Building Cohesive Teams—The Role of Leaders’ Bottom-Line Mentality and Behavior

Katrin Riisla, Hein Wendt, Mayowa T. Babalola and Martin Euwema
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Katrin Riisla: Occupational & Organizational Psychology and Professional Learning, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Hein Wendt: Korn Ferry Institute, 1019 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Mayowa T. Babalola: Graduate School of Business, Nazarbayev University, Nur Sultan 010000, Kazakhstan
Martin Euwema: Occupational & Organizational Psychology and Professional Learning, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 14, 1-19

Abstract: Team cohesiveness plays a crucial role in effective teamwork, innovation, and improved performance, and as such, its development among team members is an essential part of team management. However, it may be disregarded by leaders with a high bottom-line mentality (BLM; a single-minded focus on the bottom line at the expense of other values or priorities). These leaders may show little interest in other priorities, such as ethical, social, or environmental considerations, and may be tempted to push their followers to go above and beyond what is expected, even if it means bending the rules, cutting corners, or engaging in other ethically problematic behaviors. We argue that although a team leader’s BLM may motivate followers to come together around the pursuit of a common goal, it may come at the expense of nurturing healthy interpersonal relationships, trust, and other important social resources within the team. Specifically, we argue that the way leaders with a high BLM approach their goals may affect team cohesiveness, and that it is particularly negative for female leaders. Using a large multi-national study, we found that this happens through increased directive and lowered participative leader behaviors.

Keywords: leader bottom-line mentality; team cohesiveness; directive leadership; participative leadership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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