An examination of the relationships between leadership style, quality, and employee satisfaction in R&D versus administrative environments

Academics and executives argue that effective leadership is a key predictor of R&D success as well as quality management. Recent research highlights transformational leadership as a highly effective style shown to predict performance in organizations. However, no study examined the role of transformational and transactional leadership in building quality climate in R&D versus non-R&D settings. We examined the relationship between leadership style and the establishment of a quality environment in an R&D setting based on an empirical study of 511 research engineers and scientists. It is found that both transformational leadership and transactional contingent-reward leadership are related to the establishment of a quality environment in the R&D part of a telecommunications firm. However, the impact of transactional contingent-reward leadership ceases to be significant once both leadership styles are considered simultaneously using structural equations. A transformational leadership style was also found to be related to employee satisfaction.     

Benevolent leadership and follower performance: The mediating role of leader–member exchange (LMX)

This study examines leader?Cmember exchange (LMX) as a mediator of the relationship between benevolent leadership and follower task performance and extra-role performance. Using a sample of 223 leader?Cmember dyads in a nonprofit organization in the People??s Republic of China, results indicate that benevolent leadership and LMX are positively related to follower task performance and organizational citizenship behavior towards the organization (OCBO). Findings also support that LMX partially mediates the relationship between benevolent leadership and follower task performance as well as fully mediates the relationship between benevolent leadership and OCBO. Implications for the theory and practice of leadership in Asia are discussed.     

Collusion and leadership

The paper explores the role of price or quantity leadership in facilitating collusion. It extends the standard analysis of tacit collusion by allowing firms to make their strategic choices either simultaneously or sequentially. It is shown that price leadership indeed facilitates collusion by making it easier to punish deviations by the leader. In case of pure Bertrand competition, price leadership restores the scope for (perfect) collusion in markets where collusion would not be sustainable otherwise. When firms face asymmetric costs or offer differentiated products, price leadership can also enhance the profitability of collusion—in case of asymmetric costs, the less efficient firm must act as the leader. Finally, such leadership is less effective in case of Cournot competition since, following an aggressive deviation by the leader, the follower would rather limit its own output, making it more difficult to punish the deviation. Still, quantity leadership may enhance collusion when it is already somewhat effective in a simultaneous move setting.     

First among Equals: The Effect of Team Leader Characteristics on the Internal Dynamics of Cross‐Functional Product Development Teams*

Drawing on the path‐goal theory of leadership, the present study examines the effect of team leader characteristics on an array of conflict resolution behavior, collaboration, and communication patterns of cross‐functional new product development (NPD) teams. A hierarchical linear model analysis based on a survey of 246 members from 64 NPD teams suggests that participative management style and initiation of goal structure by the team leader exert the strongest influence on internal team dynamics. Both these leadership characteristics had a positive effect on functional conflict resolution, collaboration, and communication quality within the NPD team while discouraging dysfunctional conflict resolution and formal communications. Comparatively, team leader's consideration, initiation of process structure, and position had a surprisingly weak effect on internal team dynamics. Further, the findings underscore the differential effects on various dimensions of team dynamics, the importance of controlling for project and team characteristics, and the use of multilevel modeling for studying nested phenomena related to NPD teams. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Ownership structure, family leadership, and performance of affiliate firms in large family business groups

Utilizing the agency viewpoint, this research attempts to shed light on the issue of family leadership by examining ethnic Chinese family business groups in Taiwan. The study examines the performance implications of this kind of leadership under the ownership structure concern. The research results indicate that the ownership structure of the affiliate firm influences the likelihood that family leadership will be used. Specifically, if the founding family owns more direct ownership of the affiliate firm, the family will be likely to appoint a family leader at the affiliate firm. However, when the founding family has a greater degree of pyramidal ownership of an affiliate firm, family leadership will be less likely at that affiliate firm. Additionally, family leadership mediates the relationship between ownership structure and affiliate firm performance in a family business group. Family leadership positively affects the effect of direct family ownership on affiliate firm performance but does not significantly affect the negative relationship between pyramidal ownership and affiliate firm performance. The implications of these findings for future research on leadership in family business groups are discussed.     

