Traditional Leadership Theories Research Articles

FROM LEADERSHIP TO HOLDERSHIP: A PARADIGM SHIFT IN ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS

This article investigates the evolution of leadership, delineating the shift from traditional hierarchical and leader-centric approaches to the emerging concept of “holdership”. Drawing from Winnicott’s perspective, the aim is to provide an initial description and comprehension of the notion of holdership, outlining its principles and characteristics in contrast to conventional leadership paradigms. The introduction of the concept of holdership serves as a response to gaps in traditional leadership theories, with the potential to enhance our understanding of organizational dynamics and drive transformative changes within organizations. To achieve it, a methodology involving literature review and in-depth case study analysis is adopted, with a focus on selecting relevant publishings. The findings affirm the applicability of holdership in the current landscape of business and management, particularly within innovation-oriented organizations. Holdership promotes leadership grounded in authenticity, ownership, collective responsibility, transparency, and psychological safety. This article advocates for the adoption of holdership as a lens for analyzing contemporary organizational dynamics influenced by ongoing socio-cultural, economic, and technological transformations. Emphasis is placed on the role of context while highlighting the limitations of charismatic and leader-centric leadership models. Ultimately, holdership is presented as an alternative perspective on leadership, fostering authenticity, innovation, and collective responsibility.

About the Impact and Effects of Toxic Leadership on Employees and Organizations

Abstract The concept of toxic leadership has emerged as a critical counterpoint to traditional leadership theories, particularly the Transformational Leadership Model. This model suggests that effective leaders are visionaries who develop and implement strategies to realize their vision while fostering the development and motivation of their teams. It emphasizes the positive and effective aspects of leadership, focusing on guiding organizations towards success in their current and future environments. However, this model has been critiqued for its lack of attention to the negative aspects of leadership. This critique has led to the development of the concept of toxic leadership, a taxonomy that includes a range of detrimental leadership behaviors. Some scholars categorize managerial incompetence as a form of toxic leadership, arguing that it undermines organizational agility and effectiveness. Incompetence in leadership roles can significantly impede an organization’s operational and strategic capabilities. More recent explorations of toxic leadership have focused on passive-aggressive behaviors, identifying them as prevalent in organizational settings. This perspective broadens the scope of toxic leadership to include not only overtly aggressive or illegal actions but also more covert forms of destructive behavior. Some definitions of toxic leadership extend to behaviors at national and pseudo-national levels, such as genocide. This expansion underscores the potential for leadership toxicity to manifest in various forms and at different scales, from individual organizations to broader societal structures. The discourse on toxic leadership serves as a vital lens for examining the complexities and potential pitfalls of leadership, highlighting the need for a more holistic understanding of leadership that includes both its positive and negative dimensions.

Antecedents and consequences of corporate social responsibility: a test of multilevel mediating processes

PurposeDrawing on social exchange theory and traditional Chinese leadership theory, this research examines employees' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) using a multilevel mediation model. It also examines the possibility that meaningful work mediates the relationship between perceived CSR and work engagement.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 605 employees of 103 departments across 35 companies in Taiwan. Multilevel path models and hypotheses were tested using Mplus structural-equation modeling software.FindingsThe results show that department-level CSR perceptions were positively related to employee-level work engagement and that CSR was a mediating factor between department managers' moral leadership and employee-level work engagement. Additionally, meaningful work played a cross-level mediating role between CSR perceptions and work engagement.Practical implicationsFor organizational managers, these findings imply that enterprises should practice CSR and guide their employees in its correct interpretation. They also reinforce the idea that department leaders should behave ethically, because this will encourage their employees to develop positive perceptions of the company's CSR implementation and thus to be more engaged in their work. Lastly, incorporating CSR programs into training materials and encouraging employees to actively participate in such programs' development, deployment and evaluation should help make work meaningful for employees and further enhance their engagement with it.Originality/valueThis study explains how a cross-level mechanism connects department-level moral leadership to employee-level work engagement in a Chinese cultural context.

