ABSTRACT
The Charismatic, Ideological, and Pragmatic (CIP) leadership model was initially conceptualized with a focus on “outstanding” leaders, including presidents, generals, CEOs, religious gurus, and more. However, the realities of organizational life do not always fit the “outstanding” mold as originally conceptualized by the theory. The vast majority of leaders are not at the upper echelons of the world, but rather are “everyday” leaders across organizational levels. In this chapter we outline nine applied realities and provide initial results of a study linking leader CIP styles to employee engagement data in a multinational organization. Overall, pragmatic leadership was the most common style across organizational levels and global regions, although leaders tended to see themselves in ways consistent with all three CIP types. Despite the prevalence of pragmatic leadership, employee engagement outcomes were correlated most highly with charismatic and ideological leadership. We discuss the implications of these findings for CIP theory, in particular the notion of describing leaders using a CIP profile rather than a typology, as well as for practitioners using CIP theory to inform human capital practices. Finally, we present future research directions that should be considered to strengthen the CIP model and to increase its utility in applied settings.
