REVISITING THE MEANING OF LEADERSHIP

Meaning in life through work: A cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) perspective

This article explores existential meaning-making from work using the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST). To start with, we use the tenets of CEST to elaborate on how the cues from archetype work environments—a realization facilitating work environment (RfWE) and justification facilitating work environment (JfWE)—are interpreted by information-processing systems to imbue meaning in life (MiL) as internal or external manifestations of coherence, purpose, and significance. Next, we explain how individual differences in work centrality and proactive meaning-crafting ability moderate the impact of JfWE, but not of RfWE, on MiL. Finally, we create a nomological network of existential meaning states emerging from the simultaneous presence or absence of RfWE and JfWE. In summary, by applying the information-processing lens of CEST, we develop an integrated model that explains how work drives MiL, elucidates the resultant existential states, and assesses the role of individual differences in meaning-making.

Plain Language Summary

This article develops an integrated model that outlines how work environments can augur human well-being by fostering a sense of meaning in life (MiL). Based on the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST), expounding parallel-competitive processing of information through the working of the experiential and rational system, we explore how the cues from archetype work environments—a realization facilitating work environment (RfWE) and justification facilitating work environment (JfWE)—influence the varied flavors of MiL and meaninglessness in life. We build the argument that RfWE activates the functioning of the experiential system to induce a feeling of internal MiL as internal coherence, internal purpose, and internal value significance. At the same time, JfWE triggers the functioning of the rational system to construct a judgment of external MiL as external coherence, external worthy purpose, and external value significance. However, the interaction between RfWE and JfWE can result in intricate scenarios, including favorable states such as holistic meaning, positive existential feelings, and positive existential narratives. Still, it can also lead individuals into meaninglessness in life through existential fatigue, existential cocoon, or existential futility. Nonetheless, individual differences in work centrality and proactive behavior to craft meaning can act as moderators to alter the intensity of work’s impact on MiL in a JfWE but not in an RfWE.

Inside-out and Outside-in Perspectives on Corporate Purpose

Corporate purpose is receiving an extraordinary amount of attention from both scholars and practitioners. But do existing theories of management help us to understand this unexpected development? This study represents an effort to understand purpose better. I characterize inside-out and outside-in perspectives on purpose as distinct but connected phenomena related to different research traditions. Inside-out purpose is a channeling of the passion and commitment employees feel toward fulfilling stakeholder needs; outside-in purpose is society and external stakeholders urgently calling on the organization to live up to its responsibilities. I devote special attention to theories that best explain the present moment’s unique awareness of corporate purpose. Among them is the work of Philip Selznick, emphasizing values, and the literature on the new institutionalism and institutional logics. I conclude with a section on how leaders can leverage the benefits of both perspectives while mitigating their risks. I also make recommendations for future research.

History: This paper has been accepted for the Strategy Science Special Issue on Corporate Purpose.

Funding: This work benefited from funding from the Social Trends Institute and the Juan Antonio Perez Lopez Chair at IESE Business School.

Can proactively confessing obtain your embrace? Exploring for leader's pro-social rule-breaking consequences based on a self-verification perspective

Introduction

The effect of leader pro-social rule breaking on employees is a critical albeit underexplored topic within the domain of study on the consequences of pro-social rule breaking in organizations. This study attempts to make up for the gap by exploring the relationship between leader pro-social rule breaking and employee voice. Drawing on the theory of self-verification, we theorize that leaders who perform pro-social rule breaking will seek feedback from their subordinates, while employees being sought will be triggered to voice upwardly, the extent to which intensity of voice is moderated by the moral courage of employees.

Methods

A total of 283 dyads data of supervisor-subordinate from Shanghai, China, in a three-wave time-lagged survey provided support for our hypotheses.

Results

The results show that leader pro-social rule breaking is positively related to leader feedback-seeking, which is positively related to employee upward voice and mediates the relationship between the two. Moreover, the positive relationship between leader pro-social rule breaking and leader feedback-seeking as well as the indirect effect of leader pro-social rule breaking on employee upward voice via leader feedback-seeking was weakened when moral courage is high.

Discussion

The present study promotes the theoretical research on the positive results of leader pro-social rule breaking and also suggests that feedback-seeking would be an effective way for leaders to motivate employees' upward voice.

