LP762-L2 WEEK 1
KarenS
LP762Notes1.pptxWJC LP 762: The Psychology of Leadership and Followership Dr. Dan Jacobs William James College
Notes 1
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Introduction
Overview of course and brief discussion of assumptions and expectations
Topics/Themes:
The Nature of Leadership
Defining a complex concept
Early studies in leadership
Alternative views (e.g., ambidextrous leadership)
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Overview for LP 762
A key assumption I am making is that you will all do the reading and take what resonates for you.
In my lecture notes I will NOT be specifically summarizing or referencing every part of each of the readings, but rather will be talking about what resonates with me and I will reference key points that the reading has raised that has relevance to all of us in the study of the Psychology of Leadership and Followership.
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Overview for LP 762
I am also assuming as adult learners in a doctoral program that you will all be able to “speak up” regarding questions and concerns you have about a reading, an assignment, or a discussion point. Please do NOT wait until Week 13 to raise a concern that you had in Week 2.
I also assume since you are now enrolled in this program that you want to learn, find the material interesting, and maybe know what you want to do with your degree down the road, but may also still be “percolating” regarding options. Good.
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Overview for LP 762
I believe in synthesis of ideas and practical application of same whether I am working in a school, hospital, business, government agency, etc.
Theory is great.
Ability to apply theory in a real-world situation is even better.
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Overview for LP 762
There is no singular reading (or theorist or writer) who I think is THE only source we should be following regarding the concepts covered in this course BUT obviously I think those I have chosen for our readings (and/or viewing) all have something important to add to the conversation.
I hope you can grapple with the material and always have this question in your head: How might I apply this theory in a real-world situation?
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Overview of LP 762
In these course lectures (via both the text information in the slides AND in my verbal comments in the video lecture) I will be trying to put the concepts we are covering into some sort of context. Please be aware that the power points are NOT the lecture—if you only look at those you will definitely miss out on information being covered in the course.
It will be my context.
I hope that as the course progresses you begin to feel comfortable adding your context (via our on line conversations, assignments, and our in residence time together) but ALSO continue to advance your own synthesis of your context, history, and the new information (this will make you stronger in the field).
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A few comments about e.g. and i.e.
e.g. is short for “exempli gratia” (for example)
i.e. is short for “id est” (that is) (sometimes translated/remembered as “in other words”)
e.g. would be used for a sentence that is demonstrating multiple possible examples: “I really like many ice cream flavors (e.g., vanilla, strawberry, and crunchy frog) and eat cones regularly.”
i.e. would be used to demonstrate the specific example(s) that explain the point (and are not interchangeable with other examples):
“I always feel calm and peaceful at my favorite place (i.e., Walden Pond), even when it is cold.” or “I really liked the Monty Python narrative films (i.e., Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Meaning of Life) more than their other efforts (e.g., Live at the Hollywood Bowl).”
Why does this matter?
Why does knowing the difference between “e.g.” and “i.e.” matter?
Why is correct use of grammar important?
Why does correct spelling matter? (or conversely what does incorrect spelling imply?)
Does following these rules limit creativity?
How does this all relate to consulting in a business environment?
Broken Windows Theory and getting hired
Overview of LP 762
Finally: Let’s have fun this semester.
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Why THESE readings?
When considering the concepts of the Psychology of Leadership and Followership there are MANY books and articles on leadership that one could read.
Many espouse that they have THE answers.
Some espouse that they have SOME good answers.
I like the ones that raise LOTS of QUESTIONS the most.
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Why these readings?
I think Bennis talks about important concepts, he raises great questions and his writing is fluid and engaging.
Burns was another one of THE leadership people when I first studied this topic in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Some of his writing is a bit drier but I still like him very much.
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Why these readings?
Kellerman has a very engaging style as well and I think she raises ideas that help us as we look forward in leadership studies.
I have also done my best to include a wide range of recent peer-reviewed articles and video lectures that reflect relevant advances in psychology and leadership studies that will help us as we make sense of everything. It is all connected.
If YOU have additional readings that you feel would add to the discussion please feel free to let me know as the semester progresses.
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The Nature of Leadership
Ok, so now that we have started:
What is LEADERSHIP anyway?
