Leadership: A Communication Perspective (4th ed.)

Robyn Walker (Department of Management, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand)

Women in Management Review

ISSN: 0964-9425

Article publication date: 1 January 2004

1705

Keywords

Citation

Walker, R. (2004), "Leadership: A Communication Perspective (4th ed.)", Women in Management Review, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 65-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/wimr.2004.19.1.65.1

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Besides its sheer popularity as a topic, there is undoubtedly a mystique about leadership. Leadership excites the imagination and the emotions, but few can agree about what it comprises. Yet, since the fascination with leadership is widespread and ongoing, people continue to write about leaders and leadership. Grint (1995) tells us that we can count on at least four leadership articles per day within English language management journals.

Biographies are produced of prominent women and prominent men and their exemplary “leadership” achievements are extolled. Those aspiring to leadership greatness are encouraged to emulate the achievements of sporting heroes and business greats or learn from their mistakes. Within business, this phenomenon called leadership is either maligned as the cause of, or revered as the answer to, organisational woes. It is a subject of seemingly endless dispute and of fads and fashions (including Covey’s effectiveness movement, the hero manager phenomenon, etc.). All of these warrant examination. Accordingly, there are some compelling reasons for writing a communication text that will give both students and practitioners an introduction to some of the main themes in leadership scholarship.

However, although it is useful to consider communication aspects of leadership, the danger is that any general book will present a simplistic interpretation of leaders and leadership. I am afraid that this book may be one example – a mix of selective reporting of leadership research and “how‐to” formulae for displaying leadership characteristics.

So let us look at the fourth edition of the text Leadership: A Communication Perspective. I begin with what authors Hackman and Johnson tell us:

Leadership: A Communication Perspective emphasises both theory and practice because we contend that leadership is a symbolic process and that leaders are made, not born. Leadership competence is the product of communication competence (p. xv).

I agree that communication competence is a necessary condition for leadership, but probably not a sufficient one. And, as a communication perspective on leadership, this book really stumped me. I was torn between admiration and disappointment. Like so many texts aimed at (presumably) an undergraduate tertiary student market, it contained some slick, well‐tested features that succeed in making it both accessible and familiar. The book is well‐written and has a certain internal logic, with 12 clearly delineated topics (chapters) that fit nicely into a standard university semester – a boon (instrumentally speaking) from both tutors’ and students’ points of view. Chapters begin with an overview of the headings and subheadings. Although the learning objectives we have come to expect are notably absent, the headings are useful and adequate pointers to key themes. Incorporated into the text are abundant examples and anecdotes, with boxed cases and self‐assessment exercises to encourage active learning. An interesting, but at times slightly distracting, feature of the text is that it is interspersed with leadership/communication quotes from sources as disparate as Lord Byron and Denzel Washington. The relevance of these segments to the surrounding text is not always clear. For example, in the midst of a section on the behavioural model of charisma, Theodore Roosevelt is quoted: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” (p. 114). Hmmm!

Each chapter includes a fairly lengthy and informative “Summary”, “Application exercises” for the individual and group, and an interesting section called “Cultural connections”. “Leadership on the big screen” identifies an award‐winning film that can be used by students or trainers as a dramatisation of leadership principles and a touchstone for some of the lessons introduced. Using movies seems like a good idea for a generation of video‐veggies, and is surely an appealing and accessible way of incorporating a sense of shared experience.

The book unfolds fairly routinely in basically three sections: the first section (Chapters 1‐6) provides the broad conceptual background, the opening chapter introducing the rudiments of a leadership definition (emphasising key themes of influence, group context and collaboration) and the interpretation of communication on which the book is founded. A superficial distinction is drawn between leaders and managers, implicit in which is the assumption] that we know what is meant by leadership and, further, that we know what is meant by management. What is more, the answer is simple: “managers are people who do things right and leaders do the right thing” (p. 13). Surely we can do better than that! More interesting is consideration of the leader‐follower relationship providing the basis for a discussion of leader‐follower communication styles in Chapter 2.

Chapters 3 and 4 provide an overview of some influential contributions to leadership theory and here the usual suspects are trotted out (e.g. trait theory, contingency, and transformational approaches). Chapters 5 and 6 focus on the two key elements of power and influence. Considering the centrality of these concepts, it took a while to get to them. Disappointingly, the focus is on shallow compliance and credibility‐building strategies to the exclusion of a deeper exploration of power and influence. Further, while the power chapter includes a once‐over‐lightly of empowerment, it worries me that the discussion of power and leadership hinges on French and Raven’s model of organisational power, while more complex alternatives are omitted.

The second broad section (Chapters 7‐9) addresses application by highlighting leadership in various contexts. “Leadership in groups and teams” (Chapter 7) makes passing reference to emergent leadership in groups and challenging aspects such as virtual/remote teams, but the main thrust of the chapter is toward strategies for managing group interaction. Although organisational leadership is acknowledged throughout the text in Chapter 8, “Leadership in organizations”, focuses primarily on a simplistic view of organisational culture and symbolic leadership. “Public leadership” is a welcome inclusion as a discrete subject. Yet analysis of Chapter 9 indicates little engagement with leadership, the authors preferring to emphasise public relations and audience influence strategies.

