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What is a leader? Traditionally the title is ascribed听to a formal, charismatic, often white man听who leads an organization to greatness鈥揵ut this definition never sat well with assistant professor of organizational behavior Michael听Kukenberger.听听

鈥淟eadership is a process, not a person,鈥澨齂ukenberger听says. 鈥淔rom the team perspective, different people can contribute to leadership in different ways. If we allow each other to grant and claim leadership in different scenarios, then we鈥檙e using our pooled skillsets听听more efficiently. And鈥損articularly in a very dynamic environment鈥搃f you share leadership there can be a lot of benefits.鈥澨�

Kukenberger鈥檚听work supports the notion that shared leadership pays dividends. In a well-cited 2016 meta-analysis, he and his co-authors uncovered evidence that the more teams share leadership, the better they perform. In a more recent 2019 study,听Kukenberger听worked to understand the different ways diverse individuals may contribute to leadership. He found that when team members have functionally distinct positions, they tend to share more leadership. Notably, this is particularly true when they have a highly cooperative environment and realize the benefits of different viewpoints.听

However,听Kukenberger听notes that regardless of team composition 鈥渢eams may not naturally lean towards sharing leadership,鈥� so his current research works to understand how training and development can encourage its growth. The results provide empirical evidence that shared leadership can be facilitated with a specific shared leadership training intervention as opposed to general leadership training or team development鈥搒pecifically, interventions that articulate the benefits of shared leadership across the three processes that are common to how teamwork gets done: the transition processes, action processes, and interpersonal processes. When teams are guided on these three processes and encouraged to share leadership across team needs, they seem to reap performance benefits.听

Kukenberger鈥檚听work has also increasingly considered individual and social identity as it relates to shared leadership emergence. He notes that our collective leadership lens often still has a 鈥榯hink leader 鈥� think male鈥� bias that 鈥渟ignificantly decreases the pool of available leadership talent, reducing the sharing of leadership,鈥� which is not only inequitable but detrimental to team performance. His research suggests that cooperative team conditions and thoughtful staffing can mitigate the negative effect of male leadership prototype biases.听

While the viability of traditional vs. shared leadership structures likely depends on team context and composition,听Kukenberger听says, 鈥淟eadership theories that move us away from top-down,听bureaucratic, and formal to more social, emergent, informal, and shared will help organizations be more competitive in our fast-moving, knowledge-oriented economy.鈥澨�

RECENT SELEC TED PUBLIC ATIONS听

Kukenberger, M. R., &听D鈥橧nnocenzo, L. (2020). The building blocks of shared leadership: The interactive effects of diversity types, team climate, and time.听Personnel Psychology, 73.听听

Maltarich, M. A.,听Kukenberger, M. R., Reilly, G., & Mathieu, J. (2018). Conflict in Teams: Modeling Early and Late Conflict States and the Interactive Effects of Conflict Processes.听Group & Organization Management, 43.听听

D鈥橧nnocenzo, L., Mathieu, J. E., &听Kukenberger, M. R. (2016). A Meta-Analysis of Different Forms of Shared Leadership鈥揟eam Performance Relations.听Journal of Management, 42.听

Kukenberger, M. R., Mathieu, J. E., & Ruddy, T. (2015). A Cross-Level Test of Empowerment and Process Influences on Members鈥� Informal Learning and Team Commitment.听Journal of Management, 41.听

Mathieu, J. E., Tannenbaum, S. I.,听Kukenberger, M. R.,听Donsbach, J. S., &听Alliger, G. M. (2015). Team Role Experience and Orientation.听Group & Organization Management, 40.听