Identifying Emergent Leadership in Small Groups using Nonverbal Communicative Cues

This paper addresses firstly an analysis on how an emergent leader is perceived in newly formed small-groups, and secondly, explore correlations between perception of leadership and automatically extracted nonverbal communicative cues. We hypothesize that the difference in individual nonverbal features between emergent leaders and non-emergent leaders is significant and measurable using speech activity. Our results on a new interaction corpus show that such an approach is promising, identifying the emergent leader with an accuracy of up to 80

D.: Identifying emergent leadership in small groups using nonverbal communicative cues

This paper addresses firstly an analysis on how an emergent leader is perceived in newly formed small-groups, and secondly, explore correlations between perception of leadership and automatically extracted nonverbal communicative cues. We hypothesize that the difference in individual nonverbal features between emergent leaders and non-emergent leaders is significant and measurable using speech activity. Our results on a new interaction corpus show that such an approach is promising, identifying the emergent leader with an accuracy of up to 80%

Computational Modeling of Face-to-Face Social Interaction Using Nonverbal Behavioral Cues

The computational modeling of face-to-face interactions using nonverbal behavioral cues is an emerging and relevant problem in social computing. Studying face-to-face interactions in small groups helps in understanding the basic processes of individual and group behavior; and improving team productivity and satisfaction in the modern workplace. Apart from the verbal channel, nonverbal behavioral cues form a rich communication channel through which people infer – often automatically and unconsciously – emotions, relationships, and traits of fellowmembers. There exists a solid body of knowledge about small groups and the multimodal nature of the nonverbal phenomenon in social psychology and nonverbal communication. However, the problem has only recently begun to be studied in the multimodal processing community. A recent trend is to analyze these interactions in the context of face-to-face group conversations, using multiple sensors and make inferences automatically without the need of a human expert. These problems can be formulated in a machine learning framework involving the extraction of relevant audio, video features and the design of supervised or unsupervised learning models. While attempting to bridge social psychology, perception, and machine learning, certain factors have to be considered. Firstly, various group conversation patterns emerge at different time-scales. For example, turn-taking patterns evolve over shorter time scales, whereas dominance or group-interest trends get established over larger time scales. Secondly, a set of audio and visual cues that are not only relevant but also robustly computable need to be chosen. Thirdly, unlike typical machine learning problems where ground truth is well defined, interaction modeling involves data annotation that needs to factor in inter-annotator variability. Finally, principled ways of integrating the multimodal cues have to be investigated. In the thesis, we have investigated individual social constructs in small groups like dominance and status (two facets of the so-called vertical dimension of social relations). In the first part of this work, we have investigated how dominance perceived by external observers can be estimated by different nonverbal audio and video cues, and affected by annotator variability, the estimationmethod, and the exact task involved. In the second part, we jointly study perceived dominance and role-based status to understand whether dominant people are the ones with high status and whether dominance and status in small-group conversations be automatically explained by the same nonverbal cues. We employ speaking activity, visual activity, and visual attention cues for both the works. In the second part of the thesis, we have investigated group social constructs using both supervised and unsupervised approaches. We first propose a novel framework to characterize groups. The two-layer framework consists of a individual layer and the group layer. At the individual layer, the floor-occupation patterns of the individuals are captured. At the group layer, the identity information of the individuals is not used. We define group cues by aggregating individual cues over time and person, and use them to classify group conversational contexts – cooperative vs competitive and brainstorming vs decision-making. We then propose a framework to discover group interaction patterns using probabilistic topicmodels. An objective evaluation of ourmethodology involving human judgment and multiple annotators, showed that the learned topics indeed are meaningful, and also that the discovered patterns resemble prototypical leadership styles – autocratic, participative, and free-rein – proposed in social psychology

