cezzy Tue 19 Oct 2010, 10:43 pm
First of all, I want to commend you for being able to critique Wong's work as a theory.
Nice thought!
Yes, I agree that the proposed theory by Wong is a combination of concepts of all theories. However, though it came from different theories before, it is still considered a new concept with new style since it took an in-depth focus on factors that Wong thought is essential for a better leadership theory. According to Klein and White (Hanson, et al., 1998) as cited by Zerwekh, J. et al. (2006), theory is a mean to gather information, to more clearly and specifically identify ideas, to guide research, to show ideas are connected to each other, to make sense of what we observe or experience, to predict what might happen, and to provide answers. Thus, those ideas from the previous definition of authentic leadership is a way to criticize and direct a new research. Furthermore, rather than being conclusive and absolute, scientific theories are tentative and with new discoveries and experimental techniques, scientific theories are refined. Therefore, I can say that because scientific theories are not absolute, they invite critical analysis and direct new research. It is through testing and re-testing that a theory's central supposition may be strengthened, or even discredited.
One tool that can be used is the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ). It is a theory-driven leadership survey instrument designed to measure the components that have been conceptualized as comprising authentic leadership (Avolio, B.J., & Luthans, F., 2006). As of the moment that’s the only tool I’ve seen. With regard to the last question, despite the creation of a tool, in my opinion, it’s still hard to measure an authentic leader’s qualities through a quantitative analysis. Further studies need to be developed to broaden more the scope on the creation of proper measuring technique in identifyng an authentic leader.
References:
Zerwekh, J. and Claborn, J. (2006). Nursing today: Transition and Trends. Saunders Elsivier, Westline Industrial Drive, St. Louis Missouri.
Avolio, B.J., & Luthans, F. (2006). High impact leader: Moments matter in authentic leadership development. NY: McGraw-Hill.
Last edited by cezzy on Wed 20 Oct 2010, 3:27 am; edited 1 time in total