. You want everything
in the right place at the right time.
• You enjoy collecting data and information to enter into a database,
but others may see you as having a compulsive attention to detail.

7
Square
• As a child, when using a colouring book and crayons, you tried to
colour within the lines. Your favourite toy may have been Legos
(or Lincoln building blocks, depending on your age).
• Your positive traits: organized, knowledgeable, analytical, patient,
persevering, and generally neat.
• Potential pitfalls: you may be a procrastinator, a perfectionist,
aloof, resistant to change, and meticulous.
• Potential career choices: CFO or COO, IT professional,
programmer, systems analyst, statistician, accountant, professor,
bookkeeper, executive assistant, medical specialist, teacher,
auditor, government worker, editor.
• Square’s motto: "Give me a deadline and I’ll get it done."

8
Circle…

• Of the four symbols, the circle is the most kind and caring. Your focus is
to smooth the waters and keep the peace. You are the glue that holds the
family or the work team together–that sensitive person who really cares
about feelings.
• You are an optimist. You enjoy working in unison with others to get
things done.
• Your mantra is, "Can’t we all just get along?"
• Your watchword is "Who?" (Who will be on the team?)
• You express kindness, caring, and concern. You are an excellent
communicator because you are an effective listener and know how to
establish empathy quickly. You are an excellent problem solver.
• You try to keep the peace but others may see you as trying too hard to
please everyone.

9
Circle
• As a child, you enjoyed many games and sports, but in softball or
baseball you were often the outfielder.
• Your positive traits: friendly, persuasive, empathic, generous, and
reflective.
• Potential pitfalls: indecisive, moody, manipulative, and you may have a
tendency to get too personal.
• Potential career choices: doctor, nurse, teacher, human resource
professional, psychologist, professor, historian, consultant, scout leader,
administrative assistant, nun.
• Circle’s motto: "Be positive and I will help you do it."

10
Squiggle …
• Of the four symbols, the squiggle is the most unique and the most
creative.
• You are original and are always considering possibilities.
• Your mantra is, "Get it done ... differently."
• Your watchword is, "Why?" (Why do we have to do it that way? What are
our alternatives?) You continually ask, "What if?"
• You are a future-oriented person.
• You are creative, imaginative, free form, and like to have fun and think
out-of-the-box.
• You see yourself as always looking for new ideas, new ways and new
products. Others may sometimes consider you a little strange or far-out.

11
Squiggle
• As a child you preferred to draw your own original pictures, rather than colour in
a colouring book. You often coloured trees purple, leaves yellow, and the sky
green.
• Your positive traits: conceptual, creative, intuitive, expressive, motivating, witty,
and inventive.
• Potential pitfalls: disorganized, impractical, unrealistic, illogical, eccentric, naïve,
uninhibited.
• Potential career choices: writer, journalist, comedian, actor, creative director,
marketing associate, sales associate, musician, scientist, researcher, entrepreneur,
chef, public relations agent, inventor, real estate agent.
• Squiggle’s motto: "Be creative."
•

12
 Case Study:
Choosing a New Director of
Research

Northouse - Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition

© 2019 SAGE Publications, Inc.

13
 Choosing a New Director of Research…

▪ Sandra Coke is vice president for research and development at Great

Lakes Foods (GLF), a large snack food company that has
approximately 1,000 employees.
▪ As a result of a recent reorganization, Sandra must choose the new
director of research.
▪ The director will report directly to Sandra and will be responsible for
developing and testing new products.
▪ The research division of GLF employs about 200 people.
▪ The choice of directors is important because Sandra is receiving
pressure from the president and board of GLF to improve the
company’s overall growth and productivity.

Northouse - Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition

© 2019 SAGE Publications, Inc.
 Choosing a New Director of Research…
▪ Sandra has identified three candidates for the position. Each candidate is
at the same managerial level.
▪ She is having difficulty choosing one of them because each has very
strong credentials.
▪ Alexa Smith is a long-time employee of GLF who started part-time in
the mailroom while in high school.
▪ After finishing school, Alexa worked in as many as 10 different
positions throughout the company to become manager of new product
marketing.
▪ Performance reviews of Alexa’s work have repeatedly described her as
being very creative and insightful. In her tenure at GLF, Alexa has
developed and brought to market four new product lines.
▪ Alexa is also known throughout GLF as being very persistent about her
work: When she starts a project, she stays with it until it is finished. It is
probably this quality that accounts for the success of each of the four
new products with which she has been involved.
Northouse - Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition 15
© 2019 SAGE Publications, Inc.
 Choosing a New Director of Research…
▪ A second candidate for the new position is Kelsey Metts, who has
been with GLF for five years and is manager of quality control for
established products.
▪ Kelsey has a reputation for being very bright. Before joining GLF,
she received her MBA at Harvard, graduating at the top of her
class.
▪ People talk about Kelsey as the kind of person who will be
president of her own company someday.
▪ Kelsey is also very personable. On all her performance reviews,
she received extra-high scores on sociability and human relations.
▪ There isn’t a supervisor in the company who doesn’t have positive
things to say about how comfortable it is to work with Kelsey.
▪ Since joining GLF, Kelsey has been instrumental in bringing two
new product lines to market.
Northouse - Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition
© 2019 SAGE Publications, Inc. 16
 Choosing a New Director of Research…
▪ Thomas Santiago, the third candidate, has been with GLF for 10 years and is often
consulted by upper management regarding strategic planning and corporate direction
setting.

▪ Thomas has been very involved in establishing the vision for GLF and is a company
person all the way.

▪ He believes in the values of GLF, and actively promotes its mission.

▪ The two qualities that stand out above the rest in Thomas’s performance reviews are
his honesty and integrity.

▪ Employees who have worked under his supervision consistently report that they feel
they can trust Thomas to be fair and consistent.

▪ Thomas is highly respected at GLF.

▪ In his tenure at the company, Thomas has been involved in some capacity with the
development of three new product lines.

▪ The challenge confronting Sandra is to choose the best person for the newly
established director’s position.

▪ Because of the pressure she feels from upper management, Sandra knows she must
select the best leader for the new position.
Northouse - Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition 17
© 2019 SAGE Publications, Inc.
Choosing a New Director of Research

Questions:
1. Based on the information provided about the trait approach,
if you were Sandra, whom would you select?
2. In what ways is the trait approach helpful in this type of
selection?
3. In what ways are the weaknesses of the trait approach
highlighted in this case?

Northouse - Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition

© 2019 SAGE Publications, Inc. 18
THANK YOU