The Organizational Scientist: Better Leadership Ideas Group Conducts Cutting Edge Research

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Better Leadership Ideas Group Conducts Cutting Edge Research

by Greg Berka

The Better Leadership Ideas Group (BLIG) facilitates collaboration across Organizational Science (OS) students and faculty members from all OS-related disciplines. The abundant OS student and faculty member-base of BLIG, plus partnerships developed with scholars from other universities and the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), provide for exploration of numerous leadership-based projects simultaneously. CCL has shared a plethora of interesting and relevant data gathered from attendees of the leadership development programs that they host. Updates on a few of the current projects underway include:

A multi-method study focused on understanding the antecedents of supportive leadership was presented by Sam Paustian-Underdahl at the 2010 Southern Management Association (SMA) conference. The manuscript is in process of being submitted for publication at the Journal of Occupation and Organizational Psychology (JOOP). The study shows the positive and significant relationship between leader supportiveness and leader performance and promotability. Part two of the study takes a closer look at the differences between highly supportive and less supportive leaders.

Collaboration with Dr. Eden King of George Mason University produced a paper "Can Top Dogs be Fat Cats? Increased Waistlines and Decreased Ratings of Top Executives". This will be presented at the Society of Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP) meeting in April and is currently under review for publication. This research examines 562 executives and finds that hierarchically-based status characteristics are insufficient in overcoming the stigma of obesity.

A self-talk project qualitatively analyzed letters that high-level executives drafted to themselves at the completion of a CCL leadership program. These letters are mailed to the respective leader at a future date to remind him or her of the personal reflections and realizations learned at the program. Several faculty members and students collaborated on the coding where themes involving transformational leadership were explored. Currently, a manuscript is being drafted that will be submitted for a conference this spring.

BLIG meetings will be starting up again in the upcoming weeks. If you are not a member and have questions about the group, please ask any of the current student or faculty members.