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Charismatic leadership
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Recommended: Charismatic leadership
Leader Characteristics
Charismatic leadership is one of four subdivisions of the larger concept of transformational leadership (Bass, 1990). Charismatic leaders are self-confident, dominant, purposeful, articulate, influential, idealistic, and expressive. They have high energy levels, strong convictions, the ability to display empathy, and are risk takers (Bass, 1990). By stimulating "ailing corporations, revitalizing aging bureaucracies or launching new enterprises" (Howell and Avolio, 1995), charismatic leaders demonstrate how truly effective they can be. These leaders are often described as visionaries, with a strong sense of the future and a passion for their vision. They are able to achieve the vision by developing strategies to accomplish the long term goals associated with the vision.
Expressiveness is an important quality in charismatic leaders. Charismatic leaders can utilize nonverbal cues "to move, inspire, or captivate others" (quoted in Bass, 1990). According to Bass (1990) the charismatic's "tone of voice is engaging and captivating, and their facial expressions are animated." Charismatics must convey an aura of complete self-confidence. This self-confidence enables them to become "larger than life" (Bass, 1990) in the eyes of their followers. Another quality attributed to charismatics is eloquence. In order to reach the audience, he must possess the ability to speak directly to them. The message has to reach the audience in a fundamental way, a way which addresses their needs. High energy levels are necessary for a charismatic to be successful. This allows the leader to "relentlessly promote their beliefs with boundless energy" (Howell and Avolio, 1995). Bass (1990) also notes that charismatic leaders are s...
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...ion. These leaders have great power over there followers and it is not always positive, as evidenced by many of the charismatic leaders seen in history.
References
Bass, Bernard M. Bass. (1990). Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications (3rd ed). New York: The Free Press.
Howell, Jane M., & Avolio, Bruce J. (1995). Charismatic leadership: Submission or Liberation? Business Quarterly. 60, 62-70.
Mirriam-Webster Dictionary. (1997). Springfield, MA: Mirriam-Webster.
Nur, Yusuf Ahmed. (1998). Charisma and managerial leadership: The gift that never was. Business Horizons, 41(4), 19-26.
Pillai, Rajnandini, Schriesheim, Chester A., & Williams, Eric S. (1999). Fairness perceptions and trust as mediators for transformational and transactional leadership: A two-sample study. Journal of Management. 25(6), 897-933.
Pierce, Jon L. and John W. Newstrom (2011) 6th edition. Leaders and the Leadership Process.
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority”. The idea of the quote can be explained by Charismatic Leadership that founded by Max Weber in the 1920’s. Sociologist Max Weber defined charismatic leadership as individuals who possess “a gift of grace”. Charismatic leaders have strong visionary qualities and the ability to engage others in action. Furthermore, he also defines charismatic leaders are like hero or people with extraordinary qualities (12Manage, 2016). Weber (1947) stated that leaders with high charisma often be viewed as they have endowed with exceptional powers.
Is based on perception and how people perceive a leader and how well the person is able to communicate and inspire others will greatly affect how successful they can become. For example, a principal in a school has to have a certain amount of charisma, being able to communicate to the staff, parents, and student to about the vision of school. Much like a politician, the principal has to exude confidence in their vision but also must open up to others so that can align themselves with their followers. The principal can reward their followers by mentoring, training, and sharing leadership roles so that their followers can grow and becomes administrators
Yukl, G. (1999). An evaluation of conceptual weaknesses in transformational and charismatic leadership theories. The Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 285-305.
Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Transformational and Charismatic Leadership:: the Road Ahead. Emerald Group Publishing.
Willis, Gary. Certain Trumpets: The Nature Of Leadership. New York , New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
To become a truly effective leader, one must encapsulate the various behaviors related to the aforementioned course learnings in his/her persona and demonstrate such behaviors daily. This course has allowed me to identify four behaviors that all leaders must portray to be effective. The first of which is that a leader must be inspirational. To do so, a leader must set the appropriate vision and direction for the organization and provide a path to achieving defined goals. Additionally, a leader must induce the proper levels of motivation so that each employee has sufficient incentive to work towards the organization’s goals. As discussed in the class, motivation can be accomplished by factors such as rewarding hard work and providing the correct opportunities to employees. While these are motivating in that employees desire to be fairly compensated and to be doing work they deem valuable, inspiration comes more from organizational culture. A leader will be inspirational by setting a tone that appreciates each employee’s contribution, no matter how small in scale it is. Further, employees are inspired when they work collaboratively in a group setting and can capitalize on individual strengths to drive organizational goals.
As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.
Charismatic individuals can brighten a room by genuinely expressing their feelings. By doing this they have the ability to affect the moods and emotions of others. They demonstrate an acute ability to read-off others emotions and adjust accordingly to make a stronger connection. They have the understanding and control over their own feelings that prevent them from an emotional outburst unless they mean it. (Riggio, 2010)
Leadership Theories and Studies. (2009). In Encyclopedia of Management. Retrieved July 20, 2011 from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3273100155.html
According to McLaurin & Al Amri (2008) charismatic leaders can be defined as those who have a high self confidence, a clear vision, engage in unconventional behavior and action as a change agent, and while remaining realistic about environmental constraints. When you hear the names President Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, Adolf Hitler or Larry Ellison; whether or not one can categorize their leadership style, most people are familiar with the effect that these leaders have had on society or business. These leaders have demonstrated qualities that have caused them to be known as “charismatic leaders.”
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Dubrin, A. J. (2007). Charismatic and transformational leadership. In Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (5th ed., pp. 83-98). Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
In this style of leadership, the charm of such an individual makes their followers seek their leadership without questioning them. Charismatic leaders are essentially very good communicators. They are able to relate and communicate with their followers in ways that a normal everyday individual would not be able to. Charismatic leaders are not only able to co...
A charismatic leader is one whose followers are drawn to his or her personality and magnetism. They have extraordinary qualities and are described as almost god-like to those that follow them and look up to them. With being a team leader, their whole purpose is to try and allow for their passion and enthusiasm to rub off on their team members by portraying a positive and energetic attitude. Charisma stems from participating in something you truly have a passion for, something that undoubtedly sparks your interest. Charismatic leaders seem to become apparent in troubled times, whether it being within personal relationships or within an organization, simply because an inspiring personality helps to reduce any stress or anxiety amongst its followers. Charismatic leaders strongly appeal to the values and morals of their followers and the psychological ...