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This study is an integration of the leader-focused perspective and leader-follower exchange perspective, attempting to understand the relationship between leadership styles, leader-member relationship, and their joint impact on followers’ effectiveness, satisfaction, extra effort and organizational commitment. 615 respondents from five big pharmaceutical companies in China participated in this study. Results show that: (1) transformational leadership has positive influence on followers’ effectiveness, satisfaction, extra effort and organizational commitment; contingent reward has positive influence on effectiveness; management-by-exception leadership has negative influence on satisfaction; laissez-faire leadership has negative influence on effectiveness and satisfaction. (2) Leader-member exchange partially mediates the relationship between transformational, contingent reward, management-by-exception, laissez-faire leaderships and followers’ effectiveness, extra effort, satisfaction and organizational commitment.

▼ <b>Purpose</b> - This paper aims to report the results of a replication study of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness within a Romanian public sector hospital, and to discuss the extent to which they are similar to and different from findings from equivalent studies carried out in two British NHS Trust hospitals. <b>Design/methodology/approach</b> - Concrete examples (critical incidents) of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour were collected using Flanagan's critical incident technique (CIT). The critical incidents were content analyzed to identify a smaller number of behavioural statements (BSs). These were then compared and contrasted against two British BS data sets using realist qualitative analytic methods, and deductively coded and sorted into extant behavioural categories. <b>Findings</b> - A total of 57 BSs were identified of which 30 were examples of effective and 27 of least effective/ineffective managerial behaviour. The multi-case/cross-nation comparative analysis revealed high degrees of commonality and relative generalization between the Romanian and British findings. <b>Research limitations/implications</b> - Data saturation may not have been achieved during the CIT collection phase of the study. The relevance and transferability of the findings to other public sector hospitals in Romania have yet to be demonstrated empirically. The results have potential as "best evidence" to inform and shape "evidence-based HRD" initiatives designed to train and develop effective managers and leaders within the health services sector of Romania and the United Kingdom. <b>Originality/value</b> - The study is a rare example of indigenous managerial behaviour research in a non-Anglo country. The results lend strong empirical support for universalistic explanations of the nature of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness.

▼ Leadership is a process enacted in the context of a shared group membership, and leadership effectiveness is contingent on followers' perceptions of the leader as a group member. Addressing this role of group membership, the social identity theory of leadership puts leader group prototypicality, the extent to which the leader is perceived to embody group identity, center-stage in leadership effectiveness. I review empirical research in leader group prototypicality, concluding there is a robust empirical basis for the key propositions of the social identity theory of leadership. I also identify newer developments that extend and enrich the social identity analysis of leadership, including attention to the roles of uncertainty, leader fairness, leader-follower relationship, leader self-perceived prototypicality, and leadership of creativity and innovation.

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Comparatively little empirical attention has been paid to the leadership of nonprofit board chairs. This article reports findings from a two-year mixed-method grounded theory research investigation exploring perceptions of board chair leadership and impact from the perspective of those who interact with chairs (board members, chief executives, and stakeholders). It provides a review of the literature on the leadership role and impact of board chairs and a conceptual framework for its study in nonprofit and voluntary organizations. We present and discuss findings from two phases of the research and offer theoretical perspectives on board chair leadership effectiveness and practical suggestions to increase it.

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There has been limited research on how teachers, parents and students perceive effective school leadership in practice. The purpose of this article is to present some of the findings derived from a study of key stakeholders’ perceptions of effective school leadership. Key stakeholders were identified as teachers, students and parents. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from one large girl’s school in Sydney, Australia. This research relied largely upon interview responses from teachers, students and parents of one Catholic school. While further insight into the issues may require a longitudinal data that describe perceptions from a substantial number of schools over time, studying one school provided a deeper and detailed understanding of key stakeholders’ perceptions. Findings highlight the complexity of school leadership practices. Key stakeholders’ in this study have also provide us with a useful emphasis on core school leadership dimensions, which they associate with effective school outcomes and improvement. These include administration, responsibility to ensure quality teaching and learning and relational leadership. Stakeholders answers to the question of what makes principals effective and which principal behaviours are most consistent with school effectiveness and improvement provides principals with an important knowledge base for practice.

