Category Archives: *Leadership Quarterly
That It’s OK to Be Me: Authentic Leadership Drives Performance in Stressful Conditions (IO Psychology)
Topics: Leadership, Stress
Publication: The Leadership Quarterly (JUN 2012)
Article: The relationship between authentic leadership and follower job performance: The mediating role of follower positivity in extreme contexts.
Authors: Suzanne J. Peterson, Fred O. Walumbwa, Bruce J. Avolio, & Sean T. Hannah
Reviewed By: Aaron Manier
In stressful working environments, it’s good to know that your boss is a real, caring, genuine person who’s got your back in the toughest of situations. Not only does it seem like a good idea generally, but research is beginning to support the notion that authentic leaders, or leaders who are self-aware, moral, open, and objective, not only increase perceived support among followers, but drive higher performance in extreme and stressful working conditions.
Several key features of the authentic leader-follower relationship impact the strength of the relationship between authentic leadership and performance in extreme working conditions, specifically in police and military contexts. An authentic relationship between a leader and an employee creates a situation where employees can genuinely experience all of their emotions. The encouragement of authentic leaders for employees to feel their true emotions contradicts traditional thinking that emotions in extreme or stressful environments should be detached—a repressive, “tough it out” mentality. However, authenticity can lead to stronger positive emotions and improved performance.
Authentic leaders also create a working situation that activates employee’s psychological capital to drive improved performance. Psychological capital is like a pool of psychological resources that an employee can draw on to succeed, including confidence, strength of will, optimism, and resilience. By supporting employees and allowing them to develop this pool of psychological capital, authentic leaders empower employees to have the personal strength to confront stressful and potentially negative situations.
Given the impact that authentic leadership can have on performance and the work environment, organizations that operate in stressful or extreme conditions should consider switching their “tough it out” stance to one of support, genuineness, and a willingness to experience the challenges of a difficult work situation.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
Leadership and Overconfidence (I/O Psychology)
Topic: Leadership
Publication: The Leadership Quarterly (AUG 2011)
Article: When confidence is detrimental: Influence of overconfidence on leadership effectiveness
Authors: Shipman, A. S., & Mumford, M. D.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin
It is widely acknowledged within IO psychology that leaders should be confident, but can they be overconfident? And how can overconfidence impact leader effectiveness? To answer these questions, Shipman and Mumford (2011) conducted an experiment in which undergraduates responded to a made-up leadership scenario.
The authors found that overconfidence consisted of two dimensions: (1) seeing deficiencies, and (2) expectations of positive outcomes. In other words, an overconfident leader failed to see deficiencies and expected positive outcomes. In this experiment, leaders who were overconfident regarding their expectation of positive outcomes developed less effective plans but more emotionally appealing vision statements. Leaders whose overconfidence was associated with failure to see deficiencies developed less effective plans and less practical vision statements. In fact, those who had the lowest levels of confidence related to failure to see deficiencies were the leaders who created the best plans.
Although we should encourage leaders to be confident, we must be wary of encouraging overconfidence. In fact, leaders should try to keep their confidence fairly low when it is necessary to see deficiencies and make plans. Overconfidence may be reduced through critical self-evaluation.
human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
Leadership
The Predictive Power of Grit: How to Select Successful People
Topic: Leadership, Personality
Publication: The Leadership Quarterly (JUN 2011)
Article: Leader development and the dark side of personality
Authors: Harms, P. D., Spain, S. M., & Hannah, S. T.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin
Recent research suggests that some positive personality traits (e.g., conscientiousness) are related to leadership outcomes. But what about the “dark side” of personality? In other words, what about subclinical traits (traits that fall between “normal” and what would be considered a personality disorder)?
Harms, Spain, and Hannah (2011) studied subclinical (“dark side”) traits and their effect on leader development in West Point cadets. They found that development did occur, with all twelve leader development dimensions increasing over the three-year time period. Subclinical traits had an effect on the rate of leader development, but the nature of that effect was mixed. Some traits (skeptical, imaginative) were negatively related to leader development, while others (cautious, bold, colorful, dutiful) were positively related to leader development.
