Shared leadership in teams and organizations

1. Seyyed Babak Alavi

2.  Different conceptualizations may be identified in the
literature for shared leadership (e.g., Carson, Tesluk,
&, Marrone, 2007; Pearce and Conger, 2003).
 It simply refers to when more than one single leader
(vertical leader) is involved to some degree in
leadership processes for performing leadership
functions such as decision making, goal setting, and
communicating with external authorities.
 It has been emphasized that shared leadership is
supplementary and cannot be a replacement of vertical
leadership (Pearce and Conger, 2003; Zaccaro,
Heinen, Shuffler, 2009).

3.  When team/organizational members have
different areas of expertise, especially in
highly advanced industries (Pearce, 2004);
 When we use self-managed teams; having
internal leader and external leader;
 When leading a large and complex
organizations, coalitions, strategic alliances,
networks, and joint ventures.

4. Vertical leader and shared leaders
Leader
Leadership process
leadership
effectiveness
Context Followers
Cognitive, behavioral, and
affective phenomena
Followers
and shared
leaders

5.  Shared leadership is “a dynamic,
interactive influence process among
individuals in groups for which the
objective is to lead one another to the
achievement of group or
organizational goals or both”.
 This influence process often involves
peer, or lateral, influence and at other
times involves upward or downward
hierarchical influence” (Pearce &
Conger, 2003b, p. 1).

6.  Vertical leadership or leader-centric
leadership refers to a situation when only
one single leader is responsible for team
leadership.
 Shared leadership or team-centric
leadership refers to a situation when
leadership is shared among team
members.
 Both vertical and shared leadership are
essential for collective performance.

7.  Shared responsibility of collective leadership
(Pearce, 2004); intuitive working relations when
members fill their gaps in playing leadership roles
(Gronn, 2002);
 Distribution of leadership functions (Hulpia and
Devos, 2010); V Shared leadership in terms of
leadership behaviors;
 Co-leadership;
 Having a turn in team leadership.

8.  Shared leadership may be implemented in
terms of behaviors or functions.
Some have argued that shared leadership
can be better implemented in terms of
functions than behaviors, because a function
may be led by different types of behaviors.
However, shared leadership in terms of
behavior has also been proposed as an
important aspect of collective performance.

9.  Pearce and Sims, Jr. (2000) suggested five
types of leadership behaviours for both vertical
and shared types of leadership in teams
namely:
1. aversive (e.g. by using punishment);
2. directive (e.g. providing directions and
guidelines);
3. transformational (e.g., visioning and role
modelling);
4. transactional (e.g., contingent reward);
5. empowering influence (e.g. participative
leadership and capability building).

10. Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside
Mr. Business Line A and Mr. Business Line
B
Ms. Operation and Ms. Acquisition
Mr. Innovation and Mr. Operation
Mr. Strategy and Mr. Implementation
Mr. Technology and Mr. People

11.  Leadership may be shared among members,
but how about responsibilities?
 In a team, a leader may delegate some
leadership functions, but the leader must be
accountable for the result.
 Although the difference between delegation
and shared leadership hasn’t been openly
discussed, but when dealing shared
leadership, every one is responsible.

12.  Group characteristics: Group size, Diversity, and
members’ familiarity with each other (Pearce and
Conger, 2003).
 Task characteristics: interconnectivity, creativity
and urgency (Pearce and Conger, 2003).
 Environmental characteristics: a shared purpose,
social support and voice (Pearce and Conger,
2003); information system, reward system, and
organizational culture (Pearce and Sims, Jr.,
2000).

13.  Some have suggested that shared leadership has
considerable impacts on team effectiveness.
 because team performance requires team
members to work interdependently, and shared
leadership may contribute into team effectiveness
by providing participative opportunities in leading
team process and performing tasks
interdependently.
 The impact of shared leadership on collective
performance may be moderated by some factors.

14.  Psychological factors such as group
cohesion, and potency/collective efficacy may
be some outcomes of shared leadership.
 Shared leadership may also impact team
collaborative behavior.
 Some have suggested that the effectiveness
of shared leadership may be related to some
other factors.

15. Mutual trust;
Shared credit for success;
Coordination and communication;
 Alignment;
Teamwork atmosphere;

16. Effectiveness of
team over time
(+ or -)
Company Co-leaders
(approximate
year)
1 2
Apple (1980) Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak -
Microsoft (2002) Bill Gates Steve Ballmer +
Boeing (2002) Phil Condit Harry Stonecipher +
HP (1950-1980) Bill Hewlett David Packard +
Disney (1990) Michael Eisner Michael Ovitz -
Oracle (1990) Larry Ellison Ray Lane -
Ford (1980) Donald Peterson Red Poling +

17. At the individual level: Empowerment of
team members; Self-leadership as an
antecedent of shared leadership.
At the team level: Development of team
leadership capabilities and beliefs in
collective leadership.

18. Using a questionnaire for measuring
shared responsibilities of leadership in
terms of behaviors or functions;
Using social network analysis to identify
the role of each member in shared
leadership, and measuring indicators of a
social network of shared leadership.

19.  Both vertical and shared leadership are essential for collective
performance.
 It is important to specify our definition of shared leadership
before any analysis.
 Using shared leadership is necessary in today organizations
although several factors must be considered when using it.
 Future research must focus on how and when shared
leadership can be successful.
 An important role of today leaders is how they can empower
others in leadership processes.