Leadership Studies Commons^™

Getting The Best Of Both Worlds, Steven Burton, Janice Wong

Asian Management Insights

Pair a technical expert with a generalist for successful change management.

Mediate, Not Litigate, To Resolve Disputes, Aloysius Goh, Terence Quek

Asian Management Insights

Mediation is essentially a facilitated negotiation process. When businesses have a dispute they cannot resolve on their own, they seek a neutral third party to help confidentially. This mediator has no power to impose a binding outcome on the parties. Rather, his or her responsibility is to facilitate the negotiation and use problem-solving skills to guide the parties towards a mutually agreed solution through a face saving and pragmatic process. In many jurisdictions, including Singapore, parties are required to attempt mediation first before courts hear the matter. Refusing to engage in mediation without proper reason may lead to cost sanctions …

Unlocking The Creativity Potential Of Dialectical Thinking: Field Investigations Of The Comparative Effects Of Transformational And Transactional Leadership Styles, Roy Y. J. Chua, Jia Hui Lim, Wannwiruch (Fon) Wiruchnipawan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In a digital economy characterized by high volumes of information and ideas, many of which could be contradictory to one another, employees high in dialectical thinking should be well poised to connect disparate ideas to generate creative solutions for business problems. Yet, it is unclear whether dialectical thinking as a creativity-relevant skill can be realized in naturalistic workplace settings, given past mixed findings and the lack of field studies. We propose that supervisors’ leadership styles are important moderators that can unlock employees’ creativity potential in dialectical thinking. Additionally, we compare the activating effect of transformational leadership and the inhibiting effect …

Carlos Ghosn: The Rise And Fall Of An Automobile Legend, Jochen Reb, Abhijeet K. Vadera, Sin Mei Cheah

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Was it politics, greed, or hubris that led to Carlos Ghosn's downfall? On December 29, 2019, disgraced auto titan Carlos Ghosn (rhymes with ‘tone’) made an audacious escape from house arrest in Tokyo, where he had been detained on financial impropriety charges. Of all the places imaginable, Ghosn hid in a huge case for musical instruments, which was then loaded onto an aeroplane as cargo. Dubbed as “one of the most brazen and well-orchestrated escape acts in recent history, involving a dizzying array of hotel meet-ups, bullet train travel, fake personas, and the chartering of a private jet”, it was …

Singapore: Value Creating Elites Lead The World, Christine Henderson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore country scorecard for the 2021 Elite Quality Index (EQx2021), a global ranking of countries built on the notion of ‘elite quality’. Elite quality is a macro-level feature of the political economy that measures the value creation aggregate of all elite business models. Elites are dominant coalitions with the strongest capacity for coordination in societies and operate the highest impact business models. Elite business models can either create sustainable value or extract value from others, primarily from non-elites (i.e., through rent-seeking). Value creation activities include innovation, trade or production; value extraction includes barriers, discrimination or monopolies. The higher the value …

Academic Leadership Qualities Towards Innovation Endeavours In An Organisation: A Comparative Study Of Malaysia And Singapore Perceptions, Cheng Sim Quah, Sandra Phek Lin Sim, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study employed mixed methods to explore the comparison between Malaysia and Singapore in terms of the contribution of leadership qualities and impacts towards innovation endeavours. Besides that, it also examined the significant relationship between leadership qualities and innovation endeavours in both countries. Findings revealed that operational focus and quality measurement qualities make the strongest unique contribution to explaining the variance, emphasising the importance of innovation. Findings also showed that innovation endeavours have promising impacts on Malaysia and Singapore university students towards enhancing, inspiring and motivating their learning, besides providing them a sense of self-improvement, self-motivation, self-satisfaction, self-efficiency and a …

A Self-Regulation Model Of Leader Authenticity Based On Mindful Self-Regulated Attention And Political Skill, Erik Dietl, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Despite much research on leader authenticity, its antecedents remain poorly understood. We develop a self-regulatory model of leader authenticity. The model explains how both mindful self-regulated attention and political skill, as well as their interaction, are important for leaders to be authentic, and ultimately effective. Mindful self-regulated attention – a core dimension of mindfulness defined as sustained attention centered on the present moment – helps leaders stay connected to their core self amid the busyness of their (work) lives, allowing leaders to feel authentic. And, particularly in combination with political skill – a social effectiveness construct –, it helps leaders …

What A Delayed Political Succession Means For Singapore, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed the implications of what a delayed political succession might mean for Singapore. He also explained how the search for Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat's successor presents a new test for Singapore’s leaders, and highlighted the key focus for leadership renewal amid the pandemic.

What The Cabinet Reshuffle Signals, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan opined that the “Cabinet reshuffle announcement was not intended to shed any light on which fourth-generation (4G) leader would be the prime minister-in-waiting," but it “effectively confirms ministers Chan Chun Sing, Ong Ye Kung, and Lawrence Wong as the main contenders to be the 4G prime minister”. He discussed what the Cabinet reshuffle signals and explained why the 4G leadership needs more time to come to a consensus on who their new leader would be.

