Constraint Respecters, Constraint Challengers, and Crisis Decision Making in Democracies: A Case Study Analysis of Kennedy versus Reagan

Models linking domestic political constraints (audience costs, pressures for the diversionary use of force, democratic norms and institutions) to foreign policy behavior generally assume that leaders simply recognize and submit to constraints in their domestic environments—a strong structural argument. In contrast, research on political leadership and decision making suggests that leaders vary systematically in their orientations toward constraints: "constraint respecters" tend to internalize potential constraints, while "constraint challengers" are more likely to view them as obstacles to be overcome. This article develops an integrative theoretical framework that explicitly incorporates these insights and applies them to the domain of crisis decision making. After identifying leaders' expected orientations toward constraints via at-a-distance methods, the plausibility of hypotheses derived from this framework is examined through case studies that explore the decision-making processes employed by President Kennedy (a "constraint respecter") and President Reagan (a "constraint challenger") during international crises. The results suggest that there is important variation in how leaders perceive and respond to domestic constraints, and that leadership style is one—though not the only—important source of this variation.     

Academic Citizenship: An Academic Colleagues’ Working Paper

Universities are facing a critical challenge; university citizenship has steadily declined over the last few decades. As a self-governing entity, most of the foundational elements of a university community are within its own control. As a result, the health and future welfare of the institution depends greatly on the quality of its leaders and robustness of its governing structure. These in turn depend on the quality of those undertaking leadership roles and serving on governing bodies and on the degree to which they reflect its values and aspirations. Maximising the probability that these desiderata will be achieved requires a broad-based faculty willingness to serve conscientiously on these bodies and to serve as administrators to be involved in selecting members, and to be involved on the myriad of sub-committees, task forces, departmental committees, and the like. It is not only an abdication of citizenship to leave governance and administration of the institution to a few willing faculty, it is dangerous and puts at risk the welfare of the institution. Even if these few were all able to place the welfare of the institution above their own particular agendas and their self-interest (not something on which to count), the process of self-selection could not be expected to result in a group that would adequately reflect, represent or understand the breadth and depth of the needs, aspirations and complex circumstances of the entire institution. The larger the pool of willing participants, the greater the probability that those selected will reflect best the institutional diversity. This paper draws out the rights and obligations of faculty citizens embedded in the structural arrangements common to universities in the western world. In part A we examine three fundamental components of those arrangements, components that collectively define certain rights and entail certain obligations of citizenship. These obligations flow in part from essential rights, and also in part from what is necessary to sustain the viability and vibrancy of the community. In Part B, we examine some of these essential obligations of citizenship. In Part C, we make recommendations about how to promote effective citizenship; these recommendations are collected after Part C under the heading “Recommendations.”     

Presidential IQ, Openness, Intellectual Brilliance, and Leadership: Estimates and Correlations for 42 U.S. Chief Executives

Individual differences in intelligence are consistently associated with leader performance, including the assessed performance of presidents of the United States. Given this empirical significance, IQ scores were estimated for all 42 chief executives from George Washington to G. W. Bush. The scores were obtained by applying missing-values estimation methods (expectation-maximization) to published assessments of (a) IQ (Cox, 1926; n =  8), (b) Intellectual Brilliance (Simonton, 1986c; n =  39), and (c) Openness to Experience (Rubenzer & Faschingbauer, 2004; n =  32). The resulting scores were then shown to correlate with evaluations of presidential leadership performance. The implications for George W. Bush and his presidency were then discussed.     

What outcomes have mindfulness and meditation interventions for managers and leaders achieved? A systematic review

No systematic review had previously been conducted examining the benefits mindfulness or meditation interventions for leaders and managers. However, the literature suggested that such interventions would have a positive impact on leaders’ own well-being, their leadership capability, their “post-conventional” leadership capacity, and their direct reports. The purpose of this study was therefore to systematically review research on mindfulness or meditation interventions for managers and leaders. Our review identified 19 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate some encouraging signs that mindfulness and meditation interventions may improve aspects of leaders’/managers’ well-being and resilience, and leadership capability, possibly including their “post-conventional” leadership, but research results are very variable in quality and strength, and there was no evidence on benefits for participants’ direct reports. The studies reviewed explored a diversity of interventions, but provided little insight into which mindfulness and meditation interventions for managers and leaders are most effective, in what context they are best applied, or for whom they are most suitable. While the sub-set of studies that measured mindfulness found that the interventions used did increase participants’ mindfulness, there was no exploration of whether improved mindfulness was the mechanism by which other positive outcomes were achieved.     

