Leader-follower interactions : relations with OCB and sales productivity

Purpose Based on substitutes for leadership theory, the aim of this study is to examine followers' learning goal orientation as a moderator of relationships among transformational leadership, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and sales productivity. Design/methodology/approach Data came from 61 food and beverage attendants of a casino, and were analyzed using regression analyses. Findings Transformational leadership was positively related to both OCB and sales productivity. Learning goal orientation moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB, such that transformational leadership was more strongly related to OCB among followers with a low learning goal orientation than among followers with a high learning goal orientation. Research limitations/implications Limitations of the study include the small sample size and cross-sectional research design. Practical implications Organizations could train supervisors to practice a transformational leadership style and to take followers' learning goal orientation into account. Originality/value The findings of this study suggest that, with regard to OCB, a high learning goal orientation of followers may act as a “substitute” for low levels of leaders' transformational leadership.

Leader - Follower Relations In An Intercultural Chinese Context - Personal, Interpersonal and Behavioural Influences and Impact on Work Contribution

The successful interaction between leaders and their followers is central to the overall functioning of a company. The increasingly multinational nature of modern business and the resulting multicultural and increasingly heterogeneous workforce imposes specific challenges to the development of high-quality work relationships. The Western multinational companies that have started operations in China are facing these challenges. This study examines the quality of leader-follower relationships between Western expatriate leaders and their Chinese followers as well as between Chinese leaders and their Chinese followers in Western-owned subsidiaries in China. The focus is on the influence of personal, interpersonal and behavioural factors (personality, values, cultural knowledge, perceived and actual similarity, interactional justice, and follower performance) and the work-related implications of these relationships (job attitudes and organisational citizenship behaviour). One interesting finding of this study is that Chinese followers have higher perceptions of their Western than their Chinese leaders. The results also indicate that Chinese and Western leaders’ perceptions of their followers are not influenced favourably by the same follower characteristics. In a similar vein, Chinese followers value different traits in Western versus Chinese leaders. These results, as well as the numerous more specific findings of the study, have practical implications for international human resource management and areas such as selection, placement and training. Due to the different effect of personal and interpersonal factors across groups, it is difficult to achieve the “perfect match” between leader and follower characteristics that simultaneously contribute to high-quality relationships for Chinese and Western leaders as well as for followers. However, the results indicate that the ability of organisations to enhance the quality of leader-follower relations by selecting and matching people with suitable characteristics may provide an effective means for organisations to increase positive job attitudes and hence influence work-related outcomes.

Agent Based Evacuation Simulation Using Leader-Follower Model

Agent based simulation is a widely developing area in artificial intelligence.The simulation studies are extensively used in different areas of disaster management. This work deals with the study of an agent based evacuation simulation which is being done to handle the various evacuation behaviors.Various emergent behaviors of agents are addressed here. Dynamic grouping behaviors of agents are studied. Collision detection and obstacle avoidances are also incorporated in this approach.Evacuation is studied with single exits and multiple exits and efficiency is measured in terms of evacuation rate, collision rate etc.Net logo is the tool used which helps in the efficient modeling of scenarios in evacuation

Leader-follower consensus control of a class of nonholonomic systems

In this paper, we propose a systematic solution to the leader-follower consensus of a class of nonholonomic chained form systems. The control design, which is reminiscent of terminal sliding mode and multi-surface sliding mode control methods, is presented to guarantee the convergence of multiple sliding surfaces, which also implies the convergence of the proposed consensus error function. On these sliding surfaces, the desired leader-follower consensus can be reached for multi-agent network formed by the nonholonomic chained form systems.

Adaptive data based neural network leader-follower control of multi-agent networks

In this paper, we propose a data based neural network leader-follower control for multi-agent networks where each agent is described by a class of high-order uncertain nonlinear systems with input perturbation. The control laws are developed using multiple-surface sliding control technique. In particular, novel set of sliding variables are proposed to guarantee leader-follower consensus on the sliding surfaces. Novel switching is proposed to overcome the unavailability of instantaneous control output from the neighbor. By utilizing RBF neural network and Fourier series to approximate the unknown functions, leader-follower consensus can be reached, under the condition that the dynamic equations of all agents are unknown. An O(n) data based algorithm is developed, using only the network’s measurable input/output data to generate the distributed virtual control laws. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Robust fault-tolerant leader-follower control of four-wheel-steering mobile robots using terminal sliding mode

This paper addresses the actuator failure compensation problem of non-linear fourwheel-steering mobile robots based on vehicle kinematics, undergoing both known and unknown failures causing degenerated steering performance or wheels stuck at some observable angles. Terminal sliding mode control technique is used to guarantee the tracking stability infinite time with the presence of actuator fault. Simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. © Institution of Engineers Australia 2012.

