Turning visions into results: unraveling the distinctive paths of leading with vision and autonomy to goal achievement

Thomas K Maran,Urs Baldegger,Kilian Klösel

doi:10.1108/lodj-06-2021-0268

Abstract

PurposeLeading with vision while granting employees autonomy is one effective organizational response to the demands of a dynamic external environment. The former is thought to align followers' behavior by providing guidance, the latter to increase variance in their behavior by relinquishing control; both exert beneficial but distinct effects on organizational performance. What has remained uncharted heretofore is how these leader behaviors shape their followers' cognition and, subsequently, yield improvements in performance. The authors argue that a leader's vision communication transforms followers' cognitive representation of their work. This not only enables them to specify their goals in alignment with the vision (goal clarity) but also to locate the meaning of their work within the bigger picture of the vision (construal level). By contrast, perceived autonomy in terms of power-sharing might directly affect followers' work engagement more narrowly.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested the model on a sample of 408 employees from eleven enterprises of a holding company. In the survey, employees reported perceived vision communication and autonomy provided by their leader. Furthermore, the authors assessed the employees' goal attainment. To capture how employees represent their daily work activities, the authors measured their construal level and their goal clarity.FindingsThe results show that both perceived vision communication and granted autonomy improve employees' goal achievement. Moreover, two processes mediate the relationship between vision communication and goal achievement in followers: first, specifying goals in terms of clarity; second, composing a higher-level mental construal of their work. In contrast, no mediation of empowering leader behaviors was found.Originality/valueBetter goal achievement through visionary leadership is therefore achieved through cognitive alignment of followers, while leader-granted autonomy acts as a motivational tool directly on performance.

Highlights

Today’s world is a VUCA world; it is characterized by high volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (Bennett and Lemoine, 2014)
The relationships between visionary leadership, granted autonomy, construal level, goal clarity and goal achievement were determined by calculating the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients
To test hypothesis 4 and hypothesis 6, which proposed an indirect effect on follower goal achievement by construal level and goal clarity, respectively, we deviations and Pearson product-moment correlations for visionary leadership, 1. 2. 3

Summary

Introduction

Today’s world is a VUCA world; it is characterized by high volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (Bennett and Lemoine, 2014). In a fast-changing knowledge economy that breeds disruptive technologies and business models (Li et al, 2021), an agile workforce drives organizations’ competitiveness. Organizations that aim to increase their agility can benefit from allowing their employees the flexibility to make decisions on their own, effectively granting them competencies that are typically reserved for leaders. While allowing room for initiative increases the variance in employee behavior, making them adhere to the strategic vision reduces it. To address this seeming dilemma, leaders should respond to this challenge by providing both autonomy and direction, they should practice a leadership style that creates flexibility through empowering behaviors and alignment through visionary behaviors (Rosing et al, 2011; Pearce, 2004). More pointedly stated that they should maintain control and let go of control (Kearney et al, 2019)

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Discussion

Conclusion