Supervisors’ relational transparency moderates effects among employees’ illegitimate tasks and job dissatisfaction: a four-wave panel study

Despite repeated calls for the inclusion of leadership in research on illegitimate tasks, little is known about what supervisors can actually do to mitigate negative effects of illegitimate tasks. We propose transparent leadership behavior as an effective means that buffers detrimental effects of illegitimate tasks. We further propose reciprocal effects between illegitimate tasks and job dissatisfaction. Based on a short panel study with four surveys across four consecutive weeks, data of 347 employees were analyzed using multiple group structural equation models. For the two facets of illegitimate tasks, results were more consistent for unnecessary than for unreasonable tasks. We found main and moderating effects in both the normal causal and the reversed causal direction for unnecessary tasks, with more consistent main effects in the reversed direction and stronger moderating effects in the normal direction: Job dissatisfaction rather led to unnecessary tasks than vice versa; while high transparency particularly buffered the effects of unnecessary tasks on job dissatisfaction. Thus, by means of transparent leadership behavior, supervisors are able to effectively intervene in the vicious circle between illegitimate tasks and employees’ job dissatisfaction and thereby benefit working conditions for leaders and followers alike.     

Transformational leadership,diversity climate,and job satisfaction in selected South African companies

This study investigated the relationship between transformational leadership, diversity climate, and job satisfaction in a selection of South African companies. Participants were a convenience sample of 263 employees from the Gauteng Province (white?=?69.3%). They completed measures for transformational leadership, diversity climate, and job satisfaction. Structural Equation Modelling analysis revealed transformational leadership to directly predict job satisfaction and diversity climate, and to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Moreover, transformational leadership directly and positively predicted quality of workplace diversity climate. Future leaders and managers should leverage an organisation’s diversity climate for job satisfaction applying transformational leadership strategies.     

Influence du leadership éthique sur l’engagement affectif et l’épanouissement psychologique : le rôle médiateur de la satisfaction vis-à-vis de l’équilibre entre domaines de vie

The inter-professional national agreement of 19 June 2013 emphasizes the role of managers in promoting quality of work life. The latter aims jointly at employees’ health and company performance due to commitment. In the present study we tested the indirect effect of ethical leadership on affective commitment and psychological flourishing via satisfaction with work–family balance. Among employees, 221 filled out a questionnaire. The results indicate, on the one hand, the positive links between ethical leadership and affective commitment and psychological flourishing, and on the other hand the mediating role of satisfaction with work–family balance in these two relationships. We provide recommendations to improve quality of work life.     

互联网连接性降低自主性的机制与后效

万物可互联了, 时间却稀缺了, 情感也耗竭了。把这三种现实工作中的趋势关联起来的关键概念是自主性：员工不能自主控制工作时间引发时间稀缺和情感耗竭。过往研究认为, 在一般情景中, 互联网连接性会增加自主性。但是, 当处于一种不对称的权力依赖关系中时, 互联网连接性反而会降低自主性。借助权力依赖理论, 相对依赖性和家长式领导监控氛围是逆转互联网连接性增强自主性的关键条件。通过引入权力依赖理论, 从一个新颖的视角探讨互联网连接性降低自主性的作用机制及其后效, 所构建的理论模型挑战了以往文献中互联网连接性增加自主性的主流理论观点, 也为互联网连接性环境下的自主性问题构建了一个新的理论基础。     

“蜜糖裹砒霜”：善意性别偏见对女性生涯发展的影响

善意性别偏见因持有者的主观好意往往难以被识别为偏见, 但会通过限制女性的角色形象和将其置于弱者地位从而巩固性别不平等的状况。近年来大量实证研究发现, 善意性别偏见从家庭教育、婚恋角色分工和职场竞争等方面挤压女性的生涯发展空间; 相比来自他人态度的直接作用, 这些消极影响更多通过女性对善意性别偏见的自我内化来实现。针对这一作用机制, 研究者们从女性感知和应对善意性别偏见的个体心理层面提出了多种理论解释。我们认为, 从女性主义心理学视角审视善意性别偏见的相关研究, 如何秉持研究立场的客观性和价值观的中立性是值得反思的问题; 女性主义心理学的最新理论发展也对性别偏见的研究趋势具有重要启示。     

资质过剩感与亲组织不道德行为：心理特权与谦卑型领导的作用

运用自我评价理论视角,并采用两阶段追踪调查问卷方法收集数据,探讨了资质过剩感与亲组织不道德行为的关系以及心理特权和谦卑型领导在两者关系中的作用机制。实证分析结果表明：资质过剩感显著正向影响心理特权,心理特权在资质过剩感与亲组织不道德行为之间起到中介作用,谦卑型领导显著负向调节资质过剩感与心理特权的关系。研究对管理实践有一定的启示,丰富了资质过剩感和亲组织不道德行为理论。