Defining Leadership

The Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) report (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, Gupta, 2004) defines leadership as - the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute toward effectiveness and success of the organization of which they are a member (p. 15).

The GLOBE project involved 170 country co-investigators and over time the countries were clustered into 62 societal cultures (a social anthropologist perspective vs polictical science standpoint). The research purports the definition above to be universally endorsed. That position is based on 2 criteria:

1. 95% of the societal averages had to exceed a mean of 5 on a 1 - 7 Scale (7 = high), and
2. The worldwide grand mean score for that attribute (considering all 62 societal cultures together) had to exceed 6 on a 1 - 7 scale. 

Standards used to measure, explore and understand similarities and differences among societal and organization cultures included: 

     Performance Orientation                   Institutional Collectivism
     Gender Egalitarianism                       Uncertainty Avoidance
     In-Group Collectivism                        Future Orientation
     Humane Orientation                          Power Distance
     Assertiveness

Six universally accepted leadership behaviours where identified:

     1.  Charismatic/Value-Based                4.  Team Orientated
     2.  Participative                                   5.  Humane Oriented
     3.  Autonomous                                  6.  Self-Protective

Traits and attitudes associated with these universal behaviours include:
 
       Visionary                          Inspiration                   
       Self-Sacrifice                    Diplomatic
       Integrity                           Collaborative               
       Integrator                         Competent
       Malevolent                        Autocratic                   
       Self-centered                    Status Conscious
       Conflict Inducer                 Face Saver                  
       Procedural                        Non-participative
 
Today there exists hundreds of definitions for leadership (Bennis & Townsend, 1991), and an array of results that have positively and negatively impacted the individuals, groups, communities and organizations being led.
 

Is there room for a universal definition of leadership in a local, national, international, global context?

 

Should a universal definition be used by institutions, organizations, associations, groups and the public to assess, measure and develop the knowledge, skills and competency of leaders?

 

Let us know what you think.

 

References - - Bennis, W., & Townsend, R. (1991). Reinventing leadership [Audiotape]. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
- House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, leadership and organizations: The GLOBE study. CA: Sage.