Editing Leadership (section)

==Performance==
Some researchers argued that the influence of leaders on organizational outcomes is overrated and romanticized as a result of biased attributions about leaders.<ref>Meindl & Ehrlich, 1987{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}} Despite these assertions, however, it is largely recognized and accepted by practitioners and researchers that leadership is important, and research supports the notion that leaders do contribute to key organizational outcomes.<ref>Day & Lord, 1988.{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}{{request quotation|date=April 2021}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}
<ref name=Kaiser08>{{cite journal
| last1                 = Kaiser
| first1                = Robert B.
| last2                 = Hogan
| first2                = Robert
| author-link2          = Robert Hogan (psychologist)
| last3                 = Craig
| first3                = S. Bartholomew
| title                 = Leadership and the fate of organizations
| url                   = https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0003-066X.63.2.96
| journal               = American Psychologist
| year                  = 2008
| volume                = 63
| issue                 = 2
| pages                 = 96–110
| doi                   = 10.1037/0003-066X.63.2.96
| pmid                  = 18284278
| access-date           = 21 April 2021
| quote                 = [Abstract:] The authors propose conceptualizing leadership and evaluating leaders in terms of the performance of the team or organization for which they are responsible. The authors next offer a taxonomy of the dependent variables used as criteria in leadership studies. A review of research using this taxonomy suggests that the vast empirical literature on leadership may tell us more about the success of individual managerial careers than the success of these people in leading groups, teams, and organizations. The authors then summarize the evidence showing that leaders do indeed affect the performance of organizations--for better or for worse--and conclude by describing the mechanisms through which they do so.}}</ref> To facilitate successful leadership [[performance]] it is important to understand and accurately measure it.

[[Job performance]] generally refers to behavior that contributes to organizational success.<ref>Campbell, 1990{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}} Campbell identified a number of specific types of performance dimensions; leadership was one of them. There is no consistent, overall definition of leadership performance.<ref>Yukl, 2006{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}} Many distinct conceptualizations are often lumped together under the umbrella of leadership performance.{{r|Kaiser08}} "Leadership performance" may refer to the career success of the individual leader, performance of the group or organization, or even leader emergence. Each of these measures can be considered conceptually distinct. While they may be related, they are different outcomes and their inclusion should depend on the applied or research focus.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite journal|last1=Jung|first1=Dong I.|last2=Sosik|first2=John J.|date=2002|title=Transformational Leadership in Work Groups: The Role of Empowerment, Cohesiveness, and Collective-Efficacy on Perceived Group Performance|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10496402033003002|journal=Small Group Research|language=en|volume=33|issue=3|pages=313–336|doi=10.1177/10496402033003002|s2cid=144768241|issn=1046-4964|via=ProQuest}}
|2={{Cite journal|last1=Saleem|first1=Farida|last2=Zhang|first2=Yingying Zhang|last3=Gopinath|first3=C.|last4=Adeel|first4=Ahmad|date=2020-01-01|title=Impact of Servant Leadership on Performance: The Mediating Role of Affective and Cognitive Trust|journal=SAGE Open|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=2158244019900562|doi=10.1177/2158244019900562|s2cid=210972626|issn=2158-2440|doi-access=free}} }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Another way to conceptualize leader performance is to focus on the outcomes of the leader's followers, group, team, unit, or organization. In evaluating this type of leader performance, two general strategies are typically used. The first relies on subjective perceptions of the leader's performance from subordinates, superiors, or occasionally peers or other parties. The other type of effectiveness measures are more objective indicators of follower or unit performance, such as measures of productivity, goal attainment, sales figures, or unit financial performance.|B.M. Bass & R.E. Riggio<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Bass|editor-first1=B. M.|editor-last2=Riggio|editor-first2=R. E.|year=2006|title=Transformational Leadership|edition=2nd|location=Mahwah, N.J.|publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates|page=47}}</ref>}}

A [[toxic leader]] is someone who has responsibility over a group of people or an organization, and who abuses the leader-follower relationship by leaving the group or organization in a worse-off condition than when they joined it.<ref>{{cite news
| last1                 = Veldsman
| first1                = Theo
| title                 = How Toxic Leaders Destroy People as Well as Organisations
| url                   = https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-toxic-leaders-destroy_b_8976140
| work                  = The Huffington Post
| publisher             = BuzzFeed, Inc.
| publication-date      = 14 January 2016
| access-date           = 21 April 2021
| quote                 = In the case of individuals toxic leadership refers to ongoing, deliberate, intentional actions—the 'arrow'—by a leader to undermine the sense of dignity, self-worth and efficacy of an individual—the 'poison'. This results in exploitative, destructive, devaluing and demeaning work experiences. These destructive actions may be physical, psychosocial or even spiritual when they diminish a person's meaning and purpose.
}}</ref>

=== Measuring leadership ===
Measuring leadership has proven difficult and complex—even impossible.<ref>
{{cite book
 | title = Leadership in Action: A Text for U.S. Marine Corps Junior ROTC
 | year = 1974| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HfHNSOmUEcAC
 | location = Quantico, Virginia
 | publisher = Reserve Liaison and Training Branch, Education Center, Marine Corps Development and Education Command
 | page = 36
 | access-date = 21 April 2021
 | quote = It is impossible to measure leadership or judge a leader solely by observation of the leader himself. The real quality of leadership must be judged in relation to the behavior of the group.
}}</ref> Attempts to assess leadership performance via group performance bring in multifarious different factors. Different perceptions of leadership itself may lead to differing measuring methods.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Sells
 | first1 = S. B.
 | chapter = Abilities and Attributes of Leaders
 | title = Military Small Group Performance under Isolation and Stress - An annotated bibliography
 | year = 1961
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F2vlAAAAMAAJ
 | location = Fort Wainwright, Alaska
 | publisher = Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory (U.S.)
 | page = 23
 | access-date = 21 April 2021
 | quote = ...consideration is seldom given to the possibility that different types of leadership or status are measured when different criteria of leadership are used.
}}</ref> Nevertheless, leadership theoreticians have proven perversely reluctant to abandon the vague subjective qualitative popular concept of "leaders".<ref>{{cite book
 | year = 1976
 | title = Instructor's Guide for Introduction to Leadership Development: A Course Outline : Leadership Development
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hZXfAAAAMAAJ
 | volume = 3
 | location = Fort Benning, Georgia
 | publisher = United States Army Infantry School
 | publication-date = 1977
 | page = 7
 | access-date = 21 April 2021
 | quote =  ...the inability to uncover any universal leadership traits does not mean that they do not exist.}}</ref>