These results suggest that we should not see all “dark side” traits at being completely bad; in terms of leader development, some seem to help and others seem to hurt. In addition, this study provides further evidence that leadership develops over a long period of time, and personality explains much of that change. Therefore, personality assessments that go beyond the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) would be useful as part of leadership development programs.
human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
How I See Me Affects How I See the Boss
Topic: Leadership, Human Resources
Publication: The Leadership Quarterly (APR 2011)
Article: More than meets the eye: The role of subordinates’ self-perceptions in leader categorization processes
Authors: van Quaquebeke, N., van Knippenberg, D., Brodbeck, F. C.
Reviewed by: Chelsea Rowe
First, list qualities that describe your current boss. Now, list the qualities that make a great leader or boss. This latter list represents your “ideal leader prototype.” This comparison to leader prototypes is a major premise of the Implicit Leadership Theory (ILT), whereby the degree to which a leader does (or does not) match up with our prototype forms the basis of how we rate that leader’s performance.
In a study of German employees, Quaquebeke, van Knippenberg, and Brodbed (2011) investigated the degree to which employee self-perceptions influenced their level of respect for their leaders and how they rated their leader’s effectiveness. Employees were asked indicate how well their leader matched up with their ideal leader prototype and then compared themselves to that prototype. They also evaluated how these factors influenced employees’ respect for their leaders.
It turns out that an employee’s opinion about a leader’s performance is influenced by more than just how much that leader stacks up against an employee’s ideal leader prototype. An employee’s ideas about their own abilities as a potential leader not only impact the qualities he or she values in a leader but also how important he or she finds certain attributes. For example, an employee who thinks that being an effective bargainer is crucial to strong leadership within his or her company is likely to find it more important if he or she thinks it’s a personal strength. Likewise, traits that an employee does not strongly possess are likely less important to them when considering managerial effectiveness. Finally, when employees felt that their own ability to lead matched with their manager’s leadership skills, they expressed more respect for him or her.
Want CEO Success? Then Focus on Task and Performance
Topic: Leadership, Organizational Performance
Publication: The Leadership Quarterly (FEB 2011)
Article: CEO leadership behaviors, organizational performance, and employee’s attitudes
Authors: Hui Wang, Anne S. Tsui, & Katherine R. Xin
Reviewed by: Chelsea Rowe
In a study of top and middle managers (CEOs, VPs, and senior managers) in 125 Chinese firms, Wang, Tsui, and Xin (2011) investigated the degree to which CEO leadership behavior influenced the performance of the firm. They took this a step further, also looking at the degree to which employee perceptions of the CEO impacted firm performance. Firm performance was measured in terms of profitability, asset & sales growth, market share, and competitive status within the industry.
Leadership behavior can be broken down into two categories: task- and relationship-oriented. Task-related behaviors include goal-setting & articulation and monitoring of progress. Relationship-oriented behaviors focus on developing employee-leader relationships that include trust, understanding of and concern for employee problems, and supporting employees.
Wang, Tsui, and Xin (2011) showed that CEO leadership behaviors can impact a firm’s performance both directly and indirectly. Task-focused behaviors have a direct relationship with the firm’s performance. This finding is pretty straight forward—when leaders set goals and communicate those goals clearly to employees while monitoring progress, the goals are more likely to be met, ergo the firm performs well.
The Winning Team!
Topic: Teams
Publication: Leadership Quarterly (OCT 2010)
Article: Self-management competencies in self-managing teams: Their impact on multi-team system productivity
Authors: J. P. Millikin, P. W. Hom, C. C. Manz
Reviewed By: Lauren Wood
The emergence and increasing popularity of self-managed work teams in the past 25 years have lead many business leaders to claim that self-managed teams are the wave of the future. Indeed, self-managed teams have been shown to positively influence organizational outcomes such as customer service and productivity. However, some research has contradicted these findings suggesting, in fact, that self-managed teams may be overall detrimental to organizational success. Differences in team composition may be the culprit of these varied results; so, which team member qualities contribute to effective self-managed teams within the larger, multi-team system and which hinder productivity?
