Cognitive shifts within leader and follower teams:Where consensus develops in mental models during an organizational crisis

Abstract

This empirical study investigates cognitive shifts in both leader and follower teams when developing consensus or agreement in how to resolve a slowly emerging organizational crisis over time. The cognitive maps of leaders and followers are analyzed in team settings to explain where consensus is formed. The findings indicate that consensus, or the agreement on the causal beliefs held to be critical to organizational adaptation and success, builds over time within both leader and follower teams. However, when comparing the development of consensus longitudinally, the findings confirm that the mental models of leadership teams converge towards follower teams, and not the other way around, during the crisis. The study provides new insights into the importance of the causal beliefs of follower teams when developing a vision to coordinate action to resolve a crisis.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.12.002
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Marketing & Strategy
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Additional Information: © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license Funding: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) EREBUS capacity building cluster - reference: RES-187-24-0005
Uncontrolled Keywords: Cognitive mapping,Cognitive shift,Consensus,Leaders and followers,Mental models,Business and International Management,Applied Psychology,Sociology and Political Science,Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Publication ISSN: 1873-3409
Last Modified: 25 Mar 2024 08:29
Date Deposited: 08 Jan 2019 16:12
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.sci ... 04898431630234X (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2019-06-01
Published Online Date: 2018-12-20
Accepted Date: 2018-12-08
Authors: Carrington, David J (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-7977-9210)
Combe, Ian A (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-0105-4241)
Mumford, Michael D.

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