Inefficient Leaders Essays

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Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor, & Ogunlana, S. (2009). Ineffective leadership. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 16(3), 254-272. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09699980910951663
Leadership research has largely focused on the traits and behaviors that make leaders and the leadership process more effective and constructive in organizational settings ([66] Schaubroeck et al. , 2007; [20] Einarsen et al. , 2007). However, relatively less attention has been given to the traits that actually contribute to the ineffectiveness of leaders. In order to examine the counter-perspective to the facilitating factors of leadership, recent research has started to examine what contributes to the ineffectiveness of leadership (see, for example, [17] Den Hartog et al. , 1999; [37] Judge et al. , 2002; [78] Zaccaro et al. , 2004; [39] Kellerman, 2004; [41] Kets de Vries, 2006). The Leadership Quarterly - a leading academic journal in leadership research - even published a special issue in 2007 that focused destructive leadership (see [30] Harvey et al. , 2007; [29] Harris et al. , 2007; [22] Ferris et al. , 2007; [66] Schaubroeck et al. , 2007; [58] Padilla et al. , 2007; [20] Einarsen et al. , 2007; [52] Mumford et al. , 2007). However, this line of inquiry is still at an emerging stage in construction management research, and therefore few studies have attempted to examine the factors that contribute to the ineffectiveness and incompetence of construction project managers (see, for example, [28] Hartman, 2000; [62] Powl and Skitmore, 2005).
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Researchers argue that exploring the dark side of organizational behavior ([27] Griffin and O'Leary-Kelly, 2004) and leadership ([14] Conger, 1990; [61] Popper, 2001), negative personal attributes, and environmental neutralizers of leadership ([40] Kerr and Jermier, 1978) can provide a more holistic view of how leadership can be ineffective ([11] Burke, 2006). In addition, such studies can also help in understanding how leadership effectiveness can be enhanced by taking remedial measures to reduce the factors that cause ineffectiveness and incompetence of leadership ([46] Lombardo and Eichinger, 2000; [66] Schaubroeck et al. , 2007). Leadership is a critical factor for success of construction projects ([56] Odusami, 2002; [73] Toor and Ogunlana, 2008a) and it plays a vital role in achieving the involvement and satisfaction of project stakeholders ([70] Toor and Ofori, 2008a). Therefore, a detailed examination of negative leadership attributes and organizational neutralizers will help to improve the performance of project managers and raise the level of their leadership effectiveness ([50] Mustapha and Naoum, 1997).
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Recent literature has made attempts to understand the negative personal attributes of the leader contributing to leadership ineffectiveness. At the lowest level, ineffective leadership can be regarded as passive or "laissez-faire leadership" where the leader takes a very passive approach towards leading and does not show interest in fulfilling his or her responsibilities and duties ([42] Lewin et al. , 1939; [4] Bass, 1990; [3] Avolio and Bass, 1995). "Laissez-faire leadership", in the view of [20] Einarsen et al. (2007), is in clear violation of organizational interests as it results in poor efficiency and possibly undermines the motivation, well-being and job satisfaction of subordinates
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At a further level, researchers argue that the leader may become obsessed by power and personal authority and therefore may resort to narcissism, self-serving and self-centered behaviors, wrongful use of power, manipulation, intimidation, coercion and one-way communication (see [15] Conger and Kanungo, 1987; [13] Conger, 1989; [33] Howell and Avolio, 1992; [55] O'Connor et al. , 1995; [77] Yukl, 1999). This dimension of the leadership can be truly regarded as the "dark side of the charisma" ([31] Hogan et al. , 1990; [33] Howell and Avolio, 1992; [58]
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