Transcending Leadership

A common criticism of contemporary leadership research and theory, both from within the leadership arena and from other organizational theorists, has been that the literature is fragmented and contradictory (Chemers, 1997, p. 151), resulting in multiple leadership paradigms. Gardner (1995) suggests that the broad paradigm of leadership can and should be viewed in terms of a continuum that denotes the capacity of an individual or group to influence others. One way to understand a continuum is by examining its poles - its extremes, if you will (p. 6). Suggesting a less linear perspective, Wheatley (1999) speaks of looking at the leadership phenomenon from a whole system, or gaia perspective, where personal values, traits, personality behaviors and style, contingent situations, environmental or organizational culture, and a host of other seemingly discordant variables form an elaborate matrix, which leads to innumerable permutations in which to view the leadership phenomenon. In contrast to viewing the leadership phenomenon as an integrated web of interpersonal and intrapersonal variables, other researchers believe that the concept of leadership doesn't really exist (Kreitner & Kinicki, 1998) or that leadership is primarily a perceptual construction (Calder, 1977; Meindl, 1990).