Transformational leadership research : issues and implications 9781845443825, 9780861769537

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Volume 17 Number 2 2004

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Journal of

Organizational Change Management Transformational leadership research: issues and implications Guest Editor: Badrinarayan S. Pawar

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Journal of

ISSN 0953-4814

Organizational Change Management

Volume 17 Number 2 2004

Transformational leadership research: issues and implications Guest Editor Badrinarayan S. Pawar

Access this journal online __________________________ 119 Editorial advisory board ___________________________ 120 Abstracts and keywords ___________________________ 121 Editorial __________________________________________ 123 Introduction _______________________________________ 125 The emotional bond: vision and organizational commitment among high-tech employees Taly Dvir, Naama Kass and Boas Shamir ___________________________

126

Transformational leadership, self-efficacy, group cohesiveness, commitment, and performance Rajnandini Pillai and Ethlyn A. Williams ____________________________

144

The transformational leader: who is (s)he? A feminist perspective Ronit Kark ____________________________________________________

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS continued

Transformational leadership and team performance Shelley D. Dionne, Francis J. Yammarino, Leanne E. Atwater and William D. Spangler _________________________________________

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The transformed leader and spiritual psychology: a few insights S.K. Chakraborty and Debangshu Chakraborty________________________

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Sensemaking of change in the managed care era: a case of hospital-based nurses Julie Apker_____________________________________________________

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Book review_______________________________________ 228

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Journal of Organizational Change Management Vol. 17 No. 2, 2004 p. 120 # Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0953-4814

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD James Barker HQ USAFA/DFM Colorado Springs, USA David Barry University of Auckland, New Zealand Jean Bartunek Boston College, USA Dominique Besson IAE de Lille, France Steven Best University of Texas-El Paso, USA Michael Bokeno Murray State University, Kentucky, USA Mary Boyce University of Redlands, USA Warner Burke Columbia University, USA Adrian Carr University of Western Sydney-Nepean, Australia Stewart Clegg University of Technology (Sydney), Australia David Collins University of Essex, UK Cary Cooper Manchester School of Management, UMIST, UK Ann L. Cunliffe California State University, Hayward, USA Robert Dennehy Pace University, USA Eric Dent University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, USA Alexis Downs University of Central Oklahoma, USA Ken Ehrensal Kutztown University, USA Max Elden University of Houston, USA Andre´ M. Everett University of Otago, New Zealand Dale Fitzgibbons Illinois State University, USA Jeffrey Ford Ohio State University, USA Jeanie M. Forray Western New England College, USA Robert Gephart University of Alberta, Canada Clive Gilson University of Waikato, New Zealand Andy Grimes Lexington, Kentucky, USA Heather Ho¨pfl University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK Maria Humphries University of Waikato, New Zealand

Arzu Iseri Bogazici University, Turkey David Jamieson Pepperdine University, USA Campbell Jones Management Centre, University of Leicester, UK David Knights Keele University, UK Monika Kostera School of Management, Warsaw University, Poland Terence Krell Rock Island, Illinois, USA Hugo Letiche University for Humanist Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands Benyamin Lichtenstein University of Hartford, Connecticut, USA Stephen A. Linstead Durham Business School, University of Durham, UK Slawek Magala Erasmus University, The Netherlands Rickie Moore E.M. Lyon, France Ken Murrell University of West Florida, USA Eric Nielsen Case Western Reserve University, USA Walter Nord University of South Florida, USA Ellen O’Connor Chronos Associates, Los Altos, California, USA Cliff Oswick King’s College, University of London, UK Ian Palmer University of Technology (Sydney), Australia Michael Peron The University of Paris, Sorbonne, France Gavin M. Schwarz University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Abraham Shani California Polytechnic State University, USA Ralph Stablein Massey University, New Zealand Carol Steiner Monash University, Australia David S. Steingard St Joseph’s University, USA Ram Tenkasi Benedictine University, USA Tojo Joseph Thatchenkery George Mason University, Fairfax, USA Christa Walck Michigan Technological University, USA Richard Woodman Graduate School of Business, Texas A&M University, USA

The emotional bond: vision and organizational commitment among high-tech employees Taly Dvir, Naama Kass and Boas Shamir Keywords Transformational leadership, Organizational behaviour, Employees attitudes The new transformational leadership theories stress the emotional bond between leaders and followers, as opposed to the cognitivecalculative exchange emphasized by traditional transactional theories. However, very little empirical research has concentrated on the effects of transformational leaders on emotion- versus cognition-focused aspects of their followers’ world. This study tested the relationships of vision, a common theme to all of the prominent new leadership theories, to the emotion-focused affective commitment (AC) versus the cognitionfocused continuance commitment (CC) to the organization. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 183 high-tech employees. The quantitative results confirmed that vision formulation, content of social-oriented values, and assimilation were positively related to AC to the organization, and unrelated to CC. The qualitative evidences deepened our understanding on the positive relationships of a balanced transcendental and realistic content of the vision and a high level of sharedness in vision assimilation processes to affective organizational commitment.

Transformational leadership, self-efficacy, group cohesiveness, commitment, and performance Rajnandini Pillai and Ethlyn A. Williams Keywords Transformational leadership, Self development, Fire services, Autonomous work groups We tested a model proposing that transformational leaders build committed and high performing work groups by enhancing employee self-efficacy and cohesiveness. Questionnaires were completed by 303 fire department personnel following preliminary in-depth interviews with fire rescue personnel. After accounting for missing data, 271 responses were included in our data

analysis. Results indicated support for the theoretical model in comparison to three alternative models that were considered. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.

Abstracts and keywords

121 The transformational leader: who is (s)he? A feminist perspective Ronit Kark Keywords Transformational leadership, Gender, Feminism As women increasingly enter leadership roles that traditionally have been occupied by men, and with the increasing diffusion of transformational leadership theory, there is growing interest in the relationship between gender and transformational leadership. A wide array of feminist theories that have emerged in the last decades offer conceptual lenses, which can enrich an understanding of the role of gender in the organizational context and the study of leadership. This paper explores how various approaches in feminist thought intersect with the study of gender and transformational/charismatic leadership. I reviewed earlier studies with reference to the different feminist approaches, demonstrating how each reveals a different facet in the understanding of gender and transformational leadership. Finally, I point to the perspectives that have been neglected in this stream of research and offer directions for future research.

Transformational leadership and team performance Shelley D. Dionne, Francis J. Yammarino, Leanne E. Atwater and William D. Spangler Keywords Transformational leadership, Team working, Team performance Despite transformational leadership enjoying success and attention as an exceptional leadership theory, few scholars have investigated a specific link between transformational leadership theory and team performance. As such, we discuss how transformational leadership theory can provide a framework in which to investigate

Journal of Organizational Change Management Vol. 17 No. 2, 2004 Abstracts and keywords # Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0953-4814

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a leader’s impact on team performance. We posit that idealized influence/inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration could produce intermediate outcomes such as shared vision, team commitment, an empowered team environment and functional team conflict. In turn, these intermediate outcomes may positively affect team communication, cohesion and conflict management. Implications for team development, team training and team structure are presented. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

The transformed leader and spiritual psychology: a few insights S.K. Chakraborty and Debangshu Chakraborty Keywords Transformational leadership, Ethics, Ideologies (philosophy) This paper presents both conceptual insights and practical examples about spiritually transformed leadership. The Yoga-Vedanta spiritual model is its anchor. Some profound Western thinkers, besides Indian realizers, have provided clues relevant to this approach. This paper explores a much wider vista for transformational leadership beyond business success or political strategy. Transformed leaders are the cause, transformation of followers the effect.

Sensemaking of change in the managed care era: a case of hospital-based nurses Julie Apker Keywords Organizational change, Nurses, Decision making, Patient care This study explores how nurses working in a large, metropolitan hospital make sense of the managed care change. Findings from 24 nurse interviews suggest that nurse sensemaking has generated interpretations of managed care change that are grounded in the caregiving role. Study results show that nurses view managed care with ambiguity. Nurses understand managed care change as instrumental in encouraging collaboration and affecting patient care quality. Implications are drawn regarding the importance of identity construction to the sensemaking process and illustrate the paradox of change in the managed care era. Although nurses view collaboration and professional empowerment as positive outcomes of managed care, further analysis reveals that these values function ideologically, promoting managed care concerns over worker interests. Concertive control – a team-based process which shifts organizational control from management to employees – is explored as a way that workers act in accordance with management decisions and uphold traditional power structures.

Editorial A change in editor-in-chief of a journal devoted to change, is neither a change of heart nor a change in academic rigour. Since the first issue appeared in 1988 this journal has covered a long way from a small independent publication for an alternative stream of critical management studies to an established academic journal for respectable opposition to the mainstream managerialism in organizational and managerial sciences. The history of JOCM has been to a large extent shaped by critical views of David Boje, who had contributed in a significant and passionate way to the development of a platform for exchanging views which would have been neglected or suppressed in the mainstream academic publications. Meanwhile, he managed to do so without sacrificing academic quality – our acceptance rate went down from 60 to 9 per cent, which means that we had passed the threshold of 90 per cent rejection rate. We are also firmly embedded in the international network of academic libraries, both physical and virtual. We are grateful to David Boje for creating a critical forum on postmodern theory, large system and international change, critical management studies, environmental entrepreneurship, gender and diversity issues and fads and foibles of a dominant managerialism, including the ambiguities of empowerment, seductive re-enchantment of consumption, the role of microstorias in deconstructing organizational narratives, and tackling the major problems of globalization, participative democracy and the role of institutionalised interests in articulating academic knowledge. However, we are also forced to consider our ambiguous position of established alternative, respectable rebels and empowered critics. Change of editorial board took place during the annual conference of the International Academy of Business Disciplines, which, together with the Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism (SCOS), and Critical Management Studies school has supplied one of the three alternative global networks (alternative, that is, to the Academy of Management in the USA and to European Group for Organizational Studies – EGOS, which have evolved into the platforms of the academic establishment in sciences of management) [1]. The role and position of the European Academy of Management, whose fourth annual conference is taking place in St Andrew’s in May 2004 is still unclear, though some of the editors and collaborators of JOCM are involved in shaping its theoretical and political future. Continuity has been preserved because of the editorial board, whose members have been contributing to the journal, editing special issues and collaborating with David Boje in the past. Most of us would agree that the academic cold war between the dominant managerialist doctrines and the alternative schools of critical inquiries has resulted in a dominant policy of containment and isolation of alternative movements, which are being marginalized and neutralized in the

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academic, social and political context. However, since the present university academics, following most citizens in contemporary societies, cannot stay put in the trenches of paradigmatic cold wars, we will have to be more outspoken in making tacit polemic against other paradigms more explicit, especially as the neo-neopositivist and market-evolutionary ones are concerned. I hope to invite response of their representatives in JOCM and response of our authors in the citadels of their academic power. Last but not least, with a change of geographical location of the editor-in-chief from southern USA to northern Europe, we have triggered, I hope, a long march of the JOCM through all continents. Who is next? Meanwhile, let me ask all of you, our readers, authors, reviewers, editors, guest editors, potential authors, potential readers and friends – please do continue to support us, to write for us, to review for us and to help us making the academic study of organizational change less one sided and monopolistic, and the world of academic research communities more flexible, better equipped for the forthcoming changes in demand for rapidly deployable knowledge and skills. Slawek Magala Professor – Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, E-mail: [email protected] Note 1. Needless to say, memberships overlap: JOCM is strongly supporting the Organizational Development and Change division of the Academy of Management in the USA, and EGOS conferences are always planned before or after SCOS conferences to allow researchers to visit both of them. Tacit understanding that paradigmatic war axes have to be buried has never been totally lacking in a scientific community (no matter what Kuhnians might argue).

Introduction About the Guest Editor Badrinarayan Shankar Pawar received his PhD from Oklahoma State University. He has taught in the USA and Hong Kong. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad, India). He has published, as an author or a coauthor, in Academy of Management Review, Long Range Planning, the Best Paper Proceedings of the Academy of Management and Leadership and Organizational Development Journal. His current research interests include transformational leadership and employee extra-role behaviors. E-mail: [email protected]

This special issue on “Transformational leadership research: issues and implications” of Journal of Organizational Change Management received a total of 12 manuscript submissions from scholars located in six nations. I am thankful to the authors and reviewers for their participation in and support for this knowledge promotion activity. The review process resulted in the acceptance of five manuscripts. The sixth manuscript included in this special issue (titled “Sensemaking of change in the managed care era: a case of hospital-based nurses”) was suggested by JOCM’s editor as being complementary to the other papers in subject area and theme of the special issue. The call for papers indicated, that “The proposed special issue of JOCM will focus on identification of important issues emerging from the research on transformational leadership and on exploration of research avenues for addressing them”. However, the process of receiving, assessing and shaping/rejecting manuscripts resulted in what could be termed as “a focus on transformational leadership” as no special attention could be paid to integrated identification of important issues in transformational leadership research. The accepted manuscripts, individually, focus on the issues in transformational leadership research that are related to their topics and outline a research effort undertaken by them for addressing those issues. Based on their research effort, they also identify issues for future research and some of them outline possible approaches for addressing them. Manuscript length was required to be restricted to 7,000 words though, two manuscripts exceeded a little while preparing the final versions of manuscripts. Collectively, the manuscripts accepted through the review process cover both conceptual and empirical approaches to the study of transformational leadership. They also address a range of issues such as intervening processes between transformational leadership and group level outcomes, intrapersonal spiritual transformation of the transformational leader, differential effects of transformational leadership component of vision on affective and cognitive aspects of employee attitudes (commitment) and views of transformational leadership process from different feminist perspectives. In closing, kindly allow me to express my prayer that this humble effort to contribute to human knowledge in general and theory of transformational leadership in particular renders at least some service to merciful God and the scholarly community. Badrinarayan S. Pawar

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The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister

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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0953-4814.htm

The emotional bond: vision and organizational commitment among high-tech employees Taly Dvir Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Naama Kass and Boas Shamir Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel Keywords Transformational leadership, Organizational behaviour, Employees attitudes Abstract The new transformational leadership theories stress the emotional bond between leaders and followers, as opposed to the cognitive-calculative exchange emphasized by traditional transactional theories. However, very little empirical research has concentrated on the effects of transformational leaders on emotion- versus cognition-focused aspects of their followers’ world. This study tested the relationships of vision, a common theme to all of the prominent new leadership theories, to the emotion-focused affective commitment (AC) versus the cognition-focused continuance commitment (CC) to the organization. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 183 high-tech employees. The quantitative results confirmed that vision formulation, content of social-oriented values, and assimilation were positively related to AC to the organization, and unrelated to CC. The qualitative evidences deepened our understanding on the positive relationships of a balanced transcendental and realistic content of the vision and a high level of sharedness in vision assimilation processes to affective organizational commitment.

Journal of Organizational Change Management Vol. 17 No. 2, 2004 pp. 126-143 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0953-4814 DOI 10.1108/09534810410530575

Traditional, transactional leadership focuses on followers’ cognition, whereas the “new leadership theories” (Bryman, 1992) emphasize the emotional attachment of followers to the leader and organization (George, 2000; Koh et al., 1995). Nonetheless, there has been surprisingly little empirical research focusing on the relationships between transformational, charismatic, or visionary leadership and followers’ emotions in general (see Bono and Ilies (2002) and Lewis (2000) for exceptions) and on comparisons of follower affect-focused versus cognition-focused attitudes in particular (see Bycio et al. (1995); Kane and Tremble (2000) for exceptions). Therefore, the present study explored the leader-follower emotional bond suggested by the new leadership theories among business leaders and followers using quantitative and qualitative data. Specifically, we examined the relationships between vision formulation, content, and assimilation and affective versus continuance commitment (CC) to the organization.

Vision: formulation, content, and assimilation The creation and implementation of a vision is the main technique that transformational leaders use to inspire followers to perform exceptionally well (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999; Baum et al., 1998). A vision may provide an interpretive frame of shared meaning for the organization members (Holladay and Coombs, 1994). Articulation of a vision by charismatic leaders presents goals in terms of the values they represent. These values are ones that are difficult to justify on pragmatic or narrowly rational grounds. Instead, they represent transcendental or transrational ideals. Doing so makes action oriented toward the accomplishment of these goals more meaningful to the followers’ self-concepts (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1995; Shamir et al., 1993). By focusing attention on a meaningful vision, the leader operates on the emotional and spiritual resources of the organization, rather than on its physical resources (Bennis and Nanus, 1997). Some scholars have conceptualized vision as a multidimensional construct that includes several components. First, vision formulation is the creation of a vision, which is often viewed as the starting point for the leader’s efforts to transform followers, groups, or organizations (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999). For example, according to Conger and Kanungo (1998, p. 54), “charismatic leaders are not just similar others who are generally liked . . . but similar others who are also distinct because of their idealized vision.” According to Larwood et al. (1995), top strategic leaders can, or should be able to, clearly state their vision for their organizations. Several empirical investigations (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999; Holladay and Coombs, 1994; Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1996) showed that a leader’s visionary versus non-visionary message affected perceptions of the leader’s effectiveness. It is the ability of executives to be perceived by organizational members as having such a vision, and not the mere existence of such a vision (Baum et al., 1998; Larwood et al., 1995), that is important. Therefore, in the present study, vision formulation is defined as the employees’ perceptions that the CEO has a clear organizational vision. The second aspect of the vision is its actual content. A viable vision does not, in itself, ensure desirable social outcomes (Strange and Mumford, 2002). Yet, very few studies examined the implications of vision content (Berson et al., 2001). Most writers agree that the vision content should contain ideal, utopian, or transcendental elements (Conger and Kanungo, 1998). For a vision to be compelling, it should be ideological, that is, stated in terms of values (House, 1995). Surprisingly, no attempt has been made to isolate the effects of a value-oriented content of vision and to explore the more attractive types of values. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the perceptions of the organization’s employees that the organizational vision is value-laden. Third, the extent to which the vision is perceived as shared by all of the organization members is labeled here as vision assimilation. For many writers a shared vision is an important component of an organizational vision

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(House, 1995; Youngdahl et al., 1998). For example, Bennis and Nanus (1997, p. 99) claim, “Leaders are only as powerful as the ideas they communicate”. Therefore, the leader may be a genius at generating, synthesizing, and articulating new views of the future, but this makes a difference only when the vision has been successfully communicated throughout the organization and effectively institutionalized as a guiding principle. The visionary image must be “claimed” or “owned” by all the important actors in the organization and must become a part of a new social architecture in the organization. The strategy literature supports this view. According to Oswald et al. (1994), a strategic vision must be salient for participants. For a vision to be salient, organizational members must feel that a clear vision has been articulated; that the leadership of the company shares the vision; and that the vision is appropriate. To conclude, because vision is assumed to affect followers’ emotions, we propose that vision formulation, value-laden content, and assimilation are related to affect-focused and unrelated to cognition-focused attitudes of employees toward their organization. A central effect of leaders on followers is reflected in the bond between the followers and the organization (Shamir et al., 1993). We therefore, examined the relationships between the above-mentioned vision components and followers’ organizational commitment. Vision and organizational commitment Organizational commitment represents the psychological link between the employee and his or her organization, and is currently widely recognized as a multidimensional work attitude (Allen and Meyer, 1996). Allen and Meyer’s three-component model differentiates between affective commitment (AC), CC, and normative commitment (NC). AC refers to the identification with involvement in, and emotional attachment to the organization. CC is based on the employee’s recognition of the costs associated with leaving the organization, and is a function of the extent to which employees assess the personal sacrifices associated with leaving the organization and of their awareness of the available job alternatives. Finally, NC is based on a sense of obligation to the organization. An essential difference between these forms of commitment concerns the affect- versus cognitive-based linkage between the employee and his or her organization. A substantial body of research (Allen and Meyer, 1996) showed that AC is an affect-focused attitude toward the organization that represents the emotional bond between an employee and his or her organization. Conversely, CC is a cognitive-focused attitude that reflects the calculative dimension of the linkage between employees and their organization. NC is based on obligation, not affect; yet, it is expected to overlap somewhat with AC. The purpose of the present study was to differentiate between affect- versus cognitive-focused attitudes. Therefore, only the extremes (i.e. affect versus cognition) of AC and CC were considered.

Effective leaders are expected to generate higher levels of organizational commitment, as Hodgkinson (1983) in Shamir et al. (1993) phrased, “Their art is to manufacture ethics to give life through commitment to the spirit of the organization (p. 583)”. Therefore, it is expected that transformational leaders will generate a higher level of organizational commitment through their visions (Bass, 1985; Bennis and Nanus, 1997). Shamir et al. (1993) elaborated on the specific type of commitment that charismatic leaders are expected to evoke. Although labeled “moral” commitment, Shamir et al. actually refer to the affective unconditional bond between charismatic leaders and their followers, which is clearly differentiated from CC: “When we speak about commitment in the context of charismatic leadership, we refer to unconditional commitment – internalized ‘personal’ or ‘moral’ commitment ( Johnson, 1982). This is a motivational disposition to continue a relationship, a role, or a course of action and to invest efforts regardless of the balance of external costs and benefits and their immediate gratifying properties (p. 7)”. Very few studies (Bycio et al., 1995; Judge and Bono, 2000; Kane and Tremble, 2000; Koh et al., 1995) have confirmed the positive relationships between transformational leadership and AC. We are unaware of any study that examined the relationships between various vision components and affect- versus cognitive-focused attitudes, despite previous recommendations to isolate the effects of different components of transformational leadership (Dvir et al., 2002) and of vision (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1996). H1. CEO’s vision formulation is positively related to followers’ organizational AC and unrelated to their CC. H2. Value-oriented content of the CEO vision is positively related to followers’ organizational AC and unrelated to their CC. H3. Vision assimilation is positively related to followers’ organizational AC and unrelated to their CC. H4. Vision’s formulation, value-oriented content, and assimilation, each has a distinctive contribution to the explanation of followers’ AC. Method Design and sample A field study was conducted among 183 employees in six Israeli high-technology firms. At the firm level, we controlled for industry (high-tech firms), size (a maximum of 75 employees), age (no firm was older than 10 years), and CEO position (firms in which the formal CEO actually runs the daily operations), by holding them constant. Questionnaires were administered to all of the employees in these six firms. The overall response rate was 80 per cent. Out of the 183 respondents, 66 per cent were men, 58 per cent were married, and 80 per cent had an academic degree (undergraduate, graduate, or PhD). The average age of the respondents was

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32.6 ðSD ¼ 7:95Þ and their average tenure in the organization was 15.7 months ðSD ¼ 11:7Þ: At the individual level, the following potential control variables were examined: family status, having children, age, tenure in the organization, and ownership of firm stocks or options. Measures Independent variables. The CEO’s vision formulation was assessed with seven items from Podsakoff et al. (1990) and from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Bass, 1985). Sample item: “[The CEO of this organization] has a clear understanding of where we are going”. Exploratory factor analysis produced one factor ða ¼ 0:082Þ: The value-oriented content of the vision was evaluated with eight items that were developed for the present study. We selected the most common nine values that were expressed in the Web sites of 200 Israeli high-tech firms. Factor analysis revealed two factors. The first factor contained mostly social-oriented values (fairness, personal relationships and a family-oriented climate, contribution to the community and social responsibility, mutual assistance and team work, personal and professional development; these values loaded on the factor 1 with coefficients that ranged between 0.467 and 0.795 and less than 0.317 on factor 2), and the second factor included achievement-oriented values (devotion and loyalty to the organization, coping with challenges, excellence, and success, a ¼ 0:7; these values loaded on the factor 2 with coefficients that ranged between 0.510 and 0.881 and less than 0.252 on factor 1). Although the value of personal and professional development was loaded (0.725) on the social-oriented values’ factor, there was little content validity for its inclusion in this factor. After omitting this item, a was 0.72. Respondents were asked to rate how frequently the CEO mentions these values. Because we concentrated on vision as formulated by the firm CEO, we assumed that the values emphasized by the CEO to his employees in any communication channel reflect the most important values in his vision. Vision assimilation was assessed with three items ða ¼ 0:83Þ developed by Oswald et al. (1994) to assess employees’ perceptions of vision clarity, sharedness, and appropriateness. Sample item: “To what extent is the vision guiding change in the organization is appropriate?” Dependent variables. AC was gauged with five items ða ¼ 0:7Þ and CC with four items ða ¼ 0:65Þ from Allen and Meyer’s (1990) measure. To ensure a high response rate, few items were omitted from the original scales, according to their loading on their respective factor as reported by Allen and Meyer (1990) and by Hackett et al. (1994). Exploratory factor analysis of these items detected two factors that reflected AC and CC. The response scale for all variables ranged from 1 to 5 [1]. Procedure At Phase 1, we reviewed approximately 200 Web sites of Israeli high-tech firms. Sixty (30 per cent) firms fit the initial criteria and an e-mail that asked for

their cooperation was sent to their CEOs. Twenty CEOs (33 per cent) asked for additional information. Nine CEOs agreed to participate, of which three cancelled. Therefore, the final sample included six firms. Qualitative data were collected at Phase 2, in which we conducted 1.5-2 h semi-structured interviews with all of the firms’ CEOs. We content analyzed the interview transcripts according to themes suggested by the material itself. We attempted to arrive at what Lee (1999) has labeled “meaning condensation”, that is, to extract, abridge, or abstract the most important themes from the data. According to Boyatzis (1998), thematic analysis involves seeing a pattern or a theme in seemingly random information, giving it a label, and interpreting the pattern. The first and second authors independently conducted the content analysis. After each author generated the most prominent themes that emerged from the interviews’ transcripts, they met for the purpose of consensus reaching. The possibility of potential experimenter bias was reduced by the fact that no preliminary hypotheses guided the qualitative analysis. At Phase 3, we administered questionnaires to all the employees in each firm. The mean percentage of usable questionnaires out of the total number of employees in all of the six firms ðN ¼ 299Þ was 62.1 per cent. Levels of analysis of qualitative and quantitative data In defining our level of analysis, we relied on the assumption that leader-follower relationships may theoretically exist at various levels (Klein et al., 1994; Yammarino and Dubinsky, 1994). It is possible that the individual perception of each employee of the characteristics of his or her organizational vision affects the employee’s commitment. It is also possible that the organizational vision, as expressed by the CEO, affects the mean organizational commitment. Therefore, from a theoretical point of view, our constructs have meaning and could be examined at both the individual and organizational levels of analysis. In the present study, concentrating solely on the individual or the organizational level of analysis may have had methodological advantages as well as shortcomings. We therefore, decided to supplement the individual-level quantitative analysis, which was susceptible to a potential common-source common-method bias, with an organizational-level qualitative analysis of the six participating firms. Our rationale was that a combination of two levels of analysis and two methods of data analysis would be particularly useful in studying the richness of a multidimensional, under-researched construct such as vision. Quantitative results Preliminary analyses of control variables We computed Pearson’s correlations between the control variables and AC and CC. The results showed that marital status, having children, and ownership of firm stocks/options were related to AC (r ¼ 20:214; p , 0:01; r ¼ 20:163;

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p , 0:05; r ¼ 20:202; p , 0:01; respectively). None of the control variables were correlated with CC. To isolate the effect of each variable, we performed a multiple regression of AC on these control variables. The regression analysis revealed that the relationship remained significant only for owning firm stocks/options (t ¼ 22:202; p , 0:05). We therefore controlled this variable in hypothesis tests. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations Table I shows that the correlations between the various vision components were all positive and significant. Some common variance between the vision components is expected, yet, the correlations were not higher than 0.48 (23 per cent of the explained variance), which indicates a reasonable level of discriminant validity between these variables. The correlation between AC and CC was insignificant. Furthermore, significant positive correlations were detected between all of the vision components and employee AC, whereas there were no significant relationships between these vision components and CC. H1-H3 were confirmed. Multivariate relationships between vision components and organizational commitment To examine the distinctive relationships of the vision components with AC, we conducted multiple regression analysis, with owning firm stocks/options as a control variable. Owning stocks/options were entered at the first step and the vision components were entered in the next step. The additional variance in AC explained by the vision components altogether, after controlling for ownership of stocks/options, was 36 per cent ðp , 0:0001Þ: Additionally, this procedure enabled us to test the relationships between each vision component and AC while holding the others constant. Table II shows that CEO vision formulation, vision assimilation, and a social-oriented value content of vision were each positively and significantly related to AC. An achievement-oriented value content of vision was unrelated to AC. H4 was confirmed.

