PARADOXICAL LEADER BEHAVIORS IN PEOPLE MANAGEMENT: ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zhang, Yan; Waldman, David A.; Han, Yu-Lan; Li, Xiao-Bei
• 署名单位: Peking University; Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe; Shanghai University of Finance & Economics; East China University of Science & Technology
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2012.0995
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 538-566
• 关键词: INTEGRATIVE COMPLEXITY; MEMBER EXCHANGE; CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP; contextual influences; PROACTIVE BEHAVIOR; decision-making; self; MODEL; performance; distance

摘要

As organizational environments become increasingly dynamic, complex, and competitive, leaders are likely to face intensified contradictory, or seemingly paradoxical, demands. We develop the construct of paradoxical leader behavior in people management, which refers to seemingly competing, yet interrelated, behaviors to meet structural and follower demands simultaneously and over time. In Study 1, we develop a measure of paradoxical leader behavior in people management using five samples from China. Confirmatory factor analyses support a multidimensional measure of paradoxical leader behavior with five dimensions: (1) combining self-centeredness with other-centeredness; (2) maintaining both distance and closeness; (3) treating subordinates uniformly, while allowing individualization; (4) enforcing work requirements, while allowing flexibility; and (5) maintaining decision control, while allowing autonomy. In Study 2, we examine the antecedents and consequences of paradoxical leader behavior in people management with a field sample of 76 supervisors and 516 subordinates from 6 firms. We find that the extent to which supervisors engage in holistic thinking and have integrative complexity is positively related to their paradoxical behavior in managing people, which, in turn, is associated with increased proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity among subordinates.