LP762-L2 week 3
KarenS
LP762Notes3.pptxWJC LP 762: The Psychology of Leadership and Followership Dr. Dan Jacobs William James College
Notes 3
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Psychological Factors of Leadership
Impact of internal and external stimuli
Affect/Emotions
Diffusion of responsibility
Boundaries and Relationship Dynamics
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“Review” or “Crash Course”
Depending on your background this next section will either be a review of concepts learned in your clinical training or, for those of you coming from other fields, will be a “crash course” to a wide range of psychological concepts.
It is important to have a baseline knowledge of this material if we are going to be able to understand the psychology side of the “psychology of leadership and followership” conversation.
Psychological Factors of Leadership
Brief history of psychological theory development:
Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic theory
Psychodynamic theory
Early Behaviorism/Early learning theory
1950’s “explosion” of new ideas:
Cognitive
Behaviorism
Rogerian
Logotherapy
Others (e.g., developmental, roots of strength based in HR, addiction)
Cognitive Behavioral Theories
Development of Trauma Theory
Narrative Therapy
Psychology in Business and Practice (e.g., Argyris & Schon)
Advances in neuropsychology and leadership
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Psychoanalytic Theory
Concepts from Psychoanalytic Theory relevant to our work in leadership consulting:
Id, Ego, Superego—from Sigmund Freud’s Structural Model of the Psyche.
Id= instinctual drives, source of bodily needs (“want” without regard for reality or limitations), source of desire for self-gratification
Ego= the self, the conscious thinking self, the part of the psyche in touch with reality, the balancing drive (between the id and the superego and reality)
Superego= the part of the psyche striving to meet social expectations, source of perfectionism and sense of right/wrong and guilt
Freud’s original terms in German were: Es, Ich, and Über-Ich (literally “the it”, “the I” or ”the self”, and the “over I” or “high self”); Id, Ego and Superego were taken from Latin and put in by his translator James Strachey. (Q: Why is this relevant in the context of meaning making and diversity issues?)
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Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theory
Role of history (childhood experiences) in shaping an individual’s personality and ability to face stressors in life.
Transference
Countertransference
Boundaries
Q: How could all of these concepts prove to be relevant to our consulting work in leadership?
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A Bit More on Cognitive Behavioral Theories
All actions are governed by a combination of thoughts and feelings.
Every action an individual takes does have motivation behind it (we just might not understand it & he/she might not either).
CBT posits that our beliefs (thoughts) about events (stimuli) impact our feelings (affect) and, in turn, influence our actions and the most effective way to change maladaptive (problematic) behaviors is to address cognitive distortions (maladaptive thoughts).
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Roots of CBT
Cognitive Behavioral Theory’s roots are strongly connected to Behavior Theory and Therapy and Cognitive Theory and Therapy
A brief review of key components of these theories will help us prepare to move forward with CBT concepts
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Behavior Theory
Learning theory and early behaviorist theorists: An organism has a set of pre-wired behaviors that are supplemented by “rewiring moments” that occur due to experience over time and the organism makes new connections between stimuli.
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Behavior Theory
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant chief, and yes, even beggar-man thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocation, and race of his ancestors.” -John B. Watson, 1925
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Behavior Theory
Habituation: Considered the simplest form of learning--a decline in the tendency to respond to stimuli that have become familiar due to repeated exposure (e.g., ticking clock, fire station next door, traffic, sound machine)
Habituation “narrows down the field” of potential risks--the organism is able to ignore the familiar and focus its emergency reactions on things that are new, unfamiliar, and/might represent danger or risk.
Q: How might we see this in organizations and other systems?
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Behavior Theory
In a habituation example the organism learns to recognize an event (stimulus) as familiar, but does not learn about the relation between the event and any other circumstances.
Learned relationships of this kind are called associations.
Ivan P. Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning (CC) studies focused on understanding associations and behavior.