Variablea

Table I. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations

CEO vision formulation Vision assimilation Vision content: achievementoriented values Vision content: social-oriented values AC CC Notes: an ranges between 180

M

SD

1

1.96 2.12

0.63 0.76

0.43***

1.97

0.67

0.48***

2.75 0.86 2.34 0.87 3.51 0.74 and 183, and

2

3

4

5

0.40*** 0.37*** 0.12

0.39*** 0.10

2 0.03

0.25***

0.44*** 0.33*** 0.49*** 0.40*** 0.01 2 0.05 *** p, 0.0001.

Qualitative evidences: a thematic analysis The thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998; Lee, 1999) of the interviews with the CEOs exposed two main themes; the first is related to vision content and the second to its assimilation.

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The transcendental dimension of vision content: from realism to utopianism Most writers agree that a vision content should contain some value-oriented, ideal, utopian, or transcendental elements (Bennis and Nanus, 1997; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Kotter, 1990). Our quantitative analysis confirmed that social-oriented values were positively related, whereas achievement-oriented values were not uniquely related, to AC. It is reasonable to assume that social-oriented values represent the more transcendental dimension of vision content, as compared to a more realistic dimension emphasized by achievement-oriented values. Our qualitative analysis revealed additional dimensions on which more transcendental versus realistic contents differentiated between our firms according to their mean level of AC. ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference between the firms’ AC means (F ¼ 3:91; p , 0:01) (Table III). We list below the dimensions that were detected in our thematic analysis and add the sporadic references mentioned in previous literature that are related to each dimension. Revolutionary attitude. Sashkin (1988) suggested that dealing with change, that is, the ongoing, never-ending search for new and innovative breakthroughs, is one of the prominent themes in a vision’s content. Innovate’s and Medicom’s CEOs clearly expressed a revolutionary attitude: “We can just make a total revolution in this area” (Medicom). Yet, simultaneously, these CEOs were aware of reality constraints for their revolution to actualize: “Physicians and medical systems must be conservative, they are dealing with human lives . . . you have to prove things . . . it will take time. . .” (Medicom). The CEOs of Transnet, Cellufun, and Infocom focused on a more cautious attitude: “I always insisted on writing that we are going to be a leading provider and not the leading provider, because I wasn’t sure if I can realize it” (Transnet). Pointec’s CEO could not even realize the added value of

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Variablea

R2

Constant Owning firm stocks/options 0.041 CEO vision formulation 0.280 Vision assimilation 0.313 Vision content: achievement-oriented values Vision content: social-oriented values 0.357 Notes: an ¼168; *p , 0.05; **p , 0.01; and ***p , 0.001

DR 2 0.041 0.239 0.034 0.043

t

B

3.580*** 2 2.965** 3.600*** 2.281* 1.431 2.548**

0.817 2 0.336 0.361 0.171 0.126 0.176

Table II. Multiple regression of AC on vision components

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the firm’s product: “If the company’s vision is to penetrate to a number of big organizations with solutions that have an added value, we haven’t discovered it yet, but we have some hunch . . .” Confidence, enthusiasm, and optimism. Berson et al. (2001) found that the theme of optimism and confidence was the most salient among the themes used

134 Confidence, enthusiasm, Dimension/ Revolutionary and Time Self-versus Firma attitude optimism orientation others’-benefit Firms with high level of AC Revolution + Very Innovate (M ¼ 2:04)b awareness to high + reality realism constraints

Medicom (M ¼ 2:10)

Table III. Transcendental dimensions in vision content: a qualitative comparison of CEOs’ interviews

Revolution + awareness to reality constraints

Financial success as goal versus result

Prominent values

Infinite + Self (CEO, employees) short and others’ term (customers, society)

Result

Social + achievement Benefit for society/country Customers’ welfare Employees’ welfare Pleasant climate Employees’ self-actualization Creativity, innovation Cooperation Excellence Profitability

Very high Infinite + Self + realism short term (employees) and others’ (customers, society)

Result

Social + achievement Benefit for society/ country Customers’ welfare Employees’ welfare Employees’ self-actualization Openness to ideas Creativity Personal example Quality Leading firm Profitability (continued)

Financial Confidence, success enthusiasm, as goal Dimension/ Revolutionary and Time Self-versus versus Firma attitude optimism orientation others’-benefit result

The emotional bond Prominent values

Firms with medium level of AC Infocom Incremental Moderate (M ¼ 2.17) revolution

Short – 2 Self years (employees)

–

Mostly achievement Employees’ welfare Professionalism Service Cooperation Autonomy Competition Learning organization Leading firm

Cellufun (M ¼ 2.25)

Moderate revolution

Moderate to high

Short – 1 Self (CEO, year employees)

Goal

Mostly achievement Employees’ welfare Cooperation Modesty Openness to ideas Personal example Leading firm Profitability

Transnet (M ¼ 2.44)

Moderate revolution

Moderate

Medium – Self 5-6 years (employees) at most

Vague

Mostly achievement Employees’ self-actualization Pleasant climate Openness Autonomy Personal example Professionalism Leading firm

Low

Short – 1 Self (mostly year CEO)

Goal

Only achievement For CEO: power and recognition For employees: Money

Firm with low level of AC Pointec Low to (M ¼ 3.01) moderate revolution

Notes: aHypothetical firm names are used; and ba lower value indicates a higher level of AC.

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Table III.

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to define the inspirational strength of a vision statement. Innovate’s and Medicom’s CEOs expressed very high levels of confidence, enthusiasm, and optimism: “We are now developing a product . . . that one day you will also be checked by it, because all of the population will be checked by it, every man and woman from 50 years old and above will go through this check-up” (Innovate). At the same time, these CEOs were also realistic: “I am indeed a very realistic person, not just a dreaming entrepreneur” (Innovate). The CEOs of Transnet, Cellufun, and Infocom expressed more moderate levels of optimism: “The pragmatists understand that what will determine this firm’s future is not my vision for the next 4 years, but the reality of the next two years” (Transnet). On the other extreme, Pointec’s CEO showed very little confidence in the firm’s future: “I don’t know what will happen. I just don’t know . . .” Time orientation. Being future-oriented is a central attribute of every vision (Berson et al., 2001; Strange and Mumford, 2002). The CEOs of the firms with the highest AC ratings stood out by expressing an infinite time horizon for their firms: “I see something infinite, I can see something that never stops” (Innovate). On the other hand, Medicom’s and Innovate’s CEOs were also aware of the short-term needs: “But we are trying to live in the range of the next three, four, five years . . .” (Medicom). All other CEOs presented a more limited time horizon, ranging from 1 to 6 years: “I build this firm to last 5 or 6 years, it may be sold along the way” (Transnet), and “The time range is about a year” (Pointec). Self- versus others’ benefit. Socialized leaders focus on the betterment of society or social institutions, whereas personalized leaders focus on the enhancement of personal power (Strange and Mumford, 2002). In our interviews, in the first category, the socialized leadership extreme, the CEOs gave a central place to the benefit of others, such as, the human society, the country, or the customers: “a substantial part of the vision is to do it in Israel . . . it will contribute to our society” (Medicom), “for me vision is to bring medical products to this world, to solve problems” (Innovate). At the same time, the CEOs of Medicom and Innovate did not neglect their own interests or their employees’ interests: “I am a very creative person and this is a type of creation. . . so, for me personally, it is also very satisfying” (Innovate). In the second category, the CEOs of Transnet, Cellufun, and Infocom concentrated on the benefit of intra-organizational constituencies, such as shareholders or employees: “Vision is ‘let’s build the organization properly,’ let’s build an organizational culture. . . a homey atmosphere” (Cellufun). In the personalized leadership extreme, the CEO of Pointec concentrated on his own self-benefit: “. . . you ask what the vision will provide. . . recognition and recognition is power. This is what I am looking for. Recognition.” Financial success as goal versus result. Collins and Porras (1994) found that one of the characteristics of visionary firms is their dialectic perception of

pragmatic idealism, that is, they are mainly guided by a sense of meaning and purpose that go beyond profits per se, but paradoxically they become very profitable. This perception was manifested by the CEOs of the firms that were rated highest on their employees’ AC, financial success was very important for them and for their firms, yet, it was not perceived as the main goal, but as a result: “The one hundred million dollars are not the dream, simply not. The one hundred or five hundred millions are the result” (Medicom). On the other extreme, for Pointec’s CEO: “The vision is that the very rich organizations will understand the potential of our product and will be ready to pay for it a million or two.” Prominent values. Many writers agree that since the vision of the leader is ideological, it should be stated in terms of values (House, 1995). The majority of our CEOs articulated clear values for their organizations (Table III). These values differ in the relative importance associated with self- versus others-beneficial values and with social- versus achievement-oriented focus. Medicom’s and Innovate’s CEOs gave central place to social values but did not neglect achievement-oriented values, whereas the CEOs of Transnet, Cellufun, and Infocom mostly emphasized achievement-oriented values. Only Pointec’s CEO did not mention any values that he would like his firm to be build around: “And she [the secretary], all she wants is a 500 NIS addition to her salary, don’t talk to me about big things, I don’t understand this language . . .” (Pointec).

The sharedness dimension of vision assimilation: from execution to ownership Our quantitative analyses confirmed that vision assimilation was positively related to employees’ AC. However, our interviews allowed a deeper insight into the various ways in which the CEOs assimilated their vision within the organization’s employees. Ownership. Innovate’s and Medicom’s CEOs perceived their employees as the ultimate owners of the organizational vision. Even if the vision was originated by the CEO, his objective was to make his workers owners of the vision: “My job is to make them [employees] believe that it is their dream altogether, not mine” (Medicom). Procedural partnership. Infocom’s CEO chose to involve his workers in the envisioning process mainly by initiating vision-building workshops. However, it seems that the CEO is connected to this process more from its procedural side than from its substantive side: “Question: What are the values they the workers chose in these workshops? Answer [searching in his drawer]: I can show you the six values, I can even show you which values were chosen in each of the three workshops,” “There is another sentence that is related to the workers. . ., which is actually the third part . . . wait, let me recall what it was . . .,” or “vision is something that you must aspire to all the time, this is what I once studied.”

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Hierarchical partnership. Transnet’s and Cellufun’s CEOs chose to involve their workers in the vision through a limited number of senior managers. These senior workers, labeled by Cellufun’s CEO – “the kitchenette,” were the CEO’s partners for the envisioning process and were perceived as owners of the vision: “I think that their partnership in the vision is expressed by their level of responsibility. You can’t make decisions in a forum of 10-12 people. Such a forum is too big. There are always 2-3 people with whom you want to consult . . . Question: And they are the senior managers? Answer: Yes. There are 3-4 people that are here from the start and they are high-level managers” (Cellufun). Execution. Finally, Pontec’s CEO believes that he is the sole owner of the firm’s vision; employees are merely vision executors: “We are lucky to have few visionary people around, their number is probably close to one, and he sits in front of you,” and “Question: I know that some of the workers left your former firm to work with you here. Did they have any part in it? Answer: No! Absolutely not! No offence . . . they were like sheep.” Discussion Our results supported the important role of vision, a widely agreed-upon tenet of the new leadership theories, in the emotional versus cognitive bond between employees and their organization. We showed that a vision, which is formulated by the CEO, saturated with social values, and shared by the organization’s employees, is positively related to the employees’ organizational AC and unrelated to their continuance-calculative commitment. Each of these vision components had a unique relationship with employees’ AC. Our results enabled a deeper insight into the multidimensional, complex construct of vision. First, the CEO’s visionary leadership has been heralded as an important ingredient for the success of his or her organizations (Tichy and Devanna, 1986). Strategic management theory has also suggested that some characteristics of top managers’ leadership make a difference in strategy formulation and performance (Hambrick and Mason, 1984). Only a few writers (Collins and Porras, 1994) have doubted the importance of the CEO role in building a visionary firm. These writers put more emphasis on the organizational architecture than on the role of a specific leader. Our results illuminated the importance of employees’ perceptions that their CEO has a clear vision for the organization in order to feel emotionally attached to their organization. Secondly, despite the fact that many leadership authors (Conger and Kanungo, 1998; House, 1995) emphasized the centrality of a value-laden vision to followers’ attitudes and effectiveness, we are unaware of any study that empirically investigated this assumption. Our quantitative results confirmed that the more the vision is saturated with social values, the higher the

employees’ organizational AC. Conversely, an emphasis on achievement-oriented values was unrelated to employees’ AC. These findings are in line with the assumption of several scholars (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1995; Shamir et al., 1993) according to which visionary leaders who state organizational goals in terms of transcendental values contribute to the emotional attachment of employees to their organization. Future research would benefit from exploring the distinctive outcomes of social- versus achievement-oriented values expressed in the organizational vision. Moreover, our qualitative analysis showed that the vision contents of the firms in which employee AC was the highest, were dialectic in nature. Several writers implied that such a delicate balance between the transcendental or dreamlike and the realistic defines the uniqueness of vision as compared to close constructs such as strategy, goal, or objective. For example, Tichy and Devanna (1986) referred to vision as a conceptual roadmap, Bennis and Nanus (1997) emphasized a realistic attractive future, Kotter (1990) proposed that a good vision is both desirable and feasible, and Holladay and Coombs’ (1994) definition emphasized a possible and desirable future. Conger and Kanungo (1998, p. 66) placed a central emphasis on this dialectic nature of vision content and claimed, “vision represents an embodiment of a perspective shared by followers in an idealized form that is highly discrepant from the status quo yet within a latitude of acceptance”. It can be seen that the delicate tension between the extremes of the realistic, feasible, or possible roadmap that lies within the followers’ latitude of acceptance at the one hand, and the conceptual, attractive, discrepant, and desirable at the other hand, is embedded in many references to effective vision content. Our content analysis of the CEOs interviews confirmed this proposition and its positive relationships with employees’ AC. The CEOs, whose firms received the highest AC ratings, expressed a dialectic content in each of their vision’s themes – they presented a revolutionary attitude yet, awareness to reality constraints; they were highly confident, enthusiastic, and optimistic yet, realistic; they had infinite time orientation yet had specific short-term plans and goals; they emphasized both self and others’ benefits; they saw the importance of financial success, but viewed it as a result and not a goal; and they emphasized both social- and achievement-oriented values. There was less balance between the transcendental and the realistic elements in the visions’ contents among the CEOs whose firms received more moderate AC ratings. They expressed some transcendental elements in their visions’ contents, but put greater emphasis on the realistic elements. The CEO of the firm that received the lowest AC ratings emphasized almost exclusively realistic contents. We therefore conclude that the ability to include transcendental elements in the vision’s content, on top of the realistic elements, is a central feature of vision content that is positively related to the emotional bond between the employees and their organization.

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Finally, several writers stressed the importance of a vision that is shared by the organization’s members (Bennis and Nanus, 1997; House, 1995). Surprisingly, the effects of this central dimension of vision assimilation have earlier received little examination. Our quantitative results confirmed that the higher the level to which the vision is assimilated within the organization’s employees, the higher their AC to the organization. Moreover, our qualitative analysis showed that sharedness might be manifested in various ways ranging from ownership to procedural and hierarchical partnership to execution. Future research may benefit from exploring additional types of vision sharedness that contribute to its assimilation throughout the organization, and therefore to organizational outcomes. We assumed that both the individual perception and the organizational levels of analysis are relevant to the study of the relationships between vision and commitment. However, our sample of firms was too small for an organizational level quantitative analysis, but enabled individual-level quantitative analysis and organizational-level qualitative analysis. The main weakness of the quantitative results is a potential single-source single-method bias. However, the likelihood of such a bias is reduced by the fact that distinct patterns of results were detected with regard to AC versus CC. The shortcoming of our qualitative results is that we could rely on only one source of information to characterize the organizational vision, namely, the firms’ CEOs. In combination, however, these two methods complemented each other; each providing a complementary angle on the relationships between vision and commitment, as recommended by several leadership scholars (Bryman et al., 1996). To strengthen causal interpretation and to better control for inflated relationships among variables, future research should attempt replication with more rigorous field experimental designs using multi-source multi-method quantitative data and/or use larger samples of organizations to enable quantitative analysis at the organizational level. Furthermore, to gain more insight on a multidimensional variable such as vision, future studies should collect qualitative data from various sources (e.g. interviews with employees, observations on leader-followers’ interactions, more sustained involvement in the field, etc.). Moreover, the organizational features in our sample are not unique to the high-tech industry. Emphasis on cutting edge technology, short product life cycles, high proportion of knowledge workers, need for close and open communication between the research and development, manufacturing, and marketing functions, volatile environment, and global operations (Koberg et al., 1994) characterize many organizations. Yet, future research should replicate the present results in other types of organizations. To conclude, this study deepened our understanding of the ways in which visionary leadership contributes to the emotional bond between the employees and their organizations. The results showed that the leader’s vision is a

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The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister

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144 Received September 2002 Revised September 2003 Accepted December 2003

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0953-4814.htm

Transformational leadership, self-efficacy, group cohesiveness, commitment, and performance Rajnandini Pillai Department of Management, College of Business, California State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, California, USA

Ethlyn A. Williams Department of Management, International Business and Entrepreneurship, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA Keywords Transformational leadership, Self development, Fire services, Autonomous work groups Abstract We tested a model proposing that transformational leaders build committed and high performing work groups by enhancing employee self-efficacy and cohesiveness. Questionnaires were completed by 303 fire department personnel following preliminary in-depth interviews with fire rescue personnel. After accounting for missing data, 271 responses were included in our data analysis. Results indicated support for the theoretical model in comparison to three alternative models that were considered. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.

Journal of Organizational Change Management Vol. 17 No. 2, 2004 pp. 144-159 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0953-4814 DOI 10.1108/09534810410530584

The attacks of 11 September 2001 brought into sharp focus the role of firefighters in times of crisis. Perceptions of firefighter heroism were magnified as people witnessed several acts of self-less leadership by firemen and women in New York and Washington. Some have suggested that one of the biggest challenges that the fire service faces in the 21st century is effective leadership aimed at retaining fire service men and women (Murphy, 1999). Others have examined the importance of leadership interventions to train fire department leaders who are then perceived as role models by the fire fighters and who work to reduce stress in one of the most stressful jobs in America (Beaton et al., 2001). Leadership researchers in recent years have accumulated a large body of evidence in support of leadership models such as transformational and charismatic leadership (House and Shamir, 1993). However, few of these studies have explored or tested the many networks of linkages proposed to explain how the transformational leadership process works and this has been particularly disappointing to researchers of this promising leadership paradigm (Bass, 1995). Some exceptions in this regard are work by Shamir et al. (1993) who proposed a linkage between charismatic leadership and

followers’ self-efficacy and self-concept and others who have shown a linkage Leadership, between transformational leadership and justice, trust and collective self-efficacy and self-efficacy (Dirks and Ferrin, 2002; Jung and Sosik, 2002; Podsakoff et al., cohesiveness 1990). This study focuses on the processes that may explain how transformational leadership affects outcomes in the context of a fire department. We propose 145 that perceptions of follower self-efficacy and work group cohesion play an important role in the relationship between transformational leadership and outcomes such as commitment and performance. Earlier research has shown that leader-subordinate and peer-peer relationships play an important role in the development of burnout among fire-fighters which, in turn, affects their ability to deliver effective services in life-threatening situations (Reichel, 1996). We argue, in this study, that when transformational leaders emerge in such contexts or appointed leaders are trained to engage in transformational leadership interventions, they will motivate their subordinates to higher levels of service and commitment. Our conceptualization of transformational leadership is consistent with the prevalent literature that transformational leaders influence followers to higher levels of commitment and performance by articulating a vision, fostering the acceptance of group goals and developing individual group members to reach their highest potential (Podsakoff et al., 1996). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of transformational leadership in a fire service organization. In the following paragraphs, we develop arguments in support of our proposed model. Transformational leadership, self-efficacy, performance and commitment Bandura (1997, p. 2) has defined perceived self-efficacy as “. . .beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required in managing prospective situations. Efficacy beliefs influence how people think, feel, motivate themselves, and act”. Several studies have demonstrated the importance of self-efficacy for improving performance in the organizational context (Gist and Mitchell, 1992). Originally conceived of as a task-specific variable, support has been shown for general self-efficacy which is a disposition predicting individual behavior across situations (Lennings, 1994). Among the determinants of self-efficacy are enactive mastery (personal attainment), vicarious experience (modeling), verbal persuasion and physiological arousal; all of which serve to increase self-efficacy perceptions (Gist and Mitchell, 1992). Schunk (1983) noted that self-efficacy is particularly salient in a crisis situation. The conceptualization of self-efficacy as a stable characteristic that individuals possess describes it as “. . .one’s overall estimate of one’s ability to effect requisite performances in achievement situations” (Eden and Zuk, 1995, p. 629). One’s past experiences will create a general set of expectancies that get

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carried over into new situations. In the context of fire-rescue operations the situations faced are often critical and unique in many ways and we expect that these generalized expectancies will “. . .influence the individual’s expectations of mastery in the new situations” (Sherer et al., 1982, p. 664). House and Shamir (1993) have suggested that the primary motivational mechanism through which transformational and charismatic (or outstanding) leaders influence their followers is by enhancing followers’ self-efficacy and self-worth. Transformational leadership behaviors and its effects, especially role modeling, verbal persuasion and physiological arousal appear to parallel the determinants of self-efficacy. Podsakoff et al. (1990) suggested that transformational leaders influence followers by role modeling the appropriate behaviors. Followers identify with role models who are then perceived in a positive light (Bandura, 1986), this serves to empower them to achieve the leader’s vision through the development of self-efficacy and self-confidence (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1996; Yukl, 1998). Eden (1992) argued that leadership was the mechanism through which managers raised performance expectations and enhanced self-efficacy which, in turn, increased performance. Frost et al. (1983) showed that in both military combat and fire-fighting situations, the leader who set an example by personal risk-taking was judged to be the most effective. Redmond et al. (1993) also showed that leader behaviour aimed at increasing follower self-efficacy resulted in higher levels of subordinate creativity in problem-solving situations. It would, therefore, be important for transformational leaders to enhance followers’ beliefs, which together they would be able to find a solution for the problem at hand. Once self-efficacy is established, followers will begin to trust the leader which will increase their commitment to the leader and the organization (Yukl, 1998). Thus, we hypothesize that transformational leaders enhance followers’ self-efficacy, which in turn, results in higher performance and commitment. Transformational leadership, cohesiveness, performance and commitment Festinger (1950, p. 274) described group cohesiveness as “the resultant forces which are acting on the members to stay in a group”. This definition has been widely accepted by researchers on group cohesion. Other researchers describe cohesiveness as the degree to which group members are attracted to and motivated to stay with a group (Zaccaro et al., 1995). Earlier research has shown that leaders who show consideration for their followers cause them to become more attached to the group (Korsgaard et al., 1995). Such leaders may thus draw the group closer together towards the attainment of group goals. The collectivistic focus of groups led by transformational leaders where there is a consensual sharing of meaning (Bass, 1985) may be a catalyst in eliciting higher levels of commitment and performance especially given the need for fire fighters and other emergency personnel to work in closely

coordinated teams in the face of great personal danger. By using the strategies Leadership, of visioning, setting high performance expectations for the group and self-efficacy and participation in group goal setting, transformational leaders may be successful cohesiveness in motivating group members to remain attracted to the group, make personal sacrifices and work towards a common goal. Thus, by internalizing the values of the leader, followers of transformational leaders identify the vision 147 and become committed to collective interests (Yukl, 1998) which can bring about the desired organizational change. It therefore, appears that a transformational leader is capable of facilitating the formation of a cohesive group which performs at higher levels and is committed to the group and the organization. In our theoretical model shown in Figure 1 and consistent with the arguments presented above, direct relationships are specified from leadership to self-efficacy, cohesiveness, performance and commitment. In the presence of transformational leadership, cohesive groups with members who have high levels of self-efficacy are motivated in turn, to perform at higher levels and be highly committed to the organization. We therefore hypothesize the following. H1. There will be a positive relationship between transformational leadership and both cohesiveness and self-efficacy. H2. There will be a positive relationship between both cohesiveness and self-efficacy and the outcome variables of commitment and performance.

Figure 1.

