A Target's Reaction To Sexual Harassment: An Empirical Assessment of Locus of Control, Gender, and Type of Sexual Harassment

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A target's reaction to sexual harassment: an empirical assessment of locus of

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The International Journal of Management

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Issue: 1 Volume: 1 January, 2012

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Assistant Professor - Organizational Behaviour and HRM
School of Management,KIIT University
India
Table of Content
Serial
Title Author/s Page No.
No.
1 ‘Green’ awareness and green consumption Dr Pradnya ChItrao 1
trends: a case study of pune (maharashtra), india &
Dr Asha Nagendra
2 A framework for exploring the relationship Ana L. Rosado Feger 8
between project manager leadership style and &
project success Gregg A. Thomas
3 A target’s reaction to sexual harassment: an Sean Walker 27

empirical assessment of locus of control, gender,
and type of sexual harassment
4 How the arts can demonstrate indispensability Paul Lorton, Jr. 46
5 Transformational leadership in china: the role of Wai Kwan Lau 61

trust and harmony
THE INTERNATION JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT
„GREEN‟ AWARENESS AND GREEN CONSUMPTION TRENDS: A CASE

STUDY OF PUNE (MAHARASHTRA), INDIA
Dr. Pradnya Chitrao

Associate Professor
Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS)
Dr. Asha Nagendra

Professor
Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS)
Abstract
“Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by what is above him when he
shows no mercy to what is under him?”
–Pierre Troubetzkoy
Slowly but surely, the world today is realizing why green management matters, and why it is
imperative to take a green approach to business and management. The authors wished to
investigate as to how educated Indians are trying to counter the growing environmental
issues that progress brings in its wake. 500 educated consumers from all walks of life were
selected by the random stratified method. A structured questionnaire was administered
together with a personal interview to gather primary data. Results showed that most people
were aware of sustainability and global warming mainly through social networking sites.
Majority of the respondents kept an eye on their water and electricity consumption. It was
heartening to note that not a single Puneite consumed non vegetarian food on all seven
days of the week. Most respondents went in for cfl bulbs that resulted in a saving of both
electricity and money.
 Keywords: Awareness and use of „green‟ products, Global warming, Energy saving
Vol: 1/Issue :1 www.theijm.com 1

1. Introduction
India is a land of diverse cultures each dating since ancient times. Today, in the 21 st c, it is poised for
extensive growth in all areas especially economic growth. Today, it figures prominently on the world map in
terms of business, peace talks, nuclear energy, and many other areas of global concern. It is one of the
emerging markets that developed countries are turning to for trade and business purposes. Given this
background, it is becoming necessary for India also to be part of the growing global concern about depleting
environmental resources and the global warming that is already affecting agriculture, marine life and
consequently businesses. The authors wished to find out how India is trying to counter the growing
environmental issues that progress brings in its wake. They wished to ascertain whether, Indians are aware of
the dangers of ignoring environmental sustainability issues, and if they are aware, how are they helping to
sustain a ―green environment‖. The results of the survey would be helpful for marketers and policy makers in
order to conserve natural resources and make a change in the life styles of people.
2. Going „green‟ in the corporate world
The world wide campaign to go green should not be restricted to a few citizens. a few companies have
realized that it is a win-win proposition to implement green business practices and to conduct corporate social
activities.
2.1. Bank of America, according to their corporate website has reduced by 32% the use of paper
from 2000 to 2005 even though its customer base has increased by 24%.
2.2. Dupont, which had faced the ire of green advocates, has now drastically controlled its emissions
(by 63%) of airborne carcinogens and greenhouse gases, and thereby remained ahead of the timetable set forth
in the controversial Kyoto protocol.
2.3. Coca-cola has kept three environmental goals namely, water management, eco friendly,
sustainable packaging, and climate and energy protection through community recycling programmes and
overhauling their packaging designs.
2.4. Toyota has contributed to green business by coming up with an eco friendly model namely,
Prius, the world‘s first mass-market hybrid vehicle. The environmental protection agency has crowned the
Prius and its 48mpg as the most fuel-efficient car available for purchase in the US, the UK department of
transport has also ranked Prius as the third least carbon emitting auto in the country. Keen to cement its
position as one of the world's greenest multinationals, TOYOTA has announced a major research project to
identify the most energy efficient best practices that firms should be embracing.
Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 2

2.5. Air India, India's national carrier Air India has targeted to become the first green airline
within a year's time. The company's corporate environment policy seeks to reduce carbon emission, noise and
other forms of pollution as well as reduce consumption of fuel and other natural resources. It plans to
introduce a documentation management system, and aims to go electronic with an e-filing system to cut
down on our use of paper. The company claims to have achieved carbon dioxide emission savings to the tune
of about 38 crore kilograms through various green measures. The air-carrier has already implemented the
fuel gap analysis along with international air transport association (IATA) two years ago.
2.6. Tata Motors: Through conservation, recycling, and reuse of industrial oils, Tata Motors is
reducing its oil consumption. By reclaiming the oil with ems system, it managed to reduce its oil
consumption year on year. The cumulative oil saved, on this account from 2000 to 2010, would amount to a
total greenhouse gas reduction of approximately 913 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. True to its core value of
‗passion for engineering‘, the company is a pioneer in the use of new technology in designing new processes.
Direct green management measures such as certified environmental management systems (ems) or tools like
life cycle assessment activities are considered to improve corporate environmental performance by compelling
companies to introduce environmental goals and management structures as well as programs to achieve them
(Coglianese and Nash, 2001); these same measures indirectly induce organizational learning and provide
critical environmental information (Melnyk etal.2003). Green management measures such as certified ems,
environmental labelling of products, life-cycle assessment activities, or waste disposal measures require
investments of a lot of money and personnel. Establishments with environmental capabilities will readily
undertake them. Companies which already have realized environmental product or process innovations in the
past are more likely to possess such capabilities as they have earlier overcome management barriers such as
lack of finance or know-how. The companies cited above and Indian giants like Bajaj, Wipro, etc have
separate departments that handle these aspects.
3. Research Methodology
After an exhaustive review of pertinent literature and in view of the increase of the above mentioned
incidences of pollution, the authors planned to conduct a survey on the citizens of Pune (State of
Maharashtra), India to find out whether the educated in the city at least try to make their consumption choices
of various resources and their disposal in a manner that will either eliminate or minimize global warming and
eroding of the environment. The major objective of the research was to ascertain whether Indians are aware of
the dangers of ignoring environmental sustainability issues, and if they are aware, how they are helping to
sustain a ―green environment‖. The survey was administered on stratified random sampling basis to 500
citizens of Pune in service and in management education as also software professionals. The authors intend to
back up this survey with secondary sources to prove that environmental sustenance awareness among citizens

along with consumption and disposal behaviours that are environment friendly will go a long way in
environment protection. The paper also sought to study the government regulations regarding pollution by
companies.
4. Results (Figures and tables)
Findings about Consumption Patterns among Educated Puneites
The survey conducted among the educated citizens of Pune revealed that majority of them were aware of
sustainability and global warming. The source of this information was mostly social networking sites rather
than through family. The second source of knowledge was peers. This is also depicted in Figure 1 below.
Fig 1: Sources from which the term Global Warming/Energy saving was heard
Sources from which the term Global

Warming/Energy saving was heard
Peer group
14%
Family
5%
Colleagues
6%
Media/Social
Networking
sites
75%
It also showed that most people keep an eye on their electricity bills. But a majority seemed not to closely
monitor the consumption of water unless there was a scarcity. In terms of adoption of strategies to save
environment, Puneites seem to believe strongly in saving energy in order to protect environment followed by
recycling. They also favour the use of mobile phones as against landline connection. In the unstructured
interview, they all said that mobile phones were far more convenient than landline connections and that it was
possible to contact any one even if one was away from either home or the work station. None of the five
hundred persons who answered the questionnaire stated that they ate nonvegetarian food on all seven days of
the week. Consumption of non-vegetarian food has been established to increase eco-footprint of human
beings. Human beings are also the only species on Earth to kill other living creatures for reasons other than
satiation of hunger. Figure 2 below expresses these findings diagrammatically.

Figure 2. Frequency of eating meat per week
Frequency of eating meat per week
Everyday
Six times
Five times
Four times
Thrice
Twice
Once
Never
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
The survey also showed that most pet owners in Pune (70%) fed homemade food to their pets while only 14%
fed canned food to them. A select few (10%) added health food to the diet of their pets. This indicates that a
majority of Puneites go in for controlled and green consumption for their pets.
Figure 3. Type of food fed to pets
Type of Food Fed to Pets

Health foods
Dry food 10%
6%
Canned
14%
Home made
70%
Very few said that they refused the plastic bags given in shops or carried their own cloth or paper bags.
Majority of the Puneites were found to donate their clothes though seventy percent of the persons who
answered the questionnaire never bought second hand items.

Figure 4. Diagrammatical Representation of environmental friendly measures used at home
Some environment friendly measures used at home

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Paper bags CFL bulbs Paper plates Organic Metal glass Periodic Mehendi as Attars Shikakai or
not plastic and cups colours for water bottles servicing of hair dye instead of reetha not
ones Holi vehicles perfumes Shampoos
5. Conclusion
The survey proved that the educated middle and upper class people of Pune are aware of the need to conserve
natural resources. Majority have started paying heed to the wasteful consumption of water and electricity.
Awareness of the phenomenon of global warming and the various means to conserve and protect natural
resources was evident among the respondents. Controlled consumption of animal products and plastic carry
bags as also recycling of paper and clothes proves that Puneites are becoming eco friendly. Most Puneites go
in for CFL bulbs that result in a saving of both electricity and money. Very few of them use solar panels. In
fact, if the common man refurbished his home with the latest energy saving devices, it can lead to a reduction
of 45 % to 70% energy consumption. The city is witnessing a sharp increase in the number of environment-
conscious builders as well as individuals. Yet, sustainability is still a long way off. Individuals still need to
practice more environmental friendly practices at home and at work. Car pools still do not seem to have
gained popularity in Pune albeit the rising fuel prices. Solar energy needs to be harnessed to a greater extent in
the form of solar panels for bath water and lighting during summers. In fact, India, being a tropical country,
has no dearth of sunlight throughout the year. A proper understanding of this technology is required to utiize
solar energy for various purposes.

Reference
1. Coglianese C and Nash J (eds.). 2001. Regulating from the Inside: Can Environmental Management
Systems Achieve Policy Goals? RFF Press: Washington, D.C.
2. Cogoy, M. (1999),‗„The consumer as a social and environmental factor‟‟, Ecological Economics, Vol. 28,
pp. 385-98.
3. Der Grune Punkt, 2005. The Letters of the Law. 26.1.2006. ―The Letters of the Law‖.
4. Divan, S. and Rosencranz, A. (2001), Environmental Law and Policy in India, Cases, Materials and
Statutes, Second Edition; Oxford University Press, New Delhi, India.
5. Friedman TL. ―Flush with Energy‖ Op-Ed columnist, New York Times, Aug10, 2008.
6. Matthieu Ballu and Edouard Toulouse. Coolproducts for a cool planet campaign
www.coolproducts.eu contact: matthieu@stefanscheuer.eu December 2010
7. Melnyk SA, Sroufe RP, Calantone R, 2003, Assessing the Impact of Environmental Management Systems
on Corporate and Environmental Performance, Journal of Operations Management, 21: 329-351
8. Mukhopadhyay, K. (2002), Energy Consumption Changes and CO2 Emissions in India, New Delhi: Allied
Publisher.
9. OECD Publications (2008), Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Good Practices in OECD Countries,
Vol. 2, OECD Publications, Paris, p. 7.
10. Pranay Lal and V Jha. Judicial Activism and the Environment in India: Implications for Transnational
Corporations. http://ep.lib.cbs.dk/download/ISBN/x646017607.pdf.
11. Uzzell, D. and Rathzel, N. (2008), ‗‗Changing relations in global environmental change‟‘, working paper
presented at the Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, Berlin, 22-23
February.
12. Wouter Poortinga, Linda Steg, Charles Vlek and Gerwin Wiersma. Household preferences for energy-
saving measures: A conjoint analysis. Journal of Economic Psychology. Volume 24, Issue 1, February
2003, Pages 49-64.

A FRAMEWORK FOR EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

PROJECT MANAGER LEADERSHIP STYLE AND PROJECT SUCCESS
Ana L. Rosado Feger

Management Systems Department
Ohio University College of Business
Gregg A. Thomas
Department of Management
Clemson University
Abstract
Research on the success of projects has proceeded along two streams. The first focuses on
the leadership characteristics of the individual project managers and the relationship to
success. The second focuses on the definition of project success, identifying its various
dimensions. These research streams are interrelated but not yet interconnected. This
paper presents a framework for connecting these streams, additionally proposing a
moderating effect of organizational structure on the relationship between the PM‟s
leadership style and project success.

1. Introduction
A project is defined as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service

(PMBOK, 2008). Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to plan
activities to meet the project requirements (PMBOK, 2008). For an organization, projects are a means to
respond to requests that cannot be adequately addressed within the organization‘s normal operational limits.
For example, within the context of Operations Management, the scope of projects can include new product
development, product and/or process improvement, implementations of new processing technology, and
rollouts of organization-wide initiatives such as Six Sigma, Just-in-Time, and Lean Manufacturing.
Implementing project management allows organizations to be more ―efficient, effective, and competitive in a
shifting, complex, and unpredictable environment‖ (Ika, 2009).
The project manager (PM) is the individual responsible for managing the project (PMBOK, 2008). In
order for the project to succeed, the PM must be able to apply their own knowledge and skills as well as
identify the skills and knowledge of the members of the team and coordinate their actions. The composition
of the project team can vary widely, both in terms of necessary technical and business skills and in terms of
lines of supervisory authority. PM‘s have to motivate team members as well as solve conflicts and other
problems that arise during the project. In return, the team members put forth the effort to complete the project
that is satisfactory to the client as well as on time, on budget, and with the predetermined features. The PM
serves a dual role, as both manager and leader. This research explores the role of the PM‘s leadership style on
the success of the project.
The construct of leadership has been the topic of many studies in the general management literature.
While the frameworks for describing the characteristics of a leader have evolved, the consensus is that
effective leadership is a success factor in organizations, and that an appropriate leadership style can lead to
better performance (Laohavichien, Fredendall & Cantrell, 2009; Turner & Müller, 2005; Podsakoff,
MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990). These studies and others like them have investigated the leadership
of executive management, and used executive managers as their respondents. Although executive
management leadership is important, leadership at the middle management level should not be discounted.
Middle managers are often asked to lead a variety of projects undertaken to improve the operation of the
business. They are also tasked with executing these projects through a variety of team structures and team
members. Pinto (1986) and Pinto & Slevin (1988) found that the capabilities of the people involved in
resolving extraordinary situations and unforeseen problems are an important factor for project success.
Effective project management leadership has been suggested as an important success factor on projects
(Prabhakar, 2005), while Turner & Müller (2005) state that there is a need to investigate the impact of the
individual project manager‘s (PM) leadership style on the success of their projects. However, the project
management literature has only recently begun to answer this call for action (Geoghegan & Dulewicz, 2008;
Müller & Turner, 2007; Crawford, Hobbs, & Turner, 2005).

