An empirical examination of special operations team leaders’ and members’ leadership characteristics

Author(s):  
Michael Josiah Arnatt ◽  
Michael M. Beyerlein

Purpose – Law enforcement special operations teams (e.g. Special Weapons and Tactics Teams, Swift, HRT, and Strategic Response Teams) are charged with resolving difficult situations that pose a threat to all involved. Recent tragedies strengthen the idea that law enforcement special operations teams play a critical role in the maintenance of public safety. Despite the importance of police special operations teams, there is virtually no empirical research specifically addressing leadership within these teams. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature was first conducted, identifying authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy to deal with potentially life threatening situations as being core concepts underlying effective leadership in law enforcement special operations teams. The Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, and the Crisis Leader Efficacy in Assessing and Deciding Scale were then administered to US local, state, and federal special operations team members and leaders (n=99). Results were analyzed according to formal team roles. Findings – Findings reveal members and leaders differ in regards to scale scores representing relational transparency, moral and ethical, sociability, and disaster self-efficacy. Originality/value – Much research on special operations teams is highly theoretical and does not seek to understand team leadership in a testable manner. This is especially true of the relationships between the formal roles of leaders and members. This study is the first to use established leadership instruments to assess the differences between team members and leaders. It provides a starting point for future research and reinforces the idea that there are identifiable differences between special operations teams and members.

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 100-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Black ◽  
Kihwan Kim ◽  
Shanggeun Rhee ◽  
Kai Wang ◽  
Sut Sakchutchawan

PurposeThis study aims to examine empirically the effect of emotional intelligence of the team, as calculated by the average of all team members’ individual emotional intelligence measurements, on the cohesiveness of the team, and the effect of the perception of self-efficacy of the team members on the relationship between emotional intelligence and team cohesion. Finally, certain financial indicators were analyzed to evaluate team performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study used quasi-experimental design. Participated in the experiment a total of 146 students (35 teams) who were senior business major students in the mid-sized university in the USA. In the experiment, the participants played a business simulation game over an eight-year simulated time frame. After the final round of the simulation game, the variables of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and team cohesion were measured using the survey questionnaire and team performance and participation data were collected from the business simulation game. In the support of the quantitative data analysis, the current study also collected and analyzed qualitative data comments on other group members’ contribution to the group task.FindingsResults indicated that team cohesion was highest when team members demonstrated greater emotional intelligence. Self-efficacy also had a positive influence on team cohesion. High self-efficacy was found to be an important mediator of the relationship between emotional intelligence and team cohesion. High emotional intelligence promoted the development of self-efficacy, resulting in increased team cohesion. Increased team cohesion resulted in improved team performance and participation.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study has several limitations. First, the sample is mostly business major students in the mid-sized university in the USA. There is a limitation in generalizing the findings into other populations. Second, this study accessed information on 35 teams comprising a total of 146 students. While the number of students and teams is sufficient for a study, more data would improve the robustness of the results. Third, this study collected and analyzed cross-sectional data, so there is the possibility for the reversed causal relationship in the findings. Although the authors concluded that team cohesion had a positive impact on team performance and participation, they also found the reverse relationship from the additional analysis. Fourth, the validity of the construct for emotional intelligence has some detractors, mainly because of the subjective nature of the measurement that tends to overlap existing personality measures and the objective measurement which involves a consensual scoring method with poor reliability.Practical implicationsThis paper implies practical strategies to manage teams and team members for enhanced team productivity. Teams are critical resources within companies. This study demonstrates that high team cohesion leads to better team performance. As team cohesion is important for team performance, the authors found that two antecedents for team cohesion are emotional intelligence and self-efficacy within team members. Therefore, it is important for managers to hire and select team members with high levels of emotional intelligence and self-efficacy. Managers can train employees to internalize increased levels of these traits.Originality/valueThe current study demonstrated that self-efficacy mediated emotional intelligence and team cohesion during a research project lasting one semester. There have been few studies examining the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between emotional intelligence and team cohesion. In particular, unlike many other studies that use short-term laboratory experiments, the duration of this study could provide enough time to more thoroughly develop cohesion among members. The current study collected both quantitative and qualitative data. In addition to the quantitative data analysis, the analysis of qualitative data reinforced the findings of the quantitative data analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-26

Purpose The authors wanted to find out if authentic leadership had an effect on career success. Design/methodology/approach The author tested hypotheses on full-time employees and received 162 valid questionnaires. Findings The results showed that authentic leadership was positively correlated with career self-efficacy and that career self-efficacy was positively associated with both career satisfaction and hierarchical status. The results also suggested that the “direct path from authentic leadership to hierarchical status was not significant”. Meanwhile, results showed that career self-efficacy was necessary to fully mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and hierarchical status. The results also showed that career self-efficacy only partially mediated the effects on career satisfaction. Originality/value The author felt his study made a valuable contribution because it offered a new perspective on career satisfaction that expanded the literature. The analysis of career self-efficacy as a mediating mechanism was another significant finding.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Holmlund ◽  
Tore Strandvik ◽  
Ilkka Lähteenmäki

