The magazine for alumni and friends of the UB School of Management
Issue link: http://ubschoolofmanagement.uberflip.com/i/109681
L eadership in corporate America has many faces. There is the ���power tie��� and hard-nosed bombast associated with Donald Trump. There is the steely-eyed focus, softened by jeans and a black turtleneck, of the late, legendary Steve Jobs. There is the iron fist in a velvet glove approach of HP���s brash Meg Whitman. And there are many, many more���thousands upon thousands���of business owners, presidents and CEOs who guide their companies, both big and small, to success year after year, in their own individual ways. As we move further into the second decade of the 21st century, and as our world grows ever flatter due to breathtaking advances in technology, you might ask: What does a modern-day leader look like? Is it the all-work-but-lots-of-play attitude of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin? The fresh face of Xerox���s Ursula Burns, the first AfricanAmerican woman to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Or, perhaps, is leadership not focused on one leader alone, but on teams of like-minded individuals? Faculty members in the School of Management���s Organization and Human Resources (OHR) Department study these questions every day. They are creating new knowledge that reflects the evolving role of leadership in today���s dynamic work environment and are helping advance the understanding of how modern leaders can be most effective in various organizational settings. Paul Tesluk, the Donald S. Carmichael Professor of Organizational Behavior, says a number of factors influence the role that corporate leaders play in the present economy. ���Firms are adapting new forms of organization, such as shifting to more decentralized structures, managing large segments of the work force in geographically distributed, virtual teams or placing increasing emphasis on innovation,��� Tesluk says. Changing the Perception of Power Traditional leadership is based on the hierarchy of position, says Robyn Brouer, assistant professor in the OHR Department, who teaches an undergraduate course on leadership, power and influence. ���People used to become leaders by moving up in an organization,��� she says, ���and they wielded legitimate power that they earned through their position.��� In such cases, the authority comes from the person���s title, not from the actual person. Brouer���s research focuses on leader-follower relationships and social skills in the workplace. She has found that informal relationships (i.e., those that are not between leader and subordinate) and healthy communication are vastly important to an organization if it is to adapt and innovate. ���This knowledge drives companies to pay more attention to informal leaders who are adaptive and can use their social skills to influence others,��� she says. ���These people can create solutions in complex situations, leading to positive results for the entire organization.��� From left: Bradley Owens, Prasad Balkundi, Paul Tesluk, Robyn Brouer and Fred Dansereau of the Organization and Human Resources Department. Photo: Tom Wolf Spring 2013 Buffalo Business 9