In addition to PM leadership, an important factor to project management and project success is

organizational structure (Gray, 2001; Hyvari, 2006). Organizational structure refers to an organization's
internal pattern of relationships, authority, and communication (Hage & Aiken, 1967). Individual projects
require varying mixes of personnel and knowledge resources, including cross-functional and cross-
organizational input. When assembling the project team, the organization‘s structure determines the type and
level of authority that an individual PM will have over team members and individual resources.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to describe the constructs and variables relevant
to explaining the impact of individual project managers‘ leadership styles on the various dimensions of project
success. In addition, we explore the possibility that organizational or team structures moderate the effect of
the PM‘s leadership style on project success. This framework is proposed as part of the process of reconciling
leadership and project management theory. As Avolio (2007, p. 25) says: ―Leadership theory and research
has reached a point in its development at which it needs to move to the next level of integration— considering
the dynamic interplay between leaders and followers, taking into account the prior, current, and emerging
context—for continued progress to be made in advancing both the science and practice of leadership.‖
The framework adds to the leadership literature by addressing leadership at a tactical rather than
strategic level of the organization. By investigating leadership at the middle management level, we explore
the differential effect of leadership style at lower hierarchical levels of the organization. Finally, this
framework attempts to tie together the separate project management research streams by investigating the
moderating effect of organizational structure on the relationship between the individual project manager‘s
leadership style and the success of projects. The paper concludes with the potential implications for project
management research, project managers, and organizational leaders.
The rest of the paper will be organized as follows. The first section reviews the literature on
leadership, organizational structure, project management, and project success. Following the literature review
is a description of the proposed framework and relevant propositions based on the current state of knowledge.
Finally, the discussion section lists possible avenues for future study.
2. Literature review
2.1. The Evolution of Leadership Models
Throughout the past century, scholars sought to analyze and describe the characteristics of leadership.
Barnard (1938) proposed that executives had both managerial and emotional functions, which he called
cognitive and cathectic. Cognitive functions include guiding, directing, and correcting. Cathectic functions
include motivating and developing commitment to the organization‘s goals. Since his seminal work, six main
schools of leadership can be identified, as summarized in Table 1.
As noted by Van Maurik (2001), these schools are neither mutually exclusive nor time-bound:

―Although it is true that the progression of thinking tends to follow a sequential path, it is quite
possible for elements of one generation to crop up much later in the writings of someone who would
not normally think of himself or herself as being of that school. Consequently, it is fair to say that
each generation has added something to the overall debate on leadership and that the debate
continues.‖ (van Maurik, 2001: 3)
For example, Clarke (2010) found that Emotional Intelligence is positively associated with both Project
Manager Competences and Transformational Leadership, after controlling for both personality and general
mental ability. Verma & Wideman (2000) argue that project managers are often called to be both managers
and leaders. That is, they are responsible for not only directing and coordinating human and material
resources (managing) but also providing vision and motivation to the team members (leadership). Recent
research on teams and their productivity highlights the critical role that leadership plays in getting productivity
from a heterogeneous team (Thomas & Bendoly, 2009). The temporary, dynamic, and often uncertain nature
of projects and project management challenge established ―definitions‖ of leadership and management. We
address this challenge by proposing a comprehensive model of project management leadership.
Table 1. Summary of Leadership Frameworks (condensed from Turner and Müller 2005).
Leadership Main Tenet(s) Leader Characteristics Representative Studies

School
Trait Leaders are born Drive/ambition Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991

Desire to lead Turner, 1999
Integrity
Self-confidence
Technical knowledge
Behavioral or Leaders can be made Concern for people Slevin, 1989
Style Use of authority Hershey & Blanchard,1988
Concern for production
Team involvement
Flexibility toward rules
Contingency: Different circumstances Directive leaders House, 1971
Path-goal require different Supportive leaders
approaches Participative leaders
Achievement-oriented leaders.
Visionary Individual leads by either Transformational and Bass 1990
controlling or inspiring Transactional Leaders
Emotional Emotional intelligence Self-awareness Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee,
Intelligence more important that Self-management 2002
intellectual capability Social awareness
Relationship management
Competency Leaders exhibit a variety of Three types of competence: Dulewicz & Higgs, 2004
relevant competencies, Intellectual
both innate personal Managerial skill
characteristics and learned Emotional
behaviors.

In 1978, Burns published a seminal work introducing the concepts of transactional and
transformational leadership. Transactional leadership refers to a relationship between leader and follower in
which each attempt to meet their own self-interests. Transactional leaders view leadership as an exchange of
one thing for another (Burns, 1978). Transactional leaders use contingent rewards or corrective action to
influence the follower to perform in the manner required by the leader. For example, a reward is given to the
follower if the follower performs the tasks required by the leader to the leader‘s satisfaction.
Transformational leadership involves moving the followers beyond their self-interests and towards the
accomplishment of team goals. Transformational leadership elevates the follower‘s ideals from self-
satisfaction to the well-being of others and the organization (Bass, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1990).
Transformational leadership has been proposed as the more successful style of leadership in quality
management (Dean & Bowen, 1994). Laohavichien et al (2009) investigated transformational and
transactional leadership and determined that they are conceptually and measurably different than top
management support, and that these different leadership styles impact infrastructure quality practices.
Anderson et al (1995) and Rungtusanatham et al (1998) determined that visionary (i.e. transformational)
leadership has an impact on both cooperation (internal and external) and learning. Bass & Avolio (1990) state
that individual leaders display both transformational and transactional leadership characteristics, but have
measurable preferences for one or the other. Howell & Avolio (1993) found that transformational leadership
is more highly correlated with performance and motivation of subordinates. However, other researchers have
found relationships between transactional components of the MLQ and leadership effectiveness (Tejeda et al
2001; Avolio & Howell, 1992; Yammarino & Bass, 1990).
Transformational and transactional leadership have been operationalized as multi-dimensional

constructs (Bass, 1985; Bass & Avolio, 1990; Podsakoff et al., 1990). The most widely used instrument to
assess transformational and transactional leadership is the Multifactor leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)
developed by Bass & Avolio (1990). Using this instrument, researchers commonly represent transformational
and transactional leadership as second-order latent constructs, reflected by a series of first-order constructs.
Although it is widely used, factor analyses of the MLQ have been inconsistent in dimensional structure
(Tejeda et al, 2001). Podsakoff et al (2003) suggest that one possible reason is that the original reflective
factor model was mis-specified, and that transformational and transactional leadership might both be better
represented as second-order constructs with first-order constructs as formative rather than reflective indicators
(i.e.—composite latent variable models). Although this makes it more difficult to estimate the model
(MacCallum & Browne, 1993), a formative model may more accurately reflect the nature of leadership
indicators. As described by Podsakoff et al (2003) modeling a latent construct using reflective indicators
requires that:
1. The indicators are caused by the latent construct.

2. The indicators are interchangeable (as the latent construct is assumed to be unidimensional).

3. The indicators covary.

4. The indicators have the same antecedents and consequences.
The dimensions of transformational and transactional leadership do not meet these four requirements.
Although a discussion of the psychometric implications of this situation is beyond the scope of this paper, we
mention the issue to preface our formative project management leadership framework. The next sections
define and describe constructs that are posited as antecedents to the project manager‘s leadership style.
2.2. Emotional intelligence
Clarke (2010) defines emotional intelligence as the ability to reason about a particular type of
information, namely emotional information. Mayer & Salovey (1997, p. 10) define emotional intelligence as
―the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings
when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to
regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth.‖ According to Turner & Müller (2005), the
emotional intelligence school has become more popular since the 1990‘s. Over the past twenty years,
researchers have found that these cognitive abilities regarding emotions can be associated with work-related
behaviors, particularly leadership (Clarke, 2010; Rosette & Ciarrochi, 2005; Barling, Slater, & Kelloway,
2000). Proponents of this school believe that a leader‘s emotional intelligence has a greater impact on
success than the leader‘s intellectual capability (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). Within project
management, Druskat & Druskat (2006) suggest that the nature and characteristics of projects place a
premium on the emotional intelligence of project managers. Within the time limitations of a project, the
project manager must quickly create trust and commitment among the team members, facilitate knowledge
transfer, deal with ambiguity and change, and manage conflict. These roles are facilitated by emotional
intelligence competences.
Studies of emotional intelligence within project management have shown significant positive correlations with
effective leadership, particularly transformational leadership. Clarke (2010) takes these findings one step
further and finds significant positive correlations between emotional intelligence and project management
competences (conflict management and teamwork), and between emotional intelligence and two dimensions
of transformational leadership, even after controlling for both cognitive ability and personality. This finding
suggests that emotional intelligence may be an antecedent of transformational leadership. It is difficult to
envision a leader who can successfully inspire his or her followers beyond self-interest unless the leader can
accurately gauge their emotions and understands how to appeal to their better selves.
2.3. Temporal Skills
Timely completion is one of the key performance measures for projects (Cooke-Davies, 2002; Morris
& Hough, 1987). While many sources of delays are beyond the control of the project manager, an individual
PM‘s orientation towards the concept of time, or time alignment, can affect his or her abilities to complete a
project by a specified deadline (Thomas & Pinto, 1999; Thomas & Greenberger, 1995). Project management

requires that the individual in charge of a project focus on several timelines simultaneously. In the longer-
term, the PM must create and communicate a vision for the project team. Future-oriented PM‘s excel at
creating compelling visions and contingency plans for a wide variety of potential pitfalls. On the other hand,
future-facing PM‘s can have trouble dealing with the day-to-day implementation of the project plan, resulting
in frustration and project failure. According to Thoms & Pinto (1999), the nature of project management
requires that individuals in PM roles have well-developed temporal skills, including time warping (the ability
to bring past or future events to bear on the present), creating a future vision (creating a cognitive image of the
future), chunking time (the ability to break down time into manageable sections that are then assigned to
tasks), polychronicity (temporal multitasking, or, simultaneously managing multiple non-synchronized
timelines), predicting (formulating estimates of the future events), and recapturing the past (reflecting on past
events and using them to inform future decisions). Project management requires the project leader to exercise
each of these skills at particular milestones during the project‘s life cycle.
2.4 Organizational Structure
As mentioned previously, organizational structure may have an impact on the relationship between
the leadership style of the project manager and the success of the project. The organization‘s established
patterns of relationships and communication affect the process of selection of the project team as well as the
level and type of authority of the project manager over the individual team members (PMBOK, 2008). A
project manager must work within the constraints of the organizational structure. Hence, the individual‘s
leadership style may be suited to some structures better than others. Cooke-Davies et al (2009) suggest that
the success of project management (and by extension, the success of the individual project managers) depends
on the level of ―fit‖ between the organization‘s strategy and their organizational context. In following with
the conceptualization of ―fit‖ between context and strategy, organizational structure is presented within the
current framework as a moderator for the relationship between leadership style and project success.
The Project Management literature identifies five common organizational structures: functional,
weak matrix, balanced matrix, strong matrix, and projectized (Larson & Gobeli, 1987; Kuprenas, 2003). Each
of these structures has a different impact on the authority of the project manager, the nature of the project
manager‘s role, and the team selection process. Gray (2001) found that the team structure of projects tended
to match the structure of the organization. For the purposes of the proposed framework, team structure will be
the equivalent of organizational structure.
The simplest team structure found in the project management literature is the functional team. The
functional team is a hierarchy where each employee or team member belongs to a functional area of the
business (i.e. accounting, marketing, production) and has one clear superior to whom they report. In this type
of structure, the project manager has little or no supervisory authority over the team members (PMBOK,
2008). The individual functional managers have primary responsibility for the specific segments of the

project that require the resources of their functional area. This means that the project manager must work with
the functional managers in executing the project as well as in the selection of team members. Often within
this organizational structure, the project manager has additional function-specific responsibilities beyond the
leadership role for the potentially multi-functional project. The project manager in this type of organizational
structure is more of a coordinator than a true project manager and is often given the title of Project
Coordinator or Project Leader.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the projectized organizational structure. In a projectized
organization, team members are often collocated. Team members may be from different functional
departments of the firm, but they all report directly to the project manager or provide support services to
various projects (PMBOK, 2008). Thus, the project manager has a great deal of independence and authority
in this structure as well as considerable input in the selection of team members. The project manager works
full-time as a project manager and moves sequentially though project assignments. In this type of structure,
project managers generally have the title of Project Manager or Program Manager.
Matrix organizations are a blend of the functional and projectized organizations. The first type of
matrix organization is the functional matrix. In a functional matrix organization, team members involved in
the project remain under the control of their functional manager, who in turn retains control over the
functional resources. The project manager is formally designated to oversee the project across different
functional areas. Therefore, the project manager has limited authority over the project team and primarily
plans and coordinates the project (Larson & Gobeli, 1987). In a functional matrix structure, the PM is again a
part-time project manager and is usually give the title of Project Leader or Project Coordinator.
The second type of matrix structure is the balanced matrix. In a balanced matrix, the functional
manager and the project manager share the responsibility for the project resources. Under this structure,
project managers are assigned to oversee the project and interact on an equal basis with functional managers.
The project manager has low to moderate authority over the project team and they usually work full-time as a
project manager. Functional managers and project managers jointly direct project work and approve technical
and operational decisions (Larson & Gobeli, 1987).
Finally, the third matrix structure is the project matrix. In a project matrix, the project manager is
fully responsible for oversight and completion of the project. The project manager has moderate to high
authority over the team members. Functional managers only help assign resources and technical expertise on
an as-needed basis. The project manager works full-time on projects and is given the title of Project Manager
in this type of structure (Larson & Gobeli, 1987).

2.5. Other Contextual Factors
Prior research has established that the environmental context within which a project is implemented
has an impact on the determinants of project success. Collyer & Warren (2009) study the challenge of project
management under conditions of high dynamism, concluding that contingent rewards (i.e. transactional
leadership) are counter-productive in this environment. Cooke-Davies (2003) investigated the effect of
organizational project management maturity in the development of an ―optimal‖ project management process
within a pharmaceutical organization. Dulewicz & Higgs (2004) study the impact of leadership style on
project success within the context or varying levels of organizational volatility. Scott-Young & Samson
(2008) explore the impact of clear organizational goals and top management support on the success of
projects. Although researchers have studied the project manager‘s leadership style and its impact on project
success, as well as organizational structure and its relationship to project success, out literature search
revealed only one study which linked both of these research streams. Hyvari (2006) studied the prevalence of
various organizational structures and the use of the various leadership behaviors, as defined within the
Managerial Practices Survey and their correlation with measure of project manager effectiveness. However,
there was not attempt to connect these two influences in order to determine whether the organizational
structure moderated the effects of leadership, as modeled within our framework.
2.6 “Success” in Project Management
Although much has been written in the project management literature about ―project success,‖ a clear
definition of this term remains elusive (Ika, 2009; Wells, 1998; Pinto & Slevin, 1988). Part of the problem
stems from the variety of perspectives that can come into play when assessing the outcome of a project. Each
stakeholder group applies its own standards when judging; therefore the same project can be both a
resounding success and an abysmal failure, depending on which stakeholder is evaluating the project‘s
outcome (Fincham, 2002; Lim & Mohamed, 1999). Further complicating matters, Hazebroucq (1993) has
pointed out that there is a ―percussion effect‖: projects perceived as failures at launch can later be considered
successes, whereas those considered successful at launch can turn out to be catastrophic failures. The PM‘s
are often caught in the middle, because the success of their careers and of their organizations depends in large
part on the perceived ―success‖ of the projects that these individuals have managed (Ika, 2009). In particular,
it is difficult to identify and quantify how an individual PM can affect the outcome of the projects that he or
she manages.
In a general sense, success can be framed in terms of two elements: efficiency and effectiveness.
Efficiency refers to the degree to which an organization ―does things right‖, maximizing outputs for the given
inputs. Effectiveness, on the other hand, refers to the degree to which an organization ―does the right thing,‖
performing the necessary actions to attain the project‘s goals (Belout, 1998).

In terms of project management, we can relate efficiency to the evaluation of success thru the lens of
the traditional ―triangle of virtue‖: time, cost, and quality (Jugdev & Müller, 2005; Pinto & Slevin, 1988). A
significant research effort has been dedicated to the development of tools and techniques to achieve control
over these three criteria (Belassi & Turkel, 1996). While these three elements are important considerations,
they do not by themselves guarantee that a project will be considered ―successful.‖ Examples abound of
projects that were delivered on time, within budget, and to specifications, only to be considered failures after
their launch. Effectiveness is more nuanced because it is a subjective measure. Researchers have addressed
this issue by incorporating measures of ―satisfaction‖, including client satisfaction, end user satisfaction, and
stakeholder satisfaction (Lim & Mohamed, 1999). These success criteria (time, cost, quality, and satisfaction)
drive the evaluation of project outcomes.
In addition to the project outcomes, the career success of the PM depends on their ability to influence
the project‘s processes. Cooke-Davies (2002) identifies three dimensions of project success: (1) project
success; (2) project management process success; and (3) consistency of success over multiple projects.
Researchers have not neglected this issue. A number of critical success factors have been identified and
described and critical success factor frameworks developed (Lim & Mohamed, 1999; Clarke, 1999; Morris &
Hough, 1987). Clarke (1999) identified effective communication, clear objectives, dividing the project into
manageable components, and using project plans as critical project success factors. Pinto & Slevin (1988)
developed a comprehensive list of success factors, including project mission, top management support, project
schedules/plan, client consultation, personnel, technical tasks, client acceptance, monitoring and feedback,
troubleshooting, communication, characteristics of the project team leader (emphasis added), power and
politics, environmental events, and urgency.
In a recent review on the study of project success in project management journals, Ika (2009) note that
although there is considerable research on success criteria and critical success factors, there is a gap in
studying the link between the two. The proposed framework attempts to bridge this gap with regard to the
leadership style of the project manager. Previously, Turner & Müller (2005), reviewed leadership and its use
in project management studies, concluding that there is not enough research done on the impact of leadership
styles on project success. Many project management studies investigate the critical success factors to projects
(Belout, 1998; Baccarini 1999; Jugdev and Müller, 2005) and project failures (Linberg, 1999; Dilts & Pence,
2005). Other studies investigated the political skill of project managers (Graham, 1996) and the vision of
project managers (Christenson & Walker, 2004). As documented by Turner & Müller (2005), the Project
Management Institute has called for more research to investigate how the project manager, including through
his or her leadership style, affects project success. The proposed framework addresses this question while
acknowledging that characteristics of the organizational structure will have an impact on this relationship.