Analysis of The Traditional Leadership Theories: A Review of Contemporary Leadership Approaches and Management Effectiveness

Analysis of The Traditional Leadership Theories: A Review of Contemporary Leadership Approaches and Management Effectiveness

Evaluation of the impact of leadership development on nurses and midwives underpinned by transformational learning theory: a corpus-informed analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of leadership development programmes, underpinned by Transformational Learning Theory (TLT).Design/methodology/approachA corpus-informed analysis was conducted using survey data from 690 participants. Data were collected from participants’ responses to the question “please tell us about the impact of your overall experience”, which culminated in a combined corpus of 75,053 words.FindingsFindings identified patterns of language clustered around the following frequently used word types, namely, confidence; influence; self-awareness; insight; and impact.Research limitations/implicationsThis in-depth qualitative evaluation of participants’ feedback has provided insight into how TLT can be applied to develop future health-care leaders. The extent to which learning has had a transformational impact at the individual level, in relation to their perceived ability to influence, holds promise for the wider impact of this group in relation to policy, practice and the promotion of clinical excellence in the future. However, the latter can only be ascertained by undertaking further realist evaluation and longitudinal study to understand the mechanisms by which transformational learning occurs and is successfully translated to influence in practice.Originality/valuePrevious research has expounded traditional leadership theories to guide the practice of health-care leadership development. The paper goes some way to demonstrate the impact of using the principles of TLT within health-care leadership development programmes. The approach taken by The Florence Nightingale Foundation has the potential to generate confident leaders who may be instrumental in creating positive changes across various clinical environments.

Blueprints for well-being: Modeling the way through Human-Centered Leadership and Pathway to Excellence.

Blueprints for well-being: Modeling the way through Human-Centered Leadership and Pathway to Excellence.

Charting the Journey of Young Leaders: A New Model of Transferability of Skills

Globally, adolescents and young adults are calling for action from governments on global humanitarian crises, taking on leadership roles that have contributed to redefining leadership in terms of behavior and action rather than qualities and status. However, there is a significant gap with regard to the conceptual and theoretical understanding of how adolescents and young adults experience leadership. In this paper, we present the results of two qualitative studies that examined the phenomenon of leadership among adolescents and young adults. Study 1 involved interviews with young adult leaders to analyze the fit between traditional leadership theories and their experience of leadership. Following this, Study 2 utilized the results from Study 1 to design a diary study of adolescents attending a leadership program. Both studies revealed that leadership is experienced as a pathway that involves three mechanisms of transferability: sensemaking, action and reflection. The findings of the studies are contrasted with traditional models of leadership that underrepresent the developmental nature of leadership and the transferability of leadership skills across different environments.

Identification of the Components of the Friendship-Oriented Leadership Model

Objective: This research focuses on identifying the components of a friendship-oriented leadership model, addressing a gap in theoretical and empirical differentiation in leadership studies. Emphasizing the evolving nature of leadership, especially in the business world, this study explores the elements contributing to effective leadership in organizational settings. Method: A qualitative research approach using Grounded Theory was employed. The population included experts in organizational behavior and university professors. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 participants, reaching theoretical saturation. Results: The study identified 72 initial codes, categorized into 8 main and 5 subcategories. These include leader strategies, positive and negative outcomes, individual abilities, follower conditions, external organizational factors, and components of friendship-oriented leadership. Positive outcomes emerged as a significant category, highlighting the importance of these leadership components. Conclusion: The research concludes that understanding and implementing a friendship-oriented leadership style is crucial for organizational success. This style is characterized by mutual and open relationships, balancing power dynamics, often overlooked in traditional leadership theories.

