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Reports on the experience of production team leaders and their line managers on the quality of training and development of the former. The setting was the UK plant of a US‐based global organization competing in the telecommunications technology sector. Team leaders’ and line managers’ views were complemented with data from personnel records. The findings suggested that team leaders’ development was perceived to be inadequate in both the technical and leadership domains. Team leaders perceived deficiencies in their technical training and competence; and line managers viewed that team leaders lacked managerial and leadership skills. The analysis of personnel records corroborated those views as it suggested that existing training and development structures were not being properly implemented or designed. This situation can impact unit performance. Suggestions regarding rectification of such situations are made.

In this chapter we question whether current conceptualizations of global leadership competencies adequately address the dynamic and complex nature of the multinational team (MNT) context. We report findings from a study that incorporated the perspectives of MNT leaders as well as members on MNT leadership. We asked MNT leaders and their team members to identify the competencies that they believe are needed for effectively managing MNTs. The findings from this study promise to enhance our understanding about the specific nature of the MNT context, as viewed by the two parties that are at the frontline of multinational teamwork: team members and leaders. We use this dual perspective to clarify global competencies that MNT leaders may need to develop in themselves, and to propose a framework that may assist multinational organizations in identifying, rewarding, and developing MNT leaders.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to identify how horizontal leaders (within project teams) execute their leadership task in the context of balanced leadership; and to pinpoint scenarios that can occur when horizontal leaders are identified and empowered by the vertical leader (senior or project managers) and a project task is handed over to them to lead. This research is based on the concept of balanced leadership, which conceptualizes leadership as a dynamic, situation-dependent transition of leadership authority from a vertical leader (like a project manager) to a horizontal leader (a project team member) and back again, in order to contribute positively to a project’s success. Balanced leadership consists of five events (nomination, identification, empowerment, horizontal leadership and its governance, and transition). This paper focuses on the fourth event, and its specific aspect of leadership distribution between horizontal and vertical leader. This event begins when a team member(s) accepts the empowerment to assume the role of horizontal leader. This paper explicitly links the leadership style of the vertical leader based on Frame’s (1987) leadership styles and the nature of decisions taken by both the vertical and horizontal leaders to deliver the project.

The method used for this paper is the qualitative phase of a sequential mixed methods (qualitative-quantitative) study. Data were collected through case studies in four different countries, using a maximum variety sampling approach. Data collection was through interviews of vertical leaders (senior leaders who were often sponsors of projects or members of senior management or project managers) and horizontal leaders (team leaders or members) in a variety of industry sectors. Data analysis was done through initial coding and constant comparison to arrive at themes. Thematic analysis was used to gain knowledge about the split of leadership and decision-making authority between the horizontal and vertical leader(s).

The results show that for Canadian and Australian projects, a combination of autocratic and democratic leadership styles were used by vertical leaders. In the case of Scandinavian projects, a democratic leadership style has been observed. Linked to these leadership styles, the horizontal decision making is predominantly focused on technical decisions and to daily task decisions to deliver the project. Delegation occurs most of the time to one specific team member, but occasionally to several team members simultaneously, for them to work collaboratively on a given issue.

The paper supports a deeper investigation into a leadership theory, by validating one particular event of the balanced leadership theory, which is based on Archer’s (1995) realist social theory. The findings from this paper will guide organizations to facilitate an effective approach to balancing the leadership roles between vertical and horizontal leaders in their projects. The findings can also be used to develop horizontal leaders to take up more responsibilities in projects.

The originality lies in the new leadership theory called balanced leadership, and its empirical validation. It is the first study on the leadership task distribution between vertical and horizontal leadership in projects. Its value is new insights, which allow practitioners to develop practices to find and empower the best possible leader at any given time in the project and academics to develop a more dynamic and, therefore, more realistic theory on leadership as it unfolds in projects.

This paper aims to examine how mobile technologies impact virtual team leaders and provides insight into how mobile technologies afford leaders varied capacity to accomplish their team work.

The author addresses the research questions by assessing a large, qualitative data set drawn from surveyed mobile team leaders, analyzing the data using Leximancer software to explore naturally emerging concepts and then interpreting the data thematics using axial coding.

In addition to demonstrating that virtual team leaders are well aware they use mobile technologies regularly, this paper also suggests e-leaders be known as m-leaders, clarifies the entanglements of mobility and leadership practices and offers insight into the m-leader affordance dimensions of multimediality, multimodality, multichronicity and multimotility.

This paper is among the first to investigate team leaders relative to mobile technology as well as what such technology offers m-leaders and mobile teams. Additionally, the size of the data set provides unique insight into m-leaders’ experiences across myriad sectors.

This study aims to investigate whether transformational leadership exists in teams, and if so, whether it is represented in a similar way as in more traditional leadership situations. The study also aims to determine whether a team leader’s sex has an influence on the relationship between personality and team leadership when team members evaluate the leader’s behaviour.