3. Conceptual framework
Figure 1. Conceptual Model
Having defined the elements of our framework, we illustrate it in Figure 1. As stated previously, the
constructs in this proposed model have been studied independently. The contribution of this framework is to
provide a connection between these research streams. The framework incorporates the findings of leadership
theorists and project management scholars within a contingency approach as described by Ika (2009). As
examples of testable relationships, we formulate the following propositions:
Proposition 1: The PM‘s leadership style is influenced by the individual‘s personal traits, acquired
technical skills, his or her level of emotional intelligence, and his or her level of temporal skills.
Management literature has shown that the most effective leaders have both ―hard‖ and ―soft‖ skills.
The Transformational/Transactional model implicitly acknowledges the presence of characteristics and/or
behaviors that overlap conceptually with the competences associated with emotional intelligence. Time
orientation influences the leader‘s choice of tasks (Thoms & Pinto, 1999). The Multifactor Leadership
Questionnaire developed by Bass & Avolio (1990) to measure Transformational and Transactional leadership
has been evaluated repeatedly. However, the development of a manageable number of supplemental items
relating to emotional intelligence and temporal skills will be required to test this relationship.
Proposition 1a: A ―future‖ time orientation is more consistent with a Transformational leadership
style.
Individuals with a future time orientation can clearly envision the final product and provide a
compelling target for their subjects, skills generally associated with Transformational leadership. However, it
is possible that the myriad details of the actual implementation stretch their capacity to process the
information, and hence this can be a risk factor for project failure.

Proposition 2: In organizational structures where the PM has little or no authority over the team
(Functional, Functional Matrix), Transformational leadership will have greater impact on project
success and project management process success than in those structures where the PM has more
authority.
In the absence of supervisory authority over team members, the PM cannot resort to contingent
rewards, as they are not within his or her purview. The best recourse is to create a compelling vision and
motivate team members to ―buy into‖ the project. Prior research has established that Transformational
leadership has a greater effect on project success, this proposition adds to that research by considering the
moderating influence of organizational structure.
Proposition 3: Transactional Leadership will have a greater impact on project management process
success than on project success.
The creation and delivery of the project deliverable is a process of creative problem-solving and the
creation of a unique product or service. In contrast, managing the project management process requires
monitoring budgets and timelines, which are more amenable to management by contingent reward. While
both success outcomes are influenced by both forms of leadership, Transactional leadership‘s ―carrot and
stick‖ approach may be more suited for the day-to-day detail orientation and process management required to
deliver a project on schedule and within budget.
Proposition 4: The PM‘s leadership style will have less explanatory value for projects within the
Functional and Functional Matrix organizational structures.
An important determinant of success when exercising leadership is appropriate use of the power of
authority. Unfortunately, PM‘s in a Functional and Functional Matrix structure do not wield authority over
their team members. Because of this, it would be expected that in these environments, the PM‘s leadership
style would explain less of the variance in performance than in those organizational structures where the PM
has more authority.
Proposition 5: The PM‘s leadership style will have a significant impact on the Consistency of
Success.
Although the success of an individual project may be beyond the ability of an individual project
manager to accomplish, over time the individuals who develop appropriate leadership competencies and
leadership style should demonstrate a more consistent pattern of success. This pattern would help to identify
the types of projects for which the individual PM is particularly well-suited, as well as those for which he or
she may not be suited. Consistency of Success is a key element for both individual and organizational
success; hence this is a key area of investigation for this proposed framework.

4. Conclusions
The purpose of this paper was to propose a framework describing the relationship between project
manager leadership and three dimensions of project success. It proposes that leadership will have a positive
relationship with project and project management process success. It also proposes that organizational
structure may have a moderating impact on the relationship between project manager leadership behavior and
project success. We approach the issue from a contingency perspective: due to the uniqueness of each project
and project management environment, a single ―best‖ style probably does not exist. Our model seeks to
address at least one of the important contingencies: organizational structure.
The proposed framework contributes to the project management literature in three ways. First, for
researchers it is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature between project manager leadership and project
success, particularly in consideration of the organizational context. Secondly, it extends leadership theory by
applying it to a lower management level than previously done. Finally, it could be used as a springboard for a
wide-scale survey to test the relationship of project manager leadership and project success and make the
theory more generalizable.
For practitioners, this study could indicate the importance of leadership style on different dimensions
of project success. This would give practitioners a guideline as to what behaviors may help them make their
project a success. Secondly, this research could provide useful knowledge as to what leadership behaviors
work best in different organizational structures. Therefore, project managers could identify which leadership
behaviors they should employ depending on the organizational structure in which they are working. Finally,
testing these relationships may assist organizational managers in assigning individual PM‘s to projects and
teams for which they are well suited due to their leadership style, hence enhancing the success of the
organization as a whole.

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A TARGET‟S REACTION TO SEXUAL HARASSMENT: AN EMPIRICAL

ASSESSMENT OF LOCUS OF CONTROL, GENDER, AND TYPE OF SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
Sean Walker
Lecturer
University of Tennessee at Martin
Abstract
Research suggests that the propensity of sexual harassment is linked to the

association of power the initiator derives from it. The current research analyzes
individual‟s reactions to ten sexual harassment scenarios to assess if reactions to
sexual harassment are shaped by gender of the initiator, type of sexual harassment,
and locus of control. Results show that reactions and their magnitude to sexually
harassing behavior were impacted by the respondent‟s gender, sex of the harasser,
same sex versus opposite sex harassment, and whether or not the harassment was
quid pro quo or hostile work environment. Research and applied implications are
discussed.

1. Introduction
Sexual harassment is one of the most harmful and impacting forms of counterproductive behaviors in
the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2007) defines it as ―Unwelcome sexual
advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual
harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably
interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work
environment (1).‖ Informally, or perhaps prototypically, it is thought of as an unwelcome physical or verbal
act made by an aggressor (man) against a target (woman) that interferes with the target‘s work.
Sexual harassment should no longer be thought of solely as an act made by men against women rather
as Stockdale (2004) discusses, sexual harassment can also be woman vs. man or same-sex. In fact, 16% of
sexual harassment charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were filed by men in 2007,
whereas the number was 11.6% in 1997 (2007). Prior research has discussed the distinction between men and
women in their perceptions of sexual harassment (Gruber, 1992; O‘Connor, Gutek, Stockdale, & Geer, 2004;
Williams & Cyr, 1992). Perhaps men are being harassed more as women assert their role in the workplace or
maybe these acts have been occurring for some time but the same social norms that fuel men‘s sexual
harassment of women have shifted to become more accepting of men admitting they are targets themselves.
Berdahl (2007) found that women experienced more sexual harassment than men, not because of the
frequency of the behaviors toward women, but because women evaluated the behaviors more negatively.
Furthermore, Stockdale, O‘Connor, Gutek, and Geer (2002) showed that women had higher prior sexual
harassment and sexual abuse scores, which subsequently correlated with higher ratings of currently being
sexually harassed.
The research conducted here is positioned to measure ones reaction to sexual harassment.
Specifically, I look to see if ones reactions to sexual harassment are shaped by the gender of the initiator, the
type of sexual harassment, and ones locus of control. As such the paper is broken up into the following four
sections. The first section reviews the sexual harassment literature, specifically, person/situation factors. The
second section reviews the locus of control literature and begins to piece together its relevance with sexual
harassment. The third section introduces the theoretical framework and subsequent empirical examination of
the abovementioned variables. The last section discusses the practical and empirical implications in the future.
2. Person & situation factors
Bandura‘s social learning theory of aggression (1978) states that aggressive behavior builds from
multiple factors including the social norms that endorse the act (Situation), the proclivities of the individual
(Person), and the presence of the target (Situation). Pryor (1995) also concluded that there are two factors
affecting the frequency and severity of sexual harassment in the workplace: person and situation factors. The

first factor, person, has received a lot of attention over the past 15 years as social psychologists try to profile
sexual initiators. What are their behaviors and personality traits? Pryor (1987) developed a scale to measure
the likelihood an individual will sexually harass. The Likelihood to Sexually Harass (LSH) scale contains 10
hypothetical scenarios describing different interactions between men and women where the man has power
over an attractive female. The male respondent is asked to rate the likelihood they would engage in acts of
sexual harassment (e.g., granting a female subordinate‘s request in return for a sexual favor). For example,
one scenario has the respondent imagine they are a Hollywood director casting a minor role, which calls for a
stunning actress with a lot of sex appeal. The questions ask the respondent to rate the likelihood they would
give the role to the actress they found sexiest, would give the role for sexual favors, or would ask the actress
to dinner in order to discuss it.
Previous research (Pryor & Meyers, 2000; Lee, Gizzarone, & Ashton, 2003) has utilized the Big Five
measures of conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, and neuroticism to
develop a link between personality and the aggressive behavior. Lee, Gizzarone, and Ashton (2003) found that
Honesty-Humility, defined by adjectives that distinguish sincerity and trustworthiness from deceit, greed, and
conceit, have a stronger relation with LSH than any of the Big Five measures. Since this new trait can be
viewed as the tendency to take advantage or exploit others, and sexual harassment could be viewed as an
egregious act of exploitation, the practical importance of this finding is significant. This does not mean a
questionnaire should be developed to assess this measure and those low in Honesty-Humility should be
immediately discarded. Doing so would be foolish on the part of the organization since there is a second
factor that may influence sexual harassment more than the proclivity of man which will be discussed in the
next section. Rather the organization may use this as a tool to identify potential problems and implement
intensive sexual harassment training.
The situational factor seems to be the catalyst behind the act of sexual harassment. A study from
Pryor (1987) found that men high in LSH exploited an excuse provided by the task environment of teaching a
confederate how to putt a golf ball in order to touch a woman in a sexual way, whereas in a condition in which
the male participant was to teach a female confederate how to play poker, which had no norms for touching,
no touching, sexual or otherwise, took place. Those men with a low LSH did not utilize the opportunity in
either situation to touch the female confederates in a sexual way. This supports the assertion of the Person X
Situation model (Pryor, LaVite, & Stoller, 1993) that certain dispositions may create the potential for sexually
harassing behavior to occur in some men, but men are still unlikely to follow through unless the norms of the
situation endorses or condones the behavior. In other words, he will control his proclivity if he feels the cost
of sexually harassing a co-worker is too extreme (i.e. getting caught and disciplined). Social norms in the
workplace foster this behavior when management does not enforce sexual harassment policies. This indicates
to the initiator that it is socially permissible to sexually harass a co-worker.

3. Hypotheses development
3.1 Same Sex Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment has commonly been thought of as an opposite gender targeted behavior. As noted
by Stockdale (2004) sexual harassment must also be considered from the perspective of men being harassed,
and genders being harassed by a same gendered initiator. In other words, scholars and practitioners must move
beyond the narrow definition of sexual harassment where a man harasses a female and acknowledge that
women can and do harass men and that both men and women are targeted by their same gender. Research has
found that when harassed, men are more frequently harassed by other men, not women (e.g., Dubois, Knapp,
Faley, & Kustis, 1998; Magley, Waldo, Drasgow, & Fitzgerald, 1999; Mazer & Percival, 1989; Pellegrini,
2001). Dubois et al., (1998) found that men are more likely to be sexually harassed by a same sexed individual
than women. Specifically they found that 35% of male respondents experienced same sex sexual harassment
whereas only 1% of women faced same sex sexual harassment. Scholars on the subject argue that men
experience it more often because it is used as a method for ridiculing those individuals not perceived to fit to
the societal expectations of individuals within the firm (Berdahl, Magley, & Waldo, 1996; Burgess & Borgida,
1999; Stockdale, Gandolfo, & Schneider, 2001). Because these traditional male expectations or gender norms
are commonly linked with homophobia (Herek, 1986; Herek, 1988; Sinn, 1997; Stark, 1991) they generally
feel a strong pressure to assert themselves in a more forceful manner (Goldberg & Zhang, 2004; Herek, 1988)
in order to halt the assumptions that they may be a homosexual and, at the same time, reinforce their
―manhood‖. In other words, ―being harassed by other men may be particularly threatening to the masculine
identity (Stockdale, 1999: 634).‖
Hypothesis 1: Men will be more likely than women to respond more assertively (protest more) when
harassed by a same sex initiator than women.
4. Locus of control
The concept of locus of control was developed by Rotter (1966) stemming from his social learning
theory (1954). Locus of control refers to the ―generalized expectancy‖ of an individual to be able to control
the outcomes in one‘s life (Rotter, 1966). To the extent that an individual feels that the outcomes are within
one‘s own control, they are termed an internal. On the other hand, if an individual feels that the outcomes of
life are controlled by fate, luck, and chance; they are termed an external.
Locus of control can be measured through the use of several scales. ―The most widely used
instrument‖ is Rotter‘s (1966) Internal-External scale (Spector, 1982: 482). The scale consists of 29 paired
items, six of which are filler items, in a forced-choice format. Although originally scored by summing the
total number of externally oriented responses from each pair, the scale is now also being scored by internally

oriented responses. Based on the 23 valid items on the scale, scores range from 0-23. If the scale is assessed
externally, then the higher the score on the scale, the more external the individual is.
The application of locus of control to an organizational context has drawn much attention in the past
33 years (Giles, 1977; Phares, 1976; Muhonen & Torkelson, 2004; O‘Brien, 1983; and Spector, 1982;
Spector, 1988). Giles (1977) found that locus of control moderated the relation between need satisfaction and
volunteering among female factory workers that were administered several questionnaires, including a
shortened Rotter I-E Scale and a measure of satisfaction with higher order needs. Phares (1976) notes that
individuals with an internal locus of control performed better in learning and problem-solving situations.
Specifically, he cites the findings of Seeman and Evans (1962) that internal patients suffering from
tuberculosis sought greater information about their condition. Because of this increased level of information
seeking, they knew more about their own condition, and exhibited less satisfaction with the information they
hospital was relaying to them about their condition than external patients. This higher level of performance by
internals is reflected in the notion that internals try to control their work settings, especially the flow of
information. This allows the individual to perform at a higher level because they control relevant information
in the decision making and problem-solving processes.
Rotter‘s I-E scale serves as a global measure for the assessment of locus of control. In order to more
accurately assess locus of control in environments that tailor to an organizational context, Spector (1988)
developed the work locus of control scale. The work locus of control scale, also referred to as the WLCS, is a
domain-specific measure of locus of control that focuses on organizational settings. Domain-specific measures
such as the work locus of control are often considered to be more accurate predictors than the global measure
of locus of control Blau, 1993; Orpen, 1992) including Phares (1976) who recommended the development of
domain-specific measures because they would enhance the predictiveness of locus of control when compared
with Rotter‘s (1966) global I-E scale. Specifically, Phares states that ―a general measure of locus of control
allows us to describe each individual‘s ‗average‘ locus of control attributes over many situations. The wider
the range of the situations, the less predictive the concept will be (1976: 46).‖ Essentially, the premise is that
the I-E scale may adequately assess generalized scenarios but when utilizing the scale to assess specific,
unique, and individualized scenarios, the reliability of the scale becomes suspect. Some organizational
outcomes or rewards assessed by the scale are promotions, raises and career progress (Spector, 1988). When
analyzing the effects of locus of control in an organizational context Muhonen & Torkelson (2004) found that
those employees with an external work locus of control had higher levels of work related stress, lower levels
of job satisfaction and were more prone to symptoms of ill-health.
The next important step in relating locus of control to an organizational context is the identification of
situations in which locus of control negatively impacts behaviors. Specifically, it is important to diagnose
counterproductive behaviors that may be exhibited by employees or supervisors to someone that they hold
power over. For instance, Mitchell, Smyser, and Weed (1975) found that supervisors considered to be external

