In the book Dynamics of Leadership in Public Service, the author, Val Mart, discusses different aspects of leadership and the ways people have to develop their skills in order to become good leaders. In this paper, the critique of one of the chapters of the book, “Leadership Theories: Charismatic and Transformational Approaches” will be developed. The goal of the chapter is to introduce and describe two major styles of leadership in terms of another style, transactional leadership, and five theories developed by different researchers in the middle of the 1980s and the 1990s. This critique aims at discussing the main points of the chapter, its value, and significance for the reader because the identification of a leadership style is crucial for any organization and turns out to be a problem due to the possibility of being overmanaged (Van Wart, 2005).
Key Points of the Article
In the article under analysis, there are several points for consideration. First of all, the author suggests investigating the historical background of charismatic and transformational leadership and introduces three main precursors, such as Weber, who talks about charismatic leadership as the gift of God, House, who uses domination and conviction as the main attributes of leaders, and Burns, who explains the importance of self-interested motivations. Another point of the article is the comparison of charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership styles. The identification of the differences helps to comprehend the essence of the chosen styles in a proper way. Finally, five theories are discussed to investigate the peculiarities of charismatic and transformational approaches. Conger and Kanungo define charisma as the major attribute of any leader that makes a follow to trust in a leader. Meindl and Kets de Vries use the term extreme charisma which explains that followers have to identify themselves with their leaders’ beliefs. Tichy and Devana investigate transformational leadership as the necessity to promote and support changes in organizations. Bass offers to combine transformational and transactional leadership styles to achieve high performance. The theory by Kouzes and Posner shows that transformational leaders have to become models and change supporters and encourage the work of each team member.
Main Contributions
One of the main contributions of the chapter is the possibility to combine different theories and opinions on two styles of leadership. To become a good leader, it is not enough to learn the definitions and follow the examples. It is important to compare the ideas and investigate the weaknesses and strengths of different styles. The comparison table at the end of the chapter may help the reader to organize their thoughts systematically and get the essence of leadership styles in a brief and clear way. The only weakness of the chapter is the absence of powerful examples of real leaders and the ways how they could develop their skills and attributes.
Effects on the Knowledge Base
It is also necessary to underline the effects of the chapter on the knowledge base. In addition to the description of theories, Van Wart focuses on the comparison and defining similar and opposite characteristics of charismatic and transformational leadership. Besides, Van Wart uses transactional leadership as a supportive means for leaders, who cannot decide if charismatic or transformational leadership is appropriate to them. In general, the chapter under analysis helps to investigate charismatic and transformational leadership from different perspectives and clarify that it is wrong to identify which style is better. It is necessary to learn their features and make the right choice regarding personal skills, attitudes, and abilities.
Reference
Van Wart, M. (2005). Dynamics of leadership in public service: Theory and practice. New York, NY: M.E. Sharpe.