Strong, controlling, autocratic leaders can end up stifling their organisations’ growth because their aura of power inhibits team members contributing key information for good decision making.
While it is important for leaders to exude authority and competence, a recent study from the London School of Economics’ Department of Management suggests that appearing too powerful will inhibit their team members from expressing an opinion. This harms the ability to make good decisions by excluding arguments and evidence from the decision-making process.
The authors of The Downside of Looking Like a Leader point out that to dominate the decision-making process may be damaging in a business world loaded with specialist and technical information where team members often know more about a specific subject than their leader and where participative decision-making is accepted as more effective. The report makes the point that in knowledge industries, such as information technology, management consultancy and research, leaders have long been aware of the need for employee participation in decision making – ‘in those industries, leaders have no choice but to use participative decision making.’
The study involved two laboratory experiments. In the first, participants were allocated roles as supervisors or subordinates and worked in matching pairs to make a decision. Observers measured and analysed their behaviour to see to what extent the ‘supervisor’ used the body-language of command and how much the ‘subordinate’ contributed to their discussion. The results showed that the more the supervisor adopted a powerful demeanour, the smaller the subordinate’s contribution. The results were the same regardless of the gender of the two participants.
In the second experiment, a researcher played the role of leader, working with ‘subordinates’ in a joint exercise to pick one of three candidates for a job based on a written profile of each one. The researcher would always argue for the least-qualified candidate for the role, to see if the subordinate (who was unaware of the leader’s role as part of the research team) would agree with the decision to choose the least-qualified candidate. When the researcher adopted a powerful demeanour, 69% of subordinates agreed. When he did not, only 42% agreed.
However the research also suggested that the reluctance of subordinates to disagree was based not on fear but on an assumption of competence on the part of their leader.
Dr Connson Locke, one of the study’s authors said: ‘There is a clear downside to appearing too much of a leader because it inhibits employee voice in participative decision-making. Even when a leader invites his or her team to speak up they may still hesitate because they react to nonverbal expressions of power such as posture, frequent eye-contact and a louder voice –behaviours which leaders are encouraged to use because they contribute to an image of competence and confidence.
‘In practical terms, leaders need to know that simply asking their team members for input may not be enough to get it. Because executive training often teaches the importance of a powerful demeanour, managers may not be aware that there is also a drawback to behaving in this way. More research may reveal a solution to this dilemma and help leaders find new techniques to both take command and make the most informed decisions.’
The paper was presented at the Academy of Management conference in Montreal on Monday 9 August 2010 and is co-authored by Cameron Anderson from the University of California.
The full paper can be downloaded from the LSE’s website.