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1 – 10 of over 6000Executive leadership plays a crucial role in initiating, shaping and directing strategic reorientations. But it must somehow mediate between forces of inertia and fundamental…
Abstract
Purpose
Executive leadership plays a crucial role in initiating, shaping and directing strategic reorientations. But it must somehow mediate between forces of inertia and fundamental changes. This paper aims to address the unresolved paradox: how do executives address these conflicting demands?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper aims to interweave two streams of seminal research in organizational evolution and organizational culture to develop a typology of strategic reorientations. The four types of strategic reorientations are illustrated with the help of published cases and biographies of CEOs, mostly of high visibility international companies such as Heineken, Burger King and Starbucks.
Findings
Combinations of high and low levels of executive team consensus on its external adaptation tasks and on its internal integration tasks provoke four different types of strategic reorientations: chaotic, negotiated, muted and promising.
Research limitations/implications
Until appropriate methods of empirical research can be found to test this framework, one has to rely on some anecdotal support as preliminary and cursory evidence. This study can inform a wide body of research which incorrectly suggested that consensus among executives during strategic reorientation has a unidirectional, positive impact on organizational performance. Directions to explore how top executives may develop ambidextrous leadership are suggested.
Practical implications
Seeking high growth, executive teams must have a good mix of managerial and entrepreneurial cognitions. Therefore, executives having dissimilar skills and backgrounds should be inducted in the team periodically, instead of hiring hurriedly at the eleventh hour. Otherwise, the new executives may contribute too high or too low levels of consensus of each type needed for optimal strategic reorientation.
Social implications
The paper has not attempted this aspect.
Originality/value
This paper contributes a novel framework that combines two streams of seminal research, which, each by itself, would not sufficiently address the unresolved executive paradox.
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Although managing global change is one of the key competencies demanded of global leaders, it is one of the most under-researched topics in the field (Lane, Spector, Osland, &…
Abstract
Although managing global change is one of the key competencies demanded of global leaders, it is one of the most under-researched topics in the field (Lane, Spector, Osland, & Taylor, 2014). This chapter shares findings from a recent qualitative study that examined how global business leaders navigate complex global changes. Data were collected from 23 global business executives working for 20 unique global enterprises, in 12 different functions, through a pre-interview participant qualifying profile, an in-depth semi-structured interview, and follow-up verification. Findings reveal that global business executives are contextual leaders who juggle both global task and global relationship complexities. The paradox is the process they employ to navigate continuous change, enabled by sensemaking. Finally, as agile learners, they prove that the global leadership capabilities required to navigate paradox can be learned.
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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the paradox of gifted leadership – namely that executives who are gifted in leading their organizations may not be able to develop…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the paradox of gifted leadership – namely that executives who are gifted in leading their organizations may not be able to develop leaders under them – creating a challenge in developing the next generation of leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
To help confront this paradox the paper highlights insights for how executives approach developing others by drawing on assessment data from over 100 executive leaders and 900 observers. Additionally, the paper reflects on current research and observations on talent management best practices and offers a call‐to‐action for establishing a leadership development framework.
Findings
Senior leaders do not get too close or too personal with their co‐workers and this isolation can inhibit their ability to identify first hand individuals who might be in the up‐and‐coming next generation of leaders. Likewise, there is a perception that executives are more concerned with advancing their own careers than helping others move up the ladder. Finally, in environments with informal talent management processes, executives can be drawn towards finding and grooming mirror images of themselves or worse may succumb to organizational politics and favoritism when it comes to promotions and advancements.
Originality/value
There are multiple “influencers” that come into play to shape an executive's behavior and perceptions in their struggle to be an effective leader. Hopefully, with a better awareness of these influencers we can bring balance to how we define (and perhaps influence) effective executive leadership.
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The purpose of this research study was to obtain healthcare executives’ perspectives on diversity in executive healthcare leadership. The study focused on identifying perspectives…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research study was to obtain healthcare executives’ perspectives on diversity in executive healthcare leadership. The study focused on identifying perspectives about diversity and its potential impact on the access of healthcare services by people of color. The study also identified perspectives about factors that influence the attainment of executive healthcare roles by people of color.
