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Dispersed Leadership Theory

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3.0 Dispersed Leadership Theory in Teams and organizational structures

The proponents of the Concept of shared leadership like Day, Gronn, & Salas (2006), argue that leadership should not be conceptualized as a centralized downward vertical influence on subordinates and they should not be an appointed leader but leadership tasks and functions should be divided among sets of individuals who are acting as leaders. Secondly, with the prevalence and significance of team work in today’s work environment, Kozlowski & Ilgen (2006) argue that team members and team processes will to a greater extent affect the attitudes, motivation and behaviours of individuals.

Kozlowski, Gully, Salas, & Cannon Bowers, (1996) and Manz & Sims (1993) developed concepts …show more content…

Direct supervisory functions, such as observing, monitoring, and controlling behaviour and task outcomes will be more difficult to perform for leaders in this scenario. Latham and Ernst (2006) argue that in continuously more volatile, uncertain and complex working contexts and situations, the followers’ motivation will no longer be determined and sustained by a single leader or a small group of senior executives, but instead the leadership functions will be dispersed among people who act in a dynamic process or processes. Latham et.al (2006) proposed that leadership will thus “consist of collective activities of organizational members to set direction, build commitment, and create alignment”. (Latham et.al. 2006)

In summary, the Dispersed Leadership Theory in Teams (DLT) incorporates a process that influences the attitudes, motivation, and behaviour of individuals in teams. It is proposed that different types of leadership exercised and exerted by different sources concurrently influence an individual’s attitude and behaviour in teams and thus contribute to output variables. (Latham et.al. …show more content…

Structural leadership is conceived as vertical, downward and indirect. Indirect means that the leadership techniques are rather general and typically do not address a single person or team. More precisely, structural leadership follows the principle of all-round distribution. Structural leadership includes a variety of characteristics that have been studied in several areas of human resource management, including personal marketing, personal assessment, personal responsibility, and performance management. Since structural leadership provides rules, possibilities, and boundaries for individual’s organizational behaviour, it affects the perceived task uncertainty, the degree of employee participation and organizational support. Moreover, structural leadership is related to organizational incentives, that is benefits and

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