Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are instrumental to most economies and leadership offers a means for SMEs to face today's business challenges. Despite the need for effective leadership in SMEs, researchers rarely examine leadership theories in this context. The SME context is characterized by proximal conditions that are conducive to role-modeling leadership. Role-modeling leadership, although popular in the practitioner literature, is an underdeveloped concept in the scientific literature because such leadership has been confounded with other leadership theories and behaviors. The present ..read more

While adaptive leadership is a useful framework for leadership practitioners, there is limited empirical research supporting its conceptual tools and tactics. Kirton's adaption-innovation (A-I) theory contends individuals have innate problem-solving style preferences for more or less structure. In the current conceptual paper, we examine the theoretical underpinnings of adaptive leadership and A-I theory within the context of complex problem-solving. We connect A-I theory to concepts from adaptive leadership to link a more rigorous and empirically supported theory to a popular practice. We go ..read more

Market Basket started as a local grocery store in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1917, and rapidly expanded into a large supermarket chain by following a business model driven by community empowerment. However, success did not come easy. A sudden change in leadership and the resulting top-down organizational culture pushed the store chain into unprecedented chaos with boycotts and supply chain disruptions. The collective force generated by employees, customers, and business partners left the shareholders with no choice but to reinstate the ousted CEO with full authority. But how did the leadership c ..read more

The focus of the symposium is adaption-innovation (A-I) theory, as it relates to solving problems with cognitive diversity. The intent of the current article is to introduce adaption-innovation theory; its beginning and key elements. The symposium specifically focuses on implications for adaptive leadership, inclusion, wicked problems, and business ..read more

The current paper reviews examples of working with organizational leaders and integrating adaption-innovation (A-I) theory and its associated psychometric, the Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI; Kirton, 1985). Three specific in-depth cases are reviewed and analyzed, and a series of learning insights are shared. A set of key enabling factors are argued to transform A-I related insights to valuable actions. These include emotional intelligence capabilities focused on self-and-others; the role of a structured learning process to aid reflection and action; effective coping behavior that ..read more

Currently, organizations are working to create a culture that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. However, as these organizations become more diverse, implicit social cognition or unconscious bias increases, leading to unproductive behaviors and organizational inefficiencies. Yet, diverse teams can be more productive, creative, and increase opportunities to expand into diverse markets if they are managed properly. Accordingly, Kirton's Cognitive Function Schema, a useful framework that leaders can use to identify and address barriers to collaboration among diverse teams will ..read more

The current philosophical paper brings the concepts of community, complex adaptive systems, wicked problems, and Kirton's (2011) adaption-innovation (A-I) theory together as a model to encourage practitioners to recognize the importance of cognitive diversity for sustainable and impactful solutions. Leadership and change practitioners often face the complexity of addressing community based wicked problems. A-I theory offers an additional perspective to help teams foster structural changes in these complex adaptive systems ..read more

Journal of Leadership Studies, Volume 16, Issue 4, Page 3-3, Winter 2023 ..read more

Journal of Leadership Studies, Volume 16, Issue 4, Page 1-2, Winter 2023 ..read more

Journal of Leadership Studies, EarlyView ..read more