Understanding Leadership by Gayle C. Avery

¶ … Leadership by Gayle C. Avery

In many ways, Gayle C. Avery's Understanding Leadership was written as and functions as a textbook. The author's primary purpose in composing this manuscript was to elucidate the myriad principles of leadership in a highly stratified manner so that its core concepts are readily identifiable and accessible to the average layman. Yet the methodology that the author incorporates into her approach to writing this book is discernibly didactic. Furthermore, what Avery inevitably lacks in detail about many of the principle of leadership elucidated within this work of literature she makes up for by providing a highly comprehensive overview of the topic in general. By contextualizing many of her ideas within a historical framework, the author is actually able to demonstrate the evolution of notions of leadership from classical antiquity to the present time period and debate the effectiveness of these notions (Avery 2004).

One of the most eminent boons of Understanding Leadership is intrinsically related to the author's structuring of this work. The book is codified into two separate parts which serve as theory and example, respectively. In the first part of the book the author categorizes most notions of leadership into four distinct paradigms which allow readers to understand both the similarities as well as the differences between many of these theoretical principles. The second portion of the book provides case studies that both identify and exemplify many of the concepts alluded to in the first part. The provision of salient examples that demonstrate how leadership manifests itself in several areas of society -- including public administration or politics, standard decision-making processes and policy in general -- helps the reader to grasp the varying conceptions of leadership that the author denotes.

The primary point of the first part of the book is to address many of the questions and rather broad definitions of leadership that have accompanied this term, and to treat of them in an academic manner in which leadership is actually studied as a discipline. To that end, the author is able to categorize most leadership theories and their attributes into four separate categories or levels of organization. The first of these comprises leadership theories that are strategic or external in nature, followed by those that are didactic, organizational, and those that apply to individual and group levels of leadership. The relationship between leadership theories that apply to both individuals and groups is related to general decision-making, which is evinced in a wide variety of spheres from one of the most basic forms of leadership, such as the leadership of a family, or to more complicated leadership that involves consequences that have a lasting effect upon the general public, such as those that pertain to government.

What actually makes part one extremely useful to the formal, academic study of leadership is the fact that it identifies many of the key terms that are utilized in the analyses of various case studies in the second part of the book. Many of these terms pertain to the often conflicting notions of leadership that have accompanied this concept since it first arose out of necessity during the first of four epochs which Avery utilizes as paradigms for leadership principles. The first of these stems from ancient times to the 1970s, which the author calls the classical period of leadership. This time period is followed by the transactional period which spanned from the 1970's to the middle of the 1980's. Next came the historical era which the author labels as the visionary period of leadership, in which ideas about the concept of leading were further refined and actually expanded to incorporate more of an autonomous approach on the part of both leaders and followers. Lastly, there is what Avery refers to as the organic period, which began in the 2000's and has yet to end (Avery, 2004, p.17-18). Characteristics of this time period include minimal differences between leaders and followers, or perhaps organizations in which the adaptability and accountability of members is so strong that there either are no leaders or everyone is considered a leader.

The principle basis for the second part of Understanding Leadership is to offer a variety of case studies that effectively demonstrate the varying principles of leadership that the author addressed in the first segment of this book. In doing so, it is fairly noteworthy to mention that Avery has selected examples from international settings that encompass North America, Europe, and Australia as well so that students are able to understand the global application of the concepts the author has denoted. 10 cases studies are used in all within this part of the book. Some of the more interesting case studies actually apply to formal leadership in a political context in which the author provides examples of presidents utilizing some of the same theories of leadership that those in private corporations, such as BMW and Rodenstock (Avery, 2004 p. 279), utilize to establish policy and to incorporate the assets that their followers inherently represent. In fact, the decision making process that the author portrays for both private and public leadership (such as those alluded to in the aforementioned examples) demonstrates the inexorable tendency of leaders to incorporate more input and support from their followers in determining what sort of policy is adapted and decisions are made.

Furthermore, it is important to note that even in this second section, the author fails to vary from her motif of delivering this information and its examples in a didactic manner. To that end, the examples provided by specific case studies are frequently followed by analysis questions that help readers to interpret the cases in the context of the theories provided in the first section. The particular virtue of Understanding leadership lies in Ayer's chronicling of the evolution of leadership theory and its implementation, which began from a fairly autonomous form of leadership in which there was little input from followers, to eventually transform into the leadership characterized by the Organic Period, in which there is a considerable amount of equity between leaders and their followers, and fairly slight distinctions between the two. In depicting this evolution through academic theories and examples via case studies, Ayers is essentially depicting the increase in value of followers, which is widely shown throughout the manuscript to increase the efficacy of the various organizations exemplified in the book.