Leadership
Traditionally, leadership theories and research have focused on leader control, investigating aspects such as followers environments, rewards and punishments, job characteristics, authority relations, resources, training and followers perceptions of their leader. Then in the mid 1970s, a new genre of leadership theory emerged. ... The argument proposed was that charismatic leaders affect followers in ways that are quantitatively greater and qualitatively different than the effects specified by past leadership theories. ... The feeling that the romance, mystery and even the subject matter of leadership have been lost in abstract conceptualisations has caused a resurgence of interest in what is termed charismatic leadership. Today, charismatic leadership is still one of the most fascinating, yet elusive concepts currently being examined by leadership and organisational behaviour researchers. ... House, Spangler, & Woycke (1991) stated that "Charismatic leadership refers to the ability of a leader to exercise diffuse and intense influence over the beliefs, values, behaviour, and performance of others through his own behaviour, beliefs and personal example". ... Despite the problems associated with the study of charismatic leadership, it continues to be a predominant paradigm in organisational leadership theory and research. Emphasising the importance of this research Conger and Kahungo (1988) stated "if the essence of leadership is the ability to motivate subordinates, then the study of charismatic leadership can help us unravel the secrets of motivating employees and directing them toward the achievement of organisational goals". Although traditional leadership theory still has value for understanding leaders more direct supervisory situations, charismatic leadership theory can be used as an additional tool for understanding leaders such as those who head large enterprises or nation states, who cannot maintain direct relationships with their followers and who must lead by inspiration rather than by controlling the followers environment. Because charismatic leadership is a relationship (or bond, between leader and subordinates) and not a personality characteristic of leaders, charisma exists only if followers behave in specific ways. ... Houses (1977) theory of charismatic leadership suggested a link between the need for power and behavioural charisma. ... House states that the one motive that differentiates charismatic leaders from others is the unusually high need for influence or power, because without such a need, they are unlikely to have developed the necessary persuasive skills to influence others and they are also unlikely to obtain satisfaction from the leadership role. ... Effective leadership implies an understanding of how managers and employees influence one another (Yates, 1985). Of particular importance to the practising manager is the relationship of leadership style to employee influencing behaviour. ... Burns (1978) argues that leadership can be understood best as either a transactional or a transformational process. Transactional leadership suggests that most managers engage in a bargaining relationship with employees (Hollander, 1978). Bass (1985) cites contingent reward and management-by-exception as two factors that emerge with transactional leadership. ... On the other hand, transformational leadership differs from transactional leadership due to leader characteristics. ... Bass (1986) suggests that transactional leadership is acceptable as far as it goes, but fundamentally is a prescription for organisational mediocrity. In terms of day-to-day managerial implications, the influencing activity predicted for transactional leadership may be organisationally detrimental. ... Conversely, transformational leaders incorporate and amplify the impact of transactional leadership. ... Deluga (1988) tested the hypothesis that transformational leadership is more closely associated with leader effectiveness and employee satisfaction than transactional leadership. The findings supported the prediction as employees reported significantly greater satisfaction with transformational leadership and viewed the approach as more effective. ... 1: A General Model of Champion Personality Characteristics, Transformational Leadership, and Influence Tactics. According to this model, champion emergence is a function of personality characteristics, transformational leadership behaviours and frequency and variety of influence tactics. Particular personality characteristics predispose individuals to engage in transformational leadership behaviours and influence tactics directed toward instigating innovations within organisations. Specifically, personality characteristics, including achievement, innovativeness, persistence, persuasiveness, and risk taking are associated with individuals propensities to display transformational leadership behaviour and to engage in frequent and varied influence tactics. However, personality characteristics may also directly affect champion emergence, independent of leadership behaviour. Finally, transformational leadership is related to the frequency and variety of influence tactics. ... Combining both personality characteristics and leadership behaviour in the same discriminate function resulted in a successful classification rate of 84%.