Title: Leadership - Getting to the essentials - An Analytical Research Paper
Introduction:
For this analytical research paper you have an opportunity to research and think deeply and critically about some of the essentials of leadership. Specifically, we would like you to research and think about the things that cause some individuals to emerge as informal leaders in the workplace. The goal is to learn what it takes to lead from wherever a person is in an organization rather than focusing only on what is expected of those in senior positions.
In tackling this project it may be helpful to think about colleagues with whom you have worked who do not hold formal leadership positions but who have the characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes that have caused them to emerge and be perceived by others as leaders. These are people who are recognized by and are able to influence others even though they may have little or no formal power or authority. These are the people who, for example, take initiative when others step back, who "go the extra mile," whose commitment to mission and goals is readily apparent, and/or who may make personal sacrifices to help support a teammate. You may well be one of these informal leaders. And, if you are not now, the fact that you are pursuing an MBA suggests this is likely your goal. As Robbins and Judge (2016) write, this kind of leadership - "the ability to influence that arises outside the formal structure of the organization - is often as important or more important than formal positions of influence".
Of course, it is important that you have an opportunity to think about leadership in situations and with followers that are relevant and meaningful for you. One challenge with considering situations that affect you personally is it is hard to be as objective and unbiased as expected for graduate level work. Browne and Keeley's critical thinking model, or some components thereof, should help you remember to consider alternative perspectives, look for bias in your own thinking and that of others, recognize how your assumptions and those of your sources may be influencing your positions and conclusions, and question the quality of the evidence you and your sources are presenting.
When you conduct your research you will find that this topic of emergent leadership and the questions about how, when, and why it happens have been a significant focus of scholars who have studied teams. More recently scholars interested in social networks, both internal and external to the organization, have also contributed useful insights to this topic.
II. Scenario:
Besides the above requirements to focus on informal leadership and to strive for scholarly rigor, the scenario that helps you think about this paper is yours to choose. You might write this from the perspective of a seasoned worker wishing to share important ideas with young people just joining your organization. You might write this as something you might want to include with your professional portfolio along with your résumé -- a paper that illustrates your writing, research, and thinking skills. Or perhaps this is something you might want to write for your supervisor to illustrate your understanding and readiness for a leadership position or advancement in your organization. If one of these scenarios doesn't work for you consult with us on an alternative idea that helps you think about who your likely audience might be and what it would be important for the person or people to know about leadership by those without position power.
Write your paper, using APA formatting requirements. Be sure to include a title page, an abstract, and a list of references. It is likely you will want to amend your title now that you have completed your process of discovery, reflection, and critical thinking. The length of your paper should be from 2500, not including the title page, abstract and references.
IV: Resources:
Robbins, S.P., and Judge, T.A. (2016). Essentials of organizational behavior. (13th ed.).Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Besides the chapters on leadership and power and politics, you will find useful background information in several other chapters. It is reasonable to assume that attitudes, job satisfaction, personality, values, perception, motivation, and communication may all have implications for people who emerge as informal leaders in organizations. Recall, however, that textbooks offer simple summaries of a broad array of topics and therefore should not be relied upon as primary sources for your paper.
Instead you should be relying upon articles in strong scholarly journals that publish research relevant to this topic by leading experts.
Below are a few articles that might give you some good ideas and leads. Some of these are cited by Robbins and Judge in their summaries.These are not provided as required resources. Please do not worry. You are not expected to read and cite them all. Rather, these are just suggested as potentially relevant and interesting sources and/or as leads to other work that may be useful for you.
Amos, B., & Klimoski, R. J. (2014). Courage: Making Teamwork Work Well. Group & Organization Management, 39(1), 110-128. doi:10.1177/1059601113520407
Anderson, C., & Kilduff, G. J. (2009). Why do dominant personalities attain influence in face-to-face groups? The competence-signaling effects of trait dominance. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 96(2), 491-503. doi:10.1037/a0014201
Carson, J. B., Tesluk, P. E., & Marrone, J. A. (2007). Shared leadership in teams: an investigation of antecedent conditions and performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 50(5), 1217-1234. doi:10.2307/20159921
Chan, K., & Drasgow, F. (2001). Toward a theory of individual differences and leadership: Understanding the motivation to lead. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 481-498. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.481
Côté, S., Lopes, P.N., Salovey, P., Miners, C.T.H. (2010). Emotional intelligence and leadership emergence in small groups. Leadership Quarterly, 21(3), 496-508.
Dries, N., & Pepermans, R. (2012). How to identify leadership potential: Development and testing of a consensus model. Human Resource Management, 51(3), 361-385. doi:10.1002/hrm.21473
Emery, C. (2012, October). Uncovering the role of emotional abilities in leadership emergence. A longitudinal analysis of leadership networks. Social Networks, 34(4), 429-437. Doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2012.02.001
Felfe,J., & Schyns, B. (2014). Romance of leadrship and motivation to lead. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29(7), 850 - 865 DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JMP-03-2012-0076
Harms, P.D., Roberts, B.W., & Wood, D. (2007, June). Who shall lead? An integrative personality approach to the study of the antecedents of status in informal social organizations. Journal of Research in Personality, 41(3), 689 - 699. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.08.001
Kellett, J. B., Humphrey, R. H., & Sleeth, R. G. (2006). Empathy and the emergence of task and relations leaders. Leadership Quarterly, 17(2), 146-162. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.12.003
Luria, G., & Berson, Y. (2013, October). How do leadership motives affect informal and formal leadership emergence? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(7), 995 -1015. DOI: 10.1002/job.1836
Mumford, M. D., Watts, L. L., & Partlow, P. J. (2015). Leader cognition: Approaches and findings. Leadership Quarterly, 26(3), 301-306. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.03.005
Murphy, S.E., & Johnson, S.K. (2011, June). The benefits of a long-lens approach to leader development: Understanding the seeds of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(3), 459 - 470.
Neubert, M.J., & Taggar, S. (2004). Pathways to informal leadership: The moderating role of gender on the relationship of individual differences and team member network centrality to informal leadership emergence. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(2), 175-194. Doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2004.02.006
Schuh, S. C., Hernandez Bark, A.,S., Van Quaquebeke, N., Hossiep, R., Frieg, P., & Van Dick, R. (2014). Gender differences in leadership role occupancy: The mediating role of power motivation. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(3), 363-379. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1663-9
Serban, A., Yammarino, F.J., Dionne, S.D., Kahai, S.S., Hao, C., McHugh, K.A., Sotak, K.L., Mushore, A.B.R., Friedrich, T.L., & Peterson, D.R. (2015, June). Leadership emergence in face-to-face and virtual teams: A multi-level model with agent-based simulations, quasi-experimental and experimental tests.The Leadership Quarterly, 26(3), 402 -418.