Thesis (M.A.)--Liberty Baptist Seminary, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references.

St. Gallen, Univ., Diss., 2007. / Zsfassung in dt. und engl. Sprache.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary, 1986. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-82).

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Charisma has remained an important dimension of humankind’s social life, especially when religion is concerned. This thesis aims to address the question of how charisma is maintained even as it becomes routinized. In the sociology of Max Weber, charisma is defined as the extraordinary quality of a leader recognized by his followers and constitutes a type of authority in contrast to legal-rational and traditional authorities. Weber then proposed the thesis of the routinization of charisma, arguing that charisma was revolutionary, yet also inherently ephemeral and would inevitably be “routinized” into legal-rational or traditional authority. Recent studies have remodeled the concept of charisma based on empirical cases and theoretical contributions provided by prolific literature after Weber. Charisma has been redefined as “the expectation of the extraordinary” and the interdependence of charisma, institution and tradition has been increasingly emphasized, instead of their mutual exclusiveness. To address the question, this study examines the case of Soka Gakkai and Soka Gakkai International (SG&I), a new religion, which originated in prewar Japan. It has established a gigantic organization with an alleged membership of twelve million throughout the world and has developed various institutions affiliated to it. Meanwhile, its current leader, Ikeda Daisaku (池田大作), is well known as a charismatic leader to whom millions of members have expressed personal devotion for over five decades. It specifically focuses on young male Japanese members living in Hong Kong, who can be regarded in the periphery of the organization. This study argues that discipleship of followers is the key to the maintenance of charisma. Discipleship shapes members’ identity, daily practice and lives. Ethnographic accounts on members’ daily activities and the life stories of three members, yielded through eight months of fieldwork, illustrate members’ paths to become disciples and the nature of their discipleship. Also, the techniques employed by the organization to cultivate the discipleship are demonstrated. These include reinterpreting a Japanese traditional concept shitei (mentor and disciple), cultivating discipleship in secular educational institutions and offering rhetorical devices such as commemorative dates. My findings not only enhance our understanding of charisma and its routinization, but also shed light on the daily activities of grassroots members of SG&I, which until recently, have been neglected by literature on SG&I. / published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

<p>Within the business world, there are many examples of more or less successful leadership, but it is not always clear why some leaders are more effective than others. However, it is reasonable to believe that leaders’ successful usage of rhetoric can inspire an entire company and provide the followers with a sense of meaning and purpose, and that this will inspire them to perform towards the leader’s vision.</p><p> </p><p>This thesis explores how successful business leaders apply rhetoric in their leadership. This is done trough a deductive research strategy, which means that the research is grounded in general theory. The theory is then compared to real cases in order to examine similar patterns in reality. Relevant leadership- and rhetoric theory have been applied to speeches preformed by successful business leaders to explore how they use rhetoric in their leadership.</p><p> </p><p>The results suggest that successful business leaders use rhetoric in numerous ways when engaging followers towards accomplishment of their vision, such as classical speech disposition, vision articulation, frame alignment, change rhetoric, and a combination of speech content and delivery. Hence, the skilful use of rhetoric is evidently a critical component of successful leadership.</p>

No description available.

In this thesis I explore the significance of the publication of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique (1963) to the emergence of the second wave Women�s Liberation Movement in the US in the late 1960s. To this end, I deploy key concepts provided through social movement theory (eg collective identity, collective action frames, social problem construction). I also incorporate Max Weber and Antonio Gramsci�s insights on the indispensable role played by leaders who demonstrate a clear and effective political will. Weber�s three part model of pure charisma is used as a general template for understanding the impact of Friedan�s text. I critique aspects of Weber�s theory of charisma, in particular his failure to appreciate that the written word can mark the initial emergence phase of charisma rather than its routinisation. I augment Weber�s insights on charismatic leadership by attending to Gramsci�s emphasis on the necessity of winning the �war of ideas� that must be waged at the level of civil society within advanced capitalist societies. I examine Gramsci�s understanding of the power available to the organic intellectual who is aligned with the interests of subaltern groups and who succeeds in revealing the hegemonic commitments of accepted �common sense�. In the latter part of this thesis, I apply these many useful concepts to my case study analysis of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique. I argue that Friedan�s accessible, middlebrow text gave birth to a new discursive politics which was critically important not only for older women, but for a younger generation of more radicalised women. I emphasise how Friedan�s text mounted a concerted attack on the discursive construction of femininity under patriarchal capitalism. I question Friedan�s diagnostic claim that the problems American women faced were adequately captured by the terminology of the trapped housewife syndrome. I conclude by arguing that social movement researchers have to date failed to appreciate the leadership potential of the charismatic author-leader who succeeds in addressing and offering a solution to a pressing social problem through the medium of a best-selling, middlebrow text.

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p>A<strong>uthors</strong>: Andersson Pernilla, Thioubou Banna</p><p><p> </p><p><strong>Title:</strong>  Communication and types of leadership: an example from the Swedish Military Organisation</p></p><p><p> </p><p><strong>Level:</strong>  BA Thesis in Media and Communication Studies</p><p> </p><p><strong>Key words:</strong>  Leadership, charisma, directorship/manager, leader, communication</p><p> </p></p><p><p><strong>Purpose</strong><em>:</em> The aim with this study  entitled <em>"communication and leadership: an example from the Swedish military organisation</em>”, was to get better insight about leadership and communication in the Swedish army. In this purpose, we used organisational theories as well as communication theories to illustrate and support our study and statements.</p></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Method:</strong> our empirical data was based on a qualitative study but we even carried out a quantitative study, since a survey had been made. The purpose with the survey was to get, from people chosen randomly in the city of Kalmar, opinions and thoughts about leadership and communication in the Swedish army. We even did some deep interviews with former and present officers in Swedish army, in order to develop our study.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Results:</strong> At the end of our study we were able to say that there were different types of leadership<strong>, </strong>depending on the type of organisation. The Swedish army has a distinct structure when it comes to leadership and communication. However, even if the structure is based on a hierarchical pyramid, meaning that all the final decisions are the prerogative of the commanders, it is more and more common to initiate dialogue in this organisation. The lack of knowledge and prejudices are the main reasons why the Swedish military organisation is not well known. Another reason, based on the results from our survey, might be the lack of external communication from the army’s side.</p><p> </p><p><p><strong>Number of pages:</strong>  60 plus appendix</p><p><strong>Program:</strong> Program for International Communications</p><p><strong>University:</strong> Kalmar University</p><p><strong>Institution:</strong> Institution of Communication and Design</p><p><strong>Period:</strong> Spring 2009</p><p><strong>Examiner</strong><strong>: Sara Hamqvist </strong></p><p><strong>Tutor</strong><strong>: Britt-Marie Ringfjord</strong></p></p><p> </p>