Bennis starts off with this John Gardner quote:
“Leaders have a significant role in creating the state of mind that is the society. They can serve as symbols of the moral unity of the society. They can express the values that hold the society together. Most important, they can conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations, carry them above the conflicts that tear a society apart, and unite them in pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts.”
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Deconstructing the Gardner Quote
“Leaders have a significant role in creating the state of mind that is the society. They can serve as symbols of the moral unity of the society. They can express the values that hold the society together. Most important, they can conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations, carry them above the conflicts that tear a society apart, and unite them in pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts.”
(Everything in bold was done by me. Why? Look at the next slide…)
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Gardner Deconstructed
Leaders…creating the state of mind…
Serve as symbols…
Express the values…
Conceive and articulate goals…
Unite them in pursuit of objectives…
SO: Leaders work to create a state of mind, serve as symbols, articulate and express values, develop and articulate goals, and unite societies (or systems or followers) in pursuit of objectives.
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What did I just do?
I took the start of the Bennis reading, found a Gardner quote that got my attention, broke it down into components that made sense to me, and then began to paraphrase/modify as made sense to me with regards to the topic (leadership) I was beginning to get into.
This is reading for meaning.
I have not assigned a single reading that I do not think has some value to you but that does not mean we will all agree on what calls out to us as relevant/helpful/key.
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What do I hope you will do?
Obviously this Gardner quote was brief, direct, and an easy example.
Some of the readings are a bit more dense and I hope that you will still work to read for meaning in them.
This search will enrich your learning and will come out in your discussion posts and in your written assignments. Ultimately, I want to hear your synthesis of material not just repeating what was in the reading.
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Mastering the Context of Leadership
Per Bennis (2009), the current context of leadership must take into account the last 30 plus years of disappointing political leaders involved in scandals, and corporate leaders engaged in even more (obvious) examples of greed and fiduciary malfeasance.
He said we (followers, community members) “increasingly perceived authentic leaders to be an endangered species.”
To be a successful (and effective) leader today one must understand and master the context (of their organization, society, etc.)
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The Context of Leadership
A “leader” need not be THE ONE telling everyone else what to do BUT even in a more collaborative organization, designed to “hear everyone out”, there still DOES need to be leadership and decision making (to avoid getting stuck in the data-gathering or processing-discussion “loops”).
Leadership is needed BUT not currently trusted.
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Why are leaders important?
1. Leaders are responsible for effectiveness of organizations:
“The leader is responsible for who is hired, the organization’s goals and aspirations, working conditions, who has authority over whom, morale, allocation of resources, transparency, and ethical standards.” –Bennis (2009)
2. Leaders can inspire and restore hope.
3. Leaders can help shore up the integrity (and perception of integrity) of institutions now viewed with cynicism and distrust.
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Quick Weatherman Anecdote
My family and I were watching television recently and the program was interrupted by the local news weather reporter. There was a “Tornado Warning” in one section of their viewing audience and the station wanted to get the word out. He spoke for over 20 minutes, saying about 1-2 minutes worth of actual information over and over, with graphics that were not even remotely helpful. Most of his comments were repetitive and promoted fear rather than offer actual advice or help.
I checked the station’s Twitter account. People on that social media platform repeatedly blasted the station and the weather reporter. The response to this type of “Special Report” in today’s climate (and the nature of the report also) was STRIKING to me as someone who knows about (and remembers) how local news reporters used to be viewed as important community members and leaders. Context matters. (Also, do not mess with people’s favorite programs…)
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21st Century Context
Throughout the semester we will examine:
The change in views of formerly revered institutions (e.g., news programs and staff, religious leaders, financial institutions, government agencies), mostly for the worst, viewed by negative story after story.
Technology and the democratization of access to information (and misinformation).
Rise in the global marketplace and need to understand events occurring across the globe as they impact organizations close to home.
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21st Century Context
Rise in consumerism and instant-gratification that decreases likelihood of sustained attention to complicated answers to complicated problems.
Increased awareness (and fear) of terrorism and complex military situations sometimes worsened by formerly effective interventions.
More of a focus on short-term rewards (e.g., “I don’t have time to read” anecdote).