On paternalistic leadership fit: exploring cross-cultural endorsement, leader-follower fit, and the boundary role of organizational culture

Although cross-cultural leadership research has thrived in international business literature, little attention has been devoted to understanding the effectiveness of non-western theories beyond their original contexts. The purpose of this study is to examine the cross-cultural endorsement of paternalistic leadership, an emerging non-western leadership theory, using data from GLOBE project. Using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses we found measurement equivalence of a scale derived from GLOBE’s data, which enabled us to compare the endorsement of paternalistic leadership dimensions across 10 cultural clusters and 55 societies. Our study revealed that there are significant differences in the importance societies give to each dimension, suggesting that paternalism as leadership style is not universally nor homogeneously endorsed. Furthermore, results suggest that different patterns of endorsement of each of these dimensions give rise to idiosyncratic shades of paternalistic leadership across societies. Implications for theory and future research on international business are discussed.

Trust in leader-follower relationships:how and when trust building enhances dyadic and organisational outcomes

Guided by theory in both the trust and leadership domains, the overarching aim of this thesis was to answer a fundamental question. Namely, how and when does trust-building between leaders and followers enhance leader-member exchange (LMX) development and organisational trust? Although trust is considered to be at the crux of the leader-follower relationship, surprisingly little theoretical or empirical attention has been devoted to understanding the precise nature of this relationship. By integrating both a typology of trustworthy behaviour and a process model of trust development with LMX theory, study one developed and tested a new model of LMX development with leader-follower trust-building as the primary mechanism. In a three wave cross-lagged design, 294 student dyads in a business simulation completed measures of trust perceptions and LMX across the first 6 months of the LMX relationship. Trust-building was found to account for unexplained variance in the LMX construct over time, while controlling for initial relationship quality, thus confirming the critical role of the trust-building process in LMX development. The strongest evidence was found for the role of integrity-based trust-building behaviour, albeit only when such behaviour was not attributed to insincere motives. The results for ability and benevolence-based trustworthy behaviour revealed valued insights into the developmental nature of trustworthiness perceptions within LMX relationships. Thus, the pattern of results in study one provided a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the dynamic interplay between trust and LMX. In study two, leader trust-building was investigated cross-sectionally within an organisational sample of 201 employees. The central aim of this study was to investigate whether leader trust-building within leader-follower relationships could be leveraged for organisational trust. As expected, the trust-building process instigated by members in study one was replicated for leaders in study two. In addition, the results were most consistent for benevolence-based trust building, whereas both integrity- and ability-based trust-building were moderated by the position of the leader within the organisation’s hierarchy. Overall, the findings of this thesis shed considerable light on the richness of trusting perceptions in organisations, and the critical role of trust-building in LMX development and organisational trust.

Could Relatedness Help Explain Why Individuals Lead in Bottlenose Dolphin Groups?

In many species, particular individuals consistently lead group travel. While benefits to followers often are relatively obvious, including access to resources, benefits to leaders are often less obvious. This is especially true for species that feed on patchy mobile resources where all group members may locate prey simultaneously and food intake likely decreases with increasing group size. Leaders in highly complex habitats, however, could provide access to foraging resources for less informed relatives, thereby gaining indirect benefits by helping kin. Recently, leadership has been documented in a population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) where direct benefits to leaders appear unlikely. To test whether leaders could benefit indirectly we examined relatedness between leader-follower pairs and compared these levels to pairs who associated but did not have leader-follower relationship (neither ever led the other). We found the average relatedness value for leader-follower pairs was greater than expected based on chance. The same was not found when examining non leader-follower pairs. Additionally, relatedness for leader-follower pairs was positively correlated with association index values, but no correlation was found for this measure in non leader-follower pairs. Interestingly, haplotypes were not frequently shared between leader-follower pairs (25%). Together, these results suggest that bottlenose dolphin leaders have the opportunity to gain indirect benefits by leading relatives. These findings provide a potential mechanism for the maintenance of leadership in a highly dynamic fission-fusion population with few obvious direct benefits to leaders.

Attachment as a predictor of leadership and follower outcomes

Research has suggested that effective leadership, specifically the utilisation of transformational leadership behaviours, is heavily entrenched in a leader’s interpersonal skills. However, few studies have investigated the interpersonal factors that drive appropriate use of transformational and transactional leadership in leader-follower settings. Attachment theory provides a robust framework in which to chart the developmental precursors of effective leadership that underpin positive leader-follower relationships and potential organisational outcomes. In this study, 46 manager-non manager dyads recruited from a Victorian education institution, a national telecommunications company and a Victorian real-estate business (managers – Mean age = 48.5 years, SD = 7.78, non-managers – Mean age 43.92 years, SD = 8.72) took part in an online questionnaire. Participants completed measures of attachment, leadership behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour. Path analysis revealed that manager’s attachment style significantly predicted follower ratings of transformational and transactional leadership behaviours. Additionally, follower ratings of leadership were associated with organisational citizenship behaviour. Thus, it is concluded that attachment theory provides a valid framework in which to understand follower perceptions of leadership behaviour and subsequent organisational outcomes. These findings are discussed within the context of attachment theory and the leadership literature.