A quantitative analysis is conducted on input from 104 team leaders and 672 team members from a Finnish university. Data were collected during university courses, and the team leaders’ transformational leadership styles were evaluated by team members at the end of the courses.

The results indicate that the transformational leadership questionnaire is applicable when studying team leadership; the Visioning dimension might be absent, but Modelling, Enabling, Challenging and Rewarding dimensions represent transformational leadership in teams. Women tend to be more transformational team leaders than men. Personality seems to influence both sexes, so that extraverted and judging personality types are more transformational leaders than introverted and perceiving ones. In relation to sex, introverted, sensing, thinking and perceiving female leaders are regarded as more transformational than men with similar preferences. Additionally, some personality preferences seem to be sex-neutral in terms of team transformational leadership when rated by team members.

There is no previous study combining these variables in the academic team context.

The focus of this paper was twofold: to examine critical team leader behaviors (as perceived by the subordinate) that result in team member satisfaction; and to determine if there is a significant difference between the perceptions of team leaders and team members regarding the level of team satisfaction and factors that predict team leader performance. Results indicate that team member satisfaction was influenced by: the extent to which communication within the group was open; and the team leaders’ performance. Team leader performance was influenced by the team members’ satisfaction with their leaders’ ability to resolve conflicts and the teams’ openness in communication. Team members’ and leaders’ perceptions did not differ significantly regarding open communication in the group, however, team members assessed their leaders’ performance less favorably than the team leaders assessed themselves and were less satisfied with the team leaders’ ability to resolve conflicts.

This multi‐method case study examined the roles, functions, capabilities, job satisfaction, strengths, weaknesses and skill gaps of frontline team leaders working on the shopfloor in the Australian automobile industry. The study was conducted in a large automobile manufacturing company employing 4,500 employees and rated as one of the top 22 organisations in Australia according to net revenue. Extensive data were gathered through two surveys involving 121 frontline team leaders and semi‐structured interviews with 100 team leaders, 100 group leaders, and 30 general forepersons. The findings showed that there have been relatively few theoretical and practical efforts to specify the functional requirements of frontline leaders who occupy the first level entry point of leadership positions and hence career progression in the automobile industry. The study proposes a definition for frontline leadership.

This paper aims to examine the effects of the leaders’ dark triad (DT) personality traits, namely, Machiavellianism, Narcissism and Psychopathy, on the team performance variability. Furthermore, this work explores the role of team agreeableness in the above relationship.

The study is based on the longitudinal and archival data obtained from the sales team (team leaders: n = 190; team members: n = 832) of 19 firms dealing with fast-moving consumer goods in India.

From the finding of the study, it can be inferred that the presence of DT traits in the leaders causes high fluctuations in team performance. Besides, team agreeableness was found to moderate the relationship between the DT traits of the leaders and the team performance variability.

The theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed.

Leaders’ emotional intelligence (EI), personality, and empowering behavior have been heavily studied in the organizational behavior literature. To date, the majority of research on EI and personality has shown their significant influence on personal outcomes. It has also been suggested that empowerment is a fundamental psychological mechanism underlying follower outcomes. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the effect of team leaders’ EI and personality on team outcomes and the potential mediating effect of team leaders’ empowering behavior. In this study, we developed theoretical rationale and empirically tested the effect of team leaders’ EI and personality on team climate and the mediating role that team leaders’ empowering behavior plays in this relationship. The results supported most of our hypothesized relationships, that is, the positive effects of team leaders’ EI and agreeableness on team climate were mediated by team leaders’ empowering behavior, whereas team leaders’ openness to new experience was not related to empowering behavior and team climate. Finally, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

This study explores the impact of gender on team leadership style and how it impacts team innovation outcomes using the ambidexterity theory (opening and closing behaviors) of leadership for innovation.

A total of 215 self-report surveys of team members were collected for hypothesis testing. This study tests whether team leader gender moderates the relationship between ambidextrous team leadership and team innovation.

Female team leaders are engaged in less opening behaviors of ideation, risk-taking and exploration than their male counterparts. Additionally, when female leaders engaged in closing behaviors, which include assigning roles and timelines, they had less impact than the closing behaviors of their male colleagues. Female team leaders were perceived as less effective in leading innovation than males.

This study examines the influence of gender on team leadership and innovation outcomes. There are drawbacks of cross-sectional data, sample selection issues and potential problems of percept–percept relationships.

These findings suggest that female team leads may need greater organizational support and organizational senior leadership support to take risks (opening behavior) to produce greater team innovation and increase leader visibility.

Society can achieve even greater innovation outcomes by understanding and addressing the unique obstacles woman team leaders face with innovation. Organizations can benefit from innovation and resilience by supporting women team leaders in their diverse delivery of innovation.

This is the first study to look at the influence of gender and leadership on team innovation outcomes. Ambidextrous leadership theory provides insights into the specific challenges woman team leaders experience; however, so far no research has addressed the innovation outcome challenges female team leaders encounter. Since innovation and leadership can be a key component of visibility, compensation and promotion, it is necessary to investigate the challenges female team leads face in the innovation process.