Leadership Studies
PBL #1 Reporting Phase
Leadership in Organizations, 8th edition (Yukl)
Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview
Leadership is an imprecise, ambiguous term that has been defined in many ways,
according to the individual perspectives of researchers and which phenomena
researchers select to investigate
o Examples: traits, behaviors, influence, interaction patterns, role relationships, etc.
o “we have invented an endless proliferation of terms to deal with it… and still the
concept is not sufficiently defined” (Bennis, 1959, p. 259)
Because it has so many definitions, it is questioned whether leadership is even useful as a
scientific construct
Leadership definition:
Involves a process whereby intentional influence is exerted over other people to guide
structure, and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization
The process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done
and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to
accomplish shared objectives
1
PBL #1 Reporting Phase
Leadership in Organizations, 8th edition (Yukl)
Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview
Leadership is an imprecise, ambiguous term that has been defined in many ways,
according to the individual perspectives of researchers and which phenomena
researchers select to investigate
o Examples: traits, behaviors, influence, interaction patterns, role relationships, etc.
o “we have invented an endless proliferation of terms to deal with it… and still the
concept is not sufficiently defined” (Bennis, 1959, p. 259)
Because it has so many definitions, it is questioned whether leadership is even useful as a
scientific construct
Leadership definition:
Involves a process whereby intentional influence is exerted over other people to guide
structure, and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization
The process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done
and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to
accomplish shared objectives
1
