Sabine Boerner

Transformational Leadership and Team Innovation : Integrating Team Climate Principles

Fostering team innovation is increasingly an important leadership function. However, the empirical evidence for the role of transformational leadership in engendering team innovation is scarce and mixed. To address this issue, the authors link transformational leadership theory to principles of M. A. Wests (1990) team climate theory and propose an integrated model for the relationship between transformational leadership and team innovation. This model involves support for innovation as a mediating process and climate for excellence as a moderator. Results from a study of 33 research and development teams confirmed that transformational leadership works through support for innovation, which in turn interacts with climate for excellence such that support for innovation enhances team innovation only when climate for excellence is high.

Follower Behavior and Organizational Performance : the Impact of Transformational Leaders

This study sheds light on the mediating processes by which transformational leadership influences follower performance and innovation, respectively. We hypothesize that transformational leaders boost follower performance by stimulating organizational citizenship behavior, whereas they enhance follower innovation by triggering controversial discussion of task related issues (debate). On the contrary, we do not expect these mediating effects to hold for the relationship between transactional leadership and follower performance and innovation, respectively. Our hypotheses were confirmed in an empirical study of N = 91 leaders from 91 German companies. Conclusions for leadership research are drawn. Key words: debate, innovation, organizational citizenship behavior, transactional leadership, transformational leadership

Fostering Team Innovation: Why Is It Important to Combine Opposing Action Strategies?

We develop a framework that provides a general theoretical rationale for the claim made by several authors that combining opposing action strategies fosters team innovation. We distinguish between open and closed strategies and posit that these are opposing but complementary in that each fosters one of two processes necessary for team innovation: open action strategies (e.g., delegative leadership) promote knowledge generation, and closed action strategies (e.g., directive leadership) enhance knowledge integration. We argue that each pole of a pair of opposing action strategies both energizes and detracts from elements of innovation. Thus, it could be expected that combining opposing action strategies leads to an impasse, as the negative effects of each strategy might offset the positive effects of the opposite strategy. There is currently no viable explanation in the literature for why this mutual neutralization may not occur. We aim to fill this gap by explicating why and how opposing action strategies, when implemented simultaneously, do not countervail each others positive effects, but rather yield positive synergies that fuel team innovation.

Cross-functionality and innovation in new product development teams: A dilemmatic structure and its consequences for the management of diversity

The ubiquitous hope among managers of new product development (NPD) teams that a cross-functional team composition may be a royal road to enhancing team innovations appears to be an illusion. Empirical analyses show positive as well as negative or nonsignificant relationships between cross-functionality and team innovations. In this article, we integrate the extant literature and develop a process model that explains the contradictory empirical findings. We propose that introducing specific mediators and moderators enables improved predictions of the effects of cross-functionality on team innovations. In developing our model, which is primarily based on a conflict-theoretical perspective, we address theories of social categorization, identity and self verification, information/decision making, group problem solving, and innovativeness, respectively. Our process model explicates how (i.e., via what mediators) and when (i.e., in the presence of what moderators) cross-functionality enhances or impedes synergistic communication among team members, which in turn fosters team innovations. On the basis of this new model we discuss strategies for managing cross-functionality in NPD teams.

The Risks of Autonomy: Empirical Evidence for the Necessity of a Balance Management in Promoting Organizational Innovativeness

For the purpose of promoting innovativeness in organizations, the literature recommends more decentralization of power and more participative leadership as one dimension of empowerment and thus greater situation control for employees. In fact, however, increasing situation control involves specific risks (including co-ordination problems). Without concurrent integration to cushion these risks through orientation, consensus and trust, increasing situation control therefore leads not to a further increase in innovativeness but to a decline. This first empirical demonstration of the covert curvilinear relationship between situation control and innovativeness in n 101 organizations reveals these risks. At the same time, it calls into question the widespread recommendations in the literature for action on innovation-friendly organization and leadership.

