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ABSTRACT
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How
is the phenomenon of organizational leadership understood by 4 role groups – chief
executive officers, internal leadership consultants, external leadership
consultants, and leadership scholars? Narrative data were collected from a
sample of 4 people within each role group. An expert panel nominated the
study's participants. The expert
panel included representation from each role group, and was formed by
contributors to <italic>Leader of the Future </italic>, published
by Jossey-Bass in 1996, as part of the Drucker
Foundation Future Series. The study explored the relationship between role
and leadership understanding to deepen understanding of the relationship of
this study's specific role groups to the
phenomenon of organizational leadership. The conceptual framework for this
study included consideration of 3 elements: role, leadership understanding,
and the description and perceptions of the study's specific role
groups within and across role groups. As used in this study, understanding
was defined as the comprehension of meaning. Specifically, understanding was
used in the study to include conceptions, definitions, perspectives, values,
and expressions of the concept of organizational leadership. The study was
directed at the phenomenon of leadership at the organizational level, to the
exclusion of other types of leadership venues. The volunteer-participants in
the study consented to having their narratives recorded. The
narrative-interviews were recorded and transcribed for participant review and
comment. The narratives were qualitatively analyzed using an interpretive
approach. The results of the analysis are presented in table and text
formats. Five conclusions resulted from the study. First, differing life
experiences and choices affect membership in a role group. Second, role
influenced how participants understand leadership. Third, the differences in
leadership understanding appeared greater between the chief executives and
scholars than the consultant-groups, where greater similarity of
understanding was expressed. Fourth, role group membership influenced the
perceptions of how members of other role groups were perceived. Fifth, study
group members perceived and confirmed an absence of dialogue on leadership
understanding between or among these role groups. There are 2 limitations to
this study. First, is the small sample size of each group.
The sample size (16 participants) produced rich and thick data description,
but precludes broad generalizations among these role groups. Secondly, the
chief executive officers in the study all worked in the nonprofit
or association sector of the economy. While the tasks of leadership may not
differ between the nonprofit and profit segments of
the economy, further research among for-profit chief executives on the
relationship between role and leadership understanding would add to deepening
knowledge at the intersection of role and leadership understanding. Broadly,
this study confirmed that there are similarities and differences in the ways
that these role groups understand the leadership phenomena. The real and
perceptual differences may contribute to the growth of leadership studies and
the leadership development industry.
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