The Firm as a Subsociety: Purpose, Justice, and the Theory of the Firm

Research in the “theory of the firm” tradition has often characterized firms as subeconomies, in which economic exchange is shaped by a central authority. We propose an expanded view of firms as subsocieties, in which authority is also responsible for establishing principles that shape cooperation among members. We draw on insights from political theory, sociology, and, to a lesser degree, legal theory to discuss how employees become members of subsocieties by exchanging rights, such as formal control over their work, for the benefits of membership. With this rights exchange, subsociety members develop expectations that those in positions of authority will use their control to define and sustain principles of justice and common purpose consistent with members’ moral sentiments. This view suggests expanded roles for authority and firm boundaries from what are incorporated into standard theories of the firm. These expanded roles have implications both for internal governance and for the boundary itself: When considering boundary changes, leaders must weigh both the economic and the social consequences of their decision.

Funding: C. Gartenberg recognizes financial support from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. T. Zenger recognizes the financial support of the Eccles School at the University of Utah.

Knock, knock, who’s there? Leader humor, leader–member exchange, and the dimensions of engagement

The workplace is rife with the use of humor. However, the theoretical ties between the use of leader humor and common employee outcomes remain incomplete. This research extends social exchange theory to investigate the activities through which leader humor enables followers' physical, cognitive, and emotional engagement. The argument is made that leaders can utilize humor as a socioemotional resource to facilitate high-quality relationships with followers. Accordingly, hypotheses are developed to suggest a mediated relationship between leader humor and the three dimensions of engagement through the leader–member exchange (LMX). Data from a two-wave study in the United States support these hypotheses and highlight leader–follower exchange as a necessary linkage to follower engagement. These results suggest that it is not enough for leaders to be amusing. Instead, leaders need to build strong connections with their followers through the exchange of social and emotional support. This research adds to the knowledge of leader humor in the organizational setting by establishing a connection between leader humor and each of the engagement facets. Additionally, this research expands the LMX literature by drawing attention to leader humor as a valuable socioemotional resource.

Eudaimonia in Crisis: How Ethical Purpose Finding Transforms Crisis

In a fast-paced and interconnected global economy, a crisis is an eventuality for most organizations. Leading during a crisis can be particularly challenging because a crisis can disrupt a firm’s purpose, undermine the motivation of employees, and can encourage unethical behavior. In this article, I focus on managing a crisis of purpose. I articulate a framework that elaborates ways in which leaders find and pursue ethical purposes during times of crisis and why these specific purposes motivate employees and encourage organizational resilience. Drawing on modern scholars’ theory of eudaimonia, I propose that leaders can find ethical purposes by framing crisis as opportunities for growth, authenticity, meaning and excellence. When leaders establish and pursue ethical purposes, they can motivate individuals and promote organizational resilience.

Der (Un)Sinn von Purpose: Theoriebasierte Ansätze zur Gestaltung von sinnhaftem Handeln in Unternehmen

Dieser Beitrag der Zeitschrift „Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation.“ beschäftigt sich mit der Frage nach dem (Un‑)Sinn von Purpose. Drei Dinge fehlen den aktuellen Ansätzen zur Gestaltung kollektiver Sinnhaftigkeit und Ausrichtung von Arbeit auf den Unternehmenszweck – gemeinhin bekannt als „Purpose“: Orientierung (was mit Purpose gemeint ist), Klarheit (wie Purpose zu gestalten ist) und Evidenz (warum Purpose gestaltet werden sollte) – kurz: das What, How und Why von Purpose. Der vorliegende Beitrag schließt anhand der Betrachtung des aktuellen Literaturstands diese drei Lücken. Purpose wird theoriebasiert definiert (What). Es werden drei Ebenen skizziert, auf denen Purpose adressiert werden sollte: Individuum, Team und Organisation. Dazu werden wissenschaftlich untersuchte Stellschrauben erläutert und Hinweise gegeben, wie Unternehmen Arbeit sinnhaft gestalten sollten (How). Da sich die bisherige Diskussion zum „Sinn des Purpose“ kaum äußert, werden die Gründe beleuchtet, die dafürsprechen, sich als Unternehmen und Führungskraft mit diesem – in sinnvoller Weise – zu beschäftigen (Why).

The Spiritual Force of Safety: Effect of Spiritual Leadership on Employees’ Safety Performance

Objectives. Workplace safety problems are often catastrophic. There are both external and internal factors that influence employee safety performance. Strengthening internal factors is crucial to enhancing safety performance. Methods. Through a sense-making perspective, in the present study the impact of spiritual leadership on employees' career callings and safety performance was investigated, along with the moderating function of future work self-salience. A total of 339 paired leader-employee data were obtained. Results. Spiritual leadership significantly improved employee safety performance. Career callings served a mediating role between spiritual leadership and employee safety performance. The moderating effect of future work self-salience was significant. When future work self-salience was high, the influence of career callings on employees' safety performance was greater. Conclusion. The present results indicated that spiritual leadership sense-giving influences the development of employees' career sense and improves employees' safety performance in regard to spiritual motivation and pursuing career callings. In the present article, a theoretical and practical basis is provided for the safe development of organizations and society.