The current study investigated the effects of two team composition variables: team members’ degree of self-management abilities (practicing self-job enrichment and engage in positive self-talk) and the degree of interpersonal cohesion (perceiving similarity between themselves and the other team members). The results revealed teams which consist of members who are more self-managing displayed higher levels of productivity. Additionally, teams with higher self-management abilities as well as higher levels of interpersonal cohesion showed additional productivity gains over teams with high self-management abilities but low interpersonal cohesion levels.
What it Takes to Lead Authentically
Topic: Leadership
Publication: Leadership Quarterly (OCT 2010)
Article: Psychological processes linking authentic leadership to follower behaviors
Authors: F. O. Walumbwa, P. Wang, H. Wang, J. Schaubroeck, B. J. Avolio
Reviewed By: Lauren Wood
Although much research has been dedicated to examining how leaders impact their followers, a fairly new approach to leadership, authentic leadership, is proving to be an important contributor to employee behavior. In general, four main qualities separate authentic leaders from others: 1) they display deep moral beliefs, 2) they evaluate decisions fairly, 3) they have a strong sense of self-awareness, and 4) they are open and truthful in their relationships.
The current study examined the effects of authentic leadership on followers’ behavioral patterns. The results reveal that followers of authentic leaders tend to internalize the leader’s goals, values, and performance standards, adding to feelings of perceived similarity between leader and follower. Additionally, followers of authentic leaders reported greater empowerment or autonomy in their work roles due to the open and inclusive work environment generated by the authentic leader. Both perceived similarity and empowerment lead to other positive outcomes such as increased work engagement (motivated and connected to the work) and organizational citizenship behaviors – OCBs (e.g., helping behavior).
So how can organizations reap the benefits of authentic leadership? If in a position to hire: select candidates who possess qualities similar to authentic leaders (such as individuals who are ethical, fair, self-aware, and honest). Current managers may also be trained to act more authentically by encouraging open communication among employees, providing employees with constructive feedback, and highlighting how the employees’ roles fit into the broader goals of the organization.
Walumbwa, F. O., Wang, P., Wang, H., Schaubroeck, J, & Avolio, B. J. (2010). Psychological processes linking authentic leadership to follower behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 21, 901-914.
Do You Feel Like I Do?
Topic: Leadership, Job Performance
Publication: The Leadership Quarterly (OCT 2009)
Article: Do you feel what I feel? Mood contagion and leadership outcomes
Authors: S.K. Johnson
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger
Everyone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed from time-to-time – and leaders are certainly no exception.
As a recent example, a study by Johnson (2009) shows that followers’ moods are directly impacted by the expressed moods of leaders. This phenomenon is known as mood contagion , which in this case refers to the automatic transfer of moods from leaders to followers. Mood contagion occurs unconsciously and thus employees have little control over it.
First, Johnson demonstrated the mood contagion effect, such that when participants (university students) saw a video of a leader expressing a positive mood, they tended to report positive moods. Similarly, when participants saw a video of a leader expressing a negative mood, they too tended to report negative moods.
More importantly, participants reporting positive moods outperformed those reporting negative moods on a relevant task (a mock hiring task which related to the content of the videos shown to participants). Johnson demonstrated that mood contagion was partially responsible for the performance outcomes. Additionally, leaders who exhibited positive moods in the videos were rated as more charismatic, which was also found to affect follower performance on the task.
Because we are all subject to mood changes, leaders must be aware of how their moods can affect their followers’ performance. Johnson’s study shows that moods can be highly contagious and can either enhance or damage employee performance.