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Needs for Leaders in this 21st Century Context
Intelligence
Strong analytical capabilities
Work ethic
Communication skills
Understanding of diversity issues
Awareness of (relevant) technology
“People skills”
Other: ____________________________
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Bennis (2009) on Character
“Character is as vital in a leader as drive and competence.”
“It is not enough for a leader to do things right; he must do the right thing.”
“A leader without some vision of where he wants to take his organization is not a leader.”
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Case Example of “Ed” (Bennis, 2009)
Leadership qualities the board wanted to see in “Ed”:
Technical competence
People skills
Conceptual skills (i.e., imagination and creativity)
Judgment and taste
Character
How does this list match up with the list of “needs for leaders” in the earlier slide?
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Case Example of Norman Lear (Bennis, 2009)
How did Norman Lear master the context (what were the steps in the process to allow him to succeed as a leader in his field)?
1. Becoming self-expressive
2. Listening to the inner voice
3. Learning from the right mentors
4. Giving oneself over to a guiding vision
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Burns and the Complexity of Leadership
Burns (1978) talked about leadership and power and how closely these concepts are linked.
His early studies on leadership were clearly also significantly shaped by his context (born in 1918, died in July of 2014) and interaction with military, academic, political and societal challenges and experiences during those years.
Quick aside: Dr. Barbara Kellerman (who we will also be reading this semester) was later appointed as the “James MacGregor Burns Lecturer in Public Leadership” at the Harvard Kennedy School—nice to know the connections—and the Kennedy symmetry is interesting also…
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Burns on Power
“We must see power—and leadership—as not things but as relationships. We must analyze power in a context of human motives and physical constraints. If we can come to grips with these aspects of power, we can hope to comprehend the true nature of leadership—a venture far more intellectually daunting than the study of naked power.” –Burns (1978)
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Burns (1978) on Power
“To understand the nature of leadership requires understanding of the essence of power, for leadership is a special form of power.”
“The two essentials of power are motive and resource…Lacking motive, resource diminishes; lacking resource, motive lies idle. Lacking either one, power collapses.”
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Burns (1978) on Power and Leadership
Burns quotes Max Weber on power:
Power “is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability resists.”
The degree of probability of a leader’s success is influenced by a variety of factors (e.g., motive, intention, power resources, skill) and we need to understand that “power and leadership become part of a system of social causation.” (No leader is in a vacuum—as soon as there are others to be led, or to follow, there is two-way interaction).
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Burns and a Psychological Conception of Power (1978)
A psychological conception of power carries the assumptions that “power is first of all a relationship and not merely an entity to be passed around like a baton or hand grenade; that it involves the intention of purpose of both power holder and power recipient; and hence that it is collective, not merely the behavior of one person. On these assumptions I view the power process as one in which…
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Burns and a Psychological Conception of Power (1978)
“…power holders (P), possessing certain motives and goals, have the capacity to secure changes in the behavior of a respondent (R), human or animal, and in the environment, by utilizing resources in their power base, including factors of skill, relative to the targets of their power-wielding and necessary to secure such changes. This view of power deal with three elements in the process: the motives and resources of power holders; the motives and resources of power recipients; and the relationship among all these.”
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Power and Leadership
“Whatever the dimensions or context, the fundamental process remains the same. Power wielders draw from their power bases resources relevant to their own motives and the motives and resources of others upon whom they exercise power.” –Burns (1978)
This puts the concept of leadership in the context of relationship and brings the concept of followership to the table as well.
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Leadership and Followership
“All leaders are actual or potential power holders, but not all power holders are leaders.”
“I define leadership as leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations—the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations—of both leaders and followers. And the genius of leadership lies in the manner in which leaders see and act on their own and their followers’ values and motivations.” -Burns (1978)
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Leadership and Followership
“Leadership, unlike naked power-wielding, is thus inseparable from followers’ needs and goals. The essence of the leader-follower relation is the interaction of persons with different levels of motivations and of power potential, including skill, in pursuit of a common or at least joint purpose.” –Burns (1978)
Introduction to concepts of Transactional and Transformative leadership
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How is Leadership evaluated?
Burns (1978): “My own measurement of power and leadership is…power and leadership are measured by the degree of production of intended effects.”
Q: How else can leadership be evaluated?
Q: Who is doing the evaluation?
Q: What gets in the way of honest evaluation?
