Charismatic Leadership
Weber described three different types of authorities that help define the societies as they change from simple to complicated societies. The three types of authorities he described were the traditional, the charismatic and the rational-legal authority. The traditional authority refers to the type of authority that is rooted and developed from the old beliefs that the people have had and the practices they still hold in society (Mohammed, 2019). The authority is assigned to individuals die to the beliefs and the traditions of the society that the people live. There are two main reasons why only a few individuals enjoy this type of authority. The first reason is that their parents and their grandparents had this authority and therefore it’s passed down to their offsprings through inheritance. The second reason is that the few people given the authority have been chosen by God or the gods. Traditional authority can be seen in the leadership of Britain whereby Queen Elizabeth took the position of a leader due to traditional beliefs of inheritance and succession.
The second authority is the rational-legal authority which derives its power from the law. The chosen leaders are supposed to follow the law set to make decisions that positively impact people. The third type of authority is the charismatic authority which comes from the extraordinary qualities that a person has which makes people hold the belief in him and therefore give him the chance to lead. Charismatic leaders can exercise their leadership skills in the whole society or in a small group in society. There are many charismatic leaders that can be seen in history like Martin Luther.
Several risks and rewards are associated with charismatic leadership. The first reward of this leadership is that it helps inspire other people and give them hope in that they can also reach their dreams (Clegg, Kornberger, and Pitsis, 2015). This leadership also gives people a chance to think differently about a specific matter. This mostly applies in times where the leaders share their visions making people think about achieving even bigger dreams. This leadership, however, has risks in that it depends on the energy levels of the mentors and leaders. When the energy of these people seen to diminish, the followers also start to lose hope. This leadership can also hinder people from thinking big in that they are confined to the visions of the leaders. Leaders can build their appeal by attending leadership training programs that teach them how to be more charismatic.
Charismatic leaders are in some instances referred to as transformational leaders because they share several similarities. The two types of leadership are similar in that they are both aimed at improving the lives of the people (Clegg, Kornberger, and Pitsis, 2015). The main difference that exists between charismatic and transformational leaders in the audience and the focus of the two forms of leadership. Charismatic leaders are mostly aimed at improving the status of their followers while transformational leaders majorly focus on changing the organization to be like the vision of the leader. Leaders play a major role with their followers because many people tend to follow what they see their leaders do and therefore leaders should always be sensitive with their actions.
Work cited
Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T., 2015. Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. Sage.
Mohammed, S., 2019. Leadership and Schizoanalysis.