THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW – AN OVERVIEW OF LEADERSHIP

“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations” – Peter Drucker, Austrian management consultant, educator and author The literature reviews serve as a summary of which aspects were investigated and researched for the study. The literature reviews are also applied as a framework to provide an understanding of the multi-dimensional concept of leadership
communication and what this concept consists of.
The research of leadership communication can however only be conducted after the two key terms, namely leadership and communication are explored separately. This gave rise to firstly holistically focusing on an overview of leadership (Chapter 2), and secondly focusing specifically on the relationship between organisational leadership and communication (Chapter 3). The literature review for the study concludes with a third literature chapter exploring leadership communication (Chapter 4).
Before leadership communication and the substance of leadership communication can be discussed in Chapter 4, the results of a literature review on leadership will be highlighted within this chapter and further discussed in Chapter 3.

INTRODUCTION

Leadership is a concept that consists of several aspects and therefore it is imperative to firstly focus on a general overview of leadership before discussing leadership styles, characteristics, skills, traits and approaches. The term leadership is globally used without taking into account various sub-terms. Therefore it was imperative not only to research different definitions of what leadership portrays, but also to take cognisance of various aspects regarding leadership, such as: The history of leadership; the fundamentals of leadership; various definitions proposed for leadership; the differences between leadership and being a leader; what organisational leadership entails; leadership styles, characteristics, skills, traits and various approaches. This chapter concludes with
the development and formulation of a contextual definition to characterise leadership within the study. The term leadership is also further researched by means of the current study’s data collection phase, which consists of a gap-analysis of employee perceptions and expectations on leadership communication.

BACKGROUND OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership has been researched within various fields of study and also explored by various authors. Harvey and Riggio (2011:12) conducted various textbook reviews through their own research and found that even though the backgrounds of leadership textbook authors are diverse, the content of major textbooks is surprisingly similar. Therefore, taking the research by Harvey and Riggio into account as a basis for an in-depth focus on different viewpoints within the body of knowledge regarding leadership, the current study’s literature research was conducted by means of textbooks and academic journal articles literature reviews.
The focus of the literature reviews in Chapter 2 was to get more clarity on the term leadership. The sub-terms, as identified, will also be reviewed and discussed seeking to formulate a definition most appropriate for the current study’s research to characterise leadership. This can possibly assist in the formulation of a new definition of leadership if the current research is lacking certain key elements.

The history of leadership studies

Harvey and Riggio (2011:39) noted that the study of leadership is as old as the study of politics and history. These authors continued by stating that leadership is the art and science of directing and mobilising group efforts to achieve mutually desired goals.
Furthermore, leadership goes back as far as the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BC when there were three different models for leadership: rule by one (monarchy), rule by few (oligarchy) and rule by many (democracy). Within the era of Plato, during the early fourth century, leadership was seen as a highly specialised task that required training, skills, discipline, and the right temperament. Leaders were seen as made, not born, and that only the best in society would become leaders, as the training of the leaders was demanding and difficult. It was also seen that ego and the drive for power or control or glory might possibly also motivate the leader to abuse power and overreach (Harvey & Riggio, 2011:41). The Greek philosopher Socrates was in agreement with the view of Plato, in that leadership could be taught.
Focusing on the past twenty years of research regarding leadership, it was found that leadership is influenced by driving forces such as: competition, changing nature of work, and shifting employee expectations (Shelton, 1997:6). Kaplan and Norton (2001:17) added that the art of leadership is to delicately balance the tension between stability and change.
Pretorius (2013:112) on the other hand concurred that leadership in general not only influences the organisational environment but also determines the political environment, social development, economic growth, and business success within a society. This is in agreement with the research by Wren (in Harvey & Riggio, 2011:68) that the analytical and historical nature of leadership has five elements to be taken into account: (1) change (i.e. dynamism of human endeavours), (2) causation (i.e. why certain particular changes occur), (3) context (i.e. closely related to causation, but focused more on circumstances), (4) character (i.e. the role of an individual in history) and (5) connections (i.e. connecting change, causation, context and character). These elements help create an understanding of what leadership is and complexity (i.e. fluctuating challenges and working environments) can be added as a sixth element.
However, leadership should also be viewed on a global scale and that globally responsible leadership comes together through integrity, holistic thinking and responsibility (Rob, in Gold, Thorpe, & Mumford, 2010:194).
Although the history of leadership studies assists in a better understanding of leadership, the fundamentals of leadership should be researched to understand the linkages related to the term leadership. The fundamentals of leadership are detailed in the section to follow.

