Management & Organization
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2257
Browse
5 results
Search Results
Item Stuck in a state of power imbalance? Unpacking the answers on why, when, and how followers challenge the state of power-dependence with their leaders(2017) Wee, Elijah Xun Ming; Liao, Hui; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Power imbalance exists in most leader-follower dyads. Because of their advantageous organizational positions, leaders generally have more power over their followers. The dominant perspective suggests that the follower is “stuck” in this state of power imbalance and is resigned to its negative consequences. However, research also suggests that power can shift from one party to another in today’s workplace. This perspective advocates for a dynamic view of power among individuals in the workplace. Unfortunately, this phenomenon of power in the leader-follower dyad has not been examined in greater detail, specifically in terms of when and how the less powerful party, the follower, may influence the power balance with the leader. With the goal to reconcile the conflicting narrative on the nature of power, my dissertation comprises of three interrelated essays to examine this dynamic perspective of power in the leader-follower dyad. In Essay 1, I answer the theoretical question of why the follower is motivated to change the state of power imbalance in the dyad by proposing a dependency-risk appraisal model. I then address when and how the follower resolves the tension between follower’s self-protection and connectedness concerns. In addition, I develop a typology of coping strategies, labeled as balancing operations, for the follower to influence the power dynamics. In Essay 2, I test the effects of balancing operations on interpersonal dynamics using a three-wave panel field design. Specifically, I highlight how certain types of balancing operations will empower the follower to break the spiral of abusive behaviors over time and encourage the leader’s effort to seek reconciliation. In Essay 3, I answer when the success of coalition formation is enhanced. Through two high-involvement laboratory studies, I explain why follower’s political skill is a critical personal attribute that enhances the efficacy of balancing operations.Item Timing It Right: Temporal Contingencies and Cascading Effects of Leadership in Action Teams(2012) Farh, Crystal I. C.; Chen, Gilad; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite widespread recognition of the influential role of time in teams, these temporal components have been insufficiently integrated in existing models of team leadership. Current approaches to team leadership emphasize the importance of using different behaviors under different circumstances (e.g., contingency theories of leadership), but assume these contingencies to be static, when in reality, they fluctuate over the course of achieving a single collective task. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop and empirically test a temporal contingency theory of leadership in action teams, in part because action teams must manage shifting task goals, task intensity, and team development needs over the course of performing a single collective task. Drawing on temporal theories relevant to action teams, such as Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro's (2001) transition-action phase framework, McGrath's (1991) task cycle theory, and theories of team development (e.g., Kozlowski, Gully, Nason, & Smith, 1999), I examine ways in which the internal environment of the team shifts dramatically between preparatory and executionary periods. I then compare and contrast three forms of leader behavior shown to be relevant and effective in action teams - directing, coaching, and relating - and argue that each leads to effective functioning differently in each phase. Specifically, I propose that coaching behaviors increase team functioning early on during a phase of task preparation and that this relationship is enhanced when coaching is used in combination with relating behaviors, whereas directive behaviors increase team functioning later on during a phase of task execution. I further propose that leader behaviors occurring early on initiate preparatory, teamwork processes that endure over time and exert cascading influences on subsequent executionary, teamwork processes. Using live, time-sensitive observation methodology, I test these propositions in a sample of 58 surgical team episodes. Key findings are largely consistent with the proposed relationships in my model and lend support to existing theories that integrate the role of time with team leadership theory, challenge comparatively static team leadership and contingency leadership theories to incorporate a more fine-grained approach to understanding temporal dynamics affecting teams, and yield practical implications around time-sensitive leader training.Item The effects of leadership and leader reputation on team performance(2010) Lorinkova, Natalia; Sims, Henry P; Pearsall, Matthew J; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The effects of two distinct types of leadership - empowering and directive - have remained under-explored, with research providing inconclusive results about their effectiveness in teams. The purpose of the current study was to shed some light on this ambiguity by exploring whether directive or empowering leadership is superior in predicting team performance for new teams, faced with a learning task. Additionally, this study attempted to explain the mediating mechanisms that might translate the effect of leadership on team performance, and to explore how leader reputation may act as an additional influence mechanism in teams. Results from 60 five-person teams, engaged in a team-based, decision making simulation, provided support for the positive effect of empowering leadership on team performance and some evidence for the unique role of leader reputation in teams led by a directive leader. Theoretical and practical implications conclude this study.Item Understanding State Goal Orientation: Leadership and Work-Group Climate as Key Antecedents(2005-01-26) Dragoni, Lisa; Stevens, Cynthia K.; Tesluk, Paul E.; Management and Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This research attends to a broad range of practically significant employee achievement goals and provides insight into how to enhance individual-level performance by examining the antecedents to individual-level state goal orientation in organizational work groups. State goal orientation is defined here as a temporary achievement goal, and it is theorized that leadership and work group climate processes parallel each dimension of state goal orientation to cue and ultimately induce the corresponding achievement goal among individual work group members. The leader's achievement priority is argued to drive the formation of work group climate consistent with this priority. The resulting work group climate signals and compels group members to adopt the ascribed form of state goal orientation. The quality of the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship is viewed as a means to internalize cues from the work group climate in the emergence of state goal orientation. Results from experimental and field studies provide evidence that (1) leadership and climate perceptions are related to their parallel form of state goal orientation, (2) the relation between individual perceptions of a climate for learning and state learning goal orientation is stronger when group members enjoy higher quality exchange relationships with their leader, and (3) state goal orientation may be validly and reliably assessed using the measure created especially for this research.Item CUTTING ACROSS TEAM BOUNDARIES: ANTECEDENTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BOUNDARY SPANNING BEHAVIOR WITHIN CONSULTING TEAMS(2004-07-28) Marrone, Jennifer Ann; Tesluk, Paul E; Management and Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Boundary spanning activities, or external team processes such as establishing and managing relationships with key external parties to the team, are critical to the success of many organizational work teams. Surprisingly, however, while the performance benefits of team boundary management have been documented in several seminal pieces by Ancona and her colleagues (e.g., Ancona, 1990; Ancona & Caldwell, 1992), little research has directly explored the role of the individual team members in carrying out these critical activities or if performance benefits exist for those engaging in boundary management for their teams. My dissertation addresses these limitations by considering potential predictors and consequences of individual boundary spanning behavior within a team setting. By investigating several personal and motivational antecedents to boundary spanning, I seek to expand previous teams research by predicting why particular team members engage in critical boundary spanning behaviors. Furthermore, complementing existing support for the performance benefits accompanying boundary management at the team level of analysis, I explore the consequences of boundary spanning on individual level outcomes, namely, peer ratings of individual leadership and contributions to the team. Finally, I present two sets of alternative hypotheses postulating a mediating and a moderating role for information network centrality in the boundary spanning behavior-individual outcome relationship. Hypotheses for this dissertation were tested using data from 27 consulting teams, comprised of 171 full-time MBA students. Data were collected primarily through surveys administered to team members at multiple points in time and were analyzed via hierarchical linear modeling, regression, and social network techniques. Results indicated partial support for the predictive value of self-monitoring, proactive personality, and boundary management self-efficacy on an individual's engagement in boundary spanning behaviors within their team. Additionally, boundary spanning directed toward clients and general scanning / scouting of the environment showed strong relationships with peer ratings of individual leadership and contributions, revealing that those engaging in boundary spanning behaviors were highly valued team members. Interestingly, the relationships between these boundary spanning behaviors and individual outcomes were fully mediated by information network centrality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.