Female leadership in contemporary Chinese family firms

Drawing on a case study of a three-generation family business, this paper explores the antecedents and consequences of female leadership in contemporary Chinese family business. Our findings suggest that institutional change in contemporary China affects the role of female family members in the family system, which eventually gave rise to female leadership in China’s family businesses. We also propose that in comparison to male leadership, female leadership in Chinese family business is more concerned with balancing work-family conflict; more dependent upon the family’s endowment of resources; and more likely to favor a participative (rather than authoritative) decision-making style.     

A multi-level study of emergent group leadership: Effects of emotional stability and group conflict

Based on theories of self-organization and group evolution, we propose and test a multi-level model of emergent leadership in work groups. We investigated in particular how individual trait emotional stability (emotional disorder threshold, emotional resilience) and perceived group conflict (task conflict, relationship conflict) affect the awareness of emerging as a group leader. Based on data from 230 employees in 56 work groups in eight Chinese firms, and analyzed using structural equation and hierarchical linear modeling, the results support the idea that emotional stability is positively related with emergent leadership, but negatively with group task and relationship conflict. We also found that group task and relationship conflict moderated associations between emotional stability and emergent leadership, although the moderating effect of relationship conflict was marginal. The implications of the findings for theory relate to the relevance of self-organization and group survival theory for understanding leadership emergence. From a practical perspective, our findings suggest that mangers can expect leadership in conflicted groups to emerge from more emotionally stable group members.     

Managerial stereotypes in Singaporean subsidiaries of multinational corporations

The responses of 365 managers from 34 Singaporean subsidiaries of multinational companies are used to profile the stereotypes these individuals hold of each other. The managers' replies to 18 semantic differential items show greater agreement on each other's managerial performance and style between expatriate and local managers in British corporations than in Japanese corporations. The results from American corporations are between these two. Stereotyping has been shown to be a very common phenomenon in international relationships (Davidson and Thomson, 1980). Despite some recognition of the importance of stereotyping in international business situations (Hays, 1972), very little empirical work has been conducted into the general process of stereotyping in multinational corporations (viz. Stening and Everett, 1980; Whitehead and King, 1973). Even less research has been conducted on the stereotypes held by expatriate and local personnel in multinational corporations of their own group (auto-stereotypes) and of other groups (hetero-stereotypes). This study examines the auto-stereotypes and hetero-stereotypes held by expatriate and local managers in Singaporean subsidiaries of British, Japanese and American corporations. It is apparent from the comparative management literature that there are differences in attitudes and behaviour among managers from these countries (Haire, Ghiselli, and Porter, 1966; Ronen and Kraut, 1977). There is insufficient basis, however, for anticipating variations among them in terms of their auto-stereotypes and their hetero-stereotypes. This exploratory study presents evidence on the nature of those variations.     

A model of R&D leadership and team communication: the relationship with project performance

Industrial research and development (R&D) involves the processing and transformation of new knowledge into a commercially valuable outcome. Communication is an effective mechanism to translate, share and integrate new information into commercial products or processes. We developed a five-factor model of team communication comprising: leadership role performance, team boundary spanning, communication safety, team reflexivity and task communication and tested the model using a one-year longitudinal study. Analyses were conducted on team level data from 56 teams, comprising 350 employees. Independent measures of project performance were obtained from surveys of research managers as well as project customers. Three findings emerged. Different factors predicted different stakeholders' ratings of project performance. Communication safety was the strongest predictor of customer ratings of performance. Boundary spanning is most effective when performed by the project leader not the team.     

Bidimensional vertical differentiation

In markets where product quality is important, more than one characteristic is usually necessary for producers to define product quality. Standard theory maintains that: (i) in a duopoly there will be a quality leader no matter whether the product can incorporate one or two vertical attributes; (ii) differentiation pertains only to one attribute. By contrast, in our set-up, there are also equilibria where the quality leader is better in two attributes, and others where there is cross leadership, namely a situation where each firm designs a product to dominate the other in one characteristic. Applications to Minimum Quality Standards and tax (subsidy) on quality products are sketched, showing spill-over effects from one to the other quality dimension.     