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the mental models of top executive team members in a selected retail bank. The focus is on how each executive team member makes sense of the market situation and changes with regard to customers and customer-bank interactions in the current situation where earlier bank practices are at risk of becoming obsolete. Design/methodology/approach All members in the executive team were interviewed individually in August 2014 on how they reason about challenges in the service business. The study uses an abductive research approach. Findings The mental models were largely dominated by internal bank issues, and adjusting the services to changing customer preferences was considered a main challenge. The research analysis showed that the executive team members identified the same business challenges, but their interpretations of the meanings and implications of the challenges were different. Mental models tend to be hidden and stable and are seldom explicitly elaborated. There was a distinct spread in mental models in terms of content. Limited focus was on customers as the starting point for business development and renewal. Research limitations/implications The study was conducted in the retail banking setting, which is currently affected by many changes. The study, however, was limited to executive members in one bank. Practical implications The foremost implications of this study relate to sensitising executive members and teams to their mental models and exposing different core challenges related to customers and customer relationships in the retail banking sector. Originality/value The value of the study is it sheds light on top executives’ prospective sensemaking of current business challenges by addressing individual mental models. The study represents a novel approach in the strategic service management literature.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 51-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umar Ghuman

Purpose – Despite increased calls for incorporating emotional intelligence (EI) in workgroups and teams, there exists a need to develop empirical instruments that can measure group-level emotional intelligence (GEI), and assess its efficacy in predicting outcomes such as performance and learning ability. This paper aims to empirically demonstrate how GEI affects the performance and learning ability of public sector workgroups in city governments. Design/methodology/approach – Using Ghuman’s (2011) proposed theoretical model of GEI as a two-component system, an empirical instrument is created that measures GEI at the group level of analysis. Regression analyses are performed for 44 workgroups in the public sector organizations, with group performance and group learning ability as the dependent variables. Results show a significant positive relationship between GEI and the outcomes of group performance and group learning ability. Findings – The findings demonstrate that a competent instrument has been developed for GEI, and that it can be used to measure the construct in workgroups and teams. The results also empirically demonstrate the importance of GEI in workgroups, by demonstrating that an increased GEI positively enhances the group’s performance and learning ability. Research limitations/implications – The implication of this research is the creation and testing of an instrument that allows researchers in GEI to utilize this instrument for future studies concerning GEI. Practical implications – Such findings show that GEI can be an added resource for workgroups to foster positive within-group relations. It can assist in enhancing group learning and group performance. The study also demonstrates that groups that develop a group emotional awareness, and that can manage within group emotional relationships, may become more productive, and more able to learn. These results can be utilized to bolster the arguments of fostering within group emotional socialization, helping nurture a positive group culture and forming a culture of group affect, i.e. a clear understanding of how to perceive and manage affect within the group. Originality/value – The study builds on past theoretical understanding of GEI to create a model that showcases the effects of GEI on group outcomes such as group learning and group performance. It thereby fulfills a need for an empirical instrument that is able to measure GEI and utilize this instrument to ascertain the effect of GEI on group performance and group learning ability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 679-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Miao ◽  
Ronald H. Humphrey ◽  
Shanshan Qian

Purpose Authentic leadership is a popular leadership construct that stimulates considerable scholarly interest and has received substantial attention from practitioners. Among different individual difference variables, there has been a growing interest in studying the connection between emotional intelligence (EI) and authentic leadership; nevertheless, most of the existing literature on this relation was atheoretical and the results for this relation were mixed. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the relation between EI and authentic leadership. Design/methodology/approach A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the relation between EI and authentic leadership and the moderators that affect this relation. Findings The results of the present study indicated that: EI is significantly and positively related to authentic leadership (overall EI: ρ ¯ ˆ = 0.49 ; ability EI: ρ ¯ ˆ = 0.08 ; self-report EI: ρ ¯ ˆ = 0.52 ; mixed EI: ρ ¯ ˆ = 0.49 ); self-report EI and mixed EI have larger associations with authentic leadership than ability EI has; and the relation between EI and authentic leadership does not differ between male-dominated and female-dominated studies. Originality/value The present study couches the relation between EI and authentic leadership in theories and identifies important moderators for this relation which explain the heterogeneity in effect sizes for this relation across studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shen Lei ◽  
Cuijuan Qin ◽  
Muhammad Ali ◽  
Susan Freeman ◽  
Zheng Shi-Jie

