JUN, Jong S.

A response to Dorothy Olshfski. The subjectivist approach to leadership : the need for more than description - New York : Marcel Dekker, 1997

Leadership research has been heavily influenced by behavioral science methods based on the philosophy of empirical-logical positivism. Researchers in this tradition focus on how leaders behave in accomplishing organizational goals through the coordination of people. Other scholars view leadership subjectively, exploring its personal and idiosyncratic elements from the actor's point of view. While most leadership typologies formulated by researchers seek to explain the objective nature of leadership behavior, Olshfski attempts to construct some generalizations which reflect the subjective experience of the meaning of leadership for state-level cabinet executives.