Summary of Chapter 1
TALEYA IQBAL
This chapter mostly talks about what is “Leadership” and how a person can become a good leader.
Presently there is a vast variety of concepts and approaches in order to explain leadership such as
Trait school, Skill, Behavior, Style…… In the past the leadership was autocratic (leadership at top) but
now the concept has shifted towards democracy (leadership at bottom i.e. available for the exercise
of many). Some researchers conceptualize leadership as a trait or behavior whereas others view
leadership from an information processing perspective. (G.Northouse)
The Evolution of Leadership Definitions
There was a researcher Rost who said that there are above 200 definitions of leadership. Following
are the different eras how leadership was defined:
1900-1929: During the first 3 decades of 20th century the emphasis was on control and
centralization of power with the common theme of domination and impress the will
on others.
1930S: Work was done on traits and left the possibility of followers could also
influence the leaders. Traits became the focus of defining leadership, with an
Follower
emerging view of leadership as influence rather than domination
(G.Northouse)
1940s: Group approach was the focus. John Adair was the first one to Team Leader
breakout the trait school by working on the group approach. So, Leadership
is defined as behavior of an individual while involved in directing group
activities (Hemphill, 1949) i.e. Leadership by persuasion.
1950’s: Three themes were dominated during this theory. Continuance of group theory,
leadership as a relationship that develops shared goals, effectiveness, in which
leadership was defined by the ability to influence overall group effectiveness.
(G.Northouse)
1960’s: Leadership as a behavior that influences people towards achieving a shared goal
development.
1970’s: leadership became viewed as “initiating and maintaining groups or organizations
to accomplish group or organizational goals” (G.Northouse)
1980’s: many definitions and themes of leadership came up such as influence, do as the
leader wishes, trait, transformation leadership.
21st century: emerging leadership approaches are authentic leadership, spiritual
leadership, servant leadership, adaptive leadership
After all these years not a single common definition of leadership came but one thing is clear
leadership is not in but it’s in between. It Is a process where an individual influence the group to
achieve a common goal. The main themes are focus of group processes, personality, power
relationship, transformational process. Attention to common goals gives leadership an ethical
overtone because it stresses the need for leaders to work with followers to achieve selected goals.
(Rost, 1991) (G.Northouse).
Trait Versus Process Leadership: In previous research, leadership is defined as a trait. The
trait perspective suggests that certain people in our society have special inborn qualities
that make them leaders. This view restricts leadership to those who are believed to have
special characteristics. In contrast, the process approach suggests that leadership can be
learned, and that it is available to everyone (G.Northouse).
Assigned Versus Emergent Leadership: Assigned leadership: based on a formal title or
position in an organization. Emergent leadership: results from what one does and how one
acquires support from followers. Related to leadership is the concept of power, the
potential to influence. There are two major kinds of power: position and personal. Position
power, which is much like assigned leadership, is the power an individual derives from
having a title in a formal organizational system. It includes legitimate, reward, information,
and coercive power. Personal power comes from followers and includes referent and expert
power (G.Northouse).
Leadership and Management: Management traditionally focuses on the activities of
planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling, whereas leadership emphasizes the general
influence process. According to some researchers, management is concerned with creating
order and stability, whereas leadership is about adaptation and constructive change
(G.Northouse).
References
G.Northouse, P. (n.d.). Leadership Theory and Practice. United States of America : SAGE Publications,
Inc. .