according to Rotter‘s I-E scale were more likely to view coercion and formal position as the most effective
ways to make subordinates perform their job. On the other hand, internal supervisors were more likely to view
rewards, expertise, and respect as the proper means for motivating employees. Furthermore, Perlow and
Latham (1993) administered the Rotter (1966) Locus of Control Scale to 312 employees at five state-
supported mental retardation facilities. They found that client abusers, those workers that commit
inappropriate physical action toward a person with mental retardation, had higher external locus of control
scores than those employees that did not commit client abuse. This finding supported the hypothesis posited
by the author that those with an internal locus of control are less likely to commit client abuse than those
individuals with an external locus of control.
4.1. The Target of Sexual Harassment
Now that a foundation has been laid to illustrate the severity of the issue, it is important to continue
the process of better understanding what causes sexual harassment in the workplace or perhaps what makes it
so prevalent. In the following sections, I will propose that the reaction of the target of sexual harassment is
determined by their locus of control.
The target of sexual harassment has two options once they have been harassed: ignore it or fight it.
Most targets decide to ignore what has been done to them. Why? Do they fear retaliation? Is there precedent
established in the social norms that it will go unpunished? Perhaps management has a ―don‘t bother me
attitude.‖ Or it could be because the initiator stripped the target of their dignity and control in their own life.
All but the latter will be discussed in the next section when we look at the behaviors of management. For now,
the focus is on the loss of control by the target. The target may lose their will to fight because of experiencing
the harassing behavior. Even if they had an internal locus of control before the heinous act, they may have
shifted toward an external locus after this. Perhaps, since they could not protect themselves while it happened,
they do not feel they can protect themselves now. Essentially, the target perceives that they are incapable of
processing the required information to predict, avoid, and defend against sexually harassing behavior. In fact,
Phares (1976) found that internals are more likely to perform better in such situations where the control of
information is pertinent to problem-solving. If the target believes that the act is likely to occur again, the target
may experience fear and anxiety, resulting in a sense of helplessness (Klein & Seligman, 1976) and a resulting
withdrawal from the situation or company.
The target might also ignore what happened because they strive to be accepted. For instance, many
cases of sexual harassment go unreported in the military (O‘Leary-Kelly, Paetzold, & Griffin, 2000), police
departments, and manufacturing jobs because the women want to assert their place with ―the men‖. They feel
they must put up with these acts in order to be accepted. Essentially, they will ―tough it out‖, allow the
harassment to continue for now, and eventually the men will either get bored or the women will prove
themselves resulting in the harassment ceasing. This decision reflects a distorted view of control over the

influences or outcomes in one‘s life. Essentially, the targets in these situations are taking control of their
outcomes by not doing anything. Their inaction is what will finally gain them acceptance in the workplace by
their male counterparts.
Hypothesis 2: Targets with an internal locus of control will tolerate more sexually harassing
behavior when it is perceived as a requirement to being accepted in the workplace.
Another option the target has is to fight it. This does not necessarily mean physically assaulting the
assailant, although some may say the initiator has it coming, but instead fighting simply refers to protesting
the treatment the target has been subjected to. This may be done by reporting the act to the initiator, a co-
worker, management, human resources, the police, or even an outsider of the company (friend/family
member, pastor/priest, or government agency like the EEOC). This indicates a willingness to seize control
after it was stripped from the target. This signifies an internal locus of control because there is an assumption
that the target is able to affect the outcomes they experience by taking action. This important step of rising up
and taking back control can be seen by the internal female employee who files a complaint to management
about sexually harassing behavior that she has been subjected to and lets the initiator know that the act will
not be tolerated.
Hypothesis 3: A target with an internal locus of control will be more likely to protest against
initiators of sexual harassment.
Lucero, Allen, & Middleton (2006) showed that most initiators‘ behavior tends to decrease in severity
once they have been disciplined. This illustrates the importance of, for no matter what reason, allowing this
act to go uncontested. The result of fighting the harassment will vary from case to case, but the result is not as
important as the act of fighting when compared to the alternative (e.g. ignoring the situation and letting it go
unchecked).
The two choices that a target has after she has experienced sexual harassment can do a lot toward
preventing or, at least, lessening the frequency and severity of sexual harassment in the future. It can call the
attention of management or outside agencies that will curb the act or it may have an effect on the initiator.
O‘Leary-Kelly, Paetzold, and Griffin (2000) proposed that the targets‘ responses following sexual harassment
will be interpreted by the initiator as supportive of the initiators‘ goal attainment or as efforts to block goal
attainment. The authors go on to further state that if the target ignores the act, thus supporting goal attainment
for the initiator, the initiator will merely continue their current behavior; however if the target fights back and
blocks the goal attainment, the initiator will either lessen the severity and frequency or pursue sexually
harassing behaviors that are even more severe and frequent than before. Thus, if the target ignores it, they
have no chance of stopping it; while if they choose to fight, it may get worse or better, but at least by fighting
they have a chance of making it better.

5. Methodology
5.1. Data and Sample
Participants. Upper level undergraduate business students (N=137) participated in exchange for extra
credit. Of these, 87 were male and 50 were female with a mean age of 21.8 years. 76 participants (55.5%) are
currently employed, 61 (44.5%) previous managerial experience, and 16 (26.23%) of those had previously
terminated an employee.
Materials & Procedure. The questionnaire packet was disseminated to the students within their
classroom setting. Participants first filled out information pertaining to certain demographic data (e.g. age,
work experience) and consent was obtained to proceed. The next part of the packet contained Rotter‘s (1966)
I-E scale that measures the extent in which an individual attributes specific outcomes to be controlled by the
self or by external forces (i.e. luck, fate). After completing Rotter‘s scale the subjects were presented with an
amended version of the Pryor (1987) Likelihood to Sexually Harass scale. The Likelihood to Sexually Harass
(LSH) scale has consistently had high reliabilities and support (Dall‘Ara & Maass, 1999; Lee et al., 2003;
Perry, Schmidtke, & Kulik, 1998; Pryor, 1987) and as such was deemed a suitable model to base this study off
of. The LSH scale was amended in two ways. First, as it is the purpose of the scales to measure ones
proclivity to sexually harass others, the scenarios are worded as if you were the initiator of the sexual
harassing behavior. The wording of the scenarios was thus changed in order to position you as the target of the
sexually harassing behavior. Second, the LSH scale is generally provided to male participants (Dall‘Ara &
Maass, 1999; Lee et al., 2003; Pryor, 1987; Pryor et al., 1995) and as such is usually not positioned to be
directed towards female respondents or for same sex sexual harassment. As it was important to this study to
assess not only the typical male-female sexual harassment interaction but also same sex interactions, the
gender of the initiator was manipulated into two conditions in which some participants were sexually harassed
by the opposite sex throughout the ten scenarios while others were harassed by someone of the same sex. This
led to changes such as the title of some of the individuals, i.e. from secretary to personal assistant, in an
attempt to make the position less gender specific and remove any potential bias as a result of the gender
specific nature of that title.
6. Results
6.1. Scale Reliability
The four questions accompanying each of the ten scenarios underwent reliability analysis to assess the
internal consistency of the items. The first question assessed ones tendency to ignore the sexually harassing
behavior and proceed with what they were doing (e.g. scenario 1 asked if you would ignore an interviewers
sexually harassing comment and proceed with the interview). The 10 item ignore scale for the ten scenarios
had good internal consistency of .79.

The next set of questions assessed ones likelihood of being complicit with the sexually harassing
behavior. In other words, would you go along with whatever the individual was proposing if it meant you
could get ahead (e.g. scenario 2 – would you consider exchanging sexual favors if it meant you could keep
your job). This scale only consisted of 7 items as 3 of the scenarios measured hostile work environment
harassment and did not assess complicit behavior. The 7 item complicit scale had exceptional consistency of
.93
The next two sets of questions both assess ones likelihood of protesting against being sexually
harassed. Two sets of questions were derived to measure two different magnitudes of protestation. In other
words, the third set of questions assessed ones likelihood to protest to the individual or to the company in
which you are currently employed (e.g. scenario 4 – would you walk out of the meeting and file a complaint
with an executive producer of the film or executive of the studio in which the director is employed), while the
fourth set of questions assessed ones likelihood to protest to a state or federal agency (e.g. scenario 5 - would
you file a complaint with a state/federal human resource agency). The 13 item protest1 scale had good internal
consistency of .86 while the 10 item protest2 scale had good internal consistency of .88.
Table 1.
Complicit Protest 1 Protest 2 Ignore
Gender*** Sex*** Gender*** Sex*** Gender*** Sex*** Gender Sex
Male 2.0509 1.4348 2.7975 3.2698 2.5586 3.0420 3.1414 3.1174
Female 1.3086 2.1303 3.3138 2.6980 3.0520 2.4309 3.1660 3.1838
* indicates significant at p<.10

** indicates significant at p<.05
*** indicates significant at p<.01
Table 2.
Gender Sex
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Complicit*** Protest 1 Protest 2 Ignore
Male 1.432 2.6286 3.3158 2.4650 2.9548 2.1889 3.1738 3.1111
Female 1.4392 1.1553 3.4501 3.1538 3.1778 2.9043 3.0296 3.3261


Ignore. The means of the scales (see table 1) generated by the respondents were analyzed by a 2
(gender) X 2 (sex of initiator) between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA). There were no significant
main effects or interaction effects.
Complicit. There was a Gender main effect for the seven item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to be complicit F (1, 133) = 24.49, p < .001 such that men were more likely to be complicit (2.05)
than women (1.21). There was also a main effect for the sex of the initiator of the sexually harassing act, F (1,
133) = 9.623, (p < .01) such that respondents were willing to be more complicit when the sex of the initiator
was female (2.13) compared to male (1.43). Furthermore, there was an interaction effect for gender x sex, F
(1,133) = 25.33, p < .001 such that men were more likely to be complicit when the initiator was female (2.63)
than male (1.43) whereas women were more likely to be complicit when the initiator was male (1.44)
compared to when the initiator was female (1.16). These findings suggest that when individuals are sexually
harassed by a member of the same sex, they are less likely to be complicit with the act even if it means it may
allow them to advance in their career.
Protest1. There was a Gender main effect for the thirteen item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to protest against the individual or to the organization F (1, 133) = 16.24, p < .001 such that women
were more likely to protest (3.31) than men (2.80). There was also a main effect for the sex of the initiator of
the sexually harassing act, F (1, 133) = 16.24, p < .001 such that respondents were more likely to protest when
the sex of the initiator was male (3.27) compared to female (2.70). There was no interaction effect for gender
x sex, F (1,133) = 2.58, p = .111.
Protest2. There was a Gender main effect for the ten item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to protest by filing a complaint to a state or federal agency F (1, 133) = 9.39, p < .01) such that
women were more likely to protest (3.05) than men (2.56). There was also a main effect for the sex of the
initiator of the sexually harassing act, F (1, 133) = 11.52, p < .01 such that respondents were more likely to
protest when the sex of the initiator was male (3.04) compared to female (2.43). Furthermore, there was no
interaction effect for gender x sex, F (1,133) = 2.58, p = .11. Based on these findings, there is no support for
Hypothesis 1 that men will protest more when harassed by a same sexed individual than women as it was that
men did protest more in both cases, but this difference did not reach statistical significance.
Locus of Control. A correlation analysis was conducted to see if ones locus of control related to their
tendency to exhibit any of these behaviors. The individual‘s locus of control score was summated so that each
individual was scored a 1 when they provided an answer that was internal and a 0 when the answer was
externally oriented thus resulting in a potential range of scores from 0-23 with higher scores meaning one is
more internally oriented. The only significant correlation between ones locus of control was with the ignore
scale, r (135) = -.183, p<.05, such that internals are more likely to ignore sexual harassment. This finding
provides partial support for Hypothesis 3.

7. Further analysis
As it is possible that the different types of sexual harassment one is subjected to may engender
different reactions, subsequent analysis was conducted to flesh this out. As such, the scales were separated out
to assess differences between quid pro quo and hostile work environment reactions to the original 4 scales (of
the ten scenarios, three were hostile work environment while 7 were quid pro quo). Due to page constraints,
only significant results are reported. Scale means for main effects are shown in table 3 and interaction effects
are shown in table 4.
Table 3
Protest 1 Protest 2 Ignore
QPQ H QPQ H QPQ H
Gender Sex* Gender Sex* Gender Sex* Gender Sex Gender Sex* Gende Sex
*** ** *** * *** ** ** ** r*
M 3.1117 3.683 3.4444 2.41 2.7356 3.312 2.4310 2.78 3.000 3.17 2.145 3.25
2 06 6 74 81 6 60
F 3.6543 2.930 3.1333 2.14 3.2857 2.554 2.9167 2.42 3.3114 3.04 2.506 3.40
7 22 6 65 83 7 69

Table 4
Sex
Quid Pro Quo Hostile
M F M F M F M F M F M F
Ignore* Protest 1*** Protest 2** Ignore Protest 1 Protest 2
3.531 2.857 3.625 2.631 3.244 2.260 3.396 3.488 2.603 2.270 2.277 2.022
Male
0 1 9 7 9 3 8 9 2 4 8 2
3.216 3.422 3.772 3.515 3.418 3.130 3.037 3.246 3.074 2.731 2.617 2.376
Female
9 4 5 5 0 4 0 4 1 9 3 8

7.1 Quid Pro Quo
Ignore. There was a Gender main effect for the seven item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to ignore quid pro quo sexual harassment F (1, 133) = 5.54, p < .05 such that women were more
likely to ignore (3.31) than men (3.00). Furthermore, there was a moderate interaction effect for gender x sex,
F(1,133) = 3.52, p < .07 such that men were more likely to ignore the harassment when the initiator was male
(3.15) than female (2.86) whereas women were more likely to ignore when the initiator was female (3.42)
than male (3.22). These findings suggest that when individuals are sexually harassed by a member of the same
sex, they are more likely to ignore the act.
Protest1. There was a Gender main effect for the seven item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to protest to the individual or the organization when exposed to quid pro quo sexual harassment
F(1, 133) = 13.82, p < .001 such that women were more likely to protest (3.65) than men (3.11). There was
also a main effect for the sex of the initiator of the sexually harassing act, F (1, 133) = 20.37, p < .001 such
that respondents were more likely to protest when the sex of the initiator was male (3.68) compared to female
(2.93). Furthermore, there was an interaction effect for gender x sex, F (1,133) = 7.07, p < .001 such that men
were more likely to be protest when the initiator was male (3.63) than female (2.63) whereas women were
more likely to protest when the initiator was female (3.77) compared to when the initiator was male (3.52).
Again, these findings provide more support for the notion that when individuals are sexually harassed by a
member of the same sex, they are more likely to react negatively toward it, in this instance protest to the
individual or to a member of the organization.
Protest2. There was a Gender main effect for the seven item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to protest to a state or federal agency after being exposed to quid pro quo sexual harassment F (1,
133) = 9.13 p < .01 such that women were more likely to protest (3.29) than men (2.74). There was also a
main effect for the sex of the initiator of the sexually harassing act, F (1, 133) = 14.76, p < .001 such that
respondents were more likely to protest when the sex of the initiator was male (3.31) compared to female
(2.55). Furthermore, there was an interaction effect for gender x sex, F (1,133) = 4.43, p < .05 such that men
were more likely to protest when the initiator was male (3.24) than female (2.26) and women were also more
likely to protest when the initiator was male (3.42) compared to when the initiator was female (3.13). Contrary
to the previous findings, this suggests that when exhibited to the most heinous and direct of sexual harassment
forms, both genders are more likely to file a complaint with a state or federal agency when the initiator is
male. This shows the seriousness that men seem to take away from this when harassed by a member of the
same sex whereas, perhaps because of the communal nature of women, they are less likely to report such acts
to a state or federal agency. When coupled with the first protest scale, these findings suggest that women are
more likely to act against another woman in terms of complaining to the initiator of filing a complaint with the
organization, but are less willing to file a complaint against them with a state or federal agency.

7.2 Hostile Work Environment
Ignore. There was a moderate Gender main effect for the three item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to ignore hostile work environment sexual harassment F (1, 133) = 9.13, p < .07 such that men
were more likely to ignore (3.44) than women (3.13). This finding suggest, common sensically, that men are
more likely to tolerate hostile work environment sexual harassment (e.g. nude pin-ups), perhaps as they view
it as a necessity to fitting into a male dominated work environment.
Protest1. There was a Gender main effect for the six item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to protest to the initiator or the organization after being exposed to a hostile work environment F (1,
133) = 9.88, p < .01 such that women were more likely to protest (2.92) than men (2.43). There was also a
main effect for the sex of the initiator of the sexually harassing act, F (1, 133) = 5.18, p < .03 such that
respondents were more likely to protest when the sex of the initiator was male (2.79) compared to female
(2.43).
Protest2. There was a Gender main effect for the three item measure assessing an individual‘s
likelihood to protest to a state or federal agency after being exposed to a hostile work environment F (1, 133)
= 4.10, p < .05 such that women were more likely to protest (2.51) than men (2.15). When taken holistically,
these findings suggest that the type of sexual harassment one is exposed to interacts with the findings on
reactions to same sex sexual harassment. In other words, men are more likely to react assertively (i.e. protest)
than women when exposed to same sex sexual harassment thus providing partial support to Hypothesis 1.
Locus of Control. To better assess the distinction between internals and externals, two additional
conditions were created (internal or external) for ones locus of control. Each of the conditions was created by
taking scores more extreme than one standard deviation from the mean for respondents‘ locus of control
scores. In other words, scores more extreme than one standard deviation above the mean were scored as
internal (N = 34) whereas scores more extreme than one standard deviation lower than the mean were scored
as external (N = 28).
Ignore. There was a moderate main effect for locus of control for the ones likelihood to ignore the sexually
harassing act F (1,133) = 3.40, p=.07 such that externals were more likely to ignore (3.38) the sexual
harassment than internals (3.06). This finding provides moderate support for Hypothesis 2.
Protest2. There was a moderate main effect for locus of control for ones likelihood to protest to a state
or federal agency after being sexually harassed F (1,133) = 3.87, p< .06 such that internals are more likely to
protest (2.89) than externals (2.54), thus providing moderate support for Hypothesis 3. To further flesh out
this linkage between locus of control and ones likelihood to react to sexual harassment, the above conditions
were reanalyzed based on the two types of sexual harassment.

7.3 Quid pro quo
Protest2. There was a moderate main effect for locus of control F (1,133) = 3.35, p=.07 such that
internals were more likely to protest (3.11) to a state or federal agency than externals (2.79).
Hostile Work Environment
Protest2. There was a moderate main effect for locus of control F (1,133) = 3.27, p<.08 such that
internals were more likely to protest (2.38) to a state or federal agency than externals (1.96).
When coupled together, these findings suggest moderate support for Hypothesis 3 such that those
with an internal locus of control are more likely to protest to being sexually harassed than those individuals
with an external locus of control. Although the hypothesized directionality of Hypothesis 2 was experienced
(i.e. internals were more likely to ignore and be complicit in order to fit in), this did not reach statistical
significance, therefore failing to support Hypothesis 2.
7.4 Final Analysis
A consistent finding throughout the analysis was that respondent‘s reactions were much more intense
for the quid pro quo sexual harassment than hostile work environment. As such, further analysis was
conducted to see if the responses for the two types of sexual harassment were in fact significantly different. A
paired samples t-test for type of sexual harassment was significant for ignore t(136)= -2.60, p<.01 such that
respondents were more likely to ignore hostile work environment sexual harassment (3.33) than quid pro quo
(3.11). A paired samples t-test for type of sexual harassment was significant for protest1 t(136)= 9.40, p< .001
such that respondents were more likely to protest when exposed to quid pro quo sexual harassment (3.31) than
hostile work environment (2.61). Finally, a paired samples t-test for type of sexual harassment was significant
for protest2 t(136) =8.834, p< .001 such that respondents were more likely to protest to a state or federal
agency when exposed to quid pro quo sexual harassment (2.94) than a hostile work environment (2.28). These
findings are supported by discussion and findings in the literature that the type of sexual harassment will
engender different reactions (e.g., Hogler, Frame, & Thornton, 2002; Icenogle, Eagle, Ahmad, & Hanks,
2002; Loredo, Reid, & Deaux, 1995; Stockdale et al., 2002). Specifically, the perception that quid pro quo is a
more heinous and severe form of sexual harassment is supported here, while the necessity to undergo certain
treatment to fit into an organization is expected when exposed to hostile work environment sexual harassment
compared to quid pro quo sexual harassment.
8. General discussion and conclusion
Sexual harassment most likely will never be eliminated. It seems as much a part of the workplace as
an individual‘s heartbeat. Several findings are worth nothing. First, current findings provide further support
for the notion that women have more negative reactions to being sexually harassed than men. Second, the type

of sexual harassment influenced the magnitude of the reaction to being sexually harassed, and this finding was
not contingent on gender. In other words, both men and women had stronger reactions to being sexually
harassed when it was in the form of quid pro quo as opposed to hostile work environment. This finding may
stem from the fact that both sexes feel that sexual harassment, to a certain degree, is a requirement of the
workplace. Certain levels of sexual harassment (i.e. naked pin-ups and/or sexually explicit jokes) may serve as
a sort of quasi-initiation process for newcomers into the organization. Put differently, employees may utilize
this type of sexual harassment to acculturate and/or weed out the desirable versus less desirable workers. This
type of harassment is typically aimed at more feminine workers, whether ones sex is female or not. Third, the
sex of the harasser was significant. Men were less likely to be complicit and more likely to protest when the
harasser was male which is consistent with findings from other scholars within the field (Goldberg & Zhang,
2004; Herek, 1988; Waldo, Berdahl, & Fitzgerald, 1998). On the other hand, women were less likely to be
complicit and less likely to protest when the harasser was female. This finding suggests that men react to same
sex sexual harassment more seriously (i.e. respond more negatively) than women. Finally, ones locus of
control amended how they would react to being sexually harassed. Internals were less likely to ignore sexual
harassment and more likely to protest. This is consistent with the locus of control literature as it suggests that
those individuals who believe they can control their own fate are more likely to try to control it, i.e. in this
instance by protesting to the state or federal agency.
The current research was not without its limitations. First, the sample set was derived from
undergraduate students. As such, it can be argued that they may not fully appreciate the behavior of being
sexually harassed. Future research should be conducted by providing the same scenarios to individuals within
an employment context which could provide some support for the utilization of such convenience samples.
Second, it may be argued that the utilization of scenarios lacks a degree of realism. The scenarios were
adapted from the Pryor (1987) Likelihood to Sexually Harassed scenarios which are a commonly accepted
measurement of proclivity to sexually harass. Third, there is a degree of skepticism as the results are based on
self-report. Finally, although there are multiple types of reactions that could have been assessed, this research
only focuses on the three main types (ignore, complicit, and protest). As such, there are multiple potential
relationships between the current and future variables that were not assessed because of the narrow focus of
types of reactions.
There are several areas for future research that would prove useful and additive to the current
findings. First, assessing ones sexual orientation and other demographic characteristics (i.e. ethnicity, age)
such as ethnicity are needed. In other words, does ones sexual orientation or the sexual orientation of the
harasser change ones reaction or magnitude of reactions? As women were more likely to let the harassing acts
slide if they were harassed by women, does this finding change if the harasser is a lesbian? In other words,
sexual orientation may serve as a meaningful moderating variable. Furthermore, we know that men are more
likely to protest and women are less likely with same sex harassment, how does this relationship change when

we add in the factor of ethnicity? Are women more likely to be upset if harassed by an individual of a
different ethnicity? Are men less likely to protest if harassed by an individual of a similar ethnicity? Second,
does ones tenure or position within an organization impact ones reactions? Are individuals who have been
within an organization more likely to protest? Conversely, if the individual conducting the harassment have
been with the firm a long time, are targets less likely to protest? Third, a more descriptive picture of ones
personality needs to be mapped out. In other words, which types of personalities are more likely to protest and
which ones are more likely to go along? It may be fruitful in future research to utilize the big five personality
dimensions to illuminate this issue. Finally, as I found significance in terms of the type of harassment and sex
of the harasser, it would behoove researchers in the future to assess other reactions to same sex sexual
harassment such as physical responses. In other words, when harassed by another male, do males tend to
become more physically altercative?
There are several practical implications stemming from these findings. First, it is important that
organizations foster an environment of understanding and standing up for what one believes in. In other
words, organizations should try to foster an environment that is conducive with an internal locus of control
mindset (i.e. where individuals believe they can stop sexually harassing acts when they occur thus fostering
the utilization of the targets voice). On a similar note, it is important to identify those individuals that are
external in nature and provide them with sexual harassment training, as these are the individuals that will
likely be targeted. Second, organizations must keep their finger on the pulse of the organization and monitor
these issues. In order for targets to be able to protest being sexually harassed, policies and guidelines must be
in place that allows for the reporting, investigation, and if required, punishment of sexually harassing
behaviors. Management‘s action against potential and current initiators may be able to rehabilitate initiators or
at least reduce the frequency and severity of their actions. Bandura‘s (1978) social learning theory of
aggression emphasizes the need for management to actively pursue this problem and eliminate it because the
severity, duration, and frequency will only get worse as the act goes unchecked. Finally, organizations must
pay more attention to a different type of sexual harassment, or at least different than what we are used to
hearing about, same sex. In other words, although it is of no business of the organization or the employees
what each individual employees sexual orientation is, it is important to understand this when sexual
harassment is occurring. It is important because as these findings suggest, male reactions to being sexually
harassed by another male are significantly stronger, and as such, are more likely to become more physical in
response.

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How the Arts Can Demonstrate Indispensability
Paul Lorton, Jr.

School of Management
University of San Francisco
Abstract
In economically difficult times it is important for the Arts to make the case
that they are as indispensible to the broader society as “schools and roads.” How
indispensability can be demonstrated by Arts organizations in achieving their
desired goals to survive while delivering their unique gifts to the culture is crucial
to both.
The purpose of this discussion is to consider the issues involved in

informing the broader society of the role/success arts organizations have in
achieving culture preservation and enhancement while, at the same time, fulfilling
the needs and desires of their funding sources. While generally discussing
examples from various types of arts organizations, the focus will be on the
performing arts richly amplified with examples from opera companies.

1. Introduction
At a time when the need to fund roads and schools seems paramount in reinvesting in the nation‘s
recovery, it is of pressing importance that the Arts make the case that they are a part of society‘s
infrastructure. As one might expect, much of the re-invigorated government funding of the arts through the
stimulus efforts does involve careful attention to stating then documenting the achievement of goals set for the
impact of the arts activity on society. Other funding sources, including the critical ―donor pool,‖ will follow
this lead. Thus a direction and avenue for results that was once desirable now becomes indispensible.
As some evidence of this priority for evaluation, the language of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (Public Law 111-5) and its direction for the Arts, while focused on job preservation in the
Arts, suggests outcomes of the funded programs are to be more broadly focused.
On the obvious jobs priority is this quote from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
description of the grant program:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5 ("Recovery Act")
recognizes that the nonprofit arts industry is an important sector of the economy. The National
Endowment for the Arts is uniquely positioned to fund arts projects and activities that preserve jobs in
the nonprofit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current
economic downturn. (Recovery Act, 2009)
However part of this initiative is the very clear call to measure how well the funded activity will
achieve the goal not of job preservation but of the art‘s organizations‘ ―artistic and public service goals.‖ To
quote again:
The outcome the Arts Endowment intends to achieve through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act is: Organizations enhance their ability to realize their artistic and public service
goals. Within the context of this outcome, we ask all applicants to define what they would like to
achieve, how they will assess the degree to which it is achieved, and, upon completion of the project,
what they have learned from their successes and failures. (Ibid.)
Thus, at the highest national level the policy set for funding priorities appears to include assessment
focused on the cultural contribution of the funded organization. Evidence that highlights the Arts contribution
to preserving, sustaining and enhancing culture seems desired.
How Arts organizations are doing this sort of assessment and can do it is the principle focus of this
discussion where examples are drawn mostly from the classical performing arts (Symphony, Ballet, Opera).
As a practical matter and to give this discussion a useful detailed focus, the most in depth information is from
organizations dedicated to presenting Opera. Opera has some unique advantages when it comes to

contributing to culture preservation. One current advantage is that it is popular and that popularity is
increasing as major companies find ways to increase the exposure of a broader public to the art form. It is also
a performing art form that includes many others under its umbrella – music, staging, singing, acting. Also,
Opera stories are exciting.
2. Contributions of Opera to Culture

To focus on one art form and its continuing contribution, one need only list a few of the recent
contributions to the American/English repertory. In its derivative way, each of the operas named has come
from another medium but the transformation into an opera has highlighted a part of the drama of the work to
make it more vivid for the audience.
2000, 2003, 2010 Jake Heggie – Dead Man Walking, The End of the Affair, Moby Dick
2006 Ned Rorem - Our Town
2006 John Adams – A Flowering Tree
2007 Ricky Ian Gordon - The Grapes of Wrath
2007 Philip Glass – Appomattox
2007 Robert Aldrige – Elmer Gantry
2008 Stewart Wallace – The Bonesetter‘s Daughter
2009 Richard Wainwright – Prima Donna
2009 Andre Previn - Brief Encounter
2009 Richard Danielpour - Margaret Garner
2010 Margaret Garwood – The Scarlet Letter
It is the task of art to enrich our lives, give us insight into our selves and our world. That each Opera
staged over the last 400 years has accomplished this for someone can be assumed but demonstrating that
impact for a societally critical group is the challenge. Later in this discussion how to accomplish this will be
addressed for this is the key to gaining support for the arts especially in times when support has many calls on
its resources.
There was a time when the rich who also controlled and were the state, funded the arts. At that time
there was little one needed to do to justify the funding other than be in the funder‘s list of needed culture. The
relationship between Ludwig II of Bavaria and Richard Wagner is well appreciated and it is unlikely that
Wagner‘s career would have been as long and successful had not Ludwig supported him out of a personal

appreciation for his talent (Wagner's operas famously appealed to the king's fantasy-filled imagination).
Beyond such relationships between the crown and the arts, it was felt to be an obligation of the rich
and privileged to make sure the rest of us were lavished with activities for the ―common good.‖ No less a
benefactor that Andrew Carnegie, in his essay on ―Wealth,‖ stated the manner in which cultural enhancements
to the community should be supported:
There remains, then, only one mode of using great fortunes; … It is founded upon the
present most intense individualism, and the race is prepared to put it in practice by degrees
whenever it pleases. Under its sway we shall have an ideal state in which the surplus wealth
of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of the many, because administered for
the common good; and this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much
more potent force for the elevation of our race than if it had been distributed in small sums to
the people themselves. Even the poorest can be made to see this and to agree that great sums
gathered by some of their fellow citizens and spent for public purposes, from which the
masses reap the principal benefit, are more valuable to them than if scattered among them
through the course of many years in trifling amounts. (Carnegie, 1889)
3. Temporarily Troubled Times

These are difficult times for a lot of people and activities all over the world and one cannot summon
the lavishly privileged to support the arts without question. That not-for-profits also participate in this
economic downturn is not surprising, except, perhaps to those organizations in the worst straights.
However, troubled economic times happen with irregularity but with certainty – there were problems
in 2001, in the early 1990‘s, in the early 1980‘s and so on. That these economic ―down-turns‖ happen
periodically is not shocking; that people are surprised by it may be!
3.1. Small Business Failure

Businesses fail for a number of reasons. The easy reason to give is ―no money‖ but that to readily
obviates the need to find causes and culprits susceptible to remedies. It is known that money is neither the
simple nor simply the cause. As the Small Business Administration‘s site states:
Research indicates that poor planning is responsible for most business failures. Good organization
- of financials, inventory, schedules, and production -can help you avoid many pitfalls. (Mills, 2012)
Poor planning and, by inference, inadequate management are usually the real causes. But successful
management in this information age can be built on that information. The discussion following this
introduction is designed to give some insight into how the arts organizations (particularly Opera companies)
can manage better and point to one sort of information upon which better management can build.

4. Arts Organizations in Difficulty

In this discussion, Opera companies are featured. Other arts organizations have similar shoals to
navigate and will feature in revisions of this discussion. In the past few years as the economy has contracted
several opera companies have folded their tents and closed their doors, more or less. This is always a bit sad
but a readily appreciated warning to others about the perilous nature of survival in the nonprofit arts realm.
Looking at their demise and at the saving of others can help us understand the process and plan for
successfully withstanding the economic winds.
4.1. Opera Pacific

Opera Pacific was a fairly large organization. In the Opera America scheme, they, along with two of
the others discussed below, Baltimore and Orlando Opera companies, were in the second tier of professional
organizations (Level 2 -- $3 million to $9,999,999).
During its 23 seasons, Opera Pacific established itself as one of the finest professional
opera companies in the nation. Opera Pacific's main stage productions, extensive community
outreach programs, and energetic Guild Alliance combined to create a cultural resource for
Southern California. More than 670,000 people enjoyed Opera Pacific's productions at the
Orange County Performing Arts Center, while over 575,000 young people discovered the
world of opera through the company's in-school presentations, Student Previews, and
nationally recognized Opera Camps. In addition to the "grand opera" repertory, Opera Pacific
responded to the need for strong, professional productions of classic American musical
theatre and European operetta. (www.operapacific.org)
One of the striking things about the demise of Opera Pacific was the community reaction to the event
that, in some ways, came as a surprise to the community. Here are a couple of comments posted to the Orange
Country Register site after November 4, 2008, article announcing the closure appeared
Here's a problem. Let's tackle it! Let's keep what we have, because we may not ever get another
chance again! It happened with our Classical radio. We lost one station before we saw the light and
coughed up our pennies to support the survivor. Please, give us a chance to keep this going, Opera
Pacific! I'll buy more tickets! I'll walk my neighborhood with flyers. I'll talk to college music students.
I'm awake now! Let me help!
This is almost unbearable news. No,no,no. We need Opera in our lives - the beautiful music, the
talented Opera singers, the costumes, etc. How could this possibly happen in such a wealthy part of
the Cal.? This is truly a very sad day for Orange County and Opera Pacific. (Mangan, 2008)
4.2. Baltimore Opera

Similarly Baltimore Opera had a solid position among opera companies. Last year it closed its doors

in the usual way by cancelling the rest of its season and all but disappearing. From their reconfigured web site
comes:
Thank you for visiting BaltimoreOpera.com. The Baltimore Opera Company closed its
doors in 2009, leaving Baltimore without a grand opera company. While this has been a
tremendous loss for Baltimore opera fans, patrons and the city at large, there are other
exciting options to experience opera in the area. This site is devoted to promoting opera in the
Baltimore Metropolitan area as well as keeping you up-to-date on any exciting developments
that will bring grand opera back to our city. (www.baltimoreopera.com)
They are, in fact, staging Concert Operas (Operas without sets and, perhaps, costumes but with
singers and an orchestra) as is the follow-on to the Orlando Opera that left the ―main‖ stage at the end of April
2009.
4.3. Orlando Opera

Orlando Opera Company, one of the oldest arts groups in Central Florida, will suspend
operations April 30.
The 51-year-old company is a victim of lower ticket sales, reduced contributions and
defaults on pledges, said Jim Ireland, the company‘s president and CEO.
The group announced three weeks ago that it could not continue if it did not raise
$500,000. A recent three-week fund drive brought in only about $25,000, spokesman Andy
Howard said.
―The lack of broad community support indicates that a resident professional opera
company is not a priority of Orlando in these difficult times,‖ said Joy Barrett Sabol, the
opera board‘s chair. (Maupin, 2009)
A couple of weeks before the plug was finally pulled, the Orlando Sentinel published a glowing
review of the last opera, as it turned out, produced by the company.
In the wrong hands, "verismo," the late 19th-century Italian operatic tradition that offered
"truth" with earthy characters and raw passions, can sometimes seem like little more than a
bad soap opera set to music. But the movement toward naturalistic plots included a multitude
of possible approaches -- on Friday evening, Orlando Opera showed just how wide-ranging
and effective "verismo" can be … the real stars of this opera were the members of the
Orlando Opera Chorus, who were, as always, very well prepared by chorus master Robin
Stamper, and who collectively sang several of the more memorable tunes of this opera.