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H3. There will be a positive relationship between transformational leadership and both commitment and performance. H4. The relationship between transformational leadership and the outcomes of both commitment and performance will be partially mediated by cohesiveness and self-efficacy. Thus, transformational leadership will have both direct and indirect effects through cohesiveness and self-efficacy in predicting commitment and performance. We compare four models to give a more rigorous test of our hypotheses (Platt, 1964). (1) A theoretical model (Figure 1) in which transformational leadership predicts cohesiveness, self-efficacy, commitment and perceptions of unit performance while cohesiveness and self-efficacy also predict commitment and perceptions of unit performance (this reflects partial mediation since direct and indirect effects of leadership on commitment and perceptions of unit performance are predicted). (2) An unconstrained model in which commitment and perceptions of unit performance are correlated, transformational leadership predicts cohesiveness, self-efficacy, commitment and perceptions of unit performance, while cohesiveness and self-efficacy predict commitment and perceptions of unit performance (this is a less restricted model than the theoretical model since it contains more paths). (3) A direct model in which transformational leadership predicts cohesiveness, self-efficacy, commitment and perceptions of unit performance. (4) An indirect model in which transformational leadership predicts cohesiveness and self-efficacy and in which cohesiveness and self-efficacy in turn predict commitment and perceptions of unit performance. The research context We contacted the local fire department and visited several local fire-stations and the fire department headquarters for extensive interviews in order to gain a fuller understanding of the research context. We also obtained permission to ride on the fire-trucks to observe on the first hand, how teams from various fire-stations handled emergencies. Our interviews with the fire-fighters, captains, lieutenants, battalion chiefs and also the Fire Chief established the pivotal role played by the unit leader in motivating fire-fighters, setting a heroic personal example and building a close-knit team. In fact, they told us that motivation suffers and stress levels increase if they are not part of a group that functions like a family: when they are on duty, they live together, eat

together, interact for long hours within the close confines of the station and Leadership, have to depend on each other when they are out handling emergency situations. self-efficacy and Several of them observed that they were likely to respect and emulate their cohesiveness leaders only if they had proved themselves in action. We felt that the kinds of situations they faced (e.g. warehouse blazes, aircraft accidents) called for exceptional leadership and teamwork.

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Method Sample and procedure Three hundred and three fire rescue employees in active service (working in the field) completed a survey questionnaire. Respondents were employed at a fire department in the southeastern United States and completed questionnaires while on duty at their respective fire stations. The authors were available on site to answer any questions. The Fire Chief sent out memos encouraging employees to participate, but no incentives were offered. The response rate was over 95 percent. The fire stations that participated in the earlier interviews were not included in the study. After accounting for missing data, 271 responses were used for our data analysis. The sample was 85.5 percent male with an average age of 40.2 years. Fifty-eight percent were white, 13.3 percent were black, and 25.2 percent were Hispanic. Average tenure in the fire service was 13 years and 9.3 years in their current jobs. Each station received approximately 13 emergency calls per day and had an average group size of four (fire rescue personnel on each shift at each station). Thirty-one percent of respondents had a high school education, 56.7 percent had bachelors’ degrees and 4.2 percent had masters’ degrees. All fire rescue employees had received professional emergency management training. Over 56 percent of the respondents were firefighters, 8.5 percent were paramedics, 21.5 percent were lieutenants, 11.9 percent were fire captains and 1.5 percent were battalion chiefs. Thus, we were able to tap various levels of leadership. Each respondent indicated who they considered as their immediate supervisor and used this individual as their referent in ratings of transformational leadership: 36.3 percent indicated that they considered their lieutenant to be their supervisor, 29.8 considered the fire captain to be their supervisor and 24.2 percent considered the battalion chief to be their supervisor (9.7 percent indicated “other”). A reason for this is that we surveyed firefighters at different levels in the organization, but we also observed that for some people, the referent was the fire station rather than the immediate group by virtue of the fact that they worked in different shifts and had different leaders on their assignments. Thus, in order to preserve these distinctions and maintain consistency with our conceptualization and earlier research that examines individual perceptions, all variables were measured and analyzed at the individual level.

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Measures Transformational leadership. The twenty-three item measure developed by Podsakoff et al. (1990) was employed to measure the transformational leadership. Respondents were asked to describe the behaviors of their supervisors in their current work situation using a seven-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The six key leader behaviors identified by Podsakoff et al. (1990) are (examples of behavior in parentheses): identifying and articulating a vision(e.g. “inspires others with his/her plans for the future”), providing an appropriate model for employees (e.g. “leads by example”), fostering the acceptance of group goals (e.g. “encourages employees to be team players”), high performance expectations (e.g. “will not settle for second best”), providing individualized support (e.g. “shows respect for my personal feelings”), and intellectual stimulation (e.g. “challenges me to think about old problems in new ways”). The coefficient a of reliability for these subscales were 0.85, 0.88, 0.93, 0.71, 0.85 and 0.85, respectively. In accordance with the earlier research on this scale, the composite of these scales was created by combining them to obtain a global measure of transformational leadership (Pillai and Williams, 1998) which is used in the analyses. The coefficient a of reliability for this composite was 0.95. Group cohesiveness. Group cohesiveness was measured as individual perceptions of cohesiveness using the six-item scale presented in the study by Podsakoff et al. (1993) in a manner consistent with our conceptualization and its use in the earlier study. Respondents were asked to use a seven-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” to report on the perceived level of trust and cooperation among group members. (e.g. “the members of my work group know that they can depend on each other”). Self-efficacy. General self-efficacy was measured using the seventeen-item scale developed by Sherer et al. (1982). Respondents used a seven-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” to describe how they feel about their ability to achieve their goals (e.g. “if I can’t do a job the first time, I keep trying until I can” and “when I make plans I am certain I can make them work”). Organizational commitment. Employee commitment refers to the psychological attachment of workers to their workplaces and was measured using the scale developed by O’Reilly and Chatman (1986). Some research has indicated an inability of this measure to separate the two components of identification and internalization (Caldwell et al., 1990). We found that in our sample the correlation between identification and internalization was high ðr ¼ 0:68Þ: However, the results of a confirmatory factor analysis on the measure supported treating them as independent dimensions (the chi-square change between a single-factor and a two-factor model was significant at 78.94 for a change in 1 degree of freedom). The two-factor model produced a goodness of fit index (GFI) of 0.91 and normed fit index (NFI) of 0.91.

We employ the internalization dimension of commitment in this research using Leadership, the five-items found in O’Reilly and Chatman (1986) since they assert that self-efficacy and internalization represents strong attachment, value similarity and extrarole cohesiveness behavior. This is consistent with Becker’s presentation of internalization: “Internalization occurs when people adopt attitudes and behaviors because their content is congruent with the individuals’ value systems” (Becker, 1992, 151 p. 232). Given that we are interested in the effects of transformational leadership behaviors, internalization appears to provide a stronger reflection of an individual’s affiliation with the organization and its leaders (Caldwell et al., 1990). Respondents used a seven-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” to describe how attached they feel toward the organization (e.g. “what this organization stands for is important to me”). Perceptions of unit performance. Respondents rated the performance of their group using the measure developed by Van de Ven and Ferry (1980). It is important to note here that there were no objective measures of performance in existence. Respondents rated their unit over the previous year in relation to other comparable organizational units. Asking respondents to rate unit performance rather than individual performance is less likely to result in socially desirable responses. A five-point scale ranging from “far below average” to “far above average” was utilized (e.g. “efficiency of unit operations”). Data analysis The statistical significance of paths specified in the models was tested using structural equation modeling with the LISREL 8 program. LISREL allows for the testing of the “goodness of fit” of the model to the data using indices which are not dependent on sample size (Medsker et al., 1994). A covariance matrix was generated using Prelis through the LISREL 8 program (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993). Our model was tested by comparing nested models: theoretical and alternative models (Bentler and Bonnett, 1980). The change in chi-square difference is used as an indicator of comparative model fit, a significant chi-square difference suggests that the less restricted model (the model with more paths specified) is a better fit. The error variance was set equal to the variance of the scale value multiplied by one minus the coefficient a of reliability (Hayduk, 1987). Results Means, standard deviations, correlations and reliabilities of the variables in the study are presented in Table I. The zero-order correlations among the key variables were positive and statistically significant ð p , 0:01Þ; yet sufficiently low to indicate construct independence. Scale reliabilities were above the recommended level (Nunally and Bernstein, 1994) at 0.80 or above. Model comparisons and GFIs are presented

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in Table II. The chi-square, root-mean-square-residual (RMSR), GFI, comparative fit index (CFI) and NFI are reported. The recommended value for a “good fit” is 0.90 while the RMSR should fall below 0.05. The results of the theoretical model indicate a good fit ðRMSR ¼ 0:047; GFI ¼ 0:98; CFI ¼ 0:92; NFI ¼ 0:92Þ: The theoretical model is compared to the alternative models to ensure that all plausible relationships are examined. As shown in Table II, the indirect and direct models provided poorer fits in comparison to the theoretical model, with fit indices lower than those for the theoretical model ( Widaman, 1985). The differences in chi-square in comparison to the theoretical model were also significant. Further evidence in support of the theoretical model over the alternative models is provided when compared to the unconstrained model. The fit indices were very close; however, there was no significant change in chi-square between the theoretical and unconstrained models. The additional path over the theoretical model, which specified the correlation between the perceptions of unit performance and commitment, was not significant. Based on our results, we should not reject the theoretical model in favor of the model which estimates more paths. When the chi-square difference is not significant, including the additional path in the model does not significantly add to its explanation of the construct covariances (Anderson and Gerbing, 1998). Thus, our results reveal strong support for the fit of the theoretical model to the data. For the theoretical model the squared multiple correlations were 0.19 for the prediction of group cohesiveness, 0.03 for self-efficacy, 0.17 for commitment,

Variables

Table I. Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations

Mean

N ¼ 271 Transformational leadership 4.81 Cohesiveness 5.56 Self-efficacy 5.66 Commitment (internalization) 4.58 Perceptions of unit performance 3.78 Notes: Reliabilities appear in bold along the

Model

Table II. Results of model comparisons

Theoretical model (partial mediation model) Unconstrained model Direct model Indirect model (full mediation model) Note: The Dx 2 reported is in relation to the

SD

1

2

1.01 0.95 1.07 0.42* 0.93 0.70 0.14* 0.27* 1.13 0.26* 0.35* 0.65 0.36* 0.47* diagonal; *p , 0.01.

4

5

0.83 0.33* 0.28*

0.81 0.35*

0.86

Dx 2

RMSR

GFI

CFI

NFI

2 19.01 – 1 15.35 3.66 6 105.69 86.68 4 32.57 13.56 theoretical model.

0.047 0.044 0.110 0.061

0.98 0.98 0.86 0.96

0.92 0.94 0.55 0.87

0.92 0.93 0.55 0.86

df

x2

3

and 0.34 for perceptions of unit performance. These results indicate that the Leadership, paths specified explain significant variance for each variable. Figure 2 shows self-efficacy and the parameter estimates from a standardized solution. All paths specified in the cohesiveness theoretical model were statistically significant ð p , 0:05Þ: H1 and H3 are supported with direct effects of transformational leadership on cohesiveness, self efficacy, commitment and perceptions of unit performance. H2 is supported 153 with direct effects of cohesiveness and self-efficacy on commitment and perceptions of unit performance. H4 is supported with transformational leadership having both direct and indirect effects on commitment and perceptions of unit performance, with cohesiveness and self-efficacy serving as partial mediating variables. The conditions for partial mediation are present based on the following three conditions specified by Baron and Kenny (1986). (1) The independent variables are significantly related to the dependent variables and mediators (H1 and H3). (2) The mediator variables are significantly related to the dependent variables (H2) (3) When the independent variables and the mediators are considered simultaneously, the direct relationship between the independent and dependent variables decreases by a magnitude that is statistically significant ( p of 0.05) (H4).

Figure 2.

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Full mediation requires that in the presence of the mediators the relationship between the independent and dependent variables are no longer significant. In the direct model, the parameter estimates of the paths from transformational leadership to cohesiveness, self-efficacy, commitment and perceptions of unit performance were 0.45 ð p , 0:001Þ; 0.18 ð p , 0:01Þ; 0.27 ð p , 0:001Þ; and 0.41 ð p , 0:001Þ; respectively. Figure 2 shows that in the presence of the mediators the parameter estimates of the paths from transformational leadership to commitment and perceptions of unit performance were 0.15 ð p , 0:05Þ and 0.18 ð p , 0:05Þ; respectively. Discussion Overall, the results of the study provide support for the model we proposed. Transformational leadership was related to perceptions of unit performance and commitment through self-efficacy and cohesiveness. Transformational leadership also influenced commitment and perceptions of unit performance directly, consistent with the earlier research (Bass, 1995; Podsakoff et al., 1996). The importance of self-efficacy and cohesiveness as partial mediating variables was established by the fact that the data did not provide a good fit to the direct model in which we showed all paths leading directly from transformational leadership to self-efficacy, cohesiveness, commitment and perceptions of unit performance. The current study extends existing knowledge by testing the role of self-efficacy and group cohesiveness in the transformational leadership process. We believe that this is one of the first such studies carried out in the US. The study also shows that transformational leadership is effective in yet another unique setting, namely, a fire rescue organization, one that faces a constantly changing environment, especially in a post “11 September” world with heightened fears with respect to terrorism and requiring innovative responses, in which there is a great need for outstanding leadership. Emergency situations such as those often faced by military combat units, police patrols, and fire-fighting units may provide a context in which the effectiveness of transformational leadership is influenced by variables such as group cohesiveness and self-efficacy. Future research must explore the relationship between leadership and cohesive groups over a period of time. Transformational leaders may be able to inspire group members with their vision for the future in the initial stages of group formation, but what if the vision fails? Does the cohesive group lose faith in and turn against the leader? The fact that we used generalized self-efficacy rather than task-specific self-efficacy may have influenced the relationship between self-efficacy and transformational leadership. The correlation was weaker than that between transformational leadership and group cohesion. Future studies should explore the role of task specific self-efficacy in facilitating the impact of transformational leadership on individual and organizational outcomes.

We also tested the possible moderator effect of cohesiveness on the Leadership, relationship between leadership and perceptions of unit performance and self-efficacy and commitment because Podsakoff et al. (1996) have suggested that there might be cohesiveness such an effect although their recent research (Podsakoff and McKenzie, 1997) did not demonstrate it. In our sample, we did not find a significant interaction effect. However, the results of this research supported the importance of the 155 inclusion of variables that potentially complement leadership variables in leadership models since our finding of partial mediation supports the argument that transformational leadership behaviors influence subordinates both directly and indirectly. Leaders of fire rescue units could be trained to vary the level of their transformational behaviors depending on the nature of the situation. Routine situations may call for development-oriented transformational leadership behaviors where subordinates are provided with learning opportunities, whereas emergency situations may call for a display of more heroic leadership behaviors to motivate subordinates to emulate their leaders and perform at higher levels. This could be conducted as part of a leadership intervention designed to bring about positive work outcomes and also to change the culture of emergency service departments. Beaton et al. (2001) designed and implemented just such an intervention in a fire department in Washington State using the Leader-Match model. They found positive results on ratings of immediate supervisors’ performance and stress-related symptoms 3 months after the intervention. There are a number of limitations with the current investigation. The first and most important is that the data are cross-sectional and causality cannot be inferred, although this type of data collection is one of the major research methods used in organizational behavior since it is a useful tool in exploratory studies (Spector, 1994). Although we analyzed the data using sophisticated structural equation modeling techniques, causal inferences must await a longitudinal or experimental design. While our findings reveal some interesting potential relationships among our variables of interest, this research is based on self-reports which limit the conclusions that can be drawn due to the potential influence of common method variance in producing inflated correlations. However, the nature of the variables was such that it seemed appropriate to obtain ratings from the same individuals. Perceptions of cohesiveness, self-efficacy, and commitment are unique to the individual who is therefore the best source for obtaining information on these variables. Regarding the leadership ratings of unit leaders at the fire station, we felt that the individuals who worked with these leaders in the field and were in direct contact with them would be in the best position to assess their leadership ability (Podsakoff et al., 1996). We employed the Harman one-factor test which revealed that there was no single general factor that best represented these data (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). This supports

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the examination of the study variables as distinct concepts. Future research should focus on multiple data sources to further our understanding of the relationships among the study variables. In order to further assess the severity of common method variance we also conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on competing models (containing all the items measuring our five variables of interest) that increase in complexity (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). If a general factor appears to best represent the data, then common method variance poses a problem in the model. In order to examine the competing models, a single factor model was compared with more complex models (increasing the number of factors). Results revealed that the fit of the more complex models was improved over the simpler models (fewer factors). For example, the chi-square change between the single factor and the improved five-factor model was significant (69.17, with change in degrees of freedom equal to 14) indicating that that method variance is not a significant problem. Unfortunately, we were unable to collect objective measures of performance. We used a self-report measure of work group performance because the fire rescue organization did not have an objective measure of individual or group performance. We did however, employ an established measure of performance. Since respondent reports were confidential, we expected respondents to be less biased than if they were being identified (reports on the performance variable ranged from 1.71 to 5). The lack of objective performance measures, it appears, is an important concern in the fire service in general as evidenced by the following comment by a 30 year veteran (Crapo, 1998): “When I first began taking fire science courses in the early ‘70s, I can remember discussing the problems inherent in rating a department’s performance in the fireground. Today, there is still no such performance measure. We simply go to a fire and, regardless of the outcome, pat ourselves on the back for doing a good job”. This may change in future studies. Among the strengths of this study are the fact that we were able to conduct extensive interviews with individuals at all levels within the organization and also that we were given permission to personally administer the questionnaires, ensuring a high rate of response. Furthermore, we conducted this study in a setting in which, to the best of our knowledge, transformational leadership has never been examined. This setting is particularly suited to the emergence of transformational leadership and presents opportunities for responding to dynamic situations: leaders are called upon to role model heroic behaviors and build cohesive teams that are capable of responding in real time with innovative solutions to life-threatening situations. In summary, results of the current investigation point to the importance of examining the role of mediating variables such as cohesiveness and self-efficacy in the transformational leadership process especially in contexts that call for extraordinary leadership. We hope this research has laid the

foundation for a more complete understanding of the transformational Leadership, leadership process and that it will motivate further research into other self-efficacy and contexts that might facilitate or retard such leadership. The results of this cohesiveness investigation also point to the need for developing transformational leadership in fire service departments, possibly through a structured leadership intervention designed to bring about a positive change in employee 157 confidence, attitudes and performance in order to meet one of the critical challenges of the 21st century. References Anderson, J.C. and Gerbing, D.W. (1998), “Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 103 No. 3, pp. 411-23. Bandura, A. (1986), Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive View, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Bandura, A. (1997), “Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing societies”, in Bandura, A. (Ed.), Self-efficacy in Changing Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1-45. Baron, R.M. and Kenny, D.A. (1986), “The moderator mediator variable distinction in social psychological-research – conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51 No. 6, pp. 1173-82. Bass, B.M. (1985), Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, Free Press, New York, NY. Bass, B.M. (1995), “Theory of transformational leadership redux”, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 463-78. Beaton, R., Johnson, L.C., Infield, S., Ollis, T. and Bond, G. (2001), “Outcomes of a leadership intervention for a metropolitan fire department”, Psychological Reports, Vol. 88 No. 3, pp. 1049-66. Becker, T.E. (1992), “Foci and bases of commitment: are they distinctions worth making?”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 232-44. Bentler, P.M. and Bonnet, D.G. (1980), “Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 88 No. 3, pp. 588-606. Caldwell, D.F., Chatman, J.A. and O’Reilly, C.A. (1990), “Building organizational commitment: a multi-firm study”, Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 63 No. 3, pp. 245-61. Crapo, W.F. (1998), “Time for a change”, Fire Engineering, Vol. 151 No. 7, pp. 55-60. Dirks, K.T. and Ferrin, D.L. (2002), “Trust in leadership: meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87 No. 4, pp. 611-28. Eden, D. (1992), “Leadership and expectations: pygmalion effects and other self-fulfilling prophecies in organizations”, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 271-305. Eden, D. and Zuk, Y. (1995), “Seasickness as a self-fulfilling prophecy: raising self-efficacy to boost performance at sea”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 80 No. 5, pp. 628-35. Festinger, L. (1950), “Informal social communication”, Psychological Review, Vol. 57 No. 5, pp. 271-82. Frost, D.E., Fiedler, F.E. and Anderson, J.W. (1983), “The role of personal risk-taking in effective leadership”, Human Relations, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 185-202. Gist, M. and Mitchell, T.R. (1992), “Self-efficacy: a theoretical analysis of its determinants and malleability”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 183-211.

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The transformational leader: who is (s)he? A feminist perspective Ronit Kark

Received October 2002 Revised September 2003 Accepted December 2003

Departments of Psychology and Sociology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel Keywords Transformational leadership, Gender, Feminism Abstract As women increasingly enter leadership roles that traditionally have been occupied by men, and with the increasing diffusion of transformational leadership theory, there is growing interest in the relationship between gender and transformational leadership. A wide array of feminist theories that have emerged in the last decades offer conceptual lenses, which can enrich an understanding of the role of gender in the organizational context and the study of leadership. This paper explores how various approaches in feminist thought intersect with the study of gender and transformational/charismatic leadership. I reviewed earlier studies with reference to the different feminist approaches, demonstrating how each reveals a different facet in the understanding of gender and transformational leadership. Finally, I point to the perspectives that have been neglected in this stream of research and offer directions for future research.

Journal of Organizational Change Management Vol. 17 No. 2, 2004 pp. 160-176 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0953-4814 DOI 10.1108/09534810410530593

Introduction The proportion of women in executive roles has nearly tripled during the last three decades of the 20th century (US Dept. of Labor, 1998). However, women in the highest echelons of large business corporations are still quite rare (Meyerson and Fletcher, 2000). The growing number of women in managerial positions created interest in the role of women as leaders (Klenke, 1996). At present, transformational leadership theory has gained popularity. Accumulating empirical evidence that transformational leadership substantially influences employee’s performance and organizational level outcomes (Avolio et al., 1999; Lowe et al., 1996), has stimulated engagement with the theoretical underpinnings of transformational leadership. The simultaneous development of these fields has given rise to studies linking the concept of transformational leadership with gender. These studies, although still quite limited in number and scope, vary in terms of their theoretical background and methods. The aim of this paper is to explore how various approaches in feminist thought intersect with and enrich the study of gender and transformational/charismatic leadership. Feminist theories attempt to understand the pervasive and persistent gender inequality and women’s oppression in society (Hooks, 2000; Lorber, 2001; Tong, 1998). They vary according to their explanations of the underlying cause for The author thanks Alice Eagly and Elisheva Baumgarten for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

women’s lesser status (Lorber, 2001) and their perceptions of the ways in which The women’s liberation can be achieved (Jagger, 1983). Feminist theories are not transformational only concerned with “women’s issues”, but rather they offer a gamut of leader conceptual lenses, which can contribute to the development of a richer, more inclusive field of organizational studies (Cala`s and Smircich, 1996). In this paper, I review the earlier work on gender and transformational 161 leadership in the context of feminist approaches. I highlight the modes by which each feminist perspective, and studies undertaken within its theoretical framework, can contribute to different understandings of gender and transformational leadership. Furthermore, I explore feminist perspectives that have been neglected and offer directions for future research, which can bridge the existing gaps. Transformational leadership as empowering leadership Recent developments in leadership theory have shifted interest from earlier theories of charismatic leadership, that viewed the leader as extraordinary and the followers as dependent on the leader (Yukl, 1998), to neo-charismatic theories (Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Shamir et al., 1993) and transformational leadership theory (Bass, 1985), which are concerned with the development and empowerment of followers to function independently. Bass (1985) described the transformational leader as one who empowers followers, and motivates them to perform beyond their expectations and work on transcendental planes and collective goals instead of focusing solely on immediate personal interests. The current conception of transformational leadership, with its emphasis on follower empowerment, is in line with contemporary organizational changes and management theorizing stressing the need of organizations to become less hierarchical, more flexible, team-oriented, and participative (Fondas, 1997; Rosener, 1995). This conception of leadership can be readily associated, at least partially, with stereotypes of women and how they would be expected to behave as leaders (Bass et al., 1996; Peters, 1990), and may have triggered the growing interest in the study of the intersection of transformational leadership and gender. Furthermore, the massive entry of women into the workforce in the last half-century, followed by their movement to management roles, might have contributed to changes in the conceptualization of leadership, towards transformational leadership theory and empowerment of followers. In view of these recent changes in leadership theory and women’s representation in leadership positions, it is of interest to chart the research at the interface between transformational leadership and gender. Feminist theory can provide a rich context for this exploration. Feminist theories as conceptual lenses. Despite the diversity of feminist theories, most share some basic assumptions, which recognize male dominance in social arrangements and a desire for change (Cala`s and Smircich, 1996;

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Flax, 1990). More generally, feminist theoretical perspectives can be defined as critical discourses, targeted at the existing status quo, and therefore, always entail a political agenda (Tong, 1998). The degree of critique and the nature of politics each theory offers are varied, “. . .leading to agendas that range from ‘reforming’ organizations; to transforming organizations and society; to transforming our prior understanding of what constitutes knowledge, theory and practice” (Cala`s and Smircich, 1996, p. 219). Along these lines, Lorber (2001) suggested that feminist theories can be divided into three frameworks: gender reform feminism, gender resistance feminism and gender rebellion feminism. According to Tong (1998) each theory provides a partial answer to the understanding of gender, suggesting a unique perspective with its own theoretical and methodological strengths and weaknesses. I will review several feminist theories, a representative of each theoretical framework (i.e. gender reform, resistance and rebellion), to demonstrate how they have been applied, and how they may be used in the future. It should be noted that the works I will be referring to within each theoretical framework are not mutually exclusive and often rely on additional theoretical frameworks. Therefore, I will refer to various studies within their different frameworks, highlighting how they draw from each conceptualization. My goal is not to judge which approach is “best”, but to recognize that each has a significant contribution to make. Gender reform feminism: “gender-as-a-variable” perspective The first and perhaps most common approach to gender equity is the gender reform approach. This approach, mostly represented by liberal feminism, asserts that gender differences are not based on biology and that men and women are similar in their common humanity (Lorber, 2001). Therefore, biological differences should be ignored in order to achieve gender equality in work opportunities (Jagger, 1983). According to this perspective, sex-role socialization produces individual differences in the characteristics of men and women, which have rendered women less skilled than men to compete in the business world. Hence, if women developed appropriate traits and skills, they would be better equipped to compete with men and would advance at comparable rates. Most of the organizational literature that focused on gender and leadership is consistent with gender reform feminism (Cala`s and Smircich, 1996). It is mostly interested in comparisons between men and women in terms of inequality and discrimination and aims to explain such phenomena (Alvesson and Billing, 1997). A major focus in this literature is to determine if there are sex/gender differences in relation to conventional organizational concepts such as power, negotiation, and job satisfaction, as well as to investigate under what circumstances men and women differ. Research within this theoretical framework is strongly influenced by experimental and behaviorist psychological research. The method of research applied by researchers

representing this perspective is most commonly quantitative, viewing gender The as a variable and considering women as a research category (Alvesson and transformational Billing, 1997). leader Women-in-management leadership studies One of the major questions that has received considerable attention within the gender reform framework is whether there is a leadership style that distinguishes women leaders from men leaders. This type of research has been labeled the “women-in-management” literature. Despite considerable research on this topic, the question has not yet been fully answered. Many authors claim that there are no differences in leadership style between men and women (Bass, 1990; Dobbins and Platz, 1986). A comprehensive meta-analysis by Eagly and Johnson (1990), which statistically reviewed the results of 167 studies, comparing between the leadership styles of male and female, partially confirmed the above conclusions. They found that, in contrast to the stereotypic expectation that women lead in an interpersonally-oriented style and men in a task-oriented style, female and male leaders did not differ in these two styles. Consistent with stereotypic expectations they found that female leaders tended to adopt a more democratic or participative style and a less autocratic or directive style than male leaders. This and other studies were also interested in understanding under which circumstances men and women differ and how context and social structures affect the ways their behavior is perceived and evaluated (Deaux and Major, 1987; Heilman, 2001; Ridgeway, 2001). However, these studies did not engage the emerging perspectives of charismatic and transformational leadership. Gender reform feminism and transformational leadership studies Most studies of gender and transformational leadership are in line with the gender reform perspectives, and represent the women-in-management literature. These studies focus mostly on the question of gender differences in leadership style, examining if women and men leaders differ in the extent they apply transformational leadership and transactional leadership. The answers to this question vary, although there is a stronger tendency to find gender differences favoring women. Several studies focusing on transformational leadership indicated that women are perceived, and perceive themselves, as using transformational leadership styles more than men (Bass et al., 1996; Druskat, 1994; Rosener, 1990). However, there have also been studies that failed to discover gender differences in transformational leadership (Komives, 1991; Maher, 1997). For example, Carless (1998) found that, though superiors rated female managers higher on transformational behaviors, according to their subordinates there was no distinction.

