Introduction to Leadership Development
From CLD Wiki
Contents |
Leadership Development Today - Books, Journals and Organizations
The literature and research on leadership development is disparate and segmented. Authors writing on the topic of leadership development hail primarily from two fields: business (e.g., Jay Conger, Alber Vicere & Robert Fulmer) and psychology (e.g., Bruce Avolio, David Day, Manuel London & Cynthia McCauley). To a smaller extent, not-for-profit foundations and the military have made contributions as well. However, this study will not focus on grass roots or military notions of leadership development. Information on leadership development can be located in three primary sources: books, journal articles and organizations/associations. For each of the three mentioned sources, I will provide brief examples and conclude with an overview of the major discussion threads found in the literature.
Books on Leadership Development
For the amount of money being spent on leadership development, books devoted to the topic of leadership development are few and far between. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has assembled the most comprehensive overview of the topic in its Handbook of Leadership Development (McCauley, Moxley, & Van Velsor, 2005). The handbook covers topics such as evaluation, linkage to business systems, diversity, and development tools, and discusses the organization’s philosophy on developing leadership capacity. Bruce Avolio has published three books devoted to the topic (Full Leadership Development, 1999 and Leadership Development in Balance, 2005; The High Impact Leader, 2006) and the first has close relationships with the underpinnings of transformational leadership theory and its Full-Range of Leadership model. Vicere and Fulmer’s (1996) Leadership by Design focuses on the importance of linking development to business systems and Manuel London’s Leadership Development (2002) focuses heavily upon development tools such as coaching and 360-degree assessments as well as individual dimensions such as self regulation and self-insight. Two other seminal publications important are edited books entitled The Future of Leadership Development (Murphy & Riggio, 2003) and Leader Development for Transforming Organizations: Growing Leaders for Tomorrow (Day, Zaccaro & Halpin, 2005). These two publications cover a range of topics from “Toward a Science of Leadership Development” to “e-leadership.” For a comprehensive overview of books on the topic, visit the CLD Bookstore or the "publications" area under "research."
Journals on Leadership Development
A journal devoted specifically to the study of leadership development does not exist. Leadership development articles hail primarily from journals that focus on management, leadership, organization development, psychology, human resources and training. Some examples include:
- Management - Journal of Management Development; Journal of Management; The Academy of Management Journal; Management Review; Journal of Management Studies ; Executive Excellence; MIT Sloan Management Review; and Management Learning
- Leadership - Leadership Quarterly; Journal of Leadership Studies
- Organizational Development - Leadership and Organization Development Journal; Organizational Dynamics; Organization Development Journal; Group and 0rganization Studies; and Organizational Behavior and Human Performance
- Psychology - Journal of Applied Psychology; Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research; Journal of Managerial Psychology; and Psychological Bulletin
- Human Resources - Human Resource Development Quarterly; Administrative Science Quarterly; Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management; Human Resource Management Review; Human Resource Planning; Personnel Management; and Personnel Journal
- Training - Industrial and Commercial Training; Training; Journal of Workplace Learning; International Journal of Training and Development; Education & Training; Training Strategies; Training Strategies for Tomorrow; and Training & Development
The primary focus of these articles is development tools such as leadership development and 360-degree assessments, coaching, action learning, instruments, developmental relationships, etc. Rarely do they cover issues such as evaluation, adult learning, adult development and linkage to organizational context. To date, I have located only one journal article focusing on the wider scope of leadership development, David Day’s (2002) Leadership Development: A Review in Context (which itself devotes a great deal of time to development tools).
Organizations Devoted to Leadership Development
Consulting and practitioner-based organizations, not-for-profit foundations, and executive education (usually conducted by universities) are additional sources of leadership development information. Five examples of these organizations/institutions include:
- Linkage, Inc. – “Linkage, Inc. is a global organizational development company that specializes in leadership development. Serving the public and private sectors, the company provides clients around the globe with customized leadership development and strategic change solutions that include and integrate consulting, training, assessment, coaching, and benchmark research” (www.linkageinc.com).
- Lominger – “Our mission is to help you meet your leadership development challenges by offering the research-based and experience-tested tools, applications and support that can truly make a difference in your organization and in the practice of leadership development around the world” (www.lominger.com).
- Center for Creative Leadership – “The Center for Creative Leadership is a nonprofit educational institution that serves as an international resource for increasing the leadership capabilities of individuals and organizations from across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Our mission is to advance the understanding, practice and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. Our role is to help individuals and organizations address leadership challenges” (www.ccl.org).
- Harvard Executive Education – “The Art and Practice of Leadership Development has been designed to engage you as a learner, a teacher, and as a leader. You'll work closely with both experienced colleagues and a faculty of distinguished leadership educators. Explore your own teaching methodology and analyze the techniques of others.” (www.execprog.com)
These organizations offer a number of resources, primarily geared toward practitioners. For instance, Linkage, Inc. published Linkage Inc.’s Best Practices in Leadership Development Handbook (2000) and, as previously mentioned, CCL published the Handbook of Leadership Development (2005). Lominger offers a Leadership Architect® Suite of resources including a competency library, instruments, performance assessments, and other learning enhancements.
Leadership Development - Inherent Challenges
This section focuses on the many challenges inherent in leadership development. Ultimately, corporations are spending millions of dollars in an effort to build the leadership capacity of the workforce. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees that it is money well spent. For example, an anonymous executive suggests, “Probably at least half of every training dollar we spend is wasted – we just don’t know which half” (Martochhio & Baldwin, 1997, p. 15). Others who are well known in the field of leadership have concerns as well. For instance, Conger (1992) asserts, “Most would agree that to seriously train individuals in the arts of leadership takes enormous time and resources – perhaps more than societies or organizations possess, and certainly more than they are willing to expend” (p. 38-39). Are we putting too much stock in leadership development?
According to leadership scholars, additional challenges face leadership development initiatives. Although not always characterized as challenges, the absence of certain criteria potentially introduces inherent problems in design and implementation. These include:
- linkage to business systems.
- evaluation techniques.
- leadership theory.
- adult learning and adult development.
