ABSTRACT
Competency-based approaches emphasize the role of individuals in leadership processes and applied utility in theory development. Two broad purposes for competency-based approaches exist: practical and theoretical. Originally personnel departments used limited competency-based approaches for specific positions and job classifications. In the practical dimension, competency-based approaches tend to dominate the training and development arena because it is easy to integrate individual trait studies with the experience and insight of experienced leaders. Competency-based leadership approaches tend to summarize the state of the art and provide integrative theories from an individual perspective. Competency-based leadership models with a more scientific purpose must specify what situational factor or factors are being combined with leader characteristics. The most frequent criticism is that situational variables are excluded altogether and that competency-based leadership approaches are always unifactoral. The leadership action cycle (LAC) presented and elaborated here is designed to be useful in explaining leadership in public contexts from an individual leader's perspective.
