The charismatic qualities of an extraordinary leader in a transformational leadership situation

grantor: University of TorontoAlthough charisma, or a leader's set of charismatic qualities, has been associated with extraordinary leaders, defining this concept poses a problem. The difficulty appears to lie in how one person could inspire large-scale support in the area of social change. One misconception about leadership is that change occurs largely as a result of the one person, the leader. This study demonstrates that change may occur as the result of the extraordinary qualities of several unique individuals who possess leadership abilities and are involved in a shared change process. What then could be the role of the principal leader? According to the findings of this investigation, a leader's function is to provide direction and support as a mentor, facilitator, and orchestrator of leadership talent as related to the trend that he or she is promoting. In this situation the leader's trend is to encourage private business to take responsibility for its community during a crisis. The leader is the manager of a mall within a community where the crisis was manifested in the form of drugs and prostitution and an economic recession. During this time period the community and organizational leaders could not restrict their responsibilities to the confines of their organizations. Instead, they had to extend their responsibilities to include the needs of the community in a process defined as outreach or a sharing of resources. The leader's role then became one of facilitating the process of merging available resources as a catalyst who connected those with needs to those who could provide, as a means of resource reallocation. By promoting change with the community leaders, he was in a better position to deal with his own organizational concerns. The final conclusion of this study suggests that the input of both the leader and other leaders who be described as his followers influences the course of a leadership. Furthermore, the leader's charisma could be attributed to his talent in facilitating change and followers' gratitude for his intervention during a time of need.Ed.D