Research on the Influence, Value, and Development Strategy of Chinese University Teachers’ Leadership—Based on the Perspective of Distributed Leadership Theory

More and more universities all over the world realize that improving the leadership of university teachers is very important for the development of students and schools. However, at present, most of the leadership models in China University are still based on the traditional leadership theory, and the cultivation of teachers’ leadership ability is neglected. In addition, China University seems to prefer centralized right-based management. So, what is the value and influence of teachers’ distributed leadership on China University? What can China University do in the future to better cultivate and develop teachers’ distributed leadership? This essay will make a detailed comment on the distributed leadership of teachers, the role and value of distributed leadership of teachers, and the obstacles to its implementation, so as to provide reference strategies for the future development of distributed leadership of teachers in China University.

Advancing Traditional Leadership Theories by Incorporating Multicultural and Workforce Diversity Leadership Traits, Behaviors, and Supporting Practices: Implications for Organizational Leaders

Well-known and respected traditional leadership theories such as Transformational Leadership Theory (Bass 1985, 1989, Authentic Leadership Theory (Luthans & Avolio 2003), and Distributed Leadership Theory (Lumby, 2013) offer insight into the ways that leadership can be applied and practiced in various organizational contexts. These traditional leadership theories are known for underscoring the kinds of traits and behaviors that prospective and current leaders should possess to enhance their leadership abilities and overall effectiveness. However, one area that is absent from traditional leadership theories is a focus on the kinds of multicultural and workforce diversity leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities that organizational leaders should possess to manage human diversity effectively in a variety organizational setting. The aim of this paper is to: 1) summarize the role of three well-known traditional leadership theories; 2) share examples of existing multicultural and workforce diversity frameworks that offer insights for advancing traditional leadership theories; and 3) highlight the benefits of incorporating multicultural and workforce diversity leadership traits, behaviors and supporting diversity practices into traditional leadership theories.

Turning followers into leaders: commercial shipping versus navy—a literature review

During a time of accelerated change and automation, leadership in the shipping industry emerges as a much-needed competence pertaining to the survival and safety of crew on board, as well as to the growth of shipping companies. Despite many years of leadership research, our knowledge on how to develop and apply leadership skills in shipping remains limited, focusing on rather autocratic-oriented leadership styles, similar to those found traditionally in the armed forces. The present paper aims to analyze the key aspects of traditional leadership theories and of military leadership practices, and to further examine their applicability to the modern shipping industry. Towards this end, a systematic literature review in the area of leadership in the armed forces, with emphasis on the navy, and merchant shipping is conducted, whereby challenges and best practices are identified. The literature survey reveals that there are similarities in the role of hierarchy between the navy and merchant shipping. The navy promotes leadership behaviors that diverge from the traditional leader–follower model. Such practices can be useful in the context of commercial shipping in order to inspire leadership behaviors that promote and support the creation of self-efficient and emotionally engaged followers. Maritime Education and Training institutions could benefit from the findings of this research and enrich their curricula with educational material that will equip future leaders with the necessary skillset.

Critical Engagement: Lessons Learned and Implications for HRD About Black Male Faculty Leadership in Higher Education

The ProblemLimited discussions of the Black male as a leader has taken place in the human resource development literature. Hence, racialization, the process of constructing and attaching meaning to racial identity, is an under-studied topic. Further problematic, traditional leadership theories advance a race-neutral, universalized mainstream view of leaders, and do not consider the multiple ways that race changes the master narrative. A direct result of this shortcoming is the lack of research and theories that inform the experiences of Black males in Historical White Institutions (HWIs).The SolutionIn this article, an autoethnography approach is used to counter the master narrative that has concealed the everyday, lived experience of Black males in higher education faculty and leadership roles. Critical race theory is applied as a framework for viewing lived experience as a legitimate and appropriate source of analysis. Socio-cultural theory is used to explain how cultural competence is needed to appropriately identify racism as an enduring problem that is a product of its culture and environment.The StakeholdersHRD faculty, HWIs administrators, hiring committees, diversity, equity and inclusion practitioners, search committees, and Black males in faculty roles in HWIs.