The linguistic foundations of leadership through actionable consensus

This dissertation explores the dynamics of consensus building and leadership during a consulting organization’s Senior Leadership Team meetings. By incorporating ethnography with discourse and corpus analyses, I focus on the discursive strategies which drive building actionable consensus. In so doing, I show the linguistic and communicative resources employed in building actionable consensus, allowing for a more complete understanding of both team dynamics and leadership. A large degree of scholarly work has focused on the language of leadership in business settings. These studies fall largely into two camps, one focusing on the display of leader-like identities through discourse and another focusing on the emergence of leadership as a semiotic action which is co-constructed in and through interaction. Both camps have areas to contribute to this literature, though both also have their drawbacks. This study examines both camps and narrows down the focus of leadership to include the building of actionable consensus through interactions. In this dissertation, I address the gaps in studies of the language of leadership by focusing on the ways in which actionable consensus is built. This utilizes methodology developed by Wodak et al. (2011), which incorporates discourse analysis with ethnography and corpus linguistics. By drawing from both quantitative and qualitative analysis, I emphasize a holistic view of leadership as the act of leading, while simultaneously focusing on how that leadership occurs within the context of building actionable consensus. The data for this analysis is drawn from 13 audio-recordings of Senior Leadership Team meetings of a consulting organization. The team is composed of 15 people, each of whom plays a role of leadership within the larger consulting organization. These meetings are primarily conducted for strategic planning and organizational improvements. In addition to these audio-recordings, the study also includes extensive ethnographic and biographical observations of the organization and the individual participants. Appealing to both linguistic and leadership literature, I argue that leadership is directly observable in instances where actionable consensus is built and achieved. Using Wodak et al. (2011) and their methodology for examining the building of actionable consensus, I highlight the linguistic and communicative features which are discursively utilized. I show that these features are co-constructed in discourse and not exclusive to any one individual. I further argue that leadership is the discursive act of proposing a solution to a problem which is subsequently accepted (consensus) by other members of the group. This dissertation shows the ways in which using a combination of Action Implicative Discourse Analysis, corpus linguistics, and ethnographic analysis can offer sufficient theoretical mileage to analyze the co-creation of actionable consensus and the moves of leadership that occur therein. Future research can take a number of different approaches. One suggestion is research which will better describe the role of topic of discussion and its impact on the five discursive strategies discussed in this work. Another potential line of inquiry would examine the role(s) taken on by a single individual, asking how they use the discursive strategies based on varying contexts and conversations

A leadership skills development model for the Kwaden Group: a case study of an African FMCG business-network.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Organisations competing in Africa face numerous challenges. These include its size and complexity, transformational population growth, abundance of talent but a lack of skills, a scarcity of large companies, the relatively small size of big companies, a poorly understood business environment, conflict, poverty and corruption. To successfully address these challenges, entrepreneurial energy, and a strategy to develop leadership skills at scale is required. This study aimed to develop and assess whether a leadership skills development model which integrates six conceptual constructs is valid as a model for developing leadership skills in an African FMCG business-network. Based on a review of literature, theoretically relevant leadership development dimensions and attributes were conceived in terms of six constructs. Afterwards, a conceptual model for leadership skills development was postulated. Measurable variables concerning the conceptual model constructs were subsequently developed. The study took a pragmatic approach and followed an explanatory sequential design typology. An initial quantitative stage was conducted. A qualitative stage followed. The approach addressed the research problem from multiple perspectives. An online survey approach collected data from 132 employees from an African FMC business-network. Inferential statistics were employed to examine the validity and reliability of the constructs. Applying confirmatory factor analysis, three data-model fit tests gave empirical evidence that the leadership skills development model was a good model fit. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient determined construct reliability. A face-to-face interview approach facilitated data collection from 10 key decisionmakers in the African FMCG business-network. Their experience and feelings on leadership skills and leadership skills development were recorded. Using inductive thematic interpretation methodology, the qualitative results helped explain the initial quantitative results. The outcomes and practical value of this study included: a theoretically relevant, empirically validated leadership skills development model for an African FMCG business-network as well as a range of recommendations on how to develop leadership skills throughout Africa. Leadership skills development is complex, especially in a rapidly changing environment. This study contributed to the discipline of leadership and leadership development

I know that I am a leader: Interactions, catalysts, barriers, and control of the leader identity construction process

This thesis provides a qualitative investigation of the leader identity construction process, within the context of organizations. It takes a social constructionist approach to investigate this process and utilizes leadership identity construction theory (LICT), as proposed by DeRue and Ashford (2010), as a theoretical framework to inform the interpretation of the data. The thesis is comprised of three analytical chapters. The first chapter employed video methods to capture the real time identity claiming and granting process of teams and utilized interaction analysis to analyse how the individuals in the teams negotiated their leader and follower identities. The second analytical chapter consisted of 50 semi-structured interviews that focused on factors found to either help or hinder the leader identity construction process. The third analytical chapter further draws from the interview data and provides insights into the perceptions of organizational control over the leader identity construction process. The value of this thesis is that it provides both a micro and meso level analysis of the leader identity construction process by drawing on the behavioural components of the process while also addressing organizational level issues. Additionally, by engaging with data across the adult life span from university age students all the way to individuals at the cusp of retirement, this thesis provides a timely temporal look at leader identity construction. This thesis makes several contributions. It does so by providing key insights into how one’s self-conception as a leader is shaped by interactions with others, and by demonstrating what types of relationship contribute to the leader identity construction process, and the manner in which they do so. This thesis also provides vital insights into how organizational structures control leader identity, while also bringing to light the challenges individuals face in constructing a leader identity