The fundamentals of leadership

According to Hickman and Silva (1989:26) leadership requires that a person becomes visionary and realistic, sensitive and demanding, innovative and practical; and by linking these aspects with the element of complexity, there are certain challenges that are associated with leadership. Therefore, leaders who achieve this element of complexity, and the associated challenges, are those who do things first, sometimes before others even dream or think about it and they thrive on always being on the edge of new trends and ideas.
However, to be on the edge of new trends and ideas, it will require comprehension, understanding and knowledge of the fundamentals of leadership. In a study by Landsberg (2000:ix) the following six points were proposed as the basis of leadership: (1) The essence of leadership = vision x inspiration x momentum, meaning that anyone who personally engages with his or her team to create vision and inspiration and momentum will almost certainly be regarded as a leader; (2) leadership almost always involves initiating and driving, meaning that nowadays there are no ‘status quos’ and no leader can preside serenely over an organisation that he or she fails to develop; (3) leadership is a highly creative activity, and therefore, successful leaders are adept at encouraging the initiative and creativity of the people that make up their organisation; (4) leadership is an intrinsically interpersonal activity, saying that, effective leaders typically spend at least 80 per cent of their time talking to people; (5) the leader is always more effective when he or she gets the relevant people to ‘buy in’ to his or her proposals, as occasionally, the leader does need to act without having built a consensus beforehand; and (6) timing is important when developing a career as a leader, in that most successful leaders assert that they were lucky to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of their particular leadership skills.
This overview of the history and fundamentals of leadership led to some of the following questions: What is leadership? How is leadership defined? Who is responsible for leadership? These three questions are addressed by taking a more comprehensive look at the definitions of leadership in the next section.

Definitions of leadership

Focusing on a definitional landscape for what leadership is, four primary definitional themes of leadership have been identified: (1) Leadership is about who you are (i.e. focusing on leader traits and attributes); (2) leadership is about how you act (i.e. defined as an exercise of influence and power; a culture-influencing activity that involves the management of meaning); (3) leadership is about what you do (i.e. focusing on the importance of followers; leaders channel their influence and encourage change in order to meet the needs or reach the goals of a group); and (4) leadership is about how to work with others (i.e. emphasising collaboration; and success is the product of joint efforts by both leaders and followers) (Hackman & Johnson, 2009:10).

ADDENDUM A: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
ADDENDUM B: ABSTRACT 
ADDENDUM C: TABLE OF CONTENTS 
ADDENDUM D: LIST OF TABLE 
CHAPTER 1: ORIENTATION AND BACKGROUND 
1.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3 PURPOSE STATEMENT
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.5 ACADEMIC VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY 5
1.6 DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS 6
1.6.1 Leadership
1.6.2 Communication Management
1.6.3 Leadership Communication
1.7 DESCRIPTION OF INQUIRY STRATEGY AND BROAD RESEARCH DESIGN
1.7.1 Delimitations of the study
1.7.2 Assumptions of the study
1.8 DATA COLLECTION METHOD
1.9 DATA ANALYSIS
1.10 RESEARCH ETHICS
1.11 DEMARCATION OF THE STUDY
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW – AN OVERVIEW OF LEADERSHIP
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 BACKGROUND OF LEADERSHIP
2.3 STYLES AND TYPES OF LEADERSHIP
2.4 LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS, SKILLS AND TRAITS
2.5 LEADERSHIP APPROACHES
2.6 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW – THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 COMMUNICATION
3.3 NEW TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN LEADERSHIP
3.5 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4: LITERATURE REVIEW – LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 CONNECTING LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION
4.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION
4.4 THE SUBSTANCE AND FORMULATION OF LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION FOR
THE STUDY
4.5 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY
5.3 DESCRIPTION OF INQUIRY STRATEGY AND BROAD RESEARCH DESIGN
5.4 SAMPLING
5.6 DATA ANALYSIS
5.7 ASSESSING AND DEMONSTRATING THE QUALITY AND RIGOUR OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN
5.8 RESEARCH ETHICS
5.9 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH RESULTS AND FINDINGS 
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
6.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 7: EVALUATION OF RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION
7.1 INTRODUCTION
7.2 CONCLUSION OF FINDINGS RELATED TO RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
7.3 CONCLUSION OF FINDINGS RELATED TO THE SURVEY results
7.4 ORGANISATIONAL AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
7.5 VERIFICATION STRATEGIES EMPLOYED IN THE STUDY
7.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
7.7 FINAL REMARKS and CONCLUSION
ADDENDUM E: REFERENCES 
APPENDICES
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