When leaders become strategists. A new look at determinants of leadership styles through their relationship with strategic thinking

Beata Bajcar , Jolanta Babiak , Czesław Nosal

Abstract

This article refers to the classic conception of determinants of leadership styles and presents the significance of individual characteristics in leadership process. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of strategic thinking in prediction of leadership styles. The results from 296 organizational leaders showed that thinking–oriented strategies, expressed by convergent processes in the strategic thinking directly predicted task–oriented leadership styles. Behavior-oriented strategies, expressed by divergent processes directly determined people–oriented leadership styles. This research indicates the vital role of cognitive, motivational and behavioral processes in leadership, especially in effective task realization and cooperation with followers. Presented results shed new light on what can be considered as typical behaviour of organizational leaders in the context of strategic thinking determination for human resources management and work effectiveness in the organization. They indicate that processes of mental operationalization of action are particularly important during implementation processes in organization.