▼ Résumé

Le modèle d’identité sociale du leadership de l’organisation (Social Identity Model of Organizational Leadership, SIMOL; Hogg et van Knippenberg, 2003) a été élargi en analysant le degré de l’effort des employés, résultat individuel de l’efficacité du leadership. On a mené deux études, avec des participants italiens. La première étude a été menée avec 68 employés d’une société de dimension moyenne. Les résultats ont montré l’effet considérable de l’interaction bilatérale d’identification de l’équipe X prototypicalité du chef de groupe sur la prédiction du degré d’effort dans le travail des employés. La deuxième étude, avec 124 étudiants, était un design 2×2 entre les sujets (identification de l’équipe haut vs. bas X prototypicalité du chef de groupe haut vs. bas), en utilisant des scénarios différents. Les résultats ont confirmé expérimentalement le rapport causal entre ces variables: les sujets en condition de haute identification d’équipe et haute prototypicalité du chef perçoivent les chefs comme plus efficaces que les sujets dans les autres trois conditions.

▼ This article examines the relationship between role-taking abilities of nursing education administrators and their perceived leadership effectiveness as rated by their faculty. Thirty nursing education administrators and their respective faculty members (n = 176) participated in this cross-sectional survey study. All participants filled out a demographic questionnaire, nursing education administrators also filled out the Davis interpersonal Reactivity index, which measured their role-taking abilities, and faculty also filled out selected subscales of the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire-XII (LBDQ-XII), which measured their perception of their nursing education administrators' leadership effectiveness. Correlation coefficients were calculated for these data, and they were also subjected to multiple regression analysis. Initial analysis of the data indicated that 26 of the 30 administrators were perceived to be effective leaders. Statistical analysis determined that there was a significant positive relationship between the role-taking abilities of the nursing education administrators and the consideration subscale of the LBDQ-XII. Multiple regression analysis found that certain organizational variables-formalization, centralization, and job satisfaction-affected the perception of leadership effectiveness. Further analysis of these three organizational characteristics according to large and small organizations found inverse relationships between job satisfaction and the faculty's perception of formalization and centralization. The results of this study support role-taking abilities among nursing education administrators as a way of enhancing their leadership effectiveness.

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schreuder j.a.h., roelen c.a.m., van zweeden n.f., jongsma d., van der klink j.j.l. & groothoff j.w. (2011) Journal of Nursing Management19, 585–595
Leadership effectiveness and recorded sickness absence among nursing staff: a cross-sectional pilot study

Aim  To investigate nurse managers’ leadership behaviour in relation to the sickness absence records of nursing staff.

Background  Sickness absence is high in healthcare and interferes with nursing efficiency and quality. Nurse managers’ leadership behaviour may be associated with nursing staff sickness absence.

Method  Six nurse managers completed the Leadership Effectiveness and Adaptability Description (LEAD) questionnaire, which assesses leadership behaviour in terms of leadership flexibility (i.e. the range of leadership styles) and effectiveness (i.e. using the leadership style that is appropriate for a given situation). LEAD scores were linked to the number of recorded days of sickness absence and both short (1–7 days) and long (>7 days) episodes of sickness absence in the nursing teams.

Results  Leadership flexibility of nurse managers was not associated with sickness absence among nurses. High leadership effectiveness was associated with fewer days and fewer short episodes of sickness absence. Leadership effectiveness was unrelated to the number of long episodes of sickness absence.

Conclusion  Effective nurse managers had less short-term sickness absence in their nursing teams.

Implications for nursing management  If these tentative cross-sectional associations are confirmed in longitudinal studies including more departments, then training effective leadership may improve the management of short-term sickness absence.

