Eleanor Lawrence, Suri Weisfeld-Spolter, Leslie Tworoger, Yuliya Yurova and Bahaudin G. Mujtaba
The purpose of this paper is to offer an informed method of collaboration for leaders in organizations to support adaptation to dynamic changes and challenges.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an informed method of collaboration for leaders in organizations to support adaptation to dynamic changes and challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative analysis was undertaken to utilize change style preferences and personal resources in coping and responding to the extraordinary change brought about by the Covid pandemic. The Change Style Indicator (CSI) instrument and a qualitative reflection were the methods used to understand the near-term effect of this crisis.
Findings
Our findings require leaders to focus change efforts beyond organizational structure, as the work of change leadership is built upon interpersonal and individual responses and behaviors. Recommendations for leading through and recovering during dynamic change require customizing leader responses using inherent individual preferences for change and personal resource needs beyond system-wide organizational change initiatives
Originality/value
The paper offers an informed and intentional practice of leading during abrupt unpredictable change by examining typical change style preferences and reflections on personal resources utilized to respond during dynamic change. A strong recommendation for empathetic and collaborative leadership practice to support all stakeholders to adapt to change events is presented. Providing insight into how individuals typically respond to complex, unplanned change, helps inform and increase leadership capabilities and capacities for adapting during complex change.
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Eleanor Lawrence, Fabienne Cadet-Laborde, Suri Weisfeld-Spolter, Yuliya Yurova and Leslie Tworoger
The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of employee state of mind through the lens of Conservation of Resources Theory, emphasizing the importance of mindfulness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of employee state of mind through the lens of Conservation of Resources Theory, emphasizing the importance of mindfulness for employee productivity.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey consisting of previously validated instruments was administered to alumni of an MBA program, with 321 responses received from fully employed participants. The relationships among constructs were tested using partial least squares path modeling.
Findings
The effect of Work–Life Integration on Perceived Productivity in both groups of employees is fully mediated by Work Mindfulness. Interestingly, perceived Productivity of “negatively-minded” employees was driven by support and resources provided by their employers, but “positively-minded” employees did not require such support to boost their productivity.
Originality/value
Mindfulness has the potential to be beneficial in the workplace during periods of stress. Our results found that state of mind of individuals is an important construct to identify, particularly for those experiencing negative affect. For both groups, mindfulness mediated the results, suggesting actively incorporating mindfulness practices and training could be beneficial particularly for those with low levels of positive affect.
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Randi L. Sims, Tais S. Barreto, Katelynn M. Sell, Eleanor T. Lawrence and Paul Seymour
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of trust, informational support and integrative behaviors in the effective outcomes of peer conflict in the workplace.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of trust, informational support and integrative behaviors in the effective outcomes of peer conflict in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
Deidentified secondary data were provided by a human resource management company that offers conflict resolution training. The authors studied a sample of 815 supervisors and middle-level managers (51% female; average age = 40) who reported their primary work experience was in the USA. Each respondent described a workplace conflict with a peer. A regression-based bootstrapping technique was used to test the hypothesized relationships between the constructs of trust, informational support, integrative behaviors and effective outcomes in peer conflict.
Findings
The relationship between trust and the use of integrative behaviors during peer conflict is conditional on the availability of informational support, such that those who solicit a third party’s views are more likely to exhibit integrative behaviors during the conflict under study, even at relatively lower levels of trust in the conflict relationship.
Originality/value
In this study, the authors add to social interdependence theory and the role of integrative behaviors by proposing the importance of interpersonal trust and informational support, which may reduce uncertainty during peer conflict. The authors also extend existing literature on cooperation, cooperative approaches to managing conflict and integrative behaviors in the workplace by examining peer-to-peer organizational conflict.
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Eleanor Lawrence, Maggie W. Dunn and Suri Weisfeld-Spolter
The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative, research-based approach for stimulating self-awareness, reflection and intentional leadership development and address a call…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative, research-based approach for stimulating self-awareness, reflection and intentional leadership development and address a call from the academic and business community to educate and prepare graduate students for leadership in contemporary complex workplaces. Building on previous research findings and recommendations, the authors suggest that leadership potential is understood and facilitated through leadership assessment, increased self-awareness and faculty coach-supported reflection and development planning by MBA students. Based on three key constructs in leadership development, a conceptual model depicts the approach to developing potential leaders at this juncture in their professional development.
Design/methodology/approach
New MBA students completed a leadership potential assessment instrument designed to target areas for focused leadership development throughout their MBA program and beyond. The assessment process is followed by faculty coach-supported reflection and development planning as an assignment during the students’ MBA orientation course. To explore the impact of this innovative approach to accelerating the development of leadership potential, reflection papers from students who completed the process were analyzed. Data analysis consisted of content coding with an inter-rater reliability of 0.99 to classify the responses into four key categories. Survey data were also collected from 504 MBA students who attended an on-campus orientation course to measure students’ increasing understanding and awareness of the value of the leadership development opportunity.
Findings
Quantitative and qualitative results provide initial support for this approach to developing leadership potential. Results suggest that the integrative model stimulates a process of awareness, reflection and intentional development, and supports the identification and pursuit of goal-directed learning opportunities throughout students’ MBA program.
Originality/value
Graduate business school students are at a leadership inflection point in their trajectory as leaders. Business colleges play a key role in closing the leadership gap during the development cycle of the students’ MBA program. The innovative approach in this paper, which facilitates self-awareness, reflection and intentional leadership development, offers a model for business colleges exploring how to foster these necessary leadership insights and capabilities.
