Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-1999
Abstract
This study investigates the possible link between leadership and organizational sustainability. The primary focus is to determine if leadership is a distinguishing variable associated with organizational sustainability. This study was quantitative in design and used The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin & Rosenbach, 1995, 1996, 1997) to measure leadership. The data used for this study to measure leadership was collected through the use of a mailed survey. The mailed survey yielded a 180-degree leadership assessment. The sample consisted primarily of chief executive officers and their senior executive subordinates of multinational or national healthcare firms. A purposive and nonrandom selection was completed to ensure specific characteristics and information were represented in the sample. One hundred forty (140) chief executive officers and senior executive subordinates participated in the study. The data used for this study to measure organizational sustainability was collected through the development of a financial databased focusing on specific organzational financial meaures. Nine hundred (900) organizations were contained in the initial sample with approximately two hundred seventy two (272) organizations qualifying under sample constraints. Ultimately, one hundred forty (140) senior executives from thirty five (35) qualifying organziations participated in the study. This study's results indicate that leaders of the least sustainable organizations (subgroup 3) recorded significantly lower levels of self awareness, self-other agreement and concurrence of their transactional leadership, transformational leadership behaviors, and transformational leadership characteristics than leaders in the sustainable and somewhat sustainable organizations (subgroups 1 and 2, respectively). Although there were significant differences in leadership recorded by leaders in sustainable organizations versus non-sustainable organizations, the most significant and most important finding relates to the significant differences in the agreement and concurrence of self-other ratings of leaders in both sustainable and non-sustainable organizations. Therefore, this study's findings suggest that self-awareness and self-other fit as defined as congruence between self and other assessments and measured by The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin & Rosenbach, 1995, 1996, 1997), differentiates leaders in sustainable organziations versus less sustainable and non sustainable organizations. In sustainable organziations, there is greater agreement and congruence between self-other ratings measured by The Leadership Profile (TLP) (Sashkin & Rosenbach, 1995, 1996, 1997) suggesting that leader self-awareness more closely matches the perceptions of key subordinates.
Keywords
business planning, leadership
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Harter, Eric S., "The Quest For Sustainable Leadership: The Importance of Connecting Leadership Principles to Concepts of Organizational Sustainability" (1999). Student Scholarship. 478.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/478