Academic amnesia and vestigial assumptions of our forefathers

In this exchange of letters, Art Bedeian and Jerry Hunt consider what leadership as a concept actually means and whether what has been published in the relevant literature actually deals with leadership per se. Bedeian notes that leadership has been described as (a) synonymous with holding a supervisory or managerial position, (b) the possession of certain personal qualities, and (c) a category of behavior in which an individual acts in a certain manner, thereby influencing others to follow, and wonders if divergent findings regarding the relationship between leadership and other constructs may simply reflect differences in how leadership is defined. Hunt responds to Bedeian by providing a brief history of the literature's treatment of leadership/management differences and arguing for: (1) a framework that helps focus on the different historical-contextual aspects within which one would specifically be called upon to differentiate between leadership and management, and (2) the assumption that leadership is a subset of management, with both needing to be carried out (though not necessarily by the same person) to ensure organizational success. He concludes by articulating ways for researchers to empirically differentiate between leadership and management.