As is often the case, some really significant themes are left to last. The third section (Chapters 10‐12) highlights “important leadership issues” identified by the authors. Important issues apparently include managing diversity – acknowledged here as “the core of leadership”. Especially prominent in this chapter are the advantages of cultural and gender diversity, and a discussion of male and female leadership. The next chapter addresses ethical leadership, ethical perspectives and courageous followership. I feel that the text would be strengthened by more careful melding of these key themes of diversity and ethics into the broader discussion earlier in the book. To be fair, both are touched on in earlier examples, reflecting the authors’ experiences working in the USA and abroad – Hackman in Italy, Austria, The Netherlands and New Zealand and Johnson in Kenya. However, I had the sense they were “add‐ons” rather than integrated aspects of the whole.

Yet values and ethics are arguably among the most defining features of what constitutes an effective leader. In a world where prime ministers and presidents appeal to the public on moral grounds, surely there are some real issues to explore and question. Two prominent current Anglo‐American examples of leadership have recently impacted in a major way on world events, highlighting the complexities inherent in leadership. Britain’s Tony Blair professes to be an advocate of ethical leadership. Yet he aligns himself with other leaders who, as in the case of Uzbekistan, inflict such tortures as boiling dissenters to death! (Monbiot, 2003, p. 13). President Bush appeals to the world to participate in a war to overthrow a tyrannical regime in one part of the world, yet continues to support corrupt regimes elsewhere. A quick glance at the headlines shows that leadership and the issues surrounding leadership are far from clear‐cut. The closing chapter of Hackman and Johnson’s book is titled “Leadership development” and, again, tends to highlight processes and strategies at the expense of analysis.

Overall, despite overlooking some theorists who I would class as key contributors (e.g. Mary Parker Follet) Leadership: A Communication Perspective does a useful job in identifying and summarising many of the main contributions to the body of knowledge on leaders and leadership. The text brings together a profusion of theory, research, examples, application and insight within its 429 pages. On the face of it, this book has something to offer students from diverse areas of communication and organisation studies, not least as a bibliographic reference.

So far, so good. But I do have some real concerns. It was a surprise to me to find that the text differed so little from a number of texts on leadership coming out of the mainstream management literature. This fact might, on one hand, seem to endorse its content. However, on the other hand, it points to what is missing from the text. The book’s positioning as “a communication perspective” implies that a communication critique of the theory will be a pervasive feature. Notwithstanding the presentation of counter‐views and alternative theories, I felt the need for a more dialogic and reflective tone. I craved the thoughtful scepticism about leaders and leadership evident in the writings of, for example, Alvesson and Sveningsson (2003) or Grint (1995, 1997) and the critical perspective so skilfully blended into the communication text of Cheney et al. (2004). In short, I wished to hear much more of the authors’ own voices as they engaged with the material they presented.

It would be unfair to suggest that alternative views and complexities are entirely absent. For example, the book acknowledges that charisma has both positive and “dark” sides, that group work has its pitfalls, and that crises can bring out the best and worst in organisations and people. Yet, how much better to use these insights to bolster discussion, rather than merely present “findings” from various researchers.

There are some minor irritations that, in spite of the authors’ attempts to position the book as more inclusive, establish it as another essentially “American” textbook. One example of this is the practice (even when the location is glaringly obvious from the context) of attaching the name of the country when mentioning any city outside the USA (“Florence, Italy”; “Brighton, England”). Another example is the use of US categories in the diversity profile (“I am: African American, Asian American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Native American, other”). If one were to administer that questionnaire in another cultural context, the findings would be meaningless. These are, as I say, minor points, probably revealing more about the reviewer than the reviewed.

In summary, if you are seeking information about what leadership research has been carried out and received attention, then this book has it. If you want some useful cases and exercises that might serve to provoke discussion for class groups or training seminars, then this book has them. Further, it has some useful “how‐to” points that are always a hit with students (how to mount a persuasive campaign, how not to emerge as a leader, how to empower others, how to build your own credibility and guidelines for organisational influence tactics).

To what extent it is fair to demand much more of a general text is open to debate. The book could be a very good resource as a background text alongside a range of more focussed studies, or in the hands of a thoughtful tutor or trainer who is capable of stimulating discussion and exploring controversies around these points. However, if you expect more, in particular evidence of integration and reflective consideration, then I suggest that you might find this book wanting.

References

Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S. (2003), “The great disappearing act: Difficulties in doing ‘leadership’”, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 14, pp. 35981.

Cheney, G., Christensen, L.T., Zorn, T.E. and Ganesh, S. (2004), Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalisation: Issues, Reflections, Practices, Waveland Press, Inc., Prospect Heights, IL.

Grint, K. (1995), Management: A Sociological Introduction, Polity Press, Oxford.

Grint, K. (1997), Leadership: Classical, Contemporary, and Critical Approaches, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Monbiot, G. (2003), “Tony Blair’s new friend”, The Guardian Weekly, 6‐12 November, p. 13.

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