Despite these claims, Rost (1991) suggested in his book, Leadership for the Twenty-first Century, that
there is much more commonality in the study of leadership than was previously thought. He wrote:
³7KHUHKDVEHHQDVFKRRORIOHDGHUVKLSWKHUHDOODORQJEXWLWKDVQHYHUEHHQDUWLFXODWHGZHOODVDQ
LQWHJUDWHG IUDPHZRUN ́(p.10). He called this integrated frameZRUNWKH³,QGXstrial paradigm of
OHDGHUVKLS ́The seeming diversity of past leadership theories and definitions is actually unified and
embedded in an underlying ontology which remains largely implicit. Bennis (2007) articulated the
ontology as follows: ³,QLWVVLPSOHVWIRUPOHDGHUVKLSLVDWULSRG± a leader, followers, and a common
JRDOWKH\ZDQWWRDFKLHYH ́(p.3). Underneath this definition lies a commitment towards those three
elements which are considered essential to the majority of leadership theories, i.e. the leader,
followers and common goals.
The ontology of the tripod is paramount in the leadership literature, the difference between theories
being the order of the legs and the emphasis given to each of the legs: ³/HDGHUVKLS LV D SURFHVV
whereby an individual influences a group of indiYLGXDOVWRDFKLHYHDFRPPRQJRDO ́(Northouse, 2004,
p.3)³/HDGHUVKLSFDQEHGHILQHd as the nature of the influencing process ± and its resultant outcomes
± that occurs between a leader and followers and how this influencing process is explained by the
OHDGHU¶V GLVSRVLWLRQDO FKDUDFWHULVWLFV DQG EHKDYLRUV IROORZHUSHUFHSWLRQV DQG DWWULEXtions of the
leader ́ (Antonakis et al., 2004, p.5). Whether it is a charismatic, motivational exchange between the
leader and the person led, or an agreed upon exchange of reward for task accomplishment, the
Industrial Age approach views leadership as proceeding from the leader toward the follower. The
follower, in turn, meets leadership with followership. Within this theoretical framework these theories
make the implicit assumption that leadership belongs to institutionally recognized and formal
individual managers (in authority positions). Figure 1.2 presents the tripod ontology schematically.