Vision and Mental Models: The Case of Charismatic and Ideological Leadership

Executive catalysts: Predicting sustainable organizational performance amid complex demands

“…Specifically, aiming at integrating various kinds of outstanding leadership-namely, charismatic, ideological and pragmatic- (Mumford, Antes, Caughron, & Friedrich, 2008)-we theorize that a catalytic leader's articulation of future oriented visions predicts "outstanding performance" in meeting organizational goals. Such articulated visions translate into acts of sensegiving Mumford & Strange, 2002) that orient and motivate stakeholders by providing them a sense of meaning and inspiring their effective engagement (Bass, 1990) and moves stakeholders toward a prescribed and idealized state (Strange & Mumford, 2005). The same theory proposes that a vision not only aims to explain a leader's own view of a future, but also, simultaneously, articulates and constructs the values, purposes and identities (Strange & Mumford, 2005) for various stakeholders (Mumford & Strange, 2002).…”

“…Building on this work, we submit that self-complexity/differentiation is a particularly critical variable for an executive's ability to fully comprehend the cognitive and relational complexity of a given set of circumstances, goals and causes upon which meaning making and sensegiving depend (Mumford & Strange, 2002;Strange & Mumford, 2005). Beyond the relational dynamics, highly complex meaning making attends to and balances strategic, technical and behavioral dynamics.…”

A multilevel study of transformational leadership, identification, and follower outcomes

“…Furthermore, when transformational leaders underscore the important values and beliefs shared by the team, followers are likely to regard their individual efforts as an expression of a collective identity . Mumford and Strange (2002) contend that leaders who communicate a shared vision help followers interpret how their individual tasks or roles contribute to achieving the unit's shared goal, therefore evoking group identification. Previous empirical studies have supported the impact of group-focused TFL on followers' group identification (Conger, Kanungo, & Menon, 2000;Shamir, Zakay, Brainin, & Popper, 2000;Shamir et al, 1998).…”

Leaders' sensemaking under crises: Emerging cognitive consensus over time within management teams

“…Mumford and Strange (2002) and Strange and Mumford (2002) suggest an explanation for a lack of change to mental models based on the style of leadership. Ideological leaders may be more likely to be consistent in their thinking even when responding to a crisis so future research could explore this possible effect.…”

“…Based on cognitive vision formation theory developed by Mumford and Strange (2002), Mumford et al (2007) provide a theoretical grounded conceptual model to help explain how leaders address change and resolve crises over time. This model postulates that the onset of a crisis would first force leaders to activate descriptive mental models based on case based prior knowledge and experience as they confront ambiguous and novel problems (Eubanks & Mumford, 2010;Mumford et al, 2007).…”