Prelims

Half Title Page

Bend the Knee or Seize the Throne

Series Page

Exploring Effective Leadership Practices through Popular Culture

Series Editor: Michael Urick

The aim of this series is to examine modern and innovative business theories and methods via relatable popular cultural themes. The books will provide academically rigorous and credible applications and solutions to practitioners and upper-level business students, in a format designed to be highly engaging and effective.

Titles in Exploring Effective Leadership Practices Through Popular Culture

• A Manager’s Guide to Using the Force: Leadership Lessons from a Galaxy Far Far Away

  Michael Urick

• Leadership in Middle Earth: Theories and Applications for Organizations

  Michael Urick

• Leadership Insights for Wizards and Witches

  Aditya Simha

• Leaders Assemble! Leadership in the MCU

  Gordon B. Schmidt and Sy Islam

• Bend the Knee or Seize the Throne: Leadership Lessons from the Seven Kingdoms

  Nathan Tong and Michael Urick

Forthcoming

• Against All Odds: Leadership and the Handmaid’s Tale

  Cristina de Mello-e-Souza Wildermuth

• Cross-cultural Leadership in the Four Nations: Lessons From Avatar The Last Airbender

  Sy Islam and Gordon B. Schmidt

• Slaying the Vampires, Werewolves and Demons of Ineffective Leadership

  Aditya Simha

Title Page

Bend the Knee or Seize the Throne: Leadership Lessons from the Seven Kingdoms

by

Nathan Tong

ESSCA School of Management, France

And

Michael J. Urick

Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics, and Government, Saint Vincent College, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Copyright © 2023 Nathan Tong and Michael J. Urick. Published under exclusive license by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80262-650-6 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-647-6 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-649-0 (Epub)

Dedication Page

This book is dedicated to my family and loved ones who have supported me through thick and thin. I wouldn’t be where I am in life today without you. Thank you for being there for me and for being my cheerleaders behind the scenes. And to Spot and Aibi in particular; thank you for watching Game of Thrones with me, even though you had no idea what was going on.—NT

I dedicate this book to all my friends who shared in (over)analyzing Game of Thrones every time we saw a new episode, especially Jim, Dave, and Nick. Thanks for sharing your time, energy, and happiness with me, not only in watching and/or discussing the show, but in all aspects of our friendship.—MJU

Contents

About the Authors

Dr Nathan Tong, PhD, MBA, is an Associate Professor of Management at ESSCA School of Management at the school’s Lyon campus in France. He received his PhD in Business Administration (Management/Organizational Behavior focus) from the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. His MBA is from the Liautaud Graduate School of Business at the University of Illinois at Chicago and his bachelor’s degree in Psychology is from John Muir College at the University of California San Diego.

His research interests include organizational justice and fairness, non-traditional work arrangements, and workplace interactions and relationships. His work has appeared in Academy of Management Review as well as The Oxford Handbook of Justice in the Workplace. He regularly presents his work at the annual Academy of Management conference, as well as other regional and international academic conferences. Currently, he teaches courses in Organizational Behavior and Leadership. He has also taught courses on Human Resources, Organizational Strategy, and various introduction to business courses, and led workshops on leadership and teams.

Dr Michael J. Urick, PhD, MBA, MS, SSGB, is Dean of the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics, and Government at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA as well as a Professor of Management and Operational Excellence.

He received his PhD in Management (Organizational Behavior focus) from the University of Cincinnati. His MBA (focused in Human Resources Management) and MS (in Leadership and Business Ethics) are both from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting with Management and English minors is from Saint Vincent College. Dr. Urick has taught undergraduate and graduate courses related to organizational behavior, human resources, communication, conflict, organizational culture, operations, and research methods.

The Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence program at Saint Vincent, which he directed for nearly 10 years prior to his role as Dean, focuses on providing aspiring leaders with cutting-edge management techniques to effectively problem solve, minimize waste, and continuously improve their organizations. Under his directorship, the program was consistently ranked as a “Top 50 Best Value Master’s in Management” program by Value Colleges and as a “Top Online Non-MBA Business Graduate Degree” by US News and World Report.

