Organizational Leadership Theory Has Arrived: Gestalt Theory Never Left

AbstractSince its introduction in the late 1940s in the U.S., the theory and practice of Gestalt therapy has been applied to and integrated with small group process and leadership and organizational development. There is a gap in the literature with respect to Gestalt therapy, theory, and practice and organizational leadership theory and practice. Organizational leadership models began with an emphasis on the leader and matured to include attention to the field. Although Gestalt therapy theory and practice has always been about the relationship between the individual and the field, its focus wandered in the 1960s and 1970s by becoming “leader-heavy.” Organizational leadership models have come to embrace the relational emphasis that Gestalt therapy has always embodied. Transformational leadership models in particular share much in common with Gestalt therapy and practice.