[…]
Perhaps the evening's best news is that there were no visible or aural signs of Orlando
Opera's current financial difficulties. The bad news, however, is that those problems -- should
they continue -- could mean the end of a worthy company that helps to give Orlando a
reputation as more than an over-sized theme park. Improved attendance at the remaining two
performances would not hurt the Opera's fundraising efforts. (Warfield, 2009)
4.4. San Francisco Lyric Opera

In a more gradual sinking, San Francisco Lyric Opera has suspended operations. Low attendance and
failure to raise the additional funding needed to support the operation contributed to a falling off in focus
which resulted in a couple of unproductive efforts to 1. increase exposure (hiring a PR person which came to
naught) and 2. raise funds (a tentative effort to organize a Gala). The following notice was posted on the
company‘s web site:
To All Donors, Patrons and Interested Parties
San Francisco Lyric Opera regrets that, there being no reasonable prospect of funding
sufficient to mount a 2010 season of productions, it is suspending performance activities
forthwith including our November event.
Being determined to once more present opera at prices that more people can afford and to
serve young children, as we have with 25 productions over 8 years, the company is embarking
on a drive to recruit a slate of new, active Board members, to obtain funding commitments
from new donors and to seek out a leader, all with a view to recommencing performances in
2011. (www.sflyricopera.org)
4.5. Other San Francisco Bay Area Opera Companies

There are healthy local opera companies. Several are surviving in the San Francisco Bay Area of
California, one the states with especially high unemployment, great impact of the mortgage crisis and
reshuffling of the labor force. Each of these companies has done an especially good job of planning and
communicating.
4.6. Opera San Jose

Opera San José is a professional, regional opera company that is unique in the United
States. Maintaining a resident company of principal artists, this company specializes in
showcasing the finest young professional singers in the nation. Featuring fresh, new talents in
the first years of their careers, Opera San José‘s performances are always dramatically
stimulating and vocally accomplished. (www.operasj.org)

By configuring its enterprise to reduce fixed costs (e.g., owning various facilities purchased in the
early days of the 30 year old company) Opera San Jose has only had to make relatively minor cost cutting
moves to maintain its full schedule.
4.7. Festival Opera

Festival Opera performs in a regional center with a summer mounting of, usually, two fully
staged productions and some events during the year.
After nearly two decades, Festival Opera remains committed to bringing professional
opera productions at affordable prices to residents of San Francisco's East Bay communities.
The third-largest opera company in the Bay Area, Festival Opera is a showcase for talented
young artists. (www.festivalopera.com)
In 2009, the Festival Opera board made a special commitment to continue to fully stage their summer
offerings rather than down scale and was rewarded by well-attended productions of Turandot and Gounod‘s
Faust.
4.8. Livermore Valley Opera

Livermore Valley Opera has moved into a new theater in the last couple of years increasing the strain
on its resources.
Livermore Valley Opera was founded in 1992, and presents fully-staged operas at the
Bankhead Theater in the spring and fall. The theater we call home is located in the Tri-Valley
area, just 45 miles east of San Francisco. Our wonderful ―opera house‖ features excellent
lines of sight and acoustics, helping us attract talented singers and stage directors. We
combine the talents of professional musicians, stage directors, principal singers, and designers
with the dedication and practical abilities of volunteers filling such critical roles as board
members, chorus, stage crew, and set builders to reach our artistic goals.
(www.livermorevalleyopera.com)
By constant communication with its community and through keeping its costs low but production
values high, Livermore Valley Opera has, thus far, minimized the impact of reduced resources.
4.9. West Bay Opera

West Bay Opera has been staging operas for over 50 years
West Bay Opera has the loyal support of a large contingent of opera lovers throughout the
Bay Area. The company performs to an estimated 5,000 audience members per year, and the
company's Opera In The Schools (OITS) program reaches an estimated 20,000
schoolchildren, from Daly City to Santa Cruz. Most of our audience members live on the San

Francisco Peninsula, although many come from Sacramento, the Monterey Peninsula and
even further.
Tickets for performances are less than one-third the cost of similar seats at the San
Francisco Opera, and parking is free. Season subscriptions are available and guarantee prime
seating for productions. West Bay Opera encourages the attendance of young audiences,
students, and seniors by offering tickets at reduced prices. Before each production, West Bay
Opera brings outreach performances to schools, corporations, shopping malls, community
centers, colleges, universities, and retirement communities. (www.wbopera.org)
As with Livermore Valley Opera, West Bay Opera is keeping close control on its expenses and is in
constant contact with its patron/donor community.
5. Some Salvations in These Difficult Times

5.1. Magic Theater
The Magic Theater has been in San Francisco for over 40 year and has persevered through various
levels of difficult and prosperous economic times. Just as so many not-for profit performing arts organizations
have felt, the current downturn caught them in need. They appealed to their community and were rewarded.
Magic Theatre, San Francisco's 42-year-old troupe that prizes risk over commercialism, has
announced on its website that it is $600,000 in debt and will shut its doors Jan. 9, 2009, unless it
raises $350,000. The debt, "combined with sharp declines in earned and contributed revenue due
to the global economy, place us in imminent peril of shutting our doors," according to a Magic
statement. The not-for-profit troupe is now "in the midst of a staff shutdown" and "may be forced
to cancel the remainder of its season and close for good.‖ (Jones, 2008)
By January 13, 2009, the group had raised $450,000 from about 1,100 donors in their loyal
community and survived to mount another season and face the future more robustly than without this
experience. The Santa Cruz Shakespeare Company, having announced its dire circumstance at about the same
time was able to produce similar results.
5.2. Santa Cruz Shakespeare Company

Faced with challenges on several fronts including large budget cuts in state funds to University of
California, Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Shakespeare Company was compelled to raise a very large amount of
money in order to continue offering its productions to the public. The community responded:
SSC raised $419,000 in December after it was announced that the company would have
to raise $300,000 in a less than two weeks to continue its annual season in 2009. Funds came
from more than 2,000 individual donors throughout Santa Cruz County and nationwide, with

the majority of gifts in the $25 to $100 range.
―What has been wonderful about this season is that so many different people deserve
credit for Shakespeare Santa Cruz‘s success,‖ said Yager [David Yager, dean of the Arts
Division, University of California, Santa Cruz], ―including Arts Division staff, Development
staff, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the community, all the people who bought tickets (including
faculty and staff), and the many financial supporters who donated from all across the country,
and as far away as Italy…‖ (Rappaport, 2009)
6. Bitterroot Performing Arts, Hamilton, Montana

The Bitterroot Performing Arts Council was formed in the summer of 2009 to raise funds to
replace the underwriter that had funded the performing arts series since it began in 1996.
The council received its non-profit status six weeks ago and has been fund raising ever
since. A recent Salsa Night fundraiser brought in $10,000 in a single night. The initial plan
called for bringing seven shows to the Hamilton Performing Arts Center, but Barnings said the
group decided to scale that back by one. ―We decided it was fiscally responsible to do six this
year and be here again next year,‖ she said. ―We didn‘t want to risk being in the red at the end
of the year.‖ Nationally, only one-third of performing arts series funding comes through ticket
sales. The rest is raised through sponsorships and donations. The council asked the community
to step forward and help. ―The community has spoken and spoken well,‖ Barnings said. ―They
wanted this to happen and we‘re going to make sure that it does.‖ (Backus, 2009)
6.1. New York City Opera

In early January, 2012, the long running saga of the New York City opera reached a new and
optimistic point when a tentative agreement was reached with its major unions to help it continue offering
opera after a multi year struggle exacerbated by the economic downturn of 2008.
In a last-ditch effort to save one of America‘s cultural institutions, unions representing the New
York City Opera have reached tentative agreements that could pump new life into a company
teetering on the financial brink.
―New York City Opera is open for business,‖ General Manager George Steel announced
Wednesday. ―We are thrilled to be able to present innovative opera with the best artists in the world.‖
(Wall Street Journal, 2012)
7. Wherefore indispensability?
How does this give us insight into the demise of the Opera programs? While it may be more
expensive and therefore lead to higher ticket prices in the staging of Opera over other live performances, that

is not a given as opera can be staged for as little or as much as one has the resources to accomplish. The main
difference it the degree to which the community to which the organization looks for support will provide that
support.
In the salvaged examples above, sums that would have supported comparable opera
companies were sought and raised. On the other hand, Orlando Opera sought $500,000 and raised
$25,000.
8. An Aside on Worthiness Figure 1.
There is, also, a larger question on the worthiness

of arts organizations for support. In the halcyon, but not
lamented, days of King Ludwig and Andrew Carnegie,
the benefactor bestowed his largesse out of a personal
bias toward the art. No further justification or information
was needed. It was a capricious way to fund but an easy
way if your organization was the grantee.
It is a more rational process now but does need

greater effort. So how do the arts appear to the public – as
an expensive and superfluous activity only marginally
worthily of support? For this next step, we can look at
what sorts of organizations get really large amounts of money. For this we can look at CIT Bank, one of the
many banks unsuccessfully bailed out in the recent spat of efforts to salvage financial institutions. $2.3 billion
was poured into this organization with mixed results – one of which is that the money is gone. The magnitude
of this investment is informative especially when compared with the recent, increased, NEA budget of $155
million
How does one failing financial institution receive about 15 times the money from the US Government
as all the Arts programs in the United States? One answer is than the bank was deemed more important to the
country than the Arts. How can we influence that perception?
The arts have to be shown to be just as indispensible to the nation (and the world, in due course) as
financial institutions (or any other program seeking funds).
8.1. Manifestations of Indispensability
There are many ways to show indispensability. Certainly the public outcry when you go under is one
way – although a bit drastic. Moreover, the corollary proof of the need the community had for you is that you
are replaced shortly after your demise. We saw this sort of postscript to the final act for a couple of the opera

companies lost in the past year.
8.2. “Important to the community”

The claim is often made that the arts are important to the community in many ways – as a source of
employment for the chronically underemployed artistic workforce, as a source of needed enrichment and
diversion in times when many diversions are not rich in culture.
8.3. Enhance the quality of life

The Arts and Quality of Life Research Center promotes research, training, and innovative programs
that demonstrate the unique role of the arts in making a difference in people‘s lives. To this end, it focuses on
exploring uses of various creative arts to enhance human functioning, developmentally, intellectually,
psychologically, socially, physically, aesthetically and spiritually. (Boyer College, 2012)
9. Dimensions for Indispensability

Financial downturns will occur. The wise business plans for this and controls current efforts with an
eye to the inevitable the rainy day. With that in mind, how can one forecast the weather, anticipate the rainy
day? Some of the activities in forecasting the weather can also be used to secure the second point raised by
the failures and salvations – keeping the community informed. This topic then brings us to the issue that
began this discussion – how to demonstrate the indispensability of the Arts.
One way is to make good on the claims of the web sites to arts being good for the community. On its
web site, Eugene Opera, over 30 years old, suggests solid community support from donor contributions and
strong attendance and suggests some concrete ways in which it will be of value to the community.
EUGENE OPERA has enjoyed considerable community support, as evidenced by its consistently
strong attendance numbers and private donor support. In addition, it enjoys the backing of numerous
public and business supporters, some of which include the Oregon Arts Commission, Molecular
Probes, KeyBank and Union Bank of California. These financial commitments have enabled
EUGENE OPERA to set its sights higher, to further educate current and future audiences and to exert
a greater influence on the future of the art form. (www.eugeneoperea.com)
Knoxville Opera has a similar litany of ways in which it is valuable to its community and worthy of
support:
What does giving to Knoxville Opera accomplish? …
You contribute to the revitalization of downtown Knoxville. The Knoxville Opera Rossini
Festival Italian Street Fair brings tens of thousands of people to downtown to enjoy dozens of
performing arts groups, a variety of artisans and food vendors, and to contribute to the local
economy.

You make Knoxville a better place to live and work. Companies and families like to
locate here because we are a culturally rich community. By supporting Knoxville Opera you
also support the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra as we are their largest employer.
(www.knoxvilleopera.com)
Almost all opera companies make claims similar to these that, while demonstrable, are seldom taken
to that next step until a crisis occurs. Yet for two reasons, they should be demonstrated before the inevitable
crisis arrives: 1. they inform the community that the arts are integral to the quality of the community‘s life and
2. they can provide feed back on the health of the arts organization‘s community support before the crisis
appears.
9.1. Indicators
As these citations from opera companies attest, audience attendance and donor contributions are
important indicators of the how well the community is supporting the organization. Some of the quantitative
items that can be assembled to monitor the support in the community are Ticket sales, Event attendance,
Donors, Donations, Press Coverage, Volunteers, requests for information, special events, tours, etc. All can
help quantify over time how well the organization is linked with the community and whether it has become
―too important to fail‖ just as Magic Theater and Santa Cruz Shakespeare were.
9.2. Press Coverage
Press coverage, whether in the traditional print media or the newer electronic, web-based forums (e.g.,
blogs, FaceBook) is a vector though which the community can be exposed to the arts organization and by which
the organization can measure the community‘s interest before direct measures such as Season Ticket sales are
available. Some of the items which might be covered by the media and which will provide opportunities to
monitor include: Performances, Season announcements, coverage of special Events, and coverage of News about
the organization. In assessing the contribution of the coverage to delivering the message it is useful to assess
whether the coverage is part of public awareness building by the organization (PR) or simply coverage of
novelty.
10. Next Steps
To be polite, one must close with some recommendations and not leave the participant hanging in the
air wondering what to do next. There are three areas where the present analysis seems clear (a matter of
opinion to be sure but…): indicators, measures and efforts to gather more insight.
10.1. Focus on Better Indicators
Are there better indicators than the simple items listed? When the listed indicators have been well
studied and their contributions defined, the next step can be taken. The indicators listed in the preceding

section, including media coverage, need to be refined and developed. Once some knowledge and experience
has been gained with the usefulness of these ―low hanging fruit‖ measures, other indicators which have
strengths where these measure are weak can be pursued.
10.2. Collect Reasonable Qualitative Measures
Some of the quantities to be measured were suggested but more focused measures perhaps can
directly assess the degree to which claimed indispensability is perceived in the community.
10.3. Storm Chase
Storm Chasing can be an exciting and useful part of the evaluation scheme for bringing
indispensability into the tool set of the arts. As was done here in looking at four groups that have suspended
their effort and three organizations that weathered this crisis well, we gained insight, knowledge and a more
informed approach to the next case by trying to see what went wrong. As Marc Scorca‘s quote, with which we
end this discussion, illustrates, we know where to find the next storm.
Orlando‘s opera company will be the sixth professional company to go under or declare bankruptcy in
recent months, said Marc Scorca, president of the service organization Opera America. Others include
companies in Baltimore; Hartford, Conn.; Orange County, Calif.; western Massachusetts; and Augusta, Ga.
―We have not lost a company that was healthy at the time the recession hit,‖ Scorca said before the Orlando
group announced its decision. ―Companies that entered it in a state of fragility just haven‘t had any place to
turn.‖ (Maupin, 2009)

References
1. Backus, Perry (2009) – ―Performing Art series lives on.‖ Ravalli Republic
http://ravallirepublic.com/news/article_10c939f6-7b90-5c5f-aa84-7e2d2532ad13.html
2. Boyer College, (2012) Boyer College of Music and Dance, Temple University. Retrieved from
http://www.temple.edu/boyer/ResearchCenter/ResearchMain.htm
3. Carnegie, Andrew (1889) North American Review (June 1889). Reprinted in The Annals of America,
vol. 11, 1884–1894 (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1968), 222–226. Retrieved from
historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5767/
4. Jones, Kenneth (2008), ―San Francisco's Magic Theatre Is in Peril; Will Close Without Cash
Infusion‖ Playbill.com, December 30, 2008
5. Mangan, Timothy (2008) ―Opera Pacific closes down, likely for good‖ Orange County Register
November 4/5, 2008
6. Maupin, Elizabeth (2009) ―Orlando Opera to suspend operations April 30‖ OrlandoSentinel.com
April 16, 2009
7. Mills, Cheryl (2012) Is Entrepreneurship for You. Retrieved from

http://www.sba.gov/content/entrepreneurship-you-0
8. Rappaport, Scott (2009) UC Santa Cruz announces Shakespeare Santa Cruz will continue in 2010
with 29th season Univ of California Santa Cruz News October 13, 2009. Retrieved from
http://news.ucsc.edu/2009/10/3283.html
9. Recovery Act (2009) The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5
Retrieved from www.arts.endow.gov/grants/apply/recovery/index.html
10. Wall Street Journal (2012) January 18, 2012 Retrieved from
http://online.wsj.com/article/APe275f8b1bb924543b37397f52b1228e1.html
11. Warfield, Scott (2009) Review: Orlando Opera's chorus is the real star of this double bill This "Suor
Angelica" and "Cavalleria Rusticana" show what "Verisimo" opera can be. OrlandoSentinel.com
April 4, 2009

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN CHINA: THE ROLE OF

TRUST AND HARMONY
Wai Kwan Lau
College of Business and Technology / Department of

Business Administration
Northeastern State University
Abstract
Transformational leadership attracted a significant amount of scholarly attention in

the past few decades. This study is designed to develop an effective
transformational leadership model that works in the Chinese context. A model is
proposed to clarify the mediating effects of trust and harmony on the relationship
between transformational leadership and its effectiveness. The model provides a
new perspective on leadership in the Chinese context that is ignored in the Western
leadership literature. It also offers a clearer understanding of how best
transformational leadership practice combines with traditional Chinese wisdom to
do a better job in accounting for the leader-follower dynamics in contemporary
Chinese society.

