Group and Leadership Effects on Social Anxiety Experienced During an Exercise Class1

This study examined the effects of the group environment and group leadership style on social anxiety experienced by participants (N= 90) in a 40‐min step aerobics class. In a 2±2 factorial design, group environment (enriched/bland) was manipulated, along with the fitness instructor's leadership style (enriched/bland). Participants in the enriched group condition had significantly higher social anxiety (M= 15.1) than did those in the bland group condition (M= 12.0, p < 0.05). Also, participants tended to have less social anxiety when the instructor used an enriched leadership style (M= 12.4) than when she used a bland leadership style (M= 14.8, p= 0. 08). Discussion focuses on aspects of the social environment that can affect social anxiety during group exercise classes.     

Motivated or Demotivated to Be Creative: The Role of Self‐Regulatory Focus in Transformational and Transactional Leadership Processes

Numerous studies have recognised the importance of transformational leadership style for encouraging employees’ creativity. Self‐regulation studies have highlighted the influence of a promotion focus on employees’ creative behaviours. Yet both leadership and self‐regulation theories have paid less attention to the role transactional leadership style and situational prevention regulatory focus may play in affecting employees’ creativity. In this article we present a theoretical model which examines transformational and transactional leadership styles and both promotion and prevention situational self‐regulatory focus (SRF). The model suggests that while transformational leadership promotes creativity, at least partially by enhancing follower's situational promotion SRF, transactional leadership style (transactional active) is aligned with followers’ prevention situational SRF, which is associated with leaders’ hindering of followers’ creativity. Findings from two studies, an experimental study (N = 189) and a field study (N = 343 employees and 75 managers), support this model, showing that the relationship between different types of leadership and creativity are more complex than previously regarded. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Transformational,transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: a meta-analysis comparing women and men

A meta-analysis of 45 studies of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles found that female leaders were more transformational than male leaders and also engaged in more of the contingent reward behaviors that are a component of transactional leadership. Male leaders were generally more likely to manifest the other aspects of transactional leadership (active and passive management by exception) and laissez-faire leadership. Although these differences between male and female leaders were small, the implications of these findings are encouraging for female leadership because other research has established that all of the aspects of leadership style on which women exceeded men relate positively to leaders' effectiveness whereas all of the aspects on which men exceeded women have negative or null relations to effectiveness.     

Autocratic leadership in social dilemmas: A threat to group stability

This paper investigated the impact of leadership style on the stability of small social dilemma groups. In two experiments, group members were more likely to exit their group and take their resources elsewhere if they were supervised by an autocratic style leader than by a democratic or laissez-faire style leader. The destabilizing influence of autocratic leadership is due to the procedural rather than distributive aspects of this leadership style: More members exited their group under an autocratic style leader, relative to a democratic style leader, regardless of whether or not they received favorable personal outcomes from the leader. Hence, autocratic leadership is not a stable long-term solution to the problem of public goods in groups.     

Facilitative Style,Individual Innovation,and Emergent Leadership in Problem Solving Groups

ABSTRACT This study responded to an issue raised in a recent review of leadership research regarding the lack of available data concerning leader characteristics and management of creative work groups. Specifically, the effects of facilitative leadership style and individual creative contributions on emergent leadership were assessed in an initially leaderless creative problem solving situation. Participants were 34 university security officers who were divided into four groups to play Island Commission. At the end of the session, participants rated each other on facilitative style, innovative contribution, and leadership behavior. Both independent variables made a significant contribution to perceptions of leadership (R = .82, p < .0001). Results are discussed in terms of leadership theory, and implications for personnel selection, training, and development of creative problem solving teams.     

Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership Style: A Gender Comparison

This study examined the predictive relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style. The researchers also wanted to determine gender differences in the relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style, as well as the gender differences in the emotional intelligence scores and transformational leadership style of managers. A significant predictive relationship (p < .05) was found between transformational leadership style and emotional intelligence. No significant interaction (p < .05) was found between gender and emotional intelligence while predicting transformational leadership style. A significant difference (p < .05) was found in the emotional intelligence of scores of male and female managers. Lastly, no significant difference (p > .05) was found in the transformational leadership scores of male and female managers.     

Exploring the Ethical Aspects of Leadership: From a Korean Perspective

Theories of ethical leadership provide important insights about the effect of leader’s ethics on the relationship between leaders and followers. However, there is an increasing demand for addressing key constructs that enhance the capacity to explain theoretical aspects of ethical leadership. The purpose of this study is to expand the theoretical framework of ethical leadership based on Korean traditional leadership by focusing on personal cultivation, morality, and social responsibility. Using a framework of intrapersonal process as leadership and core value and competence as components of leadership, this study examines the ethical aspects of Korean traditional leadership and provides the implications to further develop the theory of ethical leadership. It is found that ethical integrity ensued from sugi (self-cultivation) is an essential precondition to develop leadership, and the core value of ethical leadership includes Zhixin-Chijing (cultivation of the mind and internal piety) and the competence consists of both Ipzhi (setting a solid self-vision/establishing goal) and Silsim (practical mind, grasp changes in reality with a sound mind) in Korean traditional leadership that contributes to expanding the theoretical understanding of ethical leadership. Implications for future research in the area of ethical leadership are discussed.     