Virtual Leadership ≠ Face-to-face Leadership
Topic: Leadership
Publication: Leadership Quarterly (JUN 2009)
Article: Transformational leadership in context: Face-to-face and virtual teams
Author: R.K. Purvanova, J.E. Bono
Reviewed by: Benjamin Granger
Due to recent technological advancements, virtual teams (team members working together from different geographical locations using electronic communication media) have become very common in many organizations. Despite their many advantages, these advancements have introduced new issues that must be addressed.
One area that has received attention relates to the impact of transformational leadership on virtual team performance. By definition, transformational leaders are charismatic, provide a unified vision for their subordinates, treat their employees as unique individuals, and challenge them intellectually.
However, few studies have compared transformational leadership behaviors in face-to-face (where it is typically studied) and virtual work contexts. To address this gap, Purvanova and Bono (2009) conducted an experiment involving 39 college students who led face-to-face and virtual team projects containing approximately 3 team members (also college students).
It is important to stress that each of the 39 leaders participated in both virtual and face-to-face projects. Interestingly, leader behaviors were not consistent across the two contexts.That is, leaders who exhibited transformational leadership qualities in one setting (e.g., face-to-face) did not necessarily carry these behaviors over into the other (e.g., virtual). Additionally, while some leaders displayed high levels of transformational leadership in virtual contexts, others did so more in face-to-face contexts. Thus, there was no general trend of leaders exhibiting more transformational leadership behaviors in one context.
Finally, transformational leadership behaviors were more strongly related to overall team performance in virtual contexts compared to face-to-face contexts. This is an important finding because it suggests that leaders’ behaviors may be more influential for virtual teams. Purvanova and Bono suggest that this may be due to the increased ambiguity faced by team members in virtual contexts.
So, if you are leading a team in a virtual setting when you typically lead face-to-face, be sure to turn on the transformational leadership charm in order to get the results you expect.
Don’t know what “it” is…but they’ve got it
Topic: Leadership, Motivation
Publication: The Leadership Quarterly
Article: Speech imagery and perceptions of charisma: The mediating role of positive affect
Blogger: James Grand
The qualities that define charismatic leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Henry Ford, and Winston Churchill have intrigued organizational scholars for years. Research such as that pursued by Naidoo and Lord in the latest volume of The Leadership Quarterly (2008, Vol. 19, Iss. 3) ensures that such efforts will continue.
In their work, Naidoo and Lord sought to examine the effects of speech imagery and individuals’ emotional states on perceptions of charisma and overall leadership effectiveness. Speech imagery can broadly be defined as content that “paints a picture” and arouses emotional responses in listeners. For example, take the following high imagery quote delivered by Theodore Roosevelt: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” Stirring, no? That’s exactly what Naidoo and Lord found—an orator delivering a speech was seen as more charismatic and a better leader when the content was spoken using high versus low imagery words.
Furthermore, greater speech imagery created stronger positive emotions in listeners,
which significantly contributed to ratings of charisma and leadership. Lastly, listeners’
ratings of leader charisma decreased during descriptions of a negative event (i.e., a problem facing the audience), but later increased during descriptions of the speaker’s positive vision (i.e., a potential solution).
So, the moral of the story—a picture’s worth a thousand words, even when you paint it with your mouth. And if you’re looking for just the right words to spark that vision, check out Martindale’s (1975) Regressive Imagery Dictionary or Friendly et al.’s (1982) Toronto Word Pool for a list of words that have been empirically rated for imagery and concreteness to help you win over that next crowd (or country, as the case may be).
Friendly, M., Franklin, P. E., Hoffman, D., & Rubin, D. C. (1982). The Toronto word pool: Norms for imagery, concreteness, orthographic variables, and grammatical usagefor 1,080 words. Behavior, Research Methods, and Instrumentation, 14, 375−399. Martindale, C. (1975). Romantic progression: The psychology of literary history. Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