He is Six Sigma Green Belt Certified, Diversity Management Certified, a Certified Conflict Manager, Project Management Essentials Certified, and MBTI Certified, and is also certified through the Society for Human Resource Management as well as the True Lean program at the University of Kentucky. He is the recipient of an “Excellence in Teaching” Award from the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati, the “Quentin Schaut Faculty Award” from Saint Vincent College, and a “Teaching Excellence” Award from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs among other pedagogical honors. Internationally, he was also recognized by the Institute for Supply Management as a “Person of the Year” in the learning and education category.

Urick is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Leadership and Management based in Poland, the North American Associate Editor of the Measuring Business Excellence journal, and is on the Editorial Board of Management Teaching Review. He is also the Editor for the Exploring Effective Leadership Practices Through Popular Culture book series from Emerald Publishing.

His research interests include leadership, conflict, and identity in the workplace. Much of his work focuses on issues related to intergenerational phenomena within organizations. He also often examines how popular culture can be used to advance organizational behavior theory. In addition to authoring or co-authoring over 50 publications including multiple books and peer-reviewed articles, he has regularly presented at academic and practitioner international meetings such as the Academy of Management, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and Institute for Supply Management conferences. He is a regular speaker on age-related issues in the workplace throughout the United States and internationally (having presented on four continents) and served as a consultant on issues related to workplace interactions, organizational culture, and ethics for various organizations. He has served as a reviewer for a variety of academic publications including the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, Journal of Social Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Family Issues as well as the Organizational Behavior and Human Resources divisions of the Academy of Management Annual Meeting in addition to other conferences.

Professionally, he has served on the Boards of ISM-Pittsburgh (in various roles including President) and the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival (a top-rated community event). He has also served on the Westmoreland Human Resources Association (a regional SHRM chapter) Board in various positions including Vice President. Prior to academia, Urick worked in a variety of roles related to auditing, utilities, environmental issues, and training and development. Through these experiences, Dr. Urick became fascinated with interactions in the workplace and how they might be improved which has influenced his academic career.

For fun, he enjoys music and, since 1998, has been a semi-professional jazz musician and toured through over a dozen US states while releasing multiple recordings with various ensembles.

Acknowledgments

Thank-yous

NT

My entire family, Yung, Rebecca, Ming-Jinn, Catherine, Tran, Rita, and the kids, who have all supported me while I’ve chased all my ambitions and dreams.

Dr. Mike Urick, my eternal gratitude for inviting me to be part of this phenomenal series and supporting me during the process.

All my friends who have listened to me talk about this book incessantly; it’s finally here.

MJU

My family especially Janet, Lucy, Mickie, and Rick who were always supportive of my writing.

My colleagues, especially Dr John Delaney and the Faculty of the McKenna School at Saint Vincent, for being receptive to unique areas of leadership scholarship including those that examine pseudo-medieval fantasy fiction.

Dr Brigitte Biehl for her insights into leadership in Game of Thrones.

Both

We want to thank the team at Emerald Publishing, especially Fiona Allison, Dr Daniel Ridge, and Lydia Cutmore, for continuing to provide an outlet for this series of books that make academic theories and concepts accessible, relatable, and, most of all, fun for people to understand. Without these types of books, learning about leadership and management would largely remain in the classroom and from first-hand experience and mistakes. This series provides people the opportunity to learn about leadership through their favorite films, television shows, and other pop culture properties in a way we hope is entertaining and exciting.

We certainly cannot forget to thank George R. R. Martin, the entire team at HBO, and the extremely talented cast, crew, and countless other individuals who came together to create the magic that was, and still is, the Game of Thrones television series. Your imagination, hard work, and dedication created an amazing fantasy world for millions of people to escape into every week. We gasped, we cried, and we cheered for eight seasons, all thanks to your creativity, commitment, and passion to bring the world of Westeros to life. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.