20 Years of Chinese Leadership Research: A systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

As the Chinese economy has grown over the past decades to take a prominent place on the world stage, so has research on Chinese leadership. The growing research provides much needed breadth in our understanding of Chinese leadership. However, the research is quite fragmented as it has developed in several largely disconnected areas. This study develops an integrative framework of Chinese leadership, based on a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles published in the last 20 years. We synthesize insights from 169 articles to develop a comprehensive understanding of traditional Chinese leadership practices and Western leadership theories applied in Chinese organizations. Furthermore, we advance research on Chinese leadership by proposing five areas of future research that build on our integrative framework.

Responsible leadership and COVID-19: small Island making big waves in cruise tourism

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore responsible leadership and crisis management. Many sectors and economies have faced the stark effect of coronavirus; however, the damage done was felt more in some areas than others. Cruise tourism is one such sector dramatically affected, as it ground to a screeching halt in March 2020. This has led to crisis management, as passengers, cruise-line crew, large cruise companies and governments were now faced with a new reality as countries around the world closed their borders. This article aims at discussing in detail how responsible leadership, in the small island of Barbados, championed a response to support the cruise tourism sector and assist in managing the crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe author conducted a literature review on the current knowledge relating leadership and crisis management. Thus building a better understanding in the field and identifying gaps for making new arguments for best practices of leadership development in crisis management established in the cruise tourism sector. The author gave viewpoints based on the leadership style of the Prime Minister of Barbados.FindingsResponsible leadership is a style that has been best observed as one that emphasizes a commitment to the common good and provides a constructive societal impact. With this approach, the leaders navigated the uncertainty surrounding the crisis and provided fresh hope to future plans. Thus, the coronavirus was perceived in a positive way, producing opportunities for progress and change.Research limitations/implicationsBy developing an understanding of traditional leadership theories, it provides a framework for the adaptation of responsible leadership approach in crisis management. Moreover, the practice of responsible leadership in this COVID-19 era is shown to be crucial to crisis management and enhancing performance. Limitations on viewpoint are based on the author's philosophies.Practical implicationsThis paper provides a better understanding of the principles surrounding leadership and fashions a framework for discussing responsible leadership from a crisis management standpoint. The viewpoint provides an optimistic difference in managing a crisis.Social implicationsThe paper provides a better understanding of responsible leadership as an integrated approach to governance, ethics and social responsibility. The paper provides a basis to assess the intersection of the literature on leadership and crisis management.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the literature on responsible leadership within the context of crisis management.

More self-organization, more control\u2014or even both? Inverse transparency as a digital leadership concept

Digital innovations drive an organization’s digital transformation. While numerous studies focus on digital product and service innovation, digital process innovation and novel business models, management and leadership concepts are primarily investigated as enabling framing conditions in previous contributions. However, management and leadership concepts have changed dramatically in the digital era. The rise of digital technologies has led to companies acquiring large amounts of data. Moreover, novel technical solutions facilitate the analysis and processing of this data, leading to an increase in organizational transparency. Traditional leadership theories fail to explain the influence of digitalization and increasing transparency of leadership. In a digitized world, managers often face a trade-off when using data for management purposes. On the one hand, transparency leads to decreasing information asymmetries, allowing managers to monitor employees’ actions at low cost. On the other hand, employees demand self-organization and empowerment. In this context, new forms of control and employee engagement need to be designed. With our conceptual paper, we aim to provide a solution to the challenges of using transparency in leadership in a mutually beneficial way for managers and employees by introducing the concept of “inverse transparency.” We develop the concept building on the existing literature on transparency and leadership. We see inverse transparency as the basis for a new type of digital innovation, which we introduce as digital leadership innovation. Thus, we enhance current research on leadership approaches and digital innovation and create a theoretical basis for further research.

