Enabling or “real” power and influence in leadership

On the theme of personal development, this conceptual article aims to provoke thought about power and influence in leadership by means of a short excursion into character depictions in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings ( 1966 ). It is said of mythopoeic literature, the genre of Tolkien's work, that the very simplicity of the lens “pares away distractions,” “opens the way to unexpected connections, … [and] draws attention to alternative modes of being and thinking” (Greene, 1994 , p. 457). Taking the liberty of perceived applicability of Tolkien's literary genius to motifs on leadership, this article provokes thinking on what constitutes “real” power and influence in leadership. It is contended that demonstrating real power and influence in leadership lies not in coercive tactics of wielding power over others but in withholding usurping power to work with and enable others to achieve worthwhile ends. Three suggested markers of enabling or real power and influence in leadership are explored. Each one contains an element of paradox. The proposed markers suggest, in turn, that enabling or real power and influence does not usurp but serves, that it sublimates self‐interest for the interests of others and the intended goal, and that it positions for growth for the self and others and fosters true engagement in leadership. The article offers some empirical evidence as to the efficacy of the proposed markers for effective leadership and suggests a further research strategy to test the proposed markers empirically.     

Does doing “good” always translate into doing “well”? An eco‐efficiency perspective

Does doing “good” always translate into doing “well”? Debate over the “value” of corporate social responsibility is high on the agenda of corporate finance research. Deeper understanding is required on managers' incentives to pursue and implement corporate social responsibility related strategies, as is more thorough comprehension of the effect of these strategies to firms' performance levels as well as shareholder and wider stakeholder valuations of the firm. This paper provides a new lens by approaching the subject from a different methodological paradigm, grounded in the performance benchmarking methods more commonly applied in operational research. In so doing, we provide novel evidence of the effect of corporate choices on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategic investment compliance (i.e., doing good) to firms' eco‐efficiency levels (doing well). In brief, our empirical findings suggest that ESG and firm's eco‐performance are nonlinearly related. Specifically, advanced ESG policies and disclosure levels are associated with a positive affect to firms' eco‐efficiency levels, but only up to a point, after which the effect becomes “neutral,” that is, ESG demonstrates a visible pattern of diminishing marginal returns. Thus, we may humbly conclude that a firm may “do well” by doing good, but it is not clear they should ever expect to “do great” just by “doing good.” The threshold at which this “neutrality” appears varies systematically with the characteristics of the sector in which the firm is operating, as well as dimensions of board diversity. Finally, it is evident that ESG implementation choices can be a source of managerial agency problems.     

Leadership as an Ideograph: A Rhetorical Analysis of Military Leadership Training Material

The current rhetorical study used McGee's theory of ideographs to identify how cultural politics influence efforts to portray “leadership” in a military setting. Such an approach seeks to better address some of the enigmas that have complicated the understanding of military leadership—and leadership in general—for decades. McGee's theory emphasizes that language reflects political as well as referential qualities and, in some instances, these attributes come into conflict. Acknowledging this reality in an applied setting can help address ambiguous issues that escape the net of prevailing social‐science approaches to leadership inquiry. The rhetorical analysis, which examines U.S. Air Force leadership training material, documents the manner in which ideographic portrayals of leadership were pervasive in each training program, and it considers practical implications of such a situation. Most notably, the analysis provides an explanation of how ideographic portrayals of leadership implicitly emphasize cultural indoctrination over promoting social influence skills. Such an orientation fortifies the military hierarchy and perpetuates romantic views of the military profession, but it also blurs key distinctions between social control and social influence. It is suggested that because ideographs reflect vital cultural motives, associated problems are inherently difficult to remedy.     

