Leader emergence: the development of a theoretical framework

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 513-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
William I. Norton Jr ◽  
Monique L. Ueltschy Murfield ◽  
Melissa S. Baucus

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework to explain how leaders emerge in teams that lack a hierarchical structure. This framework emphasizes the perceptual processes through which team members determine whether or not an individual fits with the task, the group, and the situational context. Design/methodology/approach – This paper builds on prior leadership research to develop a theoretical framework of emergent leadership, a testable model, and research propositions. Findings – The authors suggest that team members’ perceptions of leadership fit depend on the potential leader's domain competence, fluid intelligence, willingness to serve, credibility, and goal attainment. A conceptual framework is developed to suggest these attributes combine to create perceptions of leadership fit that must correspond to the degree of stress in the situational context, which varies according to task criticality and time compression. The framework suggests that an individual perceived by team members to exhibit characteristics that fit with the situation will likely emerge as the leader. Research limitations/implications – This paper focusses on emergent leadership, but does not address which path to leadership may be best. Future research may also address group dynamics (i.e. cohesion or group potency) and the implications for leader emergence. Originality/value – This research contributes to the discipline by suggesting a potential path of leader emergence in multiple contexts of situational stress and leader behaviors.

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 429-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergana Markova ◽  
John T. Perry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate interactions among members of self-managed teams (SMTs). The authors were interested in how leader emergence, group potency, and opinion compliance were related to team cohesion and member well-being. Design/methodology/approach – In a simulated business environment, the authors surveyed 236 students working in 54 SMTs. Participants reported their interactions and experiences at several points of time during class. Individual responses about team cohesion and group potency were aggregated for the purposes of the analysis. Findings – The paper found that leader emergence was associated with reduced cohesion among members and diminished individual well-being. Group potency was modestly associated with better cohesion among team members. Participants of more cohesive groups reported higher individual well-being. Opposite to the predictions, opinion compliance was not significantly related to individual well-being. Research limitations/implications – Within the limitations of the study design, the results suggest that leader emergence may have adverse effect on team interactions. Future research should investigate the positive and negative implications of an emerging leader in SMTs. Practical implications – The broad application of SMTs in organizations necessitates a critical examination of team dynamics and individual experiences of members. Along with team productivity, managers should consider the effects of team interactions on employees’ well-being. Employees who are drawn to more discretionary work such as SMTs may not favor leader emergence. Originality/value – The findings suggest that leader emergence may have negative implications for other team members and the overall team functioning.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 19-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel London

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to consider how exploitative and exploratory team processes contribute to adaptive and innovative outcomes. The paper integrates the team learning and team adaptation literature and examines factors that stimulate and support exploitative and exploratory processes in interdisciplinary and homogeneous teams. This has implications for team learning research and facilitation that fosters adaptation and innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews how teams learn to be exploitative and exploratory and the extent to which adaptive and innovative outcomes ensue. The paper suggests the value of teams understanding how different conditions (environment, leadership, member characteristics, and team composition) affect team members' interactions as they learn and apply exploitative and exploratory processes to produce adaptive and/or innovative outcomes. Findings – Teams learn frames of reference for being exploitative and exploratory influenced by environmental conditions, leadership, particularly leadership that creates psychological safety, and team member characteristics and team. Interdisciplinary team composition and resulting possible subgroup formation pose challenges for exploitative and exploratory teams. Research limitations/implications – Future research should study teams over time to observe subgroup formation and integration, and facilitation by leaders, team members, and group dynamics professionals to support exploratory and exploitative frames and the emergence of adaptations and innovations. Practical implications – Teams may be more successful in implementing innovations when they have learned how to weave between exploratory and exploitative frames of behavior. Originality/value – The paper applies exploitative and exploratory processes to teams to increase their capacity to produce adaptive and innovative outcomes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Emil Berg ◽  
Jan Terje Karlsen

Purpose – This study provides insight into how project managers can use leadership tools to encourage and develop positive emotions among the project team members toward greater overall project success. The purpose of this paper is to provide the engineering industry with a closer look at how positive emotions can create good team member relations, reduce stress, develop clearer roles, creativity and joy at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data were obtained using in-depth interviews of three experienced project managers. Findings – The empirical data give insight as to how project managers can use their signature strengths. Additionally, the data also show how they can evolve and draw on positive meaning, positive emotions and positive relations. Various examples of positive meaning, positive emotions, positive relations and signature strengths have been identified and discussed. Research limitations/implications – Future research should apply a more comprehensive research design, for example a survey using a larger sample, so that these findings may be generalized. Practical implications – The paper contributes to portray and analyze positive psychology in a project management setting. Additionally, the paper assists understanding the connections among positive meaning, positive emotions, positive relations and signature strengths by presenting and discussing a model. Originality/value – This research extends current understanding of how project managers use their signature strengths to encourage and develop positive emotions in project teams.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hart O. Awa ◽  
Ojiabo Ukoha Ojiabo ◽  
Bartholomew Chinweuba Emecheta

