The term leadership
is a newly addition to the English language. It has been in
about two hundred years ago, although the term leader, from which it was
appeared as early as A.D. 1300
usually define leadership according to their individual perspectives and the
the phenomenon of most interest to them. After a comprehensive review of the
literature, Stogdill (1974, p259) concluded that “there are many
of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept of
new definitions of leadership has continued unabated since Stogdill made his
Leadership has been defined in terms of traits, behaviours, influences,
patterns, role relationships, and occupation of a position.
conceptions of leadership imply that at various times one or
members can be identified as a leader according to some observable
between the person(s) and other members, who are referred to as “followers” or
According to Janda (1960), definitions of leadership as a phenomenon
the interaction between two or more persons. In addition, most definitions of
reflect the assumption that leadership involves an influencing process whereby
intentional influence is exerted by
the leader over followers.
purpose may be to identify leaders, to define how they are selected, to
do, to discover why they are effective, or to determine whether they are
As Karmel (1978, p. 476) notes: “It is consequently very difficult to settle
definition of leadership that is general enough to accommodate these many
specific enough to serve as an operationalization of the variable”.
to Gratton (2007), the new leadership agenda is based on enabling people to
skilfully and co-operatively within and across the boundaries of the company.
must ignite energy and excitement through asking inspiring questions or
vision of the future.
for leaders is that such conditions are emergent rather than controlled and
The old leadership rules of command and control have little effect (Gratton,