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Behavior Theory: CC
Pavlov: Unconditioned reflexes (inborn)--e.g., salivating to food place in mouth Conditioned reflexes (acquired-- e.g., salivating to a buzzer after repeated food-buzzer pairings.
Every unconditioned reflex is based on a connection between an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and an unconditioned response (UCR) (e.g., food placed in mouth (UCS) and salivation (UCR))
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Behavior Theory (CC)
Every conditioned reflex is based on a connection between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and a conditioned response (CR).
The CS is initially a neutral stimulus (e.g., the buzzer) that is paired with the UCS and the CR (e.g., salivation) is the response elicited by the CS after some pairings of the CS and the UCS (usually the CR is similar to the UCR but does not have to be identical).
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Behavior Theory (CC)
Classical Conditioning Example:
Before Training:
UCS (food in mouth) -----> UCR (salivation)
Training:
CS (tone) + UCS (food in mouth) (repeated)
After Training (Classical Conditioning):
CS (tone) -----------> CR (salivation)
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Behavior Therapy (CC)
The more often the CS is paired with the UCS the CS is more likely to elicit the CR so presenting UCS together with (or subsequent to) CS is called reinforcement (trials with UCS are called reinforced, trials without UCS are called unreinforced).
Extinction: When the CS is repeatedly presented without being reinforced by the UCS (e.g., play the tone repeatedly but do not put food in the mouth).
Stimulus Generalization: When the CR is achieved by exposure to stimuli (e.g., sounds, smells, sight cues) similar (but not the same) to the original CS (the further away from the original CS, the decrease in CR response).
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Behavior Therapy (CC)
Conditioning is most effective when the CS precedes the UCS by a small interval.
The CS serves as a signaling function, preparing the subject for a UCS to come.
If the interval between the CS is too far apart from the UCS the strength of the connection can be lost (e.g., “Road Work Ahead: Slow Down” sign 60 miles before the actual slow down area, tone played and food placed in mouth an hour later, award at work for last year’s performance).
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Behavior Theory
Another type of learning in addition to habituation and classical conditioning is: Instrumental Learning
Developing a new pattern or behavioral pattern to achieve a sought-after effect (e.g., seal at zoo doing a jump to get a fish from zoo worker) is instrumental learning (the new response is instrumental to leading to the desired result).
Instrumental Learning in practice was originally called instrumental conditioning (IC) (to distinguish it from CC) but was seen as very similar.
Q: When do we see instrumental learning in systems?
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Behavior Theory (IL)
Edward L. Thorndike and his puzzle boxes for cats (e.g., a hungry cat was placed in a box and could only get out by learning to pull a loop or pressing a lever, once out it was rewarded with a bit of food).
The Law of Effect:
The consequences (the effect) of a response determine whether the tendency to perform it is strengthened or weakened.
If it is followed by the absence of reward (or by punishment) it will be weakened. Reward increases likelihood of action; lack of reward or punishment decreases likelihood--thought processes or understanding of connections are not a part of the equation. Thorndike initially did not think animals could reason.
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Behavior Theory (IL)
Thorndike also made strides in areas of intellectual development and identified three main types (later tested in application in World War I with U.S. soldiers):
1. Abstract Intelligence (the ability to process and understand different concepts)
2. Mechanical Intelligence (the ability to handle physical objects)
3. Social Intelligence (the ability to understand and handle human interaction)
Q: Why is this relevant to our work almost 100 years later?
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Behavior Theory (IC)
B.F. Skinner felt there was more of a distinction between Classical Conditioning (CC) and Instrumental Conditioning (IC) than did Thorndike.
He felt that in CC the subject’s behavior was elicited by the CS (e.g., the salivation was caused by something external) but in IC the subject’s reactions are emitted from within (e.g., internal or similar to voluntary acts). These instrumental responses were called operants (hence Operant Conditioning or OC) in that they operate on the environment to bring about some sort of change that leads to reward.
