Abstract
This 10-year anniversary compendium of a classic set of papers on leadership, edited by Bruce Avolio and Francis Yammarino, is a compelling read for scholars interested in the evolution of thinking of transformational and charismatic leadership. The compendium draws together theoretical and empirical work from leading authors each with a distinctive, but complementary, view on this aspect of leadership.
The compendium consists of five sections. In each section, the original paper by each contributor is reproduced, together with an addendum which includes new, or revised, insights by each contributor since the original paper was produced. The first two sections of this compendium includes different perspectives on transformational and charismatic leadership from some of the seminal thinkers, including the work of Bruce Avolio, Robert House and Ronik Kark. The third section covers psychological perspectives on leadership, providing insights into the inner world (cognitions) of transformational leaders. This section offers new perspectives on the dynamics of attachment and care-giving behaviours of charismatic leaders. The fourth section draws on other psychological perspectives, including issues of motivation and self-efficacy. In the final section, predictions are set out for the future status of leadership.
This anniversary edition is particularly timely given the current debates about the status of leadership in contemporary society in the wake of the financial crises. From the outset, we are reminded of the key distinctions between management and leadership, but not as a binary construct. Particularly poignant is the emphasis by Antonakis and House, in the opening chapter in section 1, who refer to the critical role that leaders play in developing followers both emotionally and cognitively, such that they then become attuned with the leader’s moral conviction and purpose.
I found this opening chapter, along with the chapters in sections 3 (‘Psychological perspectives’) and 4 (‘Related perspectives’) the most thought provoking, not least because they drew attention to the methodological challenges of researching leadership, particularly if we are to understand the subtle differences between leadership–followership behaviours in different contexts. Ken Parry, for example, points out how despite years of research, we still know very little about the social processes of leadership. Parry also notes the need for those interested in leadership to adopt different methodological approaches, including the use of grounded theory, or more specifically adopting a ‘critical realist-informed grounded theory’ approach (p. 435). I see this as a welcome alternate perspective on earlier methodological approaches that have been utilised to study leaders, in particular the over-reliance on quantitative approaches aimed at discovering universalist truths about leaders/leadership behaviour. What was missing though in this section was any critical debate about why academics appear to be reluctant to deploy new methodologies. Perhaps it is because it is more difficult to demonstrate immediate impact.
Although it was encouraging to see contributions from scholars in different international contexts included, it was evident from reading this compendium that there is still space for different voices on leadership to emerge, to reflect the increasing diversity of experiences within the workplace. It was encouraging too to see that 2 out of the 24 future trends set out by Bernard Bass in the final section of this compendium included a reference to women’s leadership roles in the future. This is an area that has been lacking in the leadership literature to-date. Bass suggests that the intersection between age and gender will result in different patterns of leadership emerging – this looks like an interesting proposition that researchers could monitor and track in the future.
Overall, I can see this book making a valuable contribution to the reading lists on MBA, as well as other management programmes, and thus become regarded as an invaluable historical artefact on leadership theory. This compendium would also make invaluable reading for practitioners engaged in organisational development given that the concept of transformational leadership is one that invariably surfaces in the context of organisational change.