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Learning to lead online is imperative for the future of leadership. Whether they like it or not, even if they prefer face-to-face interactions, leaders of the future must be able to develop a sense of closeness with others, whether they be down the hall or around the world. In this study, face-to-face residential workshops were matched with online sessions over an 18-month period. Data from 75 participants, ranging from 18-year-olds to senior corporate executives, suggest that levels of online communication are positively correlated to perceptions of closeness among peers and that the relationship between peer closeness and leadership outcomes is moderated by online activity.

▼  Abstract

Transformational leadership is important because it provides not only direction but it also creates opportunities for professional development. This qualitative investigation explored how medical doctors, in order to be transformative, should negotiate with advanced practice nurses while working in collaboration with them. The results first suggest that medical doctors and advanced practice nurses should negotiate appropriate levels of supervision in their working relationship commensurate with the education and experience that the advanced practice nurses bring to the practice. Second, mentoring should be a reciprocal communication process between medical doctors and advanced practice nurses, where thoughtful feedback facilitates appropriate adjustments in respective communication and time management styles. Third, educating necessitates mutual learning, with each party acknowledging the possibility of learning from the other and being sensitive to the value of what the other contributes to the working relationship. The authors conclude that effective leadership involves negotiating along these dimensions, which will contribute to effective team-building.

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Based on the value-based leadership(VBL) theory and the preliminary findings obtained from an empirical study of Chinese business leaders, we propose a new model addressing the dynamic relationships among firm environment, VBL behaviors and leadership effectiveness; and test the model using data collected from 95 firms. Results show that VBL behaviors help improve leadership effectiveness when the company faces intense external competition, even though intensive competition is naturally negative to leadership effectiveness. Value-based leadership can help firms to survive through extremely tough circumstances.

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Correlational analyses of the personality traits measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and three leadership styles, that is, Change, Production, and Employee (CPE) measured by Ekvall and Arvonen's (1991) CPE questionnaire, were performed. The sample was 106 Norwegian leaders. Three common factors comprising leadership styles and personality domains were interpreted as “looking for new possibilities,”“hard working,” and “dealing with people.” Considering personality traits as behavior tendencies in unspecified situational contexts and leadership styles as behavioral tendencies in the leadership context, and due to the self-report nature of the data, it is argued that the factors show consistency in self-perceptions independent of context. The strongest predictors of the CPE total score were Conscientiousness and Extraversion; Openness and Agreeableness were specific predictors of Change and Employee, respectively.

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Given the importance of public sector CIOs to government performance and citizens' faith in democracy as an efficient provider of services, it is important to understand what makes some government CIOs more effective than others. Q Method is used to uncover five archetypes of public sector CIOs which are shown to be reliable across two Q sorts. These archetypes include politically-oriented CIO, savvy negotiator, technology optimizer, and skillful communicator. Further analysis using a tournament scoring approach indicates that business-oriented CIOs are the most effective. Applying a stakeholder perspective to interpret the results, it is proposed that business-oriented CIOs understand the value in tracking closely to an organization's business leaders and strategically ignoring other stakeholders in their environment, even politically powerful ones. The development and comparison of archetypes provide a new focus of CIO research by extending from the individual level of the attribute to a combination of attributes (archetypes).

▼ 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. A negative effect of neuroticism on leadership effectiveness was also observed. In addition, while emotional intelligence seemed to be statistically related to transformational leadership if considered in isolation, when ability and personality were controlled for, the effect became non-significant. We discuss implications for theory, research and practice.

