Switching Gears: Training Team Leaders and Members to Adapt Leadership Behaviors in Dynamic Conditions (Basic Research Areas 2-I and 2-II)
Abstract
When operating in dynamic and unpredictable contexts, teams face the dual challenge of combining efficiency with flexibility. Thus, when the situation is rather simple, they should perform tasks as efficiently as possible to optimally synchronize and coordinate their actions. However, when the situation becomes complex, teams must be flexible and creative, to be able to cope with the unexpected. Yet even though teams may be trained to perform both in simple and complex situations, their effectiveness in the long run may be as much a function of their capacity to sense when a switch is appropriate, and to transition accordingly among different modes of action. An important role in facilitating transitioning between efficiency and flexibility is reserved for the team leader. In this regard, contingency theories of leadership pose that leadership style effectiveness depends on how well the style fits a given situation. In simple situations, a directive leadership style is often preferred, while a participative style is better in complex situations. This is particularly so when team members have high levels of expertise. If the leader delegates authority and involves the team members in the decision-making process, information is more effectively used and discussed. Then team members are also more likely to integrate divergent ideas and perspectives. Yet despite agreement in leadership research that optimal leadership styles should be contingent upon situational characteristics, little is known about how team leaders effectively transition among different leadership styles. The current project aims to increase our understanding about the underlying processes of this form of adaptive leadership by focusing on adaptive leadership behaviors as situations transition between simple and complex. We build a research model depicting the processes and antecedents of adaptive leadership behavior switching. We consider the switching process not as an isolated act of the team leader, but instead as the interdependent behaviors of leaders and followers in co-constructing the leadership transition process. We designed a series of laboratory studies and a study in a realistic health care setting to empirically test the role of adaptive leadership in team performance under situations varying in complexity, and to identify the behaviors and cognitive requirements predicting effective leadership style switching. In each laboratory experiment, four-person student teams conduct command and control tasks in dynamic situations. The teams perform on a number of simple and complex scenarios. We experimentally test a variety of conditions, providing some leaders and some teams with adaptive leadership training and others with control training. In addition, we measure team member and leader personality characteristics and team knowledge variables, and we capture and code team communication in real time. Condensing the lessons learned from these controlled laboratory studies, we will design an adaptive leadership intervention and test it in a realistic health care simulation environment, where teams of nurses and physicians will experience an emergency medicine scenario containing both simple and complex episodes. The results of our studies can be used as the basis for identifying crucial behaviors and skills and for developing training programs for adaptive leaders and teams. Overall, our project helps to increase knowledge regarding how leaders and teams could more effectively switch between different styles of leadership when the situation demands it.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 20, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1610545
Entities
People
- Gerardus Uitdewilligen
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Maastricht University
- United States Army