The downside of charisma

Posted by Ricki Sharpe on August 1, 2008  
Filed Under Leadership

Happiness may be contagious in the workplace, but enthusiasm is annoying, especially if it involves bosses who wave their hands and talk too loudly. So says a University of Florida study that concludes that while charismatic managers can be effective, their over exuberance can turn off and demoralise employees.

“Clearly, charismatic leaders make people happy and that explains why people are so attracted to them, but there is a little understood dark side to charisma,” said Amir Erez, a University of Florida management professor who led the research, which is published in the the Journal of Applied Psychology.

“In their enthusiasm, charismatic leaders may talk too loudly and wave their hands excessively, which unnecessarily arouses employees and puts them in a bad mood,” Erez said.

“Usually we think of being aroused as indicating the need to run from some sort of danger, like being prepared for fight or flight, which, when you think about it, is not a particularly positive feeling to experience,” he said.

In separate samples of college students and firefighters, Erez and his team found that compared with non-charismatic leaders, charismatic leaders exhibited more positive gestures such as smiling and laughing but also more aroused behaviors, such as talking with hands and being loud. While the leaders’ positive expressions raised followers’ positive moods, the aroused behaviours had a negative effect.

“Having such a positive effect is a definite advantage in the workplace because studies have shown that people who are in a good mood are more motivated, show greater creativity, perform better on a variety of tasks and cooperate more fully with their co-workers,” he said.

“The conventional wisdom is that being highly expressive is a good leadership practice, but this study raises doubts about whether the ability to arouse people is constructive in the workplace,” Erez said.

“While it’s clear that charismatic leaders induce good moods, they could have an even greater positive influence by learning to control over-the-top behaviour.”

Reference

Erez, A., Misangyi, V. F., Johnson, D. E., LePine, M. A. & Halverson, K. C. (2008). Stirring the hearts of followers: Charismatic leadership as the transferal of affect. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 602-616.


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