The Skinner Box (e.g., rats or pigeons with lever to get food or water) tracked the response rate of the subject but did not dictate the rate.
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Behavior Therapy (OC)
In IC/OC interventions reinforcement is having the desired response of the subject followed by a condition that the subject “prefers” (e.g., food)
A positive reinforcer is one that the subject does everything to attain and nothing to avoid. (It can also be the termination or prevention of something negative, such as an electric shock)
A negative reinforcer is one that the subject does everything to avoid and nothing to attain.
Likelihood of “correct response” increases with increasing number of reinforcements and decreases (or is “extinguished) when reinforcement is decreased/stopped
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Behavior Therapy (OC)
Aversive Conditioning: Involves negative reinforcers or aversive stimuli, often designed to remove an action or pattern of behavior (e.g., seatbelt dinging, remediation coaching sessions).
Punishment Training: A response is followed by an aversive stimulus, which was thought to suppress the response on subsequent occasions (e.g., docking pay, getting worse shifts).
When reinforcement is delayed, the response suppression is decreased.
A few words on Punishment vs. Consequences in real world interventions).
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Behavior Therapy
In 1958 Joseph Wolpe (psychiatrist, South Africa) published the first manualized treatment protocol based on behavior-change principles (termed reciprocal inhibition).
He drew directly from behavior theory and suggested that anxiety or neurotic states could be reduced or eliminated by pairing the experience of anxiety with an incompatible feeling state (e.g., relaxation).
Q: How does this help us develop effective targeted interventions in systems?
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Behavior Therapy
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s operant conditioning, behavior therapy, and behavior modification were all terms used regarding different therapeutic interventions that focused on using learning principles to produce behavior change.
The implication was that it WAS possible to produce behavior change through educational and training efforts.
Q: Why was/is this such a major concept?
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Behavior Theory and Therapy
Behavioral Theories of psychopathology or abnormality traditionally ignored the internal causes of behavior. While genetic predispositional factors were allowed/considered, the focus was on what one does, and the contexts within which this occurs.
A Antecedents of behavior (can include specific persons, places, objects or events; past learning history considered)
B Behavior (anything a person does, observed by others, and “covert behaviors” on the inside and would include thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations--not as cause but as result)
C Consequences (the effect that behavior produces)
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Cognitive Theory and Therapy
In contrast to earlier behavioral theories that did not focus on the internal state, cognitive theories primarily focused on what the subject was thinking.
They came about in reaction to dominant psychoanalytic view of psychopathology, and also challenged some of the behavior theorists views as well.
How a subject understood stimuli, interpreted stimuli, was able of thinking about a scenario, thought about themselves and the world, all of these were part of the cognitive view.
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Cognitive Theory
Focus on the internal thought processes as related to emotional and psychological concerns
Aaron T. Beck’s model made the assumption that distorted and dysfunctional thinking influences mood and behavior and that inaccurate and biased forms of thinking are common to all psychological disorders
Each individual disorder is caused by specific thought distortions and underlying core beliefs specific to that condition.
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Cognitive Theory
Cognitive functioning is organized around the existence of deep schemas (a cognitive structure in which experiences, memories, thoughts, attitudes and belief connected with a cluster of generalized meaning gather).
Following core belief concept this cognitive model dictates that therapeutic and intervention activities should be geared toward the promotion of realistic, accurate, and balanced thinking, because modifying the distorted thinking will then lead to changes in mood and behavior.
Thoughts dictate mood and behavior.
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Cognitive Theories
Cognitive Models are varied and include:
Wide range on the degree the environment influences thinking, emotion and action.
More of a focus on cognitively constructed environment over the physical environment as the primary determinant of emotion and behavior.
Understanding schemas (cognitive structures used in the evaluation and interpretation of experiences) that lead to predisposition towards emotional and behavioral disorders.
Viewing the environment as equally important as perceptions of the self in determining behavior and emotions.