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Psychological Matrix of Leadership
Burns talked about the application of psychological concepts to the study of leadership (and the risks of being overly rigid and “just” viewing leadership as “simply control or rulership”).
These concepts were raised in the context of society, and psychology, of the late 1960’s and the 1970’s. Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theory were still the dominant views in psychology explaining human behavior (and, therefore, also leadership).
Significant changes have certainly occurred in psychology since 1978 with respect to leadership studies (and this is something we will obviously be looking at over the course of this semester in class).
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Psychological Matrix of Leadership
What makes up the psychological matrix of leadership:
“The cocoon of personality”
Biological determinants
Social interaction
“Radical” or “pure” behaviorism
Social learning theory
Wants and needs
Other: ___________________
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Psychological Theory and Leadership
What about cognitive behavioral theories and application to leadership?
(We will look at this during the semester)
I wanted you to read Burns’ views on this concept so you can see where leadership theory was in terms of incorporating psychology into working understanding of leadership and followership.
Theorists (and leaders) can only work with the tools available to them at the time (and those that they develop themselves). We are going to “jump ahead” a few years with the Rosing, et al. (2011) article now—see what changes you spot:
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Variations in the Leadership-Innovation Relationship (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Some researchers proposed that leadership is one of the most influential predictors of innovation…
In this article, we answer the call by Yukl (2009) for more comprehensive models of the influence of leadership on exploration and exploitation, two activities required within the innovation process…”
Variations in the Leadership-Innovation Relationship (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“West and Farr (1990) define innovation as “the intentional introduction and application within a role, group or organization of ideas, processes, products or procedures, new to the relevant unit of adoption, designed to significantly benefit the individual, the group, organization or wider society” (p. 9). Thus, there is more to being innovative than just being creative…”
Variations in the Leadership-Innovation (L-I) Relationship (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Creativity is defined as the generation of original and useful ideas (Amabile, 1996; West, 2002).
Innovation is distinguished from creativity by the implementation, as opposed to mere generation, of ideas.
Implementation requires selling ideas within the organization to other persons and/or groups (Axtell et al., 2000) and to propose the innovation for the market place; therefore, innovation includes social processes. What makes innovation processes complex is that creativity and implementation do not neatly proceed in a linear fashion…”
Heterogeneity of L-I Relationships (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“The intent of this article is twofold.
First, we present an overview of the existing research on leadership in the innovation process with the help of meta-analytic tools where applicable.
Given the limited literature base, a full-scale meta-analysis such as Judge and colleagues (Judge & Piccolo, 2004; Judge, Piccolo, & Ilies, 2004) did on leadership and performance or Hülsheger, Anderson, and Salgado (2009) did on team level predictors and innovation is not intended…”
Heterogeneity of L-I Relationships (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Instead, we utilize meta-analytic tools to focus and systematize our literature review with the intent to emphasize the high variation of the relationships between leadership and innovation.
The heterogeneity of relationships points to inconsistencies in the findings, meaning that leadership styles have very different relationships with innovation depending on third variables…”
Heterogeneity of L-I Relationships (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Second, we explain this heterogeneity by developing a theoretical model towards leadership for innovation. In this theoretical model, we make two main points:
First, we propose that the traditionally studied leadership styles are too broad in nature to specifically promote innovation as they might both foster and hinder innovation. For example, a transformational leader who communicates an inspiring vision may foster innovation if the vision includes fostering of experimentation. On the other hand, he or she might hinder innovation if followers are so absorbed in this vision that they stop thinking outside of it.
We suggest that the crucial feature of leadership for innovation is the fostering of either exploitation or exploration via the reduction or increase in the variance of follower behaviors…”
Heterogeneity of L-I Relationships (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
Second, in light of the complexity of innovation endeavors, we propose that a single leadership style cannot promote innovation effectively. Instead, a combination of different leadership behaviors flexibly applied to changing requirements within the innovation process is more effective. In other words, leadership needs to match the complexity and the pace of innovation…
In the last decades, leadership research and theory has moved away from studying stable leader traits and general leadership styles towards recognizing for the usefulness of situational variability and flexible leadership behavior (e.g., the path-goal theory of leadership; House, 1971) and leadership that is specifically tuned to individual followers (leader–member exchange theory; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). We assume that the less a theory focuses on stable and inflexible leadership styles and the more it incorporates flexibility of leadership behaviors, the better it is able to explain innovation…”
Heterogeneity of L-I Relationships (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“In our approach, we take this trend one step further by proposing that temporally flexible leadership is needed when it comes to innovation: We assume that the appropriate leadership behavior in each and every situation is dependent not only on the individual follower and the specifics of the situation, but also on the timing within the innovation cycle.
