Power, Authority, and Leadership

Towards participatory leadership

Abstract

This essay endeavours to elaborate the concept of leadership as a choice and exercise of influence. To do so, it explores the difference between leadership in general terms and “ethical” leadership, emphasizing some characteristics of the latter and the leader’s role in creating and maintaining an ethical climate around him, depending on whether he is in a formal position of command or not. The analysis takes cue from some organizational models, connected to Max Weber’s concepts of power and authority, and concludes by proposing the perspective of a communitarian and participatory leadership.