Strong, Cohesive Leadership Must Emerge From Cabinet Rejig, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan opined that “a total of 13 ministries having new ministers in two Cabinet reshuffles within a span of nine months is significant” and “these significant moves underscore not only the urgency of leadership renewal and succession, but also the need for certainty and confidence as Singapore transitions to the 4G leadership which will coincide with the post-Covid era”. He highlighted the need for a strong, cohesive leadership to emerge from the Cabinet reshuffle amid these exceptional times, as he believes that “a leadership that can galvanise the people will enable …

Singapore’S Covid-19 General Election: Political Breakthrough Amid A Generational Crisis?, Eugene K. B. Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In the 13th general election since independence, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) – which has governed Singapore since 1959 – won 83 out of 93 seats, with a popular vote share of 61.24%, its third lowest on record. The Workers’ Party (WP) won 10 seats, including an unprecedented two multi-member electoral constituencies, cementing its standing as the leading opposition party. Not only did this outcome fall short of the strong mandate the PAP had sought, it was arguably its worst electoral performance since independence as the PAP’s control of elected seats dipped below 90% for the first time. In …

Adaptive Mindset: An Effective Approach To Leadership In Cross-Cultural Contexts, Francis Lotzer

Asian Management Insights

Understanding cultural signals by exploring the ‘hidden part of the iceberg’ and communicating the benefits of change to team members.

Nurturing Societal Leadership: Activities As Building Blocks, Simon Mckenzie, Jane Sassienie, Sunil Savara

Social Space

We previously discussed the importance of societal leadership in building a better world for future generations—and how societal leaders are driven by a purpose far greater than themselves. In the first article, we introduced the Bridge Societal Leadership Model and outlined the common beliefs observed in many societal leaders. In the second article, we examined their common capacities, such as their remarkable abilities and capabilities.

Essays On Corporate Social Responsibility And Strategic Leadership, Li Tong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation two issues related to business ethics: how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the value creation in an acquisition and how corporate decoupling behaviors are driven by the CEO narcissism, consisting of two essays. The first essay examines how target corporate social responsibility affects the economic gains for acquirers, as reflected in market reaction to acquisition announcement, from two distinct perspectives: stakeholder preservation versus stakeholder appropriation. The stakeholder preservation perspective suggests that positive market reaction to an acquisition stems from potential new value creation by honoring implicit contracts and maintaining good relationships with target stakeholders. By contrast, the stakeholder …

3 Lessons From The Gfc In How To Lead Through The Coronavirus Crisis, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

There are three lessons to be learned from the GFC that will help leaders in managing through the coronavirus crisis, according to a UNSW Business School expert

Authoritarian Innovations And Democratic Reform In The “New Malaysia”, Sebastian Carl Dettman

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Malaysia’s National Front coalition, one of the world’s most durable authoritarian governments, lost power in national elections held in 2018. Although incumbent turnover represents a significant step toward democratization, the reform of institutions and practices associated with political domination by the country’s Malay Muslim majority has been slowed in the face of challenges from a new configuration of opposition forces. The new opposition, which includes UMNO, the former dominant party of the National Front, has framed democratic reforms initiated by the new government – and the more multiethnic ruling government itself – as a threat to the rights of the …

Leadership Capabilities: Transforming Your Organisation For The Digital Age, Katharina Lange, Flocy Joseph, Markus Bjorn Karner

Asian Management Insights

Leaders of large organisations need to strike a balance between speed and thoroughness, centralisation and decentralisation, and technology and the human touch.

Transformational Leadership And Follower Risk-Taking: Examining The Effects Of Psychological Safety And Power Distance Orientation, Josephine Poh Tin Kang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Risk-taking is a necessary part of business, yet little is known about how leaders might impact follower risk-taking. A theoretical model is developed in which transformational leaders are hypothesized to indirectly affect follower risk-taking through follower psychological safety. Additionally, this partially mediated effect is theorised to be moderated by follower power distance orientation. Data were collected over two time periods from followers (N = 331) to test the hypothesized model. Results provided limited support for the hypothesized model. Specifically, results indicated that transformational leadership positively affected psychological safety, but psychological safety did not predict follower risk-taking. Power distance orientation did …

That Could Have Been Me: Director Deaths, Mortality Salience And Ceo Prosocial Behavior, Guoli Chen, Craig Crossland, Sterling Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Mortality salience—the awareness of the inevitability of death—is often traumatic. However, it can also be associated with a range of positive, self-transcendent cognitive responses, such as a greater desire to help others, contribute to society, and make a more meaningful contribution in one’s life and career. In this study, we provide evidence of a link between chief executive officer (CEO) mortality salience—triggered by the death of a director at the same firm—and a subsequent increase in firm-level prosocial behavior or corporate social responsibility (CSR). We further show that this core relationship is amplified in situations where the death of the …

Creating Leaders For The Social Service Sector, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Pay issues and career prospects have hampered recruitment for social service organisations in Singapore. A scheme called Sun Ray helped address that issue

Reading Collective Emotions: East-West Dichotomy, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Research shows how and why different cultures vary in recognising collective emotional information

Authentic Leadership In The Digital Age, Richard R. Smith

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Artificial intelligence algorithms are actively assessing our personality and behaviour based on our social media footprint with amazing accuracy – even after we have retired or died.