Permanent Deacons and Non-profit Directors: Comparing Leadership Styles Among Facilitators of Community Agencies

Permanent deacons in the Roman Catholic Church (all male) are active in their local community and congregation mobilizing faith formation events, liturgical services, and community social action programs, yet not much is known about their leadership style. The present study compared U.S. 203 permanent deacons with 202 male community-based directors of non-profit agencies on their self-reported transformational leadership style, assessed by five subscales of competencies. Deacons and directors differed significantly on three subscales; deacons scored higher on the promoting positive values and leadership as service subscales, while directors scored higher on the building a sustainable organization subscale. Results suggested that the transformational leadership styles of U.S. permanent deacons is more value and service-centered, and, in comparison, community-based non-profit leaders seem to focus more on the group’s structure and health of their organization.     

Gender differences in perceptions of leadership

A study was conducted to examine gender differences in perceptions of leadership. Subjects (N=320) were assigned to same-sex groups of four to six members. The groups participated in a leaderless group discussion and then assessed characteristics of their own and their peers' leadership. The subjects also completed a self-esteem inventory. Correlational analyses revealed that when evaluating their peers, both men and women associated being a leader and having leadership skills with an authoritarian leadership style. In self-perceptions, however, women associated having positive leadership skills with an authoritarian style, but men associated their own leadership skills with a democratic style. The self-esteem of both genders was differentially related to their perceptions of leadership style. These results suggest that men and women hold a leadership stereotype which equates the leadership skills of their peers with an authoritarian style of leadership. However, women but not men base their assessments of their own leadership skills on this leadership stereotype.     

The communality-bonus effect for male transformational leaders – leadership style,gender, and promotability

Women have made considerable inroads into the workforce but remain underrepresented in leadership positions. Even though studies show that men and women hardly differ in their leadership behaviours, we argue that male and female leaders are evaluated differentially contingent on the gender-congruence of their leadership style. Drawing arguments from expectancy violation theory, we investigate evaluations of men and women who show transformational leadership (a style consisting of communal behaviours in line with stereotypes about women) and autocratic leadership (a style consisting of agentic behaviours in line with stereotypes about men). We employed a three-study research design combining two experimental studies and a two-wave field study with business leaders (overall N = 344). Overall transformational leadership resulted in higher evaluations of promotability due to higher perceptions of leaders’ communality and leadership effectiveness. Importantly, these effects were stronger for men, and men showing transformational leadership were evaluated to be more promotable than women. This implies a communality-bonus effect for male transformational leaders. There was no difference in promotability evaluations for women versus men showing autocratic leadership. This effect was mediated by agency and effectiveness perceptions for women but not for men. Implications are discussed.     

Non-Traditional Women's Group

This paper focuses on an intensive large group experience for women that addresses issues of female identity and the cultural constructs that contribute to women's basic experience of self. It includes a discussion of self-concept and the social constructionist theory of the social, emotional, and psychological processes of the development of an individual's view of herself and the world. The author contrasts aspects of traditional group psychotherapy leadership, which tends to perpetuate society's devaluation of the feminine, with the leadership style of this workshop. The use of story and metaphor and other techniques used to achieve the workshop goals--including narrative therapy, guided imagery, movement and dance, and ritual enactment--are also discussed.     

Situation Awareness and Transformational Leadership in Senior Military Leaders: An Exploratory Study

This study explored the relationship between leadership style and operational readiness in a sample of senior Norwegian military officers (N = 43), who participated in a 1-week joint staff exercise. Leadership style was measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-45), and indicators of operational readiness included situation awareness and interpersonal influence. Transformational leadership emerged as a predictor of situation awareness (R² = .33) and interpersonal influence (R² = .25), with intellectual stimulation as the only significant predictor among the facet subscales. Some possible theoretical and methodological implications for future research are also pointed out.     

Gender,leadership style,and subordinate satisfaction: An experiment

As women continue to enter and advance within management ranks, how gender and leadership style influence subordinate satisfaction remains a significant issue. This paper reports on an experiment that analyzed the effects of gender and leadership style on subordinate satisfaction. While subjects were more satisfied in democratically led groups, gender of leader did not significantly affect satisfaction. Female subordinates were more dissatisfied than males in autocratically led groups.     

