Leadership Dynamics [Paperback]

Leadership Dynamicsis for leaders and aspiring leaders who want to learn more about the practicalities of the leader-follower relationship and the concepts of effective leadership. Emphasizing the transactional view of leadership as a two-way process of influence, it covers recent research findings (with more than 300 citations) and highlights such crucial topics as attaining and maintaining the leader role and making needed changes.Edwin P. Hollanderhas written extensively on leadership and related topics in social psychology. He is Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he has also served as Provost of Social Sciences. A Columbia Ph.D., he began his leadership research while on duty as a navel aviation psychologist, and has taught at Carnegie-Mellon, Washington (St. Louis), and American universities, with visiting appointments at Istanbul, Wisconsin, Harvard, and Oxford universities. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Hollander is former president of its Division of General Psychology.Chapter 1

Leadership: What Is It?

Mention the termleadershipand to most people it is likely to suggest an image of action and power. Leaders of social movements, political leaders, military commanders, and corporate and union heads may readily spring to mind. They usually are highly visible and often have compelling personalities. Not all leaders are like that, of course, nor does leadership require it.

Compared to the high-intensity extreme, a good deal of leadership is not especially noted for power or drama. However, its effects are generally felt more directly. This is leadership in which managers and supervisors direct activities within organizations and groups. Their mode of operation involves personal influence, often from a base of organizational authority.

Whether in the affairs of nations or in the many components of a society, thequalityof leadershil#: