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Charismatic leadership in organizations. By Jay A. Conger and Rabindra N. Kanungo. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 1998. Pp. viii + 288. Paper, L17.99. ISBN 0 7619 1634 2.
For many years the study of leadership in organizational and social psychology focused mainly on direct supervision of small groups and on two basic dimensions that were believed to define the leader's 'style': a task orientation and a people orientation. In the last 15 years or so, the field has undergone a major transformation, and the attention of scholars and researchers has shifted to the study of different leadership processes, alternatively called 'charismatic', 'transformational', 'visionary', and 'inspirational'.
In comparison with older approaches, the more recent theories, called the `New Leadership' theories by Bryman (1992) have several major advantages. They have released the study of leadership in organizations from the theoretical constraints imposed by focusing on the social psychology of small groups. They have enriched the theoretical frameworks used in this field by examining the potential relevance of leadership theories and concepts from other fields: political leadership, leadership of collective movements, and even religious and artistic leadership. The use of literature from other disciplines, primarily history, political science and sociology infused a new spirit to the study of leadership in organization. An added advantage of this development is that the study of leadership in organizations is no longer confined to the study of immediate supervisors of small groups, but also examines the processes of top-level leadership of entire organizations. Furthermore, the New Leadership theories, in comparison with older approaches, focus more clearly on the essence of the leadership phenomenon, as distinct from management, namely on the processes by which leaders contribute to the integration of individual organizational members into a collectivity, and motivate and guide them toward the achievement of collective goals.
The authors of this book, Jay A. Conger and Rabindra N. Kanungo were among the most influential contributors to these developments by proposing a behavioural theory of charismatic leadership based on attribution theory (Conger & Kanungo, 1987), editing a book that presented a variety of theoretical and reseach approaches to the topic (Conger & Kanungo, 1988), and publishing a book that offered further theoretical insights on the basis of in-depth case studies of organizational charismatic leaders...