▼ <b>Purpose</b> - <i>This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.</i> <b>Design/methodology/approach</b> - <i>This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.</i> <b>Findings</b> - <i>Effective leadership is a vital ingredient in the success of any organization. Many leaders are competent enough when times are prosperous. But when things get tough, only the best are able to step up to the plate. It is somewhat disconcerting that crises are a frequent occurrence in the business world. Such problems manifest themselves in various guises and their consequences often have the potential to be catastrophic. The demise of high-profile corporations like Enron is ample testimony to that. One sad fact of a company crisis is the ripple effect, ensuring that few people emerge unscathed. The positions of management and employees alike become precarious, while shareholder investments are equally insecure.</i> <b>Practical implications</b> - <i>The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.</i> <b>Originality/value</b> - <i>The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to digest format.</i>

▼ Previous studies have found mixed results regarding the influence of positive and negative leader affect on follower performance. We propose that both leader happiness and leader sadness can be beneficial for follower performance contingent on whether the task concerns creative or analytical performance. This proposition was put to the test in two experiments in which leader affective display was manipulated and the performance of (student) participants was assessed. The results supported our hypothesis that a leader's displays of happiness enhance follower creative performance, whereas a leader's displays of sadness enhance follower analytical performance. Contrasting these findings with evidence for a subjective rating of leadership effectiveness, in line with an implicit leadership theory interpretation, leaders were perceived as more effective when displaying happiness rather than sadness irrespective of task type. The second study showed that the effects of leader affective displays on followers' creative performance and perceived leadership effectiveness are mediated by follower positive affect, indicating that emotional contagion partly underlies these effects.

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Opportunities abound for nurses to lead, but few are born leaders: Most must learn effective leadership skills. Paying attention to and developing four simple things—having followers, moving in the right direction, setting examples, and having authenticity—enable nurses to be effective leaders. The challenge lies in continually acting and questioning what can be done to make a difference.

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Constructive-developmental theory is a stage theory of adult development that focuses on the growth and elaboration of a person's ways of understanding the self and the world. In this article we review how the constructive-developmental frameworks of Kegan [Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press], Torbert [Torbert, W. R. (1987). Managing the corporate dream: Restructuring for long-term success. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.], and Kohlberg [Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In D. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization: Theory and research. New York: Rand McNally] have been applied in the theoretical and empirical literature on leadership and management. Although the literature has produced a number of propositions, the notion that a leader's order of development should impact his or her leadership effectiveness or managerial performance has generated the most research. We found mixed support for this proposition as well as a number of limitations in the research in general. To have a greater impact on the leadership field, constructive-developmental theory needs to generate more robust research, to link more clearly with on-going streams of leadership research, and to explore the contribution of aspects of the theory beyond individual order of development.

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The authors study the association between physician leadership styles and leadership effectiveness. Executive directors of community health centers were surveyed (269 respondents; response rate = 40.9 percent) for their perceptions of the medical director’s leadership behaviors and effectiveness, using an adapted Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (43 items on a 0-4 point Likert-type scale), with additional questions on demographics and the center’s clinical goals and achievements. The authors hypothesize that transformational leadership would be more positively associated with executive directors’ ratings of effectiveness, satisfaction with the leader, and subordinate extra effort, as well as the center’s clinical goal achievement, than transactional or laissez-faire leadership. Separate ordinary least squares regressions were used to model each of the effectiveness measures, and general linear model regression was used to model clinical goal achievement. Results support the hypothesis and suggest that physician leadership development using the transformational leadership model may result in improved health care quality and cost control.

▼  The authors examined the relationship between leader group prototypicality (the extent to which a leader is representative of the collective identity) and job satisfaction as an indicator of leadership effectiveness. Leader group prototypicality was expected to interact with job stress and team identification, such that leader group protototypicality is more strongly related to job satisfaction for followers with higher job stress and team identification. Two cross-sectional surveys (N = 329 and N = 89) conducted with the employees of 4 Italian organizations provided support for this hypothesis. The authors discuss how these findings extend our understanding of leadership effectiveness within the social identity model of leadership.