How Mercedes-Benz addresses digital transformation using Holacracy

Purpose

Firms are challenged by digital transformation, as their organizational design is not up to par. Mercedes-Benz.io, a 100% subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG Daimler group, employs Holacracy, a self-management framework that abolishes traditional hierarchies in order to be more responsive to changes. This paper aims to explore how Mercedes-Benz.io utilizes Holacracy in order to address the challenges posed by digital transformation.

Design/methodology/approach

Using qualitative expert interviews, the authors show that organizational life becomes more meaningful but also more engaging and demanding. The authors highlight that agile principles can be embedded in the organizational structure, a strong contrast to conventional management design. Decision-making authority and accountability is decentralized toward employees who face operational realities. This fosters commitment but might prolong the decision process. Leadership seems to be fairly contextual, and career paths are fundamentally different; development avenues are rather functional.

Findings

The authors conclude that Holacracy seems suitable for industries where the need for adaptability outweighs the need for reliability. It leads to increased transparency and accountability but is not a ready-made solution and requires ample resources.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first that qualitatively assess the changes, implications and outcomes of organizations that employ Holacracy.

Kurumsal Liderlik: Nereden Nereye?

Kurumsal liderlik, Selznick tarafından geliştirilmiş ve fakat 1950’lerde donup kalmış gibi çok fazla incelemeye tabi tutulmamıştır. Dolayısıyla örgütlerde geleneksel liderlik fonksiyonları yanında, değer yaratma ve bunları örgüte aşılama ile etkisini gösteren bu tip liderliği yeniden ele alma zarureti hasıl olmuştur. Mevcut çalışma literatür taraması yoluyla kurumsal liderliğin geçmişten bugüne ve hatta geleceğe uzanan öyküsünü araştırmaktadır. Bu anlamda kamu değeri kavramının giderek daha fazla önem kazandığı bir dönemde, bu tip bir liderliğin örgütler için fark yaratabilecek bir model olabileceği neticesine varılmıştır.

Expatriate's engagement and burnout: the role of purpose-oriented leadership and cultural intelligence

Purpose

This study analyzes the impact of purpose-oriented leadership and leader cultural intelligence on engagement and burnout among expatriates undertaking long-term corporate assignments, grounded on social psychology frameworks on interpersonal bias.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted with corporate expatriates from 21 different nationalities, who work for large multinational companies and were on assignment in 23 distinct countries – including Brazil, China, Japan and the UK Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to evaluate the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

Results indicate that leader cultural intelligence is associated with lower burnout and higher engagement among expatriates, and that purpose-oriented leadership is associated with higher expatriate engagement but not with lower burnout.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the field by highlighting specific leader attributes that can foster successful expatriation: cultural intelligence and purpose-oriented leadership. The study adds to knowledge on leader–follower relationships amid national and cultural diversity by pointing to actionable leader qualities that can foster expatriate engagement and prevent his/her burnout.

A Corporate Purpose as an Antecedent to Employee Motivation and Work Engagement

It is generally assumed that a corporate purpose aiming to benefit all stakeholders has a positive effect on employee motivation and engagement, but no empirical studies into these specific effects were found. To examine this assumption, a corporate mission and vision matching the definition of a higher purpose were tested in two subsequent studies. The first study (N = 270) was a cross-sectional self-report study. The second study included a longitudinal design (N = 56) modeling purpose, motivation, and engagement in a cross-lagged panel model over three time-points. The results associated purpose with motivation and engagement. The subsequent longitudinal analysis confirmed the presumed directionality from purpose to engagement, but not to motivation. Hence, while a corporate purpose can be added to the list of antecedents to work engagement, the relationship with motivation, despite the significant association with purpose in the cross-sectional study, remains more complicated. The present study adds to the knowledge of the beneficial effects of a broader purpose and responds to the current surge of interest in purpose as an instrument for sustainable business.

Meaning-based leadership

The core role of leadership in organizations is to motivate the pursuit of the organization’s purpose (i.e., the reason the organization exists and does what it does). Yet, there currently is no leadership theory that revolves around this notion of purpose pursuit. Addressing this issue, I propose the concept of meaning-based leadership, defined as leader advocacy of an understanding of organizational purpose and why this purpose is meaningful in an appeal to motivate members to contribute to the pursuit of that purpose. I advance a model of the core process through which meaning-based leadership motivates purpose pursuit and the contingencies of this process. I identify key implications for the empirical study of this model as well as directions for the further conceptual and empirical development of important implications of the model.

