Charismatic Leadership; A State of the Art

Abstract

In the last decade there has been a substantial increase in the attention given to charismatic leadership both in science and practice. This trend is often called 'the New Leadership'. Central to the New Leadership is the notion that leaders need vision. The New leaders, charismatic leaders, are also referred to as transformational, inspirational or visionary leaders. In this paper several views of charismatic leadership in business organizations rather than charismatic leadership in political arenas or religious movements are the focus. Charismatic leadership is a controversial topic. Many questions are encountered when discussing charisma. Examples are: Is charisma an exceptional phenomenon or is there such a thing as 'everyday charisma'? Is charisma only to be found in the eye of the beholder, in other words merely an idea in the heads of followers? How does the process of motivating followers work? What is the role of the leader's vision? Can charisma be learned? Are there situations that help or hinder the occurrence of charisma? What about the dark side of charisma; is charisma always beneficial? The various theories give different answers to these questions. Aside from these questions there are also some research problems relating to the measurement of charismatic leadership and its effects, it is not inconceivable that other types of leadership or other circumstances could have the same effects. In this paper similarities and differences in the numerous available views of charismatic leadership in business organizations will be explored and several controversial issues and measurement problems will be addressed.