CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

Charismatic Leadership

Charismatic Leadership

INTRODUCTION

Charisma is the special quality some people possess that allows them to relate to and inspire others at a deep emotional level. Persons possessing charisma tend to be attractive to others, to be influential and inspirational, and to be characterized as brilliant and effective communicators. Although charisma has been widely discussed in sociology, psychology, political science, communication, and other disciplines, it is a very elusive construct, and has been defined in a number of ways. Currently, there is no generally agreed-on definition of charisma.

Most recently charisma is being thought of as theatrical. Gardner and Alvolio's (1998) drama perspective is that charismatic leadership is an impression management process enacted theatrically in acts of framing, scripting, staging, and performing. Framing is a quality of communication that causes others to accept one meaning over another. Scripting is the development of a set of directions that define the scene, specifies the actors to be cast, outlines expected behavior, and cues when events occur and actors enter and exit. The charismatic leader cast themselves in the role of the visionaries leading the assembled characters in pursuit of their vision, while not falling victim to the trickery and schemes of their antagonists. Staging is when charismatic leaders stage-manage their performances. They pose themselves in a dramatic way to appear more interesting. Performing is the show time. The charismatic leader takes the stage to enact scripted dialog and set up the frame to construct their charismatic character.

The phenomena that can be observed in charisma include -- the followers trust the correctness of the leader's beliefs, the followers feel affection to the leader and obey the leader willingly, and the followers feel an emotional involvement in the mission they are lead to do.

STEP I: OVERVIEW OF THE THEORY

Although there are many definitions of charisma, people tend to agree on famous historical figures who possessed charisma, and on those who did not. Yet just as definitions of charisma differ, some of these well-known charismatic figures do not appear to have much in common—except for the great impact they have had on others. For example, commonly mentioned charismatic heads of state include India's Mohandas Gandhi; Israel's Golda Meir, the U.S. presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan; Great Britain's Winston Churchill; and China's Mao Zedong. The list also includes infamous individuals such as Germany's Adolf Hitler, Russia's Rasputin, the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, and leaders of various cults and religious movements, such as Jim Jones, the instigator of the 1978 mass suicide at Jonestown, Guyana.

Originally used in a religious context, charisma can mean “a divine gift of grace,” and the term has connections to so-called charismatic religious movements. However, the majority of researchers of charisma do not believe that it is an inherited or inborn quality. Rather, charisma is believed to be a constellation of personal characteristics that enable an individual to have impact on others by inspiring them, influencing them, and affecting their feelings, emotions, and ...