Semantic algorithms can detect how media language shapes survey responses in organizational behaviour

Research on sensemaking in organisations and on linguistic relativity suggests that speakers of the same language may use this language in different ways to construct social realities at work. We apply a semantic theory of survey response (STSR) to explore such differences in quantitative survey research. Using text analysis algorithms, we have studied how language from three media domains-the business press, PR Newswire and general newspapers-has differential explanatory value for analysing survey responses in leadership research. We projected well-known surveys measuring leadership, motivation and outcomes into large text samples from these three media domains significantly different impacts on survey responses. Business press language was best in explaining leadership-related items, PR language best at explaining organizational results and "ordinary" newspaper language seemed to explain the relationship among motivation items. These findings shed light on how different public arenas construct organizational realities in different ways, and how these differences have consequences on methodology in research on leadership.

Linking Transformational Leadership and Knowledge Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Team Goal Commitment and Perceived Team Identification

It is widely assumed that transformational leadership can effectively facilitate the sharing of knowledge among followers, but most investigations of the underlying mechanisms were based on the social exchange perspective. Based on a sensegiving theory perspective, this article attempts to uncover the mechanisms by which transformational leadership has its impact on employee knowledge sharing behavior by proposing two team-directed mediating mechanisms: perceived team goal commitment and perceived team identification. Results of multi-source and time-lagged data from 186 leader-follower pairs supported the proposed mediating effects. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Developing Employees’ Mental Complexity: Transformational Leadership as a Catalyst in Employee Development

As organizations grapple with greater complexity in the competitive business environment, more work is needed to understand how to create a human capability equal to the challenge. Research on adult learning suggests that increasing mental complexity, an individual’s system for processing information and making sense of their environment, can be a valuable way to help individuals become more adaptive in a complex environment and enhance performance. While there is evidence that this human capability can grow over time, individual growth does not come without considerable effort, and such growth can be facilitated by the right contextual factors. In this article, we examine the role of leaders in employee development. Synthesizing literature from adult learning and transformational leadership, we lay out a theoretical framework for why transformational leadership and its corresponding behaviors can serve as a mechanism to encourage developmental movement within an employee and increase mental complexity. We discuss the implications for human resource development.

'Killing Me Softly With His/Her Song': How Leaders Dismantle Followers' Sense of Work Meaningfulness

Leaders influence followers' meaning and play a key role in shaping their employees' experience of work meaningfulness. While the dominant perspective in theory and in empirical work focuses on the positive influence of leaders on followers' work meaningfulness, our conceptual model explores conditions in which leaders may harm followers' sense of meaning. We introduce six types of conditions: leaders' personality traits, leaders' behaviors, the relationship between leader and follower, followers' attributions, followers' characteristics, and job design under which leaders' meaning making efforts might harm or 'kill' followers' sense of work meaningfulness. Accordingly, we explore how these conditions may interact with leaders' meaning making efforts to lower levels of followers' sense of meaning, and in turn, lead to negative personal outcomes (cynicism, lower well-being, and disengagement), as well as negative organizational outcomes (corrosive organizational energy, higher turnover rates, and lower organizational productivity). By doing so, our research extends the current literature, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of leaders' influence on followers' work meaningfulness, while considering the dark side of meaning making.

Dissemination activities: a critical new role for substance abuse treatment organizations

The Affordable Care Act calls for integration of substance abuse treatment into medical care via medical homes and continuing specialty care. For this integration to occur in the substance abuse treatment field, substantial sharing and dissemination of information by treatment providers is required. This study explored the determinants of organizational activities directed at disseminating evidence-based practices (EBPs) undertaken by 193 community treatment programs who are members of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network. Using factor analysis, the research identified two generic categories reflecting different motivations for dissemination activities and explored both treatment center leadership and organizational characteristics as determinants of these different types of dissemination activities. Organizational characteristics predicting treatment center dissemination activities included size, previous involvement in research protocols, linkages with other providers, and having non-profit status. The treatment center leader's membership in professional organizations was also a significant determinant. Organization variables account for a larger portion of the variance in treatment center dissemination activities. The results suggest that the willingness of treatment providers to help disseminate EBPs within the industry may be heavily influenced through shared network connections with other treatment organizations.

