Chapter 7: Un- And Re-Packing Leadership: Context, Relations, Constructions, and Politics

Contemporary talk and writing on managerial leadership covers broad terrain indeed, and there are no limits to what leadership is supposed to accomplish in terms of improving the feelings, thinking, values, ethics, change-mindedness, satisfaction, and performance of followers (subordinates). Much of this interest in leadership revolves around change and development and the ability of leaders to make people engaged and committed to opportunities beyond everyday realities. Followers are thought to be inspired and influenced by leaders overcoming uncertainty, narrow-mindedness, and low motivation.

In organizations, we usually expect managers to practice these activities; it is managers whom we expect to formulate the visions, initiate change, and motivate subordinates. It is as leaders we nowadays often evaluate managerial efforts. Leaders are often portrayed as being strong, directive, and persuasive with abilities to engage and commit others to follow visions and missions in voluntary and non-coercive manners (Barker, 2001). It is popular to regard the leader as someone who initiates and communicates transformation in a convincing manner, partly by use of charismatic abilities and compelling visions about the future (Conger & Kanungo, 1998; Rost, 1992). Leaders have robust characteristics with stable traits and abilities. The transformational leader capable of transforming followers—rather than negotiating with subordinates about rewards for contributions—is the ideal, and various versions of this ideal circulate frequently in the enormous amount of literature and research on leadership. There is often a heroic luster in many of these portraits of the charismatic and visionary leaders. Successful organizational outcomes, turnarounds, mergers, and acquisitions are routinely attributed to the extraordinary traits, heroic abilities, and skills of the leader (Meindl, Ehrlich, & Dukerich, 1985). This suggests a narrow, leader-centric view on leadership.