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In a recent meta-analysis of 45 studies, which used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), as well as other instruments, Eagly et al. (2003) found small, but significant gender differences, showing that women were rated higher on all transformational factors. In contrast, men exceeded women on the transactional scales of management-by-exception and on laissez-faire leadership. These findings suggest that male managers paid more attention to their followers’ mistakes and were uninvolved. In sum, although the results are inconsistent, they do indicate a tendency for women to be rated as slightly more transformational. The studies above use a variety of research methods including self-reports of leadership style (Rosener, 1990), reports of the leadership style by others (e.g. subordinates, supervisors) (Carless, 1998; Druskat, 1994) and use of a stereotypic female or male leader as the target of evaluation (Maher, 1997). Common to all these studies is the application of quantitative research methods, most commonly using questionnaires (e.g. MLQ), and treating gender as a variable. In this sense, these studies are all in line with the research methodologies promoted by the gender reform perspectives.

Contribution and critique of the gender reform perspective This stream of studies makes an important contribution to the literature, since in the earlier research on charismatic and transformational leadership women had been under-represented. The studies showing that women tend to be rated higher on the transformational scales have meaningful implications for the effectiveness of female leaders. This is due to the accumulating evidence pointing to positive relationships between transformational leadership and effectiveness, and a negative relationship between management-by-exception passive leadership and laissez-faire leadership and effectiveness (Lowe et al., 1996). A limitation that has been noted in the literature regarding these studies of sex differences is that often they use established ideas and models with limited novelty or consideration of more complex ideas on gender (Alvesson and Billing, 1997). As Cala`s and Smircich (1996, p. 223) evaluated the research on women-in-management, “. . .it is difficult to find any gender specific theoretical development among these works. The questions that are asked, and the research approaches that are followed, mimic those developed and utilized in research that does not emphasize gender.” The research on transformational leadership and gender at times can also be characterized as limited in this sense. However, it should be noted that within this framework there are some studies that developed important theoretical perspectives that consider the unique effects of gender on transformational leadership. Among these are works based on role-congruity theory and the role-congruity theory of prejudice (Eagly et al., 2003).

Another related limitation of gender reform studies is that this approach The frequently involves a simplistic conceptualization of gender and its relation to transformational transformational leadership. Comparison of individuals classified according to leader their biological sex is straight-forward. However, revealing the meaning and significance of the outcomes and gaining an understanding of the underlying dynamics that foster gender differences can become a difficult task (Alvesson 165 and Billing, 1997). For example, Why do women fare better than men on the measures of transformational leadership and effectiveness? One possible interpretation is that women have to meet higher standards than men to attain and retain leadership roles. Yet another possibility is that women managers may encounter resistance if they proceed in the more traditional authoritative styles, and therefore, they adopt a transformational style (Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt, 2001). Thus, although differences might be detected, the underlying mechanisms contributing to these differences remain to be clarified. A third problem concerns issues of social totality and critical evaluation. In the majority of the studies of sex/gender differences in transformational leadership, gender is treated as a variable, a characteristic of the individual, showing only simple statistical connections, whereas more comprehensive cultural patterns and structures that can lead to gender inequalities and differences are not considered (Alvesson and Billing, 1997). The study of more comprehensive models including contextual characteristic and cultural patterns, even if performed within a gender reform framework, can begin to shed light on the compound relationships between transformational leadership and gender. Finally, studies within this framework are mostly based on the existing theoretical understandings of transformational leadership and leave conventional organizational policies and structures intact. They tend to demonstrate that women fit well or can assimilate into the structure of organizations with minimal disruption to the status quo. According to Ely and Meyerson (2000) this perspective, which is often translated by managers and practitioners into organizational interventions aimed at “fixing the women”, can have a limited impact on women’s positions in organizations. They note that unless the existing power arrangements in organizations are challenged, women remain marginalized. Gender resistance feminism: the female advantage Gender resistance feminism exists in some opposition to the gender reform approach. Although the gender resistance conception of gender still focuses on gender differences, its proponents argue that these differences should not be eliminated, but rather, celebrated (Ely and Meyerson, 2000). This perspective stresses the importance of profound study and theorizing of women’s situation and experiences, contending that women have specific experiences and interests that essentially differ from those of the majority of men, at least with

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regard to how these experiences are formed and enacted under the existing patriarchal conditions (Alvesson and Billing, 1997). Within the gender resistance theories, radical feminism, standpoint feminism and psychoanalytical feminism have been highly influential in the study of gender and leadership. Resistance feminism grew out of women’s dissatisfaction with liberal feminism and its endeavor to achieve equality by equating women to men (Lorber, 2001). What is seen by liberal feminists as individual challenges is seen by radical feminists more systematically, as the consequence of the privilege of men in a society where masculinity defines the norm (Jagger, 1983). Therefore, according to this perspective, women’s difficulties in getting promoted to leadership positions cannot be understood in individual terms only, but rather as part of a wider social system of gender, in which the “personal becomes political” (Tong, 1998). Following this perspective, radical feminism envisions a new social order where women are not subordinated to men. For this purpose it proposes alternative, often separatist, economic and cultural arrangements that undermine the values represented by a male dominated culture (Cala`s and Smircich, 1996). Radical feminists have proposed several ways to change the existing gender relationships ranging from working toward an androgynous culture, in which a biological male or female would be both masculine and feminine, to replacing male culture with a “female culture” (Tong, 1998). After further reflections on the concept of androgyny, many radical feminists concluded that the androgyny is not really a liberation strategy for women, and advocated the replacement of a male culture with a female culture (Rich, 1980). Psychoanalytical feminists also propose a female-centered interpretation (Gilligan, 1982; Miller and Stiver, 1997) rejecting Freudian biological determinism and forming a basis for a positive female-centered psychoanalytic understanding (Tong, 1998). Standpoint feminism (Lorber, 2001) further stresses the importance of the inclusion of women’s unique “voices”, experiences and perspectives in the production of knowledge and culture, arguing that women’s standpoint should not be invisible or marginalized. According to radical feminism, psychoanalytical feminism and standpoint feminism, “women’s difference” from men, in particular, their “relationship orientation” can constitute an effective management style (Ely and Meyerson, 2000). They emphasize the positive value of qualities identified with women (e.g. sensitivity, nurturance and emotional expressiveness), and highlight the benefits of women’s ways of knowing (e.g. intuitive, non-verbal and spiritual) (Jagger, 1983). In line with these assertions, Fondas (1997) examined the nature of the rhetoric used in contemporary management writings and demonstrated that a common underlying thread in writings of recent management books is their representation of managerial work in terms of qualities traditionally defined as feminine, although the explicit link to femininity is not made.

Gender resistance perspectives, as applied to leadership, led to work The emphasizing that “women’s ways of leading”, and their relational skills and transformational intuitive mode of thinking were not deficiencies to be overcome, but leader advantages for corporate effectiveness (Grant, 1986; Helgesen, 1990; Lipman-Blumen, 1992; Peters, 1990; Rosener, 1990, 1995). In terms of methodology, alternative approaches that allow more room for 167 personal experience and critical insights are usually preferred by gender resistance perspectives. This frequently implies a qualitative approach (Alvesson and Billing, 1997). Gender resistance feminism and transformational leadership Within the realm of the gender resistance perspective relatively few studies have been undertaken exploring the relationship between transformational leadership and gender. Among them, two different types of studies can be distinguished. One assessing the androgynous aspects of transformational leadership, and the other, focusing on the “female advantage” and feminization of transformational leadership. Some work has been done on the relationship between androgyny and transformational leadership. These studies stress that transformational leaders may employ a more androgynous style calling for the best in both masculine and feminine sex-typed behavior (Hackman et al., 1992; Kark, 2000). This gender balance perspective, promotes a new ideal of leadership that mixes notions of masculinity and femininity, asserting that: “. . .transformational leadership requires a gender balance rather than the traditional leadership stereotype of masculinity” (Hackman et al., 1992, p. 318). The results of Hackman et al.’s (1992) and Kark’s (2000) studies support these assertions by demonstrating that transformational leadership correlates strongly with both feminine and masculine gender characteristics. The second stream of study that reflects aspects of gender resistance perspective, stresses the “female advantage” in transformational leadership, or even more radically, posits that transformational leadership itself is a feminine form of leadership for both men and women. According to this perspective models of transformational leadership and neo-charismatic leadership (Bass, 1985; Shamir et al., 1993) emphasize feminine behaviors. Supporting this position, House and Howell (1992, p. 90) contend, after reviewing research on charismatic/transformational leaders, that: “charismatic (or transformational) leaders. . . do not fit the stereotype of a bold, forceful, assertive, and aggressive leader.. . . Rather the findings describe a leader who is sensitive to follower needs, nurturant and developmentally oriented.” While transactional leadership emphasizes stereotypic masculine activities such as goal setting and rational exchange processes, transformational leadership emphasizes the development of followers, their empowerment and the creation of emotional bonds between leaders and followers. These qualities

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are more consistent with stereotypic female styles of leadership than with stereotypic male styles. Rosener (1990) in her influential paper on “Ways Women Lead”, interviewed a sample of women respondents who described themselves as transformational, in order to understand their experiences and their “ways” of leading. Based on these interviews she describes the leadership patterns that emerged. These include encouragement of followers’ participation, the enhancement of self-worth of others and energizing followers. Rosener (1990, p. 120) names this leadership style as the “interactive” style and concludes that: “They are succeeding because of – not in spite of – certain characteristics generally considered to be ‘feminine’ and inappropriate in leaders”. Another interesting attempt is the work of Alimo-Metcalfe (1998), which aimed to develop a new gender-inclusive model of transformational leadership. Alimo-Metcalfe argued that earlier definitions of “leadership”, as well as the instruments to measure leadership, have been derived from predominantly or exclusively male managerial population. In her study, the explicit intention was to include a substantial proportion of women from whom constructs of leadership were elicited by conducting interviews, as well as to include women in the sample on whom the draft questionnaire would be piloted. This process led to a somewhat different transformational leadership construct. It is important to note that although most studies that followed Rosener’s work on gender and transformational leadership (Bass et al., 1996; Carless, 1998; Druskat, 1994) can be seen as the representative of the gender reform perspective, they adopt the rhetorical discourse offered by advocates of the “female advantage” (Helgesen, 1990) in their attempt to develop their hypotheses and explain their findings of gender differences in transformational and transactional leadership. The limited use of the gender resistance perspective in the study of transformational leadership has left women’s voices and experiences as transformational leaders and as followers largely unheard and uncharted. Apart from a few works (Rosener, 1990; Alimo-Metcalfe, 1998), which are also largely focused on comparisons between men and women and use quantitative research methods, I am not aware of the studies that focused on the concept of transformational leadership using alternative methodologies that accommodate the personal experience and insights of women. According to advocates of the gender resistance perspective such studies, which focus on women’s viewpoints, using more qualitative research methods, are likely to provide critical descriptions and unique interpretations that can shed new light on the ways we understand transformational leadership Contribution and critique of gender resistance perspectives Few studies representing gender resistance perspectives, as well as others that make use of the rhetoric provided by this perspective, contribute to a shift in

viewing women as disadvantaged leaders to that of possessing valuable The characteristics that enable them to behave in a transformational manner. transformational Furthermore, these studies advocate a change in the mode by which leader characteristics categorized as feminine are perceived, showing that these characteristics are essential for transformational leaders, either accompanied by masculine characteristics as suggested in the androgynous perspective or 169 not. These ideas and related findings may facilitate the entrance of women into senior management positions and may encourage more women to consider managerial careers, knowing that they can practice leadership styles (i.e. transformational leadership) that are different than the traditional ones (Billing and Alvesson, 2000). Studies following the gender resistance perspective remain rather limited in their number, research methods and scope. For example, the female advantage literature promotes the notion that relational skills and the ability to create significant emotional ties characterize the ideal leader. In line with these assertions, the effects of transformational leadership have been attributed, at least in part, to the creation of such emotional bonds (Kark and Shamir, 2002). However, research has not yet fully considered how transformational leaders behave in order to elicit such relational and emotional bonds. The theoretical work of Ashkanasy and Tsu (2000) on “Transformational Leadership as Management of Emotions”, represent a good starting point. Another valuable theoretical framework is that of bounded emotionality, offered by the feminist researchers Mumby and Putnam (1992). In a similar vein, Kark and Shamir (2002) suggest that relational behaviors that are not specified in the current conceptualization of the “full range of transformational leadership” (Avolio et al., 1999) such as psychological support, leaders enabling mutual disclosure and the ability to acknowledge vulnerability, should perhaps be included in a “broader” model of leadership, in order to understand how transformational leaders influence followers. Research using non-traditional methods, within the framework of gender resistance theory, could shed light on these processes of connection, their relation to gender, and contribute to the development of a richer and more inclusive range of transformational theory. Although many applaud the effort of gender resistance approaches to enhance recognition of the contributions women can bring to management, some feminists have questioned whether this focus on the female advantage actually benefits women. Several maintain that identifying a female advantage hinders women’s struggle for equality because it strengthens essentialist perspectives of gender stereotypes and of the inequitable division of labor based on these stereotypes, thereby limiting women’s integration into positions of power and leadership (Alvesson and Billing, 1997; Lorber, 2001). They suggest that gender differences, valuable or not, are the result of patriarchal social forces that should be challenged

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rather than being reinforced (Billing and Alvesson, 2000; Fletcher, 1994). Following this critique, the female advantage approach may simply justify and reinforce an even more sophisticated form of sex imbalance. Thus, the idea of feminine leadership may counter the “. . . ideal of broadening the options for non-constrained acts of women and instead tie those to a rather narrow set of leadership ideals and behaviors” (Billing and Alvesson, 2000, p. 151). This may limit women to refrain from transactional behaviors and to display a certain type of transformational behavior. Another limitation of this perspective that has been raised by Rosener (1995, p. 12) is what she terms the gender paradox: “When attributes or behaviors associated with women are considered negative or of little value, gender is seen as relevant. When attributes or behaviors associated with women are considered positive or valuable, gender is seen as irrelevant”. If this indeed is the case then valuing behaviors that are associated with women is likely to change the way we perceive leadership, but are not likely to give women an advantage. Another major problem of this perspective concerns the claim that a uniform “women’s experience” and invariable “women attributes” exists. According to Mohanty (1991), women’s experiences and attributes can vary based on different identity characteristics such as ethnicity, nation, class, age, sexual orientation and religion. Thus, the attempt to represent all or even a large group of women leaders is questionable, and may be seen as an ethnocentric expression of white middle class women (Alvesson and Billing, 1997). Gender rebellion feminism: how is a wo(man) defined? Gender rebellion feminists suggest a somewhat more radical critique than gender resistance theories. They suggest that rather than focusing on the female advantage and how women can contribute to the existing system they should be challenging the gender order directly by multiplying the categories of and undermining the boundaries between what is defined as “women” and “men”, “female” and “male” and “difference”. These theories, represented mostly by post-structuralist/post-modern feminism, multicultural feminism, and social construction feminism, go the furthest in challenging gender categories as dual, oppositional, and fixed. They argue that sexuality and gender are fluid, shifting, multiple categories (Lorber, 2001), and criticize perspectives based on a universal category of Women. From this perspective, gender is socially constructed and shaped by the asymmetrical power relations between men and women (Acker, 1990). This power imbalance takes different forms while intersecting with other social categories (race, class, ethnicity), as well as the contextual characteristics (e.g. political and historical circumstances) within which individuals are located (Mohanty, 1991). According to the gender rebellion perspective, while organizational logic appears to be gender neutral, underlying it is a gendered substructure that is reproduced daily in practical work activities and, somewhat less frequently, in

the texts of organizational theorists (Acker, 1990; Martin, 2000). Organizational The studies taken from a gender rebellion perspective, while growing are still quite transformational limited in number (Cala`s and Smircich, 1996). However, recent organizational leader analysis is beginning to question the gendered nature of theory through the critiques and rereading of mainstream organizational theories and concepts (Martin, 2000). 171 This stream of post-structural work calls attention to the relationship between knowledge, discourse, language and power, revealing the ways in which the theories privilege stereotypically masculine attributes and demonstrating how the gendered assumptions underlying the theories can limit our understanding of organizations (Mumby and Putnam, 1992). Researchers following this perspective use strategies of text deconstruction that are sensitive to the suppressed interests of members of marginalized groups (Martin, 2000). They further attempt to revise concepts and organizational practices and suggest alternative interpretations that have the potential to change the gender power imbalance.

Gender rebellion feminism and leadership studies Only a few studies have applied gender rebellion perspectives to the study of leadership, and none that I know of the study of transformational leadership. Therefore, I will review some of the work that has been done on leadership in general, as possible future directions for the study of transformational leadership. Cala`s and Smircich (1991) draw on post-structuralism and deconstruction to analyze the problem of the female subject in leadership knowledge. Their analysis examines the relationship between the concepts of leadership and seduction demonstrating that “to seduce” is the repressed underside of “to lead”, and that leadership is dependent on seduction, but that this link between the concepts is concealed. Cala`s and Smircich (1991, p. 573) stress that: “leadership includes seduction: to lead is to attract and stimulate, to overcome. Thus, to seduce is to lead wrongly, and it seems that to lead is to seduce rightly”. Furthermore, they argue that not only are the terms linked to each other but are also linked to gender. Using the Oxford English Dictionary they demonstrate that the term seduction is attributed to women, whereas the term leadership tends to be attributed to men. Another study undertaken by Cala`s (1993) considers the ways in which the leadership literature makes use of the term “charisma”. Using a deconstructive textual strategy of analysis she explores the mainstream literature on charismatic leadership, arguing that it defines only certain characteristics which are predefined in US research and relate to the masculine heroic notion. This rhetoric makes it impossible to consider behaviors of other social groups, including women, as demonstrating “positive charisma” and possibly ascribing “negative charisma” to groups that are seen as representing “outsiders”.

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Through this process of rereading of mainstream leadership theories the works above demonstrate the role gender plays in the construction of leadership theory. Furthermore, they create “reading effects”, which can be unsettling for the community of scholars, challenging what is thought of as appropriate organizational knowledge and opening alternative forms of theorizing about leadership. Other contributions include Fletcher’s (2002) examination of the notion of “heroic leadership” and “post-heroic leadership” and its relationship to gender, and the work of Oseen (1997) on the “heroine” versus the “hero”. Both these works, although different, contended that the presence of women in leadership or the exposure to female forms of leadership, will not solve the major problem of the absence of women from the symbolic realm of leadership (e.g. in the language, traditions and myths). They call for the creation of a new symbolic structure, which considers the gender and power dynamic inherent in leadership. Contribution and critique of gender rebellion perspectives All the works cited above not only focus on the precarious nature of gender in organizations but also reveal the involvement of leadership theory in the construction of gendered arrangements. It will be informative for the discourse of transformational leadership to undergo a similar analysis attempting to unveil what possible roles it play in the construction of gender arrangements. According to Cala`s and Smircich (1991) this type of analysis is of particular value in understanding the cultural limits of knowledge at times when innovation in theory and research are expected, but do not seem to be happening. In terms of transformational leadership, although much research attention has been given to the concept in the last decade it does not seem to be evolving theoretically at a pace one would expect. The attractiveness of the “full range of leadership theory” with the MLQ questionnaire has given rise to numerous studies (Avolio et al., 1999); however, there has been little change in the theory. In this sense, use of a gender rebellion perspective and post-structural analysis to take a fresh look and revise the ways in which transformational leadership and gender intersect, might elicit new insights and theoretical developments. These explorations should not be restricted to gender, but may expand to question the ways in which other categories of status inequality (e.g. race, nationality, and sexual orientation) intersect with gender to affect transformational leaders and their followers. Although the gender rebellion perspective can enhance new ways of understanding and theorizing leadership, it has also been critiqued. One of the limitations often stressed is that the importance of language in this perspective is overestimated at the expense of empirical studies. Gender is being reduced and considered as nothing, but a text and a discourse on men and women, and

analytical work is seen as merely a playful attempt to destabilize ideas and The terms (Alvesson and Billing, 1997). Another limitation concerns the lack of transformational clear political implications and the difficulty to translate the ideas raised by leader this perspective into actions that can be applicable in organizations when considering the transformational leadership of men and women.

173 Conclusions This paper has explored how various approaches in feminist thought intersect with the study of gender and transformational leadership and has pointed to possible future directions for exploration. In a recent paper, Martin and Collinson (2002, p. 255) suggested that in order to establish a new field of study – gendered organizations – there is a need to “strike out”, to step away from the traditional field of organizational studies, risking the chance of becoming marginalized. “Striking out” they suggest would entail entering “uncharted territory, forge into the unknown, and take chances and risks”. This would facilitate the development of a new field of knowledge, which incorporates unconventional theoretical and methodological innovations. For further development within the field of transformational leadership and gender to occur there seems to be a need to risk striking out conceptually, to dare think what has not yet been thought, and to navigate roads not yet taken. References Acker, J. (1990), “Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: a theory of gendered organizations”, Gender and Society, Vol. 4, pp. 139-58. Alimo-Metcalfe, B. (1998), “Are there gender and cultural differences in constructs of transformational leadership? toward the development of a new gender-inclusive model of transformational leadership”, Presented at the 24th International Conference of Applied Psychology, San Francisco, CA. Alvesson, M. and Billing, Y.D. (1997), Understanding Gender and Organizations, Sage, London. Ashkanasy, N.M. and Tsu, B. (2000), “Transformational leadership as management of emotion: a conceptual review”, in Ashkanasy, N.M., Hartel, C.E. and Zerbe, W.J. (Eds), Emotions in The Workplace: Research, Theory, and Practice, Quorum Books, Westport, CT, pp. 221-35. Avolio, B.J., Bass, B.M. and Jung, D.I. (1999), “Re-examining the components of transformational and transactional leadership using the multifactor leadership questionnaire”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 72, pp. 441-62. Bass, B.M. (1985), Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectation, The Free Press, New York, NY. Bass, B.M. (1990), Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership. Theory, Research and Managerial Applications, The Free Press, New York, NY. Bass, B.M., Avolio, B.J. and Atwater, L. (1996), “The transformational and transactional leadership of men and women”, Applied Psychology: An International Review, Vol. 45, pp. 5-34.

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Heilman, M.E. (2001), “Description and prescription: how gender stereotypes prevent women’s ascent up the organizational ladder”, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 57 No. 4, pp. 657-64. Helgesen, S. (1990), The Female Advantage: Woman’s Ways of Leadership, Doubleday Currency, New York, NY. Hooks, B. (2000), Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, South End Press, Cambridge, MA. House, R.J. and Howell, J.M. (1992), “Personality and charismatic leadership”, Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 3, pp. 81-108. Jagger, A.M. (1983), Feminist Politics and Human Nature, Rowman and Allanheld, Totowa, NJ. Kark, R. (2000), “Gender differences in transformational leadership, followers’ identifications, and effects on followers’ perceptions”, unpublished PhD dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Kark, R. and Shamir, B. (2002), “The dual effect of transformational leadership: priming relational and collective selves and further effects on followers”, in Avolio, B.J. and Yammarino, F.J. (Eds), Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead, JAI, Amsterdam, pp. 67-91. Klenke, K. (1996), Women and Leadership: A Contextual Perspective, Springer, New York, NY. Komives, S. (1991), “The relationship of same- and cross-gender work pairs to staff performance and supervisor leadership in residence hall units”, Sex Roles, Vol. 24, pp. 355-63. Lipman-Blumen, J. (1992), “Connective leadership: female leadership styles in the 21st-century workplace”, Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 183-203. Lorber, J. (2001), Gender Inequality, Roxbury Publishing, Los Angeles, CA. Lowe, K.B., Kroeck, K.G. and Sivasubramaniam, N. (1996), “Effectiveness of correlates of transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic review of the MLQ literature”, Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 7, pp. 385-425. Maher, K.J. (1997), “Gender-related stereotypes of transformational and transactional leadership”, Sex Roles, Vol. 37, pp. 209-25. Martin, J. (2000), “Hidden gendered assumptions in mainstream organizational theory and research”, Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 207-16. Martin, P.Y. and Collinson, D. (2002), “‘Over the pond and across the water’: developing the field of ‘Gendered Organizations’”, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 223-65. Meyerson, D. and Fletcher, J.K. (2000), “A modest manifesto for shattering the glass ceiling”, Harvard Business Review, pp. 126-36. Miller, J.B. and Stiver, I.P. (1997), The Healing Connection: How Women Form Relationships in Therapy and in Life, Beacon Press, Boston, MA. Mohanty, C.T. (1991), “Under western eyes: feminist scholarship and colonial discourses”, in Mohanty, C.T., Russo, A. and Torres, L. (Eds), Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, pp. 51-80. Mumby, D.K. and Putnam, L. (1992), “The politics of emotion: a feminist reading of bounded rationality”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 465-86. Oseen, C. (1997), “Luce Irigaray, sexual difference and theorizing leaders and leadership”, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 170-84. Peters, E. (1990), “The best new managers will listen, motivate, support: isn’t that just like a women?”, Working Women, pp. 216-17. Rich, A. (1980), “Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence”, Signs, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 648-9.

