Comparison of Leadership Literature 1 A Comparison of Leadership Literature: The Twenty-First Century’s Trend Toward Integration

This comparative study looks at what is being done in the literature on leadership now, particularly what has been changing and what is considered progressive now compared to 20 years ago. Even with decades of research on the topic of leadership, academia and corporate America alike are still no closer to consensus on what distinguishes leaders from non-leaders. From Argyris to Ziglar, hundreds of authors, educators, researchers, and businessmen have weighed in on leadership with regard to organizational theory, philosophical and historical contexts, and the theoretical versus the practical. Leadership qualities have been classified, enumerated, rated, and grouped. Over the decades, there have been paradigm shifts – from servant leadership to transformational to contingency to facilitative and back again. Leadership theories have come in and out of fashion, but most leaders will agree that no single style of leading works all the time. School leaders must employ any number of leadership paradigms, characteristics, and practices on a daily basis to cover the gamut of situations that arise. In navigating the course for preparing educational leaders, reviewing the theories and literature on leadership is paramount. Changes in the 21st century leadership literature lean toward a