Leadership
Dr. Joe O’Mahoney
1. What is Leadership?
2. Constructing Leadership
3. Limits of Leadership
4. Leadership and Morality
The Agenda
What is Leadership?
What is Leadership?
• Peter Drucker : "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers."
• John C Maxwell : "leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less."
• John W. Gardner :Leadership is the process of persuasion and example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to take action that is in accord with the leader’s purpose, or the shared purposes of all.”
• Imposing your will upon others
Popular view of Leadership
• Key people:– Drucker
– Mintzberg
• Mostly studied as:– A necessary thing
– A good thing
– Separate from management
– Something that can be learned
• Leaders as heroes– Born
– Exceptional
– Loved
History of Leadership Theories
Classical Origins of the Hero
• Classical hero– Stoic
– Rational
– Male
• Compared to….– Females (hysterical)
– Barbarians (emotional)
• Massive influence– Victorian Britain
– Military heroes
The Leader as Hero
• Machiavelli “The Prince”– Classical Heroes (stoic, unemotional, male)– Renaissance Prince’s– The Great Man view of history
• Nietzsche's Superman– Will to Power– Slave / Master– Hated Christian morality
• Traits– Eg.– What about Martin Luther, Ghandi etc…– What about the context? (Stogdill, 1948)– Roots in aristocratic view of the world
Contingency Leadership
• Fiedler, Vroom, Hersey..– No best way to manage
– Depends on leader and environment
– Right person in the right place
• Contingent traits– Myers Briggs
– Entrepreneurial / Innovative
– Hierarchical / Authoritarian
– Visionary / Charismatic
• But– People Change
– Low Predictability
– Based on positivism: weak ontology
An example contingency - trait approach (from Boje)
(De)constructing Leadership
Constructing Leadership
• Leadership as a 20th century phenomenon– No books on leadership before 1900– Need to be led– The military metaphor: 3– Fits with the fetish of change (Grey)– e.g. women as leaders
• Leadership as story-telling– How I changed the world– The role of PR– Heroes to Villains (Enron)– The role of the Press
• Leadership as performance– Richard Branson
The Limits of Leadership
• Proving leadership– Cause and effect?
– Could have done better?
• Limits on leadership– Resources
– Shareholders
– Law
– Employees
Morality and Leadership
• What makes a good leader?– Vision
– Securing followers
– Achieving aims
– Charisma
• Power– All leadership rests on power
– Usually direct
– Rarely charismatic
Questions?