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Transformational leadership and team performance Shelley D. Dionne and Francis J. Yammarino School of Management and Center for Leadership Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA

Leanne E. Atwater School of Management, Arizona State University – West, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Leadership and team performance 177 Received October 2002 Revised October 2003 Accepted December 2003

William D. Spangler School of Management and Center for Leadership Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA Keywords Transformational leadership, Team working, Team performance Abstract Despite transformational leadership enjoying success and attention as an exceptional leadership theory, few scholars have investigated a specific link between transformational leadership theory and team performance. As such, we discuss how transformational leadership theory can provide a framework in which to investigate a leader’s impact on team performance. We posit that idealized influence/inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration could produce intermediate outcomes such as shared vision, team commitment, an empowered team environment and functional team conflict. In turn, these intermediate outcomes may positively affect team communication, cohesion and conflict management. Implications for team development, team training and team structure are presented. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

Globalization of marketplaces, information availability in terms of speed and volume, and increased competitiveness have changed the way organizations function and respond (Katzenbach, 1998). The need for increased flexibility and responsiveness, and the urgent and frenzied pace of product/service development has yielded tasks that prove too complex and time-consuming for individual attention and completion (Katzenbach, 1998; Swezey and Salas, 1992). Because teams can better provide a directed and collaborative effort to address complex task concerns, organizations around the world have significantly increased their dependency on teams (Montoya-Weiss et al., 2001; Salas et al., 1992). Although reliance on teams has increased drastically since the early 1980s, research surrounding team development has not been able to keep pace with the growing need for understanding how teams can achieve more effective performance (Stout et al., 1997; Tannenbaum et al., 1991). Although achieving higher levels of individual performance is widely researched in the transformational leadership literature (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002; Bass, 1985, 1990), achieving higher levels of team

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performance has not been as widely researched (Bass et al., 2003). Yet, DeGroot et al. (2000, p. 363) noted in their meta-analysis that when leadership and performance were examined “results show an effect size at the group level of analysis that is double in magnitude relative to the effect size at the individual level”. Therefore, evidence suggests that transformational leadership and team performance may be a fruitful area for further exploration. Previous conceptualizations have linked transformational leadership with various aspects of team performance. For example, Waldman (1994) discussed improving multi-functional team innovation processes through reliance on transformational leadership, while Bass (1994) discussed improving team decision-making skills through the use of transformational leadership. Additionally, Atwater and Bass (1994) presented a general conceptualization of how transformational leadership may interact with and influence team factors such as cohesion and conflict management, but they did not put forth any specific, testable propositions. More recently, Kahai et al. (2000) demonstrated that transformational leaders are likely to increase group performance in that they are instrumental in overcoming social loafing among group members. Additionally, Balthazard et al. (2002) reported that face-to-face teams were more likely to demonstrate higher levels of shared (transformational) leadership than virtual teams. Thus, there has been some effort to link team performance with transformational leadership (Bass, 1990; Yammarino, 1996), however, explicit relationships to teamwork processes and skill sets have not been clearly delineated. Moreover, the existing empirically based leadership/team performance studies primarily have focused on a direct leadership-performance link, without examining what role teamwork processes could have on performance. Because teamwork processes are a required component of team effectiveness (Stevens and Campion, 1994; Sundstrom et al., 1990), their inclusion into a leadership/team performance model is pertinent. As such, we attempt to examine inside the “black box” of a leadership and team performance relationship by exploring what role teamwork processes may play in a transformational leadership/team performance link. Given the widespread use of teams in all types of organizations (Salas et al., 1992), the time is ripe for an integration of team performance theory with transformational leadership theory. Our leadership/teamwork process/team performance integration builds on a previous, limited effort to conceptualize a transformational leadership and team interpersonal skills link (Atwater and Bass, 1994). Further, the Atwater and Bass (1994) conceptualization appears to be the only linkage between these two factors within the transformational leadership domain. Therefore, we focus this integration of leadership and team performance on developing our limited understanding of the link between transformational leadership and various

teamwork processes, especially interpersonally based processes, and their subsequent relationship with the team performance. Team performance Largely an adaptation of the successful Japanese model of management, pioneered by Edward Deming (Dess and Miller, 1993), the 1980s produced new corporate cultures that valued flexibility, quality, customer service and motivated employees. The total quality management movement emphasized by Deming focused on continuous process improvement achieved via quality management, quality circles and empowered employees. Teams are an outgrowth of the quality management process, and go beyond the quality circles and empowerment trends that achieved popularity in the 1980s (Dess and Miller, 1993). When used effectively and provided with proper training (Stout et al., 1997; Tannenbaum et al., 1991), teams could lead to increased production, morale, creativity and innovation (Dess and Miller, 1993; Modrick, 1986). Team performance has been addressed in the team literature as a generalized framework that includes inputs (i.e. resources), processes (i.e. collective effort) and outcomes (i.e. specific performance indicators) (Guzzo and Shea, 1992; Hackman, 1992). Because specific performance indicators and availability of certain resources may vary from team to team, for the purposes of this paper, we represent team performance only as process-type performance. Characterizing team performance as a process-oriented construct is not a new phenomena in the team performance literature (Glickman et al., 1987; Klimoski and Mohammed, 1994; Salas et al., 1992). Team process-based performance may include, among others, levels of collective effort expended or the quality of interpersonal relationships (Klimoski and Mohammed, 1994), which is similar to what Glickman et al. (1987) refer to as a “teamwork” focus on performance as opposed to a “taskwork” focus. Representing team performance as a teamwork process construct enables theoretical linkages related to interpersonally based processes that are likely present in all teams, such as communication, conflict management and cohesion. As such, we represent team performance to be the quality of interpersonal relationships, or in other words, we represent team performance as a teamwork process-based construct. General transformational leadership-team performance model Although previous research has established a direct transformational leadership and team performance linkage (Balthazard et al., 2002; Kahai et al., 2000), sparse research exists that examines inside the leadership/team performance relationship “black box”. Because prior research has found evidence of teamwork processes such as cohesion and conflict management improving team performance and functioning (Evans and Dion, 1991;

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Figure 1. General transformational leadership and team performance mediated model

Sundstrum et al., 1990), our focus for the proposed transformational leadership-team performance model expands previous direct linkages, and examines the role that various teamwork processes may play in impacting a leadership and team performance relationship. Prior to presenting our specific approach to this integration, we present an overall, general proposition regarding transformational leadership’s impact on team performance. The general transformational leadership-team performance proposition rests on the premise that in addition to previously supported direct transformational leadership-team performance linkages (Balthazard et al., 2002; Kahai et al., 2000), specific dimensions of transformational leadership (i.e. idealized influence/inspirational motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation) may produce key intermediate outcomes that could positively impact team interpersonal processes, and as such, may improve team performance. This model reflects what James and Brett (1984) refer to as partial mediation. The partially mediated model is shown in Figure 1, and includes both the previously established direct link between transformational leadership and various team performance outcomes and the general mediated linkages, whose specific propositions are specified subsequently. Before presenting the propositions highlighting the mediating links between transformational leadership and team performance, we briefly establish the relationship between teamwork processes, such as cohesion, communication and conflict management, and overall team performance as defined by the quality of team relationships. These three teamwork processes were selected due to their prior conceptual (Dyer, 1995; Oser et al., 1989; Stevens and Campion, 1994; Swezey and Salas, 1992; Zander, 1994) and empirical (Campion et al., 1996; Evans and Dion, 1991; Lovelace et al., 2001; Montoya-Weiss et al., 2001; Mullen and Copper, 1994; Weaver et al., 1997) links with both team performance, and to some extent, leadership (Carless et al., 1995; Sosik et al., 1997). Although there are several other potentially relevant teamwork factors, because this is an initial attempt linking transformational leadership with teamwork processes that impact performance, we limited our selection to three well-developed, empirically justified (Evans and Dion, 1991; Mullen and Copper, 1994; Sundstrum et al., 1990) teamwork processes. Once teamwork processes-team performance links have been reiterated, we highlight how the transformational leadership can impact teamwork processes through a variety of intermediate outcomes. Finally, we highlight some

operational and practical implications of a transformational leadership/team performance model. Teamwork processes Cohesion Cohesion as defined by Shaw (1976) indicates the degree to which members of a team are motivated to remain on the team. Highly cohesive teams tend to have less absenteeism, high involvement in team activities and high levels of member coordination during team tasks (Morgan and Lassiter, 1992). Furthermore, Bettenhausen’s (1991) review of group research linked team cohesion with team variables that included satisfaction, productivity and member interactions. Likewise, in their conceptual review, Swezey and Salas (1992) included cohesion as one of the seven primary categories that addressed teamwork process principles, and thus may discriminate between effective and ineffective teams. Also, team cohesion has been noted as a critical motivational factor influencing team performance in prior empirical research (Weaver et al., 1997), and previous meta-analyses found significant cohesion-performance effects (Evans and Dion, 1991; Mullen and Copper, 1994). Given these prior linkages between cohesion and team performance, the following proposition is restated: P1. Team cohesion will positively predict team performance. Communication Dyer (1987) suggests that such factors as increased listening, openness to suggestions, and prompt, relevant feedback are communication-based indicators of effective team functioning. Open and easy communication within a team is critical for goal accomplishment and completion of regular, daily team activities (Zander, 1994). Similar to cohesion, in their conceptual review, Swezey and Salas (1992) included communication as one of the seven primary categories that address teamwork process principles, and thus may discriminate between effective and ineffective teams. Campion et al. (1996) found that process characteristics of the team, including communication, most strongly related to team effectiveness criteria in their study of various team design characteristics. Given the prior empirical and conceptual linkages between communication and team performance and effectiveness, the following proposition is restated: P2. Open and prompt team communication will positively predict team performance. Conflict management A conflict exists when two or more members of a group, or two or more groups, disagree. A conflict becomes harmful if tension within or between groups is such that it impedes members from thinking clearly or making sound decisions

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(Zander, 1994). However, not all conflicts are harmful. Conflict may be useful if it awakens members to alternative points of view and stimulates creativity in problem-solving and decision-making (Dyer, 1987, 1995; Zander, 1994). The consequences of the conflict depend on how the members of a team manage, control and resolve the problem. Montoya-Weiss et al. (2001) found that positive conflict management actions, such as collaboration and competition, positively impacted virtual team performance. Regarding the type of conflict, Jehn and Chatman (2000) found that higher levels of task-related conflict led to increased team performance and satisfaction. Given the previous empirical linkages between conflict management and team performance, the following proposition is restated: P3. Positive team conflict management actions will positively predict team performance. Transformational leadership The foundation of transformational leadership rests on what Bass and Avolio (1994) refer to as the four I’s of transformational leadership, which comprise three factors (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002; Avolio et al., 1999; Bass, 1988; Bycio et al., 1995): idealized influence/inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Idealized influence/inspirational motivation is related to the formulation and articulation of vision and/or challenging goals. Behaviors related to idealized influence/inspirational motivation include instilling pride in others for being associated with the leader, inducing followers to go beyond self-interest for the good of the group, providing reassurance that obstacles will be overcome, promotion of confidence in achievement and execution of goals and tasks, talking optimistically about the future, articulating a compelling vision for the future and providing an exciting image of organizational change (Bass and Avolio, 1994). Intellectual stimulation promotes intelligence, rationality and careful problem-solving. Behaviors related to intellectual stimulation include seeking differing perspectives when solving problems, suggesting new ways of examining how to complete assignments and encouraging re-thinking of ideas that have not been questioned in the past (Bass and Avolio, 1994). Finally, individualized consideration is directed at treating the followers as individuals and not just members of a group. Behaviors related to individualized consideration include spending time in teaching and coaching, helping others develop their strengths and listening attentively to others’ concerns (Bass and Avolio, 1994). Transformational leadership (i.e. the four I’s) may be mapped to critical teamwork process factors in such a way as to possibly develop team communication and conflict management skills, and promote team cohesion. Expanding our understanding of specifically how transformational leadership components can be linked to team performance through various teamwork

processes serves to advance a promising, yet sparsely explored (Bass et al., 2003), area within transformational leadership. Idealized influence/inspirational motivation and cohesion As previously mentioned, cohesion is critical for effective team performance (Swezey and Salas, 1992; Weaver et al., 1997), and as such, is a key area that could be addressed when investigating transformational leadership’s potential relationship with team performance. Transformational leadership has been empirically linked to cohesion in the past. Specifically, Carless et al. (1995) found that cohesion mediated a transformational leadership relationship with financial performance of Australian banks. Sosik et al. (1997) reported a similar finding, where group potency mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and creative outcomes of teams interacting through computer networks. Additionally, using a military sample, Bass et al. (2003) found support for the mediating role of group potency on a transformational leadership/platoon performance relationship. We build our model on these previous empirical findings, but delineate how intermediate outcomes associated with specific dimensions of transformational leadership behaviors may further our understanding of leadership behavior/teamwork processes relationships, and their overall effect on team performance. Evidence of a direct effect of idealized influence/inspirational motivation on individual performance exists (Bass, 1990; Bass and Avolio, 1994; Densten, 2002), however, regarding teamwork processes and performance, we may want to consider more specifically the role that visioning behaviors play in promoting team cohesion, which has been noted to improve team performance (Evans and Dion, 1991; Mullen and Copper, 1994). Scholars have examined visioning behavior and team/group factors in the past. Within charismatic leadership theory, Shamir et al. (1993) represented vision as empathetic language that involves the reinforcement of the group’s collective identity. Similarly, Sullivan (1988) suggested that visioning involves expressions of sharing as well, which are directed at building rapport and bonding with the team. Thus, we suggest that idealized influence/inspirational motivation impacts cohesion through visioning behaviors involving rapport building and empathetic language. Although previous empirical findings displaying both direct effects of transformational leadership (general factor) on performance (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002) and mediated effects through cohesion (Bass et al., 2003; Carless et al., 1995; Sosik et al., 1997), no empirical effort to specifically link the visioning component of transformational leadership to group cohesion exists. Given the aforementioned links between charismatic leadership and shared vision (Shamir et al., 1993; Sullivan, 1988), we expect that the charismatic component of transformational leadership (i.e. idealized influence/inspirational motivation, Avolio et al., 1999) will impact cohesion

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through development of a shared vision within the team. This model reflects partial mediation in that as stated in our general model, we propose that idealized influence/inspirational motivation will have a direct effect on performance, however, at the same time, operate through visioning and cohesion as well. As such, the following proposition is offered: P4. Creation of shared vision will positively impact team cohesion, and will partially mediate the relationship of idealized influence/inspirational motivation leadership with team performance. In a similar vein, we consider another indirect impact of idealized influence/inspirational motivation on cohesion. Previous empirical findings have linked the transformational leadership (general factor) to affective commitment (Kane and Tremble, 2000) and organizational commitment (Rai and Sinha, 2000), but have not explicitly linked idealized influence/inspirational motivation to team commitment. A leader, who promotes confidence in achievement and execution of goals and tasks, speaks optimistically about the future and provides an exciting image of organizational change, exhibits idealized, inspirationally motivating behaviors (Bass and Avolio, 1994). Moreover, these behaviors may be instrumental in building pride in being associated with the leader (Atwater and Bass, 1994), and commitment to the leader (Arnold et al., 2001), which can in turn, provide a commonality for members of the team to embrace. This shared pride and commitment to the leader has the potential to lead to increased cohesion, as members view themselves as privileged to be associated with the transformational leader (Atwater and Bass, 1994). Thus, we suggest that idealized influence/inspirational motivation impacts cohesion through commitment to the leader. As stated in our general model, we propose that idealized influence/inspirational motivation will have direct effect on performance, however, at the same time, operate through commitment and cohesion as well. As such, the following proposition is offered: P5. Commitment to the leader will positively impact team cohesion, and will partially mediate the relationship of idealized influence/inspirationally motivating leadership with team performance. Individualized consideration and communication As previously mentioned, increased listening, prompt feedback and openness to suggestions within the team is necessary for effective performance (Dyer, 1995; Oser et al., 1989; Stevens and Campion, 1994; Swezey and Salas, 1992; Zander, 1994). Consider that individualized consideration encompasses attentive listening, consideration of individuals as having different needs, abilities and aspirations, and time spent in coaching and teaching (Bass, 1985, 1990).

The individually considerate leader is responsible for constructing a one-to-one relationship with each team member, listening to concerns and addressing individual needs (Bass, 1994; Yammarino et al., 1998). As such, the transformational leadership dimension of individualized consideration may be an appropriate precursor to effective team communication. These individually considerate behaviors may serve to empower team members and open and extend lines of communication between the leader and each member of the team. Although there is some empirical evidence that general transformational leadership is indirectly related to empowerment (Kark et al., 2003), individualized consideration has not been specifically linked to empowerment. Spreitzer (1995) states that competence (or self-efficacy), meaningfulness, choice and impact are necessary conditions for empowerment. Specifically, we posit that through individualized consideration a leader addresses competence, meaningfulness and impact with each of his/her team members, and encourages continued individual development. These actions may serve to create a supportive, empowered team environment (Spreitzer, 1995). As stated in our general model, we propose that individual consideration will have direct effect on performance, however, at the same time, operate through empowerment and communication as well. As such, the following proposition is offered: P6. A leader’s empowerment of team members will positively impact team communication and will partially mediate the relationship of individually considerate leadership with team performance. Intellectual stimulation and conflict management We view constructive conflict management similar to Chen and Tjosvold (2002), where a team benefits from conflict in that the team develops a quality solution and strengthens relationships. As previously mentioned, effective conflict management can lead to better team performance (Stevens and Campion, 1994), as a team is not dragged down by infighting and indecision. Research suggests that conflict, particularly cognitive or task-oriented conflict, can be an important antecedent to team effectiveness and performance (Amason, 1996, Jehn, 1994, 1995). Moderate levels of task conflict are viewed as functional conflict, or conflict which supports the goals of the group/team and improves the group’s/team’s performance (Jehn, 1997). Jehn (1995) found that norms open to and tolerant of disagreement were positively related to task conflict dimension. As such, developing a team’s attitudes and norms toward the functional benefit of team conflict may improve its ability to constructively manage the conflict. Consider how the transformational dimension of intellectual stimulation can create an environment, where questioning assumptions and inventing new uses

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for old processes (Bass, 1985, 1990) are considered a healthy form of conflict. Using intellectually stimulating behavior, such as seeking differing perspectives, suggesting new ways of how to look at problems and encouraging non-traditional thinking, may promote functional, task-oriented conflict within the team. A leader’s use of intellectual stimulation exhibits his/her belief that when teams promote and manage task conflict, the resulting innovation can lead to better team performance and decision-making (Bass and Avolio, 1994). As stated in our general model, we propose that intellectual stimulation will have direct effect on performance, however, at the same time, operate through creation of functional conflict and subsequent conflict management as well. As such, the following proposition is offered: P7. A leader’s creation of functional conflict will positively impact team conflict management, and will partially mediate the relationship of intellectually stimulating leadership with team performance. Thus, relationships between key team performance dimensions and transformational leadership have been established and are modeled in Figure 2. Discussion As with any conceptual model, validation of key relationships is essential and should be addressed first. Following the evidence of separate transformational factors provided in Avolio et al. (1999) and Bycio et al. (1995) factor analyses, and discussed in Avolio and Yammarino (2002), we maintained three separate transformational factors (i.e. idealized influence/inspirational motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation) within our conceptual development. Because of this evidence, and in part because team performance and transformational leadership have not been widely researched (Bass et al., 2003), we theorized as specifically as possible for our integration of transformational leadership and team performance. Empirical justification for separate transformational factors has been mixed (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002), however as this represents an initial conceptual development of transformational factors and teamwork processes and performance, specificity may be a more appropriate starting point, rather than an initial assumption of a general transformational factor. Additionally, we presented partial mediation within our conceptual development in an attempt to investigate alternative hypotheses within the transformational leadership domain. Theoretical development of a construct can be improved by examining alternative, rival or competing hypotheses (James and Brett, 1984). Although there is evidence of direct and mediated effects of general transformational leadership on group performance (Bass, 1990; Kahai et al., 2000), we may improve our understanding of team performance by examining alternative explanations regarding how specific

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Figure 2. Transformational leadership and team performance model

transformational behaviors may impact underlying teamwork processes such as communication, conflict management and cohesion. Empirical testing of the proposed model will assist in determining the appropriateness of both conceptualizing transformational leadership as multi-factored, and theorizing partially mediated propositions. However, once the model has been validated, a better understanding of teamwork processes underlying leadership and team performance can have significant practical implications on team issues such as training, selection and team structure.

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Training implications are particularly relevant for this type of model because although empirical evidence displays the effectiveness of transformational leadership training (Barling et al., 1996; Dvir et al., 2002; Kelloway et al., 2000), and team training literature has highlighted the need for teamwork skills training (Glickman et al., 1987; Stevens and Campion, 1994; Sundstrum et al., 1990), no theoretical and conceptual integration of transformational leadership and teamwork processes development exists. Given the underdeveloped area of transformational leadership team training, and leadership training in general (Fiedler, 1996), this model could contribute a theoretical framework to guide the development of a leadership/teamwork processes training program. For example, empirical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of transformational leadership training on outcomes such as subordinate commitment (Barling et al., 1996), ratings of transformational leadership (Kelloway et al., 2000) and directly on followers’ development and indirectly on followers’ performance (Dvir et al., 2002). However, these studies do not specifically focus on the implications of transformational leadership training designed for leading teams effectively. Our model could offer trainers specific guidance as to how particular transformational leader behaviors may affect specific teamwork processes and performance, and in turn, provide a more specific, relevant focus for team leader training. An additional implication of the proposed model involves the structure of the team and development of team members. Specifically, consider how team structure may affect who receives transformational leadership training. For example, in a hierarchically based team where the leader is expected to exhibit transformational behaviors, transformational leadership training may be indicated for team leaders only. However, in self-led teams where all team members assume leadership roles at times, transformational leadership training may be indicated for all members of a team. Obviously, the training budget and lost productivity while attending training is potentially significantly increased for self-led team leadership training. Moreover, the timing of a transformational leadership training program may be crucial as well. Several team training and team performance scholars highlighted the importance of teamwork processes being developed early in the team’s life cycle (Gersick, 1988; Morgan et al., 1986; Salas et al., 1992). Therefore, transformational leadership training may be indicated early in a team’s tenure, since this type of leader behavior may serve to promote improved teamwork process and further cement team goals and strategies. Limitations and future directions There are several limitations to this model. First and foremost, since this is an initial attempt at understanding how intermediate outcomes of transformational leadership may impact team performance, we considered only three key teamwork process factors. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive

list, as there are several other critical dimensions underlying effective teamwork, each with subskills (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1995) that our model does not include. As such, these additional variables have the potential to interact with those in our model in such a way as to alter overall team performance. For example, team consensus and decision-making strategies could affect overall team performance and therefore may need to be considered as key elements in a leadership/team performance model. Additionally, hierarchically based teams and self-led teams are two “pure” types of team structures. Practically speaking, many types of teams may not be easily categorized into one structure or another. Organization teams may choose to elect a leader with no real authority in the organization, or teams may be considered self-led, but not be included in human resource decisions such as selection, termination, salary increases, etc. These forms of team hybridization could impact teamwork processes and skills, and complicate a transformational leadership team performance model. Regarding future directions, we need to consider both empirical/substantive issues (i.e. research-oriented issues), and generalizability issues (i.e. practitioner-oriented issues). The most obvious research-oriented issue is that this model needs to be fully tested. Due to the nature of the propositions involving both leaders and teams (minimally), levels of analysis implications in the design, data collection, and analytic techniques need to be considered. Multiple-level perspectives in theory development improve our understanding of the complexity of teams by acknowledging the importance of delineating relationships among characteristics of individuals, dyads and groups (Yammarino, 1996; Yammarino et al., 1998). Ultimately, these multiple-level perspectives could promote better leadership/team performance process models. Some practitioner-oriented issues involve types of teams and team member characteristics. Consideration of teams at all levels within the organization, from top management teams to production teams, could further refine a leadership/team performance conceptual model. Evaluation of what types of environments or team factors may affect teamwork processes and performance also could be beneficial, as evidence shows that team shared mental models and communication processes may be affected by novel versus routine environments (Marks et al., 2000). Investigating these issues could improve generalizability and help guide practitioners in defining what teamwork processes may be most relevant to consider at what level. Regarding team member characteristics, few, if any, studies have examined the implications of team diversity on leadership requirements. Diversity within the team could potentially affect team functioning, decision-making and cohesion. Future research could examine the impact of transformational leadership on diverse teams, or the impact of diverse teams on leadership requirements. Both investigations could enhance our understanding of

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team-building and team performance processes, which could guide practitioners in selection and training decisions. Conclusion Transformational leadership theory provides one way to enhance our understanding of team performance. Although the integration of transformational leadership theory into team performance and development is somewhat complex, we can be encouraged in this effort by a large payoff – there are many examples of how transformational leadership has promoted performance beyond expectations (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002; Bass, 1985, 1988, 1990). References Amason, A.C. (1996), “Distinguishing the effects of functional and dysfunctional conflict on strategic decision making: resolving a paradox for top management team”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 39, pp. 123-48. Arnold, K.A., Barling, J. and Kelloway, E.K. (2001), “Transformational leadership or the iron cage: which predicts trust, commitment and team efficacy?”, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Vol. 22 Nos 7/8, pp. 315-20. Atwater, D. and Bass, B.M. (1994), “Transformational leadership in teams”, in Bass, B. and Avolio, B. (Eds), Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational Leadership, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 48-83. Avolio, B.J. and Yammarino, F.J. (2002), Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead, Elsevier Science, Oxford. Avolio, B.J., Bass, B.M. and Jung, D.I. (1999), “Re-examining the components of transformational and transactional leadership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 72, pp. 441-62. Balthazard, P., Waldman, D., Howell, J. and Atwater, A. (2002), “Modeling performance in teams: the effects of media type, shared leadership, interaction style and cohesion”, paper presented at the August, 2002 Academy of Management Meeting, Denver, CO. Barling, J., Weber, T. and Kelloway, E.K. (1996), “Effects of transformational leadership training on attitudinal and financial outcomes: a field experiment”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 81 No. 6, pp. 827-32. Bass, B.M. (1985), Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, Free Press, New York, NY. Bass, B.M. (1988), “The inspirational process of leadership”, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 7, pp. 21-31. Bass, B.M. (1990), Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Bass, B.M. (1994), “Transformational leadership and team and organizational decision making”, in Bass, B. and Avolio, B. (Eds), Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational Leadership, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 104-20. Bass, B.M. and Avolio, B.J. (1994), Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational Leadership, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Bass, B.M., Avolio, B.J., Jung, D.I. and Berson, Y. (2003), “Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 88 No. 2, pp. 207-18.

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The transformed leader and spiritual psychology: a few insights S.K. Chakraborty Management Centre for Human Values, Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, India

Debangshu Chakraborty Department of Business Administration, J.D. Birla Institute, Kolkata, India Keywords Transformational leadership, Ethics, Ideologies (philosophy) Abstract This paper presents both conceptual insights and practical examples about spiritually transformed leadership. The Yoga-Vedanta spiritual model is its anchor. Some profound Western thinkers, besides Indian realizers, have provided clues relevant to this approach. This paper explores a much wider vista for transformational leadership beyond business success or political strategy. Transformed leaders are the cause, transformation of followers the effect.

