Abstract
There are many different ways to scientific understanding. For me, it is a precondition of comprehension to grasp the investigated objects’ functions in their context. It is my impression that, despite some remarkable developments, leadership theory and research remain incoherent and miss some important problems; therefore, their practical usefulness must also be limited. To improve this unsatisfying state, I propose that we enlarge our scope and look at leadership phenomena from a systemic perspective. If this can be achieved as I hope, the more partial theories and findings will fall into their place, and we may even integrate them with additional hitherto neglected viewpoints to form a more general theory. The perspective I propose is the concept of group action: I conceive of groups (or other social systems, like organizations or even masses) as acting systems which actively strive, by means of directed behavior, toward internal and external goals. I further assume that the structural properties of groups evolve at least partly in the service of group action functions. This is particularly the case with leadership, which includes some most important functions of group action, namely, steering, energetizing, and control, and often contributes essentially to the groups identity and coherence as a precondition of enduring adapted activity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ach, N. (1910). Uber den Willensakt und das Temperament. Leipzig: Quelle und Meyer.
Ach, N. (1935). Analyse des Willens. In E. Abderhalden (Ed.), Handbuch der biologischen Arbeitsmethoden. (pp. 1–483). (Band V I ). Berlin: Urban und Schwarzenberg.
Atkinson, J. W., Birch, D. (1970). The dynamics of action. New York: Wiley.
Bales, R F. (1958). Task roles and social roles in problem-solving groups. In E. E. Maccoby, T. M. Newcomb, E. L. Hartley (Eds.), Readings in social psychology, (pp. 437–464 ). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Bales, R. F., Slater, P. E. (1955). Role differentiation in small decision-making groups. In T. Parsons, R. F. Bales (Eds.), Family, socialization and interaction process. New York: Free Press.
Barker, R G. (1968). Ecological psychology: Concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Chance, M. R A. (1967). Attention structure as the basis of primate rank orders. Man. 2 (4), 503–518.
Cranach, M. von, Kalbermatten, U., Indermtthle, IC, Gugler, B., (1982). Goal-directed action. London: Academic Press.
Cranach, M. von, Harr6, R (1982). The analysis of action: Recent theoretical and empirical advances. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Cranach, M. von. (1983). Über die bewusste Repräsentation handlungsbezogener Kognitionen. In L. Montada, K. Reusser, G. Steiner (Eds.), Kognition und Handeln. (pp. 64–77 ). Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.
Cranach, M. von, Maechler, E., Steiner, U. (1985). The organisation of goal directed action: A research report. In M. Brenner, J. Ginsberg, M. von Cranach (Eds.), Discovery strategies in the psychology of action. (pp. 19–61 ) London: Academic Press.
Cranach, M. von, Maechler, E., Steiner, U. (1985). The organisation of goal directed action: A research report. In M. Brenner, J. Ginsberg, M. von Cranach (Eds.), Discovery strategies in the psychology of action. (pp. 19–61 ) London: Academic Press.
Cranach, M. von, Maechler, E., Steiner, U. (1985). The organisation of goal directed action: A research report. In M. Brenner, J. Ginsberg, M. von Cranach (Eds.), Discovery strategies in the psychology of action. (pp. 19–61 ) London: Academic Press.
Farr, R M., Moscovici, S. (Eds.). (1984). Social representations. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, and Paris: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.
French, J. R. P., Raven, B. (1959). The bases of power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power, (pp. 150–167 ). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
Fuhrer, U. (1983). Mehrfachhandeln in dynamischen Umfeldern. Göttingen: Hogrefe Verlag.
Gibb, C. A. (1969). Leadership. In G. Lindzey, E. Aronson (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (Vol. IV, pp. 205–282 ). Reading, MA. Addison-Wesley.
Hacker, W. (1978). Allgemeine Arbeits- und Ingenieurpsychologie. Bonn: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, and Bern: Hans Huber Verlag.
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.
James, W. (1890). Principles of psychology. New York: Holt.
Krogoll, T., Resch, M. (1984). Aufgabenbezogene Arbeitsanalyse. (Berichte und Reprints aus dem Institut für Humanwissenschaft in Arbeit und Ausbildung der TU Berlin, No. 2 ). Berlin: Technical University.
Kühl, J. (1983). Motivation, Konflikt und Handlungskontrolle. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Lewin, K. (1926). Untersuchungen zur Handlungs- und Affektpsychologie II: Vorsatz, Wille und Bedürfnis. Psychologische Forschung 7, 330–385.
Lindzey, G., Byrne, D., (1968). Measurement of social choice and interpersonal attractiveness. In G. Lindzey, E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. II, pp. 452–525 ). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Lorenz, IC (1978). Vergleichende Verhaltensforschung. Grundlagen der Ethologie. Vienna: Springer.
Miller, J. G. (1978). Living systems. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Ochsenbein, G., (1982). Aufmerksamkeitsprozesse in zielgerichteten Handlungen. Unpublished thesis, Psychologisches Institut, University of Bern.
Rubinstein, S. L. (1977). Grundlagen der allgemeinen Psychologie (7th ed.) Berlin: VEB, Volk und Wissen.
Shaw, M. (1964). Communication networks. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology. (Vol. I, pp. 111–149 ). New York: Academic Press.
Tajfel, H. (1982). Social identity and intergroup relations. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Thommen, B., Ammann, R, Cranach, M. von. (1982)Handlungsorganisation durch soziale Repräsentationen Forschungsbericht aus dem Psychologischen Institut der Universität Bern
Volpert, W. (1982). The model of hierarchical-sequential organization of action. In W. Hacker, W. Volpert, M. von Cranach (Eds.), Cognitive and motivational aspects of action, (pp. 38–58 ). Amsterdam: North Holland.
Weber, M. (1922). Die drei reinen Typen der legitimen Herrschaft Preussische Jahrbücher, 187, 1–12.
Whyte, W. F. (1943). Street corner society. Chicago: University of Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
von Cranach, M. (1986). Leadership as a Function of Group Action. In: Graumann, C.F., Moscovici, S. (eds) Changing Conceptions of Leadership. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4876-7_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4876-7_8
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9342-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4876-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive