Mary Crossan

• Crossan, M. M.; Nguyen, B.; Sturm, R. E.; Vera, D. V.; Ruiz Pardo, A.; Maurer, C. C., 2023, "Organizational learning through character-based judgment", Management Learning, November 54(5)
  Abstract: We introduce character into organizational learning by building theory about how strength of individual character enhances organizational learning and how unbalanced or weak character undermine organizational learning. Bringing character into organizational learning theory helps to elucidate the type of judgment (i.e. character-based judgment anchored in all dimensions of character) that is missing but required in organizational learning to resolve organizational learning dilemmas that have persisted in the field. In connecting character to organizational learning, we rely on the multi-level processes of the 4I framework of organizational learning as scaffolding to theoretically introduce the processes of character activation, character contagion, and character embeddedness and discuss how the different character configurations and processes enhance organizational learning across levels in an organization.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13505076221100918

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13505076221100918

• Crossan, M. M.; Nguyen, B.; Vera, D. V.; Sturm, R. E.; Pardo, A. R., (Forthcoming), "Leader Character in Engineering Projects: A Case Study of Character Activation, Contagion, and Embeddedness", IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
  Abstract: We contribute to the blending of leadership and engineering by challenging the prioritization of technical competence over leadership competence in engineering projects, and by specifically highlighting the importance of bringing leader character into the conversation. Using a single-case-study methodology, with a university's Formula Society of Automotive Engineers organization, we examine and illustrate character activation in individuals, its contagion in groups, and how character can become embedded within an organization's nonhuman repositories, such as culture, processes, and policies. In doing this, we describe a multilevel view of character. In addition, we offer a practical account of how leader character is revealed in everyday practices and in critical moments in an engineering project in terms of technical, operational, and relational decisions. Findings from the case study show that character can change how competences are enacted, and therefore, organizational members can more effectively use their competences in the organization, and the character-competence interplay can contribute to performance gains of the project.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10168287

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/tem.2023.3287191

• Crossan, M. M.; Ellis, C.; Crossan, C., 2023, "The Role of Physiology, Affect, Behavior and Cognition in Leader Character Activation: A Music Intervention", Journal of Character and Leadership Development, June 10(2): 14 - 41.
  Abstract: We build on the theoretical model proposed by Crossan et al. (2021) to examine leader character activation, through the use of music, as a foundational area for leader character development. Our findings reveal that music influences all of the physiology, affect, behavior, cognitive (PABC) systems to more and less degrees. As well, music activates all dimensions of character, with different dimensions of character varying in their reliance on the PABC systems. Our empirical examination underscores the importance of examining activation as an initial step in development, yielding insights into the holistic role of the PABC systems in character development. Although all four systems are implicated, this study points to the need to understand how various dimensions of leader character rely differentially on the PABCs, which provides important insight into how leader character development can be tailored. Finally, the study verifies the important role of music therapy in the activation and subsequent development of leader character and paves the way for other innovative approaches that move beyond the cognitive and behavioral focus in leadership development to embrace physiology and affect as well.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.58315/jcld.v10.248

• Dong, J.; Tian, M.; Li, X.; Crossan, M. M., (Forthcoming), "Effects of human capital and learning rate: When organizations meet with information distortion and environmental dynamism", European Management Review, February n/a
  Abstract: Abstract This study systematically evaluates the effects of human capital and learning rate under typical organizational contexts with information distortion (i.e., no distortion, individual forgetting, and information misrepresentation) and environmental conditions (i.e., personnel turnover and environmental turbulence). The multi-agent simulation model reveals that keeping an appropriate learning rate is an efficient way to balance exploration and exploitation. Slow learning outperforms only under the contexts of both no distortion and rare personnel turnover, whereas intermediate and high learning rates are more valuable in other organizational contexts. Moreover, we find that human capital generally has a positive effect on learning performance, with an exception that when an organization faces environmental turbulence, human capital has an inverted U-shaped relation with learning performance. This study draws implications for managing organizational learning and guiding organizations with different human capital on how to influence learning under various organizational contexts.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emre.12563

• Vera, D. V.; Crossan, M. M., 2023, "Character-enabled improvisation and the new normal: A paradox perspective", Management Learning, February 54(1): 77 - 98.
  Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified and exacerbated organizational paradoxes felt by individuals largely because of the nostalgia individuals feel for the “old” normal while facing the need to let go in order to create a “new” normal. We position improvisation as a synthesis-type approach to working through the paradoxes of the pandemic. Furthermore, we look at individual differences that underpin the ability to improvise, and identify that it is the strength of character and character-based judgment of the individual that enables the enactment of a focal context, the choice to improvise, and the act of effectively improvising to work through paradoxes. Linking character to improvisation, and, vice versa, improvisation to the development of character, reveals the importance of dimensions such as courage, humility, temperance, transcendence, humanity, and collaboration in the practice of improvisation.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13505076221118840

• Crossan, M. M.; Furlong, B.; Austin, R. D., 2022, "Make Leader Character Your Competitive Edge", MIT Sloan management review, December 64(2): 1 - 12.
  Abstract: For all of the attention that leader character gets when we witness its negative extremes most organizations give surprisingly little thought to what is actually one of the most significant available levers to effect positive organizational development. Organizations that fail to hire for and develop positive character among its leaders are missing an opportunity. In fact, one study found that organizations with leaders of high character--those whose employees rated them highly on integrity, responsibility, forgiveness, and compassion--had nearly five times the return on assets of those with low character. Here, Crossan et al provide a deeper understanding of character and its applications and offer guidance for how business leaders can begin to apply considerations of character to build stronger organizations.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.proquest.com/docview/2735285814?pq-origsite=primo&parentSessionId=66N6rJ3EKTnd6AC%2Bcwl%2FkPbNFDNWOUGe1YhunquY%2BiU%3D&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

• Nguyen, B.; Crossan, M. M., 2022, "Character Infused Ethical Decision Making", Journal of Business Ethics: 1 - 21.
  Abstract: Despite a growing body of research by management scholars to understand and explain failures in ethical decision making (EDM), misconduct prevails. Scholars have identified character, founded in virtue ethics, as an important perspective that can help to address the gap in organizational misconduct. While character has been offered as a valid perspective in EDM, current theorizing on how it applies to EDM has not been well developed. We thus integrate character, founded in virtue ethics, into Rest’s (1986) EDM model to reveal how shifting attention to the nature of the moral agent provides critical insights into decision making more broadly and EDM specifically. Virtue ethics provides a perspective on EDM that acknowledges and anticipates uncertainties, considers its contextual constraints, and contemplates the development of the moral agent. We thus answer the call by many scholars to integrate character in EDM in order to advance the understanding of the field and suggest propositions for how to move forward. We conclude with implications of a character infused approach to EDM for future research.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://link-springer-com.proxy1.lib.uwo.ca/article/10.1007/s10551-021-04790-8#article-info

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04790-8

• Crossan, M. M.; Cote, S.; Virgin, S., 2021, "Elevating Leader Character Alongside Competence in Selection: A Case Study of Canada Revenue Agency", Organizational Dynamics, September 50(3): 100752 - 100752.
  Abstract: In this article, we build on prior research that has provided the academic underpinning for what leader character is, why it matters to both individual well-being and sustained excellence, and how character can be embedded alongside competence in human resource (HR) practices. We focus on the process of elevating character alongside competence in the executive selection process at Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). We offer insights from that process and consider the short-term and expected long-term results of such an initiative along with an agenda for future research and implications for practice.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100752

• Monzani, L.; Seijts, G. H.; Crossan, M. M., 2021, "Character matters: The network structure of leader character and its relation to follower positive outcomes", PLOS One, September 16(9): e0255940 - e0255940.
  Abstract: We investigated the relationship between self-ratings of leader character and follower positive outcomes – namely, subjective well-being, resilience, organizational commitment, and work engagement – in a public-sector organization using a time-lagged cross-sectional design involving 188 leader – follower dyads and 22 offices. Our study is an important step forward in the conceptual development of leader character and the application of character to enhance workplace practices. We combined confirmatory factor analysis and network-based analysis to determine the factorial and network structure of leader character. The findings revealed that a model of 11 inter-correlated leader character dimensions fit the data better than a single-factor model. Further, judgment appeared as the most central dimension in a network comprising the 11 character dimensions. Moreover, in a larger network of partial correlations, two ties acted as bridges that link leader character to follower positive outcomes: judgment and drive. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255940

• Crossan, M. M.; Ellis, C.; Crossan, C., 2021, "Towards a Model of Leader Character Development: Insights from Anatomy and Music Therapy", Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, August 28(3): 287 - 305.
  Abstract: Leader character has emerged as a critical foundation for leadership. In spite of the view that leader character can be developed, there has been limited holistic attention to what it takes to develop character. Character requires conscious development, and that conscious development not only requires an understanding of what character is, but how the anatomy of character enables and inhibits character development and expression. By anatomy, we refer to the four underlying anatomical systems – physiology, affect, behavior, and cognition (PABC) – that function independently, and in an inter-related manner, to support the development of character. For illustration, we offer the practice of listening to music as a means to develop character, highlighting the links between the PABC systems and character development.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/15480518211005455