Journal of Organizational Change Management Vol. 17 No. 2, 2004 pp. 194-210 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0953-4814 DOI 10.1108/09534810410530610

Setting the tone The authors of this paper feel that “leadership” is a “soft” field. It turns even more so when it begins to be looked at from the “transformational” angle, and when the “spiritual” perspective is attempted to be infused into it, the “softness” of this subject becomes deep. So, every idea or view is not expected to be acceptable to all readers. A little taste for spirituality might however help. The transformational angle to the leadership process has been with us for 25 years. James Burns had pioneered this viewpoint in a monumental study on leadership (Burns, 1978). He has argued that “transactional” leadership is characterized by a “swapping”, or a “trading”, or a “bargaining” motive in an exchange process between a leader and the led. It lacks durable engagement between the two sides. They “use” one another mutually – so to say. “Transforming” leadership, on the other hand, involves the mutual “raising” of both sides to higher levels of motivation and morality. The example of Gandhi has been given. The same paragraph also mentions “transcending” leadership, but it is not explained, nor does the index mention it. Similarly, “spirituality” also does not figure in the index (Burns, 1978). Burns, a political scientist, has elaborately formulated his ideas against the canvas of managing nations and peoples, not business. Therefore, he proceeds to “fashion a general theory of political leadership”. He does speak of “mutual stimulation and elevation” among leaders and followers. But his “transforming” leader is assigned the role of “recognizing and exploiting” the wants, ungratified needs, demands, crushed expectations etc. of followers or

potential followers. Then he is supposed to go beyond all this and engage the The transformed whole person in a moral process (Burns, 1978). Consciousness arousal has also leader been interpreted in terms of the ability to “discern signs of dissatisfaction”, grounded in the “seedbed of conflict”. At the same time, there is a mention about followers’ “ true” needs. But the previous expressions do not match with notions like “higher purpose”, “true needs” etc. No indication is available about 195 the character of such “true” needs. It is pertinent here to refer, for example, to Aldous Huxley for a statement about the “true need” or “end value” for a human being: “The last end of man, the ultimate reason for human existence, is unitive knowledge of the divine Ground” (Huxley, 1994). Burns’ choice of the political backdrop may have precluded such ultimate transformational ideals. Yet this paper, which seeks to include spirituality as an element in the holistic treatment of transformational leadership could not leave out formulations like those of Huxley. Such articulations are quite different from the end-values mentioned by Burns, e.g. liberty, justice, equality (Burns, 1978). Bernard Bass and his associates appear to have linked Burns’ political theory to the sphere of managing business. A noticeable difference in their approach from that of Burns’ is the use of some tools and methods of empirical research. Burns’ work is qualitative and conceptual, whereas that of Bass and others tends towards the quantification (Bass, 1985, Bass and Avolio, 1994). But even the index of the Bass-Avolio book does not show any entries for spirituality or transcendence or consciousness. Only one entry appears for “ethical standards”, and the text does not elaborate it (Bass and Avolio, 1994). Four years later, however, we see that, terms like “ethics”, “character”, “transcendence” etc. have been incorporated in the exposition of transformational leadership (Bass and Steidelmeir, 1998). This later effort has sought a more deep-structure basis for transformational theory in the classical Socratic and Confucian traditions. One can read into such efforts, the continuing trend towards deeper “softness” or “subjectivism” in the development of leadership theory. We shall attempt below to extend this engagement to its spiritual potential. Metaphysical assumptions and definitions This reflective essay tries to provide some further essential insights for transformational leadership from the corpus of classical spiritual psycho-philosophy of India. There are at least three main reasons to glean some insights from this literature. They are as follows. (1) They have formed the bedrock of a very durable and sustainable civilization which has been non-aggressive and non-acquisitive in its relationships with nature and other cultures. (2) They constitute a living tradition to this day, as exemplified by the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi (and many others like him of whom the world may not be aware).

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(3) This tradition has been built on the parallel and complementary development of both “philosophical aims” and “psychological methods” to fulfill them. Hence the compound phrase “psycho-philosophical” is used above. The most profound of such psycho-philosophical pairs is that of Yoga-Vedanta (Y-V). Vedanta is the philosophical base of Oneness (Advaita). Yoga is the psychological process which accelerates the experience of this oneness, this union. It may be noted that the Y-V framework is not affiliated with any individual name. This ensures it against the probable dangers of individual charisma or institutional dogma. For the same reason it gets more closely with transcendence than other viewpoints. There are of course, several other spiritual approaches within the Indian tradition itself (e.g. Kundalini Yoga in Tantra, Vipassna) in Buddhism. Other world cultures must also be having their own disciplines. But this small paper cannot go onto them. Very briefly, Y-V ontology says the following. . The infinite, the eternal is the foundation of the finite, the changing. . The “whole” comprises both infinite and finite. . The individual’s manifest empirical “self” is an outer instrument of action, disconnected from the transcendent “self” within. So, the typical human person is not experientially holistic, though essentially he/she is. Complementing the ontological position, Y-V epistemology holds the following. . The faculty of mental reasoning, though higher than vital instinct, is insufficient for knowing the “whole”. . Reason and intellect proceed by dividing and fragmentation; and . So a receptive mental silence, with an aspiration for directly perceiving the whole, the self within is essential. The above blend of ontology-epistemology has always been amenable to systematic self-discipline, followed by experiential realization. A few examples of contemporary leaders cast in this mould will be given below. Long before the Christian era, in emperor Asoka (BC 304-232) the world had witnessed the example of a leader who had transformed himself from Asoka-the-fierce (Chandasoka) to Asoka-the-benign (Dharmasoka). Vincent Smith has observed about him: “‘he managed to reconcile the apparently inconsistent positions of monk and monarch’, and that’ . . . he was wonderfully successful in holding together for forty years an empire rarely exceeded in magnitude” (Smith, 1988). Such leaders in Indian history have been called rajarshis (i.e. royal sages or monk emperors). Plato’s philosopher-king has some apparent similarity with them (Chakraborty and Chakraborty, 2004).

The following more or less descriptive definitions, embedded in the The transformed metaphysical framework just mentioned, might be helpful in understanding leader the paper. Transcendence. Nature has already evolved by transcending to life above matter, to mind/reason above life. The next leap of transcendence implicit in the above evolutionary journey is towards spirit above mind/reason. 197 The practical import of the transcendence principle in the social setting is its power to yield a more far-reaching, holistic view of complex ground-level happenings. It gives an integral, long-term perspective which cannot be had through seeing – by – succession on the ground. Consciousness. Consciousness is independent of the reactions of personality to the forces of environment. Consciousness is the inherent reality, the fundamental thing in all existence. When it is self-impelled to evolve slowly out of matter, it emerges as life, as animal, and as man. In man, it can transform beyond mind to spirit. Evolution in form itself ceases (Sri Aurobindo, 1999a). Spirituality. Spirituality means beginning to become aware of a consciousness higher than that of the body-mind centered ego, and the ability to live more and more in it or under its guidance. It is this consciousness – non-contingent, self-existent, pure of ego – which is spirit or self (Sri Aurobindo, 1997a). Leaders of humanity have always possessed this subjective power. Transformation. Transformation, in the spiritual sense of Y-V psycho-philosophy, is the gradual progress towards that state of consciousness which is holistic, non-egoistic, hence flawless. Ethics. It may be defined negatively. It is unethical when an entity, individual or collective, intentionally uses its power or authority to gain some advantage at the expense of another entity, of which the latter is unaware or defenseless. Minimizing the incidence of such unethicality should promote a wide revival of ethicality. Transcendence of the empirical self, tied to the separative ego consciousness, could transform the perpetrating entity towards all-embracing self-consciousness. The transformed leader – a corporate example The transformational leadership process is usually understood as flowing towards the followers. This naturally presupposes that it is the leader who originates and sustains such a transformational flow. It is also implicit that transformation here is a positive notion – constructive, wholesome, elevating. The spirituality perspective of this paper embraces such elements. The source of the transformational flow, the leader, therefore needs to “transform” him/herself in the first place. Only a transformed leader can transmit transforming influence. Therefore, this paper concentrates on the transformation of the leader as a prior step. The examples given below will illustrate this principle.

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There is a significant Indian proverb relevant to this issue: yatha raja, tatha praja (like leader, like follower). Although, there may be exceptions where the reverse (like follower, like leader) could be true, the more widespread, natural cause-and-effect relationship is understood in terms of leader-to-follower. This is perhaps as it should be. Although the keynote of reciprocal relationship is continuously emphasized by Burns, yet he too mentions about the leader taking “the major part”, about the “leader’s main strength is the ability to operate close enough to the followers to draw them up to the leader’s level of moral development” (Burns, 1978). We may now offer some flavour of such a transformed leader by reproducing small portions from a published interview with R.K. Talwar. He was the most respected Executive Chairman successively of the State Bank of India (the country’s largest and best commercial bank) and the Industrial Development Bank of India (the country’s largest development banking institution) (Chakraborty, 1999).Talwar’s philosophy of work-life was based on the Gita. He had secret access to it from his mother when he was 13. Ever since, he stayed with it, and it grew into him. As an adult he had become a follower-devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother (Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual prote´ge´). Question. How did the thoughts of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother influence your approach to work? Answer. Let me narrate to you one incident . . . One day the president of the local Board of SBI came late for a meeting. Then for some unknown reason he began to talk ill of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. That hurt me much. So I asked him, “You are a big businessman. Why are you working so hard for your business?” He replied, “So that my children will be happy”. My response was, “Your aim is very low . . . My aim is: I am the Mother’s appointee, let the Divine work through me”. Question. When faced with problems which seem to baffle your reason or experience, what do you do? Answer. “The Mother . . . has explained the process by which one could receive Divine guidance in crisis situations. Her formula is: sincerity þ silence þ no preference ¼ divine voice Question. Any comment on the phenomenon called “organizational politics”? Answer. I am not a political animal . . . I am Mother’s worker, it is her Bank. It is fortunate that the Mother runs this Bank. If there are claps or praise at any time, I close my eyes and remember the Mother” (Chakraborty, 1999). The same book informs that three more CEOs, who were former juniors of Talwar and later headed other large banks/institutions, had also been interviewed. They all corroborated how Talwar had created a small enclosure in his office with a folding partition in one corner. Whenever he felt that a problem or a dilemma was proving to be beyond his experience, reason or logic,

he would take a break and sit within that enclosure. All communication would The transformed cease for sometime. In that quiet space and time, Talwar would practise the leader formula mentioned above. Original clues, creative solutions and renewed convictions regarding nagging dilemmas or risky choices emerged, either during that very process of silent opening up to the higher and the whole, or within a day or two thereafter. 199 Long after his departure from the scene he still continues to be an inspiring role model, and even today SBI is on top of the rung in the Indian banking industry. The lesson is: let the leader be transformed first, the leadership process will then tend to be more transformational in its impact on organizational members. This is likely to be so because the leader’s own existential matrix is no longer conventionally transactional (i.e. hunger for career, power, stock options, fame, etc.). In other words, the transformed leader radiates transformational influence because he/she functions “essentially”, not “circumstantially”. Variable circumstances faced while leading are not avoided or ignored, but the essence remains in constant focus. This is the benefit that could accrue to the organizational situation from the leader’s capacity for transcendence when required. Another part of the dialogue with Talwar quoted above, for example, contains references to the machinations of the very second person in the hierarchy headed by Talwar. He was a drag on the CEO’s energy. With the large majority of other direct subordinates working for Talwar the transformational influence was however positive. The same dialogue provides us with two such instances. He followed strictly the rule that no letter on his table should take more than 48 h to reply. Talwar’s subordinates responded to this self-imposed discipline by often handing over relevant papers to the doorman of his residence in the evenings (at times as late as 10 or 11 pm). But he had not asked for this gesture from them. It was spontaneous loyalty from their heart. On another occasion he was handling an intricate employee negotiation problem. The All-India Trade union leader of SBI one day came to talk to him on a contentious issue. The union leader soon turned aggressive and insolent. After a short pause Talwar told him coolly: “Look, you are first an employee of SBI, then a trade union leader. So, behave yourself or go”. This had a dramatic positive impact on the whole process.

The self of the transformed leader The above examples from Talwar serve to highlight a number of key aspects of a leader’s self-transformation from the viewpoint of spiritual psychology. Talwar’s leadership provides a genuine case of the ontology (“I am the Mother’s appointee, Her worker”), and the epistemology ðsilence þ sincerity þ no preference ¼ divine voiceÞ of transformation conceived for this paper.

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Margaret Wilson (the daughter of the American President, Woodrow Wilson) had written the following lines in a long letter to Sri Aurobindo in 1936 (Wilson, 2002). . . . I am convinced that I shall never again come under the illusion that the little self can be useful, except it be guided and activated by the higher Self.

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She received an equally elaborate reply from Sri Aurobindo. The burden of this response was, as distilled by us for this essay (Sri Aurobindo, 1987). (1) According to Y-V psychology, one method of understanding human personality is to visualize it at two levels: the “lower self” and the “higher self”. (2) The “lower self” is constitutionally deficit-driven. These deficits are lurking or manifest, subtle or gross. Individual strivings prompted from this level despite deceptive bright interludes, tend to degenerate into unethicality. (3) This “higher self” is the inalienable, inherent core within every individual. But we remain alienated from it due to the weight and noise of the lower-self. (4) There is another technical phrase “psychic being” which Sri Aurobindo employs synonymously for higher self. It “is the inmost being of all; a perception of truth which is inherent in the deepest substance of the consciousness, a sense of the good, true, beautiful . . . is its privilege” (Sri Aurobindo, 1989). Margaret Wilson had been able to correctly grasp and honestly admit the absence of self-leadership in her. Through some of Talwar’s own words quoted earlier, and through other reliable sources (like other interviews incorporated in the book “Wisdom Leadership”), one can conclude that his higher-self character was able to display sustained dignity and integrity. (For instance, he did have a credit card, but never used it in his life. If he had to borrow sometimes, he would do so only against his own bank deposits.) (Chakraborty, 1999). In so far as words can express, we may now hear from Sri Aurobindo himself a little more about the true nature of self (Sri Aurobindo, 1999b). (1) “. . . Self remains . . . pure and stainless, unaffected by the stains of life, by desire and ego, and ignorance. It is realized as the true being of the individual, but also more widely as the same being in all, and as the Self in the cosmos . . .”. (2) “The first realization of Self as something intensely silent and purely static is not the whole truth of it; there can also be a realization of Self . . . as the condition of world-activity and world existence.” Thus, the journey from a “self-transactional” leader to a “self-transformed” leader is a rather long and sacred haul. It may also not be immediately or

entirely comprehensible at present. Yet to be informed about its real nature can The transformed save us from premature confidence that a few small steps at the foot of the hill leader mean we are close to the summit. The self-transactional leader is the ordinary deficit-driven self tending to resort readily to deception, manipulation etc. The Indian corporate world had witnessed during the 1990s a number of deplorable cases of top leadership 201 which have been anything but transformational (e.g. ITC, TISCO, India Hotels, SAIL, UTI). There appears to be a deep contradiction between careeristic leadership and transformational leadership. Spirituality for a transformed leader Since there is at present a growing interest about spirituality in management discourse, it should be useful to know its psychological essence. We turn to Sri Aurobindo again for adequate light on it (Sri Aurobindo, 1997a): (1) “Spirituality has meant . . . a recognition of something greater than mind and life . . . a surge and rising of the soul in man out of the littleness and bondage of our lower parts towards a greater thing secret within him.” (2) “The divine perfection is always there above us; but for man to become divine in consciousness and act, and to live inwardly and outwardly the divine life is what is meant by spirituality – all lesser meanings given to it are inadequate fumblings . . .”. The leader-in-transformation is informed through these benchmark statements that the lower self or lower parts are imperfect, whereas the higher self is perfection itself. In spiritual discourse such perfection is called divine. “Be thou perfect as thy Father in Heaven is perfect” says the Bible too. This yearning for “spiritual perfection” is different from fascination with “secular success”. The thinking, reasoning mental being is expected to guide, control and uplift the physical and vital levels. But the persistent, painful reality is that the reasoning mind is itself being enslaved by the raw powers and instincts of the physical-vital levels. So, some conscientious thinkers have been feeling that the world is being led from chaos to crisis to catastrophe. It seems necessary to hold up this big picture as a backdrop while investigating change and transformation in organizations and leaders. While etching these contours of modern society, such thinkers have not felt obliged to express their views with reference to the huge accumulation of previous academic research and scholarship. Uninhibited insights from them appear to be more helpful. Here is a sample of such big-picture cautions from the unfettered minds of Einstein (1950), Russell (1927), Toynbee (1987), Beer (1994) and David Korten (2001), respectively: (1) “Everything is dominated by the cult of efficiency and of success, and not by the value of things and men in relation to the moral ends of human society.”

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(2) “Science is no substitute for virtue . . . If men were rational in their conduct . . . intelligence would be enough to make the world a paradise.” (3) “The present widespread disillusionment with politicians . . . is putting democracy in jeopardy. . . . Present-day man’s social environment has become crushingly massive . . . this lowers his self-respect and, with it, his ethical standards.” (4) “The devastation wrought in the quality of life in the advanced industrial countries by the use of science and technology is plain to see. Do developing countries really wish to follow the same road?” (5) “(Material monism) has led us to the brink of self-destruction because it leads so naturally to the embrace of Hobbesian values that alienate us from any higher meaning or purpose.” It is appropriate to add to the above citations an entirely extra-orbital assessment made in 1920 about the post-war crisis by Tagore (1996), India’s Nobel Laureate sage-poet: . . . with the help of science the possibility of profit has suddenly become immoderate. The whole of human society . . . has felt the gravitational pull of a giant planet of greed . . . It has carried to our society a distinct deviation from its moral orbit.

We hope all these sagacious, beyond-the-orbit, identical cautions from those who had or have transcended the levels of research and scholarship to those of pure thought and realization, may inspire non-careeristic transformational leadership to become holistically worthwhile. Without the practice of detachment, however such transcendence cannot be attained. But detachment here does not mean callousness. It implies concern with an uncluttered perspective. Such a perspective and higher self wisdom flourish together. Spiritual perception represents higher and wider understanding than fragmentist mental thinking and reasoning. The dominant left-brain leadership of the world during the last few centuries has been, on the whole, short-sighted as realized by the great minds above. This implies spirit-centered, right-brain leadership informed by transcendence. The ideas were articulated in 1918, in these words by Sri Aurobindo on the basis of life-long realization beyond intellectual speculation (Sri Aurobindo, 1974): It is the sovereign stillness which is the calm of the yoga. The more complete the calm . . . the greater the force in action. In this calm right knowledge comes . . . in that voiceless stillness illumination comes upon the mind, error begins to fall away . . . clarity establishes itself in the higher stratum of the conciousness. . . . he rises above reason to that direct and illuminated knowledge which we call vijnanam.

It has been reported about Einstein recalling Werner Heisenberg’s words to him (Abdul Kalam, 2002):

You know in the West we have built a large, beautiful ship. It has all the comforts in it, but one thing is missing: it has no compass and does not know where to go. Men like Tagore and Gandhi and their spiritual forebears had found the compass. Why can this compass not be put in the human ship so that both can realize their purpose?

Recovery of this compass could thus be the true aim of tomorrow’s transformed leader. Chakraborty has developed a five-step psycho-spiritual discipline, derived from the Y-V framework, to help go forward in this direction (Chakraborty, 1993). It is called the “Mind Stilling Exercise” or “Quality Mind Process”. It is a synthesis of some keynotes from the ontology-epistemology outlined earlier. Over the years it has been widely practised with managers/leaders in India and occasionally abroad. The steps are as follows. (1) Deep, slow, mindful breathing in and out through alternate nostrils (12-15 cycles). (2) Normal, mindful breathing using both nostrils (5 min or so). These two steps help to stabilize the agitated nervous system, and to interiorize the discursive, centrifugal mind. It is a fundamental rule of yoga psychology that harmonious, integral thinking is positively correlated to consciously disciplined breathing. Awareness interiorization thus achieved is a great source of empowerment. Brief periods of centripetalization from the centrifugal workings of the mind recoup the power of integral effectiveness from within. (3) Becoming aware of the space within the head and suggesting to it gently and silently: “let go, let go . . .” This step helps to unwind the congested left brain, to make it relatively still and free from the mechanical, grinding thought process. This is called “thought stilling” or “brain-stilling” (5-7 min). This third step is crucial for right-brain revival, transcendence and holistic perception. Aldous Huxley had cautioned us in 1946 that “the habit of analytical thought is fatal to the intuitions of integral thinking” (Huxley, 1994). (4) Opening up upwards above the head – by contemplating a lotus at dawn silently unfolding its petals and opening up to the pure golden rays of the rising sun (5-7 min). This step attempts to put the awareness, imprisoned within the limited, conditioned body-life-mind cage, in touch with the infinite, unconditioned universal and transcendent power and intelligence. Step 3 facilitates this process (Sri Aurobindo, 1991). (5) Concentrating the awareness on the self-luminous, self-fulfilled higher-self or spirit in the center of the psychological heart. One may use a strong and steady golden flame as a symbol of the self to concentrate upon (5-7 min).

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This final step helps one to achieve a stable inner anchor. One can cut loose from externals, and retire to it as and when the need for re-centering is felt. Steps 4 and 5 lend height and depth, respectively, to our flat consciousness.

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Ego, ethics and the transformed leader Since Mahatma Gandhi is mentioned as a transformational leader, it may be useful to listen to him a little. Way back in 1925, the concluding paragraph of the preface to his autobiography, said (Gandhi, 1972): For it is an unbroken torture to me that I am still so far from Him Who, as I fully know, governs every breath of my life, And Whose offspring I am.

This testament is a good example of what transcendence for a transformed leader could truly mean. Gandhi yearns for transcending the ego-consciousness in order to experience the light and wisdom of the original source, i.e. God, Spirit, Divine, Self. Burns mentions that it was in South Africa where Gandhi was transformed into a leader. But no reference occurs about the central role of his spiritual struggles and aspirations. Attention has been drawn to his reading of Ruskin, Thoreau, Tolstoy, but not the Gita. The psycho-analytic framework has also been applied to understand him (Burns, 1978). However, a recent biography by an Indian authority (Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi’s grandson) has christened the Mahatma as a “good boatman” of the Indian freedom movement. The coherence and elevation imparted to this movement sprang from the Mahatma’s striving for God-centered power; the higher power which pervades yet transcends everything (Gandhi, 1995). Elsewhere Gandhi himself had disclosed his childhood development in the following words. (1) . . . what I failed to get there (in school) I obtained from my nurse (who) suggested to me as a remedy for fear (of ghosts and spirits) the repetition of Ramanama. . . So at a tender age I began repeating Ramanama to cure my fear . . . (2) As a child I was taught to call upon Rama when I was seized with fear. . . . I present it also to the reader whose vision is not blurred and whose faith is not damped by over-much learning. Such then were the inner mainsprings of Gandhi’s transformed leadership process in later life. Outwardly, for his Indian followers, and masses in general, it was his spiritual depth and authenticity which had acted as the transforming force. Secular modes of interpretation applied to profiles such as those of Gandhi (and Asoka, Talwar etc.) incur the error of trying to explain the higher through the lower. It may also be noted that Burns (1978) has cited numerous political leaders as examples, of which only two are from Asia. And among them all it is only

Gandhi who is spiritually grounded. His strikingly different evolution raises The transformed the issue. If transformational leadership theory is to be universal, can it leader exclude genuine spirituality from due consideration? Even if this can be done, should it be done? We may listen to the supra-scholastic Huxley once more (Huxley, 1994): A viable society is one in which those who have qualified themselves to see indicate the goals to be aimed at, while those whose business it is to rule respect the authority and listen to the advice of the seers. In theory at least, all this was well-understood in India, and until the Reformation in Europe . . .

This “seer-ruler” (rajarshi) symbiosis still prevails in India in all professions – howsoever crudely maybe. Here is a telling example of the ethical and transformational influence of Gandhi on followers. This happened in the 1920s when he was also a labour leader, besides other engagements. He had guided the workers of a textile mill to launch non-violent strike for some legitimate demands against a mill-owner who was well-known to him. But after 2 weeks the strikers began to lose their moral strength as indicated by some violence, blacklegging, desertions etc. What happened then at the start of the third week is best heard in his own words (Gandhi, 1972): One morning – it was at a mill-hands’ meeting – while I was still groping and unable to see my way clearly, the light came to me. Unbidden and all by themselves the words came to my lips: “Unless the strikers rally”, I declared to the meeting, “and continue the strike till a settlement is reached, or till they leave the mills altogether, I will not touch any food.” The labourers were thunderstruck . . . (They) broke out, “Not you but we shall fast. . . . Please forgive us for our lapses, we will now remain faithful to our pledge to the end.”

The strike was settled amicably and permanently at the end of the third week. The elevating power of a spiritually transformed leader is self-evident from above. Gandhi’s spiritual charisma is entirely different from that of religious demagogues. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), another realized master of Y-V psycho-philosophy, and the builder of an international organization, had made these startling remarks to an elite London audience in 1896 (Swami Vivekananda, 1958): (1) “Renunciation is the very basis upon which ethics stands. There never was an ethical code preached which had not renunciation for its basis.” (2) The senses say “Myself first”, ethics says “I must hold myself last.” (3) “. . . the goal, the scope, the idea of all ethics is the destruction, and not the building up, of the individual.” A dispassionate examination of the current spate of leadership unethicality in all spheres should prompt us to fathom the transformational message in Swami Vivekananda’s words.

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Yet this ego is a creation of Nature, to serve as an initial nucleus to form a distinct personality. But this is a provisional, intermediate individualization. Sticking to it, with coatings of reason, intellect etc. acts as a bar against upward transformation (Sri Aurobindo, 1988). The bound and limited ego (or lower self ) necessarily implies “smallness of being”, “contraction of consciousness”, “limitation of knowledge”, “scission of oneness”, “disharmony and failure of sympathy” etc. (Sri Aurobindo, 1988). It is for such reasons that in a letter written in 1894 Swami Vivekananda had declared: “It is very difficult to take on the role of a leader. . . .One must be a servant of servants, and must accommodate a thousand minds” (Swami Vivekananda, 1962, emphasis added). There is at present a huge corpus of “compliance ethics” (codes, legislation etc.) and “cognitive ethics” (intellectual theories). Yet, unethicality is on the rise. The clue to this paradox lies in not knowing or ignoring a third, higher level response. The third prong, termed here as “consciousness ethics”, should complement the prevailing two-pronged combat strategy against mounting unethicality. One of the key leaders in the Indian epic Mahabharata had confessed: “I know what is right, yet I cannot act upto it; I also know what is wrong, yet I cannot desist from doing it”. This universal human predicament tells us that “right knowing” does not automatically lead to “right behaving”. The true answer for this breach has to be sought in “consciousness”. Sri Aurobindo had argued for this approach to ethics in the following words (Sri Aurobindo, 1995). To do the right thing in the right way in each case and at each moment one must be in the right consciousness . . . it can never be done by following a fixed mental rule . . .

