Collectivistic Leadership Approaches: Putting the “We” in Leadership Science and Practice

Abstract

We introduce the notion of ''we'' or collectivistic leadership. A general collectivistic approach to leadership is developed and contrasted with traditional and contemporary approaches to leadership. An overview of five collectivistic leadership approaches-team, network, shared, complexity, and collective leadership-is then presented. Key notions, constructs, and levels of analysis; the role of a focal leader; operationalizations and empirical results; and implications for leadership development, assessment, and practice of each approach are summarized. Common themes across, and our perspective on, the approaches and future directions for collectivistic leadership science and practice are discussed.

Leaders Enhance Group Members' Work Engagement and Reduce Their Burnout by Crafting Social Identity

“…In recent years, research and theories have increasingly pointed to the role of groups and the management of groups in successful leadership (e.g., for a recent overview of leadership research, see Dinh, Lord, Gardner, Meuser, Liden, & Hu, 2014; see also Chen, Kirkman, Kanfer, Allen, & Rosen, 2007;Day et al, 2006;Haslam et al, 2011;Hogg, van Knippenberg, & Rast, 2012;Yammarino et al, 2012). Indeed, research across different theoretical traditions suggests that a critical ingredient in leaders' success is their engagement with the group that promotes shared understanding among its members.…”

“…In fact, a large body of recent theoretical and empirical research serves to underscore the role that leaders' management of groups (e.g., Day, Gronn, & Salas, 2006;van Knippenberg, 2011;Yammarino, Salas, Serban, Shirreffs, & Shuffler, 2012) and, in particular, identity entrepreneurship (i.e., leaders' crafting of a shared sense of 'we' and 'us'; Augoustinos & De Garis, 2012;Haslam, Reicher, & Platow, 2011;Reicher & Hopkins, 2001 plays in effective leadership. In line with these points, the greater part of previous research has looked at the role of managing identity in providing a basis for leader influence and group effectiveness more generally (e.g., Reicher, Haslam, & Hopkins, 2005).…”

Explaining Cohesion Linkages in Workgroups: The Cooperative Communication in Collectivism and High Power Distance Workgroup Context

“…First, since collectivist context emphasize on the group goal, group members tend to encourage and support each other for the sake of the group. Such support elevates the importance of cooperative communication among group members (Yammarino et al, 2012). As a result, the collectivist cultural context can be an enforcing factor for co-workers' communication and reactions.…”

“…The development of communication exchange and cohesiveness are more likely to occur when group members are closely connected socially, and attributions of meaning are shared at a high level (Kamdar & Van Dyne, 2007). Moreover, as above, consideration of the level of analysis at which this moderated process and associations are expected to hold is important (Yammarino et al, 2012 Hypothesis 2: The effect of cooperative communication on perceived group cohesiveness will be moderated by group members' collectivist cultural context at group level. As such cooperative communication is more strongly related to perceived cohesions when collectively group members who have high level of collectivist context.…”

Global health care leadership development: trends to consider

“…Instead, a shared, distributed, or collective approach to leadership is necessary to address complex problems with diverse perspectives, talents, and skills. Yammarino et al 5 describe this trend as a shift from "I" (the leader) to "we" (shared, distributed, collective leadership). Collective leadership can occur in small and large, informal or formal groups, such as dyads, teams, units, departments, programs, systems, and networks.…”