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Eleanor T. Lawrence, Leslie Tworoger, Cynthia P. Ruppel and Yuliya Yurova
The purpose of this study is to explore balanced leadership behaviors, which exhibit ambidexterity, in a top management team (TMT) recognized for innovation and operational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore balanced leadership behaviors, which exhibit ambidexterity, in a top management team (TMT) recognized for innovation and operational success.
Design/methodology/approach
An action research case study was conducted in a single global organization in an industry requiring high levels of innovation. Operationalized as a balance of exploratory and exploitative behaviors, leadership ambidexterity was measured using the strategic-operational dimension of the Leadership Versatility Index (LVI©) which when completed included 67 assessments provided by TMT peers, supervisors and direct reports. Using quantitative and qualitative data, we examined the behaviors of six executives and the degree of flexibility they exhibit when switching opposing behaviors.
Findings
This study provides empirical evidence that TMT leaders of a highly innovative company strive to flexibly move between explorative and exploitative behaviors both as individual members and as an executive team. A high degree of exploitation–exploration versatility was also linked to the TMT effective performance.
Practical implications
For organizational practitioners, the study offers a quantifiable measure of individual and team leadership ambidexterity. It can be used to raise awareness and suggest ambidextrous behaviors to TMT leaders and “high-management-potentials”.
Originality/value
This study measures leadership ambidexterity of individual executives and the TMT as a group using a quantitative instrument supported by 360-degree qualitative data. Access to both secondary and proprietary information allowed in depth examination of the TMT behaviors in an innovative firm, which was acquired at a premium and was recognized with multiple innovation awards.
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Kerrie Fleming, Carla Millar and Vicki Culpin
Leader-centred teaching has often taken as normal a cyclical pattern of business, which Marques (2014) argues is no longer the appropriate model. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Leader-centred teaching has often taken as normal a cyclical pattern of business, which Marques (2014) argues is no longer the appropriate model. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current leadership curriculum paradigm and the case for an alternative pedagogy which better caters for the messy reality – without recurrent patterns or historical certainties – that global organisations and their business leaders currently often have to deal with. In particular, it addresses implications for the “hero” model of leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical findings are elicited through a combination of case studies, qualitative surveys and action research methods which include organisational development which encourages leaders to develop skills and capability to enquire into and work with their own group processes and design. Arts-based methods, such as poetry, music, painting, sculpture or music are offered as a means to help cultivate the leader’s creative potential and reach into those vulnerable places which often remain hidden amongst traditional didactic methods of facilitation.
Findings
The empirical findings call for a deconstruction of the hero leader through increasing reflexivity to help leaders understand their own feelings, reactions and motives. It encourages bespoke leadership competencies which can be adapted for individuality. This suggests that contemporary leaders and managers first need to understand what capacities and deficiencies they have as individuals, and second how to build an appropriate mix of skills through understanding and reflecting on their own individual experiences and actions.
Originality/value
The paper introduces an approach to leadership training which takes account of the demand for organisations to serve a social purpose, and the need for effectively leading a workforce where the power of the individual is growing with millennials pushing this and questioning the very premises of corporate behaviour and economic and social principles which guide it. It acknowledges that the demands on leaders are shoulder-buckling at the best of times but proposes that business school teaching on leadership must address the messiness of reality and offer means and ways of thriving in spite of such chaos.
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John H. Bickford III and Taylor A. Badal
Contemporary education initiatives require English language arts educators spend half their time on non-fiction and history and social studies teachers to include diverse sources…
Abstract
Contemporary education initiatives require English language arts educators spend half their time on non-fiction and history and social studies teachers to include diverse sources. Beginning in the early grades within the aforementioned curricula, students are to scrutinize multiple texts of the same historical event, era, or figure. Whereas trade books are a logical curricular resource for English language arts and history and social studies curricula, the education mandates do not provide suggestions. Research indicates trade books are rife with historical misrepresentations, yet few empirical studies have been completed so more research is needed. Our research examined the historical representation of Eleanor Roosevelt within trade books for early and middle-grades students. Identified historical misrepresentations included minimized or omitted accounts of the societal contexts and social relationships that shaped Mrs. Roosevelt’s social conscience and civic involvement. Effective content spiraling, in which complexity and nuance increase with grade level, between early and middle-grades trade books did not appear. Pedagogical suggestions included ways to position students to identify the varying degrees of historical representation within different trade books and integrate supplementary primary sources to balance the historical gaps.
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John H. Bickford III and Cynthia W. Rich
Common Core State Standards Initiative mandates increased readings of informational texts within English Language Arts starting in elementary school. Accurate, age-appropriate…
Abstract
Common Core State Standards Initiative mandates increased readings of informational texts within English Language Arts starting in elementary school. Accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content is at the center of effective social studies teaching. Textbooks and children’s literature—both literary and informational—are prominent in elementary classrooms because of the esoteric nature of primary source material. Many research projects have investigated historical accuracy and representation within textbooks, but few have done so with children’s trade books. We examined children’s trade books centered on three historical figures frequently incorporated within elementary school curricula: Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Helen Keller. Findings revealed various forms of historical misrepresentation and differing levels of historicity. Reporting such lacunae is important for those involved in curricular decisions. We believe children’s books, even those with historical omissions and misrepresentations, provide an unique opportunity for students to incorporate and scrutinize diverse perspectives as they actively assemble historical understandings. All secondary narratives, even historically representative children’s books, can benefit from primary source supplementation. We guide teachers interested in employing relevant and rich primary source material.