____Literature
Review >> Charismatic Leadership_____________________________________

When transformational leadership is being brought up, some theorists relate transformational leadership styles as leaders having charisma as well. Some writers use charismatic and transformational leadership interchangeably but they are actually different. The analysis on charismatic leadership will be further explained in the following report.

Definition
As stated, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1997) defines charisma as a personal quality of leadership arousing popular loyalty or enthusiasm. Adding on to that, Luthans (2005) defined charismatic leadership as leaders who possess personal abilities and are capable of having profound and extraordinary effects on their followers. Weber (1947) theorized that charismatic leaders are seen to have the charisma as a quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart from other ordinary men and are treated as one who has exceptional qualities. In other words, they display a great deal of confidence, authority and the ability to communicate the goals and ideas to their followers (Conger and Kanungo, 1988). Charismatic leaders have extraordinary influence over their followers as they are being guided with a sense of purpose and are inspired to follow the leader. Consenting to that, McShane (2003) defined charismatic leadership as extending beyond behaviours to personal traits that provide referent power over their followers. Charismatic leaders are able to draw followers to them by rousing their emotional appeal.

Characteristics of Charismatic Leaders
Charismatic leaders generally can be described by a specific set of personal characteristics. The attributes that charismatic leaders will exude are further elaborated in the following.

Firstly, charismatic leaders can be identified through his/her expressive behaviours. Agreeing to that, Friedman, Prince, Riggio and DiMatteo (1980) suggested that charismatic leadership manifests itself in a nonverbal emotional expressiveness. In other words, they are able to use nonverbal cues to move, inspire and captivate their followers. In addition to that, Bensman and Givant (1975) and Willner (1965) all come to consensus that charismatic leaders possess powerful, confident and dynamic personalities. The tone of voice that charismatic leaders use is described as engaging and captivating. Together with their fluency, body gestures and direct eye contact when they speak, they are able to draw his/her followers to listen to them (Willner, 1965).

The second characteristic of charismatic leadership is high levels of self-confidence. The leaders not only display total confidence in their capabilities and status, they are also very certain about their own beliefs in righteousness (Hoffman and Hoffman, 1970). Adding to that, Tucker (1970) stated that they are very conscious about their public image that even when they are facing failures, they are those who will hide their feelings from followers. I other words, they are able to segregate leadership from their individual feelings. Hill (1976) further explained that leaders with such high self-esteem will tend to stand firmly on their own point when dealing with conflicting interpersonal situations. By doing so, it can help to maintain their followers' confidence in them. Bass (1985) concurred by mentioning that the leaders will want to continuously portray they have great self-confidence in their followers' minds.

The third characteristic is self-determination. Weber (1947) hypothesized that extraordinary determination is a personal attribute which set them apart from ordinary leaders. Nietzsche (1974) concurred to Weber's theory and has his own set of explanations. He theorized that charismatic leaders possess inner direction, self-determination, sense of duty and responsibility. For ordinary leaders, they are conformed to the expectations of others whereas charismatic leaders set themselves away from the expected. They will have visions for the future and will create new values, ideas and goals. However, Weber (1947) commented that on the flip side, these charismatic leaders may be more concerned with themselves and are only interested in promoting ideas for their own benefit.

The last characteristic of charismatic leaders is that they have insight. It is known that these leaders can arouse as well as articulate their needs and feelings to followers. They have insight into the needs, values and hopes of followers and possess the ability to build on them through dramatic and persuasive words and actions (McClelland, 1975). Gardner (1961) concurred by adding that such leaders can help unite the followers together to perform at their best.

Behaviours of Charismatic Leaders
Firstly, it is suggested that leaders who exude charisma express themselves through actions and a set of beliefs and values to which they want their followers to follow. Wren, Hicks and Price (2004) determined that such leaders behave as a role model so as to input a value system for their followers. In regards to the above, it was also mentioned that high status role model can create an effect on the self-esteem on the followers. Bandura (1968) concurred by adding that behaviour resulting from modeling may be very specific such that followers can be said to imitate or mimic the behaviour of their leader.

Secondly, charismatic leaders are said to be able to articulate a goal which will become the basis of a movement or a cause (Wren et al, 2004). Tucker (1968) added that such leaders are able to articulate their goals with conviction and influencing on the rightness of his/her goals which will later influence the followers to work towards it.

Lastly, charismatic leaders communicate high performance expectations for their followers. They do this with confidence and their ability to meet expectations are said to enhance followers' self-esteem and attainment of goals. Such behaviour from leaders may motivate followers to strive for better performance. The effect of self-esteem on followers is that they are more likely to seek higher personal rewards for performance (Pepitone, 1964). Wren et al (2004) concurred to that by arguing that leaders can affect self-esteem of their followers and the way leaders behave can motivate them to perform effectively. They also hypothesized that the greater leaders show confidence in the followers' ability to meet goals, the more likely the followers will accept these goals as realistic and attainable.

A well known and successful charismatic leader is Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. He was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. It is said that he exudes charisma and possesses great public speaking skills, which grasped the heart of Britains. This made many people admire Churchill and it helped him unite his country.

A local example as cited from the interview video with Mr. Leoie Low, we can see that in the real business practice, charismatic leaders regard goals as an important tool to help motivate and guide their followers. According to Mr. Low, he mentioned that setting of goals is important in order to achieve them and it also acts as a motivational tool for followers to work towards it. With this, it can be said that the theory above concurred to what the working society is practicing.

With the above examples, it can be concluded that charismatic leaders possess an inner characteristic that allow them to connect with their people. Based on our team's own working experiences who had previously worked under a charismatic leader, we have come to consensus that charismatic leaders are those who are very self-confident and they can captivate the listeners when speaking to them. Besides that, they also tend to emphasize on goals and achieving it.

References
Bass, B. M., 1985, Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, Free Press, New York.

Bensman, J., and Givant, M., 1986, Charisma and Modernity, Greenwood Press, New York.

Conger, J. A., and Kanungo, R. N., 1988, Charismatic Leadership: The Elusive Factor in Organisational Effectiveness, Jossey-Bass Inc. Publishers, San Francisco.

Gardner, J. W., 1961, Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too?, Harper & Row, New York.

Hoffman, S., and Hoffman, I., 1970, Philosophers and Kings: Studies in Leadership, Braziller, New York.

Luthans, F., 2005, Organisational Behaviour, 10th Edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston.

McClelland, D. C., 1975, Power: The Inner Experience, Irvington, New York.

McShane, S. L., 2003, Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston.

Nietzsche, F., 1974, The Complete Work of Friedrich Nietzsche, Gordon Press, New York.

Pepiton, A., 1964, Attraction and Hostility, Atherton, New York.

Tucker, R. C., 1970, The Theory of Leadership, Braziller, New York.

Weber, M., 1947, The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation, Free Press, New York.

Willner, A. R., 1968, Charismatic Political Leadership, A Theory, Princeton, New Jersey.

Wren, T. J., Hicks, D. A., Price, T. L., 2004, Traditional Classics on Leadership, Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton.

Friedman, H. S., Prince, L. M., Riggio, R. E., and DiMatero, M. R., 1980, 'Understanding and Assessing Nonverbal Expressiveness: The Affective Communication Test', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 39, pp 331-351.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2006, Definition of Charisma, viewed 31 March 2006, <http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/charisma>.