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop and test a multilevel conceptual model which explains how authentic leadership (AL), through an innovative team atmosphere and promotion of self-efficacy, influences creativity. The study delineates two pathways from AL to creativity. The first pathway is an indirect effect through an innovative atmosphere at the team level and self-efficacy at the individual level, while the second pathway focuses on the moderating effect of AL between self-efficacy and individual creativity.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 58 team leaders and 283 employees in a creative industry park in the Yangtze River Delta region from China. Path analysis was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses using the statistical package M-plus (v. 7).FindingsThe results reveal that AL is an important antecedent of creativity. Furthermore, an innovation-based atmosphere at the team level mediates the theorized relationship between AL and individual creativity. However, creative self-efficacy at the individual level does not mediate this relationship. Finally, the study found that AL moderates the relationship between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity.Originality/valueThe implications of this study highlight important considerations for enterprises in creative industry parks within and beyond China. This study provides industry leaders with a clearer and more insightful and coherent means of understanding the mediating mechanism between AL and creativity, and the moderating effects of AL between individual self-efficacy and creativity through a new linkage model.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 120-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azadeh Rezvani ◽  
Rowena Barrett ◽  
Pouria Khosravi

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to enhance understanding of the relationships among team emotional intelligence (EI), trust in team, conflict in team and team performance.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 389 team members from 84 project teams in large-scale construction projects was surveyed.FindingsFindings showed that team EI is positively associated with team performance. In addition, trust and conflict in the team mediate the association between team EI and team performance.Practical implicationsThe ability to perceive one’s own and others’ emotions significantly increases the likelihood of team performance by increasing trust in a team and reducing conflict. Therefore, managers can use these findings to boost team performance and reduce conflict in their teams.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the better understanding of the relationship between team EI and team performance in large-scale construction projects. In addition, this research is an empirical investigation into the mediation variables linking EI to team performance.


2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangqian Peng ◽  
Jacques Trienekens ◽  
S.W.F. (Onno) Omta ◽  
Wensheng Wang

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to extend the understanding of the configuration of inter-organizational information exchange (IOIE) and the role of each aspect of IOIE in realizing potential communication benefits. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework on the configuration of IOIE was developed by examining the relationships between companies in the poultry supply chain in China. A sample of 165 buying companies and a sample of 96 sellers were analyzed by partial least square modeling. Findings – Communication willingness plays a critical role in improving communication quality and realizing potential communication benefits. Modern media remain as a huge potential opportunity for improving performance. Meanwhile, the power of face-to-face communication should never be neglected, even in the coming Information Age. Higher communication frequency contributes to better understanding of companies' changing requirements and expectations. Taking use of senior managers and staff from different functions helps sellers grasp better changing markets. Communication quality is found as a multi-dimensional concept and plays a critical mediating role in realizing communication benefits. Originality/value – The proposition of the model of configuration of inter-organizational information exchange and the quantitative empirical examination of the model fills an important research gap.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Chen-Hua Min

Self-efficacy is a key determinant of successful performance and plays a critical role in affecting an individual’s motivation and behavior. It refers to individuals’ levels of confidence in their ability to execute a course of action or achieve specific performance outcomes. Emotional intelligence (EI), or the intelligent use of emotions, is being recognized as a significant factor at work, and it can be enhanced through proper EI training interventions. Therefore, this study uses self-evaluation to achieve a better understanding of how EI relates to the self-efficacy among tour guides, who significantly influence tourists’ impressions of a destination. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine significant relationships between these factors. The results found all EI variables, including Self-Emotion Appraisal, Others’ Emotion Appraisal, Regulation of Emotion, and Use of Emotion, are positively associated with self-efficiency. The results have practical implications, as the abilities of EI are improved through the proper interventions which in turn allow an individual to become more confident in successfully completing tasks when faced with challenging situations, resulting in an increase in one’s positive mindset.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Doron Goldbarsht

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the various characteristics of frequent-flier programs and the threats they pose to the Australian anti-money laundering regime. Design/methodology/approach A thorough literature review was conducted on frequent-flier programs and the associated money-laundering threats. Money laundering (ML) risks were identified in relation to the three stages of ML and effective law enforcement. Findings The findings indicate that as ML continues to gravitate towards the weaknesses in the financial system, frequent-flier programs provide yet another avenue for criminals to exploit. The risk factors associated with frequent-flier programs – specifically, anonymity, elusiveness, the rapidity of transactions occurring in a digital environment, ambiguity regarding responsibility for compliance, the global network of participants and members, difficulty in accessing records and an overall lack of oversight – were all integral considerations in establishing the ML risks of such programs. Practical implications The global environment in which individuals conduct financial transactions continues to evolve rapidly, exacerbating ML risks for regulators and governments alike. Unless there are globally unified efforts to heighten awareness, the threats posed by virtual currency will increase at a rapid rate. With this in mind, the starting point of this paper is an attempt to analyse the ML risks pursuant to frequent-flier programs in Australia. Originality/value The findings from this study can be used to gain greater insights into frequent-flier programs and can have broader application for evaluating other similarly structured loyalty programs, both in Australia and globally. Additionally, the findings from the study can enhance overall awareness of the ever-increasing threat to global financial integrity through the expansion of virtual currency.


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