Being interested in the process of the person interpreting events (and an emotional response) and past history of doing same
Psychological problems were connected with cognitive themes.
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Cognitive Therapy
In 1956 Albert Ellis presented his first major paper on Rational Psychotherapy (precursor to Rational Emotive Therapy and, much later, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy or REBT) to the American Psychological Association
One of the first times that “thinking, feeling, and behaving are not disparate but are closely related and integrated; it views them holistically, and interrelatedly.” (Ellis)
“The central theme of this paper is that psychotherapists can help their clients to live the most self-fulfilling, creative, and emotionally satisfying lives by teaching them to organize and discipline their thinking.”
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Cognitive Therapy
Illogical thinking or self-defeating verbalizations were seen as a key source of the client’s “neurotic reactions.”
The therapist or consultant’s job is to show the client he/she has illogical thought processes and he also has the power to change these thought processes which will, in turn, lead to improvement with his/her emotional and psychological concerns (e.g., anxiety, depression)
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Cognitive Behavior Theory
In the early 1970’s behavioral therapy and cognitive therapy concepts were combined into the “cognitive-behavioral” concept.
CBT considers cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors in relation to psychological and emotional disorders but, as with the theories discussed above, there are multiple CBT theories and interventions.
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Cognitive Behavior Theory
There have been more studies evaluating the efficacy of CBT than any other psychological theory/types of interventions.*
Butler, et al. (2006) conducted a meta-analyses of treatment studies and concluded that CBT is considered highly effective with treating: Adult unipolar depression, adolescent unipolar depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, social phobia, PTSD, and childhood depressive and anxiety disorders.
*A “grain of salt” about these studies and self-fulfilling prophecy…
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Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Using CBT techniques to understand and treat clients often involve the need to assess:
The antecedents of problematic behavior
The consequences of problematic behavior
The client’s learning history as it relates to current problematic behaviors
The client’s current behavioral repertoire
Overt behaviors
Thoughts
Emotions
Physiological sensations or responses
The client’s motivation for change
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Why do we care?
Why should we care about psychological theory?
Why so much focus on behaviorism and cognitive behavioral theories?
How is it relevant to our study of leadership and followership?
What is the difference between using psychological theory to influence leadership consulting interventions and administering psychotherapeutic services?
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Psychology of Behavior Change
+ --------------------------------------------
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Awareness of a need for change
Willingness to change
Knowledge of how to change
Support/practice to change
Reinforcement to maintain change
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Feedback Loop
Where is the feedback loop in any process regarding change interventions?
What is the timeframe?
What are the measurable/observable goals?
How is “success” measured?
How do WE understand these concepts and how do we help our consultees (or followers) understand these concepts?
How can we directly (or indirectly) apply these psychological concepts in our consultation work?
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Context in Psychological Leadership Research (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“Although context has been acknowledged as salient to leadership for decades, only in recent years has empirical research given the context widespread attention.”
“The context of leadership is the milieu—the physical and social environment—in which leadership is observed. Context vary; as such they are measurable and must be modeled when attempting to explain a particular aspect of the leadership puzzle.”
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Context in Psychological Leadership Research (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“Perhaps most noteworthy in first bringing the context to organizational research is the work of Kurt Lewin, whose famous (Lewin, 1947; Lewin, et al., 1936) observation that behavior is a function of person and environment provided the impetus for subsequent working advocating that behavior cannot be fully understood without consideration of the situation in which the person or persons are embedded.”
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Context and Interactional Psychology (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
Interactional Psychology: “Emerging from the person—situation debate in psychology…came a new framework arguing that both person and situation are important….this new approach, which came to be known as interactional psychology, was unique because it stress that person and situation reciprocally influence one another…”
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Context and Interactional Psychology (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“The interactional psychology paradigm is especially salient for understanding the context surrounding leadership; quite simply put, context constrains what behaviors are considered prototypical…The ‘stronger’ the situation, the more salient norms are that guide behaviors…Important to note is that not only do individuals do as the situation demands they should, but they have, in the first instance selected those environments and are active players in shaping them…particularly when they are leaders…”
Q: Is this last assertion necessarily accurate?
