Is leadership born or made?

Is leadership born or made? By profiling three colleagues who made the transition from clinician to top-flight executive in a health care organization, the author provides case studies from which to discuss leadership issues. An evolutionary pattern has developed with respect to physicians changing careers: The first model was the medical director, followed by the vice president for medical affairs, and finally the move to managing the health care system, group practice, or managed care organization. Are physician executives fundamentally different from clinicians in terms of leadership characteristics? What are the essential qualities needed to lead health care organizations? These questions are explored in-depth.     

Do leadership role occupancy and transformational leadership share the same genetic and environmental influences?

Using data collected from 107 pairs of identical and 89 pairs of fraternal female twins, this study examined the genetic and environmental associations between transformational leadership and leadership role occupancy. Results show that 78% of the covariance between the two leadership variables was attributable to overlapping genetic factors, while 22% of the covariance to overlapping environmental factors. In particular, 13% (2%) of the variance in leadership role occupancy was accounted for by the same genetic (environmental) factors related to transformational leadership. Unique sets of genetic and environmental variables, which are not associated with transformational leadership, explained 16% and 69% of the variance in leadership role occupancy, respectively. The results suggest that multiple manifestations of leadership (i.e., transformational leadership and leadership role occupancy) are differentially heritable. Although the association between these two variables is largely due to overlapping genetic rather than environmental factors, unique (i.e., non-overlapping) genetic and environmental influences still play an important role in impacting these leadership variables.     

The possibilities of leadership: revisiting J.C. Rost’s leadership writings

In the 90s, J.C. Rost highlighted the possibilities for leadership to become inclusive, participative, and socially responsible. He explicitly questioned the leadership paradigm of the previous two centuries encouraging a new paradigm for the twenty-first century. His contribution to leadership studies was recognized through the International Leadership Association’s lifetime achievement award in 2008. However, his work has largely been overlooked within management and organization studies and today’s dominant leadership paradigm remains largely unchanged from that of the previous century. In this paper, the major elements of Rost’s approach; influence relationships, real intended change, and mutual purpose and their implications for developing good leadership are revisited and explained. Rost was unable to shift the dominant leadership paradigm which he encountered, but he was able to highlight the possibilities of what leadership could become. Conclusions are drawn with regards to the enduring separation between leaders and followers, the vested interests of stakeholders in leadership and the influence of a mythical leadership narrative.     

Observing leadership as behavior in teams and herds – An ethological approach to shared leadership research

Both Shared Leadership Theory and evolutionary theories of leadership emphasize the role of team-level patterns of influence on team or group success. Yet, most of the empirical work on the effects of shared leadership assesses the concept through patterns of subjective perceptions of leadership and behavior. Although these studies give us important insights, subjective perceptions of leadership are prone to biases. In this paper, we draw on evolutionary theories of the development of leadership in groups and argue that group-level patterns of observable behavior have a direct effect on team outcomes above and beyond patterns of leadership and behavior perceptions. On the basis of a brief review of ethological assessment methods of leadership in animal groups, we derive implications for team leadership research methods to test hypotheses on team-level influence patterns and performance. Emphasizing the role of influence in terms of interpersonal behavior we formulate implications for the assessment and analysis of verbal and nonverbal behavior in teams. Finally, we discuss how technological advances may be utilized to promote behavioral observations in team leadership research.     

Same difference? Exploring the differential mechanisms linking servant leadership and transformational leadership to follower outcomes

This paper aimed to provide insights into the different mediating mechanisms through which servant leadership (SL) and transformational leadership (TFL) affect followers. We also investigated environmental uncertainty as a moderator of the effects of servant leadership and transformational leadership. Based on the results of two experimental studies and one field study, we concluded that both SL and TFL were related to organizational commitment and work engagement; however, the manner in which they exerted their influence differed. SL worked primarily through follower need satisfaction, whereas TFL worked mainly through perceived leadership effectiveness. The moderating influence of uncertainty was inconsistent across the studies.     

What explains cultural differences in leadership styles? On the agricultural origins of participative and directive leadership

Why do we observe either participative or directive leadership in organizations? I test an evolutionary-informed theory suggesting that organizational leadership is currently less participative (i.e., close supervision, rare delegation) among societies that used intensive forms of agriculture in the past. Intensification caused increased social complexity and skewed power distribution, promoting the emergence of directive leaders and eventually shaping followers' preferences for and perceptions of leadership. Combining evidence, secondary data, and methods developed in economics, anthropology, and applied psychology, I document a negative relationship between traditional agricultural intensity and followers' participative leadership prototypes. I then study the link between traditional agriculture and reliance on delegation to subordinates across firms. I discuss competing hypotheses, explore the interplay between traditional agriculture and organizational-level factors, and show that traditional agricultural intensity does not predict most other leadership prototypes and management practices. Implications for leadership theory–with a focus on evolutionary approaches–are finally discussed.     

