LEADERSHIP

Leadership



Leadership

Introduction

Legends and myths about what distinguishes 'great leaders' from 'commoners' seem to have always attracted people. Bass writes: 'The study of leadership rivals in age the emergence of civilization, which shaped its leaders as much as it was shaped by them. From its infancy, the study of history has been the study of leaders - what they did and why they did it' (1990a: 3). Leadership still fascinates scholars as well as the general public. However, the term 'leadership' means different things to different people (Peterson, 2007).

Definitions of leadership vary in terms of emphasis on leader abilities, personality traits, influence relationships, cognitive versus emotional orientation, individual versus group orientation, and appeal to self versus collective interests. Definitions also vary in whether they are primarily descriptive or normative in nature as well as in their relative emphasis on behavioral styles. Leadership is sometimes distinguished from management or seen as one of several managerial roles. Bryman (1992) states that most definitions of leadership emphasize three main elements: group, influence, and goal.

Trends And Developments In Leadership Research

Leadership has been an important topic of investigation, especially in North America, for many decades. Several main trends can be distinguished in the development of the study of (business) leadership. Prior to the 1980s the main approaches to leadership were the trait, style, and contingency approach. The dates in this table represent rough indications of the periods in which the emphasis was on that approach. A new stage did not necessarily mean the previous stage was completely abandoned; rather, a shift in emphasis occurred (Mohrman, 2005). Several alternative ways to conceptualize and study leadership have had a profound influence on the development of ideas about and research into leadership from the early 1980s onward. Below, the three aforementioned main trends and several of these alternative approaches to leadership will be described (Mohrman, 2005).

The Trait Approach

Early research into leadership can be characterized as a search for 'the great man.' Personal characteristics of leaders were emphasized and the implicit idea was that leaders are born rather than made. All leaders were supposed to have certain stable characteristics that made them into leaders. The focus was on identifying and measuring traits that distinguished leaders from nonleaders or effective from ineffective leaders (Hollander & Offermann, 1990). From these distinctions between leaders and nonleaders, a profile of an 'ideal' leader could be derived, which could serve as the basis for selection of future leaders.

Three main categories of personal characteristics were included in the search for the 'great man.' First, physical features, such as height, physique, appearance, and age. Second, ability characteristics such as intelligence, knowledge, and fluency of speech. And third, personality traits such as dominance, emotional control and expressiveness, and introversion-extraversion.

Research up to 1950 failed to yield a consistent picture of leader traits, therefore research into this area slowed. After about 25 years the interest in traits possessed by leaders revived. In 1974, after reviewing 163 studies that had been reported between 1949 and 1970, Stogdill showed that ...