Transformational Leadership and Followers’ Objective Performance Over Time: Insights From German Basketball

The purpose of this present study is to gauge the usefulness of head coaches’ transformational leadership in predicting followers’ individual, objectively measured performance development over time. The sample encompassed data on 22 coaches and 200 players from German professional basketball. Each player's performance was captured for approximately 20 subsequent games resulting in a sample of 3,905 measurement points. Our analyses revealed significant effects from transformational leadership facets of Articulating a Vision, Fostering the Acceptance of Group Goals, and Providing Individualized Consideration on the development of players’ performance over time.     

Working together or separately? The role of identity and cultural self‐construal in well‐being among Japanese youth

Young people develop a sense of personal identity during the transition to adulthood, a time when individuals choose and adhere to a specific set of goals, values, and beliefs. In addition, in many contemporary Asian societies, youth are expected to acquire and balance traditional and Western cultural views of the self — that is, independent and interdependent self‐construal. To understand the relationships between the personal and cultural facets of the transition to adulthood, this study examined (a) associations between personal identity and well‐being and (b) the possible moderating role of cultural self‐construal (independence and interdependence) in this link. These hypotheses were tested in a sample of 520 Japanese university students (52.6% female). The results indicated that personal identity predicted each dimension of well‐being, suggesting that the importance of personal identity in promoting youth's well‐being can be understood as a universal phenomenon. Moreover, because the moderating role of self‐construal in the links between identity and well‐being was found to be limited, personal identity can be viewed as operating separately from self‐construal in well‐being to a large extent. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Chemical and Biological Weapons in the ‘New Wars’

The strategic use of disease and poison in warfare has been subject to a longstanding and cross-cultural taboo that condemns the hostile exploitation of poisons and disease as the act of a pariah. In short, biological and chemical weapons are simply not fair game. The normative opprobrium is, however, not fixed, but context dependent and, as a social phenomenon, remains subject to erosion by social (or more specifically, antisocial) actors. The cross cultural understanding that fighting with poisons and disease is reprehensible, that they are taboo, is codified through a web of interconnected measures, principal amongst these are the 1925 Geneva Protocol; the Biological Weapons Convention; and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Whilst these treaties have weathered the storm of international events reasonably well, their continued health is premised on their being ‘tended to’ in the face of contextual changes, particularly facing changes in science and technology, as well as the changed nature and character of conflict. This article looks at the potential for normative erosion of the norm against chemical and biological weapons in the face of these contextual changes and the creeping legitimization of chemical and biological weapons.     

“Making it explicit” makes a difference: Evidence for a dissociation of spontaneous and intentional level 1 perspective taking in high-functioning autism

The ability of perspective taking is a fundamental aspect of social cognition. The ability to decide, what another person can or cannot see is referred to as “level 1 perspective taking.” This is thought to be a process that we can make use of intentionally, but which also takes place spontaneously. Autism is characterized by impairments of social interaction, which are thought to be related to deficits in implicit rather than explicit perspective taking. In order to assess both levels of processing with regard to perspective taking, we employed an established task in patients and controls. Our results demonstrate that both groups engage in spontaneous level 1 perspective taking. In contrast to controls, however, patients reacted more slowly if they had to verify the other’s as compared to their own perspective, which shows that participants with high-functioning autism have selective difficulties in explicit, but not implicit, level 1 perspective taking. These findings demonstrate that while spontaneous level 1 perspective taking appears to be intact in autism, this ability is impaired in patients when used explicitly.     

