Scholarly record
DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN WORLD? THE NECESSITY OF DEVELOPING THE EMPLOYEES TOLERANCE FOR UNCERTAINTY
Abstract
The article focuses on the concept of distributed leadership (DL) in the context of growing uncertainty of organizational environment. The article discusses the study, carried out in 212 organizations - different due to the industry, the size, and form of ownership. The purpose of the study was to determine the relation between organization's environment uncertainty and the degree of leadership distribution. Research hypothesis regarding the relation between the DL and environmental uncertainty was formulated and then verified using the CFA path analysis model. Results from the study indicate that the increased environmental uncertainty does not directly affect the severity of leadership distribution in the organization. Obtained results were a basis for in-depth discussion, that proved that the relation between environmental uncertainty and DL is neither simple nor obvious. Especially when uncertainty is not considered only as an environmental feature, but as a feature of decision-makers (in the context of the subjective perception of the environment). There are important psychological conditions that will inhibit distribution of leadership in a situation in which the uncertainty felt by the employees is growing. A number of organizational and psychological factors were proposed all contributing to incensement of employees tolerance for uncertainty and at the same time conducive to the intensification of DL.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References24
Avery G.C., Understanding Leadership: Paradigms and Cases, London: Sage, 2004.
Bennett N., Wise C., Woods P.A., Harvey, J.A. Distributed Leadership: A Review of Literature, 2003.
Bolden R., Distributed Leadership in Organizations: A Review of Theory and Research, International Journal of Management Reviews, 2011, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 251-269.
Damanpour F., Gopalakrishnan S., Theories of organizational structure and innovation adoption: the role of environmental change, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 1998, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1-24.
Davis G. F., Powell W. W., Organization-Environment Relations, In M. D. Dunnette, Hough L. M. (eds.) Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 3, Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1992, pp. 315-375.
Davison A., Brown P., Pharo E., Warr K., McGregor H., Terkes S., Boyd D., Abuodha P., Distributed leadership: Building capacity for interdisciplinary climate change teaching at four universities, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2013, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 98-110.
Duncan R. B., Characteristics of Organizational Environments and Perceived Environmental Uncertainty, Administrative Science Quarterly, 1972, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 313-327.
Fitzsimons D., James K.T., Denyer D., Alternative Approaches for Studying Shared and Distributed Leadership, International Journal of Management Reviews, 2011, vol. 13, no. 3. pp. 313-328.
Gronn P., Distributed Leadership as a Unit of Analysis, The Leadership Quarterly, 2002, vol. 13, no. 4. pp. 423-451.
Harris A., Distributed Leadership: Implications for the Role of the Principal, Journal of Management Development, 2012, vol. 31, no. 1. pp. 7-17.
Handy Ch., The new language of organizing and its implications for leaders, In F. Hesselbein, M. Goldsmith, R. Beckhard (eds.) Leader of the future, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco 1996, pp. 3-10.
Kempster S., Higgs M. Wuerz T., Pilots for Change: Exploring Organisational Change through Distributed Leadership, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 2014, vol. 35, no. 2. pp. 152-167.
Kriger M. Zhovtobryukh Y., Rethinking Strategic Leadership: Stars, Clans, Teams and Networks, Journal of Strategy and Management, 2013, vol. 6, no. 4. pp. 411-432.
Landy F., Quick J. C., Kasl S., Work, Stress, and Well-being, International Journal of Stress Management, 1994, vol. 1, no. 1. pp. 33-73.
Morris W. N., Worchel S., Bois J. L., Pearson J. A., Rountree C. A., Samaha G. M., Wachtler J., Wright S. I., Collective coping with stress: Group reactions to fear, anxiety, and ambiguity, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1976, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 674-679.
Parry K., Bryman, A., Leadership in Organizations, In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, W. R. Nord (eds.) The SAGE handbook of organization studies, 2nd ed., London: Sage, 2006, pp. 447-468.
Slovic P., The perception of risk, London, Earthscan Publications, 2000.
Starbuck W. H., Hedberg B., How organizations learn from success and failure, In M. Dierkes, A. Berthoin Antal, J. Child, I. Nonaka (Eds.), Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 327-350.
Uhl-Bien M., Marion R., Complexity leadership in bureaucratic forms of organizing: A mesomodel, The Leadership Quarterly, 2009, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 631-650.
Uhl-Bien M., Marion R., Mckelvey B., Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting Leadership from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Era, The Leadership Quarterly, 2007, vol. 18, no. 4. pp. 298-318.
Woods P. A., Bennett N., Harvey J. A., Wise C., Variabilities and dualities in distributed leadership: Findings from a systematic literature review, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2004, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 439-457.
Zaleśkiewicz T., Beyond Risk Seeking and Risk Aversion: Personality and the Dual Nature of Economic Risk Taking, European Journal of Personality, vol. 15, 2001, pp.105-122.
Zgrzywa-Ziemak A., Model zdolności uczenia się przedsiębiorstw w świetle badań empirycznych, In A. Zgrzywa-Ziemak, R. Kamiński, Rozwijanie zdolności uczenia się przedsiębiorstwa, Warszawa: DIFIN, 2009, pp. 138-178 (translation of the title: Model of organizational learning capability in enterprises in view of empirical research).
Zgrzywa-Ziemak A., Walecka-Jankowska K., Czerw A., Theoretical and empirical conceptualization of the distributed leadership, SGEM-Conference Proceedings, 2017 [in print].
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.