HRM at a Crossroads: Comments on “Evolution of Strategic HRM Through Two Founding Books: A 30th Anniversary Perspective on Development of the Field”

I agree with Bruce Kaufman's evaluation of the HRM field and the danger to its relevance if change does not take place in the field's almost exclusive use of normal science, lack of focus on organizational change and development and indifference to the development of useful and usable knowledge. I use the development of the Harvard Business School's first‐ever required course in HRM and Managing Human Assets, the book that grew from the course, to illustrate why and how the strategic HRM perspective of the book emerged. I go on to argue that we do not need more proof that HRM practices are associated with financial performance. The best CEOs already believe this, though they need knowledge and practices that will enable them to develop a positive sustainable HRM system. HRM research, both normal and action science, must answer the question of how a “great” HRM system—practices, leadership, organization design, culture, and change processes—might be developed over time (its takes years) and how great companies can avoid the liquidation of intangible assets in the face of pressures for short‐term performance. I describe my own work to illustrate the future direction HRM should take methodologically and conceptually. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Teaching Leadership Through a Cultural–Psychological Lens

Leadership education is in a unique position at the college level. The study of leadership is both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, and is often found in different academic departments at different institutions. The educational aspect of leadership is often overlooked, leaving many college teachers with an opportunity to further develop their pedagogy and practice. In the current paper, a cultural–psychological approach to leadership education, grounded in a review of prominent educational psychologist and educator Jerome Bruner's (2008) book The Culture of Education, is presented. The educational framework along with implications as to how this approach adds value to curricular design and classroom instruction in the undergraduate leadership studies classroom are provided.     

“But we can't go back”

In 2004, a provincial cancer agency in Canada developed and implemented a provincewide Leadership Development Initiative (LDI) to enhance organizational leadership and relationships. Research using a quasi‐experimental survey design determined whether LDI implementation influenced the emotional health and leadership practices of LDI participants. An ethnographic approach (18 focus groups and 13 individual interviews) explored participants' perceptions of the LDI. This article presents qualitative findings that contribute to understanding the statistically significant findings of increasing levels of cynicism, emotional exhaustion, and burnout for most LDI participants. The LDI was regarded as a critical strategy for helping leaders grow and cope with change and help in changing organizational leadership culture to be more collaborative and inclusive. However, an organizational history of short‐lived, flavor‐of‐the‐month development initiatives and growing skepticism and disengagement by leaders represented in the themes of Catch‐22 and “there is no going back” contributes to understanding why these quantitative measures increased. Few studies have explored the hypothesis that real organizational development happens through a series of planned stages. In this study, leaders experienced escalating frustration because change was not seen to occur fast enough in “others” and reported that this was necessary before they would alter their own behavior. Leadership development programs in general need to reflect the reality that it takes considerable time, patience, and effort to effect fundamental change in leadership culture.     

Repugnance for “menial jobs”

A man's sense of well-being and meaningfulness in work is not so much a matter of external circumstances—the kind of job he has—as it is of his deepdown belief that he is a worthy human being. If he lacks that, any job can seem dissatisfying and “menial.” Executives may suffer from this (or related behaviors) as much as assembly-line workers.     

Developing a measurement approach for reputation of non‐profit organizations

• As a result of the increasing adoption of private sector firms' values and concepts, non‐profit organizations (NPOs) are becoming more and more aware of intangible assets' importance for achieving competitive advantages. Even though reputation can be considered an organization's central intangible asset, there is still no appropriate measurement approach for reputation in this context. In this paper, we identify the dimensions of NPO reputation and develop indices to measure these components. We develop a model by means of a qualitative inquiry and a quantitative study using a large‐scale sample from the German general public. We find support for a two‐dimensional measurement approach comprising an affective and cognitive component as well as four antecedent constructs (“quality,” “performance,” “organizational social responsibility (OSR),” and “attractiveness”). The results of a second quantitative study in which we examine NPO reputation's relationship with important outcome variables, such as willingness to donate or work as an honorary member, provide support for the measurement approach's stability as well as criterion validity. Furthermore, the results reveal the affective dimension's importance regarding positively influencing donor behavior.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy-Transition Education in a Power Systems Journey: Making the Invisible Visible and Actionable

