Intergroup Leadership Across Distinct Subgroups and Identities

How to not lose oneself: the case for relational identity in collaborative supply relationships

Purpose

For a long time, researchers have stressed the importance of identity for collaborative supply relationships. Accordingly, it has been proposed that supply relationships may be efficiently managed by establishing a shared collective identity among partners. However, this strategy may challenge the partners' individual distinctiveness and thus lead to adversarial relationship outcomes. In this article, it is argued how and when establishing an intergroup relational identity may be a better choice than building a collective identity.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual research is based on an analysis of previous literature. Relational identity theorizing and the theory of intergroup leadership are applied to build on and extend previous views on identity in interorganizational contexts.

Findings

It is proposed that when supply chain actors are subject to identity threats in collaborative supply relationships, such threats are driven by the imbalance of power between or among the parties. Therefore, establishing an intergroup relational identity should be preferred over a collective identity in situations characterized by a high identity threat.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies could support this article's theoretical suggestions with empirical evidence.

Practical implications

Intergroup relational identity preserves the distinctiveness of all parties involved in a collaborative relationship and is based on their individual contributions. Managers could support a collaborative environment and promote a shared vision between or among organizations through appropriate rhetoric.

Originality/value

This study contributes to an understanding of the relational aspects of interorganizational behavior by adapting social psychological theories to this area of research.

Intergroup Leadership: The Challenge of Successfully Leading Fractured Groups and Societies

Leadership often involves providing leadership to a group that is structured into separate subgroups that have distinctive self-contained identities that are cherished by their members. In this respect, leadership can be characterized as intergroup leadership. The challenge of intergroup leadership is to forge a superordinate identity that does not erase or blur the subgroups’ identity boundaries and create a threat to the subgroups’ social identity distinctiveness, as such identity threat can provoke intersubgroup conflict that fragments the superordinate group. According to intergroup-leadership theory, successful intergroup leaders need to construct, promote, and exemplify an intergroup relational identity that preserves subgroups’ distinctiveness and celebrates that distinctiveness and intersubgroup cooperation as fundamental aspects of subgroup and superordinate-group identity. In this article, we describe intergroup-leadership theory (which applies to groups of all sizes and complexions), summarize empirical support for its main tenets, and outline extensions and future directions.

Interprofessional Identity in Health and Social Care: Analysis and Synthesis of the Assumptions and Conceptions in the Literature

Interprofessional identity (IPI) development is considered essential in reducing incongruency and improving interprofessional collaboration. However, noticeable differences in conceptualizations are being put forward in the literature, hindering interpretation of research findings and translation into practice. Therefore, a Concept Analysis and Critical Interpretative Synthesis of empirical research articles were conducted to explore the assumptions and conceptions of IPI. Independent literature screening by two researchers led to the inclusion and extraction of 39 out of 1334 articles. Through critical analysis, higher order themes were constructed and translated to a synthesizing argument and a conceptual framework depicting what constitutes IPI (attributes), the boundary conditions (antecedents) and the outcomes (consequences) of its development. The attributes refer to both IPI's structural properties and the core beliefs indicative of an interprofessional orientation. The antecedents inform us on the importance of IPI-fitting constructivist learning environments and intergroup leadership in enabling its development. This development may lead to several consequences with regard to professional wellbeing, team effectiveness and the quintuple aim. Given the educational orientation of this study, ways for facilitating and assessing the development of IPI among learners across the professional continuum have been proposed, although empirical research is needed to further validate links and mediating and moderating variables.

Battling ingroup bias with effective intergroup leadership

Intergroup conflict and bias often occur between subgroups nested within a superordinate group. In these situations, the leader of the superordinate group plays a key role, as an intergroup leader, in reducing conflict. To be effective, an intergroup leader should avoid (1) threatening the subgroups' distinctive identities, and (2) being viewed by one or both groups as 'one of them' rather than 'one of us'. Intergroup leadership theory (Acad Manag Rev, 37, 2012a, 232) posits intergroup leaders can improve subgroup relations by promoting an intergroup relational identity. Two studies (Ns = 178 and 223) tested whether an out-subgroup or in-subgroup leader could improve intergroup attitudes, even among strong subgroup identifiers, by promoting either an intergroup relational identity or a collective identity. We hypothesized an interaction of these variables demonstrating the effectiveness of an intergroup relational identity message for an out-subgroup leader in lessening ingroup bias, especially among strong subgroup identification. Our results, and a meta-analytic summary across both studies (N = 401), supported our hypothesis and intergroup leadership theory, demonstrating an intergroup relational identity is an effective strategy for improving intergroup relations.