A survey of women managers in Taiwan: Perceptions and perspectives

More open governmental and industrial policies have changed business operations dramatically in Taiwan in the past few years. There are now more women managers than there were just a few years ago. Currently, the growing body of research on women employees has been discussed in many diverse publications, but data on female managers in Taiwan are scarce. The purpose of this study is to conduct a regional survey to solicit women managers' perceptions of today's working environment in Taiwan. Variables employed to measure the perceptions of overall workplace were: qualification/credential, compensation, colleagueship, leadership style/role of supervisor, sexual harassment, corporate policy, advancement on the job, and demographic profile. The targeted sample group was made up of 500 women managers who were executives in a wide range of the private sector in the metropolitan Taipei area. Two hundred and eight of the 215 questionnaires returned were included in the analysis.     

Effective Control of New Product Projects: The Interaction of Organization Culture and Project Leadership

In all organizations where technological innovation plays a key role, a state of creative tension exists between those responsible for technological development of new products and the organization's need to satisfy customer demands. The need to maintain a balanced state of tension is clear. When the balance swings too far in the direction of technological development, technological wizardry runs amok. When it swings too far in the direction of satisfying customer demands, innovativeness can be stifled and technological stagnation can result. Maintaining a state of creative tension is important, then, for producing viable and technologically innovative products. A key task confronting managers, therefore, is fostering innovation while at the same time controlling and channelling it to meet the business needs of the organization. Perhaps nowhere is this need greater than in the new product development process. Edward McDonough and Richard Leifer report the results of a study which suggest that this task may be accomplished by relying on a bounded delegation style of project leadership and a culture which emphasizes a business orientation.     

基于内容分析的服务型领导维度研究

服务型领导自20世纪70年代末提出以来,学者们对服务型领导的维度进行了深入而有益的研究。但是,目前学术界和实业界对服务型领导的维度并没有形成共识。文章采用内容分析的方法以寻求服务型领导维度研究的共同关注焦点．通过对1991年-2009年间国内外学者提出的服务型领导维度进行分析和整理．最后得到了出现频次在10次及以上的5个维度：服务员工,共谋愿景,授权员工,信任员工,发展员工,这些雏度是服务型领导区别于其他领导风格的显著特征。     

Strategy implementation: A comparison of face-to-face negotiations in the peoples republic of China and the United States

Crucial to every business alliance are the face-to-face negotiations that occur during the formulation and maintenance of the commercial relationship. Our study of American and Chinese businesspeople in simulated intracultural negotiations suggests both similarities and differences in style. For example, negotiators in both cultures were more successful when taking a problem-solving approach. Alternatively, the Chinese negotiators tended to ask many more questions and to interrupt one another more frequently than their American counterparts. Such subtle differences in style may cause problems in Sino-American negotiations, which may, in turn, sour otherwise fruitful commercial alliances.     

The emergent role of value representation in managing business relationships

This paper explores value processes, their effects, and their management in business relationships. Over time, scholars progressively moved their interest from the value of the objects exchanged to the value of business relationships. However, how value is related to interactive processes that characterize business relationships still remained unclear. With this scope, the paper brings to the fore recent studies on the role of actors' perceptions of value and the interactive features of the business context. The empirical research involves 77 interviews carried out over two years with actors internal and external to the Mikron Tool's business network, a Swiss leader in manufacturing high-precision tools. The study shows that four key value processes – value creation, value communication, value measurement, and value appropriation – determine specific consequences that must be managed to achieve effective business relationships. Moreover, empirical evidences highlight the relevance of value representation in affecting the four value processes. The study contributes to an improved understanding of value management in interactive and interdependent business contexts. Also, it draws attention to the need for a better integration between the traditional economic view of value and recent insights from the fields of organizational psychology and sociology.     