1. Introduction
Transformational leadership theory has attracted a significant amount of scholarly attention from
across disciplines. This theory originated with the work of Burns (1978) and later was developed by Bass
(1985, 1988) and others (Avolio & Bass, 1988; Tichy & Devanna, 1986; Antonoakis & House, 2002). The
major premise of transformational leaderhip theory is the leader‘s ability to motivate followers to accomplish
more than they planned to accomplish (Krishnan, 2005). Transformational leaders inspire followers to
transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization and are capable of having a profound and
extraordinary effect on their followers (Judge & Piccolo, 2004).
The genesis of transformational leadership was in Western culture and transformational leadership is
considered as a dominant leadership style in the Western business context (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999; Dvir,
Eden, Avolio, & Shamir, 2002). Researchers found that within organizations beyond North American
Context, such as Asia and Latin America, leader behaviors are quite distinct from transformational leadership
(Silin, 1976; Martinez, 2003). Redding (1990) has pointed out that managerial leadership among Chinese is
primarily transactional, not transformational. The leadership concepts and behavioral styles dominant in
Asian business organizations consist of features such as didactic leadership, moral leadership, centralized
authority, and maintaining social distance with subordinates (Silin, 1976).
Whether transformational leadership is effective in non-Western cultures? This study is designed to

answer this question and develop an effective leadership model that works in the Chinese context. A further
review of the literature reveals that transformational leadership is compatible with collectivistic values
(Walumbwa & Lawler, 2003) and is believed to be appealing and generalizable to Chinese leadership
situations (Chen & Farh, 1999). These studies demonstrate that the roots of traditional value impact and shape
acceptable leadership styles in China. Another purpose of this study is to attempt to fill the gap by defining
harmony, a concept highly prized by Chinese traditions and associated with Chinese leadership yet greatly
ignored by the researchers.
Besides harmony, another factor that is viewed important in the leadership process is trust. Trust in
and loyalty to the leader plays a critical role in Western leadership (Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Moorman, &
Fetter, 1990). In China, however, trust is much more of a personal one. Personal trust needs to be earned
rather than be more automatic as it is in the West (Gallo, 2008). Chinese employees often have to guess their
leaders‘ meaning of what they are saying. Unless a strong level of trust is obtained, there may be a guessing
game played at work to determine the true meaning of the leader‘s statement (Littrell, 2002). It will be very
interesting to see whether under a very hierarchical social context and employees are most likely to follow the
leader‘s instruction, trust plays the same important role as it is in the West.

In summary, the purposes of this study are to clarify the mediating effects of trust and harmony on the
relationship between transformational leadership and its effectiveness. Most theories of leadership in
organizational behavior originated in the United States and Western Europe and are hypothesized to be
universally applicable to non-Western context. Departing from this tradition, I attempt to propose a leadership
model in the Chinese context, built on traditional Chinese values. The study contributes to extant leadership
research by clarifying the mediating effects of trust and harmony in the transformational leadership process,
and filling the gap by defining and interpreting harmony based on Confucian view. Most importantly, it
attempts to better understand the effectiveness of transformational leadership by addressing the fit between the
leadership process and the cultural values.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In next section, I provide a brief review of prior research
that relevant to this study. The theoretical foundations of transformational leadership, trust, harmony, and the
effectiveness of leadership are reviewed and discussed. I then describe the justification of the chosen
theoretical framework and develop the hypothesis. Followed by this, I describe the research design and
methodology employed for this study. Finally, results are presented and significant findings are summarized.
2. Overview of Theoretical Foundations and Hypotheses Development
2.1. Mediating Effect of Trust on the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and
Effectiveness
The notion of transformational leadership was developed under the tutelage of Bernard Bass (1998).
Transformational leaders define the need for change, develop a vision for the future, and mobilize follower
commitment to achieve results beyond what would normally be expected (Avolio & Bass, 1988). Although
transformational leadership is considered as less effectiveness in the Chinese context due to the culture
differences (Silin, 1976; Redding, 1990), it may turn out to be more compatible with Chinese traditional
values than expected.
In transformational leadership, a transformational leader has authority over followers in the hierarchy
as he/she leads them toward the vision for the organization (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). This presumption fits
well with the hierarchical structuring of Chinese leadership. The orientation that transformational leadership
has the ability to transcend the individual interests of the followers fits perfectly with the Confucian definition
of the sagely King or the superior gentleman (Yang, Peng, & Lee, 2008), that the leader should be a wise
person with superior character and conduct to lead his/her subordinates. Besides, individualized
consideration, one dimension of transformational leadership (Padsakoff et al., 1990) largely mirrors the
Confucian philosophy of benevolence. Thus, it appears that transformational leadership is not merely
compatible, but has enriched and elaborated certain aspects of the Confucian leadership philosophy.

Trust is defined as ―a person‘s expectation, assumptions, or beliefs about the likelihood that another‘s
future actions will be beneficial, favorable, or at least not deterimental to one‘s interests (Robinson, 1996, p.
576). It is the expectation that arises within an organization of regular, honest and cooperative behavior.
Researchers believe that trust is required in a company for the business leader and the others to work well
together (Podsakoff et al., 1990; Yukl, 1989).
There is a sense in the West that people are generally trustworthy. Western leaders usually begin their
assignments with a given level of trust in their subordinates. The subordinates maintain their leaders‘ trust
until their leaders are given cause to think differently. Likewise, subordinates are more likely to trust their
leaders at first, until the leaders give them a reason to abandon that trust. Compared with westerners, the
Chinese have a different understanding of trust.
The Chinese have a more difficult time than Westerners becoming corporate professional managers
because of their inclination to deeply trust only people with whom they have a very close relationship (Littrell,
2002). In China, trust is built up over time. As Littrell (2002) explained in his study, the collectivist mentality
(which characterizes the Chinese cultures) tends to treat strangers as meaningless objects or as objects to be
taken advantage. People whom one does not know are outsiders, to whom one owes no obligations. A
collectivist is much less concerned about those who do not belong to the in-group (Casimir et al., 2006).
Subordinates in a Chinese business environment need to see the leader‘s behavior first. They give the leader
plenty of respect, but hold back their trust until they see the behavior that backs up their words. Therefore,
Chinese leaders need to pay more attention and spend more effort to gain trust from the workforce.
Podsakoff et al. (1990) examined the impact of transformational leader behaviors on organizational
citizenship behaviors, and the study demonstrates a mediating role played by subordinates‘ trust in that
process. Casimir et al. (2006) also found the same mediating effect of trust on the relationship between
leadership and performance. Their study is in line with Bennis and Nanus‘s (1985) study, which suggests that
effective leaders are ones that earn the trust of their follower.
Yukl (1989) also identified trust as one of the crucial reasons that followers are motivated by leaders
to perform beyond expectations. The leader characteristics most valued by followers are honesty, integrity,
and truthfulness (Kouzes & Posner, 1987). Trust in and loyalty to the leader play a critical role in the
leadership model developed by Boal and Bryson (1988). The research that was reviewed for this study
provides a near unanimous agreement that trust is essential for leadership. Therefore, the following
hypothesis is given:
H1: Subordinates‟ trust in leader partially mediates the relationship between transformational
leadership and its effectiveness on subordinates.

2.2. Mediating Effect of Harmony on the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and
Effectiveness
Harmony is a central concept in the Chinese culture. The major Chinese traditions – Confucian,
Taoist, Legalist, and Buddhist – all valued harmony, in the general sense of getting along as an ultimate value,
although they disagreed on how to achieve it. In view of the Confucian views, harmony is a meta-physical as
well as an ethical notion (Lau, 1979). It describes both how the world at large operates and how human
beings ought to act. Harmony is by its very nature, relational. It presupposes the coexistence of multiple
parties (Lau, 1979). Harmony by no means implies perfect agreement. In a harmonious circumstance
coexisting parties must be in some way different from one another. Therefore, even unfriendly parties can
coexist in harmony. In addition, the requirement of harmony places a constraint on each party in interaction,
and at the same time, provides a context for each party to have optimal space to flourish (Wah, 2009). No one
thing can claim absolute superiority over another. Parties in a harmonious relationship are both the condition
for and the constraint against one another‘s growth.
Harmony is probably the most cherished ideal in Chinese culture that is associated with Chinese
leadership. In the Asian culture, harmony is viewed broadly functional for both internal management and
external relations (Gallo, 2008). Internally, this notion helps firms avoid conflict and reduce management
costs. Externally, it helps firms establish harmonious environments that are advantageous to the firms. The
current study only focuses on the internal harmonious relationship within the organization.
In the theoretical model investigating Chinese leadership, Westwood (1997) argues that harmony is
one of the two basic requirements for any leadership situation in the Chinese context. He further claims that
such harmony is not based on equalitarian or egalitarian presumptions, nor upon mere exchange values; rather
it develops in an environment of clear and acknowledged power distances and inequalities.
According to Westwood (1997), Chinese leadership requiring both order and harmony is distinctive.
This dual requirement structure is different from other cultures. For example, because of their femininity
orientation (Hofstede, 2001), Scandinavian culture requires forms of social harmony in the workplace, but
order and compliance are not required. In the Latin American culture, there are some requirements for
hierarchical order and autocratic leadership, but the requirements for harmony are not as pronounced.
Westwood‘s (1997) view complies with Silin‘s (1976) who argues that harmony occurs not through
equality but through the acceptance of socially approved rules of behavior based on ordered hierarchy. A
similar argument is also held by Bond and Hwang (1986). According to them, the prerequisites of harmony
include individual loyalty and obedience to the authorities. The philosophy of harmony has been translated as
keeping harmonious interpersonal relationships (Cheng et al., 2002a), being kind to others (Chou et al., 2005),
and smooth cooperation with others (Farh et al., 2006) in the practice of management.

The seeking of harmony in the relationships within a company is viewed as one of the Chinese
leadership competencies (Cheng et al., 2002b). As leaders are often faced with complex, multi-party
negotiations, creating a harmonious result in which all parties are at least reasonably satisfied with the result is
important in the Chinese context.
It is widely accepted that managers must keep harmony within an organization to keep it running
smoothly and making profits (Cheng, 1995; Cheng et al., 2002b, Gallo, 2008). Internal harmony helps firms
avoid conflict and reduce management cost, whereas external harmony helps firms establish harmonious
environments that are advantageous to them (Gallo, 2008).
For some executives, harmony takes precedence over the firms‘ profit goals in certain circumstances
(Aycan, 2006). Keeping balance and coordination to maintain harmony are important in Chinese
organizations. In order to maximize overall benefits, the leader must be willing to make necessary
compromises without going against organizational policies in order to gain harmony.
Prior research reveals that the very notion of transformational leadership exists across cultures (e.g.
Javidan & Carl, 2005; Ergeneli, Gohar, & Temirbekova, 2007). Different from this opinion, some researchers
address the role of cultural values on the relationship between transformational leadership and effectiveness
(Walumbwa & Lawler, 2003; Zhang, Chen, Liu & Liu, 2008).
Organizations that highly value harmony tend to be more collectivistic in nature (Westwood, 1997) –
emphasizing the importance of the group rather than their own self-interest. In Chinese traditional cultures,
people have a strong identification with in-groups and possible ostracization with out-groups (Casimir, et al.,
2006). One of the objectives of transformational leadership is to foster group goals, and to promote
collaboration and cooperation among group members. Groups with a high degree of harmony have less
individualistic viewpoints and thus may have an easier time focusing on group-level goals rather than
individual goals (Casimir, et al., 2006). In contrast, those with a low level of harmony are more likely to act
according to their own interests rather than for the interests of the collective. Thus, in the Chinese
organizations, it is important for transformational leaders to build a harmonious relationship within the
organization.
The Western leadership practice of transformational leadership is based on a strong relationship

between the leader and the followers. But in the Chinese society, especially as we consider Confucianism,
there is a clearly defined distance in this relationship. The five pairs of social roles - between father and son,
between the ruler and the subject, between the older and the younger, between husband and wife, and between
friends - are understood by all Chinese people. While the power distance between the leader and the followers
in China is becoming smaller, the notion of order and span are still the foundation for leaders in a Chinese
context. Any attempts to narrow this distance can cause conflict and discomfort (Littrell, 2002).

Therefore, although transformational leadership originated in Western culture and has been
demonstrated as a dominant leadership style in the Western business environment, one cannot ignore the
impact of harmony even when using transformational leadership in China. Leadership behaviors that are
consistent with a society‘s predominant cultural values are evaluated favorably. Thus, I state the following
hypothesis:
H3: The degree of harmony in the organization partially mediates the relationship between
transformational leadership and its effectiveness on subordinates.
3. Methods
3.1. Samples
The sample size consisted of 312 full-time employees in three different cities in China. On-site
survey collection provided a 100% response rate. As response rate is an important indicator of survey quality,
the higher response rates assure more accurate survey results (Aday, 1996). The 312 useable responses
represent a wide variety of Chinese organizations across different industries. 207 respondents (66%) were
from private companies while 105 respondents (34%) were from state-owned companies. The average length
of service in an organization is 6.65 years and women constituted 34.3% of the sample. With regard to
education level, 36.2% of the respondents hold a high school diploma, 19.6% hold a vocational/technical
certificate, 23.1% hold a two-year college degree, 20.2% hold a Bachelor‘s degree, and 1% hold a Master‘s
degree.
3.2. Procedures
An on-site survey method was used to collect data from nine organizations in China. The survey
consisted of 76 questions. The first page of the survey included an introduction to the survey, the time to
complete, contact information, and instructions. The body of the survey includes two sections. The first
section is comprised of demographic information questions such as gender, age, education, and organizational
tenure, etc. In the second section, respondents were asked to give opinions about leadership characteristics of
their current managers, degree of trust they have in their leaders, degree of harmonious relationships between
managers and themselves, and their perceptions of leadership effectiveness. The surveys were conducted on
site at different times across different enterprises. Written instructions were attached as a cover page of the
survey and detailed instructions were explained verbally at the beginning of the survey administration. The
surveys were collected immediately by an administrator outside the company upon completion.
The design of this study presented minimal risk to the participants, as it involved no experiential
treatments of the subjects or exposure to physical or psychological harm. There was no formal debriefing of
the participants after the study, but participant companies will be supplied with an executive summary of the
findings if requested. Individual participants may also request a summary. No sanctions or incentives were
used to encourage participation, nor were any applied if the participants declined or withdrew from the study.

