Weekly Roundup: Jekyll-and-Hyde Leadership, Collective Memories Boost Collaboration, and Training in Arts and Humanities Improves Performance of Neurologists

My weekly roundup of all things the brain and behaviour in business and society

In this week’s roundup I’ll focus on a bunch of psychological research - most of these are also focused on the workplace: leadership styles, forming bonds, how arts and humanities training can lead to better neurologists.

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The Negative Impacts of "Jekyll-and-Hyde" Leadership

Many of us will have seen or experienced different styles of leadership. We may have encountered ethical and kind leaders, we may also have encountered the tough and harsh leader, the toxic leader, the monster type.

There has been a bunch of research over the years on the impact of different forms of leadership and leadership behaviours. Generally this all points to positive forms of leadership being effective (with some intriguing twists to the story - no space for that here).

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Research Hit: How A Bad Boss Makes You A Worse Employee

Research Hit: Engaging Leadership Boosts Employee Engagement, and Team Effectiveness, and Resilience

Research Hit: Leadership Behaviours for More Resilient and Effective Teams

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But what about those leaders who bounce between different styles, sometimes kindly and positive, and at other times harsh and unethical: the Jekyll-and-Hyde leader?

This has been barely researched and is precisely what Howie Xu et al. of the Stevens Institute of Technology set out to investigate. To do this they surveyed 650 employees and conducted two field experiments.

What did the find?

They found that Jekyll-and-Hyde leadership had an even greater negative impact that straightforward abusive /toxic leadership profiles. This may come as a surprise but the uncertainty as to what type of leader will turn up seems to increase stress - there are no moderating effects of being kind at times because it my be short-lived.

What is also surprising is that this effect also is passed on to observing and not being directly involved in Jekyll-and-Hyde leadership.

In summary Jekyll-and-Hyde leadership:

• Increased stress

• Increased emotional exhaustion

• Decreased performance

• Did the above more so than abusive leadership by itself

• Also had a negative impact when merely observed

So be careful no tot be a Jekyll-and-Hyde leader and this is one for businesses to keep an eye on.

But from negative experiences to positive or shared experiences in the workplace and how collective memories can increase bonding and team spirit.

How Collective Memories Promote Cross-Occupational Coordination

I reported on collective memories a while ago and how these seem to promoted team sprit and bonding - and also have we can form false memories!