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1 – 10 of over 10000Ian Lawson and Brian Cox
This article follows on from the interview with Will Hutton in the December 2009 issue of The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services (Davison, 2009) to give a more…
Abstract
This article follows on from the interview with Will Hutton in the December 2009 issue of The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services (Davison, 2009) to give a more detailed outline of the results of Exceeding Expectation: The principles of outstanding leadership, a major piece of research undertaken by The Work Foundation and to explore the implications of this for the public sector.
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This paper aims to explore how the characteristics of outstanding leaders promote dispersed leadership through the beliefs and experience of leaders in some of the UK's best known…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how the characteristics of outstanding leaders promote dispersed leadership through the beliefs and experience of leaders in some of the UK's best known organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on in‐depth qualitative interviews with 70+ leaders, interviews with direct reports and interviews with more senior leaders carried out between 2008 and 2010, the paper contrasts the approaches to leadership that distinguish high performing leaders from their peers and how these approaches create the climate for devolved leadership.
Findings
The paper highlights the key differences that distinguish outstanding leaders and explores how these differences create climates of empowerment that enable dispersed and devolved leadership to flourish. The paper argues that devolved leadership is not a haphazard process but involves leaders in deliberately creating the right conditions.
Practical implications
The paper presents the core characteristics of outstanding leaders and how they can not only produce better performing organizations, but also create more robust organizations with more capable, autonomous and innovative employees to help identify and develop leadership populations.
Originality/value
There is a clash between a focus on the leader and a concern for dispersed leadership in organizations. They seem to be opposing views of leadership – one focused on the individual, the other the collective. This paper assimilates these two perspectives and shows how a certain style of leader embeds leadership.
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James J. Connors, Jonathan J. Velez and Benjamin G. Swan
Leadership is a concept that has always been a major component of Colleges of Agriculture. Undergraduate student have numerous opportunities to develop their leadership skills and…
Abstract
Leadership is a concept that has always been a major component of Colleges of Agriculture. Undergraduate student have numerous opportunities to develop their leadership skills and abilities though formal coursework, collegiate organizations, and personal leadership activities. This ethnographic qualitative research study investigated the leadership characteristics of outstanding seniors in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) at The Ohio State University. The study utilized a semi-structured interview methodology. The objectives of the study were to 1) Determine the leadership development experiences of the outstanding seniors prior to their enrolling in college, 2) Identify the leadership development activities in which they participated during their undergraduate studies, 3) Identify their self-perceived strengths, weaknesses, and leadership influences, 4) Identify the personal and professional leadership goals. Results indicate that the outstanding seniors had significant leadership development experiences in FFA and 4-H while in high school. They continued to participate in leadership activities in dozens of different collegiate organizations, both within and outside of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. The outstanding seniors had a passionate belief in their own leadership ability, believed strongly in servant leadership, and used their leadership to the benefit of the organizations in which they were members.
Junjun Cheng and Yong Su
Through a life-narrative perspective, this research seeks to reveal the underlying mechanisms driving and sustaining outstanding leadership among top Chinese business leaders in a…
Abstract
Purpose
Through a life-narrative perspective, this research seeks to reveal the underlying mechanisms driving and sustaining outstanding leadership among top Chinese business leaders in a transitioning environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors extracted primary thematic patterns of leadership activities by analyzing the qualitative data collected from in-depth semistructured interviews with 17 top business leaders in China.
Findings
Results revealed four major activities through which leaders can effectively lead their organizations toward a long-term growth, that is, balancing relationship with government, leveraging market uncertainties, reinventing and consolidating the organization and self-regulation and adaptation.
Originality/value
The findings explain how outstanding leadership can emerge in a typical transition economy through multidexterity in critical leadership activities and shed light on developing a contextually relevant theory of outstanding leadership.
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Michael D. Mumford, Samuel T. Hunter, Tamara L. Friedrich and Jay J. Caughron
Theories of outstanding, historically notable, leadership have traditionally emphasized charisma. Recent research, however, suggests that charisma may represent only one pathway…
Abstract
Theories of outstanding, historically notable, leadership have traditionally emphasized charisma. Recent research, however, suggests that charisma may represent only one pathway to outstanding leadership. Outstanding leadership may also emerge from ideological and pragmatic leadership. In this article, we examine the conditions influencing the emergence and performance of charismatic, ideological, and pragmatic leaders. It is argued that different conditions operating at the environmental, organizational, group, and individual levels influence the emergence and performance of each of these three types of leaders. Implications for understanding the origins and impact of charismatic, ideological, and pragmatic leaders are discussed.
The purpose of this paper is to examine instructional leadership (IL) in outstanding secondary schools within a centralised (Greece) and a partially decentralised (England…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine instructional leadership (IL) in outstanding secondary schools within a centralised (Greece) and a partially decentralised (England) education context.
Design/methodology/approach
Since the purpose of the study is exploratory, the researchers adopt a qualitative approach, employing a series of four qualitative case studies with the purpose of examining the impact of IL on student learning, teachers’ professional growth and school improvement, using the interpretivist paradigm. Semi-structured interviews with various data sets (stakeholders) within and outside the school, observation of leadership practices and meetings, and scrutiny of relevant macro and micro policy documents are employed to enhance methodological and respondent triangulation.
