Is degree of leadership behavior related to degree of creative thinking? This study will examine for the answer to this question by assessing leadership and creativity in a sample of graduate business students (all of whom are managers) and testing for a significant positive correlation between the measures of the two factors. However, as introduction to this research it is helpful to first define the key terms of "leadership" and "creativity."
Unfortunately, as has been pointed out by Yukl (1981), existing theory and research offer no clear consensus regarding the term "leadership." For example, leadership has been defined in several ways. The most prominent of these definitions include definitions of leadership as:
(1) the behavior of an individual directing a group toward a shared goal (Hemphill & Coons, 1957);
(2) interpersonal influence wielded via communication toward the attainment of a specific goal (Tannenbaum, Weschler & Massarik, 1961);
(3) the initiation and maintenance of structure in expectation and interpersonal interaction (Stogdill, 1974);
(4) interpersonal interaction in which one person persuades one or more others to attain a personally desired outcome (Jacobs, 1970);
(5) a power relationship in which one prescribes behavior for others (Janda, 1960); and
(6) an influence over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of an organization (Katz & Kahn, 1978).
Some commonalities can be seen in these diverse definitions. In this regard, almost all of the definitions seem to denote a group phenomenon. Further, most of them involve a process of influence.
These commonalities among the various definitions of leadership suggest that leadership characteristically involves one person (the leader) consciously trying to get one or more other persons (the followers) to do something which the leader wishes them to do. For the purposes of this study, this definition of le...