Leadership and the paradox of authenticity

This is the author version of a chapter accepted for publication by Routledge.In 2003, Bill George (former CEO of Medtronic Plc an S&P 500 constituent) argued that “Due to the current crisis, complexities and challenges facing our society and organizations nowadays we need from a new type of leadership—the authentic leader. Following that line of thought, Harvard Business Review published an article by Goffee and Jones in which they noted “Leadership demands the expression of an authentic self” (2005). One decade later “authenticity has become the gold standard for leaders” (Ibarra, 2015). On the surface, authentic leadership represents an ideal for leaders to aspire to. But unfortunately a simplistic understanding of authenticity can hinder a leader’s development (Ibarra, 2015). This chapter exposes some of the complexities and nuances of authentic leadership by capturing some of the “true” and paradoxical essence of authenticity. This nuanced picture is informed by (a) the work of leadership scholars combined with (b) my background of 20 years studying and working in Psychology, (c) my experience as a CEO advisor and HR manager, (d) my work and reflections as a leadership developer and coach, (e) my academic theoretical understanding and (f) my own internal work aiming to become an authentic leader. In the next few sections four paradoxes are presented followed by suggestions for dealing with them

Creativity is collective

Psychologists and other commentators have always treated creativity as the ultimate expression of human individuality. However, to fully understand creativity we need to look beyond the individual: Groups and social context give creativity both form and force

High Performance Leadership: Narratives of identity and control in corporate leadership development and performance management

This article reviews the outcomes of a three year workshop series with senior leadership and management development managers from a range of public and private sector organisations. The aim of this enquiry was to explore the interface between performance management and leadership development systems and the extent to which they can complement one another to offer a coherent progression and performance framework. A number of competing and inter-related dynamics were uncovered that influence the extent to which performance management systems facilitate appropriate and desirable forms of behaviour in organisations and the extent to which these are supported and reinforced through leadership development. The most significant of these influences was seen to be one of identity and the impact that these systems can have on a sense of shared ‘social identity’ and purpose. By way of conclusion we argue that the narrative function of corporate leadership systems in expressing ‘who we are’ and ‘what we value’ is equally, if not more, important in determining their impact (positive or negative) than their corrective or developmental capacity per se

When group members admit to being conformist: the role of relative intragroup status in conformity self-reports

Authors' draft; final version published in Personality and Social Psychology BulletinFive studies examined the hypothesis that people will strategically portray the self as being more group influenced the more junior they feel within the group. Among social psychologists (Study 1), ratings of self-conformity by group members were greater when the status of the participant was low than when it was high. These effects were replicated in Studies 2, 3, and 4 in which relative intragroup status was manipulated. In Study 3, the authors found junior group members described themselves as more conformist than senior members when they were addressing an ingroup audience, but when they were addressing an outgroup audience the effect disappeared. Furthermore, junior members (but not senior members) rated themselves as more conformist when they were led to believe their responses were public than when responses were private (Study 5). The discussion focuses on the strategic processes underlying low-status group members’ self-reports of group influence and the functional role of conformity in groups

And now for something completely different? The impact of group membership on perceptions of creativity

Authors' draft; final version published in Social influence; available online at http://www.informaworld.com/ Embargo until 1 July 2010A wealth of historical, cultural, and biographical evidence points to the fact that there is considerable variation in different people's judgments of creative products. What is creative to one person is deviant to another, and creative efforts often fail to be given the enthusiastic reception that their creators anticipate and think they deserve. Unpacking the roots of these discrepancies, this paper develops an analysis of creativity that is informed by the social identity approach. This analysis is supported by a review of previous research that points to the way in which perceptions of creativity are structured by both self-categorization and social norms (and their interaction). Further support for the analysis is provided by two experiments (Ns = 100, 125) which support the hypothesis that ingroup products are perceived to be more creative than those of outgroups independently of other factors with which group membership is typically correlated in the world at large (e.g., quality). The studies also indicate that this pattern is not simply a manifestation of generic ingroup bias since judgments of creativity diverge from those of both likeability (Experiment 1) and beauty (Experiment 2). The theoretical and practical significance of these findings is discussed with particular reference to innovation resistance and the “not invented here” syndrome.This research was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-062-23-0135)

Social identity and the recognition of creativity in groups

Authors' draft; final version published in British Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 479-497This paper develops an analysis of creativity that is informed by the social identity approach. Two studies are reported that support this analysis. Study 1 (N=73) manipulated social identity salience and the content of group norms. The group norm was either conservative (i.e. promoted no change) or progressive (i.e. promoted change). When social identity was salient and the group norm was conservative, a non-novel proposal was perceived to be more creative. Study 2 (N=63) manipulated social norms and identity relevance. Results showed that while social norms influenced perceptions of creativity, identity relevance influenced positivity but not perceptions of creativity. These findings support the idea that perceptions of creativity are grounded in the normative content of group membership and self-categorization processes

Understanding creativity : a social identity approach

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Exploring the concept of individual workplace well-being : what does it mean to have workplace well-being and what is the role of identity-related resources in achieving it?

When exploring workplace phenomena such as well-being, it is important to recognise the context in which the experience takes place. For example, many contemporary jobs require people to interact with others or to work in groups. Therefore, the social dimension of the workplace well-being experience calls for recognition in research. Keeping the social context of work in mind, the PhD programme had two research aims in order to develop current understanding further on what well-being encompasses and what the best ways are to enhance it. The first aim was to explore relevant components of individual workplace well-being. The second aim was to explore the relevance of two antecedents of individual workplace well-being: Authenticity and social identification were conceptualized through an identity lens as identity-related resources, incorporating the personal self (authenticity) and the social self (shared social identity). Well-being experience accounts of managers, consultants, and staff from different work contexts were explored in two studies through questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups and then analysed with thematic qualitative content analysis. The findings suggest that well-being descriptions from people who work are aligned with existing well-being concepts. Furthermore, the social aspect of well-being was indeed highlighted through the frequent use of indicators such as feeling connected with others, high interaction, and collaboration. In addition, depending on whose well-being was explored, different workplace well-being components were referred to in descriptions of the experience. The findings further suggest that the identity-related resources can act as positive, negative, or irrelevant resources for well-being depending on the work context (i.e. job role and work characteristics). This research indicates that the social aspect of the well-being is a prevalent part of the experience and is not just important in itself but is also for successfully working together with others. Furthermore, any action to improve well-being needs to be tailored to the characteristics of the work context and the workers themselves.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Creative innovation or crazy irrelevance? The contribution of group norms and level of identity to innovate behaviour and perception of creativity

Author's draft; final version available online via http://www.sciencedirect.com/This paper develops an analysis of innovative behavior and creativity that is informed by the social identity perspective. Two studies manipulated group norms and analyzed their impact on creative behavior. The results of Study 1 show that when people are asked to make a creative product collectively they display conformity to ingroup norms, but that they deviate from ingroup norms when group members make the same products on their own. A parallel result was found in group members’ private perceptions of what they consider creative. In Study 2, the social identity of participants was made salient. Results showed conformity to group norms even when group members worked on their own creations. Findings suggest that innovative behavior is informed by normative context, and that in contexts in which people operate as members of a group (either physically through collective action, or psychologically through social identity salience) innovation will respect normative boundaries