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Organizational Culture (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“Advances have also been made in the integration of organizational culture in leadership research. O’Reilly, et al. (1991) identified four dimensions of organizational culture that classify groups of values specifically related to internal organizational activities”:
Innovation
Respect for People
Aggressiveness
Team Orientation
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Organizational Culture (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“Innovation refers to the degree to which risk taking and experimentation are valued, and formal rules are less stressed within organizations.
Respect for people is the extent to which respect for individuals and fairness are values shared by organizational members.”
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Organizational Culture (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“Aggressiveness describes organizational members’ acceptance of assertive and competitive behaviors.
Finally, Team orientation refers to values that promote collaboration, strong interpersonal relationships, group harmony, and individual sacrifice for the benefit of the team.”
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Organizational Culture (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“The values that are present within a workgroup prescribe how individuals within a group should behave. As such, they become the standards by which individuals measure the acceptability of each other’s words and actions. When leaders and subordinates engage in behaviors that correspond with the values espoused by their workgroups, they are viewed as more effective.”
Q: Connection to concept of ‘Goal alignment’?
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Organizational Culture (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“House (1971) proposed that a leader must compensate for the situational variables, and follower individual differences, that affect whether followers can achieve their goals by changing the degree of initiating structure and consideration behavior that the leader displays.”
Q: How does knowing this help us as consultants? (“Do the best you can with what you’ve got…”)
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Organizational Culture (Liden & Antonakis, 2009)
“In later work, House (1996; 348) noted: ‘leaders, to be effective, engage in behaviors that complement subordinates’ environments and abilities in a manner that compensates for deficiencies and is instrumental to subordinate satisfaction and individual and work unit performance.’”
Q: How is this useful to us as consultants?
Q: How does this fit in with our conversation about psychology and leadership?
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Leaders Perceived as Distant and Close (Popper, 2013)
“Antonakis and Atwater (2002) claim that leader distance can be described in terms of three aspects: physical distance, interaction frequency, and social difference (defined as “differences in status, rank, authority, social standing and power, which affect the degree of social intimacy and social contact that develops between followers and their leaders”…this kind of conceptualization made it possible to consider leader distance in terms of objective measurable variables…”
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Psychological Distance (Popper, 2013)
“…due to technological changes it is difficult to assume automatically that physical distance necessarily entails less frequency of interaction. It is certainly possible today to maintain frequent contact via the internet between employees and their superiors on two sides of the ocean…In other words, distance from the leader has a subjective aspect, which can be characterized, as psychological distance. It is this aspect that gives leader distance its elusive nature…
DBJ: Perception of reality can be more powerful than reality (and must be dealt with accordingly)
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Psychological Distance (Popper, 2013)
“This paper deals with some psychological principles that are relevant to followers' differential perceptions of distant leaders and close leaders. The claim is that psychological distance is a subjective dimension that affects the manner of relating to leaders. It is suggested that the more distant the leaders are perceived to be, the more the construal will be in general and abstract categories, and the more weight will be attributed to the leaders in explaining the occurrence of events, more attention will be paid to their traits and less to their specific behaviors, and the followers will draw from the figure of the leader more meanings for self worth.”
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Motivation and Impact on Others (Popper, 2013)
“The means of motivation used by close and distant leaders are also different. While distant leaders impact mostly through speeches, presentation of the “right” life-stories… execution of symbolic acts…thus using symbolic means essentially to link the individual self-concept with broader entities and ideas (Shamir et al., 1993), close leaders impact (usually for performance and subordinates' satisfaction) by rewards. Sims (1977) summarized this rationale by arguing, “a leader is a manager of reinforcement contingencies” (p. 366)…”
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Motivation and Impact on Others (Popper, 2013)
“Indeed, many of the studies on leadership in organizations actually refer to leadership in terms of instrumental exchange dynamics described in words such as transactional leadership…or Leader–Member Exchange (LMX)…Such distinctions emphasize the behavioral component in the impact of leaders in organizations…The leader, according to this perspective, is an astute diagnostician…who has a broad and flexible behavioral repertoire enabling him/ her to respond appropriately across a wide array of complex situations…”
Q: What lens is being brought to view the leader?