We concede of course that, as a Vedantic metaphor tells, the world is like a dog’s tail, it can never be fully or permanently straightened. Yet, a three-pronged, rather than a two-pronged, strategy for ethics should work better. If we recall the views of the six great thinkers-realizers (Tagore et al.) cited earlier, it becomes clear that they all felt/feel that the cognitive-scientific-secular-rational leadership approach has faltered on the moral plane. It may have been observed also that the above Y-V metaphysical framework for ethics does not hinge on any denominational, credal religion or its founder. So, “consciousness ethics”, anchored in a spiritual psychological theory and process as suggested here, could give hope. A modest degree of initial faith is needed to get started – as much in science for matter, as in spirituality for transformation. What is this “right consciousness”? It is a “consciousness other than the ego” – as the definition of spirituality by Sri Aurobindo quoted earlier states. History has been repeatedly showing that egoistic reason becomes an accomplice of our vitalistic passions. All too often the leader (reason) becomes the led. Mahatma Gandhi says (Gandhi, 1962):

I know that ultimately one is guided not by the intellect, but by the heart. The heart accepts a conclusion for which the intellect subsequently finds reasoning.. . . Man often finds reason in support of whatever he wants to do.

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So, rational ethics from the thinking mental plane tends to fail again and again. Sri Aurobindo confirms this evaluation (Sri Aurobindo, 1982): All attempts to moralize the race within the limits of his egoistic nature end in general failure. . . . since reason has also to start from the senses which are consistent falsifiers of values, rational knowledge . . . is pursued by vast dimnesses and uncertainties.

“Consciousness ethics” thus implies the leader’s attempt to transcend the present state of response which is inclined to the reasoning of convenience. “Spiritual consciousness” should help one to realize the self in all and all in the self (Sri Aurobindo, 1999b). This “right consciousness” is the antidote to the present consciousness of divisiveness which breeds unethicality. While explaining Aristotelean “virtue ethics” for business, Solomon doubts the practical value of impressive tracts on cognitive ethics so full of intricate macro issues. He says: “Accordingly, I want to defend business ethics as a more personally oriented ethics rather than as public policy” (Solomon, 1993). He is acceptable when he says that virtue is part of social practice “which goes beyond the individual and binds him or her to a larger human network”. The approach of this paper towards the “transformed leader” coincides well with Solomon’s primary focus on the personal dimension of ethics for the “individual-in-society”. So long as the chronically divisive ego-consciousness remains the pivot, the “bond” that Solomon rightly insists upon is unlikely to crystallize. Concluding comments Literature on transformational leadership in the sphere of management has hitherto been concentrating on the individual, the group and the organization. This by itself is a big step forward from the limited focus in leadership studies on initiating structure and consideration (Seltzer and Bass, 1990). But this promising effort awaits a still higher leap towards sustainability beyond political and business organizations only. Thoughtful observers outside the commercial and political mainstreams are voicing great concern about growing psycho-social disintegration and irreversible ecological destruction (Hawken, 1993; Quinn, 1993). Sri Aurobindo’s transcendent spiritual insight had accurately foreseen and warned us about this gathering crisis sometime during 1916-1919 (Sri Aurobindo, 1970). . . . in a commercial age with its ideal . . . of success, vitalistic satisfaction, productiveness and possession the soul of man may linger a while . . . but cannot permanently rest. If it persisted too long, Life would become clogged and perish of its own plethora or burst in its straining to a gross expansion. Like the too massive Titan it will collapse by its own mass, mole ruet sua.

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Leadership forces that tend to seduce humanity into a 24 h deficit-driven society, with no time to stand and stare, will nourish neither ethics nor happiness. The world beyond politics and business therefore awaits the arrival of more and more transformed leaders in every sphere who are able to grasp, that while economics may be the first activity of humanity, it is not its final aim. Pitrim Sorokin had thus diagnosed the human problem during the 1950s (Sorokin, 1962). Beginning roughly with the sixteenth century . . . the modern form of our culture emerged: the sensory, empirical, secular, and “this worldly” culture. It may be called sensate. It is based upon, and is integrated around, this new principle-value: the true reality and value is sensory.

He regards this major premise of sensate culture as undesirable, and recommends its replacement by the more desirable major premise of altruism. After examining Hindu, Buddhist and other spiritual traditions, Sorokin was convinced about the efficacy of the supreme transforming principle: “complete subordination of all values, norms, goals and egos to one absolute value, God, Nirvana, Brahman . . . this supreme singleness of value for transcending all relative values is exactly the right formula for integrating a multitude of antagonistic egos . . .” (Sorokin, 1962). Dag Hammarskjold had uttered these candid words (Hammarskjold, 1966). It is not sufficient to place yourself daily under God. What really matters is to be only under God. The slightest division of allegiance opens the door to day-dreaming, petty conversation, petty boasting, petty malice – all the petty satellites of death instinct.

Thus, both Sorokin and Hammarsjkold point out the need to transcend the sensate, deficit-driven, conflict-ridden self for the sake of higher self-transformation by leaders. Once again Sri Aurobindo had articulated precisely the correct subjective guideline for the transformed leader of today and tomorrow way back in 1909 (Sri Aurobindo, 1974), presaging Sorokin and Hammarskjold by several decades. The problems which have troubled mankind can only be solved by conquering the kingdom within, not by harnessing the forces of Nature to the service of comfort and luxury.

The sacred moorings of power therefore need strengthening by transformed leaders for “true” human needs (Chakraborty, 2001). Leadership at present tends towards consumerist business or divisive politics. So, the “hard” call of the transformational rajarshi (Y-V) model is: “leader, lead thyself.” References Abdul Kalam, A.P.J. (2002), Ignited Minds, Viking, New Delhi, p. 5. Bass, B.M. (1985), Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectation, Free Press, New York, NY, p. 123.

Bass, B.M. and Avolio, B.J. (Eds) (1994), Improving Organizational Performance Through Transformational Leadership, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, p. 68. Bass, B.M. and Steidelmeir, K.B. (1998), Transformational Leadership-Organizational Success, Lawrence Erlbaum, NJ, p. 175. Beer, S. (1994), How Many Grapes Went Into The Wine?, Wiley, London, p. 321. Burns, J.M. (1978), Leadership, Harper and Row, New York, NY, pp. 19-20, 5, 4, 36-7, 426, 90-2, 78, 428. Chakraborty, S.K. (1993), Managerial Transformation by Values, Sage, New Delhi, pp. 38-43. Chakraborty, S.K. (1999), Wisdom Leadership, Wheeler, New Delhi, pp. 36-8. Chakraborty, S.K. (2001), “Wisdom power: beyond rational humanism”, in Chakraborty, S.K. and Padip Bhattacharya (Eds), Leadership and Power, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp. 182-204. Chakraborty, S.K. and Chakraborty, D. (2004), Leadership and Motivation: Cultural Comparisons, Rupa, New Delhi, p. 94. Einstein, A. (1950), Out of my Later Years, Thames and Hudson, London, p. 24. Gandhi, M.K. (1962), The Teaching of The Gita, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Bombay, p. 11. Gandhi, M.K. (1972), An Autobiography, Navjivan, Ahemedabad, p. xii. Gandhi, R. (1995), The Good Boatman, Viking, New Delhi, pp. 166-206. Hammarskjold, D. (1966), Markings, Faber and Faber, London, p. 99. Hawken, P. (1993), The Ecology of Commerce, Harper Collins, New York, NY, p. 25. Huxley, A. (1994), The Perennial Philosophy, Flamingo, London, pp. 22, 25, 145. Quinn, D. (1993), Ishmael, Bantam Turner, New York, NY, pp. 143-5, 206-7. Russell, B. (1927), The Future of Science, Kegan Paul, London, pp. 58-9. Seltzer, J. and Bass, B.M. (1990), “Transformational leadership – beyond initiation and consideration”, Journal of Management, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 693-703. Smith, V.A. (1988), Asoka: The Buddhist Emperor, Arihant, Jaipur, pp. 24, 97. Solomon, R. (1993), Ethics and Excellence, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 111, 109. Sorokin, P. (1962), Reconstruction of Humanity, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Mumbai, pp. 97, 198-9, 204. Sri Aurobindo (1970), The Human Cycle, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, p. 6. Sri Aurobindo (1974), The Ideal of a Karmayogin, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, p. 6. Sri Aurobindo (1982), The Hour of God, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, p. 47. Sri Aurobindo (1987), Living Within, Sri Aurobindo Trust, Pondicherry, pp. 134-6. Sri Aurobindo (1988), The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, p. 342. Sri Aurobindo (1989), The Psychic Being, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry, p. 18. Sri Aurobindo (1991), The Right Attitude in Work, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, p. 13. Sri Aurobindo (1995), Looking From Within, Sri Aurobindo Trust, Pondicherry, p. 58. Sri Aurobindo (1997a), An Introduction to True Spirituality, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, pp. 3-4. Sri Aurobindo (1999a), What is Consciousness?, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, pp. 5-15. Sri Aurobindo (1999b), The Spirit and the Soul, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, pp. 11-12. Swami Vivekananda (1958), Collected Works, Vol. II, Advaita Ashram, Calcutta, pp. 62-3.

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Swami Vivekananda (1962), Collected Works, Vol. VI, Advaita Ashram, Calcutta, p. 284. Tagore, R. (1996), Das, S.K. (Ed.), The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, p. 613. Toynbee, A.J. (1987), Choose Life, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, p. 219. Wilson, M. (2002), “A letter”, All India Magazine, February, p. 21. Further reading Gandhi, M.K. (1977), Ramanama, Navjivan, Ahmedabad, p. 3, 9. Sri Aurobindo (1997b), An Introduction to True Spirituality, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry, p. 3.

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Sensemaking of change in the managed care era: a case of hospital-based nurses

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Julie Apker Department of Communication, Western Michigan University, Michigan, USA

Received June 2002 Revised April 2003 Accepted August 2003

Keywords Organizational change, Nurses, Decision making, Patient care Abstract This study explores how nurses working in a large, metropolitan hospital make sense of the managed care change. Findings from 24 nurse interviews suggest that nurse sensemaking has generated interpretations of managed care change that are grounded in the caregiving role. Study results show that nurses view managed care with ambiguity. Nurses understand managed care change as instrumental in encouraging collaboration and affecting patient care quality. Implications are drawn regarding the importance of identity construction to the sensemaking process and illustrate the paradox of change in the managed care era. Although nurses view collaboration and professional empowerment as positive outcomes of managed care, further analysis reveals that these values function ideologically, promoting managed care concerns over worker interests. Concertive control – a team-based process which shifts organizational control from management to employees – is explored as a way that workers act in accordance with management decisions and uphold traditional power structures.

As managed care systems increasingly dominate the United States health care landscape, many of today’s health care organizations operate in an environment characterized by uncertainty, and continuous change (Sultz and Young, 2001). The effects of managed care are perhaps most pronounced in hospitals, which traditionally have been the most expensive component of health care delivery (Birnenbaum, 1997; Murphy et al., 1997; Vicenzi et al., 1997). Many hospitals have reduced its costs by downsizing the staffs, eliminating support services, and restructuring jobs (Saxton and Leaman, 1998). Hospital health care workers increasingly experience shifts in their professional roles as a result of such cost-cutting measures (Garland and Neidig, 1997; Geist and Hardesty, 1992). Perhaps nowhere are the changes brought about by managed care more strongly felt than in the work lives of hospital-based registered nurses (RNs). Nurses represent the majority of the hospital workforce and they are the most consistent caregivers at the patient bedside (Coffman et al., 1998). Thus, changes in nursing roles and working conditions have a major impact on health care delivery (Finkelman, 2001). In the managed care era, nurses are encountering significant changes in their work as they attempt to balance competing concerns for cost effectiveness and efficiency with care quality and access (Porter-O’Grady, 1998). These changes have both negative and positive implications (Finkelman, 2001). For example, nurses may struggle in their jobs with

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managed care mandates that force them to juggle financial concerns, patient access issues, and quality care needs (Canavan, 1996). Furthermore, nurses who are employed in turbulent managed care environments may encounter such high levels of stress and anxiety that they become burned out and leave their jobs (Miller, 1998). In other cases, the changes brought about by managed care can lead to organizational innovations (Shoultz et al., 1992). For instance, managed care practices can foster collaborative teams, case management systems, and total quality programs which help nurses to develop more visible leadership roles (Tillman et al., 1997). The extant literature suggests that nurses’ roles will be continually redefined in the age of managed care. These changes not only influence nurse quality of work life but also affect the practices by which nurses deliver care to patients (Finkelman, 2001; Geist and Hardesty, 1992). However, little is known about how hospital-based nurses make sense of managed care change and understand their roles in the midst of multiple, competing health care goals. Using sensemaking as a theoretical framework, this study explores nurses’ interpretations of managed care and examines how those interpretations are enacted through nursing role behaviors. In this paper, I review the topic of sensemaking, focusing on research that examines sensemaking about organizational change. Following a presentation of research methodology and findings, conclusions are then drawn about managed care change and its impact on nurse identity, development and participation, particularly with regard to concertive control systems. Organizational sensemaking Weick summarizes the sensemaking process with the statement “How can I know what I think until I see what I say?” (Weick, 1979, p. 134). This recipe indicates that individuals and groups view and assign meaning to talk retrospectively, retaining the sense made of ideas and events as knowledge. Sensemaking is enactive, social, ongoing, retrospective, focused on and driven by extracted clues, driven by plausibility, and grounded in identity construction (Weick, 1995). These properties guide the process by which individuals select particular aspects of the environment to pay attention to and interpret (Taylor, 1999). In research of health care organizations, scholars have found that sensemaking plays a critical role in fostering medical safety practices (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001) and implementing technical innovations (Barley, 1986). Weick (1995) argues that organizations are sensemaking systems that exist in a greater informational environment. Data from the environment are selected or flows into an organization and are given meaning. Organizational members construct and reconstruct their interpretations to understand the nature of their surroundings (Gioia and Chittipeddi, 1991). Sensemaking involves varying signs, symbols, and actions that help individuals to develop their

understandings (Boje, 1991; Taylor, 1999). As a consequence of these variations in the sensemaking process, organizational members create different constructions of their informational environment. For example, nurses who gain information about managed care based on patients’ negative experiences are likely to develop pessimistic perceptions of managed care changes implemented in their workplace. These views may differ from those of nurse executives, who may perceive managed care positively after learning how managed care initiatives can increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness in ways that reduce costs and maximize profits. Making sense of change Weick (1995) further postulated that change is an occasion for sensemaking. It produces equivocality or ambiguity as individuals face a confusing array of varied interpretations to explain what is strange and unfamiliar. Persons collectively engage in sensemaking to understand and respond to new roles, social networks, and practices (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001). Several studies highlight the importance of individual sensemaking in times of change. Taylor (1999) suggested that individual variance in organizational sensemaking is related to positioning in the institutional hierarchy. Further, individual interpretations of change can vary depending on a person’s understanding of the organizational image (Gioia and Thomas, 1996). In the study of introduction of new medical technology to a radiology unit, Barley (1986) found that change prompts sensemaking grounded in professional subcultures. Research by Boyce (1995) further illustrated that individuals bring unique experiences, motivations, and perspectives to the sensemaking process which thereby influence their understandings of organizational change. Relatedly, in the discipline of organizational communication, a growing body of scholarship has investigated the discursive processes by which individuals understand and are affected by organizational change. Of particular relevance to the current study is the work that explored changes in caregiver roles and communication processes in health care organizations (Apker, 2001; Miller, 1998; Miller et al., 2000). For example, Miller et al. (2000) found that nurses make interactive and emergent sense of role ambiguity through traditional communication practices (e.g. relying on peers for information) and alternative strategies (e.g. adopting behaviors of other hospital roles). Apker’s (2001) study of nurses found that managed care increases the ambiguity of RN role expectations and heightens role conflict. Nurses make sense of unclear, conflicting roles by interacting with role set members (e.g. doctors, coworkers, supervisors, patients). Further, nurses continuously confirm or modify their role requirements through communicative sensemaking with others. These studies underscore the salience of communication in health care institutions undergoing change and highlight the role of social interaction in the sensemaking process.

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In sum, sensemaking is a key organizational practice and change is a catalyst for social actors to engage in sensemaking activities. Scholarship specifically examining caregiver work roles illustrates that health care organizations have indeed changed in light of managed care initiatives. However, more research is needed regarding how health care workers understand and participate in the managed care change that has transformed their work settings and jobs. Thus, I pose the research question, “How do nurses make sense of managed care change in the workplace?”

Methodology Research setting This study was conducted at the Metropolitan Hospital, a 900-bed, teaching facility located in the Midwest. The hospital’s Patient Care Services Area (formerly known as the Inpatient Department) alone employs approximately 350 physicians, 550 RNs, and hundreds of medical residents, allied health personnel, and administrative staff members. Metropolitan Hospital is one of the many institutions in the United States that is struggling with the pressures of a managed health system. Like many urban health care centers that provide care for elderly and indigent patients, the hospital relies heavily on Medicare and Medicaid funding for its revenues. Federal and state legislation has dramatically curtailed Medicare and Medicaid payments. Managed care plans continue to make demands on the hospital to decrease the expenses and reduce insurance premiums. These pressures have occurred in the midst of increasing patient admissions and spiraling health care costs. During the time of this study, the hospital was reeling from multi-million dollar losses and had implemented a number of significant organizational changes to react to managed care demands. Many of these changes directly affected nursing. First, and perhaps most significantly, the hospital embraced the quality improvement and cost reduction principles of total quality management by adopting a patient-focused model of health care delivery. Patient-focused care is a team-based system that centers medical services on the needs of patients rather than on the needs of health care staff. The RN role is the hub of the patient-focused care model. Nurses are responsible for providing bedside care and coordinating patient treatment among a myriad of health care professionals. Second, the hospital eliminated hundreds of support staff employees and assigned many of their duties to staff nurses. Third, the hospital increased pressure on caregivers to meet or beat the requirements of diagnostic related groups (DRGs) – a prospective payment system that standardizes health care resource consumption and provides financial incentives for organizations that reduces medical costs.

Participants and data collection methods Data collected for this study were part of a larger project that focused on communicative experiences of nurses working in a managed care hospital. A case study approach was used to gain a rich and contextualized understanding of a nurse work life in the midst of managed care change and to examine a particular organizational phenomena from nurses’ viewpoints (Stake, 1994; Yin, 1994). I conducted in-depth interviews with 24 nurses in order to discover and obtain narratives of organizational member sensemaking (Boje, 1991; Boyce, 1995; Gioia and Thomas, 1996; Taylor, 1999). Over the course of a 3-month time period, I spoke with 18 of the 19 nurse managers (one manager declined to participate) and six staff RNs. All interview participants worked in the hospital’s Patient Care Services Area. Nurse managers were selected for interviews because they have daily contact with nursing staff, understand the nature of the nursing role (managers themselves are RNs), and represent staff nurse needs and concerns to upper management. Thus, managers have an intimate understanding of their staff RNs’ daily work experiences. In addition, managers were able to offer a broad perspective of nurse working conditions across the hospital. Staff nurses were included in the interview pool because they are most visibly on the “front lines” of managed care – providing bedside care for patients, supervising nursing aides, and coordinating the caregiving activities of a wide range of hospital personnel. The staff nurses interviewed were selected from a convenience sample of nurses who I observed in an ethnographic component of the larger study. Staff RN interviewees represented different work shifts, education levels, and organizational tenure. Following qualitative research procedures, interview questions were of an open-ended, semi-structured nature designed to allow participants to address issues which they believed to be most significant. Questions included prompts such as, “How do you define managed care?,” “How have the hospital’s expectations of nursing staff changed as a result of managed care changes?,” “How do you think other nurses perceive managed care?,” “What aspects of nursing practice have changed the most because of managed care?,” “What were your initial expectations of the implementation of managed care in the hospital?,” “How are nurses adapting to managed care changes in their work practices and relationships?,” and “How have nurses’ relationships with other health care professionals changed as a result of managed care?” Interviews ranged from 30 to 60 min in length and were conducted at times and locations convenient to the participants. All conversations were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Analysis of interviews In order to gain insight into nurses’ sensemaking of managed care change, I analyzed the interview transcripts using no a priori categories, using

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guidelines suggested by McCracken (1988, p. 19) to identify the emerging themes within the texts. The following steps were included. (1) Preliminary reading of texts and initial sorting of important from unimportant data. (2) Examining the data for logical connections and contradictions. (3) Re-examination of the data to verify or disconfirm emerging relationships and to discover general properties of the data. (4) Identification of general themes and categorization of themes along with the elimination of those lacking in usefulness to the thematic organization. (5) Review of the emergent themes for each transcript and the determination of how the themes could be synthesized. Owen’s (1984) criteria of repetition, recurrence, and forcefulness were used in the next stage of the data analysis. Repetition refers to the frequent occurrences of key words and phrases as well as words that are significant in articulating a particular experience or emotion. The recurrence criterion investigates the common meanings depicted throughout the texts, even when participants use different terms to describe the same meaning. Forcefulness allows the researcher to understand the significance or importance of a particular word or phrase and is typically enacted through vocal inflection, volume or emphasis. Forcefulness in this data was identified by using capital letters, underlining, or boldface font or punctuation marks such as exclamation points. As Owen argues, each criterion provides a unique viewpoint on the data which complements and informs the other criterion. In the current study, each criterion provided a different and useful insight, adding to a more complete understanding of nurses’ live experiences in the hospital. For example, nurses repeated the specific term “collaboration” frequently throughout the interview transcripts whereas the theme of “ambiguity” recurred through the use of different words and phrases such as “uncertainty,” “I don’t know,” and “not understanding,” etc. Nurses spoke less about the problems and benefits of managed care change, but their responses tended to be more forceful in nature, particularly, when discussing how managed care negatively impacts patient care. In the following, these findings are considered in greater detail. Results Analysis of interview transcripts led to the identification of two major theme areas. First, the nurses interviewed are uncertain about how managed care is defined and how managed care changes are executed in the greater health care system and in their workplace. Second, these nurses make sense of managed care change in relation to their professional identity. In this latter thematic category, nurses specifically spoke about managed care change as:

(1) prompting professional collaboration among once disparate health care disciplines; and (2) affecting health care delivery quality at the hospital. Representative comments and incidents gathered from interviews are used to highlight nurses’ understandings of managed care change The ambiguity of managed care change Ambiguity was a recurrent theme among those interviewed, as nurse acknowledged their uncertainty and confusion about the nature and scope of managed care change. For example, one nurse manager admitted that she had “a difficult time pulling managed care together” and her own uncertainty made it challenging to explain managed care changes to staff. Another supervisor acknowledged, “Managed care is something I need to learn a lot more about. I don’t know details because they are always changing.” When asked to speculate on staff RNs’ interpretations, many nurse managers answered that staff nurses did not fully understand the purposes, functions, and outcomes of managed care. One nurse manager said, “When I ask my nurses ‘What do you think of managed care?’ Many respond, ‘What is managed care?’” His thoughts were echoed by another manager, who said, “I don’t think nurses have the time to look at how managed care affects the overall picture. They don’t understand the financial side of managed care.” Yet another nurse manager supported this viewpoint with the following quote. We talk about what the Balanced Budget Act has done to us. . . that we will only get X amount of dollars to take care of patients. It doesn’t matter if we do 500 or 50 interventions; we get the same amount of money to provide care. I don’t think they understand capitation at all.

Staff RN comments that indicated uncertainty about managed care philosophies and practices supported such managerial perspectives. Nurses described managed care in terms of the team-based, patient-focused care policies adopted by the hospital. For example, a night-shift nurse saw managed care as “everyone working together as part of a team,” and a day-shift RN regarded managed care as “one and the same” as patient-focused care. Staff nurses believed that their uncertainty was linked to managed care’s negative influence on their work lives (e.g. increased patient acuity, reduced length of stay, fewer resources, more administrative work). For example, one staff RN said that in the current managed care system, “nurses and hospitals have to do more with less” and she was unsure about how managed care change would ultimately affect patient care and her own job security. Interestingly, staff nurses and managers alike spoke forcefully about how their ambiguity resulted from the hospital not providing appropriate, adequate, and useful information to employees. For example, a staff nurse

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commented, “I just don’t think there’s been a lot of information shared with nurses about managed care. I would like more information.” A nurse manager explained, “I’ve never been given the teaching tools from the hospital to talk about managed care. In staff meetings, I just say that changes in reimbursement have led to financial difficulties.” Nurse managers specifically mentioned that dissemination of managed care information was lacking primarily because of communication problems with the upper management. For example, one manager recounted an experience , that an executive met with supervisors to clarify planned managed care changes and “in five minutes he had everyone confused.” Lacking information from the hospital, nurses learned about managed care from negative personal experiences and from problems described by patients and portrayed in the media. A staff nurse commented, “I have a negative view of managed care because of my own experiences as a caregiver and patient. Most managed care insurers treat people like cattle.” Managed care change and collaboration Another theme was the importance of collaboration in a managed care environment. The nurse managers interviewed repeatedly noted that their RNs are actively collaborating with the doctors, allied health personnel, and administrative staff to meet or beat patient length-of-stay requirements and deliver care more efficiently. Managers acknowledged, “there is no time for interdisciplinary bickering” in a managed care system that has substantially reduced the number of days a patient can spend at the hospital. For some managers, the limited time available to care for patients has promoted interdisciplinary awareness of nursing. One supervisor provided an illustrative example. She commented, “Utilization review staff used to just pick up documentation from the nursing unit and leave. Managed care has brought all of the departments closer to the bedside, which gives them contact with staff nurses.” Many of the staff nurses also stated that managed care had fostered collaborative professional relationships. As one RN stated, “With the help of social workers and case managers, nurses begin to plan discharge immediately. The care team tries to meet or beat the DRG.” She further commented how this shared goal increased the participation among team members and promoted more positive working relationships. Participants frequently identified managed care as particularly influential in increasing collaboration between nurses and physicians. This theme was especially visible in the responses of nurse managers who have been long-time hospital employees. According to a nurse manager who had been employed at the hospital for nearly 20 years, doctors at present recognize that “they need nursing to accomplish what they want.” Her thoughts were echoed by another manager, who said, “Physicians are stretched so thinly that they must rely on nursing more heavily. It is good for nurses to get that respect and for

physicians to have that support.” Staff RNs also observed that collaboration with doctors has increased significantly. A nurse who had worked at the hospital for 10 years made the following comment. Now, physicians are more open to nurses’ viewpoints. It allows us to nip something in the bud rather than increase costs by starting something. Nurses make suggestions and the docs usually accept them if there’s a rationale.