We describe an approach to educating for systemic change in energy systems by integrating technical knowledge of solutions with reflection on paradigms and norms, facilitated by experiential and art-based forms of learning. The course, “Power Systems Journey: Making the Invisible Visible and Actionable,” is part of the University of Minnesota interdisciplinary grand-challenge curriculum. Students take on the challenge of public science communication about how to change the electric-grid system (from power generation to consumption) as part of an energy transition to respond to climate change. The course integrates electrical engineering, history of science and technology, systems thinking, design thinking, paradigms, art, humanities, science communication, storytelling, experiential learning, and the creation of GIS story-maps and museum exhibits. The design context and elements of the course are described and include: the grand challenge of the energy transition itself, the context of energy-transition education, the nature of the grand-challenge curriculum, the collaborative and teaching philosophy, the role of students, the interdisciplinary course framework, the special focus on the role of arts and humanities in energy education, and the course-curricular structure, which uses the “Earth Systems Journey” curriculum model. The centerpiece of the article describes the “Power Systems Journey” experience in narrative form to match the pedagogical approach of the course using artwork examples from students as they investigated the grid. The article concludes with reflections from students and teachers on what the course offers and where to go from here.     

Leadership learning: Crucial conversations,next steps,and thoughts for consideration

Forty years ago, the questions most discussed among those who cared about leadership were “is leadership possible among those who don't have titles and positions?”; “what are the characteristics possessed by effective leaders?”; and “how do we find the people who are the best leaders and help them prepare for positions that will allow them to have an impact?” After many conversations, conferences, research studies, and books, the terrain has shifted among scholars. Now the conversations focus on questions such as “If leadership is a shared responsibility among members of groups, how can the full leadership potential of all be cultivated?”; “What role do collaborators play in empowering positive leadership and defending against those who misuse it?”; and “How can organizations cultivate cultures that support and encourage visionary leadership dedicated to benefitting all?” The shift in the questions that leadership educators now explore, coupled with the breadth and variety of the initiatives dedicated to nurturing it, demonstrate that leadership can be taught. More importantly, the practice of leadership demonstrates that many can pursue leadership and that they must if the opportunities of the 21st century are to be fulfilled. The conversations and the needs for leadership have both shifted and it is now incumbent on those who value leadership most to agree to unifying perspectives that can draw us together in common purpose. From your vantage point, what are the crucial conversations, next steps, and/or thoughts for consideration as we enter the second decade of the 21st century?     

Arts and Leadership: Vision and Practice at the IEDC‐Bled School of Management

In 2012 the Association of MBAs (AMBA) nominated IEDC‐Bled School of Management as one of the four most innovative MBA programs from the more than 700 schools accredited by the association. This recognition stems from IEDC’s history of being a disruptive innovator and the entrepreneurial drive of the school, its founder Professor Danica Purg, and many other collaborators from around the world. One shining emblem of this is the school's groundbreaking work in the use of the arts in business education. The nod from AMBA was a recognition of the integration of the arts within IEDC’s management and leadership development programs. From its inception IEDC has incorporated cultural, artistic, and esthetic activities in its degrees and other programs. Over the last decade this has become a core activity across most programs. The development stems from IEDC’s belief that education dominated by functional knowledge alone cannot prepare contemporary leaders for the challenges they face in an increasingly complex world. The belief is lived every day at IEDC. Described as “a creative environment for creative leadership,” its faculty boasts not just finance, accounting, and marketing, but professionals from the arts, social sciences, and humanities. Its architecture is designed to inspire, and the large collection of original art that adorns its campus deepens students’ thinking and reflection.     

Narrative pedagogy,technology, and curriculum transformation in nursing education

More than 100 years ago, John Dewey, a major influence in American education, argued for the need to “stimulate the spirit of inquiry into actual fact” (Dewey, 2002, p. 118). The debate among politicians and educators about the structure, purpose, and goals of education and inquiry continues. Yet the world has changed, largely because of widely accessible and versatile technologies. We are unclear how Dewey's spirit of inquiry will grow, die, or reinvent itself through boundaryless tools of inquiry such as the Internet, but the technology is here and will not disappear while educators debate best methods. Twenty‐first‐century society demands new ways to learn and understand, and these new ways of learning require new ways of teaching (McPheeters, 2009/2010). For many students, especially the younger generations, technology intertwines with almost all daily activities, including social contact. Many educators lag behind the technological curve and express frustration at the challenge to shift their educational paradigms toward increasingly technological means of communication and interaction, or entertain “virtual realities” as legitimate educational forums. The purpose of this symposium is to examine the role of technology in transforming higher education. The goal is to seek best methods of using technology more effectively to educate learners for the 21st century. The shifts in society's focus and the characteristics of learners going into the future are also critical, and part of this discussion.