Category: Leadership

Please Note: Resources are listed in date order with most recent listed first.

• Transformational Leadership and Performance

  A meta-analysis of 113 primary studies comparing how transformational (inspirational) and transactional (reward-based) leadership styles affect task performance (job tasks, for example) and contextual performance (organizational citizenship behaviour, for example). Researchers find that transformational leadership robustly predicted desirable performance outcomes across a variety of situations and levels (individual-level, team-level, organization-level). These findings lead them to suggest not only training high-potentials in transformational leadership but also selecting for traits that are associated with transformational leadership such as extraversion and emotional stability, especially when recruiting for upper-level management. This study offers strong research support for the positive impact of transformational leadership and its ability to augment a more traditional, transactional leadership style. A key finding in the meta-analysis was that transformational leadership predicted higher levels of contextual performance (extrarole contributions, OCB), which could be highly useful in the modern organization with its increasing focus on social responsibility and employee engagement.

  Type: study

• Management Integrity Assessments

  A set of two studies, the first looks at the traditional competency survey and the second tests a new methodology (dubious reputation method) using subordinate ratings to identify managers lacking integrity. The sample is 672 directors and vice presidents of a Fortune 500 technology firm. Traditional competency methods neither identify managers with low integrity nor link low integrity to low performance, a relationship found in other research. The subordinate rating methodology, on the other hand, identified managers perceived to be low in integrity, which correlated with the managers perceived effectiveness. Organizations that rely on traditional methods for testing integrity need to re-examine the effectiveness of these methods. Have the pre-existing integrity tests predicted unethical behaviour in previous managers? What can be done to make integrity testing more effective? The dubious reputation method is promising, however, it needs more research support before it can be implemented into a workplace setting.

  Type: study

• Employee Interactions

  A comparison of how personality factors (conscientiousness and emotional stability) interact with management style (directive goal-focused leadership) to either mitigate or increase exhaustion (a central dimension of burnout) in call centre operators and manual labourers. Goal-focused leadership (a directive, hands-on style) can lead to burnout with employees low in conscientiousness and low in emotional stability. Employees low in conscientiousness but high in emotional stability are better able to cope with this leadership style. Employees high in both conscientiousness and high in emotional stability thrive under goal-focused leadership. This study underlines the importance of tailoring your management style to employee personality style. The authors note that employees with low emotional stability and low conscientiousness might seem to need higher levels of direction and goal-setting, but that this can further undermine their emotional stability and health leading to burnout.

  Type: study

• Leadership to Promote a Culture of Safety

  A brief overview of leadership characteristics that promote healthy, safety-focused cultures.

  Type: recommendations, study

• You Can’t Dictate Culture – but You Can Influence It

  A list of three simple steps executives can take to create a positive culture in the workplace.

  Type: guide