No information regarding participation of any individuals was communicated to their respective organizations.
Confidentiality of data was maintained at all times and identification of individual named responses was not
available. These conditions were communicated to all participants at the beginning of the survey.
3.3. Measures
The survey instrument developed for this study includes constructs such as transformational
leadership, trust, harmony, and leadership effectiveness. Some of the instruments are adopted from existing
scales while others are developed by the author based on the literature. All items used in the survey will be
measured on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1-strongly disagree to 6-strongly agree. An even number of
points rather than an odd number is used because Chinese people tend to answer in the middle (Chiu & Yang,
1987). It is hoped to prevent this response bias by not including a mid-point on the scale. The final set of items
is arranged in random order on the questionnaire.
Questionnaires originally written in English were translated into Chinese, and then checked by
translation back into English to ensure conceptual consistency. The translation and back-translation were
undertaken by bilingual researchers who had studied in both Chinese and English, thus sufficiently educated
in both languages as recommended by Bracken and Barona (1991). The original questionnaire was first
translated into Chinese by one researcher and translated back into English by another independent researcher
as described by Brislin (1970). The translator and back-translator met with the English speaking, monolingual
researchers to examine the differences found in the back-translation. After considering their suggestions,
some necessary modifications were made, completing the Chinese version of the questionnaire.
3.4. Transformational Leadership

I use the measure of transformational leadership developed by Podsakoff et al.(1990). The internal
consistency reliabilities for all of the dimensions of transformational leadership behavior meet or exceed
Nunnally‘s (1978) recommended level of .70 (e.g., .87 for ―core‖ transformational leader behaviors – three
dimensions, identify and articulate a vision, provide an appropriate model, and foster the acceptance of group
goals, compose core transformational leadership behavior; .78 for the dimension of high performance
expectations; .90 for the dimension of individualized support; and .91 for the dimension of intellectual
stimulation). Consistent with previous research, the score for the transformational leadership scale will be
calculated by summing the points across all 23 items (Chen & Farh, 1999; Zhang, Cao, & Tjosvold, 2010).
Zhang et al. verified that Cronbach‘s alpha for the six dimensions range from .76 to .93, and the alpha for the
full scale is .96.
3.5. Trust
The concept of trust used in this study refers to employees‘ faith in and loyalty to their leaders. The
instrument for trust is borrowed from the existing literature (Podsakoff et al., 1990). Cronbach‘s alpha for

trust was .90. Casimir et al. (2006) used the same scale to test the mediation effects of trust on the leadership-
performance relation in different culture contexts. The Cronbach‘s Alpha of trust was .87 for the Australian
sample and .85 for the Chinese sample. The scale consists of five items.
3.6. Harmony
Due to the lack of existing measures, I constructed the items for harmony based on the Confucian
notion of harmony. The items are used to assess the harmonious relationship with an organization. The
questions ask the respondents to evaluate whether his/her supervisor values personal relationships; whether
the supervisor has the ability to balance his/her desire to be lenient with the need to be harsh toward his/her
people; and whether the supervisor is effective in balancing relationship so that all parties are reasonably
satisfied with the result. A 5-item scale was used to measure harmony and the total scale score was calculated
by summing up all the points across five items.
3.7. Leadership Effectiveness

Leader effectiveness is often measured in terms of the leader‘s contribution to the quality of group
processes as it is perceived by followers and by outside observers (Yukl, 2006). In this study, I will use
subordinates to evaluate leadership effectiveness. Leaders‘ subordinates are believed to be in the best position
to assess the extent to which their leaders‘ behavior is effective or not as they are most likely to see their
leaders‘ behavior on a day-to-day basis (Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan, 1994). As this study focuses on the
relationships between leaders and their subordinates, the subordinates, as direct recipients of their leaders‘
behaviors, provide an appropriate source of information on their leadership effectiveness. Scales for
leadership effectiveness were borrowed and adapted from previous research (Chen & Tjosvold, 2005; Chen &
Farh, 1999). Item 1 is from Chen and Farh (1999) and the remaining three items are from Chen and Tjosvold
(2005). Because this scale consists of items pulled from two measures, no reliability data is reported here. A
4-item scale was used to measure leader effectiveness and the total scale score was calculated by summing up
all the points across four items.
Cronbach‘s alpha (Nunnally, 1978) was used for all scales to assess internal consistency of all scales.
All Cronbach‘s alpha indices exceeded .70 suggesting that the questions are internally consistent. Next,
regression and mediation analyses were conducted to determine whether the relationships between the
variables were as expected. The effect of transformational leadership on effectiveness is proposed to be
partially mediated by trust and harmony. I used Baron and Kenny‘s (1986) four-step process to test the
mediational hypotheses because it is the most common method for testing mediation in the social sciences
(MacKinnon, Lockwood, Hoffman, West, & Sheets, 2002). According to this method, the first step is to show
transformational leadership is correlated with leadership effectiveness (see Path c in Figure 1). Step 2 is to
show transformational leadership is correlated with the mediators, trust and harmony (Path a in Figure 1). The
third step is to show both mediators are correlated with leadership effectiveness (see Path b in Figure 1). The

final step is to show the mediator effects of trust and harmony on the transformational leadership-effectiveness
relationship, by finding that the strength of the relationships between the leadership behaviors and
effectiveness are reduced when the mediators (e.g., trust and harmony) are added to the model (compare Path
c with Path c‘ in Figure 1).
Figure 1. Diagram of paths in mediation models
Predictor Variable (x) Outcome

(e.g., transformational Path c Variable (Y) (e.g.,
leadership) leader
effectiveness)
Path c’
Predictor Variable (x) Mediator Outcome

(e.g., transformational Path a Variable (M) Path b Variable (Y) (e.g.,
leadership) (e.g., trust, leader
harmony) effectiveness)
8. Results
An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using SPSS before hypothesis testing because of the
newness of the survey questionnaire. The criterion for item deletion was based on three rules: 1) an item-
correlation that is lower than .40; 2) high cross-loadings on two factors; and 3) subjective assessment of the
importance of the item for capturing the domain represented by the construct (Churchill, 1979; Nunnally,
1978). The results of factor analysis show that items for transformational leadership loaded into six separate
dimensions as suggested in previous research (Podsakoff et al., 1990). All five items of trust and harmony
loaded as one component. All four items of leadership effectiveness loaded as one component. Evidence
from the results provided support for the measurement instruments used in the study, as the factors loadings
were consistent with original scales. The Cronbach‘s alpha for the six dimensions of transformational
leadership ranges from .70 to .87, and the alpha for the full transformational leadership scale is .93. The
Cronbach‘s alpha for trust, harmony and effectiveness are .93, .88, and .84 respectively.
To test hypotheses, Baron and Kenny‘s (1986) steps were adopted to determine whether mediating
effects occurred. For Hypothesis 1, the dependent variable is effectiveness, the mediator is trust, and the
independent variable is transformational leadership. As shown in Table 1, transformational leadership was
related to effectiveness (step 1) as the unstandardized regression coefficient (B = .21) associated with the
effect of transformational leadership on effectiveness was significant (p < .0001). The unstandarized

regression coefficient (B = .25) associated with the relationship between transformational leadership and trust
(step 2) also was significant (p < .0001). To test whether trust was related to effectiveness (Step 3), I
regressed effectiveness simultaneously on both trust and the transformational leadership variable. The
coefficient associated with the relation between trust and effectiveness (controlling for transformational
leadership; step 3) was significant (B = .70, p < .0001). The results show that the relationship between
transformational leadership and effectiveness (step 4) was .06 and still significant (p < .0001), which means
that trust partially mediates the relation between transformational leadership and effectiveness. To test
whether the drop (from B = .21 in step 1 to B = .06 in step 4) is significant, a Sobel test was used. The Sobel
test directly tests for a reduction in the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable when
controlling for the mediator. The result indicates that the partial mediation is significant (Sobel test statistic
score = 24.567, p < .0001). Therefore, Hypothesis 2 is supported.
Table 1. Mediating test for H1
Steps B SE B 95% CI β
Step 1
Dependent Variable: Effectiveness
Independent Variable: Transformational Leadership .21 .01 .19, .23 .72**
Step 2
Mediator: Trust
Step 3 and 4
Mediator: Trust (Step 3) .60 .03 .55, .65 .77**
(Step 4)
CI = confidence interval;
**p < .0001
For Hypothesis 2, the dependent variable is effectiveness, the mediator is harmony, and the
independent variable is transformational leadership. As shown in Table 2, transformational leadership was
related to effectiveness (step 1) as the unstandardized regression coefficient (B = .21) associated with the
effect of transformational leadership on effectiveness was significant (p < .0001). The unstandarized
regression coefficient (B = .25) associated with the relationship between transformational leadership and
harmony (step 2) also was significant (p < .0001). To test whether trust was related to effectiveness (step 3), I
regressed effectiveness simultaneously on both harmony and the transformational leadership variable. The
coefficient associated with the relation between trust and effectivness (controlling for transformational

leadership; step 3) was significant (B = .80, p < .0001). The results show that the relationship between
transformational leadership and effectiveness (step 4) was .01 and still significant (p < .05), which means that
harmony partially mediates the relation between transformational leadership and effectiveness. To test
whether the drop (from B = .21 in step 1 to B = .01 in step 4) is significant, a Sobel test was used. The Sobel
test directly tests for a reduction in the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable when
controlling for the mediator. The result indicates that the partial mediation is significant (Sobel test statistic
score = 17.598, p < .0001). Therefore, Hypothesis 2 is supported.
Table 2. Mediating test for H2
Steps B SE B 95% CI β
Step 1
Step 2
Mediator: Harmony
Step 3 and 4
Mediator: Harmony (Step 3) .80 .01 .74, .80 .97**
Independent Variable: Transformational Leadership .01 .01 .00, .02 .05*
(Step 4)
CI = confidence interval;
**p < .0001, *P < .05
9. Conclusions and Recommendations
The core of this empirical study was to examine the effects of factors such as trust and harmony on
relationships between transformational leadership and effectiveness. Further, a new measurement instrument
for harmony was developed. Factor analysis results supported the presence of variables with the proposed
dimensions. Thus, this study provides newly developed instruments to measure harmony with acceptable
validity and reliability. Regression results suggested both trust and harmony partially mediate the relationship
between transformational leadership and effectiveness.
9.1. The Effects of Trust

From the employees‘ perspective, trust to leader means faith in and loyalty to the leader (Casimir et
al., 2006). Previous research has found the mediating effect of trust on the relationship between leadership

and performance. The results of this study demonstrate the mediating role played by subordinates‘ trust in
transformational leadership process. More important, this study emphasized the critical role of trust in
leadership process in the Chinese context. The results show that trust creates loyalty in the management by
the employees and builds a good relationship between manager and employees. In China, trust is established
based on the personal bond and sharing of positive affect between manager and employees (Chen et al., 2011).
This trust signals a strong sense of sharing with the relationship where the employees are willing to express
their ideas and concerns without fears of being reprimanded (Yukl, 1989). And this positive relationship
induces positive emotional feelings in their leader by the employees and therefore taps into positive
evaluations about the leadership effectiveness of their leader (Boal & Bryson, 1988).
9.2. The Effects of Harmony

The philosophical notion of harmony was most frequently cited by researchers (Westwood, 1997;
Silin, 1976; Aycan et al., 2000). The results of the tests reveal that the degree of harmony in the organization
partially mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and its effectiveness on subordinates.
Compared with trust, the mediating effect of harmony is much stronger as the unstandardized regression
coefficient dropped from .21 to .01, indicating that harmony almost fully mediates the relationship between
transformational leadership and effectiveness.
Harmony is not a central construct in Western ideology where proximate value orientations are based
upon notions of equality, egalitarianism and consensus (Westwood, 1997). However, the findings of harmony
in this study demonstrate that harmony is a deeply embedded social value in Chinese society, where the
tradition stress harmony between people and their environment, and most significance here, harmony in social
relationships (Yang, 1986). As noted, the unique traditional Chinese value requires that the effective
leadership considering harmony with the organization. Harmony helps foster more solidaristic sentiments and
consolidates beneficial bonds of mutual obligation and reciprocity between leader and subordinates. The
exhibition of proper and considerate behavior by the leader provides valuable support to the maintenance of
order and compliance (Westwood, 1997).
Modern business management has benefited from the Western managerial approaches, and
transformational leadership has been considered as an effective way dominant in Western context. To be
effective in non-Western context such as China, transformational leadership needs to be modified and
integrate Chinese traditional values to be useful (Pellegrini & Scandura, 2008). Chinese employees and
subordinates expect that their managers will take their personal situation into consideration. In most cases,
relationship considerations, together with moral persuasion, are supersede rules and regulations in Chinese
management (Zhang et al., 2008).

9.3. Limitations
Although the study provides several significant insights and implications for organizations to use in
leadership process, the study is not free from limitations. One limitation is that even though the study was
conducted in divergent contexts (e.g., private companies, state-owned companies, companies in different
industries), all of them examined leadership and its effectiveness at the dyadic level, that is, the manager was
evaluated by his/her subordinates‘ individual opinions. This limits me to draw conclusions about the possible
effect of the leaders on outcomes at the level of the organization or the work unit.
Another limitation to this study could be using self-reported data. Although self-report data is widely
used, however, it does limit, to some degree, the validity of this study. In addition, a chance of common
method variance always arises when information for a study is gathered using self-reports (Podsakoff &
Organ, 1986). This study took steps recommended in the literature to avoid this problem as much as possible.
For example, the questionnaire used both positive and negative items to measure individual constructs (Hair et
al., 1998). So that some of the impact could be reduced.
9.4. Future Research

At the outset, this study provides a useful measurement instrument, harmony, for future studies. This
instrument can be used to examine a variety of relationship in the Chinese leadership/management studies.
The current study focused on the internal relationships within the organization (e.g., trust in leader and
harmonious relationship within the organization). Future study can extend the meaning of trust and harmony
to external context. As discussed earlier, the Chinese are very slow to trust others. When dealing the
relationship with business partners, the Chinese prefer make friends and establish trust first, and then do
business. However, Westerns want to get right down to business. While Westerns might conclude that the
Chinese counterpart is not trustworthy, the Chinese often think the Westerns as rash in thinking that the two
parties can move forward as quickly as the Western prefers without having established trust first. Similarly,
harmony principle can also be extended to examine the relationship with the external environment such as
with business partners, governments, and even competitors. It would be interesting to see how a leader is
effective both internally and externally.
The study tested the mediating effects of trust and harmony as well as the moderating effect of
generation in the leadership process. The contribution of additional factors (e.g., leader‘s competence) as
mediators could be considered. In addition, a cross-cultural study might be explored in future studies. Future
study may compare the impacts of leadership behaviors and factors in China versus Western culture clusters.
Through such research, it helps to gain a clearer picture of the contributions of the transformational model to
the leadership literature.

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The International Journal of Management

Issue: 1 Volume: 1 January, 2012

 Dr. Sasmita Mishra

Editorial Advisory Board:

 Dr. Robert J. Meier

Reviewers Panel: Management Team:

 Dr. Pradnya Chitrao  Subhadip Dey

In this era of knowledge, knowledge dissemination has become as important as

Look forward for a bright future of this journal.

With Warm Regards,

Dr. Sasmita Mishra

3 A target’s reaction to sexual harassment: an Sean Walker 27

4 How the arts can demonstrate indispensability Paul Lorton, Jr. 46

5 Transformational leadership in china: the role of Wai Kwan Lau 61

„GREEN‟ AWARENESS AND GREEN CONSUMPTION TRENDS: A CASE

Dr. Pradnya Chitrao

Dr. Asha Nagendra

Vol: 1/Issue :1 www.theijm.com 1

2. Going „green‟ in the corporate world

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 2

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 3

4. Results (Figures and tables)

Findings about Consumption Patterns among Educated Puneites

Sources from which the term Global

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 4

Figure 2. Frequency of eating meat per week

Frequency of eating meat per week

Figure 3. Type of food fed to pets

Type of Food Fed to Pets

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 5

Figure 4. Diagrammatical Representation of environmental friendly measures used at home

Some environment friendly measures used at home

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 6

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 7

A FRAMEWORK FOR EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

Ana L. Rosado Feger

Vol: 1/Issue :1 www.theijm.com 8

A project is defined as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 9

In addition to PM leadership, an important factor to project management and project success is

2.1. The Evolution of Leadership Models

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 10

Leadership Main Tenet(s) Leader Characteristics Representative Studies

Trait Leaders are born Drive/ambition Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991

Vol: 1/ Issue : 1 www.theijm.com 11

Transformational and transactional leadership have been operationalized as multi-dimensional

1. The indicators are caused by the latent construct.

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3. The indicators covary.

2.2. Emotional intelligence

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2.4 Organizational Structure

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2.5. Other Contextual Factors

2.6 “Success” in Project Management

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Figure 1. Conceptual Model

Gender* Sex* Gender* Sex* Gender* Sex* Gender Sex