The distinctive effects of dual-level leadership behaviors on employees’ trust in leadership: An empirical study from China

The loss of trust within and between organizations has become serious worldwide, especially in China. In this study, we seek to explain why as well as how leaders at two different levels (i.e., the top management and the supervisory levels) affect employees?? trust in leadership at the two levels distinctively, especially in the context of China as an emerging economy. Adopting the perspective of multi-level social exchanges within organizations, we develop a dual-level model with perceived organizational support and leader?Cmember exchange as two major mediating mechanisms for the distinctive effects of transformational leadership behaviors on employees?? trust in leadership at both top management and supervisory levels, respectively. The empirical evidence based on a sample of 357 Chinese employees and their supervisors supports the proposed model. Both theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

Weighted individual perceptions and the productivity and innovativeness of research groups

The output of Research and Development (R & D) work groups was characterized along the two dimensions of productivity and innovativeness. Differential weightings of individual perceptions were used to arrive at a group score of those perceptions. Perceived leader behavior and work group differentiation were related to both output measures.     

When Will Employees Embrace Managers' Technological Innovations? The Mediating Effects of Employees' Perceptions of Fairness on Their Willingness to Accept Change and its Legitimacy

Innovation researchers have thoroughly discussed how attitudes toward innovation influence people's intentions to use it. Most prior research tried to explore employees' acceptance of technological change through the lens of change initiators; however, using a manager's or the “great man's” perspective to explain change recipients' reaction to an innovation is indirect and peripheral. This paper argues that innovation should be studied directly from the perspective of change recipients, and that their perceptions of fairness in the wake of an innovation become a key factor in their willingness to accept it. More specifically, this paper argues that the recipients' fairness perceptions mediate the impact of innovation characteristics (operationalized as “usefulness” and “ease of use”) and implementation approach on their acceptance and belief in the legitimacy of the innovation. Two studies investigated the hypothesized mediating effects of procedural fairness/outcome fairness. The field study was conducted in a real‐world technological innovation setting, but raised questions about whether the causal effect of the mediating model really existed. The scenario study was conducted in a semi‐experimental condition which had high internal validity and guaranteed the cause–effect relation. Hence, the research design of the two studies complemented each other. The multiple regression analyses using the criteria proposed by Baron and Kenny were used to test the mediating models in the paper. Moreover, both Sobel tests and bootstrapping methods were used to guarantee that the mediating paths do exist among the independent variables, mediators, and the dependent variables. Both the field study and the scenario study showed that most of our hypotheses were supported, and change recipients had strong psychological reactions to the innovation and how the innovation was implemented in terms of fairness perceptions. Change recipients' perception of procedural and outcome fairness mediated the impact of innovation characteristics and implementation approach on their acceptance of the innovation and the perceived legitimacy of the innovation. The results disclosed that the change recipients' fairness perceptions were a key step for their sense‐making process of an innovation and its implementation. The results also indicated that studying change from recipients' perspective, as well as trying to understand their fairness perceptions, can broaden our knowledge about change. Other theoretical and practical implications were also discussed.     

Assessing Student Perceptions of Real Estate Careers

In selecting a career, students seek to maximize expected satisfaction. Expected satisfaction is a function of perceptions of the relative level of critical attributes possessed by a career area. This paper uses multidimensional scaling to produce a perceptual space to analyze the perceived similarities and dissimilarities of eight business career areas for a group of students and identify the attributes critical to these perceptions. With respect to those attributes most critical to perceptions, real estate careers were perceived as providing relatively high economic potential, low prestige, low entry difficulty and little career predictability. Information such as in this study provides a baseline for career counseling as well as eliminating possible distortions in perceptions of real estate careers.     

Classifying relationships across cultures as successful and problematic: Theoretical perspectives and managerial implications

There is increasing interest in the theoretical and practical challenges that managers face in having to deal with the multiple dualities inherent in managing a portfolio of different business relationships. A number of relationship portfolio models have been developed which use a wide range of criteria for categorizing relationships. The research reported here takes a different approach by identifying the key process and/or outcome elements which managers use to distinguish between successful and problematic relationships, and also offering a comparison of the managers' perceptions across three different countries. The aim is to contribute to the development of more robust management thinking and action. Managers in the United Kingdom (UK), France and Finland were found to think about relationships in terms of both process and outcome variables. Whilst the outcome variables used to discriminate between successful and problematic relationships vary slightly across countries, it was found that they all used the process variables of trust and problem resolution.