Structural models of psychotherapy groups and their effect on inpatients with borderline personality disorders: Patients' perceptions

This research compares the way in which various group structural models affect self-understanding, interpersonal relationships and catharsis in hospitalized patients with borderline personality disorders. Each of the models is characterized by a different combination of group focus and leadership style. Three psychotherapy groups were chosen as paradigms: the dynamic psychotherapy group; the therapeutic games group, and psychodrama group. Sixty three inpatients with borderline personality disorders participated in the study. The one-way ANOVA yielded significant differences between the group models. Results of the post-hoc t-test showed that the dynamic and the games groups were perceived by the patients as more beneficial than psychodrama.     

Differences in Company Leadership Between Infantry and Armor Units in the Israel Defense Forces

In view of differences between the historical origins of infantry and armor units in the Israel Defense Forces and the more technology-dependent and mechanistic nature of armor units in comparison with infantry units, we hypothesized certain differences in the leadership style of company leaders in the 2 types of units. We compared leader behaviors and some of their correlates in 24 infantry companies and 21 tank companies on the basis of surveys answered by company staff members (n = 166 and n = 146, respectively) and soldiers (n = 310 and n = 235, respectively). We complemented the quantitative analysis with an interview-based qualitative comparison of high-performing company leaders in the 2 types of units. The findings provide partial support for the hypotheses and suggest that more attention should be given to interunit differences in leadership patterns.     

What Does Leaders' Character Add to Transformational Leadership?

The influence of leaders' character (e.g., integrity, humility/forgiveness) has rarely been examined in leadership research. The current investigation focused on the impact of integrity and humility/forgiveness on both followers' perceptions of leaders' worthiness of being followed (WBF) and stress. Results from a scenario experiment (n = 347) and a field study (n = 110) indicated that these aspects incrementally predict WBF above and beyond the impact of transformational leadership. Similar results were found concerning followers' stress with the exception of leader integrity in the field study. According to relative importance analyses, integrity and transformational leadership predict WBF equally well. The results have conceivable implications for human resources (personnel selection and development). Future research should examine additional outcome variables that are affected by certain leader characteristics as well as potential negative effects of the examined character aspects.     

Leadership predictors of innovation and task performance: Subordinates' self‐esteem and self‐presentation as moderators

This study examined self‐related subordinate variables as moderators of relationships between supervisors' leadership behaviours (transformational as well as active‐corrective transactional leadership) and subordinates' innovative behaviour and task performance. Based on behavioural plasticity and self‐monitoring theory, we hypothesized that these associations would be moderated by subordinates' organization‐based self‐esteem and by their propensity to modify self‐presentation, a major facet of the self‐monitoring construct. Field survey data (N=161) collected in research and development, marketing and human resources departments of several German companies revealed that transformational leadership positively predicted both criteria, whereas active‐corrective transactional leadership negatively predicted innovation. As hypothesized, transformational leadership related more strongly and positively to innovation for subordinates low in organization‐based self‐esteem. When subordinates were low in self‐presentation propensity, active‐corrective transactional leadership was negatively, and transformational leadership was positively associated with task performance.     

The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry by Harry Stack Sullivan

Charismatic relationships occur frequently in treatment of substance abusers because patients are regressed and have temporary needs for inspiration and guidance. The therapist who assesses patients' needs for charisma in the pregroup evaluation can avoid the twin pitfalls of placing patients in groups with insufficient or excessive charismatic leadership. Too little charismatic leadership is ineffective; patients remain regressed and the group does not come together. Too much charismatic leadership stifles patients' growth. As patients develop control over their addictive behavior, the need for charisma diminishes. A sensitive leader can recognize this from changes in patients' attitudes toward their addictions and from indicators of autonomy in the group process. The leader can then accept the need for adjustments in leadership style to avoid hindering patients' growth.     

When the going gets tough: Schools in challenging circumstances and the effectiveness of principals' leadership styles

The principal's leadership style is one of the most common ways of conceptualizing school leadership behaviours. We lack understanding, however, of how the effectiveness of school leadership styles varies across degrees of challenging circumstances. Data obtained from a quantitative survey of primary school teachers in Israel (N = 570) and from the Ministry of Education database were used to account for principals' leadership styles and their effectiveness in schools facing more challenging circumstances (N = 15) and in those facing less challenging circumstances (N = 46). Differences were found in the relations between principals' transactional behaviours on one hand and the teaching dimension of school culture and principals' perceived effectiveness on the other, as a function of challenging school circumstances. The study also found a difference in the relations of principals' transformational behaviours and the safety dimension of school culture, by level of challenging school circumstances. The data also revealed that in schools facing less challenging circumstances, principals' passive behaviours were related to students' achievements and principals' perceived effectiveness, but not in schools facing more challenging circumstances. The findings and their implications are discussed.