That is, time and timing of leadership behaviors are critical in our approach as we assume dynamic relationships between leadership and innovation…”
Heterogeneity of L-I Relationships (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Simple linear relationships between leadership and innovation that do not account for temporal dynamics are therefore unlikely (Mitchell & James, 2001).
That means that it is not sufficient to show different leadership styles, but also to flexibly adjust the leadership behaviors to the current requirements of the innovation tasks that quickly change over time and, additionally, to integrate these leadership behaviors to be overall consistent in a leadership approach…”
Ambidextrous Leadership (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“It follows from these two assumptions that leaders for innovation need to switch flexibly between complementary leadership behaviors, that is, between reducing and increasing variance in follower behavior, adjusted to the current requirements of the innovation tasks. These leadership behaviors are complementary because each of them corresponds to innovation requirements that the other one is not able to meet.
We call this ability to show flexibility of leadership behaviors ambidextrous leadership because of its ability to foster ambidexterity in followers…”
Ambidextrous Leadership (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“We define ambidextrous leadership as the ability to foster both explorative and exploitative behaviors in followers by increasing or reducing variance in their behavior and flexibly switching between those behaviors.
That is, ambidextrous leaders are able to support their followers in the attempt to be ambidextrous. Our conception of leadership embraces both the need for specific leadership behaviors and the requirement to match the complex nature of innovation processes as stated above…”
Leadership and Innovation (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“The meta-analytic integration of findings on the relationship between leadership and innovation showed positive corrected and weighted mean correlations for the following leadership styles: transformational leadership, initiating structure, LMX, and supervisor support, with transformational leadership producing the highest and supervisor support being involved in the lowest correlations.
In addition, consideration, participative leadership, and noncontrolling leadership seem to be positively related to innovation. However, despite the overall positive correlations, transformational leadership, initiating structure, and supervisor support were found to have a wide range of correlations, with some studies even reporting negative correlations.
Leadership and Innovation (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Only LMX led to a consistent relationship with followers' individual innovation. This may be due to the fact that LMX is the only leadership style in our literature review that explicitly takes into account the need for differing leadership behaviors with different followers.
However, LMX theory does not theorize the need for varying leadership behaviors over time. That is, we assume that a high quality and individualized relationship between leader and follower are a good basis for innovation, but more specific (complementary) leadership behaviors that explicitly foster innovation need to build on this basis…”
Leadership and Innovation (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“In conclusion, the review on the relationship between leadership and innovation suggests that different leadership behaviors such as transformational leadership and initiating structure may be important for the innovation process. Most meta-analytic correlations are small to moderate in size and, in nearly all cases, the correlations are heterogeneous. The latter implies that the same leadership behaviors were related to innovation in some studies, but not in others. This observation leads us to two conclusions:
First, there are different pathways leading to the same result of innovation (Bledow et al., 2009).
Second, leadership behaviors may have a wide range of possible consequences, depending upon moderator variables…
Leadership and Innovation (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“We suggest that complementary leadership behaviors may be effective moderators and may be necessary for successful leadership for innovation.
A leadership style is positively related to innovation when complemented by another leadership style that focuses on and fosters different aspects of the innovation process.
The same leadership style may have no or even a negative relationship to innovation when a complementary leadership style is low or missing…”
Ambidextrous Leadership (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Extending the concept of ambidexterity to leadership, we suggest that ambidextrous leadership is necessary for an effective innovation process.
Our literature review revealed that some leadership styles show positive relationships with innovation.