Childhood experiences of parental rearing patterns reported by Chinese patients with borderline personality disorder

The primary purposes of this study were to (1) compare the characteristics of childhood experiences of parental rearing patterns in China reported by patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), patients with other personality disorders and patients without personality disorders; (2) identify the reported parental rearing patterns associated with BPD in China; and (3) determine whether these patterns differ for males and females. One hundred and fifty‐two patients with BPD, 79 patients with other personality disorders and 55 patients without Axis II diagnoses were administered the Chinese version of the McLean Screening Instrument for BPD and completed the Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (EMBU), a self‐report measure of childhood parental rearing patterns. Parental rearing patterns reported by the BPD group were characterized by less emotional warmth, and greater punishment, rejection and control than patterns reported by the other two groups. Within the BPD group, males were more likely than females to report parental punishment, rejection and control. Paternal punishment, low maternal emotional warmth and female gender predicted BPD diagnosis. Negative parental rearing patterns appear to contribute to the development of BPD in China and vary with the gender of the child. Maternal emotional warmth may be a protective factor against BPD.     

On the perceived effectiveness of transformational–transactional leadership: The role of encouraged strategies and followers' regulatory focus

The present research sought to examine when and why transformational and transactional leadership are perceived by followers to be effective. A series of five studies revealed that perceived effectiveness of transformational and transactional leadership is influenced by the fit between leadership style‐driven encouraged strategies and followers' preferred strategies. Specifically, we found that transformational leadership primarily encourages promotion‐focused strategies and, accordingly, creates a regulatory fit for promotion‐focused followers. In contrast, transactional leadership primarily encourages prevention‐focused strategies, creating a regulatory fit for prevention‐focused followers. As a consequence of this regulatory fit, leadership is perceived as more effective and predictive of enhanced effort. By integrating literature on self‐regulation with insights from leadership research, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the leadership process and of interpersonal influences on self‐regulatory experiences. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anger and attitudinal reactions to negative feedback: The effects of emotional instability and power

Feedback is a basic tool that is used to stimulate learning and performance at all organizational levels. However, negative feedback can sometimes evoke defensive responses such as feelings of anger or the repudiation of the feedback. In two experiments we explored whether people’s negating responses to feedback are grounded in their emotional instability, and if this effect is stronger for those who hold more power. The findings from Study 1 (N = 84) showed that in response to negative feedback more emotionally unstable individuals experienced more anger. In Study 2 (N = 47) we indicated that anger mediated the negative effects of emotional instability and power on liking of the feedback provider, perceived ability of the feedback provider, and feedback acceptance. Our findings indicate that power strengthens the influence of emotional instability on responses to negative feedback and point to the importance of anger as the underlying factor influencing crucial attitudinal feedback reactions.     

Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Followers’ Achievement Goals

Purpose

Achievement goals, or the standards of competence employees pursue in their work, have far-reaching consequences for employee and organizational functioning. In the current research, we investigated whether employees’ achievement goals can be predicted from their supervisor’s leadership style.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A multilevel study was conducted in which followers of 120 organizational leaders completed measures of their leader’s transformational leadership (focusing on individual needs and abilities, on intellectual development, and on a common team mission), transactional leadership (focusing on monitoring and achievement-related rewards), and their own mastery goals (aimed at learning, developing, and mastering job-relevant skills), and performance goals (aimed at doing better than others).

Findings

Group-level transformational leadership predicted followers’ mastery goals, whereas group-level transactional leadership predicted followers’ performance goals. Within-group differences in transformational leadership also predicted mastery goals.

Implications

These findings suggest that leadership style plays an important role in the achievement goals followers adopt. Organizations may promote transactional leadership in contexts requiring that employees outperform others. In contrast, in contexts requiring learning and development, organizations may promote transformational leadership.

Originality/Value

This research is the first to examine the relationships between leadership styles and specific follower goals, and the first to highlight the role of leadership as a social variable involved in employees’ adoption of achievement goals.     

医师职业素养评测体系构建的研究进展

随着我国社会经济的发展,医疗体制的改革,医师职业素养的培养成为当今医疗体制下医学在校教育、住院医生培养、医疗卫生管理中必须关注的内容。目前国外对医师职业素养的培养做了大量的工作,也取得了较好的效果,但是对于职业素养的培养不仅需要理论教学的改革,更需要相应评估机制的建立。本文对国外医师执业素养评估的最新进展进行介绍,分析各种方法的优劣,以期为国内医学教育建立统一的、具有广泛公认度的测评体系提供参考。