The Theory of Statistics in Psychology by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030480431
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

4.5 Measuring Leadership: Alternatives to Statistical Significance

The problematic application of statistical significance of leadership behaviors without context then leaves the conundrum of how to alternately consider leadership and its impacts. Several methods have been proposed in literature, each of them complex assessments of intricate problems. As an alternate to standard analysis of leadership behaviors, Marion and Uhl-Bien (2001) suggested that complexity leadership may be assessed using complex aggregates, which is comprised by entities with correlated behaviors shaped by relationships or interdependencies. They noted that while this will reflect greater information as to the larger system of the organization and its actions, it may exclude analysis of the effect of interactions between systems, or the history of the environment of the system. Marion and Uhl-Bien (2001) also proposed ethnographic procedures, such as case studies (Hunt and Ropo 2003), processual analysis (Pettigrew 1997), or a grounded theory approach (Hunt and Ropo 2003) as an option for addressing leadership in a complex environment. These approaches enable the researcher to analyze the many behaviors and interactions of the individuals as well as groups within the organization, explaining the how and why of connections between outcomes and actions (Hunt and Ropo 2003; Pettigrew 1997). The authors pointed out that these complex analyses may be difficult to conduct in a quantitative or simulation methodology, while qualitative approaches enable evaluating emergence within the system as well as interactions beyond the statistical measures.

In another instance of the influence of context, Yammarino and Bass (1990) noted that inferences of leadership behaviors and their effects are influenced by the level of analysis, where statistical correlations may be valid at one level (individual) but not at another (organization or large group). In this case, the context of the analysis has changed or, as Pettigrew (1997) described it, the interconnected series of processes and configurations that influence the actions and learning of actors within a system. Based on this assumption, Yammarino and Bass (1990) concluded that multilevel analysis may be an approach to providing a more detailed picture of transformational or complexity leadership within an organization and its environment. Writing about processual analysis, Pettigrew said that “social processes are deeply embedded in the contexts that produce and are produced by them” (1997, p. 340). Analyzing the context of the system in which leadership occurs is fundamental to understanding the leadership behaviors and outcomes.

Leadership theories such as transformational, complexity, shared, and distributed assume leadership exists beyond individual characteristics and behaviors, taking place within a socially interactive discourse influenced by organizational context, environment, and the passage of time. With this assumption, then, leadership should be analyzed with these conditions, rather than as a singular snapshot in time of behaviors conveyed by statistical measures. A multilevel analysis of leadership behaviors and communication combined with time-inclusive ethnographic examinations of context and organizational environment may include the factors that describe leadership more fully and encompass the larger framework of leadership and the significance of its enabling actions.

Even beyond the rapidly changing requirements of the modern business world, some circumstances create an even greater platform for examination of leadership and its impact.

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