Changing the Guard

Abstract

Nearly all groups face a change of leaders at some point in their existence. However, there is little agreement about the impact of leadership turnover on the group or the conditions that create the most positive transition. In a 2 x 2 factorial design, groups that had worked on one task under one leader were assigned a new leader who either came from within the group (origin of new leader) orfrom outside the group. The ex-leader either remained as a member of the group or exited (fate of ex-leader). The groups then worked on a second task under the new leader The results indicated that leadership turnover per se did not have a significant effect on group performance. However, when turnover occurred, performance was highest when the new leader camefrom within the group and the ex-leader remained. Members indicated that the internal leader adopted a more people-oriented approach when the ex-leader remained in the group than when he orshe left. However, the presence (or absence) of the exleader had no e.ffect on the perceived style of the outside leader Although members were more attracted to the group when leadership turnover occurred than when it did not, there was no difference in attraction between the various turnover conditions.