Leadership & Organization Development Journal

Ingrid Bonn

2005 Leadership & Organization Development Journal

doi: 10.1108/01437730510607844

Purpose – Following a multilevel approach, the purpose of this paper is to develop a framework of strategic thinking, which integrates the micro‐domain's focus on individuals and groups with the macro‐domain's focus on organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first defines strategic thinking, outlines its elements and examines some of the conceptual issues surrounding the construct, especially those concerning levels of analysis. The following questions are addressed. What are the characteristics of an individual strategic thinker? What are the dynamics that take place within groups and how do they influence strategic thinking? What are the contributions of the organisational context to strategic thinking? Findings – Strategic thinking at the individual level is discussed in terms of diversity in representational systems. Strategic thinking at the group level looks at heterogeneity and conflict. Strategic thinking within the organisational context examines middle management involvement, the role of organisational structure, and reward and compensation systems. Practical implications – The paper may help senior managers to develop practical interventions for improving strategic thinking in their organisations. This includes the design of appropriate selection, recruitment and development strategies as well as paying attention to group and organisational level factors that create the enabling conditions for the individual characteristics associated with strategic thinking to be utilised. Originality/value – The paper outlines a theoretical framework of strategic thinking that integrates previous fragmented research from a number of areas and disciplines into a more comprehensive theory of strategic thinking. It represents an important antecedent to strategic decision making and may provide a key to a better understanding of organisational change phenomena and, ultimately, organisational performance and survival.

David De Cremer; Daan van Knippenberg

2005 Leadership & Organization Development Journal

doi: 10.1108/01437730510607853

Purpose – To examine the psychological processes underlying the effect of leaders' self‐sacrifice on follower cooperation, that is, trust and collective identification. Design/methodology/approach – The main effect of leader self‐sacrifice was tested on people's willingness to cooperate. In addition, people's perceptions of trust and collective identification were assessed. These effects were tested using a public good experiment, and a cross‐sectional survey in a German multinational company. Findings – The findings from both the experimental study and the cross‐sectional survey showed that leader self‐sacrifice has a positive effect on cooperation (measured by contributions in a public good dilemma and organizational citizenship behavior in the survey). Moreover, perceptions of trust in the leader and feelings of collective identification mediated this effect of self‐sacrifice. Practical implications – The present finding indicates that organizations need to focus on and implement leadership styles based on self‐sacrifice. It is suggested that one possible way to do this is to train managers more effectively in how they can clearly communicate the goals that they personally value and for the achievement of which they are willing to engage in sacrificial behavior. Originality/value – This research identifies important mediators of a leadership style considered to be effective in organizations. In addition, the findings of this research also show the usefulness of both experimental paradigms and survey studies to examine the issue of leader self‐sacrifice.

M.L. Emiliani; D.J. Stec

2005 Leadership & Organization Development Journal

doi: 10.1108/01437730510607862

Purpose – To examine why most Lean transformations achieve only modest favorable results, despite years of effort. Design/methodology/approach – Comparative/evaluative discussion of efforts made by senior managers to implement the Lean management system, with commentary on a published example. Findings – Presents common obstacles and identifies common implementation errors that must be avoided in order to realize the full benefits of the Lean management system. Research limitations/implications – Illustrates the ease by which Lean transformation efforts can lead to less desirable outcomes when senior managers fail to fully grasp the implicit and explicit aspects of both task and behavioral elements of a new management system. Practical implications – Provides specific suggestions that will enable senior managers and organizations to achieve improved outcomes. Originality/value – Identifies numerous common errors made by senior managers, the rationale for why the errors have occurred, and suggests improvements for implementing the Lean management system.

David Rosete; Joseph Ciarrochi

2005 Leadership & Organization Development Journal

doi: 10.1108/01437730510607871

Purpose – This study seeks to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI), personality, cognitive intelligence and leadership effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach – Senior executives ( n =41) completed an ability measure of EI (MSCEIT), a measure of personality (16PF5) and a measure of cognitive ability (the Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence (WASI)). Leadership effectiveness was assessed using an objective measure of performance and a 360° assessment involving each leader's subordinates and direct manager ( n =149). Findings – Correlational and regression analyses revealed that higher EI was associated with higher leadership effectiveness, and that EI explained variance not explained by either personality or IQ. Originality/value – This paper establishes a link between EI and workplace measures of leadership effectiveness.

Marvin Washington; Marla Hacker

2005 Leadership & Organization Development Journal

doi: 10.1108/01437730510607880

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between managers' understanding of a specific organizational change process and their attitudes towards implementing the change. Design/methodology/approach – After a review of the current literature on the link between organizational change, knowledge of the change, and attitudes towards implementing the change, limited research was found that examined the relationship between knowledge of change and resistance to change. Then original empirical research was conducted by administering a survey to 296 managers from the Botswana Government. Findings – The results of the regression models suggest that managers who understand the change effort are more likely to be less resistant to change. Specifically, the more a manager understood the change, the more likely they were to be excited about the change, the less likely that they would think the change effort would fail, and the less likely they were to state that they wished their organization had never implemented the change. Research limitations/implications – The major limitation of our research is that the data are self‐reported. The managers themselves rated their knowledge of the change and their resistance or lack of resistance to the change. However, because the question is one where social desirability bias (a major concern of self‐reported data) would lead to no variance (all managers should have said that they understood the change) and the self‐report bias is minimal. The research implications are that a link between knowledge of the organizational change has been found, and resistance to change, adding to the literature on why individuals resist change. Practical implications – The practical implications is that senior managers need to focus more on developing checks to ensure that managers understand the change program and the implications of the change program as a way of ensuring that they, and their subordinates, understand the change program. Originality/value – The value of the study is that it is one of the first studies to empirically show a link between knowledge of change and resistance to change. The originality of the study is the dataset (managers from the public sector in Botswana) and the application (managers attempting to implement total quality techniques in a large‐scale bureaucracy).