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a framework that integrated the technology acceptance model (TAM), theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and technology-organization-environment (TOE) and extended the constructs to enrich literature and capture some peculiarities of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). Individually, the frameworks of extant TAM, TPB and TOE are insightful to the understanding of e-commerce adoption but a bit parochial in their constructs and so, can rarely provide clear lenses to deal with SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – The adoption of e-commerce depends largely on the users’ conscious assessment of the influencing constructs as proposed, among others, in theories of reasoned action, TAM, TPB and TOE. This paper reviewed, synthesized and extended the constructs of these models in an integrated framework. The proposed integrated framework led to 18 propositions to promote and facilitate future research, and to guide explanation and prediction of e-commerce adoption in an organized system. Findings – The introduced constructs in the integrated framework (e.g. company mission, individual difference factors, perceived trust and perceived service quality) introduce socio-technical systems and improve the theoretical base of adoption. Research limitations/implications – Neither the adoption drivers nor the constructs in the theoretical framework are mutually exclusive and exhaustive; rather, they are complementary and could incorporate other factors. Although the theoretical implications of the findings of this paper extend the scope of adoption drivers, the proposed framework needs to be tested empirically. Originality/value – The integrated and extended theoretical framework links three adoption drivers and attempts to improve existing knowledge on e-commerce adoption and to provide bases for more informed decision(s).


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 817-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlos Rocha de Freitas ◽  
Márcio Lopes Pimenta ◽  
Per Hilletofth ◽  
Daniel Jugend ◽  
Pedro Carlos Oprime

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how cross-functional integration supports the execution of the demand-side processes and its effects on both the demand and supply-side processes.Design/methodology/approachA case study was conducted including a Brazilian multinational manufacturer in the automobile industry and some of its suppliers and dealers. 17 interviews were conducted. A theoretical framework is proposed containing five basic elements, they are: characteristics of the demand/supply processes; involved functions; integration factors; context influencers and impacts of integration on demand and supply processes.FindingsThe findings present three demand-side processes (Product Launch, Marketing and Sales and Demand Planning) that demonstrated a greater need for cross-functional integration in the studied case, mainly through informal integration factors.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical results of this study have methodological limitations due to the use of the case study method. Future research should analyze the effects of other context influencers (e.g. natural catastrophes, civil wars and low level of unemployment) on cross-functional integration.Practical implicationsThe results highlight that joint planning, willingness to work together, team spirit, adequate communication and cross-functional meetings helped the studied organizations to achieve competitive advantages and improve their performance.Originality/valueThis study provides a theoretical framework that helped to improve the understanding of the interrelationships between demand management constructs and cross-functional integration factors. There are indications that a political–economic crisis has stimulated the existence of a willingness to work together and group spirit among employees who remain in the organization after mass dismissals. This climate of cooperation helped to increase the agility and resilience of the studied supply chain, which is currently affected by a changing market.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 511-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Paulsen ◽  
Diana Maldonado ◽  
Victor J. Callan ◽  
Oluremi Ayoko

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the charismatic dimension of transformational leadership on team processes and innovative outcomes in research and development (R&D) teams.Design/methodology/approachData are collected by surveying 34 teams that totalled 178 participants. Surveys measured charismatic leadership style, team identity, cooperative strategies and team innovation.FindingsResults reveal the importance of managers assuming a charismatic style of leadership to encourage innovation. Charismatic leaders promote team innovation by supporting a sense of team identity and commitment, and encourage team members to cooperate through the expression of ideas and participation in decisions.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is conducted in a single R&D organization and future research should explore the influence of these factors in other settings. The measures of team innovation are based on the perceptions of the team members, and future research needs to include a wider variety of data sources over time.Practical implicationsSuccessful team leaders who employ a more charismatic style facilitate more cooperative interactions in teams. Teams with a strong team identity combined with the exercise of cooperative behaviours are more innovative.Originality/valueThe preliminary model tested enhances the understanding of the importance of the leaders in influencing team processes and innovation. Leaders who are more transformational in style influence followers by affecting their sense of identity. This sense of identity influences how well teams adopt and follow more cooperative strategies to resolve issues and to make decisions. In turn, the model shows how these factors influence team innovation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilan Alon ◽  
Michele Boulanger ◽  
Judith Meyers ◽  
Vasyl Taras

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new instrument for measuring cultural intelligence in the business context (BCIQ). Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes the process of the conceptualization of the model and the development of the instrument, the sample, as well as the validation of the instrument. Directions on the use of the instrument and future research are discussed. Findings – The instrument shows good psychometric properties and good predictive power and outperforms other publicly available CQ measures on a number of dimensions. Originality/value – The unique features and advantages of the present instrument are as follows: first, a refined factor structure compared to existing CQ instruments; second, use of objective cultural knowledge measures; third, applicability in the business and workplace contexts, thus rendering the instrument suitable for assessing cultural intelligence among expatriates, employees, and global virtual team members; and fourth, improved reliability and validity as compared to other Cultural Intelligence Quotient measures.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-18
Author(s):  
Len Karakowsky ◽  
Nadia DeGama ◽  
Kenneth McBey

