Statistical Analysis Of 'The Romance Of Leadership'

The Romance of Leadership” focuses on the idea of romanticism of leadership in society. The goal of the article was to see if there are any connections between the outcomes of different situations and how much people associate those outcomes with leadership. Six different studies were done, using statistical analysis, to see if there is a correlation between these ideas. The first study focused on the Wall Street Journal and a sample of reputable companies and how much leadership was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal articles relative to their performance (such as sales and profits). Articles were categorized by using a system of matching article titles with certain code-words associated with leadership. The second study was very similar

“One of the principal elements in this romanticized conception is the view that leadership is a central organizational process and the premier force in the scheme of organizational events and activities.”

“The romanticized conception of leadership results from a biased preference to understand important but causally indeterminant and ambiguous organizational events and occurrences in terms of leadership.”

These two quotes talk about the whole idea of romanticized leadership. They point out how the general public is uneducated on the structural complexities of organizations and like to choose certain individuals to blame or praise. It is not only that people are unaware, but also that people LIKE to have others to label as heroes and villains.

“The industry and the year-wise analyses revealed that an emphasis on leadership increases with increasingly positive performance. The within-company and within-year analyses introduced additional evidence that on some occasions and for some firms, leadership is more likely to be emphasize when performances are poor. These two major patterns of results, when taken together, provided us with support for the proposition that the perceived causal priority of and attributions to leadership in understanding organizational events and occurrences are likely to occur when performances are either

People are drawn to learn about extreme circumstances and are quick to make judgements. I will use this quote and others that directly talk about the statistics and numbers verifying the claims of the authors.

“When considering the “symbolic role” of management, the greater significance of leadership lies not in the direct impact on substantive matters but in the ability to exert control over the meanings and interpretations important constituencies give to whatever events and occurrences are considered relevant for the organization’s functioning.”

This quote talks about the importance of media and general consensus. The actions of the leaders are not as important as what others say ABOUT the actions. Having control over the portrayal of the correctness or wrongness of the decisions made by the leaders is crucial in what type of “symbol” the leaders become of the