Peter G. Northouse: Leadership - Theory and Practice

Organization Studies, Spring, 1999 by Rainhart Lang

This book is considered by the author to be an 'in-depth presentation of leadership theory and a discussion of how it applies to real situations' (p.15). It is intended for undergraduates and graduates in business, management, communication, political science training and other subjects as a supplementary text in organizational behaviour courses and as an overview text within MBA curricula (p. 15).

I will use these statements about the textbook as a guideline for my review, to which I will add my personal experiences.

The author, Peter Guy Northouse, is Professor of Communication at Western Michigan University and thus has wide experience of teaching communication and leadership to both undergraduate and graduate classes. His research interests include communication in the leader-member relationship, transformational leadership and conflict resolution, especially, but not exclusively, in the field of health services. Four different experts have each contributed a chapter: Mary Ann Bowman from Michigan on 'Popular Approaches to Leadership', Susan E. Kogler Hill from Cleveland State University on 'Team Leadership Theory', Dayle M. Smith from the University of San Francisco on 'Women and Leadership' and Ernest L. Stech, President of Chief Mountain Publishing on 'Psychodynamic Approach'.

The text comprises twelve chapters. The 'Introduction' deals with definitions and characteristics of leadership (trait vs. process, assigned vs. emergent, leadership and power, coercion, management). The other chapters focus on different theoretical approaches to leadership: Trait Approach, Style Approach, Situational Approach, Contingency Approach, Path-Goal Theory, Leader-Member Exchange Theory, Transformational Leadership, Team Leadership Theory and the Psycho-dynamic Approach. The last two chapters provide 'multiple perspectives' on leadership: the 'role of women in leadership', including feminist theories, and 'popular approaches' including themes such as the servant-leader paradigm ('stewardship'), the spiritual-ethical orientation of the leader and the empowerment of followers.

Each chapter is organized in a similar way: there is a text focussing on theory followed by a discussion of its strengths and weaknesses, a section giving the possibilities for using that approach in practice, three case studies, a leadership instrument (usually a questionnaire), a summary and references.

One important strength of the book, which makes it valuable for students, is the clear structure of the argument and the precise description of each approach. This helps the learning process in two ways. First, the text and the (added) case solutions provide a clear learning path. Second, it makes it possible to use the book in a number of ways. For example, the reader can try to solve the case studies without referring to the solutions, or to work with the leadership instrument first, and use the text as a support device. I had the opportunity to use a few cases and instruments in a leadership seminar and really appreciated these features of the book. Both devices are understandable and give students an idea of the concepts. The lack of complexity in the cases seems to be helpful for this purpose. The sections that deal with the theoretical approaches and perspectives are sometimes a little bit short, but, nevertheless, they include the main concepts, patterns, positions and developments.

Although, as an introduction to leadership theory and practice, the book has much to recommend it, there are a few shortcomings with respect to current trends. First, there are a few important topics or concepts of leadership that are not addressed, especially those pertaining to the questions of emergent leadership, political approaches to leadership (e.g. the writings of Pfeffer, Frost, Kipnis et al.), forms of structural leadership (e.g. 'systemic' leadership) or leadership in self-organizing social systems where the influence of the leader is limited (e.g. Cohen and March, Luhmann, Probst), and critical writings on leadership (by e.g. Hedberg, Starbuck, Bransson and others - leadership as myth, Bowles 1997, is neither mentioned nor taken into account), Thus, for a general overview, the selection of approaches is perhaps too selective at times.

Second, a few topics could have been discussed in more detail because of their importance, an example being the charismatic leadership approach (House, Conger and others), which was only mentioned in the chapter on transformational leadership. In addition, intercultural aspects and perspectives on leadership, which are becoming more and more important in this era of globalization, are hardly discussed at all.

Third, to support the learning process, a number of more complex cases could have been included in the volume. By doing so, it would have been possible to avoid the illusion that it is easy to influence and motivate people, thereby presenting managers' tasks in a more realistic light - as complex, dynamic, contradictory and often dilemma-driven.