Rost was a theorist and teacher who started the leadership studies program at the University of San Diego. His understanding of the literature is exhaustive, and in this work he analyzes most of the work on leadership written between 1930 and 1990. His book is intended for serious academic students of leadership who are troubled by the lack of a clear definition of what "leadership studies" is or constitutes. After reviewing the literature, Rost concluded that the 20th century was dominated by what he called an "industrial paradigm" that defined leadership as "good management" (p. 94). This explanation provided coherence to an otherwise confusing array of leadership theories like the "great man," traits, situational, and so forth, which, Rost contended, described management but not leadership. His 21st century definition, which he labeled the "post-industrial paradigm," defined leadership as "an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes" (p. 102). This is contrasted by his definition of management as "an authority relationship between at least one manager and one subordinate who coordinate their activities to produce and sell particular goods and/or services" (p. 145).
Rost's work has great importance in the field of leadership studies if the field is going to be a social science that conducts research in a positivist tradition. Rost's distinction between the definitions of leadership and management (quoted above) is his key contribution to the field, which he summarized in the following table in order to highlight the contrasting elements in each (p.149):
LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
Influence relationship Authority relationship
Leaders and followers Managers and subordinates
Intend real changes Produce and sell goods/services
Intended changes reflect
mutual purposes Goods/services result
from coordinated activities
Leadership for the 21st Century is important for students of servant leadership because Rost draws a clear line of demarcation between those who engage in leader-follower relationship processes through influence--leaders--and those who use organizational or personal power to achieve compliance through coercive authority that is "perfectly acceptable to both managers and subordinates" (p. 146)--managers. Although compliance is a necessary feature of most organizations, coercion is antithetical to servant leadership. Rost summarized what he saw as the two key differences between leadership and management this way. These distinctions harmonize with the general thrust of servant leadership as a transformational rather than transactional leadership style (Burns, 1978).
The difference is that leadership is an influence relationship and management is an authority relationship. The differences in these two kinds of relationships have to do with (1) use of coercion and (2) directionality of the attempts to impact on people.
Influence requires that coercion not be used, at least as a regular and patterned form of behavior. Authority allows the use of coercion as a regular and patterned form of behavior.
Attempts to influence other people in a leadership relationship are multidirectional. Leaders influence other leaders and followers while followers influence other followers and leaders. Attempts to use authority in a managerial relationship are unidirectional and top-down. Managers use authority to impact on subordinates, who then respond to the authoritative directive, producing the two-way relationship. While there may be more democratic relationships between managers and subordinates these days, the basic and fundamental relationship remains top-down. (p. 150)
Greenleaf wrote that "a new moral authority is emerging, which holds that the only authority deserving one's allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader" (Greenleaf, 2002, pp. 23-24). Overall, Rost's book is essential for scholars of servant leadership to read because it proposed that leadership is fundamentally a process of influence.
Add Prime
to get Fast, Free delivery
$30.29 with 13 percent savings
List Price: $35.00 
The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Learn more
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more
Frequently bought together
This item: Leadership for the Twenty-First Century
$30.60
Get it as soon as Friday, Jan 3
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
+
+
$24.95
Get it as soon as Friday, Jan 3
Only 8 left in stock (more on the way).
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
- Leadership (Harper Perennial Political Classics)PaperbackFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Wednesday, Jan 8Only 17 left in stock (more on the way).
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2006
- Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 1999
- Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2023
- Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2013
- Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2000
- Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2019