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Effective Leader Paradigm (Popper, 2013)
“The analysis of the followers' inferences and the means of influence used by close and distant leaders indicates that it is possible to distinguish between two paradigms that have to be separated with regard to the theory and research on leadership. One of these is the “effective leader paradigm”, whereby inferences regarding leaders are made in relation to dependent variables of effectiveness (Antonakis & Jacquart, 2012). In the nature of things, this paradigm is particularly relevant to theory and research on leadership in organizations and focuses more on behavioral and outcome variables…”
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Effectiveness Paradigm (Popper, 2013)
“The other paradigm is relevant to situations in which it is impossible or extremely difficult to formulate inferences of effectiveness. In other words, there is no inference condition for the “effectiveness paradigm”. These situations fall into the category of the paradigm that may be characterized in Meindl's (1995) words as “romance of leadership”, namely the tendency of followers to glamorize the leaders' personality.
This means that perception of leaders is not affected by the link between leaders' behaviors and deeds, and outcomes, but rather by the followers' longing and expectations, which are projected, construed or attributed to the leader, irrespective of indications of outcome. In the nature of things this paradigm is more relevant to distant leaders, perhaps especially political leaders and leaders of social and ideological movements.”
Q: When will we see the “Effective Leader Paradigm” and when will we see the “Effectiveness Paradigm?” Why does it matter?
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Two Paradigms and Close/Distant Leaders (Popper, 2013)
“The suggested distinction between these two basic paradigms has considerable significance for theory and research. The claim is that in the case of close leaders there is more room to pay attention to the leaders and their behaviors (or styles) (as actually happens), while in the case of distant leaders there is more room to pay attention to the followers and their psychological characteristics as a point of departure.
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Conclusions on Research (Popper, 2013)
“The distinctions between close and distant leaders have some theoretical implications.
In the case of close leadership it is suggested that the leaders be placed in the center of the research and analysis, whereas in the case of distant leaders it is recommended that more attention be devoted to exploring the psychology of the followers, namely, their projections, their patterns of construal and attributions as key processes in explaining the image of distant leaders in the eyes of the followers.”
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Conclusions on Leadership Training (Popper, 2013)
“These distinctions might also have practical implications. For example, the domain of leadership training and development might also be influenced by these perspectives.
For instance, the training of close leaders — those who have direct contacts with their followers — might be oriented toward developing their relevant leadership behaviors. Naturally this kind of training will be largely based on feedback methodologies (Day, 2000).
On the other hand, the development of leaders who are distant — who do not have direct contact with their followers — should be based more on knowing and understanding the psychological processes regarding followers' social judgments. This knowledge might help distant leaders to better use means of symbolic manifestations.”
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Conclusions on Training Followers (Popper, 2013)
“Last (but not least) this article illuminates the possibility (and maybe the need) to develop the followers to be aware of biases and unconscious processes that might affect their choices of leaders and their motivation to follow them.
Improving the psychological capabilities of followers in choosing their leaders, and examining the limits of their willingness to follow might significantly improve the level of leadership in all spheres.”
Q: How can we incorporate these concepts into our leadership consulting initiatives?
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Effects of Different Factors on Transformational Leadership & Performance (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“This study investigates the effects of intelligence, personality traits and emotional intelligence on transformational leadership and the effective performance of leaders in the organizational context. Data were collected from 134 midlevel managers from a large Brazilian company that operates in the energy sector.
