Leadership power struggles and their effects on organizational performance

Leadership Power Struggles:

Employee behavior, organizational performance and productivity

Effective leadership is seen as vital to organizational success; it has been called an art as much as a science (Bolman & Deal 2011). Leadership dynamics and attitudes are widely assumed by many management theorists to have a trickle-down effect upon employees, regardless of the individual motivational profile or ability of the employee. The purpose of this study will be to attempt to understand how struggles between leaders as well as between leaders and employees affect the wider organizational mission and goals, as measured by performance and productive output. For example, according to Greer (et al. 2013), leader unpredictability is linked to group power struggles and ineffectuality, regardless of the other qualities the leader brings to the team: even otherwise creative and loyal employees will engage in infighting. Also, as noted by Driver (2013), leaders, just like employees can have character profiles which either mesh with or subvert organizational goals.

Both qualitative and quantitative studies will be used to support this analysis of leadership as a dynamic process which is constantly being negotiated by leaders as well as employees. Leadership case studies and analyses will be selected both from Western and non-Western contexts (Takahashi et al. 2012). Some cultures may be more collectivist in their orientation, for example, and have less obvious power struggles and place more emphasis on harmony. This will affect the dynamics of organizational behavior and reflect a different cultural orientation and concept of leadership. Leadership is not a static component and varies based upon the organization's internalized concept of what is a strong leader. Within the leadership dynamic there is often a continual negotiation of what it means to lead as well as who is a leader.

Communication of leadership concepts will also be a critical component of the study, including how leadership is inferred to be most effective by both leaders and followers. Ems (2014) notes how social media has, in many ways, 'upped the ante' or created a larger platform on which power struggles can be waged, through email and even through public information-sharing (both official and unofficial) by would-be leaders and employees. While some of this dynamism may result in positive organizational growth, it can also result in a diffusion of a sense of common mission and goals.

The qualities of what constitutes positive leadership attributes will also be studied. Interesting, according to Judge (et al. 2003), a surprisingly moderate correlation has been found between aspects of leadership such as intelligence and organizational success. Emotional intelligence may be equally as important in the success of leadership (Goleman 2003). This supports the concept of transformational approaches to leadership as critical for an organization to succeed; it also supports theories of leadership such as Douglas MacGregor's Theory X/Theory Y leadership, which reflects the notion that many organizations benefit from empowering employees and minimizing the need to exert controls over every level of the hierarchy. Leadership may benefit from structure and consistency but that does not necessarily mean that rigid leadership is superior.