INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES, Volume 6, Issue 2 / 2011
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IN THIS ISSUE
From the Editor
Dail Fields
This issue of the International Journal of Leadership Studies continues our diverse international offerings. The diversity of the research presented by our authors offers all of us an opportunity to develop global perspectives on the role of leaders and followers in organizations. Our authors continue to bless us with excellent material, and we continue to work hand-in-hand with authors to present interesting, educational, and professional research. The diversity of topics and authors continues to provide the opportunity to present insightful alternative views on leadership processes and results
Prospective authors should take note that the IJLS now has more than 2,700 subscribers, receiving our issues free of charge via the Internet. We continue to seek new manuscripts and subscribers, so bring them on!
I’m also happy to announce that we have just renewed our listing with the Cabell Directory of Journals.
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Practitioner’s Corner | Daniel Blue
The aim of this article is to discuss the merits of organizational learning agility as it relates to organizational leadership, organizational culture, and the mindset and behavior of the organization. An extensive definition of agility and its importance is presented as a precursor to individual learner agility, leadership agility, and organizational agility. This paper outlines the characteristics of learning agile leaders and employees, how to identify them, and the role the organization must take to increase learning agility. Finally, the benefits of agile learning and leadership are presented while presenting a general view of the process of developing learning agility.
Book Review
Kent M. Keith’s The Case for Servant Leadership (2008) | Gilbert A. Jacobs
As Chief Executive Officer for the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, Dr. Kent M. Keith is an advocate of servant leadership. His advocacy for the service model of leadership is based on his experiences over the past thirty years as an attorney, state government official, high tech park developer, university president, YMCA executive and full-time speaker and author. In The Case for Servant Leadership, Keith presents a pragmatic argument for the service model of leadership and how it can help us create a better world.
Authenticity in Chinese Leadership: A Quantitative Study Comparing Western Notions of Authentic Constructs with Chinese Responses to an Authenticity Instrument | Gordon E. Whitehead & Marley Brown
A great deal of theoretical discussion exists in the literature regarding authenticity in leadership. However, empirical studies attempting to resolve data-driven factors operationalizing the construct of authenticity in leadership are scarce. In this article, the authors introduce a discussion pertaining to Chinese leadership styles and relevance to existing authenticity in leadership theories. The vast theoretical arguments regarding authenticity in leadership are synthesized into a 49-item instrument which was introduced and piloted with 200 Chinese university students. The Leadership Authenticity Rating Scale (LARS) achieved high reliability with Cronbach’s alpha of .84. Data were factor analyzed using exploratory analysis resulting in two factors contributing to the authenticity construct with reliability measures of .82 and .75 respectively. While cultural differences exist between eastern and western notions of leadership, evidence supporting the theory of authentic leadership as a part of the Chinese view of leadership is supported indicating high potential for a common definition of authenticity regardless of ethnic orientation.
The Role of Psychological Empowerment and Value Congruence in Mediating the Impact of Transformational Leadership on Follower Commitment in American Churches | Roger J. Givens
The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which psychological empowerment and value congruence with the leader mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and follower commitment in American churches. Quantitative data from 250 leaders and followers from 5 American churches were collected utilizing four instruments which measured follower commitment, value congruence, transformational leadership characteristics, and psychological empowerment. The research results revealed that transformational leadership had a statistically significant relationship with follower’s affective commitment and normative commitment and that these leadership behaviors accounted for 32.8% of the variance in the followers’ affective commitment and 31.4% of the variance in the followers’ normative commitment. The research results also reveal that psychological empowerment and value congruence partially mediated that relationship.
Barriers to Developing ‘Leadership’ in the Sultanate of Oman | Richard K Common
Very little is understood about the applicability of the concept of leadership in the Arab Gulf States in general, and the Sultanate of Oman in particular. This article considers the unique context of Oman to produce an interpretation of leadership which stands outside mainstream leadership epistemologies. Thus, there is no explicit model or theory which could be usefully tested in the Omani context. As the article explains, the cultural and institutional dominance of political leadership in the Sultanate extends to organisational behaviour. This very rich and embedded context thus provides a considerable challenge to Western based interpretations of, and normative approaches to leadership. This article is intended to provide a basis for how leadership may be developed and adapted in the Arab Gulf region in particular and in diverse managerial environments in general.