Design/methodology/approach
A convenience sample of healthcare executives was obtained. The executives identified themselves as belonging to one of two subgroups, White healthcare executives or executives of color. Participants were interviewed telephonically in a semi-structured format. The interviews were transcribed and entered into a qualitative software application. The data were codified and important themes were identified.
Findings
The majority of the study participants perceive that diversity of the executive healthcare leadership team is important. There were differences in perspective among the subgroups as it relates to solutions to improve access to healthcare by people of color. There were also differences in perspective among the subgroups, as it relates to explaining the underrepresentation of people of color in executive healthcare leadership roles.
Research limitations/implications
This research effort benefited from the subject matter expertise of 24 healthcare executives from two states. Expansion of the number of survey participants and broadening the geographical spread of where participants were located may have yielded more convergence and/or more divergence in perspectives about key topics.
Practical implications
The findings from this research study serve to add to the existing body of literature on diversity in executive healthcare leadership. The findings expand on the importance of key elements in contemporary literature such as diversity, cultural competency and perspectives about the need for representation of people of color in leadership roles that guide healthcare policy and access. This study connects contemporary literature to perspectives of executives in the field and offers practical solutions to improving the representation of people of color in executive healthcare leadership roles.
Social implications
The recommendations offered as a result of this research effort serve to create awareness of the challenges that people of color face in career attainment. Although the process of increasing the representation of people of color in executive healthcare leadership will be a complex task that will involve a number of players over the course of several years, this study serves to provide a practical roadmap with actionable tactics that can be deployed.
Originality/value
This paper is an extension of the work that was done by the author during the course of completing the program requirements for the author’s doctoral program. The findings were previously discussed in the author’s dissertation. The value of these findings is significant because they validate some of the topics in contemporary literature with the perspectives of practicing healthcare executives. This study is also unique from other studies in that it offers a long-term plan to increase the representation of people of color in executive roles by creating an early disposition toward executive level roles and identifies a number of practical steps toward that end.
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Lydia Amaro and Caren Brenda Scheepers
Women leaders struggle with the persistent paradoxical expectations. Literature suggests that a paradox mindset helps to leverage these tensions. This study aims to understand the…
Abstract
Purpose
Women leaders struggle with the persistent paradoxical expectations. Literature suggests that a paradox mindset helps to leverage these tensions. This study aims to understand the nexus between the microfoundations of individual women leaders’ experiences, their responses and the organisational context, which enables or hinders their paradox mindset.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a qualitative approach by conducting semistructured interviews with 14 women, all senior leaders in corporate South Africa.
Findings
The results reveal the interaction in the nexus between, firstly, women leaders’ authenticity and awareness as key anchors that enable them to adopt a paradox mindset and, secondly, the organisation’s role in creating hindrances or opportunities to leverage tensions. Women leaders in our sample applied one of two strategies: they either adapted to the environment or curated a subenvironment. This study shows that, if done authentically, through her own agency, a woman can influence interactions that make it easier to manage tensions within her environment, especially those created by negative performance evaluation because of unconscious institutional gender bias.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the selected research context.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature on paradox theory by revealing organisational contextual influencers, such as institutional bias in negative performance evaluation, which hinders a woman leader’s opportunity to be hired or promoted. These organisational influences also interact with women leaders’ ability to embrace paradox and internally leverage agentic and communal tensions.
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Stephen Debar Kpinpuo, John Antwi and John Yaw Akparep
A core responsibility of organizational leaders in a world of increasing competition for best talents is positioning right persons and plans for sustainable growth and progress of…
Abstract
Purpose
A core responsibility of organizational leaders in a world of increasing competition for best talents is positioning right persons and plans for sustainable growth and progress of their respective organizations. However, attracting top talents for key positions is meaningless if it is not backed by winning retention or succession strategies. This paper aims to assess succession management techniques in the Nzema East District (NED) of Ghana to determine incumbent reliability on its own succession knowledge, practice and sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a cross-organizational investigation, this study used qualitative approaches to explore succession knowledge and practice as they relate to effective management and sustainability of selected NED organizations. In all, 60 purposively selected participants were involved in the study.