A lifespan perspective on leadership

In this chapter, we present a lifespan model of leadership that outlines how leader and follower age as well as age-related changes in leader traits and characteristics, leader behaviors, and follower attribution and identification processes may influence leadership effectiveness. First, we describe how leader traits and characteristics change with age and how these developmental changes may impact on leader behaviors and, subsequently, leadership effectiveness. Specifically, we discuss age-related changes in leaders’ task competence, interpersonal attributes, and motivation to lead. We particularly focus on how generativity – a set of interconnected motives pertaining to establishing and guiding future generations – may emerge as an important concern among older leaders. Second, we review theoretical approaches that help explain how and why leader age and age-related traits and characteristics, follower age, as well as leader-follower age differences may influence follower attribution and identification processes. Third, we outline a number of boundary conditions of the effects proposed by our lifespan model of leadership, including leader-follower relationship duration, situational characteristics, as well as the cultural, social, and historical context. We conclude the chapter by discussing our model’s implications for future research and organizational practice.

两种线程池的实现和性能评价

线程池被广泛地应用在中间件如Web应用服务器、事务监控器等的实现中。实现线程池的方法主要有半同步/半异步(Half-Sync/Half-Asyn)模式和领导者/跟随者(Leader/Follower)模式。实现了这两种线程池,从理论上分析了它们的性能,并进行了性能实验。实验数据表明Leader/Follower模式具有较高的性能优势。

多移动机器人主—从编队控制研究

多机器人编队控制是多移动机器人自主协调控制领域中的关键技术。这篇论文在基于局部测量和局部控制的框架下，研究具有主—从跟踪结构的移动机器人编队系统的建模和控制问题。论文的主要研究内容可分为如下三个方面：针对一阶运动学和二阶运动学模型的编队控制器设计；将基于运动学的编队控制器与基于从机器人动力学的载体控制器相结合；将队形反馈信息融入主机器人的轨迹跟踪控制器，给出了主机器人的协调编队控制器的设计。具体内容可概括为如下几个方面：（1）以主—从机器人编队中从机器人的固联视觉传感器的观察角度出发，用视觉等效相对速度建立了主—从机器人编队系统的运动学模型。同时，在该模型中考虑了由视觉传感器时间延迟所导致的模型误差对编队系统的影响。在基于该运动学模型的编队控制器的设计过程中结合了基于从机器人载体的动力学的速度控制器。这种基于编队运动学和机器人本体动力学相结合的控制方法，避免了以往文献中速度跟踪响应无限快的假设。使得对编队控制系统的分析和设计更趋于实际。用Lyapunov稳定性理论证明了主—从机器人之间的编队跟踪误差和从机器人载体的速度跟踪误差都可以收敛到零--整体系统的渐进稳定性。（2）结合上述编队控制律，提出了一种编队系统中从机器人主动避障的方法，该方法能够令从机器人在避开动态障碍物的同时，与主机器人保持期望的相对距离或相对方位。这种方法的实质是由主机器人来引导从机器人的避障过程，主—从机器人之间通过相互协作来完成避障任务。这就使得从机器人即使在避障的过程中也能够与主机器人保持部分的协作。这样，当避障过程结束之后，主—从机器人之间可以迅速的恢复队形。（3）导出了一种新的基于相对运动学的主—从跟踪系统的二阶运动学模型。利用这个运动学模型，我们设计了一个由反馈线性化控制器和一个滑模控制器组成的复合控制器，来实现机器人主—从跟踪系统的控制。运用Lyapunov理论证明了所设计的队形控制器能够镇定包括内部动力学系统在内的整个主—从跟踪系统。同时，该控制器使得队形跟踪系统对主机器人的绝对加速度具有鲁棒性。此外，在前述控制器的基础上，我们设计了一个自适应队形控制器来处理主—从跟踪系统中存在的参数不确定性。（4）将上述基于二阶运动学的编队控制方法与从机器人的载体动力学控制系统相结合，给出了将编队运动学与载体动力学相结合的编队控制器设计方法。同时，针对载体动力学模型中含有参数不确定性的情况，设计了基于自适应控制方法的编队控制器。同时，利用Lyapunov理论给出了保证整体系统稳定性的条件。（5）基于主—从编队系统的二阶运动学模型，将队形反馈信息引入主机器人的轨迹跟踪控制器中，形成了主—从机器人协调编队的辅助控制律。该辅助控制律所对应的虚拟协调力通过主机器人的动力学系统形成了真实的协作控制力。该控制器与前一章中的从机器人的鲁棒编队跟踪控制器共同形成了主—从编队系统的协调控制器。应用Lyapunov理论给出了在主—从机器人分别采用协调编队控制器的作用下所形成的闭环系统的稳定性条件。进一步地，我们将主机器人的面向轨迹跟踪任务的协调控制器转换为面向路径跟踪任务的协调控制器。分别利用了基于MATLAB的仿真平台和实际的多移动机器人系统，验证了以上各方法的有效性。