Dissertation Proposal Intro + Hypotheses Outline
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ENABLING SHARED LEADERSHIP IN HIERARCHICAL GROUPS by Edward M. Wellman A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Business Administration) in the University of Michigan 2013 Doctoral Committee Professor Susan J. Ashford, Chair Professor Wayne E. Baker Associate Professor Katherine A. Burson Assistant Professor D. Scott DeRue Professor Jane E. Dutton © Edward M. Wellman 2013 DEDICATION To my family ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To a young doctoral student, a dissertation seems like an almost mythical undertaking. In my first few years in the doctoral program in the Management and Organizations Department at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, I remember being regaled with tales of dissertations from days gone by, and watching as senior students defended their theses. I wondered how those students could have produced such incredible work all by themselves. At the time, the thought of designing and conducting an independent research study was terrifying, and nearly as intimidating was the idea of producing a piece of writing long enough to describe that study. So it is somewhat surreal to find, some years later, that I have completed a dissertation, and one I feel quite proud of. This project has been the source of much personal development and learning, and one of the most important things I have learned is that my initial perception of a dissertation as an individual undertaking was totally inaccurate. While this project represents my original thinking and I worked long and hard to bring it to completion, I could not have done so without the assistance of an extensive support group. Words cannot express how grateful I am to these individuals for their efforts on my behalf. Although it is not feasible to recognize everyone who assisted in this project, I want to highlight a few folks to whom I am particularly indebted. iii First and foremost, I would like to thank my family. To my beautiful wife Chelsea, thank you so much for your understanding and support. You have been a consistently positive force as I navigated the trials and tribulations of an extremely demanding doctoral program and an ambitious dissertation. I love you very much. To my new son Chase, thank you for motivating me to work so hard to finish this project ahead of your birth. To my brother Daniel, thank you for the euchre and volleyball-related distractions. To my mother, Karen Lind, thank you for your good thoughts, kind words, home-cooked meals, and occasional editing advice. And finally, to Henry Wellman, I have always admired you as a father but over the course of this project I have acquired an equal admiration for your qualities as a scholar and mentor. Thank you so much for everything you have done to support this project and my scholarly efforts in general, it has been an honor to have you share this journey with me. I am also extremely grateful to my dissertation committee. To my chair, Sue Ashford, you have been a part of this project from the very beginning. Thank you for your patience in reading and responding to countless ideas and proposals and drafts, many of which I am sure caused you to wonder what you had gotten yourself into. I appreciate you bearing with me and for all the help, feedback, and wise council you have offered. To Scott DeRue, thank you for everything you have done for me as a doctoral student and with respect to this dissertation. Your deep knowledge of research design, data analysis, and the leadership literature were invaluable. To Jane Dutton, thank you for investing so heavily in this project and in me as a student. I have really benefited from your insights about developing theory, your thorough readings of my drafts and materials, iv and your overall energy and positivity! To Wayne Baker, thank you for our wonderful conversations about social networks, which I have very much enjoyed. Finally, to Katherine Burson, thank you for your assistance with experimental design. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from each of you. I would be remiss if I didn’t also single out the following individuals: my cohort- mates Jeff Bednar and Chak Fu Lam for sharing the ups and downs of the doctoral program with me, POS Incubator participants for your constructive and developmental feedback, the Ross M&O department faculty, doctoral students, and staff for being such a brilliant, inspiring, and supportive community, Maxim Sytch and Brady West for your sound methodological counsel, Kathy Sutcliffe for your note, Bob Quinn for our talks, Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks for your sage advice and advocacy, Kristina Workman for pastries, Ira Strumwasser, Paul Fayad, Theresa Weherein, Tony Purkey, Nikki Sparling, Jeff Williams, MaDena Duchemin, Jim Fischer, Karen Delaurier, Sue Tetzlaff, Sherri Pavloski, Debbi Beaudette, and Lillian Chen for your assistance facilitating data collection, Amanda Fakih, Melissa Shamis, Michael Payne, and Maddy Walsh for your research assistance, all the individuals who made time in their busy schedules to participate in these studies or encourage their coworkers to do so, Team UNC, the Rackham Graduate School for a research grant that partially funded data collection, and the Stark, Flamholtz, and Hicks fellowships for financial support. To those I omitted, please accept my sincere apologies and know how deeply I appreciate your investment in me. And now, on with the show… v Ned Wellman June 20, 2013, Ann Arbor, MI vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... xii LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................................. xiv ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... xv CHAPTER I: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER II: Literature Review ...................................................................................... 10 Understanding Group Leadership Structures ............................................................ 17 Differentiating Between Shared and Vertical Leadership Structures ........................ 26 CHAPTER III: Enabling Shared Leadership in Hierarchical Groups .............................. 34 Hierarchy Inhibits the Development of Shared Leadership Structures ..................... 34 Overcoming the Influence of Hierarchy .................................................................... 38 Consequences of Group Leadership Structures ......................................................... 51 CHAPTER IV: Study 1: Leadership Construction in Clinical Nursing Shifts ................. 67 Overview ................................................................................................................... 67 Methods ..................................................................................................................... 69 Results ....................................................................................................................... 99 Discussion ................................................................................................................ 188 CHAPTER V: Study 2: The Interactional Foundations of Group Leadership Structures ......................................................................................................................................... 204 Overview ................................................................................................................. 204 Methods ................................................................................................................... 204 Results ..................................................................................................................... 211 Discussion ................................................................................................................ 261 CHAPTER VI: Overall Discussion ................................................................................ 267 Review of Results .................................................................................................... 273 Theoretical Contributions ........................................................................................ 280 Practical Implications .............................................................................................. 283 vii Dissertation-Wide Limitations and Strengths .......................................................... 285 Future Research Directions ..................................................................................... 294 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 298 APPENDIX 1: Network Measures of Task-Focused and Social-Focused Leadership Structures ........................................................................................................................ 299 APPENDIX 2: Study 1: Survey Materials .....................................................................