The Impact Of Entrepreneurial Leadership On Team Climate And Innovation Work Behaviour In Start-Up Contexts, Kin Kah Neo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Achieving start-up success is a multi-dimensional challenge. Against this background, this research centres around the experiences gained at an Asian University with a postgraduate Master of Science in Innovation program (MI) aimed at creating novel and viable business ventures as part of so-called Capstone Projects. Given concerns about the - at times - somewhat mediocre nature of ideation and business model creation outcomes of some of the students’ capstone projects in contrast to a couple of very successful, award-winning innovation projects, emphasis was put on identifying and understanding the type of leadership that drives high-quality new ventures, namely entrepreneurial leadership …

Shared Leadership And Team Motivation: An Exploratory Study, Yufeng Chi

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite the importance of team innovation for organizations, the conditions that foster team innovation are still not well understood. In this dissertation, I propose a theoretical model in which the impact of shared leadership on team innovation is mediated by information sharing and team potency. I utilize a two-wave longitudinal, multi-method and multi-source research design to examine the research hypotheses. I argue that shared leadership not only improves a team’s information sharing and team potency, but also generates cognitive and motivational advantages that are conducive to innovation. In addition, I show that the relationship between shared leadership and team innovation …

Regulatory Focus And Female Leadership Development: How Male Leaders Modify The Self-Regulating Focus Of Mid-Career Female Followers To Motivate Their Pursuit Of Future Career Progress, Vinika Devasar Rao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Inadequate representation of women in the upper corporate echelons remains a worldwide problem, in spite of seemingly concerted efforts by organizations to counter it. While progress has been made in terms of entry level percentages of women, the numbers continue to fall with growth up the corporate ladder. Asia is no exception to this phenomenon. Analysis of literature and secondary data reveals that academic writing on the subject is generally declining but practitioner literature abounds with reports on the still low number of women in leadership positions.

This research study uses a discovery-oriented grounded theory approach based on qualitative analysis …

Humility Breeds Authenticity: How Authentic Leader Humility Shapes Follower Vulnerability And Felt Authenticity, Burak Oc, Michael A. Daniels, James M. Diefendorff, Michael Ramsay Bashshur, Gary John Greguras

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Integrating existing work that considers the self through an interpersonal lens with theories pertaining to leader humility and authenticity, we develop a moderated mediation model that theorizes how and under what circumstances leader humility relates to follower felt authenticity. We argue that followers feel less vulnerable when their leaders express humility and further that this relation becomes weaker as the authenticity of leader humility decreases. We also theorize that follower vulnerability is the mechanism explaining the interactive effect of leader humility and its authenticity on follower felt authenticity at work. Our theoretical model was supported across four studies employing both …

Stewardship For The 21st Century, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Thinking long-term while simultaneously taking care of immediate goals are crucial qualities of a good steward. Ethics underpin everything

Why Smart Leaders Fail, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In an invited commentary, SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan discussed leadership issues in the Singapore context. He explained how the selection and development of leaders need to go beyond academic abilities to focus on non-academic attributes, especially the ability to make effective judgements in practical situations.

How To Be Singaporean: Becoming Global National Citizens And The National Dimension In Cosmopolitan Openness, Wen Li Thian

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper looks at how cosmopolitanism is practised amongst Singaporeans who have experienced Singapore’s education reform in the 1990s. Cosmopolitanism in Singapore is tied to state-intervention with a national orientation. To complement Singapore’s push towards cosmopolitanism, the education reform in the 1990s promoted the idea of a national citizen with a global orientation. I looked at 40 Singaporeans born after the year 1990 to investigate cosmopolitan attitudes that have emerged from the tensions between cosmopolitanism and nationalism. To meet the state’s ideals of cosmopolitanism, these Singaporeans employed strategies to practice a particular form of cosmopolitan openness which prioritise national interests. …

The Missing Shifts, Saumya Sindhwani, Jerry Conner, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Saumya Sindhwani, Jerry Connor and Howard Thomas argue it is time to change the way we develop leaders – and tap into the power of mindset. The needs the managers speak of fit into two broad categories (“empathy” and “resourcefulness”) and both are fundamental “changes in mindset”. By that, we mean a change in attitude or world view.