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LVD 2-12
06/04
ABSTRACT
A DEFINITION AND ILLUSTRATION OF
DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP
Prepared by:
Sue E. Williams, Ph.D..
Renée Daugherty, Ph.D.
333 HES Building
342 HES Building
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078-6111
Stillwater, OK 74078-6111
405.744.6282
405.744.6231
sarahk@okstate.edu
radaugh@okstate.edu
Gastil, J.
(1994). A definition and illustration of democratic
leadership.
Human Relations 47, pp. 953-975.
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IMPLICATIONS FOR
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION. This
article offers a definition of democratic leadership that
County Extension Educators will probably find useful in their
work with organizations and leadership programs. The
decision tree flow chart is a handy tool in making
decisions and determining how people should be involved in the
decision-making process. |
In this article,
John Gastil discusses research on leadership and the development
of a conception of democratic leadership, noting the roles
of leader and follower in this conception and illustrating it
through the example of National Issues Forums.
Gastil argues that, in order to
support democracy, there needs to be an understanding of the role
of leaders in democratic functions. He suggests that early
movements toward this goal (such as Kurt Lewin’s definition of
democratic leadership) were hampered by a lack of specific
criteria to define leadership. He offers a definition that
draws a distinction between leadership and authority, with
leadership being a behavior and not a position.
In this definition, leadership is any
action that helps the group achieve its desired states.
Gastil contends that a democratic leader has three primary
functions:
1.
distributing responsibility so that
all members of the group are responsible
2.
empowering the membership, and
3.
helping the group to deliberate.
In discussing these functions, Gastil
asserts that no one person could fully perform all of them, and he
makes a case for leadership being a behavior which many members of
the group should perform in turn.
Gastil notes that, when not leading,
group members would be followers who are as follows:
·
responsible for the
wellbeing of the group
·
accountable for their
actions
·
autonomous, and
·
working with those who
are leading.
Gastil also presents a decision
tree, a type of flow chart that illustrates a path
which shows when groups should use a democratic process of
leadership. The decision tree lists and orders the
questions one must ask to determine the appropriateness of
democracy and democratic leadership in a given situation.
Starting at the trunk of the decision tree, one first assesses the
nature of the problem. If the problem involves only one
person, an autonomous decision can be reached, and a collective
decision-making process is not necessary unless the person wishes
to consult others.
If the problem involves more than one
person, one moves up the decision tree to the next question.
One follows the series of questions and progresses up the decision
tree based on the answer and recommended action.
Gastil illustrates the development of
democratic leadership by using the example of the National Issues
Forums. He notes that, in the NIF network, members of the
network often trade the roles of leader and follower.
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