charismatic theory

8/6/2019 Charismatic Theory

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What is Charismatic Leadership?

� Charismatic Leadership is defined by Max Weber as"resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroismor exemplary character of an individual person, and of thenormative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him".

� - "a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of

which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated asendowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at leastspecifically exceptional powers or qualities. These aresuch as are not accessible to the ordinary person, but areregarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on thebasis of them the individual concerned is treated as a

leader (...). How the quality in question would beultimately judged from an ethical, aesthetic, or other suchpoint of view is naturally indifferent for the purpose of definition".



� Charismatic people have a remarkableability to distill complex ideas into simplemessages ("I have a dream"); they

communicate by using symbols,analogies, metaphors and stories.Furthermore they relish risk and feelempty without it, they are great

optimists, they are rebels who fightconvention, and they may seemidiosyncratic



ORIGIN OF THE CHARISMATIC

LEADERSHIP MODEL. HISTORY

� German Sociologist Max Weber distinguished back in the 1920's three idealtypes of leadership, domination and

authority:� Charismatic domination (familial and

religious),

� Feudal / Traditional domination (patriarchs,

patrimonalism, feudalism), and� Bureaucratic / Legal domination (modern

law and state, bureaucracy).



� Most recently charisma is being

characterized as theatrical (Gardner &

Alvolio, 1998): charismatic leadership is

an impression management process

enacted theatrically in acts of framing,

scripting, staging, and performing.



Charismatic Theory



What constitutes charisma?

� People may be leaders because they

are charismatic, but relatively little is

known about this intangible

characteristic.

� Charisma is elusive.

Some may sense it,Others do not.



� - most agree that it is an inspirational

quality possessed by some people that

makes others feel better in their

presence.



� - the charismatic leader inspires others

by obtaining emotional commitment from

followers and by arousing strong

feelings of loyalty and enthusiasm.

� - in charismatic leadership, one may

overcome obstacles not thoughtpossible.



� Robert House (1977) used four phrases

to define charismatic leadership:

� Dominant.

� Strong desire to influence others.

� Self-confident.

� Strong sense of one¶s own moral values.



Found that charisma is more likelyattributed to a leader who advocatesvision discrepant from the status quo,

emerges during a crisis, accuratelyasseses the situation, communicatesself confidence, uses personal power,makes self sacrifices, and uses

unconventional strategies.(Conger and Kanungo

,1998)



� Conger & Kanungo (1998) describe five

behavioral attributes of Charismatic

Leaders:

� Vision and articulation.

� Sensitivity to the environment.

� Sensitivity to member needs.

� Personal risk taking.

� Performing unconventional behavior



Charismatic leaders perceive themselves

as having supernatural purpose and

destiny and that followers may idolize and

worship them as spiritual figures andsuperhumans.

y These blind obedience can lead to bad

outcomes, such as group suicide.

y Transformational leaders use charisma for good.

(Bass)

charismatic theory

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