Wallace A. Williams

Socialization of inpatriate managers to the headquarters of global organizations: A social learning perspective

Understanding the intricacies of managing the life cycle of international personnel is a conundrum that continues to perplex HR managers in the global business arena. Although the notion of adjusting to a socioeconomically and culturally distant environment has been explored extensively from the expatriate perspective, the critical issue to discern is the attention inpatriates need to facilitate successful, long-term integration into a novel setting. With regard to the relatively new staffing option of “inpatriation,” the current literature seeks to acquire an understanding of the contextual implications vital for an adjustment process that allows for the successful and lasting incorporation of such individuals in the headquarters of global organizations. As a result of this gap, this article examines the relationship between institutional and individualized socialization tactics and sociocultural and psychological adjustments in conjunction with a proposed moderator effect of cultural distance that inpatriates may undergo. Overall, the article argues that the successful socializing of such individuals will in part depend on their set of psychological reference points during the acculturation stages.

The collective endorsement of James Meredith: Initiating a leader identity construction process

DeRue and Ashford (2010) proposed a social process of leadership identity construction, asserting that leadership identity is co-constructed by way of claims and grants of leader and follower identities. In addition, these authors suggested that the collective endorsement of the broader social context might serve as a catalyst to initiate the leader identity construction process. As a result, they called for qualitative studies to further develop this idea. During archival research of James Meredith’s historic integration of the University of Mississippi, we discovered evidence to support and extend their theoretical arguments. Accordingly, we interpret the archival evidence of support and opposition of Meredith’s defiant integration to contrast the leader identity construction processes of Meredith with his contemporary antagonist, former Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett. We use this analysis to illustrate how the distinctive social context broadly recognized the key element of defiance and collectively endorsed Meredith as a leader, thereby initiating his leader identity construction process.

Servant leadership and followership creativity: The influence of workplace spirituality and political skill

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how servant leadership and political skill combine to impact workplace spirituality and employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach Participants were working adults recruited by graduate and undergraduate students from a US public regional comprehensive university. Data were collected across three time periods, with a final sample size of 280 participants. Findings The authors’ findings suggest that servant leaders impact employee creativity by fostering an environment that promotes workplace spirituality. Furthermore, this relationship is strengthened to the extent that the servant leader possesses high levels of political skill. Research limitations/implications This study provides a foundation for the interplay between servant leadership and political skill. Therefore, the data collection procedures undertaken in this study (i.e. from sources in multiple organizations) are beneficial. A limitation to this study is the use of a single informant to measure all of the constructs, which may cause a bias in the results. Practical implications This study provides a foundation for the interplay between servant leadership and political skill. Therefore, the data collection procedures undertaken in this study (i.e. from sources in multiple organizations) are beneficial. Originality/value Although servant leadership research continues to receive increased attention in the extant literature, researchers have tended to focus on the relational aspects of servant leadership. Curiously, the “leader” side of servant leadership has been largely neglected. As a result, some have questioned the construct as a viable leadership model. Greenleaf (1977), however, noted that servant leaders also possess conceptual skills; yet, these skills are rarely included in servant leadership measurements or empirical studies. The authors argue that political skill captures the essence of these abilities, and that including it strengthens the servant leader’s impact on workplace spirituality, ultimately influencing employee creativity.

Commemorating Chandler through the lens of his revisionists

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to commemorate Alfred Chandler, a truly outstanding business historian, through the unique lens of his revisionists.Design/methodology/approach – By developing a classifying framework, Chandlers revisionists is analyzed based on the extent to which they critique Chandlers interpretation of the role of managers in large organizations.Findings – The revisionist critiques of Chandlers works is traced and examine how they can contribute to the intent of commemorating Chandler and his works.Practical implications – The most relevant revisionists of Chandlers works are highlighted in a manner that might be valuable for the understanding of how Chandlers revisionists can be interpreted within both functional and critical paradigms.Originality/value – The unique contributions of this study is its focus on providing a specific form of commemoration through the lens of Chandlers revisionists and thus putting “Chandler in a larger frame” of management history.

Disharmony in New Harmony: insights from the narcissistic leadership of Robert Owen

Purpose The purpose of this study is to narratively explore the influence of leader narcissism on leader/follower social exchange. Moreover, while researchers acknowledge that narcissistic personality is a dimensional construct, the preponderance of extant literature approaches the concept of narcissistic leadership categorically by focusing on the reactive or constructive narcissistic extremes. This bimodal emphasis ignores self-deceptive forms of narcissistic leadership, where vision orientation and communication could differ from leaders with more reactive or constructive narcissistic personalities. Design/methodology/approach The authors argue that they encountered a compelling example of a communal, self-deceiving narcissist during archival research of Robert Owen’s collective experiment at New Harmony, Indiana. To explore Owen’s narcissistic leadership, they utilize an analytically structured history approach to interpret his leadership, as he conveyed his vision of social reform in America. Findings Approaching data from a ‘history to theory’ perspective and via a communicative lens, the authors use insights from their abductive analysis to advance a cross-paradigm, communication-centered process model of narcissistic leadership that accounts for the full dimensional nature of leader narcissism and the relational aspects of narcissistic leadership. Research limitations/implications Scholars maintaining a positivist stance might consider this method a limitation, as historical case-based research places greater emphasis on reflexivity than replication. However, from a constructionist perspective, a focus on generalization might be considered inappropriate or premature, potentially hampering the revelation of insights. Originality/value Through a multi-paradigmatic analysis of the historical case of Robert Owen and his visionary communal experiment at New Harmony, the authors contribute to the extant literature by elaborating a comprehensive, dimensional and relational process framework of narcissistic leadership. In doing so, the authors have heeded calls to better delineate leader narcissism, embrace process and relational aspects of leadership and consider leader communication as constitutive of leadership.

Barnard's model of decision making: a historical predecessor of image theory

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine Chester Barnards decisional model utilizing the lens of image theory. The main claim is that the individual decision‐making model proposed by Barnard in his Notes on the Significance of Decisive Behavior can be evaluated within the framework of image theory.Design/methodology/approach – The paper performed a comparative analysis of Barnards and image theorys models of decision making to outline congruence and incongruence between Barnards early conceptualization of individual decision making and the contemporary understanding of image theory.Findings – The findings provide support to the claim that image theory is an appropriate framework to describe Barnards model.Originality/value – The unique contribution of this study is that it provides the first theoretical analysis of Barnards model of individual decision making. Barnards model of individual decision making is little known because it was posthumously published in his Notes on the Significance...

Chandler as a biographer: content thematic analysis of Chandler's biography of Henry Varnum Poor

Purpose – This paper analyzes Chandlers biography of Henry Varnum Poor to assess Chandlers contribution to management history as a biographer.Design/methodology/approach – Using Winters content thematic analysis, measure Poors motivational needs for achievement, affiliation‐intimacy, and power, as they are depicted by Chandler throughout the stages of Poors career as a business editor, analyst, and reformer.Findings – Our analysis shows that Chandler views Poors motivation as stable throughout Poors three professional roles. This paper found that Chandler views Poor as primarily driven by his need for power, followed by a significant need for achievement, and a minor need for affiliation throughout his working life.Originality/value – This research is unique because it provides the first social‐scientific assessment of Chandlers contribution to management history as a biographer.