Full Range Leadership Theory: Cultural and Racial Implications

Abstract

This article examines the Full Range Leadership Develop Theory (FRLD) by Sosoik and Jung (2018). The theory purports a framework that allows leaders to fully develop their leadership aptitude and competencies by understanding leaders’ and followers’ behaviors and characteristics brought to a contextual environment, time orientation, and various situations. This article examines the cultural and racial implications mitigating the FRLD and the Total Leadership System (TLS), the system the theory operates in, as outlined by Sosik and Jung. Examples of culture remediation in South Africa, Australia, China, the U.S., and Indigenous populations provide examples to support cultural remediation. Current literature is silent regarding the cultural and racial implications on the theory providing originality to this article. The term cultural remediation introduced by the author is used to describe the overarching effect cultural and race impute on the success of the FRLD and additional challenges caused by the remediation and redaction of culture. This article provides an examination of the transformational leadership theory, the presumed end-state of the FRLD. It offers some counterproductive attributes of transformational leadership in addition to how FRLD fares against other leadership theories. This article's results yield that leaders must not underestimate culture and race remediation and redaction in the FRLD and TLS. Leaders must have the ability to navigate culture and race effectively because it influences every theory aspect.

Keywords: Leaders, organizations, transformational, remediation, communication