Theory Leadership
Theory Leadership
Theory Leadership
1. Introduction
Leadership has been among the most researched concepts in behavioral science. Many
definitions and conceptual models have been developed to understand this concept.
Despite the great volume of literature on leadership the challenge of preparing for
leadership remains. While past leadership studies present various descriptions and
prescriptions of how to be an effective leader, there is still a dearth of studies that could
help a learner discern the dimensions of leadership. If these dimensions were identified,
these could serve as handles for learning about leadership and changing ones
leadership style.
A starting point for learning and changing can be facilitated through reflection and selfevaluation. Critical incident analysis is one such useful learning intervention for
organizational development (Davis 2006), for raising cultural awareness (Collins 2007)
and for empowerment in project settings (Tuuli 2010).
To further contribute in broadening the knowledge, we propose a leadership framework
that summarizes dimensions of leadership consisting of four Ps, namely person,
participant, performance, and perspective, while using a tool that would help learners
introspect and analyze events and how these turned life-changing for themselves. Taken
together, the framework and tool could help learners relate their personal experiences to
leadership theories.
The paper is organized starting with a literature review, followed by a proposed four Ps
framework of leadership. The research method is explained, the results are presented,
and conclusions and recommendations for future research are given.
*Dr. Jacinto C. Gavino, Graduate School of Business, Asian Institute of Management,123 Paseo de
Roxas, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Email: jgavino@aim.edu
**Dr. Edwin J. Portugal, Department of Business Administration, State University of New York at Potsdam,
44 Pierrepont Avenue, Potsdam, NY 13676, USA. Email: portugej@potsdam.edu
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The second step was the actual administration of the instrument. Students were asked to
complete the instrument and return the questionnaire. The third step included our
separate analyses of the critical incident narratives. And, the final step involved each of
us independently clustering the responses and subsequently combining the clusters to
ascertain face validity of the final groupings of the critical incidents.
To avoid researcher bias, neither of us was present in the room when the instrument was
administered and we reviewed the responses independently. Furthermore, we did
independent clustering of similar responses, and then in tandem, qualitatively clustered
the responses into meaningful groupings. These groupings were in line with the
proposed four Ps framework. Unexpectedly, we found a fifth cluster that streams across
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Country
Type of Organization
Age
Work Experience
Functional Area
Size of Organization
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Endnotes
1
Gender sensitivity issues were not as stark then as it is now. A leader was assumed to be male, military,
and Western.
2
Michigan Leadership Studies and Ohio State Leadership Studies, among others.
References
Barrow, JC 1977, The variables of leadership: a review and conceptual framework,
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 231-251.
Bolden, R, Gosling, J, Marturano, A, & Dennison, P 2003, A review of leadership theory
and competency frameworks, Report for Chase Consulting and the Management
Standards Centre, Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter, United
Kingdom.
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