An Ideological Investigation of the Contexts of Leadership and Lordship: a Study of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar in Praxis

For over the past sixty or more years, much of the leadership and organizational literature has continued to present largely similar arguments. These arguments have tended to suggest that all efforts made to elicit desired behaviors from people, represent leadership, to greater or lesser extents. This study provides a review and ideological analysis of the behavioral artifacts exhibited by Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, as recorded in the first chapter of the book of Daniel. The results of this analysis suggest that: (a) differences actually exist between several different types of providing direction; (b) those differences primarily relate to whether or not, known, standard procedures exist to help guide the required efforts, and who the directors primarily intendeds to benefit from the associated outcomes; and (c) most of the current literature actually addresses desired organizational culture, rather than desired behaviors unique to leadership. The study also includes recommendations for future research, based on these results and the associated conclusions.