Findings
This study revealed not only that most NED organizational leaders have no succession plans but also that some senior management officials of these organizations, much as their subordinates, lack knowledge and practice of the concept altogether. It also emerged that a leadership succession paradox, where management expressed profound interest in succession planning (SP) learning and practice, adopting SP as a strategic tool and in using SP as insurance for sustainability of NED firms, but presides over the contrary, characterized much of NED management activity.
Research limitations/implications
As a case study, this research is limited in terms of generalizability, but its implications are quite limitless.
Originality/value
The originality of this study lies in an emerging leadership succession paradox where business executives advocate what, in practice and theory, they are themselves opposed to. Contrary to the logic that we practice what we learn, succession management in NED organizations is not only unethical but also paradoxical. This study has not been published and is not being considered for publication anywhere else.
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Filipe Morais, Andrew Kakabadse and Nada Kakabadse
The purpose of this paper is to use Stewart’s model of role as a lense from which to explore chairperson and CEO role dynamics in addressing strategic paradox and tension.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use Stewart’s model of role as a lense from which to explore chairperson and CEO role dynamics in addressing strategic paradox and tension.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on 29 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with chairpersons and CEOs of UK-listed companies. Interview data are subjected to role analysis using Stewart’s (1982) Demands-Constraints-Choice (DCC) model of role.
Findings
Findings indicate that relationship levels of trust, communication and chairperson time enable strategic tensions to be raised and confronted in the relationship reducing defensiveness. Two distinct approaches to handle strategic tensions are found. The CEO-led approach predominates and rests on less flexible role boundaries, requiring the chairperson to proactively identify strategic tensions and perform an advisory/mentoring role. The shared leadership approach, less prevalent, rests on highly flexible role boundaries where the skills and experience of each incumbent become more relevant, enabling the separation of efforts and integration of strategic tensions in the relationship in a “dynamic complementarity of function”.
Research limitations/implications
The paper only applies to the UK context and is limited to contexts where CEO and chairperson roles are separate. The paper draws on individual perceptions of chairperson and CEOs (i.e. not pairs).
Practical implications
The paper provides insights to practicing CEOs and chairperson on two distinct ways of working through strategic paradox and tensions.
Originality/value
The paper adds to the scarce literature at chairperson and CEO roles and strategic paradox and tension.
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Gideon L. Storm, Sebastien Desvaux De Marigny and Andani Thakhathi
The world needs to pave a path towards sustainable development to solve global poverty and inequality, thereby ensuring that no one is left behind. The transformative changes…
Abstract
The world needs to pave a path towards sustainable development to solve global poverty and inequality, thereby ensuring that no one is left behind. The transformative changes brought about by the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), encompassed by the new world of work (NWOW), pose a significant threat to the displacement of jobs, especially in developing contexts, where many jobs are susceptible to automation. This results in a tension between the stakeholder and shareholder perspectives, which results in the phenomenon referred to in this study as the People Versus Profit Paradox. The purpose of this study is to determine business leaders’ perceptions of this paradox by generating an in-depth understanding of its nature and potential consequences. This study generated insights through a generic qualitative research design based on 10 semi-structured interviews with business leaders from multiple industries in developing countries. This study’s major contribution is the development of an up-to-date understanding of business leaders’ perceptions of sustainable development with respect to the 4IR and the People Versus Profit Paradox in developing countries. The two main findings of the study reveal that organisational purpose has changed towards a more inclusive stakeholder perspective, and that business leaders’ perceptions reveal a relative state of bias regarding the current impact of the 4IR in developing contexts. This study aims to inspire business leaders in developing contexts to embrace sustainable development and the disruptive changes brought about by the 4IR, to usher in a sustainable future where no one is left behind.
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Barrie O. Pettman and Richard Dobbins
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
Abstract
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
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