leadership and motivation in hospitality

Informational roles Interpersonal roles Decisional roles

Monitor
Disseminator
Spokesperson

Leader

Liaison

Figurehead

Entrepreneur

Disturbance handler

Resource allocator

Negotiator

(Source: Mintzberg 1975: 54-59)

Table 2 - 1 Mintzberg’s Management Roles

A common theme in reviews of leadership studies is to note that leadership has
been defined in many ways (e.g. Yukl 1989: 252) and that there is often little
commonality within the range of definitions (e.g. Alvesson and Sveningsson 2003:
362). As noted above, Rost (1991), found 221 definitions of leadership (based on
his review of the leadership literature published between the 1920s and 1990s).
Ciulla has reviewed these definitions and while (helpfully) observing that “All 221
definitions say basically the same thing - leadership is about one person getting
other people to do something” (2002: 340) she noted in her next sentence that
differences do exist within these definitions as regards to the ways in which
leaders effect motivation amongst their followers and who has responsibility for
goal setting. Northouse (2004: 3) came to a very similar conclusion, settling for a
definition which described leadership as “...a process whereby an individual
influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”.

This diversity of definitions and approaches in the field of leadership studies is
(partly) explained by (Antonakis et al. 2004a: 4) who note that “...100 years of
leadership research has led to several paradigm shifts and a voluminous body of
knowledge”. Antonakis et al. (op. cit.: 4) go on to cite “...false starts,
incremental theoretical advances, and contradictory findings” as further reasons
for the complexity and diversity of leadership research.

Bennis finds some commonality in approaches to leadership studies at a more
fundamental level and argues that leadership can, foremost, be viewed as a
relational phenomenon:

Leadership is grounded in a relationship. In its simplest form, it is a

tripod—a leader or leaders, followers, and the common goal they want

to achieve. None of those three elements can survive without the

others.

(Bennis 2007: 3-4)