Purpose Despite considerable empirical evidence to support the existence of the Pygmalion effect, studies that focus on the role of gender within this phenomenon have produced varied results. Whereas the research has consistently demonstrated the Pygmalion effect with male leaders, less research evidence exists to support this phenomenon among female leaders. This paper aims to present a conceptual framework for understanding the potential role gender can play in the Pygmalion effect and why women may face obstacles in their efforts to serve as Pygmalion leaders. Research propositions are presented with the intent of guiding future research in this area. Design/methodology/approach For the purpose of this theoretical paper, elements of the sociological, structural and psychological perspectives are drawn to present an understanding of the potential influence a leader’s gender has on the facilitation of the Pygmalion effect. A brief background to the Pygmalion effect is first provided followed by research related to this phenomenon. Then the underlying elements of the Pygmalion effect are revisited and attention is drawn to those factors affecting subordinate receptiveness to leader influence. Following that, these ideas are integrated with gender-based research to present the theoretical framework and research propositions. Findings This paper’s framework offers a fuller understanding of the role of a leader’s gender in facilitating the Pygmalion effect by identifying factors that can influence subordinate perceptions of leader efforts. Gender-based cues influence subordinate perceptions of leader expertise and power. In turn, this will influence subordinate receptiveness to leader elicited expectations and supportive behaviors. Practical implications The theoretical framework of this paper suggests that under certain conditions, gender differences can impact subordinate receptiveness to leader behaviors and performance expectations. Managers need to be aware of the gendered-nature of the work context and how it can influence subordinate perceptions of leaders. Otherwise, gender-based cues can unwittingly undermine women who endeavor to elevate follower self-efficacy beliefs. Social implications Stereotypes regarding women in managerial roles can undermine the capacity of women to effectively mentor and inspire others. These biases must be explicitly confronted and challenged. Moreover, given the global nature of the workforce it is critical to understand how national cultures can differ in their attitudes toward women in management in ways that can impede the ability of a woman to facilitate this transformative process. Originality/value The theoretical framework of this paper broadens the understanding of gender differences in the Pygmalion effect. This paper attempts to explain the lack of consistent findings for women who attempted to serve as Pygmalion leaders. It is asserted that rather than a leader’s gender, it is gender-based contextual cues that influence the leader’s capacity to trigger the Pygmalion effect. Thus far, no systematic effort has been made to identify the conditions under which subordinates are receptive to the influence of Pygmalion male or female leader expectations and behaviors.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Dehghanpour Farashah ◽  
Tomas Blomquist

PurposeQualified immigrants (QIs) and their work experiences have been studied using a wide variety of theoretical approaches with divergent characteristics. This paper reviews theoretical progress and proposes directions for future research and practice.Design/methodology/approachUsing relevant keywords, articles indexed by Web of Science in management, business, industrial relations and applied psychology were systematically searched for and analysed. In total, 60 theoretical articles published during 2008–2018 were included. The theoretical progress and future theoretical and practical challenges were organised based on the notions of equality, diversity and inclusion.FindingsEight theoretical approaches utilised to study QIs' work experiences were recognised: (1) human capital theory, (2) career capital theory, (3) theory of practice, (4) intersectionality, (5) social identity theory, (6) sensemaking, (7) cultural identity transition and (8) the career-centred approach. The contributions and limitations of each theoretical lens were then scrutinised. Overall, research on QIs still lacks a comprehensive theoretical framework. As a step towards that, the paper proposes considering the role of organisations and labour market intermediaries, strategic view over the immigrant workforce, agency–institution play, identity–capital play and host–immigrant play.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus is on theory development and empirical papers with no clear theoretical foundation are excluded.Originality/valueThis review is the first attempt to summarise and direct the divergent research on the topic. The main contribution is setting an agenda for future research, particularly by proposing the elements of a comprehensive theoretical framework for studying QIs in the workplace.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luz María Marín-Vinuesa ◽  
Pilar Portillo-Tarragona ◽  
Sabina Scarpellini

PurposeThis study aims to define and measure the capabilities applied by firms to waste-related patents and their relations with the businesses economic performance to support decision-making towards a circular economy (CE).Design/methodology/approachA model of cause-and-effect relationships between firms' waste-related patents and the firm' capabilities was defined within the dynamic capabilities' theoretical framework. Empirical results were obtained by applying partial least squares structural equation modelling to a sample of 2,216 Spanish firms that hold 120,406 patents.FindingsResults revealed the importance of the innovation capabilities of firms related to patenting, such as collaborative innovation, persistence in patenting or the capabilities to collaborate with research institutes, as drivers of level of waste patents to improve the businesses economic performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe systemic nature of the CE at the firm level suggests future research focused on the environmental divergence that appears when the innovation on waste fall outside the regular domain of its industry. Another topic to be investigated is related to the full text of patents that could improve the results of this study.Practical implicationsThe definition of indicators to measure investments in the CE is complex, but it is necessary to assess progress in the closing of material loops at a micro level and to report the investments in waste-related patents in a circular model to the stakeholders involved in the economic management of the company.Originality/valueMeasuring CE-related patents and the specific capabilities needed for patenting in a circular framework is an understudied topic, and this study opens a specific line of inquiry enhancing the knowledge of CE within the dynamic capabilities' theoretical framework.


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