Academic Study of Leadership
According to Robert Donmoyer, the field of leadership studies “only began to
develop during the second half of the twentieth century,” beginning with the theories
presented by James MacGregor Burns (who is considered the founding father of the
field).1 In response to his scholarship, there emerged a wide array of conceptions on what
leadership is, but no consensus on what leadership studies, as a discipline, should consist
of or how it should operate.
A common thread among leadership scholars, however, is acknowledging the
difference between management and leadership—the former deals specifically with
budgeting, delegation, and strategic planning, whereas the latter is more focused on the
“mobilization of people to tackle difficult tasks.” 2 That said, “leadership does not
necessarily mean solving problems, but does mean creating the environment and
facilitating the processes that enable the community to tackle the issues” they are
confronted with.3
The academic study of leadership therefore represents an area of study that is
beyond a mere “position,” but is rather a process and a relationship among people. 4 As
leadership encompasses individual and organizational levels of analysis, and
organizations themselves range in size and function, it is problematic to provide a concise
definition. To do so would invariably oversimplify a complex, dynamic, and evolving
process.5 It is also unrealistic to expect one variation of leadership to work equally for all
organizational contexts. 6 As a result, the study of leadership is best understood as a
complex and diverse field of study, one that utilizes various methodological and
theoretical approaches.
Robert Donmoyer’s course syllabus for LEAD 602: Leadership, Inquiry, and Research, Part I: Conflicting
Conceptions of Leadership and Knowledge,
https://lib.sandiego.edu/uploads/38319/f2ff97ef91131eeac41a631ef586e33a.pdf
2
Tricia Bertram Gallant and Cheryl Getz, “Facing Organizational Complexity and Change: A Case-inPoint Approach to Leadership Development,” in Rethinking Leadership In a Complex, Multicultural, and
Global Environment: New Concepts and Models for Higher Education, ed. Adrianna Kezar (Sterling:
Stylus Publishing, 2009), 97.
3
Ibid.
4
“Jepson School of Leadership Studies,” Richmond University, accessed March 18, 2015,
http://jepson.richmond.edu/about/study.html.
5
David V. Day, “Introduction: Leadership and Organizations,” in The Oxford Handbook of Leadership and
Organizations, ed. David V. Day (New York: The Oxford University Press, 2014), 4
6
Ibid., 5.
1
Largely a leader-centric field of study, leadership has evolved to include followercentric as well as dyadic and team-centric perspectives. Each of these categories can be
divided further, including the study of visionary leadership, 7 destructive leadership, 8
servant leadership,9 authentic leadership,10 team leadership,11 leadership in an executive
context,12 transcendent leadership,13 and so on.
According to the University of Toronto’s Strategic Leadership Advanced
Certificate program, leaders need to know where their organization is headed, how it will
get there, and who is going to make it happen. 14 This is essentially why leadership
development is crucial to all areas of academia and organizations, whether in Business,
Education, Medicine, Engineering, Neuroscience, or Religion. It is, in its very essence,
interdisciplinary.
See: Daan van Knippenberg, M. Venus, and D.A. Stam, (2013). “The Value of Emotion in Visionary
Leadership.” RSM Insight, 15.3, 8-10; Knippenberg, D.L. van “Making Sense of Who We are: Leadership
and Organizational Identity,” in The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Identity, eds. M. Pratt, M. Schulz,
B. Ashforth & D. Ravasi (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
8
Robert B. Kaiser and S. Bartholomew Craig, “Destructive Leadership in and of Organizations,” in The
Oxford Handbook of Leadership and Organizations, ed. David V. Day (New York: The Oxford University
Press, 2014), 260-284.
9
M. Donia, A. Panaccio, and U. Raja, “Servant Leadership and Employee Well-being: The Moderating
Role of Motives” (paper presented at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology annual
meeting, Honolulu, USA, May 2014).
10
Bruce Avolio, S.T. Hannah and F.O. Walumbwa, “Authentic Leadership and Effects on Follower Moral
Courage, Psychological Capital, and Performance,” Business Ethics Quarterly 21.4 (2011), 555-557.
11
James A. Burruss, Debra A. Nunes, and Ruth Wageman, Senior Leadership Teams: What it Takes to
Make them Great (Watertown, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2008).
12
L.A. DeChurch, D. Doty, N.J. Hiller, T. Murase, and E. Salas, (2010). “Leadership Across Levels:
Levels of Leaders and their Levels of Impact,” Leadership Quarterly 21.6 (2010), 1065-1089.
13
John Jacob Zucker Gardiner, “Transcendent Leadership: Pathway to Global Sustainability,” paper
presented at Working Collaboratively for Sustainability International Conference, Seattle University,
Seattle, Washington, April 12, 2009. http://integralleadershipreview.com/1928-transcendent-leadershippathway-to-global-sustainability/
14
“Stratetic Leadership Advanced Certificate,” University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies,
accessed March 18, 2015, http://learn.utoronto.ca/courses-programs/businessprofessionals/certificates/strategic-leadership-advanced-certificate-2.
7