Non-linear dynamics and leadership emergence

Taking time seriously: Changing practices and perspectives in Work/Organizational Psychology

“…Applying complexity science Study chaotic dynamics over time, sudden and catastrophic changes, fractal structures, fuzzy boundaries or emergent processes in organizational phenomena (Ceja & Navarro, 2011;Guastello, 1987Guastello, , 2007; Navarro, Curioso, Gomes, Arrieta, & Cortés, 2013) about how to conduct a more time-sensitive study, it is more difficult to find organizations that allow longitudinal data-gathering, researchers lack the knowledge of techniques required for longitudinal data-analysis, and researchers are under pressure to conduct research and publish its outcomes in short periods of time (which favors short-term experiments or cross-sectional field studies). However, other and more fundamental explanations for the theory-method misfit have also been suggested.…”

“…Moreover, they have found that teams which usually play the playoffs of the competitions are the teams which show a very specific kind of non-linear dynamics, called low-dimensional chaos. In a study of leadership, Guastello (2007) investigated how different variables, such as general participation and control of the conversation, task orientation, consideration of other players' interests, and concern for solution quality, are related and cause the emergence of leadership in natural groups. Guastello found clear support of non-linear relations among these variables, as they explain more variance that the linear ones.…”

Labels and leaders: The influence of framing on leadership emergence

“…Leadership emergence research examines how leaderless groups come to have a leader (see Mann, 1959 for review) and conceptualizes emergent leaders as group members who exhibit high levels of leadership behaviors, thereby attaining status in the initially equal status group (Berdahl, 1996). Leadership emergence has been assessed through group (or dyad) member perceptions of other group members (e.g., Berson, Dan, & Yammarino, 2006;Cronshaw & Lord, 1987;Gershenoff & Foti, 2003;Lord, Foti, & De Vader, 1984;Watson & Hoffman, 2004) or the coding of emergent leadership behaviors of individuals in groups (and dyads) by outside observers (e.g., Foti & Hauenstein, 2007;Guastello, 2007;Karakowsky & Siegel, 1999).…”

Leadership for knowledge organizations

“…Interactions and connectivity among heterogeneous agents and across agent networks in these organizations lead to creative emergence, and the leaders provide linkages to the emergent structures without the control of a central coordinator (Cilliers, 2001;Chiles, Meyer & Hench, 2004;Fairholm, 2004;Guastello, 2007;Hazy, Goldstein & Lichtenstein, 2007;Keene, 2000;McKelvey, 2007;McKelvey, Marion, & Uhl-Bien, 2003;Scott, 2004;Uhl-Bien et al, 2004;Yoo & Alavi, 2004). This view of diffused power is supported by Weick, Sutcliffe, and Obstfeld, (2005) and Uhl-Bien et al, (2004), who claim that leadership focuses on the dynamics of leadership as it emerges over time in all areas of an organizational system, where each interchange and interaction provides opportunities for leading, learning, growing and managing change.…”

“…Formal leader eschew power Vecchio et al, 2010;Nemanich and Vera, 2009;Konradt and Andresen, 2009;Kirkman et al, 2009;Amar et al, 2009;Amar, 2002;Cilliers, 2001;Fairholm, 2004;Guastello, 2007;Monostori & Ueda, 2006;Osborn & Hunt, 2007;Scott, 2004;Uhl-Bien et al, 2007;Weick et al, 2005;Yoo & In an organization, such as the knowledge organization, where a variety of specialized, unrelated or little-related tasks are executed, it is unlikely for one individual to effectively carry out the leadership responsibilities. A knowledge organization will benefit if the formal leader eschewed power and created an environment of shared leadership.…”