Our findings suggest that leadership effectiveness, as measured by the achievement of organizational outcomes, is a direct function of a leader's transformational behaviors, and is an indirect function of individual differences (experience, intelligence and conscientiousness) that work through transformational behaviors…”
Findings of Study (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“Our findings give support to the assertion that leadership effectiveness, as measured by the achievement of organizational out-comes, is a direct function of a leader's transformational behavior, and is an indirect function of individual differences working through transformational behaviors.
When all the control and substantive factors are considered, intelligence and conscientiousness are the individual differences that seem to matter for transformational leadership and that had indirect effects on leadership effectiveness…”
Findings of Study (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“Managerial experience also had positive effects on both transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness in managerial roles, while neuroticism had only negative effects on leadership effectiveness. In addition, our analyses show that when considered alone, emotional intelligence seems to be statistically related to transformational leadership. However, when ability and personality were controlled for, the effect became non-significant…”
Findings of Study (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“As future efforts are made…it could be helpful to consider that self-rating models of emotional intelligence may not be the most reliable strategy to properly assess all aspects of the construct, given that observers may actually be better judges of effective expression and control of emotions as they come across in social settings.
In addition, ratings provided by other sources may offer an alternative to avoid the problem of inflated multicollinearity between measures of emotional intelligence and self-rated individual differences due to method effects…”
Questions Raised by Study (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“Of all the individual differences studied here, emotional intelligence is by far the most controversial.
Besides the lack of a sound theoretical reason to assume that emotional intelligence would be less relevant for leadership in Brazil than in other parts of the world, our results also echo those observed in the few instances in which similar controls have been applied to analyze the incremental validity of existing measures of emotional intelligence…”
Questions Raised by Study (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“We can only infer that strong statements based on the existing literature on the role of emotional intelligence as an antecedent of transformational leadership are not yet warranted given the methodological shortcomings already discussed.
Still, the debate over the importance of emotional intelligence for leadership effectiveness is far from over. Our findings regarding the negative influence of neuroticism for leadership performance in managerial roles suggest that a leader's emotional stability might be even more relevant for the achievement of goals in such a context than thought before…”
Questions Raised by Study (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“Following the recommended methodological precautions, our study sheds light on some individual attributes and leadership behaviors that seem to yield effective outcomes in business administration.
Given that these factors (intelligence, conscientiousness and neuroticism) are not correlated, when applied together, their predictive validities are enhanced…”
Questions Raised by Study (Cavazotte, et al., 2012)
“In addition, there seems to be ground to recommend that transformational capabilities be emphasized in leadership teaching and training not only in contexts where the theory has already been supported by research, but also in Brazil.
In this way, we hope to have contributed to practice by providing impartial and consistent criteria that decision makers can draw on when planning managerial succession and development programs.”
Does this client need therapy, consultation, or maybe just some coffee?...
Next Steps
Knowing about psychological theory is a key starting point in leadership consulting but knowing how it is to be applied, by whom, and in what circumstance is where the nuance and true challenge come into play.
Something to think about: What other concepts related to psychology could be relevant that we have not yet talked about (but can continue to explore during the semester)?
See you on the discussion board—thank you!
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References
Cavazotte, F., Moreno, V. & Hickmann, M. (2012). Effects of leader intelligence, personality and emotional intelligence on transformational leadership and managerial performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(3), 443-455.
Gooty, J., et al. (2010). Leadership, affect and emotions: A state of the science review. The Leadership Quarterly, 21, p. 979-1004.
Laustsen, L. & Petersen, M. (2015). Does a competent leader make a good friend? Conflict, ideology and the psychologies of friendship and followership. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36, p. 286-293.
References
Liden, R. & Antonakis, J. (2009). Considering context in psychological leadership research. Human Relations, 62 (11), p. 1587-1605.
Popper, M. (2013). Leaders perceived as distant and close. Some implications for psychological theory on leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 24, p. 1-8.
