What Are The Pros And Cons Of Charismatic Leadership

In followership there needs to be a leader that inspires and bonds followers together as a unit moving in one direction. Today’s leader has to be more than someone that was placed in a position of authority, a person with a title and a higher salary level. A real leader is found when the behaviors and attitudes of their

The employee devotion to their charismatic leader served as the motivation to perform. “Unlike Weber’s other two types of authority, charismatic authority relies on personal devotion to the figure that possesses the qualities exalted by the followers” (Pellegrino, 2010, p. 65). A flat hierarchy became a part of the work culture, but the owner’s recent retirement created a void within the bakery and exposed a leadership deficit. “Charismatic authority is individually based, and when the charismatic leader leaves the organization, the authority or ability to influence leaves with him or her. Weber believed charismatic authority contributed to unstable organizations and disorderly transition of power from person to another” (Shockley-Zalabak, 2015, p. 76). The leadership void and lack of hierarchy began to erode employee commitment and

The charismatic leadership model is similar to the transformational style of leadership; they focus on treating the followers as a whole person that is a vital part of the organization. The leader will be proactive with problems and find solutions before the problems arise. They will assess the situation, identify the possible problems, analyze the environment for solutions, and verbalize the plan to the team members to produce an effect of on boarding. The leadership model is said to be effective based on the fact that the leader is building on self esteem and self worth issues from the

Ehrhart, M. G., & Klein, K. J. (2001) “Predicting Followers’ Preferences for Charismatic Leadership: The Influence of Follower Values and Personality.” The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 12, 155–79.

One of the strengths of this approach is that it highlights that leaders and followers mutually affect each other, making leadership an interactive activity that is not restricted to only a formal leader. At the same time this approach lacks wide empirical research, specificity and conceptual

Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex

Charismatic leaders are able to inspire emotion and passion in their followers by being optimistic and enthusiastic. Without passionate and emotional employees, an organization will be crippled and unable to face

Antonakis, J., Fenley, M., & Liechti, S. (2011). Can Charisma Be Taught? Tests of Two Interventions. Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 10(3), 374-396. Antonakis et al starts off research by posing a question. “Can leadership, and in particular charisma, be taught? The authors set out to prove in fact that training can training managers a specific set of charismatic leadership tactics not only improves their charisma, but their effectiveness as leaders. Charismatic leadership is defined as by Antonakis et al as being a sub element of transformational leadership. In the first study researchers assigned 34 middle managers from a Swiss company into two groups randomly. One group received training in charisma and the others received no training. The group receiving training were trained in principles on charismatic leadership. In the second study focused on 41 MBA students enrolled in a leadership course at a Swiss public university monitor charismatic leadership. The students were videotaped giving a 4 minute speech addressing problems within the company while also giving a plan of action to staff. After, speech was done, each participant received training in charismatic leadership and was asked to deliver the same speech 6 weeks later by videotape. Results reveal that improvement and effectiveness as a leader were made in both research groups. This study concluded that feedback is important to the growth and development of leaders and must be provided to

Transformational leadership are classified into four components which are pointed out by Bass (1990, p. 28), ‘charisma, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration’. Apart from these basic roles, charisma leadership, a collection of personal characteristics, has its own role of literature since it has similarity with transformational leadership and they are contribution to each other (Bertocci, 2009, p. 43; Judge & Piccolo, 2004, p. 755). Leaders’ behaviour reflects them being role models for their followers. Followers respect, admire and trust their leaders who have charismatic effect on their followers to an extremely high grade are willing to take risks

The leader and follower relationship is looked at as winners and losers, when it is actually a symbiotic association. (Chaleff) Leaders cannot exist without followers and followers cannot exist without a leader. Leaders can forget that they need the backing of a solid team of followers in order to succeed. Because they make the “important” decisions and enjoy an astronomical rate of pay, it is easy to overlook the loyal, hard working individuals that make everything happen under them. Followers too can forget that they are a valuable element of a successful organization, and that their feedback and ideas are welcome.

Bryman, A., 1993, ‘Charismatic leadership in business organisations: some neglected issues’, Leadership Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 289-304.

The basic premise for leadership is the process of influencing other people to follow your lead in order to accomplish a goal. It is about the relationship between the leader and the followers. A good leader tries to motivate people to bring about positive changes revealing a common objective without using coercion or manipulation. Leadership is not about control, but permitting interaction and communication between the leader and the individual followers. With empowering others, leaders build a foundation of collaborative thinking and encourage an atmosphere of personal involvement; a leader can strengthen the respect and loyalty of his or her followers. Leaders can affect this process by applying their own personal characteristics, such

Many great leaders have one thing in common and that is charisma. Charismatic leaders are those that have the capability to inspire and encourage people to do more than they would normally do, despite obstacles and personal sacrifice. (Daft, R.L, pg. 364) Charisma is what provokes energy and commitment out of its followers. These leaders possess the power to motivate their followers to do almost anything. They create an atmosphere of change and express an ideal vision of a better future. The most common characteristics of the charismatic leader involve maturity, communication, humility, and inspiration. These unique qualities impact their followers and conduct themselves in such a way that allows for remarkable results. Then

Leadership is about the interaction between the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p. 15-26). If a given situation changes, the interaction between the leaders and followers can change dramatically. The leaders who understand well this interaction have a huge advantage because leaders are able to:

Researchers have proposed several characteristics of leaders described as ‘charismatic’. The widely accepted characteristics of charismatic leaders are (Bryman et al., 2011, p. 90-91):