Is trust in leadership a mediator between transformational leadership and in-role performance among small-scale factory workers?

Globalization and the transformation of the organizational scene are increasing the pressure and threshold for employees to constantly perform maximum output. As such, the measure of success for many organizations is determined by their productivity level. Therefore, we believe that the leadership style adopted by the leader and the level of trust subordinates have in such a leader may be salient in determining the level of in-role performance of the subordinates in question. This study therefore tries to shed light on this issue by testing the hypotheses that transformational leadership and trust in leadership would significantly predict in-role performance, and that trust in leadership would further mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and in-role performance. A sample of 170 factory workers (subordinates) and 6 supervisors participated in the study. The subordinates completed measures of transformational leadership and trust in leadership while that of in-role performance of these subordinates was based on the ratings of their immediate supervisors. The results of the Hierarchical Multiple Regression showed that only transformational leadership positively predicted in-role performance, whereas trust in leadership failed to predict or even mediate this relationship. The study discussed the implications of the findings, limitations, and suggestions for prospective research.     

Culture specific and cross-culturally generalizable implicit leadership theories: Are attributes of charismatic/transformational leadership universally endorsed?

This study focuses on culturally endorsed implicit theories of leadership (CLTs). Although cross-cultural research emphasizes that different cultural groups likely have different conceptions of what leadership should entail, a controversial position is argued here: namely that attributes associated with charismatic/transformational leadership will be universally endorsed as contributing to outstanding leadership. This hypothesis was tested in 62 cultures as part of the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) Research Program. Universally endorsed leader attributes, as well as attributes that are universally seen as impediments to outstanding leadership and culturally contingent attributes are presented here. The results support the hypothesis that specific aspects of charismatic/transformational leadership are strongly and universally endorsed across cultures.     

Can good leadership be learned through business games?

This article explores the use of business games to question whether they can be used to learn good leadership. The answer comes in three parts: yes, no and maybe. By studying the use of a game to teach change management in the light of adult learning theory, the article discusses how different kinds of learning processes emerge and contribute. On the basis of qualitative interviews and observation, a case study is used to explore how the particular, didactic orchestration of a game-based learning process, together with emergent, informal learning processes, contributes to leadership learning. As participants are immersed in formal, non-formal and informal learning processes, these processes contribute to improving leadership in practice in a variety of different ways. The article concludes that (1) yes, game-based learning does contribute to teaching operational leadership in a formal manner; (2) no, in and of itself, the formal learning of games has a limited impact on leadership learning, but in combination with other didactic activities, its contribution is profound and (3) maybe, since by tapping into the extensive knowledge of other participants, games inspire informal discussions on leadership topics that are not directly relevant to the game, but are in other ways beneficial.     

Emotional labor and leadership: A threat to authenticity?

Building on the emotional labor and authentic leadership literatures, we advance a conceptual model of leader emotional displays. Three categories of leader emotional displays are identified: surface acting, deep acting and genuine emotions. The consistency of expressed leader emotions with affective display rules, together with the type of display chosen, combines to impact the leader's felt authenticity, the favorability of follower impressions, and the perceived authenticity of the leader by the followers. Emotional intelligence, self-monitoring ability, and political skill are proposed as individual differences that moderate leader emotional display responses to affective events. We also look at followers' trust in the leader and leader well-being as key outcomes. Finally, we explore the influence on leader emotional labor of contextual dimensions of the environment, including the omnibus (national and organizational culture, industry and occupation, organizational structure, time) and discrete (situational) context. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Physician leadership. How do physician executives view themselves?

Most physician executives today have acquired substantial management training and experience, and many have worked with and relied on the expertise of mentors for their career guidance and development. Physician executives are actually becoming executives who happen to be physicians. They view themselves first as leaders, then as physicians, and finally as managers. That is a remarkable transformation in perception. To chronicle this process, Witt/Kieffer, Ford, Hadelman & Lloyd conducted a national survey this spring among senior physician executives in both payer and provider organizations. The data provide a "snapshot" of their role, and may also suggest some future scenarios for the industry. The primary reasons for choosing to pursue a management role noted by most participants include a desire to be part of the health care solution and an interest in management and leadership challenges.     