However, most of these leadership styles (except LMX) displayed a broad range of relationships from negative to positive correlations with innovation. Thus, these leadership styles are not consistently related to innovation, but are dependent on moderating conditions…”
Ambidextrous Leadership (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“We suggest that these moderating conditions are likely complementary leadership behaviors, that is, leadership behaviors that foster different aspects of the innovation process (i.e., exploration and exploitation), or team characteristics that substitute these leadership functions (e.g., a high climate for excellence that ensures high task orientation to complement transformational leadership)…
In addition, we assume that the traditionally studied leadership styles are too broad in nature as they encompass a multitude of behaviors that might both foster and hinder innovation…”
Ambidextrous Leadership & Innovation (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“The requirement of ambidexterity in the innovation process implies that individuals working in an innovation context need to both explore and exploit, and switch between those two activities.
Therefore, an effective leader of an innovative workforce needs to foster both exploration and exploitation, and has to be capable of flexibly switching between both…”
Ambidextrous Leadership & Innovation (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Thus, ambidextrous leadership consists of three elements
(1) opening leader behaviors to foster exploration,
(2) closing leader behaviors to foster exploitation,
(3) and the temporal flexibility to switch between both as the situation requires…”
Ambidextrous Leadership & Innovation Propositions (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
1. “Opening leader behaviors are positively related to follower explorative activities.
2. Closing leader behaviors are positively related to follower exploitative activities.
3. The interplay of opening and closing leadership behavior is positively related to innovation; insofar that innovation is highest when both opening and closing leadership are high.”
Ambidextrous Leadership & Innovation Propositions (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
4. “Leaders need temporal flexibility to switch between opening and closing leader behaviors according to the requirements of the innovation tasks in order to support their followers in switching between exploration and exploitation.
5. Ambidextrous leadership is positively related to follower ambidextrous behavior.
6. Behavioral and cognitive complexity, integrative thinking, emotional intelligence, and forecasting skills are antecedents of ambidextrous leadership.”
Results & Discussion (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Our literature review suggests that studies arrive at different results. Different leadership styles are positively related to innovation, but most of them show a broad range of correlations that depend on moderating conditions. We developed a theory of ambidextrous leadership to explain this variation. Ambidextrous leadership consists of two complementary sets of leadership behaviors that specifically match the requirements of exploration and exploitation.
The most important characteristic of this ambidextrous leadership, however, is the temporal flexibility that leaders need to have in order to switch between the leadership behaviors as the innovation tasks require…”
Results & Discussion (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Our theory of ambidextrous leadership shares the assumption with Quinn's (1988) model that leaders need to unite contradictory leadership behaviors or roles.
In addition, both theories suppose that these leadership behaviors or roles need to be incorporated into one integrated whole. However, our theory adds the idea of temporal flexibility to these assumptions.
We suggested that it is not enough to show more of each of the opposing leadership behaviors, but it is the temporal flexibility to switch between these leadership behaviors according to the current requirements of the innovation tasks that is crucial…”
Results & Discussion (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Third, our approach builds upon and extends leadership theories that take situational contingencies into account…To be more explicit, leadership should be directive and clarify path-goal relationships in case the followers lack the necessary knowledge or abilities to reach these goals.
On the other hand, supportive leadership may be more effective when the subordinates' tasks are stressful or dangerous (House, 1971). Although we share the assumption that leader behavior has to be contingent on the situation, there are several differences between our approach and the path-goal theory of leadership.
Most importantly, in contrast to path-goal theory, we assume that the flexibility of the leader and the adjustment of leadership behaviors must not only be matched to the overall (and quite stable) situation, but has to be temporally appropriate for the innovation tasks that change quickly over time…”
Results & Discussion (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“We propose that the balance of different leadership behaviors is not only important for the top management, but also for leaders of innovative teams and individuals. However, we do not propose distinct leadership roles that need to be balanced within the innovation process, but rather specific leadership behaviors that foster exploration and exploitation — namely, opening and closing leader behaviors as defined above.
The advantage of this approach is that these leader behaviors are more specific on the one hand and more flexible to be used on the other hand. Roles generally include a broader cluster of behaviors and are rather stable and less flexible. Therefore, we suggest concentrating on leadership behaviors rather than on leadership roles…”
Results & Discussion (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“The uniqueness of opening and closing leader behaviors lies in their sole focus on increasing and reducing variance in followers' behavior. Other leadership styles have very different foci or goals that might or might not include the increase or reduction of variance. That is, one single leadership style may increase or reduce variance in behavior depending on the specific leadership behaviors used.