The Open and the Closed Corporation as Conflicting forms of Organization

Organizational change is discussed in the context of a conceptual model resting on philosophical, sociological, and anthropological foundations. Distinguishing between an open and a closed form of organization, the authors focus on two theses. The first is that organizations as societal systems are marked by the simultaneous existence of two forms of organization that are mutually exclusive in part, with the resulting combinations or mixes of the two forms having the character of a compromise. The second thesis is that these combinations or mixes of open and closed organizational elements tend to be in flux, giving organizational change a partly cyclical structure. The authors’goal is to draw on these two theses to develop the theory of organizational change and elaborate the implications that this interpretation has for organizational change in daily practice.

Transformational Leadership and Group Climate-Empirical Results from Symphony Orchestras

The study investigates the degree to which the conductors transformational leadership style and a cooperative climate in the orchestra favorably effect the orchestra s artistic quality. The authors study the assertion that the conductors transformational leadership style promotes the orchestra s artistic quality only if there is a cooperative climate in the orchestra. An empirical study of 208 musicians from 22 professional German symphony orchestras confirms the assumed interaction effect of the conductors transformational leadership style and the cooperative climate among the musicians on the orchestras artistic quality. Conclusions for the effectiveness of transformational leadership in organizations are drawn.

Illuminating the work-family interface on international assignments: An exploratory approach

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the perception of the work-family interface in an expatriation context. Furthermore, potential antecedents of work-family enrichment and work-family conflict in the work as well as in the family domain are identified and potential gender differences in perceptions sought. Design/methodology/approach - An exploratory approach was adopted. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 15 expatriates and repatriates that were analysed using content analysis. Findings - Work-to-family conflict was perceived as a time-based conflict, whereas family-to-work conflict was perceived as an energy-based conflict. Work-family enrichment (i.e. work-to-family; family-to-work) was perceived as a transfer of skills and mood. Furthermore, at least in an expatriation context, the work-family interface is reflected in more reciprocal influences than are currently presented in existing concepts. In total, four potential antecedents of work-family interaction were identified: social support at work; development opportunities at work; family social support; and family adjustment. Finally, gender differences in the perception of the work-family interface could be revealed. Research limitations/implications - First, the interviews were analysed solely by one person; consequently, inter-rater-reliability could not be tested. Second, a direct relationship between each potential antecedent and work-family interaction can only be hypothesized. Practical implications - The findings enable companies to implement support strategies that foster a positive interaction between the work and the family domain which, in turn, will enhance expatriation success. Originality/value - The study provides one of the first exploratory examinations of the perception of the complete work-family interface in an expatriation context. Furthermore, this is one of the few studies that include female and male international assignees in the sample and therefore can give a balanced perspective of the work-family interface among male and female assignees.

Fostering innovation in functionally diverse teams: The two faces of transformational leadership

Empirical research on the effects of functional diversity on team innovation has yielded largely inconsistent results, showing positive, negative, as well as nonsignificant effects. For capitalizing on the positive potential inherent in functionally diverse teams, opening the black box between cross-functionality and team innovation by analysing mediating and moderating processes thus seems to be highly relevant. In this article, task and relationship conflicts are introduced as mediators of functional diversity and team innovation. Within this framework, transformational leadership is discussed as a moderator. It will become apparent that the role of transformational leadership in fostering the innovativeness of cross-functional teams is rather ambiguous. The discussed mediators and the moderator transformational leadership are integrated into a comprehensive framework and propositions for future research are derived.

Transformational leadership and R&D innovation : taking a curvilinear approach

Only few studies have examined innovation at the team level so far. Moreover, there are different positions when it comes to the role of leadership in engendering R&D team innovation. Innovation research outlines that high levels of team autonomy are beneficial to innovation in R&D teams and thus suggests that leaders should give as little intellectual guidance as possible. Leadership research proposes transformational leadership as a lever for facilitating team innovation. We integrate these two perspectives by arguing for a U-shaped relationship between transformational leadership and R&D team innovation. This hypothesis was supported by data from 52 R&D teams of international companies.