Authentic leadership: unleashing employee creativity through empowerment and commitment to the supervisor

PurposeThe increasing interest of organizations to innovate and survive in the market, combined with a decreasing level of trust in their leaders, has now led thinkers and researchers to begin exploring beyond traditional leadership theories. The literature indicates that, due to the lack of a strong and explicit moral dimension, positive leadership may be incomplete. The purpose of this study is to understand the creativity mechanism that is fostered by authentic leadership through empowerment and commitment to the supervisor.Design/methodology/approachThe data of 214 employees were collected from the strategic units (product generation, customer services, marketing and sales) of all five telecoms which are currently operating in Pakistan. The parallel mediation model was used to analyze the hypothesized model.FindingsResults confirmed that authentic leadership leverages creativity. Mediation results further confirmed that creativity increases when employees feel empowered and are committed to an authentic leader. However, contrast analysis indicated that empowerment has a stronger role in increasing creativity.Research limitations/implicationsNot limited to theoretical debate, the present study emphasized that organizations improve creativity by adopting a management model which delivers moral values along with an efficient, transparent system and empowered culture. Managers should be trained to develop authentic traits so that they can then identify and address critical areas which will serve to nurture creative and innovative behavior in their followers.Originality/valueAuthentic leadership is an emerging concept, yet debate on authentic leadership and creativity is in the establishment phase. The present study highlights that authentic leadership is not simply a consequence of success or the development of a pool of loyal subordinates; rather, empowered leadership at all levels is at the heart of a successful organization.

Exploring gendered leadership stereotypes in a shared leadership model in healthcare: a case study

The existing literature on leadership often describes it within fairly rigid gender roles. Entire models of leadership have been ascribed gendered labels. Shared leadership is, in traditional leadership theory, a...

Principals Profiles about Distributed Leadership: A Descriptive Study through Analysis of Multiple Correspondences of the Elementary Schools from Madrid, Spain

Within the emerging leaderships there is no doubt that distributed leadership (DL) is a relevant concept for culture of the educational sector. DL is understood as a form of shared leadership that is based on a more collective and inclusive philosophy of traditional leadership theory that focuses on the skills, traits and behaviours of the leading individuals. The objective of this communication is to determine the DL profiles of the directors of some primary schools in Madrid. Method. Descriptive study through analysis of multiple correspondences and SPAD, with the questionnaire validated ad hoc practices of distributed leadership. The exhibition comprises a total of 23 schools (16 Public schools and 7 colleges) and 13 principals and 10 directors. In the community of Madrid Capital, Spain. Results. The profiles of the leaders found are eight, product of factors 1 and 2 (formal leader, innovator, Bureaucrat, organizational poietic) and factors 2 and 3 (instructional, training, empowerment, collaborative). Discussion. The profiles in this case can generate the self-knowledge of directives strengths and weaknesses, which arise as key conditions to initiate the practice of DL. It goes towards the assertive distribution of power, from the organization of the centre, from the traditional to the bureaucratic.

Once learned, never forgotten: effective leadership development with social construction as a threshold concept

Purpose This paper aims to discuss leadership development with social construction as the underpinning theory. Design/methodology/approach This is an autoethnographic study of the author’s insights from teaching leadership from a social construction perspective. Findings The social construction approach to leadership looks and behaves as a threshold concept in leadership. It takes students’ learning to a higher level, opens up a new curriculum, and changes their understanding of leadership for good. Originality/value The discovery that the social construction approach to leadership looks and behaves as a threshold concept suggests that there is something fundamentally important with this perspective. It positions the social construction approach as an overarching theory that helps students re-evaluate, appreciate, and find value in traditional leadership theories.

Making future leaders in the US intelligence community: challenges and opportunities

This article explores what factors are important in developing the future leaders of the US intelligence community in the post-9/11 security environment. It surveys traditional leadership theory to assess whether any of its perspectives are applicable to understanding leadership in the intelligence context. It argues, that although some leadership theory may be applicable, the intelligence studies field may be better served by developing its own body of leadership theory. Second, any leadership theory needs to consider together the two synergistic components of intelligence leadership: personal leadership development and the ability to lead organization reform. Furthermore, the role of intelligence governance may be the most critical factor in promoting better leaders of US intelligence agencies and the broader community.