Administrative Succession in Formal Organizations

Ch-Ch-Ch-changes: How Action Phase Functional Leadership, Team Human Capital, and Interim vs. Permanent Leader Status Impact Post-transition Team Performance

“…As far back as the early 1960s, organizational researchers have been interested in understanding the impact of leader transitions on team performance in the sports industry (e.g., Cannella and Rowe 1995;Fabianic 1994;Giambatista 2004;Grusky 1960;Guest 1962). Initial work in this area found that in-season coaching changes resulted in short-run team performance improvements following the leader transition (Guest 1962).…”

Leader succession and organizational performance: Integrating the common-sense, ritual scapegoating, and vicious-circle succession theories

“…In his seminal work, Grusky (1960Grusky ( , 1961 argued that leader succession is important for three reasons: it relates closely to organizational stability, it is universal to all organizations, and all organizations must manage it effectively. Grusky's (1960) early work introduced the vicious-circle theory, which portrays succession as a naturally disruptive and destabilizing force in organizations.…”

“…Grusky's (1960) early work introduced the vicious-circle theory, which portrays succession as a naturally disruptive and destabilizing force in organizations. According to this theory, succession is disruptive because it leads to new policies, it shakes up traditional practices, and it changes the formal and informal relationships among organization members.…”

“…The explanations put forth are the common-sense, one-way causality theory (Grusky, 1963) (leaders do matter), the ritual scapegoating, no-way causality theory (Gamson & Scotch, 1964) (leaders do not matter), and the vicious-circle, two-way causality theory (Grusky, 1960(Grusky, , 1961 (leaders do matter). While this debate has been important in developing our understanding of the impact of leader succession on performance, we believe that it is time to ask a different question: When does leader succession have a positive impact, no impact, or a negative impact on performance?…”

Illusion of Control: Theoretical Perspective on Power-Dependence Relationships

“…10, No. 6;2015 suggested to not only result in changes in team processes and performance (Finkelstein, & Hambrick, 1996;Grusky, 1960;Vancil, 1987) but also affect team members who remain following the change (Gordon & Rosen, 1981). Indeed, Ballinger and Schoorman (2007) argued that the effect of a succession on team members results from the structure and quality of the relationship between the former leader and team members prior to the succession episode.…”