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Leadership

We are consumed with interest in leaders. We animatedly gossip about “the boss”; airport bookshops bulge with leadership books; current affairs dissect the actions of leaders; and much of the organizational and management sciences is a study of leadership and the role of the CEO (chief executive officer). This is not surprising. Our leaders have enormous influence over usthey make decisions for us and shape the course of our lives and even the type of people we are, and so we focus on how effective they are; how we elect, appoint, and depose them; and whether they lead for good or for evil. This entry defines leadership, and then describes the major organizational and social psychological theories of leadership.

Defining Leadership

Leadership is a process where an individual, or clique, is able to influence others, as a group or as group members, to internalize a collective vision, and mobilize them toward attaining that vision. Effective leadership transforms people's goals and ambitions, even their identity, and replaces self-oriented behavior with group-oriented behavior. The exercise of power over people to force them, through rewards and punishments, to merely comply with commands and bend to one's will is not leadership.

One important distinction is between effective/ ineffective leadership and good/bad leadership. The effectiveness of leadership is largely a matter of fact (the leader can or cannot change attitudes and motivate action), whereas the difference between good and bad leadership is largely a subjective judgment hinging on whether the leader has attributes we applaud, uses means we approve of, and sets and achieves goals we value. Leadership research focuses on leadership effectiveness rather than the moral quality of the means and ends of leadership.

Personality Attributes of Great Leaders

Although leadership is a group process (leaders require followers), leadership research has a long history of focusing on the personality attributes of leaders that make them great leaders. The 19th-century belief that leaders are born not made is no longer in vogueresearch has failed to find “great leader” genes. However, the idea that some of us have personalities, however acquired, that predispose us to lead effectively in all or most situations, whereas others do not, has attracted enormous research attention. For example, modern transformational theories of leadership (see below) capture this idea with the concept of charismaa charismatic personality or leadership style is critically important for leaders to be able to transform group goals and practices. James Meindl talks about “the romance of leadership” to capture our obsession with charisma as a basis of effective leadership.

A definitive review published in 2002 concluded that three of the “Big Five” personality dimensions identified by personality research are associated with effective leadership: They are extraversion/ surgency, intellect/openness to experience, and conscientiousness. Overall, however, many leadership theorists believe that personality perspectives on leadership do not allow us very reliably to differentiate between effective and ineffective leaders.

What Do Effective Leaders Do?

One reaction to a focus on stable personality correlates of effective leadership was a somewhat extreme stance that we can all lead effectively if the situation is right. Research shows this to be only partially truesome people still appear to be more effective across a range of situations. A less extreme reaction to personality perspectives is to focus on leadership behaviors: Maybe some behaviors are more effective for leadership than others. One reliable distinction that has emerged over and over again in many different guises is between a leadership style that pays more attention to the group task and getting things done (task-oriented leadership), and one that pays attention to relationships among group members (socioemotional leadership). Most groups require both types of leadership and people who are capable of being both task focused and socioemotionally focused tend to be the most effective.

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