Managed care change and health care delivery Participants overwhelming believed that managed care has significantly altered the health care delivery. Staff RNs spoke forcefully about managed care change in terms of how it has negatively affected patient care. This perspective can be summarized by a comment made by one staff nurse, who said, “Most managed care insurers hold back care that may affect patients’ long-term health.” In addition, several nurse managers agreed that their nurses understand managed care from negative experiences. “Most nurses have had bad experiences as patients themselves! So they sympathize with patient horror stories about access and costs,” said one nurse manager. When asked to speculate what her nurses believed about managed care, another nurse manager said, “RNs think it’s deadly . . . that they are not given the resources to do their jobs. They think patients are suffering. They see patients come in and they have to hurry them out”. Specifically, staff nurses framed their sensemaking in terms of their individual experiences as direct care providers. All the nurses interviewed spoke primarily about managed care change as reducing the health care resources needed to do their jobs and increasing pressure to reduce patient length of stay. For example, the staff RNs interviewed attributed speed ups (pressure to discharge patients more quickly) and support program, downsizing to managed care. In some cases, staff nurses strongly blamed managed care for creating an environment, which in the words of one day-shift nurse, “Tightens the hospital’s purse strings. We have fewer supplies. We can’t give 100 percent because there’s not enough time in the day!” Nurses also commented that managed care resulted in personnel cuts that decreased the patient care quality. These organizational resource problems were exacerbated by strict standards for patient admission. A staff nurse lamented that, “For someone to be in the hospital now, the person has to be the sickest of the sick!” The results show that the combination of fewer health care resources and more seriously ill patients has increased the need for direct nursing care at the patient bedside. Nurse managers spoke about the various pressures on their staff nurses to “do their jobs more quickly and efficiently,” and to accomplish “more tasks in less time.” Staff nurses cited an increased pressure to “do more with less” as part of their nursing roles, especially in direct patient care tasks. According to managers and staff nurses, nursing roles at the hospital require

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new duties such as discharge planning and verifying patient insurance information. In addition, staff nurses reported that they are increasingly placed in the role of care team leader, a job that requires supervising of all assistant personnel and training new employees. They spoke repeatedly about how nurses are expected to perform these new roles without sacrificing traditional nursing duties. As a result, staff nurses were experiencing increased job stress and pressure. While nurse managers certainly recognize these problems, they also view managed care as a positive change for nursing. A visible theme among managers was that managed care initiatives had increased the importance of nurses’ roles and raised awareness of their contributions to health care delivery. One manager said that managed care helps the public realize the centrality of nursing in patient care. Patients and their families are now realizing that it’s the nurse at the bedside who notes when something is wrong, who notifies the physician. It’s the nurse who is checking the medications and asking the doctors, “Are you sure you want to give this?”

According to another nurse manager, managed care has “given nursing a chance to rise to the occasion” because of its focus on long-term health and prevention. Her comments were echoed by a manager, who said, “Nurses have a lot to bring to the table because nursing has a more holistic perspective (than the medical model).” Other supervisors spoke about managed care as an opportunity for nurses to build their clinical skills sets and advance into new careers. To summarize, interview findings suggest that ambiguity exists among nurses about managed care change and this uncertainty has prompted nurse sensemaking. Although staff RNs and nurse managers diverged in their specific interpretations, their comments illustrated their understanding managed care change in relation to its impact on health care delivery. The implications that can be drawn from these results are discussed in the next section. Discussion The narratives described in this study focuses on individual sensemaking as it occurs within a larger social collective. The findings from this study indicate that nurse use stories to make sense of events and negotiate change, but they lack rules and recipes (Weick, 1995) from the hospital to aid their interpretive processes. Without such informational resources, they rely on interactions with others (e.g. managers, coworkers, patients) to understand managed care. Their attempts to make sense of change suggest that the nursing profession is at a critical juncture in the age of managed care. Table I provides a summary of hospital nursing before and after the advent of managed care drawn from the findings of the current study and from past research (Donely, 1996; Miller and Apker, 2002).

Before managed care Nursing guided by technology, institutionally based, and oriented around diagnosis and treatment of acute illness Nurse identity grounded in traditional principles of education and empathy Hierarchical structure; nursing and other health care professions are disparate, with little overlap in patient care practices Bureaucratic control based on power of hierarchical structure and rational-legal authority

After managed care Nursing driven by partnership, negotiation, and coordination, integrated delivery network based, and oriented around the principles of wellness and prevention Nurse identity ambiguous; reflecting a contradiction between traditional values and new role expectations that emphasize cost containment Interdisciplinary, team-based structure; nursing and other health care professions collaborate to meet managed care objectives Concertive control embedded in power of identification with team-based organizational values, norms, and rules

The paradox of change Putnam (1986) argued that paradoxes accrue from the complexities of organizing and are inevitable. Paradoxes capture the intrinsic tension of seemingly contradictory or oppositional forces (e.g. certainty with uncertainty, predictability with novelty, stability with change, order with disorder) that characterize daily organizational life (Weick and Westley, 1996). Increasingly, scholars have studied the dynamic interplay of contradictions that characterize the paradoxes of organizing as a framework to understand change (Harter and Krone, 2001; Tretheway, 1999). By examining how organizational members enact opposing tendencies in daily discourses, we can better understand the meanings ascribed to change at individual, organizational and systemic levels. Nurses’ narratives of managed care suggest the presence of a paradox of change. The contradictions of the paradox are visible in nurses’ perceptions of how managed care has changed their roles and work environment. RNs made sense of managed care change primarily by articulating its conflicting effects on their professional identity. On one side, nurses mentioned that managed care leads to more collaboration. Such teamwork increases nursing contributions to health care teams and fosters positive professional identity. On the other side of the spectrum, nurses discussed how managed care has reduced the hospital resources and increased the work and time constraints in ways that negatively affect patient care. In this light, nurse professional identity is minimized as managed care threatens job effectiveness. Paradox appears as nurses are caught in a double-bind between accepting the positive professional outcomes

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Table I. Hospital nursing before and after managed care

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of managed care and resisting the problems created in part by managed care mandates. The paradox of change found at the study hospital provides insight into the ambiguity of nurse identity as a system-wide concept. Nurses are struggling to define what it “means” to be a nurse in the current health care environment. The long-held values of nursing appear to be at odds with managed care concerns for cost containment. For example, empathy and education are the traditional cornerstones of nursing practice (Finkelman, 2001; Melosh, 1982). These values are seen through nursing practices such as advocating for patient needs, building rapport with patients and their families, and educating patients about disease and treatment. In contrast, managed care cost reduction strategies require nurses to cut their care duties to the most basic essentials and perform these tasks more quickly. Staff RNs are taken away from the patient bedside to perform jobs once completed by support personnel who have been eliminated or to complete supervisory or administrative functions. Thus, nurses must do more in their jobs but with fewer organizational resources. They have less time (or energy) to build empathetic patient-caregiver relationships or educate patients. Meeting such oppositional role expectations may cause nurses a tremendous uncertainty and conflict about their role identity. Working in an organizational setting that is a nexus of competing professional ideals and health care industry goals exacerbates nurses’ confusion. Thus, one interpretation of nurses’ equivocality regarding managed care change is that it is related to the tension about how the ultimate identity of nursing will be resolved in a changing managed care environment. Future research should explore of how such tensions are managed within the discursive practices of individual relationships and how sensemaking of contradictions informs nurses live experiences. Collaboration as concertive control Boje et al. (1999) argued that the organizational stories said by individuals can reveal how social actors are co-complicit in creating the hegemonic structures which enable dominant groups to remain in power. They further argue that who is in control of the story – who constructs and reconstructs the story – ultimately controls the organization. In this light, it is interesting to note that the interpretations created by nurses about collaboration are grounded in the TQM-influenced patient-focused care model of health care delivery. Recalling that patient-focused care is one of the hospital’s major responses to managed care. Even though patient-focused care was primarily instituted to reduce costs, the system had also created and encouraged health care teams. It makes sense, that many nurses in this study reported how managed care increases collaboration. Their narratives reaffirm the hospital’s dominant sensemaking story that managed care change promotes teamwork among once disparate

health care occupations. Assumptions about managed care principles – cost effectiveness, access, health care quality – tend not to be questioned or scrutinized and nurses accept the implementation of managed care changes as necessary to health care delivery. Sensemaking of the collaboration storyline suppresses the contradictory images of managed care that may conflict with the management decisions and initiatives. Nurse sensemaking of collaboration can be further interpreted as perpetuating an empowerment ideology that subjugates nurses to the dominant power structure. Nurses spoke about patient-focused care as a way of leveling the playing field of medical hierarchy, offering opportunities for nurse leadership, and raising awareness of nursing contributions to the health care delivery. On the surface, such changes are positive for nursing, a profession that has historically struggled to earn respect in the medical hierarchy. However, further analysis reveals that while posing as a means for their empowerment, patient-focused care can be viewed as a form of concertive control, a team-based organizing structure that: . . . shifts the locus of control from management to workers, who collaborate to develop the means of their own control. Workers achieve concertive control by reaching a negotiated consensus on how to shape their behavior according to a core set of values (Barker, 1993, p. 411).

In a concertive control system, management provides organizational values and corporate vision from which team members infer team-based values, norms and rules that guide daily work practices (Barker, 1993). By identifying with and acting upon the values of their immediate work group, team members support the management premises and act in accordance with the management decisions. Thus, the team concept functions as an “iron cage,” constraining individuals more powerfully than the bureaucratic control that characterizes traditional hierarchical management structures (Barker and Cheney, 1994). The narratives of nurse managers – who are the primary communicative links between upper management and staff nurses – provide particularly, visible examples of the connection between empowerment ideology and concertive control. Managers’ stories espouse professional collaboration and link it to managed care. From their perspective, managed care has been instrumental in fostering an organizational environment that empowers nurses. However, in counterpoint, such manager sensemaking promotes “bottom line” organizational concerns for efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability. For example, managers describe how patient-focused care model expands the scope of nursing practice (e.g. coordinating care with a wide range of hospital personnel, dealing with different hospital disciplines, communicating with outside agencies) in ways that raise the visibility of nursing at the hospital. However, it should be noted that nurses do not receive greater financial rewards or career advancement for fulfilling new team

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requirements in addition to their traditional bedside care responsibilities. Thus, it is questionable whether are nurses truly“empowered” as they face increased job pressures to meet work group obligations. However, managers’ stories exemplify how organizational ideology can be shaped to justify, legitimize, and uphold management interests. Concertive control is further strengthened and reified through the active involvement of staff nurses in patient-focused care. Staff nurse willingly accept and participate in a team-based structure. However, by engaging in the collaborative activities of patient-focused care, nurses are forced to change their work behaviors to meet the multiple (and often conflicting) role expectations of their health care teams. Being part of a team requires nurses to be formally accountable to more people than if they had to answer to just one manager. Such team supervision may further increase nurse workplace stress and burnout. Further, nurse participation in patient-focused care may also legitimize working conditions (e.g. discharging patients more quickly, taking additional duties, doing more in their jobs with fewer organizational resources) that lead to less nurse autonomy and greater job frustration. By identifying the values of empowerment and collaboration and participating in the patient-focused care teams, nurses construct and perpetuate a concertive control system that is more powerful than the bureaucratic control that is found in a traditional hierarchical model. Thus, nurses sensemaking narratives indicate ambiguities of identity that extend far beyond any initial role uncertainty or conflict brought about by managed care change. The storyline of managed care change, as collaboration appears positive on the surface. However, a closer analysis further reveals that collaboration functions as a form of concertive control. Patient-focused care increases workplace pressures on nurses to perform in accordance with the management concerns and marginalizes worker interests in favor of performance requirements. Future analyses could explore this finding by examining how concertive control is enacted in the in situ, micro-level communicative practices of today’s health care teams Limitations This study provides new insights into the sensemaking process enacted by nurses to understand the managed care change. However, several limitations should be noted for other research. The case study approach allowed the author to capture the flavor of nurses’ experiences in a managed care hospital, but it does not provide generalizable results (Lindlof, 1995). Although this study may yield transferable findings that apply to other organizational settings and workers, it becomes difficult to extrapolate results to other contexts beyond Metropolitan Hospital (Miles and Huberman, 1994). It is likely that the size, location, and nature of the hospital influenced the study findings and, as a result, may not yield broadly inclusive results.

Another limitation is that interview data reflects a managerial perspective. Even though nurse mangers are RNs themselves, are logistically close to staff nurses, and have an intimate understanding of RN viewpoints, managers offer a different perspective than the nurses on the “front lines” of managed care. Future research should involve data collection from a greater number of staff RNs in order to gain a more complete understanding of how caregivers make sense of managed care change. Relatedly, a larger sample of staff nurses would provide broader representation of hospital units, shifts, and tenure to bolster the generalizability of findings within the study hospital. It is hoped that the ideas advanced in this exploratory analysis will be extended to other health care organizations facing similar managed care challenges. Summary Trends such as rising health care costs indicate that the managed care system will continue to dramatically influence the health care delivery. This study investigated how one group of nurses makes sense of managed care change in their organizational environment. In this particular managed care hospital setting, research findings indicate that nurses construct multiple interpretations of change, although they continue to view managed care with a great deal of ambiguity. Analysis of these results suggest that nurses’ sensemaking of managed care change parallels their uncertainty regarding their professional identity in the current managed care environment. In addition, nurse interpretations of the collaborative effects of managed care change can be understood as concertive control. This team-based form of organizing disguises the management concerns for increased cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity as worker empowerment. These findings add to the existing research of sensemaking of organizational change and have utility for health care organizations that is undergoing transformations due managed care. As managed care continues to dominate today’s health care landscape, this study provides a useful starting point to explore the processes by which health care workers interpret, implement, and respond to managed care change. References Apker, J. (2001), “Role development in the managed care era: a case of hospital-based nursing”, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 117-36. Barker, J.R. (1993), “Tightening the iron cage: concertive control in self-managing teams”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 38, pp. 408-37. Barker, J.R. and Cheney, G. (1994), “The concept and the practices of discipline in contemporary organizational life”, Communication Monographs, Vol. 61, pp. 19-43. Barley, S. (1986), “Technology as an occasion for structuring: evidence from observations of CAT scanners and the social order of radiology departments”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 31, pp. 78-108. Birnenbaum, A. (1997), Managed Care: Made in America, Praeger, Westport, CT.

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Boje, D.M. (1991), “The storytelling organization: a study of story performance in an office-supply firm”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 36, pp. 106-26. Boje, D.M., Luhman, J.T. and Baack, D.E. (1999), “Hegemonic stories and encounters between storytelling organizations”, Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 340-60. Boyce, M.E. (1995), “Collective centring and collective sense-making in the stories and storytelling of one organization”, Organization Studies, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 107-37. Canavan, K. (1996), “Nursing addresses troubling trends in managed care”, American Nurse, Vol. 1, p. 9. Coffman, J., Blick, N. and Wong, S. (1998), “The nursing workforce and nursing education: an overview of trends”, in O’Neil, E. and Coffman, J. (Eds), Strategies for the Future of Nursing: Changing Roles, Responsibilities, and Employment Patterns of Registered Nurses, WB Saunders, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 8-63. Donely, R. (1996), “Nursing at the crossroads”, Nursing Economics, Vol. 14, pp. 325-31. Finkelman, A.W. (2001), Managed Care: A Nursing Perspective, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Garland, M. and Neidig, J.L. (1997), “Nurses’ narratives: caregiver identity in an era of managed care”, Paper Presented at the 83rd Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL. Geist, P. and Hardesty, M. (1992), Negotiating the Crisis: DRGs and the Transformation of Hospitals, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ. Gioia, D.A. and Chittipeddi, K. (1991), “Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12, pp. 443-8. Gioia, D.A. and Thomas, J.B. (1996), “Identity, image, and issue interpretation: sensemaking during strategic change in academia”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 370-93. Harter, L.M. and Krone, K.J. (2001), “The boundary-spanning role of a cooperative support organization: managing the paradox of stability and change in non-traditional organizations”, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Vol. 29, pp. 248-77. Lindlof, T.R. (1995), Qualitative Communication Research Methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. McCracken, G. (1988), The Long Interview, Sage, Newbury Park, CA. Melosh, B. (1982), The Physician’s Hand: Work Culture and Conflict in American Nursing, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA. Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M. (1994), An Expanded Sourcebook: Qualitative Data Analysis, 2nd ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Miller, K.I. (1998), “Nurses at the edge of chaos: the application of ‘new science’ concepts to organizational systems”, Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 112-27. Miller, K.I. and Apker, J. (2002), “On the front lines of managed care: professional changes and communicative dilemmas of hospital nurses”, Nursing Outlook, Vol. 50 No. 4, pp. 154-9. Miller, K.I., Joseph, L. and Apker, J. (2000), “Strategic ambiguity in the role development process”, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 193-214. Murphy, E., Ruch, S., Pepicello, J. and Murphy, M. (1997), “Managing an increasingly complex system”, Nursing Management, Vol. 28 No. 10, pp. 33-8. Owen, W. (1984), “Interpretive themes in relational communication”, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Vol. 70 No. 3, pp. 274-87.

Porter-O’Grady, T. (1998), “Contemporary issues in the workplace: a glimpse over the horizon into the new age of health care”, in Mason, D.J. and Leavitt, J.K. (Eds), Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, 3rd ed., WB Saunders, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 261-79. Putnam, L.L. (1986), “Contradictions and paradoxes in organizations”, in Thayer, L. (Ed.), Organization and Communication: Emerging Perspectives, Ablex Publishing, Norwood, NJ, pp. 151-67. Saxton, J. and Leaman, T. (1998), Managed Care Success: Reducing Risk while Increasing Patient Satisfaction, Aspen, Gaithersberg, MD. Shoultz, J., Hatcher, P. and Hurrell, M. (1992), “Growing edges of a new paradigm: the future of nursing in the health of the nation”, Nursing Outlook, Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 57-61. Stake, R.E. (1994), The Art of Case Study Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Sultz, H.A. and Young, K.M. (2001), Health Care USA: Understanding its Organization and Delivery, 3rd ed., Aspen, Gaithersburg, MD. Taylor, S.S. (1999), “Making sense of revolutionary change: differences in members’ stories”, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 524-39. Tillman, H., Salyer, J., Corley, M. and Mark, B. (1997), “Environmental turbulence: staff nurse perspectives”, Journal of Nursing Administration, Vol. 27 No. 11, pp. 15-22. Tretheway, A. (1999), “Isn’t it ironic: using irony to explore the contradictions of organizational life”, Western Journal of Communication, Vol. 63 No. 2, pp. 140-67. Vicenzi, A., White, K. and Begun, J. (1997), “Chaos in nursing: make it work for you”, American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 97 No. 10, pp. 26-31. Weick, K.E. (1979), The Social Psychology of Organizing, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Weick, K.E. (1995), Sensemaking in Organizations, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Weick, K.E. and Sutcliffe, K.M. (2001), Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA. Weick, K.E. and Westley, F. (1996), “Organizational learning: affirming an oxymoron”, in Clegg, S.R., Hardy, C. and Nord, W.R. (Eds), Handbook of Organizational Studies, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Yin, R.K. (1994), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2nd ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

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Book review Life and Work: Challenging Economic Man Charles Birch and David Paul University of New South Whales Press Ltd Sydney, Australia 2003 208 pp. ISBN 0 86840 670 8 Review DOI 10.1108/09534810410531042 This book is framed within the debate of two philosophies: economic rationalism, which relies on market forces, stresses productivity, and focuses on the bottom line of profits; and economic sustainability, which focuses on the triple bottom line of profits, people, and the planet. Coming from an economic sustainability paradigm, Birch and Paul argue that we must focus on quality of life to achieve balance between work and life, and between earning profits and moving the world into a sustainable environment. Their thesis is that “an organization’s efficiency and profitability increase when the quality of life of its employees improves” (p. 163). In other words, employees who work fewer hours, spend more time with their families, and develop social relationships in their communities, are more productive workers. In order to achieve this balance, the authors “call for a more generous, more compassionate and a more humane working life” (p. 3). The book is divided into three sections: quality of life, quality of working life, and learning to enhance the quality of life across nations. The first section frames the philosophical debate, persuasively argues that organizations should transit from economic rationalism to economic sustainability, and stresses that quality of life is important to both the worker and the employer. According to the authors, “making a living is less important than living a life, which involves a fulfilled life” (p. 4). Birch and Paul argue that quality of life is important because happy fulfilled workers are more productive, and organizations have an ethical responsibility to contribute positively to their workers’ intrinsic value (not just see workers for their instrumental value). They also point out that fulfillment does not come from financial rewards alone for people need meaningful jobs. The second section, Quality of Working Life, identifies the ailments of contemporary employment. People are expected to work for longer hours and work more intensively, which increases their levels of distress and can lead to sickness, injury, and occupational violence. Furthermore, the authors point out that work related stress has a negative impact on family life.

The authors rely on numerous studies conducted in various countries to illustrate this point. In the third and final section, Learning to Enhance the Quality of Working Life Across Nations, the authors argue that organizations must renew their culture if the quality of working life is to improve. After providing a brief review of human rights and human nature, the authors propose that organizations should become “learning” organizations to accommodate the change as needed. Accordingly, learning organizations are able to more easily transform their cultures and address the needs of workers. The authors conclude by identifying ten core principles for increasing the quality of work life. These principles suggest that organizations: (1) recognize that workers have intrinsic value; (2) adopt an 8 h stress-free work day; (3) treat women the same as men in terms of attitudes and pay; (4) incorporate flex time; (5) provide security of employment; (6) reward good performance; (7) decentralize decision-making so that workers are empowered; (8) improve work conditions; (9) support the mental and physical health of all workers; and (10) offer stress management programs to employees to prevent stress. The concerns, issues, and principles for adopting an improved quality of life are not new. The authors’ premise follows in the footsteps of Barnard (1938), Mayo (1933), Merton (1968) and Roethlisberger (1941) who acknowledged the importance of the human being in the work environment, the influence of work on employees, the need for socialization in the work environment and its positive impact on productivity. In sum, these scholars argued that people are not automatons, they are human beings who have human needs. This acknowledgement was significant because it dealt a severe blow to the esteemed values of efficiency, effectiveness and economy (Taylor, 1967). Similarly, Birch and Paul argue that the needs of employees are important; their quality of life matters. More parallel is their argument that the bottom line in business should not be profits. Specifically, they argue that “the only real justification for a business is to create and add value to the community” (p. 30), which is a direct attack on profits, efficiency and economy. Thus, the argument or concept put forth by the authors is not new; it has been around for at least half a century. In this sense, the authors contribute little to our base of knowledge. However, it is disturbing, although not surprising, that the work problems identified in the 1930s and 1940s are the same work issues that are being

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discussed at present (albeit at a different level). In this sense, the authors remind us that little progress has been made in this area. To a certain extent, employees have remained cogs in the wheel of capitalism. As a whole, researchers have done an excellent job of identifying the problems associated with capitalism or the modern work environment, but have come up short in providing solutions, which is also the case here. Generally speaking, most people would agree with the author’s thesis that work influences the quality of our lives. Everyone can probably identify someone in their circle or network who works 50-60 h a week, week after week, with little energy left for their families, communities, etc. From this standpoint, the authors remind us that corporations whose bottom line is profit and not people are not taking care of their employees. In fact, the values of economic rationalism and capitalism contradict the values of an economic sustainable paradigm. Thus, the key to the problem is how to convince leaders in corporations to shift from a philosophy of economic rationalism (short-term profit-based) to economic sustainability (long-term, people, profit, and planet-based). The authors fail to do this. As the authors point out, for every ten companies that are created in the United States, only three survive the ten-year mark (p. 167). So how do you convince corporations that profits are not the bottom line when many businesses fail? Furthermore, given that labor is a cost, how do you convince companies to hire more employees for the good of the community? For example, Birch and Paul (p. 61) argue that “if hours of work were shorter, workers would enjoy a better quality of life, and more people could be employed, thus lessening the ranks of the unemployed”. How do we end sex discrimination and ensure that women earn the same pay as men for doing the same job? The answers to these questions have baffled academics and practitioners for years. Unfortunately, the authors do not advance our ability to change organizations or corporate culture. The anecdotal evidence from various companies is useful, but how does one convince the masses? The second criticism of this book is that all organizations are lumped together in one category, which assumes that organizations as a whole treat workers identically. Logically, one would expect differences between types of organizations. For example, one might expect the non-profit organizations (NPO) to value workers differently than for profit organizations since NPOs are in the business of delivering social services. For-profit organizations may be more likely to focus on profits and less on worker’s needs. Even within organizations and corporation who are profit motivated, one might expect differences between publicly held companies, which answer to stock holders, and privately held companies, which answer to the owner. It may be easier to change the culture of a NPO than a privately held company versus a publicly held organization. If there are distinct differences among the types of

organizations, it is likely that there may be distinct strategies in successfully transforming them. I applaud the authors’ normative argument for a more humane work environment. Corporations should take their employees’ needs into consideration because it is the right thing to do. This argument is strong enough to stand by itself, and it should stand by itself. However, the authors do themselves and the reader a great disservice by weaving in biblical scripture, stories, and citations. The reliance on Christianity distracts from the value of the book. Readers do not want to know how the Bible defines time, or a recount of the story of Martha and Mary or Cain and Able. Although the book engages readers in a philosophical dialogue on the subject, it can achieve this goal without incorporating religion. In conclusion, the authors argue that organizations must include human and environmental responsibility along with profits if the workplace is to provide balance for employees. The authors’ argument is convincing, but the book falls short in providing any substantive guidelines on how to change organizations. The authors fail to tell the reader how to accomplish this overwhelming task. The “how to” component remains a missing link in moving organizations from economic rationalism toward economic sustainability. In short, Life and Work stimulates more questions than it provides answers, but it is headed in the right direction. As a society, we must continually engage in a dialogue on this subject until a solution has been found. Lorenda A. Naylor School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, DC, USA References Barnard, C. (1938), The Functions of the Executive, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Mayo, E. (1933), Human Problems of Industrial Civilization, The Macmillan Company, New York, NY. Merton, R. (1968), Social Theory and Social Structure, Free Press, New York, NY. Roethlisberger, F.J. (1941), Management and Morale, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Taylor, F.W. (1967), The Principles of Scientific Management (first published in 1911), W.W. Norton and Company, New York, NY.

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