Current trends in leadership study recognize the importance of symbol use in the everyday talk of leaders. An examination of the conversational forms constituting effective and ineffective talk by leaders revealed two findings: (1) Effective conversations by leaders were viewed as positively valenced, coherent, and as facilitating the accomplishment of work-related and personal goals, and (2) effective conversations produced higher levels of identification and decreased organizational members' need for legitimation processes. These findings suggest several research areas regarding the relationship between leadership and communication competence.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bass, B. M. (1981). Stogdill's handbook of leadership. New York: Free Press.
2.
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.
3.
Bennis, W. (1983, April 7). Transformative leadership. Harvard University Newsletter.
4.
Bettman, J. R. , & Weitz, B. A. (1983). Attributions in the board room: Causal reasoning in corporate annual reports. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 165-183.
5.
Blake, R. R. , & Mouton, J. S. (1978). The new managerial grid. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing.
6.
Brown, M. H. (1985). That reminds me of a story: Speech action in organizational socialization. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 49, 17-42.
7.
Burns, T. (1954). The direction of activities and communication in a departmental executive group. Human Relations, 7, 73-97.
8.
Cronen, V. E. , Johnson, K. M., & Lannamann, J. W. (1982). Paradoxes, double binds, and reflexive loops: An alternative theoretical perspective. Family Process, 21, 91-112.
9.
Cronen, V. E. , Pearce, W. B., & Harris, L. M. (1982). The coordinated management of meaning: A theory of communication. In F.E.X. Dance (Ed.), Human communication theory (pp. 61-89). New York: Harper & Row.
10.
Cronen, V. E. , Pearce, W. B., & Snavely, L. (1979). A theory of rules structure and episode types, and a study of perceived enmeshment in unwanted repetitive patterns. In D. Nimmo (Ed.), Communication yearbook III (pp. 225-240). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
11.
Daly, J. A. , Bell, R. A., Glenn, P. J., & Lawrence, S. (1985). Conceptualizing conversational complexity. Human Communication Research, 12, 30-53.
12.
Deal, T. E. , & Kennedy, A. A. (1982). Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
13.
Eisenberg, E. M. (1984). Ambiguity as strategy in organizational communication. Communication Monographs, 51(3), 227-242.
14.
Fiedler, F. E. (1967), A theory of leadership effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill.
15.
Giddens, A. (1979). Central problems in social theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.
16.
Goldhaber, G. M. (1986). Organizational communication. Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown.
17.
Graen, G. , & Cashman, J. F. (1975). A role-making model of leadership in formal organizations: A developmental approach. In J. G. Hunt & L. L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership frontiers (pp. 143-166). Kent, OH: Kent State University, Comparative Administration Research Institute.
18.
Harris, L. M. (1979). Communication competence: Empirical tests of a systemic model. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
19.
Herzberg, F. (1966). Work and the nature of man. Cleveland, OH: World.
20.
Hollander, E. P. , & Julian, J. W. (1969). Contemporary trends in the analysis of leadership processes. Psychological Bulletin, 71, 387-397.
21.
Hunt, J. G. , & Larson, L. L. (Eds.). (1975). Leadership frontiers. Kent, OH: Kent State University, Comparative Administration Research Institute.
22.
Hunt, J. G. , & Larson, L. L. (Eds.). (1977). Leadership: The cutting edge. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
23.
Hunt, J. G. , & Larson, L. L. (Eds.). (1979). Crosscurrents in leadership. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
24.
Hunt, J. G. , Sekaran, U., & Schriesheim, C. A. (Eds.). (1982). Leadership: Beyond establishment views. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
25.
Kochan, T. A. , Schmidt, S. S., & DeCotiis, T. A. (1975). Superior-subordinate relations: Leadership and headship. Human Relations, 28, 279-294.
26.
Lord, R. G. (1985). An information processing approach to social perceptions, leadership and behavioral measurement in organizations. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 7; pp. 87-128). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
27.
Mintzberg, H. (1973). The nature of managerial work. New York: Harper & Row.
28.
Mowday, R. T. (1979). Leader characteristics, self-confidence, and methods of upward influence in organizational decision situations. Academy of Management Journal, 22(4), 709-725.
29.
Pacanowsky, M. E. , & O'Donnell-Trujillo, N. (1983). Organizational communication as cultural performance. Communication Monographs, 50, 126-147.
30.
Pearce, W. B. , & Cronen, V. E. (1980). Communication, action, and meaning: The creation of social realities. New York: Praeger.
31.
Peters, T. J. , & Waterman, R. H. (1982). In search of excellence. New York: Harper & Row.
32.
Pfeffer, J. (1978). The ambiguity of leadership. In M. W. McCall & M. M. Lombardo (Eds.), Leadership: Where else can we go? (pp. 13-34). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
33.
Pfeffer, J. (1981). Management as symbolic action: The creation and maintenance of organizational paradigms. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 3; pp. 1-52). Greenwich CT: JAI.
34.
Pondy, L. R. (1978). Leadership is a language game. In M. W. McCall & M. M. Lombardo (Eds.), Leadership: Where else can we go? (pp. 87-99). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
35.
Putnam, L. L. (1983). The interpretive perspective: An alternative to functionalism. In L. L. Putnam & M. E. Pacanowsky (Eds.), Communication and organizations: An interpretive approach (pp. 31-54). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
36.
Putnam, L. L. , & Pacanowsky, M. E. (Eds.). (1983). Communication and organizations: An interpretive approach. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
37.
Riesman, D. (1950). The lonely crowd. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
38.
Rosch, E. (1975). Cognitive reference points. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 532-547.
39.
Salanick, G. R. , & Meindl, J. R. (1984). Corporate attributions as strategic illusions of management control. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 238-254.
40.
Scott, W. E. (1977). Leadership: A functional analysis. In J. G. Hunt & L. L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge (pp. 84-93). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
41.
Sims, H. P. (1977). The leader as a manager of reinforcement contingencies: An empirical example and a model. In J. G. Hunt & L. L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge (pp. 121-137). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
42.
Spitzberg, B. H. , & Cupach, W. R. (1984). Interpersonal communication competence. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
43.
Stafford, L. , & Daly, J. A. (1984). Conversational memory: The effects of recall mode and memory expectations on remembrances of natural conversations. Human Communication Research, 10, 379-402.
44.
Trujillo, N. (1985). Organizational communication as cultural performance: Some managerial considerations. Southern Speech Communication Journal, 50, 201-224.
45.
Vroom, V. H. , & Yetton, P. W. (1973). Leadership and decision-making. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
46.
Watson, K. M. (1982). An analysis of communication patterns: A method for discriminating leader and subordinate roles. Academy of Management Journal, 25, 107-120.
47.
Weick, K. (1978). The spines of leaders. In M. W. McCall & M. M. Lombardo (Eds.), Leadership: Where else can you go? (pp. 37-61). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
48.
Wheeless, L. R. , Wheeless, V. E., & Howard, R. D. (1984). The relationships of communication with supervisor and decision-participation to employee satisfaction. Communication Quarterly, 32, 222-232.
49.
Wilmot, W. (1975). Dyadic communication. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
