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Historical Overview of Leadership The Concept of Leadership What is leadership? To begin with, as a modern English word “leadership” has two parts: (1) the stem “leader,” and (2) and the suffix “ship.” The word “leader” is derived from lead, which originates with the Old Germanic word lai?â (road, journey), and also the Old English líðan, from the Old Norse líða (to go, travel). Put simply, lead is a journey word. Thus, to lead means to show someone the way. And to be a leader simply means that you are a person who shows others the way. Now, the problem with the suffix –ship is that it is ambiguous. In one sense, it suggests that being a leader involves ability or skill, as with craftsmanship or scholarship. However, it also can refer to position or status, as with lordship or friendship. In this second sense, the word leadership only refers to people in a position as leader. Historically, other terms, albeit with generally simpler meanings, were in used to express the leader’s role and skill or ability. For instance the Egyptian hieroglyphics for leadership (seshemet), leader (seshemu) and follower (shemsu) were written 5,000 years ago. Indeed, throughout the historic records most cultures and language have words that we might now translate as ‘chief,’ ‘head of state,’ ‘general,’ ‘king,’ ‘prince,’ to identify leaders. Moreover, the universality of parenthood means there has always been a basic pattern of leadership across all cultures and all past ages. Major Historical Eras

A. Tribal (prior to early civilizations) B. Pre-­?industrial (antiquity to industrial revolution)

a. Antiquity b. Middle-­?Ages c. Renaissance

C. Industrial (administration, management, & transactional leadership) a. Industrial administration b. Scientific management c. Transactional leadership

D. Post-­?industrial (transformational leadership) A. Tribal Leadership The earliest forms of leadership occurred both in the context of family and hunting groups. Within family groups the eldest male was typically the one who coordinated the activities of the family group. This leader role was passed down from father to eldest son. When family groups expanded into multifamily tribal groups, similar patriarchal patterns remained. In the case of hunting parties, it was generally the most skillful hunters who would coordinate collaborative strategies to track, stalk and kill prey. Similarly, these skillful hunters would also coordinate raiding parties.

LDRS 302: Unit 1 Notes

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Characteristics of Tribal Leadership • Family-­?centric form of leadership • Leaders were “elected” based on size, strength, and agility • Leadership based on fear • Role as group coordinator and skilled expert • Directive and task-­?oriented

Implications for Tribal Leaders

• Brute force accepted, fear-­?based • Survival skills rule, but social skills are a plus • Coordinator, skilled expert

Implications for Tribal Followers

• Failure to follow leads to death • Follower’s role important for tribal success • Long-­?term power derived from survival skills

B. Pre-­?Industrial Leadership About 10,000-­?12,000 years ago human beings began to domesticate plants and animals, which allow them to produce food surpluses. This transition to agriculture, called the Neolithic revolution, has taken place independently in different parts of the world multiple times. It allowed settlements to develop, villages grew into towns, towns into cities, and ultimately the great civilizations of antiquity emerged. In the ancient world, agrarian ideas were very important. Hesiod, Aristotle, and Xenophon promoted them in Greece. And Roman thinkers as Cato, Cicero, Horace, and Virgil also praised the virtues of a farmer’s life devoted to the tilling of the soil. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, there numerous systems of feudal land tenure emerged, all founded on the backs of farmers. In China, and other Eastern societies influenced by Confucianism, the farmer was considered an esteemed productive member of society, whereas merchants who made money were looked down upon. In places like China, the society was largely agrarian until the late 20th century. Indeed, much of the undeveloped and developing world is still agrarian in nature. Characteristics of Pre-­?Industrial Leadership

• Concerned with spirituality/myth • Claimed divinity and/or power made legitimate by the “mandate of heaven” • Power of the ruling class rested on their control of arable land, leading to a

class society based upon the exploitation of the peasants who farm these lands, typically under serfdom

• Death was feared • Kings/emperors and queens/empresses

LDRS 302: Unit 1 Notes

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Implications for Pre-­?Industrial Leaders • Spiritually or magically endowed • Male dominant • “Rulers” and “priests” in collusion • Brutality and oppression justified

Implications for Pre-­?Industrial Followers

• Subservient role • Vessels to be filled with spiritual teachings or law • Subhuman treatment accepted • Follow because of or through fear

C. Industrial Leadership Beginning in 1760 in Europe there was a transition to new manufacturing processes. The invention and use of machines to power production changed the way things were made, and it also change the nature of work and how work was managed. Industrial principles of management emerged and were liberally applied in all areas of modern life, from factories to governments, schools, and hospitals and beyond. Characteristics of Industrial Leadership

• Based on the “division of labor” principle • Production at minimal costs • Stability • Workers are inefficient • Do what it takes to get the job done • Organize, control, command, decide, and manipulate for results

Implications for Industrial Leaders

• Production at all costs • Labor is infinite • Leaders lead and divide labor • Organize, control, command, decide, and manipulate for results

Implications for Industrial Followers

• Hard work expected, and “builds character” • Chaos is the downfall of the policy-­?driven organization • No one is indispensable • Workers considered lazy and inefficient

LDRS 302: Unit 1 Notes

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D. Post-­?Industrial Leadership Economically speaking, post-­?industrial society refers to the stage of a society’s development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. Some have termed it the information age, or knowledge age, or also the creative age. From a leadership perspective post-­? industrial leadership reflects the fundamental shift from transactional leadership to transformational leadership. The driving force, here, is responding to change. It’s also recognition that people are not machines to be managed, but need to be lead. Characteristics of Post-­?Industrial Leadership

• The change game • Increase quality • Total Quality Management (TQM) • Empowerment • Enhances the motivation, morale, and performance of followers

Implications for Post-­?Industrial Leaders

• Stability no longer the key • Change game, TQM, and re-­?engineering • Change agent, visionary for transformational change • Empowerment is the mantra, “Unlock the potential of everyone” • Social change, collaboration, and risk leadership models

Implications for Post-­?Industrial Followers

• Everyone has a worth value • Collaboration means more power for followers, shared power • Intimate involvement with total organizational change • Equal partner in the leadership relationship • Followers’ needs met