Communication Behaviors, Innovation, and the Maverick Leader

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the communication and leadership behaviors of mavericks as they relate to innovation in the organization. We sought to answer the following questions: (1) Can mavericks be identified by other organizational members? (2) What impact do their communicative behaviors have on the process of innovation in the organization? (3) How do they perceive themselves in the organizational context? Since an interpretive approach to studying innovation was used, these questions served as a general framework for our investigation. Qualitative data (in-depth interviews with 32 organizational members), were collected from individuals who had been nominated by others as "organizational mavericks" and a sample of non-mavericks. Organizational mavericks were found to be more eager to communicate than non-mavericks, and less apprehensive about a variety of communication situations. It appears that skillful mavericks do not want to be identified as separate from the group and that the organization which is "loosely coupled" facilitates maverick behavior.

Is Transformational Leadership Region-Centric in Nature?

“…9, No. 8;2014 seemed consistent with earlier work on maverick attribute (Ray, Ugbah, Brammer, and DeWine, 1996). These studies discussed the attributes of maverick leaders as the crucial characteristics that enable change to occur.…”

Personality and learning processes underlying maverickism

“…Such individuals are likely to be high in maverickism except that we think that maverickism also has dysfunctional tendencies likely associated with low rationality and low-conscientious learning. This viewpoint is supported by others who advocate that people high in maverickism are driven to succeed by being inventive and goal focussed but that they are also risk takers and rule breakers (Ray et al, 1997;Seitz, 1983).…”

Workplace mavericks: How personality and risk‐taking propensity predicts maverickism

“…For example, on one hand, the tendency of individuals high in maverickism to be ‘disruptive’ may work to overturn the status quo and generate market‐changing and innovative technologies; however, being disruptive may also be counterproductive to maintaining team cohesion. Similarly, where non‐compliance could be adaptive in some instances, non‐compliance in other situations may be detrimental to overall organizational health (Ray et al , 1997; Seitz, 1983). Thus, it seems reasonable to expect that not all creative, bold, and independent actions will yield positive outcomes.…”

“…In light of this description, we consider those high in extraversion and those high in maverickism as having many behavioural similarities. For instance, both are known to be skilled communicators (e.g., mavericks; Ray et al ., 1997; extraverts; Goldberg, 1990; Watson & Clark, 1997), persuasive (e.g., maverick; Dutton, 1973; extraverts; Watson, Clark, & Harkness, 1994) and goal focused (e.g., mavericks; Seitz, 1983; extraverts; Elliot & Thrash, 2002). Although extraversion may seem incongruent with maverickism, we argue that the talent of individuals high in extraversion to be persuasive and influencing is likely to be an advantage when trying to recruit and win others over to their way of thinking.…”

“…A review of the literature identifies only a handful of books (e.g., Blohowaik, 1992; Cheverton, Vincent & Wilson, 2001; Selmer, 1993; Taylor & LaBarre, 2006) and a few articles specifically describing the influence of ‘maverick’ employees in an organizational setting (e.g. Ray, Ugbah, Brammer, & DeWine, 1997). What we know about maverickism is largely based on collections of qualitative descriptions of single case studies (e.g., Semler, 1993; Taylor & LaBarre, 2006) rather than rigorous empirical research.…”