Contemporary trends in the analysis of leadership processes.

Abstract : An overview is provided of several lines of development in the study of leadership up to, and within, the contemporary scene. These include consideration of: leadership as a process involving an influence relationship; the leader as one among other participants in this relationship; the transaction occurring between leaders and followers; the differential tasks or functions associated with being a leader; and the nature of leader effectiveness. Several implications are derived for future research, including the need to: attend to leadership as a property of the system of a group; recognize the two-way influence characterizing leader-follower relations; distinguish better between the maintenance of leadership and its emergence, particularly those factors legitimizing the leader's position through processes of succession; focus greater attention on leader effectiveness in terms of the followers' expectations and perceptions of him, especially as they reveal the psychological basis for identification. (Author)