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The literature supporting leadership as the most important factor related to organizational success or failure is burgeoning. To a large extent, this may explain why so much research focuses on factors influencing leadership effectiveness. A crucial aspect of leadership research is to determine why some individuals perform effectively in leadership roles while others demonstrate mediocre or low levels of effectiveness. Once measures of individual characteristics have been validated within a relevant context, they become useful sources of information for selecting, placing, and promoting people into leadership positions. The aim of this study was to determine if there are statistically significant differences in emotional intelligence between effective and ineffective leaders. The sample included 114 leaders at the middle management level in a public sector institution in South Africa. Each leader’s effectiveness was rated by themselves (self-rating), as well as by four subordinates, thus involving 570 participants. The EQ-i^® was used as a measure of emotional intelligence, while Spangenberg and Theron’s Leadership Behaviour Inventory was used to determine leadership effectiveness. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that the effective leaders scored significantly higher on the total emotional intelligence measure. They also scored significantly higher on two emotional intelligence composite scales (Interpersonal EQ and Stress Management EQ) and six sub-scales (Self-actualization, Empathy, Social Responsibility, Stress Tolerance, Problem-solving, and Optimism).

Points for practitioners

The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness seems to warrant organizational consideration of the possible inclusion of emotional intelligence, among other competencies, as a selection and promotion criterion for future leaders. Job analyses and the subsequent identification of job competencies can be used in order to determine, among others, the emotional intelligence requirements of specific leadership tasks, duties, and behaviours at different managerial levels within the organization. Based on such predetermined criteria, valid measures of emotional intelligence could be included as part of the selection and promotion process, along with other desirable individual attributes, such as verbal and numerical abilities, personality attributes, and specific managerial and leadership competencies required for effective leadership specifically within public sector institutions. Leadership development courses may also include programmes to develop emotional intelligence competencies. Potential candidates nominated to attend these courses could be equipped with a vital understanding of their own emotional functioning as well as an awareness of their influence on their followers. The continuous provision of feedback, mentoring, and modelling is also a key consideration in the development of emotional intelligence.

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This article proposes and develops a theory of leadership that utilizes five levels of being as context for effective leadership: 1) the physical world; 2) the world of images and imagination; 3) the level of the soul; 4) the level of the Spirit; and 5) the non-dual level. We first explore how each of the five levels of being provides a means for advancing both the theory and the practice of leadership. Second, we utilize these five levels to create the foundation for a theory of leadership based on being that goes beyond current theory which emphasizes having and doing — either having appropriate traits and competencies or doing appropriate actions depending on the situation. We present propositions for future research as we discuss each of the five levels of being. Finally, we discuss implications for leadership development and future research that arise from such a being-centered leadership theory.

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In the shadow of corporate scandals such as Enron and Worldcom, an increase in attention has been directed towards an approach termed `servant leadership'. To date, servant leadership has been discussed and described almost entirely in the North American context (Farling et al., 1999; Spears, 1995). In the following study, we explored the extent to which followers from Ghana and the USA have experienced three servant leadership dimensions in a work situation, and the extent to which these followers relate servant leadership dimensions to judgments about leadership effectiveness in each culture. After testing for measurement equivalence and adjusting the item weights in each culture, we found that Ghanaians reported experiencing servant leadership behaviours significantly less than North Americans. We also found that vision had a significantly stronger relationship with leader effectiveness for Ghanaians in comparison to North Americans, but that both sub-samples relate service and humility with leader effectiveness similarly. We explored possible explanations and implications based on cultural differences.

▼ This research examines several determinants considered to influence the spiritual leadership (SL) effectiveness, including one motivational mediating factor of follower's self-concepts, and two conditional factors, i.e., culture (as a macro-level factor) and managerial position (as a micro-level factor). The construct of SL was validated using a sample comprising 591 employees from various profitable organizations in two major Chinese societies: China and Taiwan (n=372; 219). A second sample of 122 military police in the army was also recruited for validation purpose. We integrated the follower's transcendental self-concepts into the existing SL framework, and validated their substantiality to leadership effectiveness. In addition, the results showed that culture differs on the SL effectiveness, while position hierarchy (managerial vs. non-managerial positions) does not moderate between the intrinsic motivations of SL and in-role/extra-role performance.

