Leadership: The Key Concepts

Citation

(2009), "Leadership: The Key Concepts", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 17 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2009.04417dae.003

Leadership: The Key Concepts

Article Type: Suggested reading From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 17, Issue 4

Antonio Marturano and , Jonathan Gosling (Eds),Routledge Key Guides, 2008

This gallery of essays by 42 international authors realistically portrays the multiplicity of perspectives on key issues in the field of leadership.

The book includes 53 summaries of as many concepts salient to leadership. In line with the editors’ aims, the book contributes some synthesis to the broad field of leadership theory; at the same time, it portrays the field’s intricate and fertile ground.

Single essays articulate the current understanding of leadership concepts that are often of controversial definition. Essays also provide references to specialised bibliographies and point out overlaps with other areas.

The book includes 18 main entries on core concepts of leadership and 36 shorter articles on peripheral or emerging concepts. Contributions, spanning 1,000 to 1,500 words, are organized alphabetically. Cross-referencing to related concepts, available after each entry, is helpful if not impeccably consistent with the content of the related entry or with the terminology used in other parts of the book.

The content of the 53 entries spans five main concepts: the essence of leadership (for instance, “leadership definition” and “philosophical approaches to leadership”); theoretical lenses (for example, “great-man theory” or “contingency theory”); specific leadership constructs (such as “distributed leadership” and “transformational leadership”); processes of leadership (for instance, “delegation”, “influence” and “impression management”); and other constructs linked to leadership (for example, “followers” and “organizational culture”).

A few themes recur at an eye-catching rate. These emerging patterns suggest that a deliberately co-ordinated treatment of concepts that do cluster together is possible and might be beneficial. For instance, followers and power are involved in the definition of leadership concepts in most of the articles, while topics of change and transformation are discussed in more than two-thirds of the entries.

Entries that communicate richly and neatly on all the main leadership dimensions are exemplified by Rost’s central piece on “Leadership Definition”. In a survey of leadership definitions up to the twenty-first century, Rost illustrates a paradigm shift towards a “post-industrial” understanding of leadership. Such understanding attributes to leadership an essence that is collaborative and multidirectional (compare, in the volume, with Ladkin, Bolden and Axelrod), change oriented (compare with Price) and situational (compare with Barbour). Rost does not omit to acknowledge current controversies and competing views.

Bolden’s essay is also an effective synopsis, an original contribution and a source of critical references. Bolden provides the theoretical foundation and a comprehensive definition of the construct. He reasons over a generalized “call for a more collectively embedded notion of leadership” across the field; he also discusses the implications for leadership development.

Particularly effective as a synopsis is McNutt’s piece on “Delegation”: a well organized review of definitions, benefits, caveats and principles.

Pfeifer and Jackson, in the entry on “Cross-Cultural Leadership”, provide a concise and effective historical framing, outlining both the merits and limitations of the constructs.

Notably original contributions are offered by Dunn’s framing of “Power” and Ciulla’s entry on “Ethics”. Dunn starts by presenting a classic taxonomy of interpersonal power (French and Raven, 1959); he then links interpersonal power to constructivist thoughts on leadership and discusses the role of symbolic mobilization of power in shaping followers’ perceptions. Ciulla frames the discussion of “ethics” along three dimensions: the ethics of leaders themselves (who leads), the ethics of leading (how a person leads) and the ethics of the end values of leadership (why a person leads).

“Leadership development”, by Allen, provides good coverage of critical references, especially given the span of the discussion and the variety of sources involved. He points out the increasingly central strand of literature that links leadership development to adult development.

The introductory comment by Marturano and Gosling, the editors, establishes the aims of the book and describes six specific trajectories along which the field of leadership has developed. The editors underscore the diffused effort to define leadership, the increasingly recognized contingent nature of leadership and the increasing distinction between description and prescription of leadership styles. They also highlight the concern in the field with the qualities of leaders, the links with power and politics in organizations and the slippery connection between leadership and organizational performance.

Reviewed by Linda Florio, School of Management, Cranfield University, UK

A longer version of this review was originally published in Journal of Management Development, Vol. 28 No. 2, 2009.