Explicit leader behaviour preferences

Purpose

In this study the authors endeavour to further develop and validate the Behavioural and Contingency theory of leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

In a field survey research study, the authors collect, analyse, compare, and discuss explicit leader behaviour preferences of employed businesspeople in Istanbul and Izmir, Turkey, rating their “ideal managerial leader” and their actual organisational manager.

Findings

In Istanbul and Izmir businesspeople tend to prefer leaders who focus on managing the business system over other considerations such as relationship management; task orientation is more important than relationship orientation. In the business environment, there appear to be little or no differences in preferences relating to gender; men and women have nearly identical preferences; age has some influence; generally, older businesspeople tend to have higher preference scores for a managerial leader who clearly defines his or her own role, and lets followers know what is expected, and pushes them to work harder and exceed past performance. Subordinates neither received nor expected Paternal leader behaviour. They expected and did receive moderately Authoritarian leader behaviour.

Originality/value

The large majority of studies of leadership focus on implicit leadership theory, describing characteristics and traits of leaders. This study employs explicit leader behaviour theory and operationalisations to identify subordinates’ ideal leader behaviour compared to actual organisational manager behaviour in Turkey.

The Unwanted Self: Projective Identification in Leaders’ Identity Work

This paper employs a psychodynamic perspective to examine the development and maintenance of a leader’s identity, building on the premise that such identity work involves both conscious and unconscious processes. We focus on the latter by suggesting that those in coveted leadership roles may engage in projective identification to shape and sustain an identity befitting those roles. Projective identification is the unconscious projection of unwanted aspects of one’s self into others, leading to the bolstering of a conscious self-view concordant with one’s role requirements. Recipients of a leader’s projections may manage these by projecting them back into the leader or into third parties, which may lead to ongoing conflict and the creation of a toxic culture. We use examples from the Gucci family business to illustrate this process.

Exploring the Relationship between Mission Statements and Work-Life Practices in Organizations

Corporate mission statements are ubiquitous, but their relationship to organizational practices, especially those noted for their high quality, remains a subject of debate. We use the case of work—life practices in publicly traded financial services firms to illustrate an innovative method for studying this issue. Overall, we find variation in the mission statements of firms in the same organizational field. We also find relationships between these statements and high-quality investment in work—life practices, as recognized by Working Mother magazine and Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini. The mission statements of firms recognized for their work—life initiatives were more likely than those of competitors to emphasize the value of employees and less likely to stress shareholder value. We identified four types of mission statements, a pattern which may reflect the dual influences of distinctive organizational commitments and pressure from institutional actors. We discuss the implications of our findings for the literatures on work—life initiatives, strategic implementation, and organizational theory.

Hofmann D. Role expansion as a persuasion process

Evidence establishes that employees often expand their roles to take on broader responsibilities in response to direct requests from others. However, surprisingly little research has investigated the interpersonal influence processes through which individuals convince others to expand their roles. We develop a conceptual framework to explain how senders persuade receivers to accept role expansion requests. Our framework describes why senders often fail to tailor their requests to receivers’ values, identifies the conditions under which this systematic bias is eliminated, and suggests strategies for senders to tailor their requests more effectively. Our perspective highlights how role expansion is often a reactive—rather than proactive—process in which interpersonal influence is a key building block.

Inventing a future for strategic leadership: phenomenal variety and epistemic opportunities

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer an epistemological vantage point for theory development in the case of strategic leadership, an emerging focus of scholarly attention in strategic management.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors invoke Rescher's epistemological platform for making the case, Rescher being one of the most influential philosophers in the USA.

Findings

The analysis suggests that since strategic leadership differs from supervisory leadership, both on organizational reach and incorporation of external elements, defining the strategic leadership problem exclusively as a difference in context – what Weick referred to as a strategy of knowledge growth by extension – is likely to prove unproductive. Rescher's platform can be put to use for specifying the two critical though inter‐related epistemological challenges in the beginning of the theory development project: the choice of concepts, and the type of relations among the concepts. These epistemological challenges may be reframed as opportunities to capture the phenomenal variety embedded in these concepts, and to deploy a diversity of approaches to examine their correspondence.

Research limitations/implications

Contending and complementary views on strategic leadership, and hence concepts representing alternate views should be allowed. Bridges should be built between islands of scholarship, but these bridges are likely to be found in special issues of journals (devoted deliberately to nurture multiple perspectives), edited books and invited conferences.

Practical implications

Engagement with “strategic” leaders is an epistemological necessity for both theoretical and pragmatic reasons.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates how epistemology can strengthen theory building in the case of strategic leadership. Given the signal importance of this phenomenon, good theories and, therefore, epistemological challenges should occupy a central stage of discussions in this early stage.