▼  A significant consequence of today's dynamic, complex, and uncertain business environments is that leadership skills are subject to continual obsolescence and displacement. To be effective, leaders must demonstrate the flexibility and agility to adapt their behaviors as situations change. The willingness and capability to learn from experience and subsequently to apply that learning to perform successfully under new or first-time conditions becomes one of the most critical success factors for managers and executives. This article introduces and defines the concept of learning agility, reviews and discusses its theoretical and empirical background, and presents selected research findings related to the assessment of learning agility. Several areas for future research are also identified.

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This review of over 150 studies shows that there is a clear consistency between spiritual values and practices and effective leadership. Values that have long been considered spiritual ideals, such as integrity, honesty, and humility, have been demonstrated to have an effect on leadership success. Similarly, practices traditionally associated with spirituality as demonstrated in daily life have also been shown to be connected to leadership effectiveness. All of the following practices have been emphasized in many spiritual teachings, and they have also been found to be crucial leadership skills: showing respect for others, demonstrating fair treatment, expressing caring and concern, listening responsively, recognizing the contributions of others, and engaging in reflective practice.

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The moderator effect of need for closure on the relations between leader group prototypicality and different aspects of leadership effectiveness (perceived effectiveness, job satisfaction, self-rated performance, and turnover intentions) was examined. Need for closure, reflecting a desire to reduce uncertainty, was proposed to lead people to turn to their group memberships, thus making leadership effectiveness more contingent on the extent to which leaders are group prototypical. This hypothesis was tested in a survey of N=242 employees of 3 Italian companies. Results indicated the expected 2-way interaction between need for closure and leader group prototypicality in predicting leadership effectiveness: the relationship between leader group prototypicality and leadership effectiveness is stronger for high need for closure than for low need for closure employees. The way in which these findings extend the social identity theory of leadership, as well as more applied implications is discussed.

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Leadership often serves as an explanatory category for performance outcomes (i.e., failure and success). This process can strengthen or weaken leadership effectiveness, because contingent on their performance leaders may gain or lose follower endorsement — the basis of leadership. Drawing on the social identity analysis of leadership, we hypothesized that leader group prototypicality and performance information interact to predict followers' perceptions of leadership effectiveness. Because group prototypical leaders are more trusted by their followers, we hypothesized that group prototypical leaders are evaluated as more effective after failure information than non-prototypical leaders. In contrast, we predicted that both prototypical and non-prototypical leaders should receive similar evaluations of leadership effectiveness after success. We found support for our predictions in a scenario experiment, a cross-sectional field study, and a laboratory experiment.

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We propose a theoretical model to explain how societal/cultural settings may influence the leadership perception processes of followers and the ways perceived leadership effectiveness can be achieved. We adopt five cultural dimensions - collectivism/individualism (CI), masculinity/femininity (MASC), power distance (PD), uncertainty avoidance (UA) and fatalism (FT), and relate them to two types of leadership perception modes - recognition-based and inference-based processes, and perceived leadership effectiveness. Propositions are developed concerning how these cultural dimensions would be expected to influence leadership perception processes. We also discuss our propositions from a multidimensional perspective. We propose that in some cultural settings, fitting leadership behaviors and traits to leadership prototypes will be more likely to lead to perceived leadership effectiveness. In other cultural settings, more positive group or organizational performance outcomes will be more likely to lead to perceived leadership effectiveness. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these propositions as they are embedded within an organizational context.

▼  This article concerns the real-world importance of leadership for the success or failure of organizations and social institutions. The authors propose conceptualizing leadership and evaluating leaders in terms of the performance of the team or organization for which they are responsible. The authors next offer a taxonomy of the dependent variables used as criteria in leadership studies. A review of research using this taxonomy suggests that the vast empirical literature on leadership may tell us more about the success of individual managerial careers than the success of these people in leading groups, teams, and organizations. The authors then summarize the evidence showing that leaders do indeed affect the performance of organizations—for better or for worse—and conclude by describing the mechanisms through which they do so.