The Effects of Status and Power on Leadership Emergence and Conflict in Teams: From a Structural Perspective

Abstract

In this dissertation, I have examined two important forms of informal social hierarchy - status and power - and have theorized their effects on leadership emergence and conflict in teams. I conducted two field studies using an employee sample from a consulting company in South Korea and a MBA student sample from a mid-western university in the United States. The findings suggest that status and power are related yet distinct concepts and have different impacts on leadership emergence and conflict in teams. Although both are positively related to leadership emergence during team formation stages, status has more effects on leadership emergence in teams that deal with highly uncertain projects. Power, however, has no effect on leadership emergence regardless of task uncertainty. The findings also suggest that status and power play important roles in team processes. Status affects members’ expectations, which then lead to leadership behaviors. Team members who have high status at the organizational level but low status at the team level seem to experience more relationship conflict. Conflict is exacerbated when counterparts have high needs for status.