• Dong, J.; Liu, R.; Qiu, Y.; Crossan, M. M., 2021, "Should knowledge be distorted? Managers’ knowledge distortion strategies and organizational learning in different environments", Leadership Quarterly, June 32(3): 101477 - 101477.
  Abstract: Organizational learning provides a sustainable competitive advantage for an enterprise facing a highly volatile environment, and managers’ knowledge sharing strategies are of vital importance to organizational learning. This study systematically evaluates the effects of managers’ knowledge distortion types (i.e., misrepresentation and omission), distortion levels, and distortion preferences in a formal organizational context under various environments. Multi-agent simulation results demonstrate that a slight level of managers’ knowledge misrepresentation and a high level of managers’ knowledge omission are beneficial in a closed system. With increasing turnover rate, both misrepresentation and omission are detrimental. Moreover, in an open system with environmental turbulence, misrepresentation is valuable to performance, while omission is neutral. In general, misrepresentation plays a leading role in the simultaneous combination of two distortion strategies. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. Organizational learning provides a sustainable competitive advantage for an enterprise facing a highly volatile environment, and managers’ knowledge sharing strategies are of vital importance to organizational learning. This study systematically evaluates the effects of managers’ knowledge distortion types (i.e., misrepresentation and omission), distortion levels, and distortion preferences in a formal organizational context under various environments. Multi-agent simulation results demonstrate that a slight level of managers’ knowledge misrepresentation and a high level of managers’ knowledge omission are beneficial in a closed system. With increasing turnover rate, both misrepresentation and omission are detrimental. Moreover, in an open system with environmental turbulence, misrepresentation is valuable to performance, while omission is neutral. In general, misrepresentation plays a leading role in the simultaneous combination of two distortion strategies. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101477

• Pettit, K.; Crossan, M. M., 2020, "Strategic renewal: Beyond the functional resource role of occupational members", Strategic Management Journal, June 41(6): 1112 - 1138.
  Abstract: Research summary In this qualitative study of strategic renewal at a North American news organization we reveal that the treatment of occupational members as resources in strategy literature is necessary, but insufficient. Their activities are critical for organizational survival and competition but also the work needed to maintain their occupational identity. Furthermore, the prevailing research evidence that occupational members impede strategic renewal is incomplete. Our study challenges the narrow view of occupational members as resources that constrain strategic renewal by illustrating how occupational identity ‘work’ is instrumental in facilitating and disrupting strategic renewal. Our findings emphasize the importance of adopting broader definitions of work than the functional definition used in strategic renewal research. We also highlight how the activities of non‐managerial actors contribute to strategic renewal. Managerial summary During times of change, research highlights how occupational members such as doctors, nurses, engineers and academics, disrupt and resist change. Our study demonstrates that the same cause of disruption — sustaining their distinctive occupational identity — is critical in facilitating strategic renewal. For managers, we illustrate how and why this occurs and provide practical guidance to leverage this understanding while managing change in occupationally‐dominated organizations.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smj.3115

• Tang, J.; Crossan, M. M.; Rowe, W. G., 2019, "Dominant Leaders: Heroes or Villains?", Organizational Dynamics, March 48(1): 1 - 7.
  Abstract: Power is an essential part of organizational life, especially in the upper echelons. In particular, strategic leadership researchers and practitioners have long been puzzled by the question of whether dominant leaders defined as leaders (e.g., CEO) with dominant power relative to their colleagues in the leadership team are good or bad. On one hand, it has often been considered that dominant leaders tend to restrict information flow and increase politics within the leadership team and thereby negatively affect strategic decision making and organizational performance. On the other hand, there has long been a heroic portrait of dominant leaders (especially in troubled situations), arguing that dominant leaders are more apt to make tough (i.e., fast, unilateral) decisions and thus positively affect organizational performance.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2017.10.001

  https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1Ydax_23MHAU8A

• Seijts, G. H.; Byrne, A.; Crossan, M. M.; Gandz, J., 2019, "Leader Character in Board Governance", Journal of Management and Governance, March 23(1): 227 - 258.
  Abstract: Despite the critical leadership role that corporate boards play in organizations, the character of their members has been neglected in research studies. We used a multi-method data collection approach to explore whether current directors in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors believe that leader character plays an important role in board governance, particularly with regards to how boards make decisions, recruit new members, lead their organizations, and work together to perform their fiduciary and other responsibilities. Despite the perceived importance of leader character as reported by highly experienced corporate directors, we found that leader character is not commonly attended to in board conversations as a means to purposively improve the way boards operate. We outline practical implications of our findings as well as offer a call to action for future research on character in the context of board governance with the intent to improve governance in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors and hence to foster sustained excellence in organizations.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10997-018-9426-8

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10997-018-9426-8

• Byrne, A.; Crossan, M. M.; Seijts, G. H., 2018, "The Development of Leader Character Through Crucible Moments", Journal of Management Education, April 42(2): 265 - 293.
  Abstract: © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. Business schools strive to develop leadership excellence in their students. In this essay, we suggest that educators should find ways to help students develop and deepen leader character, a fundamental component of exemplary leadership. Frequently, business school students have preconceived ideas of leadership, often neglecting leader character. We argue that educators can and should teach students that leader character is pivotal to leadership excellence and that they should actively develop students’ leader character. The foundational learning theories of Piaget and Kolb provide a useful framework to help achieve the development of leader character. We propose that leader character development arises from using accommodation learning strategies of crucible experiences, paired with assimilation learning methods of critical reflection, and further developed through equilibrium learning strategies where students can incorporate new information and work toward their personal character growth. While numerous teaching approaches can be used, we describe an experiential course, codesigned with members of the Canadian Forces, using these learning strategies to foster leader character development.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1052562917717292

For more publications please see our Research Database