A postmodern resolution to leadership conceptual ambiguities

Abstract

The authors' meta-analysis identified salient characteristics found in the selected leadership research, allowing for a disambiguation of the transformational and charismatic leadership operational traits tied to the scientific management theories first espoused by Frederick Taylor (1911). The meta-analysis comprised selected research studies from 1999 to 2008, and revealed 10 distinctive intrapersonal and interpersonal referents that map the heuristic tools leading to emergent leader and follower behaviors. We propose a postmodern evaluation matrix that reveals structural systematic biases and eliminates modernist conceptual ambiguities tied to the leader-worker dyadic in varying organizational contexts. The findings suggest that leadership researchers should consider complex behavioral decision-making processes that result in emergent group performances instead of focusing on a leader's ephemeral behavioral traits. A postmodern approach also helps researchers identify a group's performance on a continuum that would demonstrate their willingness to act in a way that tests individual limits, stretches group boundaries, and exceeds company goals, what the authors term a Star Trek Affective State. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.