A new substitute for leadership? Followers' state core self-evaluations

In this experimental study we integrate transformational leadership theory with recent theoretical considerations and research on core self-evaluations (CSE) in a contingency approach to leadership. We analyze to what extent high state CSE may represent a substitute for transformational leadership in terms of its influence on follower motivation and performance. In a 2 × 2‐design the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' motivation and performance is compared for followers with high versus low state CSE. Participants (76 students) were randomly assigned to four groups. High or low state CSE was activated through a priming manipulation. After that, participants were presented with a written vignette of a transformational or a nontransformational leader who instructs them to perform the subsequent task, a word-search puzzle. Results reveal that followers' state CSE moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' motivation and performance. As expected, followers' state CSE represents a substitute for transformational leadership. Results are discussed for leadership research and management practice.     

Leaders’ influence on collective action: An identity leadership perspective

What makes followers act collectively when called upon by their leaders? To answer this question, participants were randomly allocated to leader–follower relationships embedded either in a partisan group or a workgroup context; and the relationship between identity leadership and collective action through ingroup identification (Study 1: N = 293) or both ingroup identification and group-efficacy (Study 2: N = 338) were assessed. Based on the model of identity leadership, we predicted and found that identity leadership was positively related with intentions for collective action when called upon by the leader, both via ingroup identification and belief in group efficacy. As predicted, the social identity process for the effectiveness of identity leadership was more important in partisan groups than in workgroups. The efficacy related process was group context invariant. These results have implications for our understanding of group processes involved in the leadership in collective action.     

Embedded leadership: How do a leader's superiors impact middle-management performance?

This study uses a low-fidelity simulation to test the effect superiors can have on the leadership style and cognition of their subordinates who also are leaders. These leaders within the organization, often referred to as middle managers, occupy an important, albeit overlooked position within an organization. In order to emphasize the leadership that occurs at the middle levels of management the term ‘embedded leader’ is used. Using a sample of 224 undergraduates, three variables were manipulated to examine their effects on participant sensemaking, confidence, and participative leadership. The variables manipulated were the severity of individual level consequences (high vs. low), the severity of organizational consequences (high vs. low), and the superior's motivational strategy (coercive vs. supportive vs. passive style). It was found that a leader's superior can influence their leadership behaviors in a complex manner. Participant sensemaking was higher when their superior emphasized low levels of individual (or personal) consequences. Participative leadership was higher when the supervisor framed organizational level consequences as being high. Findings for participant confidence were complex, but generally suggest that one's superiors can promote or hinder confidence in a variety of situations.     

A Trojan Horse? The implications of managerial coaching for leadership theory

This article examines the behaviours associated with managerial coaching and assesses the implications for leadership theory. Survey data from 521 line managers are analysed to: (i) identify the behaviours associated with managerial coaching, (ii) examine factors that affect the propensity of managers to undertake coaching and (iii) discuss the implications of the manager as coach role for leadership theory and practice. First, the analysis indicates that workplace coaching is distinct from specialized coaching practices. Second, demographic characteristics of individual managers, such as their age, experience or level of management qualification are unlikely to affect their propensity to undertake managerial coaching. However, leader-team member relationships (leader-member exchange) and occupational self-efficacy (OSE) are predictive of managerial coaching behaviours. Third, managerial coaching challenges traditional leader-centric models of leadership and requires an acknowledgement of reciprocity, collaborative ‘meaning-making’ and a diminished ‘distance’ between leaders and team members.     

Does one hat fit all? The case of corporate leadership structure

Recent corporate scandals have led to renewed campaigns for governance reforms, including calls for the separation of CEO and chairman positions. This paper argues that this trend ignores the possibility that differences in firm characteristics determine the appropriateness of separating or combining the two positions. I propose and test hypotheses on the determinants of leadership structure using a sample of 1,883 firms. I find that organizational complexity, CEO reputation, and managerial ownership increase the probability of CEO duality. I also find that whether CEO duality benefits or hurts the firm is contingent on firm and CEO characteristics. These results suggest that firms do consider the costs and benefits of alternative leadership structures, and that requiring all firms to separate CEO and chairman duties may be counterproductive.

Conceptualizing leadership with respect to its historical–contextual antecedents to power

An attempt is made here to build on the ideas and arguments presented in a recent Leadership Quarterly journal article written by Hunt and Dodge [Leadership Q. Yearly Overview Leadership 11 (2000) 435]. In their article, these authors argue that contemporary leadership researchers tend to neglect the historical–contextual antecedents of the field and as a result are developing many theories that reflect little more than a form of “academic amnesia” and “leadership déjà vu”. The importance of Hunt and Dodge's argument is reinforced through the use here of a form of deconstruction to reveal a lacuna in the leadership literature—the insufficient coverage of power, particularly at what is termed a deep structure level. With the current context of organizational change in mind, this lacuna is shown to have problematic consequences for leadership theory in general. More specifically, the increasing use of dispersed leadership strategies is shown to be particularly problematic. The article proposes a new conceptual framework that begins to address these problems and in so doing provides ideas and challenges for future research in the field.