The underrepresentation of women and minorities in top leadership positions and politics is un,d eniable and mirrored by the public discussions and attention if a minority member does make it into the top leadership league. e.g. Barack Obama as the first black president. Social psychological research has been exploring the factors contributing to the emergence and success ofleaders. It has been shown that group prototypicality is one crucial determinant for leadership emergence and success, since it instils a sense of trust and increases influence and compliance in other group members (Hogg & van Knippenberg, 2003). However relying upon group prototypicality for leadership evaluations and choices is one factor contributing to the glass ceiling effect experienced by women and minorities striving for leadership positions. This thesis explores in seven experimental studies how stereotypic thinking affects the use of group prototypicality for leadership evaluations and choices. The studies show that under conditions in which stereotypic thinking is prevalent leadership choices are contingent upon group prototypicality. However, -if stereotypic thinking is challenged via an exposure to a chal1enging diversity experience (Crisp & Turner, 2011), the preference for group prototypical leadership candidates is attenuated. This thesis adds to the -~- ====- understanding on how leadership decisions and evaluations are affected by social cognitive processes. It shows that the importance of group prototypicality for leadership decisions is malleable, thereby increasing the chances of minorities to gain leadership positions.

This thesis examines the impact of leaders’ personal performance and prototypicality on their ability to champion a social identity by advancing shared group interests. With this in mind, general theories of leadership and followership are reviewed as well as theories of leaders’ performance more specifically. As a framework for understanding leaders’ role in managing shared identity, we then discuss the social identity approach and its application to the field of leadership. In three studies (Chapter 3), we examine the interactive effect of leaders’ prototypicality and personal performance on followers’ evaluations of their leadership. Studies 1 and 2 show that the impact of leaders’ performance on followers’ favourable reactions to their leadership (in terms of group advancement, trust in the leader, and leader endorsement) is more pronounced when leaders are prototypical, rather than non-prototypical, of followers’ ingroup. Study 3 provides evidence from the field that this interaction between performance and prototypicality also impacts on followers’ perceptions of leader charisma. Moreover, there is evidence that this impact can be explained, in part, by the degree to which followers perceive leaders to advance shared group interests. Results suggest that highly prototypical leaders who display elevated, rather than average, performance are responded to more favourably because their performance is perceived to advance a shared social identity. Although our first three studies demonstrate that we can disentangle leaders’ performance and prototypicality in order to examine their interactive effects, this does not mean that these two things are independent. Studies 4-6 (Chapter 4) provide evidence from the field and the laboratory that followers associate the performance of leaders with their prototypicality. A field study indicates that followers’ perceptions of leader performance and prototypicality are indeed positively related (Study 4). Moreover, experiments suggest that while followers infer a leader’s prototypicality from his or her performance (Study 5), their evaluation of a leader’s performance is also influenced by his or her prototypicality (Study 6). Studies 5 and 6 also indicate that leaders’ performance and prototypicality determine their capacity to engage in identity entrepreneurship by changing ingroup norms and ideals. In this way, results suggest that leader performance and prototypicality are not only bidirectionally related but are also important factors that contribute to a leader’s capacity to craft present and future understandings of a social identity. In the third empirical chapter (Chapter 5), we examine the impact of evaluators’ status as either internal or external to a group on assessments of leader prototypicality and performance. Study 7 shows that compared to external evaluators, internal evaluators are more likely to perceive highly prototypical low-performing leaders to advance the group more than low-prototypical high-performing leaders. Study 8 also demonstrates that internal (but not external) evaluators perceive highly prototypical leaders as more likely to advance the group compared to their moderately prototypical counterparts. Results suggest that these differential evaluations are primarily attributable to internal evaluators’ increased responsiveness to prototypicality such that they are less willing than external evaluators to forgo leaders’ prototypicality in exchange for their outstanding performance. Taken together, the thesis supports a complex model in which leader effectiveness is determined by followers’ appreciation of leaders’ prototypicality and performance against the backdrop of their perceived capacity to realize shared goals and ambitions. The present thesis extends theories that emphasize the importance of leaders’ exceptional performance. It shows that leaders’ extraordinary capability is of limited value if they fail to demonstrate their alignment with followers. In successful leadership these two go together such that leaders must be seen to promote ‘our’ ambitions and to be able to realize them. Theoretical implications for leadership theories and practical implications for organizational practices are discussed.

One hundred years ago, Max Weber postulated in his seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism that after a tremendous development, capitalism would either reach a dead end, or would enter a new era of development through the guidance of new prophets (Weber, [1904] 2003:182). The tremendous development foreseen has occurred but have Weber’s new prophets appeared? Through a close analysis of the context in which the word prophet is found in the Bible and through the description that Weber gave to the concept of prophet in The Sociology of Religion (Weber, 1963) a prophet’s ideal type was constructed with fourteen specific characteristics. This ideal type was then used as a grid of analysis to put to the test the nineteen most renowned leadership gurus, potential candidate to the title of prophet.

Angesichts steigender Anforderungen an Führungskräfte in einem zunehmend dynamischen Umfeld verändert sich die klassische Führungskräfteentwicklung hin zu einem strategischen Kompetenzmanagement. Führungskompetenzmodelle gewinnen an Bedeutung. Es mangelt jedoch an theoretisch und empirisch fundierten Modellen, die gleichzeitig praxistauglich sind. Um diese Lücke zu adressieren, wurde LeadPuls entwickelt – ein Führungskompetenzmodell mit dazugehörigem Messverfahren. Dabei wurden relevante Führungstheorien sowie zukünftig wichtige Führungsanforderungen in einem anwendungsbezogenen Ansatz integriert. Das LeadPuls-Verfahren wurde in einer Feldstudie (N = 335) und einer unabhängigen Online-Stichprobe (N = 207) psychometrisch geprüft. Die theoretisch abgeleitete vierdimensionale Struktur wurde weitgehend bestätigt. Die internen Konsistenzen der Gesamtskala (31 Items) und der einzelnen (Sub-)Dimensionen lagen im befriedigenden bis sehr guten Bereich. Erwartungskonforme, bedeutsame Zusammenhänge zum Leader Member Exchange sowie zu subjektiven (z. B. Arbeitszufriedenheit) und objektiven (z. B. Krankheitsquote) Ergebniskriterien liefern erste Belege für die Validität. LeadPuls kann als valides und ökonomisches Instrument zur Diagnose und Entwicklung universeller Führungskompetenzen eingesetzt werden.

Thesis (M.A. (English Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2012 / The mini dissertation seeks to explore the positive and negative qualities of an indigenous African leader as presented in a variety of oral texts including folktales, proverbs and praise poems as well as in the African novels of Mhudi, Maru, Things Fall Apart and Petals of Blood in order to deduce an indigenous African concept of a leader. This research is motivated by the fact that although researchers and academics worldwide acknowledge that it is very difficult to objectively define and discuss the terms ‘leader’ and ‘indigenous leader’ yet many tend to dismiss offhand such indigenous concepts of leadership as ubuntu as primitive, barbaric and irrelevant to modern institutions without examining them in detail.