Since the turn of the century interest has grown in alternative models of leadership to reflect increased complexity and ambiguity, the need to respond faster to complex market conditions, and new patterns of accountability, inter- dependency and co-ordination within organisations of all types. This has led to the emergence of alternative models of leadership including shared and distributed leadership. In many organisations, such as those with matrix structures, many leaders need to accomplish organisational goals without formal line management authority over employees. This is also the case in many professional services (e.g. law and consultancy) that operate partnership models whereby individuals have little direct authority over their peers. In University settings the governance structure also impedes traditional hierarchical leadership. The tenure system, operated by many universities and colleges in the United States and Canada, provides intellectual autonomy, protects academics from external pressure and offers job security. Despite a growing literature on shared and distributed leadership, few studies have empirically examined the nature of leadership distribution, the contextual factors that impact leadership, and how those in senior positions (e.g. university department chairs) achieve organisational goals when employees (e.g. faculty members) possess significant authority and autonomy. This study addresses this gap. In so doing the study aims to contribute to the literature on shared and distributed leadership and provide important insight to assist positional leaders who possess limited direct authority in more effectively accomplishing their leadership goals. ...[cont.]

Since the turn of the century interest has grown in alternative models of leadership to reflect increased complexity and ambiguity, the need to respond faster to complex market conditions, and new patterns of accountability, inter- dependency and co-ordination within organisations of all types. This has led to the emergence of alternative models of leadership including shared and distributed leadership. In many organisations, such as those with matrix structures, many leaders need to accomplish organisational goals without formal line management authority over employees. This is also the case in many professional services (e.g. law and consultancy) that operate partnership models whereby individuals have little direct authority over their peers. In University settings the governance structure also impedes traditional hierarchical leadership. The tenure system, operated by many universities and colleges in the United States and Canada, provides intellectual autonomy, protects academics from external pressure and offers job security. Despite a growing literature on shared and distributed leadership, few studies have empirically examined the nature of leadership distribution, the contextual factors that impact leadership, and how those in senior positions (e.g. university department chairs) achieve organisational goals when employees (e.g. faculty members) possess significant authority and autonomy. This study addresses this gap. In so doing the study aims to contribute to the literature on shared and distributed leadership and provide important insight to assist positional leaders who possess limited direct authority in more effectively accomplishing their leadership goals.

Influence is the "ability to get others to do something they might not otherwise do" (Mowday, 1978, p. 146), and a literature has developed over the past three decades around proactive interpersonal influence tactics. Given (1) the importance of influence to all in society, (2) the significant gaps that exist in the literature on proactive influence tactics, (3) the empirical and theoretical acknowledgement of the pivotal role that contextual forces (i.e., precedent and history) can exert on organizational phenomena, and (4) the prevailing workforce and workplace trends that have highlighted the need to study this topic, the purpose of this dissertation is to examine how precedent impacts leaders, subordinates, and the proactive influence tactics that are employed across performance episodes and leadership successions in teams. In the leadership literature, complexity leadership theory (Uhl-Bien, Marion, & McKelvey, 2007) has identified the importance of contextual forces (i.e., history) on leadership processes. Similarly, in the teams literature, Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt (2005) have outlined the IMOI framework of teams, which accounts for the non-linearity by which teams' inputs, processes/mediators, and outcomes can influence other future team stages across performance episodes. However, although both the leadership and teams literatures have recognized the importance of contextual forces, the difficulty in studying such factors has left these nascent theoretical perspectives under-explored, particularly in the literature on proactive influence tactics. Thus, this study represents an important undertaking because studying influence in teams without accounting for contextual forces limits our understanding of within-team phenomena. In particular, it is important to consider past precedent within an entity when trying to predict future individual-level behavior, influence processes, and outcomes within that entity. In proposing to demonstrate the impact of contextual forces on individuals and teams, I explore how a leader's use of influence tactics during an initial performance episode within a team impacts a subsequent leader's use of influence tactics during a subsequent performance episode within the team. Further, I explore boundary conditions for that relationship (e.g., prior team performance and team member individual differences). In addition, I study how the relationship between a leader's influence tactic use and subordinates' commitment to do what is asked of them is moderated by factors that stem from previous performance episodes within the respective team (e.g., prior role composition and subordinate perceptions of the current leader's effectiveness relative to the effectiveness of his or her predecessor). In order to study the dynamics of proactive influence in light of team precedent, I study project teams characterized by leadership successions that take place over time during a series of performance episodes. The series of hypotheses I have generated is tested in a multi-level moderated mediation research model using Mplus.

When difficulties appear concerning the environment and the social relationships in teams, leading others become very interesting as well as challenging. I am sharing in this research an understanding of the concept of hardship in order to point out a main leadership issue, which is to lead others in extreme situations. It is a new and innovative approach of leadership within the business area based on the literature and completed by sailors’ experiences of hardship.Offshore sailors have the use to handle hardship situations alone as well as in crews, and they cannot avoid it when they are far away from the coasts. Thus when a problem occurs they must fix it themselves. During offshore races and expeditions, sailors have to deal with teams issues and cannot quit for going back home. Thereby, a boat, which is going to sail for few months without stop, is a real laboratory of leadership and social relationships.The starting point of this approach concerns the art of leading oneself, which represents a prerogative for a great leadership in extreme conditions. Indeed when a leader loses his or her self-control in extremes situations, he or she will probably not be able to lead others. Thus, in order to illustrate the literature approach to this concept, this thesis has been completed with an auto-ethnographical approach. I as a sailor have experimented hardship alone on my boat during some offshore sailing trips. I present an analysis of these experiences to explain the issues of leading oneself in such conditions. Thanks to the participation of some sailors experts in hardship, I illustrate the possibility to lead others in hardship context with the inspiration of their experiences. It is possible to lead others in very extremes conditions, and offshore sailors that I called hardship experts could represent a real inspiration to leaders, for a real and great leadership.