Leadership and change mobilization: The mediating role of distributed leadership

Abstract

Leading change is an enduring managerial challenge that encompasses individual and collective efforts within an organization. Among the levers that managers can use to foster change, mobilizing activities are considered particularly relevant since they enable leaders to activate the resources and processes necessary for change to actually occur. This study investigates whether individual person-and task-centred orientations to leadership relate to an emphasis on mobilizing change through their effect on distributed leadership. These hypotheses are tested using an international survey involving 459 middle managers from different firms, countries and industries who had implemented a planned organizational change project. The findings reveal that both person-centred and task-centred orientations to leadership relate positively to mobilizing change, and that distributed leadership may explain the relationship between orientations to leadership and mobilizing activities.

Making a Case for Culturally Humble Leadership Practices through a Culturally Responsive Leadership Framework

“…Public sector and human service leaders who operate from a culturally responsive leadership framework (1) seek to understand the socio-cultural, political, and historical context, (2) engage in a distributive leadership style that is inclusive and transformative, and (3) take actions that lead to equity and effectiveness through cultural humility and cultural competence. Toward that end, CRLF supports the literature that emphasizes the need for leaders to consider context (Glisson et al, 2012), act as trust builders (Pittman, 2020), engage others in decision making (Brimhall et al, 2017;Hyde, 2018), and place diversity, equity, and inclusion at the center of their framework and practices (Canterino et al, 2020;Carrizales et al, 2016;Santamaria, 2013).…”

“…Effective leaders must engage in practices that embrace shared responsibility through distributed leadership. Distributed leadership can occur between experts in the field, middle management, and other stakeholders leading to treatment innovations (Fitzgerald et al, 2013) and mobilizing change (Canterino et al, 2020). Through a distributed leadership lens, leadership practices are a byproduct of their interactions with their followers and their organizational environment (Spillane, 2005).…”

A New Era of Global HR Competency Model - Evidence from Global HR Positions

“…Our research findings are consistent with other studies that emphasize the importance of cultural knowledge (Osland 1995, Adler 1997) and the individual´s cognitive skills fundamental for GLM´s success (Levy et al 1999). Existing studies highlight three core GLM competencies, such as importance of influencing others, making ethical decisions, and leading change (Bass andSteidlmeier 1999, Canterino, Cirella, Piccoli andShani 2020), but only a few studies focus on the assessment or testing of these GLM competencies (e.g., Herd, Alagaraja and Cumberland 2016, Kim and Mclean 2015. Hence, our study attempted to elucidate the fundamentals underlying GLM skills and competency development, using multiple functional global HR roles to identify the significance of the competencies discussed in this study.…”

Distributed Leadership and New Generation Employees’ Proactive Behavior: Roles of Idiosyncratic Deals and Meaningfulness of Work

“…In education research, scholars have found that distributed leadership positively affects teachers’ attitudes and behaviors (e.g., teachers’ job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and organizational commitment; Sun and Xia, 2018 ; Liu and Werblow, 2019 ). In organizational management research, scholars have proven that distributed leadership has positive impacts on individuals, teams, and organizations (e.g., it promotes employees’ taking charge behavior, team performance, and organizational change; Wang et al, 2014 ; Butler and Tregaskis, 2018 ; Canterino et al, 2020 ). Despite these encouraging findings ( Crant, 2000 ; Den Hartog and Belschak, 2012 ; Lan et al, 2020 ; Bohlmann and Zacher, 2021 ), a notable omission is the proactive behavior of new generation employees.…”