For example, in the “vision” subfacet of transformational leadership, communicating an inspiring vision might increase variance in followers' behavior if it motivates them to think independently, thus, it would be an opening leader behavior.
On the other hand, an inspiring vision might also reduce the variance in behavior, in case the vision incorporates an explicitly stated goal that followers are motivated to follow as closely as possible. In the latter case, communicating a vision would be closing behavior…”
Results & Discussion (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
Limitations of Study (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Some limitations of our approach need to be mentioned.
First, in our literature review, we could not use meta-analytic tools to integrate findings for every leadership style due to the limited number of studies available for some leadership styles. In these cases we had to rely on a narrative review of findings which always bears the risk of subjective biases. More studies on these leadership styles and innovation are needed to more objectively summarize the findings…”
Limitations of Study (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Second, the variation we found in the relationship between leadership and innovation may not only be due to systematic variance that is caused by moderating conditions, but could also be due to methodological or statistical reasons.
For some methodological moderators, such as the level of analysis or the type of dependent variable, we could do moderator analyses (for the relationship of transformational leadership and innovation) that showed that these moderators do explain some of the variation. However, a wide range of variation still needs to be explained by further moderators…”
Q: Why is this comment important to us as consultants?
Final Thoughts About Study (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“In this article we propose that research on innovation needs to take the specifics of the innovation process into account in order to make reliable predictions about the influence of leadership in the innovation context. The complex nature of the innovation process that leads to a complex sequence of events is probably its most important characteristic.
Complex explorative activities may be more important in the beginning and periodic exploitative activities may be more central at the end of an innovation process (Cheng & Van de Ven, 1996); similarly, creativity may be more prevalent in the first part of the innovation process and implementation activities may be more frequent in the later part…”
Final Thoughts About Study (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“However, both exploration and exploitation are vital throughout the whole innovation process, and the need for these activities alternates. Indeed, exploration and exploitation are sometimes interwoven activities that cannot be separated (Bledow et al., 2009).
For leaders, this means that, on the one hand, they need to foster exploration by opening leader behaviors and to foster exploitation by closing leader behaviors. On the other hand, leaders need to have the knowledge or intuition of when and how to act and – even more importantly – they need to flexibly switch between behaviors according to situational requirements.
This threefold competency – opening leader behaviors, closing leader behaviors, and the temporal flexibility to switch – is what we call ambidextrous leadership…”
Final Thoughts About Study (Rosing, K., et al., 2011)
“Leading a creative and innovative workforce is a complex matter. Therefore, leaders need to take the complexity of the innovation process into account. The same is true for the innovation research and literature: Only complex and comprehensive models of leader influence in the innovation process are able to embrace this complexity (Mumford & Licuanan, 2004).
Breaking down the innovation process into two (or more) separate phases, and looking for what needs to be done in those phases, creates a simplistic view of innovations. This view misses a lot of what is inherent to innovation — the creative tension of opposites. When considering the complexity of the innovation process, both the theory and practice of innovation promise to be more successful.”
Additional Thoughts
Q: What do you think about the concept of ambidextrous leadership?
Q: Was there anything in this article that surprised and/or particularly engaged you?
Q: Why are the comments about the research process so relevant to us as consultants in leadership?
Comparison Points
On our discussion boards I will be asking a more specific question about comparison points but I wanted to use this lecture as a starting point for the concepts we will be exploring this semester.
We are just beginning to scratch the surface but we can already see that leadership and followership incorporates a variety of factors, depending on the writer/theorist/practitioner, etc., but context and relationship and goals are concepts that will permeate our studies of these topics.
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Summary
I hope this lecture got your head into the game and prompted some questions on these topics.
As you saw from the video version of the lecture, it is likely that I will add information and change from the information on the slide, which is why I am giving you both these slides and the lecture version. Remember, please make sure to watch the lecture every week and do NOT just read the slides, you will miss something.
Looking forward to working with everyone this semester--See you on the discussion board!
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References
Bennis, W. (2009). On becoming a leader (4th edition). New York, NY: Basic Books.
Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York, NY: HarperPerennial.
Rosing, K., Frese, M. & Bausch, A. (2011). Explaining the heterogeneity of the leadership-innovation relationship: Ambidextrous leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(5), 956-974.
