Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-8h5rb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-08-14T01:04:55.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Won't get fooled again’: How personal values shape leadership purpose, behavior and legacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2019

Emma Watton Open the ORCID record for Emma Watton [Opens in a new window] ,
Scott Lichtenstein  and
Paul Aitken
Emma Watton*
Affiliation:
Department of Entrpreneurship and Strategy, Lancaster University Management School,Lancaster, UK
Scott Lichtenstein
Affiliation:
Department of Strategy, Management and Marketing, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK
Paul Aitken
Affiliation:
Taunton, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: e.watton@lancaster.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While much has been documented about the construction of an individual's personal values, very little attention has been paid to how personal values connect with core aspects of leadership such as purpose, behavior and legacy. Through an expansion of Ken's recent work on this topic, the authors explore the impact of personal values-led leadership. A model of how personal values shape leadership purpose, behavior and legacy is introduced. These dimensions are then illuminated through interview data from senior managers from the financial services sector. The personal value impacts are examined in the context of the literature and implications for organizations and managers are drawn together.

Keywords

personal valuesleadership legacyvalues congruenceorganizational culture

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 25 , Special Issue 3: ‘Take your Lead’: In Search of Very Short, Fairly Interesting, and Reasonably Impactful Contributions to the Future of Leadership Studies , May 2019 , pp. 414 - 429
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aitken, P. (2004). The relationship between personal values, leadership behaviour and team functioning. DBA Thesis. Brunel University.Google Scholar
Allport, G. W. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Brooks, M., Stark, J., & Caverhill, S. (2010). Your leadership legacy. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.Google Scholar
Brown, M., & Trevino, L. (2006). Socialized charismatic leadership, values congruence and deviance in work groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 954–962. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.91.4.954Google Scholar
Byrne, G., & Bradley, F. (2007). Culture's influence on leadership efficiency: How personal and national cultures affect leadership style. Journal of Business Research, 60, 168–175. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.10.015Google Scholar
Burns, J. (2003). Transforming leadership. New York: Grove Park.Google Scholar
Carney, M. (2013). Rebuilding Trust in Global Banking. Speech made at the Ivey Business School, 25 February 2013. Retrieved from http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/cmsmedia/289354/d_aquino_carney.pdfGoogle Scholar
Carsten, M. K., & Uhl-Bien, M. (2013). Ethical followership: An examination of followership beliefs and crimes of obedience. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 20(1), 49–61. doi:10.1177/1548051812465890Google Scholar
Chang, H. W., & Lin, G. (2008). Effect of personal values transformation on leadership behaviour. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 19, 67–77. doi:10.1080/14783360701601967Google Scholar
England, G.W. (1967). Personal value systems of American managers. Academy of Management Journal, 10(1), 53–68. doi:10.5465/255244Google Scholar
England, G. W., & Lee, R. (1974). The relationship between managerial values and managerial success in the United States, Japan, India, and Australia. Journal of Applied Psychology, 59(4), 411. doi:10.1037/h0037320Google Scholar
Feldman, G., Chao, M., Farh, J. L., & Bardi, A. (2015). The motivation and inhibition of breaking the rules: Personal values structures predict unethicality. Journal of Research in Personality, 59, 69–80. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2015.09.003Google Scholar
Felfe, J., & Schyns, B. (2010). Followers’ personality and the perception of transformational leadership: Further evidence for the similarity hypothesis. British Journal of Management, 21(2), 393–410. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00649.xGoogle Scholar
Finkelstein, S., Hambrick, D. C., & Cannella, A. A. (2009). Strategic leadership: Theory and research on executives, top management teams, and boards. Strategic Management. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Flaherty, T. B., Dahlstrom, R., & Skinner, S. J. (1999). Organizational values and role stress as determinants of customer oriented selling performance. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 19(2), 1–18. doi:10.1080/08853134.1999.10754168Google Scholar
Gentile, M. C. (2017). Giving voice to values: A pedagogy for behavioral ethics. Journal of Management Education, 41(4), 469 −479. doi:10.1177/1052562917700188Google Scholar
Hambrick, D. C., & Brandon, G. L. (1988). Executive values, In: Hambrick, D. C. (Ed.), The executive effect: Concepts and methods for studying top managers, pp. 3–34, Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Hambrick, D. C., & Mason, P. A. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review 9(2), 193–206. doi:10.5465/amr.1984.4277628Google Scholar
Hewlin, P. (2003). And the award for best actor goes to…: Facades of conformity in organizational settings. Academy of Management Review, 28(4), 633–642. doi:10.5465/amr.2003.10899442Google Scholar
Hewlin, P. (2009). Wearing the cloak: Antecedents and consequences of creating facades of conformity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 3, 727–741. doi:10.1037/a0015228Google Scholar
Hiltin, S., & Piliavin, J. A. (2004). Values: Reviving a dormant concept. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 359–393. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110640Google Scholar
Hycner, R. H. (1985). Some guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview data. Human Studies, 8, 279–303. doi:10.1007/BF00142995Google Scholar
Illies, J., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2008). Responding destructively in leadership situations: The role of personal values and problem construction. Journal of Business Ethics, 82, 251–272. doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9574-2Google Scholar
Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) table (as at 2019). Retrieved from https://www.ftse.com/products/downloads/ICBStructure-Eng.pdf?_ga=2.9275574.266431901.1548591351-212426005.1548591351Google Scholar
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724. doi:10.5465/256287Google Scholar
Kempster, S. (2006). Leadership learning through lived experience: A process of apprenticeship? Journal of Management & Organization 12, 4–22. doi:10.1017/S1833367200004132Google Scholar
Kempster, S., Jackson, B., & Conroy, M. (2011). Leadership as purpose: Exploring the role of purpose in leadership practice. Leadership, 7 (3), 317–334. 18 p. doi:10.1177/1742715011407384Google Scholar
Kempster, S., Maak, T., & Parry, K. W. (2019). Good dividends: Responsible leadership of business purpose. Abingdon, Routledge.Google Scholar
Klemm, M., Sanderson, S., & Luffman, G. (1991). Mission statements: Selling corporate values to employees. Long Range Planning, 24(3), 73–78. doi:10.1016/0024-6301(91)90187-SGoogle Scholar
Lichtenstein, S., Aitken, P., & Parry, K. (2015). Personal values systems re-construction and their potential link to diverse leadership purposes: from obscurity to efficacy in leadership development. Developmental Paper for 7th Developing Leadership Capacity Conference, 15–16 July, 2015, Henley Business School, University of Reading.Google Scholar
McDonald, P., & Gandz, J. (1991). Identification of values relevant to business research. Human Resource Management, 30 (2), 217–236. doi:10.1002/hrm.3930300205Google Scholar
McKenzie, J., & Aitken, P. (2012). Learning to lead the knowledgeable organization: Developing leadership agility, Strategic HR Review, 11(6), 329–334. doi:10.1108/14754391211264794Google Scholar
Nemeth, C. J., & Staw, B. M. (1989). The trade-offs of social control and innovation in groups and organizations. In Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 22, pp. 175–210). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
O'Reilly, C. A., Chatman, J., & Caldwell, D. F. (1991). People and organizational culture: A profile comparison approach to assessing person-organization fit. Academy of Management Journal, 34(3), 487–516. doi:10.5465/256404Google Scholar
Ouchi, W. G. (1980). Markets, bureaucracies and clans. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 129–141. doi:10.2307/2392231Google Scholar
Parry, K. W. (1998). Grounded theory and social process: A new direction for leadership research. Leadership Quarterly, 9(1), 85–105. doi:10.1016/S1048-9843(98)90043-1Google Scholar
Parry, K. W. (2014). The New Discourse of Moral Capitalism. Keynote at the Developing Leadership Capacity Conference, Lancaster University Management School, July 2014.Google Scholar
Parry, K. W. (2015). How does leadership manage personal values? Keynote at British Academy of Management Personal values and leadership challenges Symposium, Lancaster University Management School, October 2015.Google Scholar
Parry, K. W., & Jackson, B. (2016). Promoting responsibility, purpose, and romanticism in business schools. In Kempster, S. & Carroll, B. (Eds.), Responsible leadership: Realism and romanticism. (pp. 149–162) London, Routledge.Google Scholar
Posner, B. Z., Kouzes, J. M., & Schmidt, W. H. (1985). Shared values make a difference: An empirical test of corporate culture. Human Resource Management, 24, 293–309. doi:10.1002/hrm.3930240305.Google Scholar
Pye, A. (2005). Leadership and organizing: Sense-making in action. Leadership, 1(1), 31–50. doi:10.1177/1742715005049349Google Scholar
Reynolds, M (1998). Reflection and critical reflection in management learning. Management Learning, 29/2, 183–200. doi:10.1177/1350507698292004Google Scholar
Rokeach, M. (1979). From individual to institutional values with special reference to the values of science. In Rokeach, M. (Ed.), Understanding human values (pp. 47–70). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Rohan, M. J. (2000). A rose by any name? The values construct. Personality & Social Psychology Review, 4 (3), 255–277. doi:10.1207/S15327957PSPR0403_4Google Scholar
Russell, R. F. (2001). The role of values in servant leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 22(2), 76–84. doi:10.1108/01437730110382631Google Scholar
Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9(3), 185–211. doi:10.2190/DUGG-P24E-52WK-6CDGGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, S. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In Zanna, M. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 24, pp. 1–65). San Diego: Academic.Google Scholar
Schwartz, S. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal of Social Issues, 50(4), 19–54. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1994.tb01196.xGoogle Scholar
Shirey, M. R. (2014). Shaping your leadership legacy. Nurse Leader, 12(1), 30–32. doi:10.1016/j.mnl.2013.07.011Google Scholar
Somers, M., & Casel, J.C. (2011). Type of wrongdoing and whistle-blowing: Further evidence that type of wrongdoing affects the whistle-blowing process. Public Personnel Management 40(2), 151–163. doi:10.1177/009102601104000205Google Scholar
Sosik, J. (2005). The role of personal values in the charismatic leadership of corporate managers: A model and preliminary field of study. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 221–244. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.01.002Google Scholar
Sosik, J., Jung, D., & Dinger, S. (2009). Values in authentic action: Examining the roots and rewards of altruistic leadership. Group & Organization Management, 34, 395–431. doi:10.1177/1059601108329212Google Scholar
Stormer, F., & Devine, K. (2008). Acting at work: Façades of conformity in academia. Journal of Management Inquiry, 17(2), 112–134. doi:10.1177/1056492607310983Google Scholar
Thomas, A. S., & Ramaswamy, K. (1996). Matching managers to strategy: Further tests of the miles and snow typology. British Journal of Management, 7, 247–261. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.1996.tb00118.xGoogle Scholar
Townshend, P. (1971). 'Won't Get Fooled Again' Recorded at Olympic Studios, London, April-May 1971. Produced by The Who associate producer: Glyn Johns.Google Scholar
Watton, E. L., & Lichtenstein, S. (2017). This above all: To thine own self be true. In Koonce, R., Robinson, P., & Vogel, B. (Eds.), Developing leaders for positive organizing: A 21st century repertoire for leading in extraordinary times (pp. 403–415). Bingley, UK: Emerald.Google Scholar