Findings
Recognising that IL is not confined to the principals’ leadership domain, a sense of shared and distributed leadership prevails in schools, while its implementation is inevitably linked to system constraints. The findings from the Greek schools link to the official expectations that principals operate as administrative rather than instructional leaders, while an unofficial instructional “teacher leadership” culture suggests potential for reconsidering leadership in Greek state schools. In contrast, the decentralisation of school activities creates the platform for the emergence of shared and distributed leadership within the English context, where school actors enact direct and indirect IL roles.
Originality/value
This cross-country comparative study demonstrates theoretical significance in its focus on the collaborative and reciprocal nature of IL, while its empirical contribution lies in generating new knowledge on how IL is contextually bounded.
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The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the leadership expectations in independent Estonia differ from leadership expectations in other East European countries (EEC) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the leadership expectations in independent Estonia differ from leadership expectations in other East European countries (EEC) and from other neighbouring countries and also to investigate actual leadership perception in Estonia.
Design/methodology/approach
To find answers to the research questions stated above, two leadership surveys were carried out in Estonia in 2001 and 2003. The research carried out in 2001 concentrated on actual leader behaviour and the next wave of research, carried out in 2003, was devoted to desirable leader behaviour. The methodology of the surveys was based on the cross‐cultural Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program with its initial headquarters in the USA. The GLOBE research program is a world‐wide, multi‐phase and method project.
Findings
The crucial thing in the Estonian working environment during the transformation period was team spirit and team reinforcement. Unless Estonians are usually considered to be lonely spirits, the team in the working environment is considered to be very important. As opposed to other EEC countries, Estonia is more like other European countries when considering team orientation. The comparison of actual leadership patterns and desired leadership in Estonia showed that Estonians expect their leaders to be charismatic – value‐based, team‐oriented and participative. The leaders are not expected to be humane, self‐protective and autonomous – these styles are considered to inhibit outstanding leadership.
Practical implications
Knowledge of current research about the Estonian leadership style can be used in the training of future leaders in colleges and universities. With Estonia being a new member of the European Union, lots of companies will open their subsidiaries in this region if they have not done so already and information about culturally endorsed leadership profiles can be used while selecting and training people who will work with representatives of other cultures.
Originality/value
The leaders during the research period were considered to be charismatic – value‐based and team‐oriented, but not participative and too autonomous.
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Fred Dansereau and Francis J. Yammarino
Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Leadership is Volume 8 of Research in Multi-Level Issues, an annual series that provides an outlet for the discussion of…
Abstract
Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Leadership is Volume 8 of Research in Multi-Level Issues, an annual series that provides an outlet for the discussion of multi-level problems and solutions across a variety of fields of study. Using a scientific debate format of a key scholarly essay followed by commentaries and a rebuttal, we present, in this series, theoretical work, significant empirical studies, methodological developments, analytical techniques, and philosophical treatments to advance the field of multi-level studies, regardless of disciplinary perspective.
Betzaluz Gutierrez, Signe M. Spencer and Guorong Zhu
The purpose of this paper is to examine senior leadership behaviors across samples of Chinese, Indian, and Western chief executive officers (CEOs).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine senior leadership behaviors across samples of Chinese, Indian, and Western chief executive officers (CEOs).
Design/methodology/approach
In this exploratory study, 101 CEOs from three different business contexts were interviewed to understand the leadership demands of widely different business and cultural contexts and the competencies associated with effective performance. The specific situations addressed by leaders were identified.
Findings
The authors found some common characteristics of outstanding CEOs across contexts, such as results orientation/achievement drive and forward thinking. There are also distinctive competencies manifested in the three cultures. While Indian CEOs are more likely to display consideration of the welfare of their nation in business decisions, Chinese CEOs uniquely influence for mutual benefit as well as criticizing themselves. Western CEOs, use interpersonal understanding and talent management.
Research limitations/implications
Although the competencies observed are linked to performance by comparisons within each group of outstanding leaders, the authors were unable to obtain contrast groups of more typical leaders in India or China. The Western group was less rigorously defined, perhaps accounting for the less focused nature of their competencies and situations. This study nevertheless suggests that the cultural context is an important variable in leadership.
Practical implications
Leaders may use the paper's insights to suggest how they might expand their own repertoires, either in their own context or in dealing with organizations from other cultures.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the understanding of cross‐cultural management by identifying competencies that are unique to particular business contexts, as well as some that are common to the role.
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Jan M. Westrick and Shirley J. Miske
Dramatic economic, political, and societal changes at local, national, and global levels, along with commitments to achieve Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development…
Abstract
Dramatic economic, political, and societal changes at local, national, and global levels, along with commitments to achieve Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (UNESCO, 2000), are prompting national education leaders around the world to restructure and reenvision their education systems (OECD, 2008; Olson, 2008). Decentralization is one of the key structural changes governments are using to promote greater efficiency and to increase local participation in education related to decision making, finances, and accountability in schools. As the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Sultanate of Oman makes the shift to a decentralized structure, it recognizes that its school administrators require new leadership skills in order to make the necessary changes. Implementing decentralization requires a shift in principals' work and thus their professional identity. “By building the leadership capacity of principals as leaders at the school level, (Oman's) MOE officials hope to strengthen the principals' ability to implement school reforms for the 21st century” (Seward International, Inc., 2008, p. 6).