Leadership Style Analysis Paper
Contemporary Trends in the Analysis of Leadership Processes
E. P. Hollander and J. W. Julian
Chapter 1– Reading 3: Psychological Bulletin 71: 387-397 (1969)
The authors argue that neither the older trait approach to leadership nor the situational approach that replaced it in the 1940s and 1950s were adequate – both produced distorted “caricatures.”
In the 1960s the study of leadership was redirected toward processes like power and authority relations. The focus turned to the interrelationship between the leader, the follower, and the situation. The problem of studying and leadership relations is recognized as being more “formidable” than earlier thought. Four points summarize the changing emphasis in leadership studies:
• Early studies …show more content…
Personalities that may fit a person to being a leader are determined by the perceptions of followers not by traits measured on personality scale scores.
• Need to approach leader effectiveness as a feature of group success in system terms
The trait and situational approaches emphasize parts of a process which are not separable. From the point of view of the followers, the leader is part of the situation. The leader may create the situation. The leader sets the basis for relationships within the group; the leader initiates structure and affects the process with that structure. The goal-setting activity of the leader has been neglected in research.
Legitimacy and social exchange. How the leader attains and sustains legitimacy is a substantial feature of the leader’s role. Competence in helping the group achieve its goals and early conformity to its normative expectations, provide the potential for acting as leaders and being perceived as such. Then assertions of influence that would not otherwise be tolerated are accepted. More study of how this works in succession situations is
E. P. Hollander and J. W. Julian
Chapter 1– Reading 3: Psychological Bulletin 71: 387-397 (1969)
The authors argue that neither the older trait approach to leadership nor the situational approach that replaced it in the 1940s and 1950s were adequate – both produced distorted “caricatures.”
In the 1960s the study of leadership was redirected toward processes like power and authority relations. The focus turned to the interrelationship between the leader, the follower, and the situation. The problem of studying and leadership relations is recognized as being more “formidable” than earlier thought. Four points summarize the changing emphasis in leadership studies:
• Early studies …show more content…
Personalities that may fit a person to being a leader are determined by the perceptions of followers not by traits measured on personality scale scores.
• Need to approach leader effectiveness as a feature of group success in system terms
The trait and situational approaches emphasize parts of a process which are not separable. From the point of view of the followers, the leader is part of the situation. The leader may create the situation. The leader sets the basis for relationships within the group; the leader initiates structure and affects the process with that structure. The goal-setting activity of the leader has been neglected in research.
Legitimacy and social exchange. How the leader attains and sustains legitimacy is a substantial feature of the leader’s role. Competence in helping the group achieve its goals and early conformity to its normative expectations, provide the potential for acting as leaders and being perceived as such. Then assertions of influence that would not otherwise be tolerated are accepted. More study of how this works in succession situations is