Leading as event management: Toward a new conception of team leadership
Abstract
Although team-based organizations have become increasingly prevalent, relatively little research has investigated the nature of work team leadership. The present research suggests that work team leadership involves managing the events that impact team functioning. As such, this research examines how effective event management relies on several generalized leadership activities (monitoring, diagnosis, and intervention) and a more specific set of event management strategies. In addition, the influence events have on leader and team functioning is investigated. In the first qualitative phase of the study, leaders (n = 32) from four different organizations provided examples of events (n = 131) that had occurred in the past. In the second quantitative phase of the study, leaders and team members (n = 290) rated these events on a number of different measures. Results showed modest relationships between the generalized leadership activities and multiple indicants of leader effectiveness. Smaller relationships were found between events and team functioning, and few relationships were found between events and leader functioning. These results provide tentative evidence that at least one component of work team leadership involves event management. Implications, limitations, and opportunities for future research are discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Hofmann, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Occupational psychology
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