LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT: A LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature is reviewed relevant to the impact of organizational leadership on organizational commitment. In addition to these two concepts, other concepts that affect the relationship between organizational leadership and organizational commitment also are addressed.
Approaches to Organizational Leadership
Leadership is the ability of one person to influence a group of persons toward the achievement of common goals (Yukl, 1994). When comparing leadership styles, the focus typically is on the effectiveness of leaders effectiveness. Effectiveness, in turn, typically is viewed as the extent to which the leader's group or organization performs its tasks successfully or attains its goals (House & Aditya, 1997).
One way that leadership behaviors may be described is by contrasting transformational and transactional leader behavior (Bass, 1985). Transformational leadership within the context of this paradigm is comprised of four components. These components are (1) idealized influence, (2) inspiration, (3) intellectual stimulation, and (4) individualized consideration. Idealized influence (charisma) is a process whereby the leader provides subordinates with a vision and a sense of mission and gains respect, trust, and confidence from subordinates (Shamir, Zakay, Breinin, & Popper, 1998). Inspirational leaders build the confidence of their subordinates, thereby influencing their ability to perform assignments and tasks successfully. Transformational leaders use inspiration to increase optimism and enthusiasm of subordinates and to articulate the leader's vision. Intellectual stimulation is a process whereby the leader increases subordinate awareness of problems and influences subordinates to view problems from a new perspective. Individualized consideration includes providing support, encouragement, and developmental experiences for subordinates (Podsakoff, MacKen...