Juxtaposition of Evolution of Leadership Theories and Foucault's Power Knowledge Dynamics

Abstract

This article presents the juxtaposition of the evolution of leadership theories from transactional, to transformational and also to the new age theories, which are based on ethics and aesthetics like the servant leadership with Foucault's epistemology of genealogy of power-knowledge. Genealogy is an anti-method which begins with a critique of the present. Foucault's genealogical episteme has been used to elicit problematization of the established field of leadership which the authors believe to be scientifically evolved and academically established. The article critically traces, the historical account of developments in leadership theories and questions the perfection and hegemony of transformational theory, questioning the reliable assumptions and potential limitations of transactional and transformational theory to finally establish constant evolution in the subject as the stable new construct of leadership. Though Foucauldian thought argues for the balance of power between follower and leader and leader's power being interdependent on knowledge, on the contrary, this article highlights the concentration of power in the hands of privileged few in the existing paradigms of leadership. The panopticon, as a metaphor of vigil focuses on the concentrated power in the hands of those at a higher pedestal and the self-government and objectivizing of followers which prevails in the organisations, While mapping these transitions in leadership theory with the genealogy of power-knowledge dynamics of Foucault's episteme, the article contributes to the existing literature on leadership by acknowledging a need for a newer leadership in the current complex business environment in accordance with the genealogical theme of pastoral power.