Kerr 1978 - Substitutes for leadership - Their meaning and measurement

Google Scholar Link

Kerr, S., & Jermier, J. M. (1978). Substitutes for leadership: Their meaning and measurement. Organizational behavior and human performance, 22(3), 375-403.

Just a side note - I’ve read several papers from Kerr now, and I always appreciate his tone. It feels as if a person is talking to me, rather than detachedly writing at me.

Summary

Honestly, the method for scale development felt a little slapdash, as did the validation (asking participants to assume the roles of characters from television shows), but the genius in this paper lies in the author’s ability to see something that was not there. The ability to transcend the bounds of current models seems difficult to cultivate, but extremely useful. The authors were able to look at leadership studies and theories and realize that something else was happening. They realized that certain scenarios or attributes negate leadership styles - these are called neutralizers. However, some neutralizers provide a substitute for certain leadership styles. Certain organizational deficiencies can be tackled with specific leadership styles, while certain leadership deficiencies can also be compensated for with various individual, process, or organizational attributes. This underlines the fact that it is not a single leadership style that is best prescribed for all situations. Instead, an audit should be undertaken to determine what “needed guidance and good feelings… are not being supplied by other sources,” thereby providing a target for an adaptable leader.

More broadly speaking, much research consists of confirmatory statistical tests, where only the values of interest are studied. This artificial boundary can lose sight of other important variables that covary. This is why – when developing models – “neighboring” constructs and traits should also be measured.

Application

The list of character, task, and organizational attributes on p. 378 can be useful for managers to refer to when evaluating how best to help their employees, work processes, and organization.