Market Orientation and Leadership Styles of Managers in Malaysia | Zorah Abu Kassim & Mohamed Sulaiman
The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between leadership styles of managers in relation to market orientation. Personal characteristics of top managers; age, education, area of specialization and executive experience are control variables. This exploratory study focuses on small and medium scale manufacturing enterprises (SME’s) in Malaysia. Market orientation is defined as; customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination (Narver and Slater, 1990). A total of 78 managers participated in this study from various manufacturing industries; engineering, electrical & electronics, packaging & paper, metals, chemicals, food and herbal based industry. These managers are managing directors, chief executive officers (CEO’s), owner-managers or executive directors of their organizations. Methodology employed is descriptive, correlation, factor and regression analysis. Findings show supportive-oriented leadership styles of top managers have a significant relationship with market orientation. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature in market orientation in relation to SME&`;s in Malaysia. For managers, it gives better understanding and insight how their own behavior and leadership styles will influence the development of market orientation in their organizations. Limitations include methodology and sample size. Recommendations for future studies suggest extending to investigate other leadership theories, longitudinal studies and variables such as actions and attitudes of manager to be investigated.
Personality Characteristics and Principal Leadership Effectiveness in Ekiti State, Nigeria | W.O. Ibukun, Babatope Kolade Oyewole & Thomas Olabode Abe
This research article investigated personality characteristics and principal leadership effectiveness in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was used to carry out this study. The population of the study consisted of all the principals and teachers of public secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The investigators utilized two sets of research instruments designated Principals’ Demographic Inventory (PDI) and Principals’ Leadership Effectiveness Inventory (PLEI) for school principals and teachers respectively. Data analyses indicated a significant difference between principals’ years of experience and their leadership effectiveness. A significant difference was found between principals’ age and their leadership effectiveness and no significant difference existed between the leadership effectiveness of male and female principals. Based on the findings, it was concluded that Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission could place high emphasis on the use of experience in the appointment of principals while gender factor could be de-emphasized as no significant difference existed between male and female principals.
Leadership Nucleus: A Discourse Analysis of Governance Dynamics in a Texas-based Nonprofit Organization | Andrei C. Duta
The National Center for Charitable Statistics (2004) notes that the U. S. nonprofit landscape includes 850,455 public charities, 104,276 private foundations, 463,714 other types of nonprofit organizations (i.e. chambers of commerce, fraternal organizations, and civic leagues that are registered with the IRS), and 377,640 congregations. As of 2004, nonprofits accounted for 8.3 percent of the wages and salaries paid in the United States. According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies (2003), the nonprofit sector is a major economic influence in the State of Texas where 1 out of every 25 paid workers is employed by a nonprofit. The 360,272 nonprofit employees in Texas earned over $8.6 billion in wages as of 2000. Considering the significant socio-economic impact of nonprofits, it is important for scholars to examine leadership dynamics that affect organizational continuity and effectiveness in the charitable sector. Nonprofits can be better understood in light of the leadership that guides these organizations. This study analyzes the discourses of leadership at DY, a nonprofit organization which provides after-school reading programs to inner-city, under-privileged children in a Texas metropolis.
Sun Tzu and Command Assessment: A Study on Commander’s Courage | David H. Hartley
Sun Tzu opened his sixth Century BCE work on the Art of War by providing assessments for evaluating 5 important components of war. Among these components was the military commander. Sun Tzu identified the characteristics of knowledge, trustworthiness, courage and strictness as the way to assess the military commander. Recent studies of courage have focused on the perceptions of courage in an attempt to develop a general courage model. This study used military veterans to provide qualitative assessments of the behaviors associated with a commander’s courage, the difference between courage and bravery, and the opposite of a commander’s courage. Results indicate that the commander’s courage presents a different behavioral mix from those behaviors identified in previous courage studies.
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