This paper examines the relation of individual perceptual, conscious, and self-regulatory processes to the generation of requisite complexity in formal and informal leaders. Requisite complexity is a complex adaptive systems concept that pertains to the ability of a system to adjust to the requirements of a changing environment by achieving equivalent levels of complexity. We maintain that requisite complexity has both static and dynamic aspects that involve four domains (general, social, self, and affective complexity), with each being more or less important for leaders depending upon the task requirements they face. Dynamic complexity draws on these static components and also creates new aspects of complexity through the interaction of mental processes. The implications of these issues for understanding leader adaptation and development are also discussed.
AllportA.(1989). Visual attention. In PosnerM. I. (Ed.), Foundations of cognitive science (pp. 631–682). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
2.
BaarsB. J.(2007). The global workspace theory of consciousness. In VelmansM.SchneiderS. (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to consciousness (pp. 236–246). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
3.
BledowR.SchmittA.FreseM. (2010). The affective underpinning of work engagement: The dynamic interplay of positive and negative affect. Manuscript submitted for publication.
4.
BucknerR. L.CarrollD. C.(2007). Self-projection and the brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 49–57.
5.
CarverC. S.ScheierM. F.(1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. Cambridge, UK: CambridgeUniversity Press.
6.
CarverC. S.ScheierM. F.(2002). Control processes and self-organization as complementary principles underlying behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 304–315.
7.
CilliersP.(1998). Complexity and postmodernism: Understanding complex systems. New York, NY: Routledge.
8.
DavidsonR. J.(2003). Affective neuroscience and psychophysiology: Toward a synthesis. Psychophysiology, 40, 655–665.
9.
DayD. V.HarrisonM. M.HalpinS. M. (2009). An integrative approach to leader development. New York, NY: Routledge.
10.
DayD. V.LanceC. E.(2004). Understanding the development of leadership complexity through latent growth modeling. In DayD. V.ZaccaroS. J.HalpinS. M. (Eds.), Leader development for transforming organizations (pp. 41–69). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
11.
DehaeneS.NaccacheL.(2001). Towards a cognitive neuroscience of consciousness: Basic evidence and a workspace framework. Cognition, 79, 1–37.
12.
DeShonR. PGillespieJ. Z.(2005). A motivated theory account of goal orientation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 1096–1127.
13.
DiefendorffJ. M.LordR. G.(2008). Self-regulation and goal striving processes. In KanferR.ChenG.PritchardR. (Eds.), Work motivation: Past, present, and future (pp. 151–96). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis Group.
14.
DragoniL.(2005). Understanding the emergence of state goal orientation in organizational work groups: The role of leadership and multilevel climate perceptions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 1084–1095.
15.
EatonA. A.VisserP. S.KrosnickJ. A.AnandS. (2009). Social power and attitude strength over the life course. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1646–1660.
16.
FleesonW.(2001). Toward a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 1011–1027.
17.
FredricksonB. L.(2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226.
18.
FusterJ. M.(2002). Physiology of executive functions: The perception–action cycle. In StussD. T.KnightR. T. (Eds.), Principles of frontal lobe function (pp. 96–108). New York, NY: OxfordUniversity Press.
19.
GeorgeJ. M.ZhouJ.(2007). Dual tuning in a supportive context: Joint contributions of positive mood, negative mood, and supervisory behaviors to employee creativity. Academyof Management Journal, 50, 605–622.
20.
GrossbergS.(1999). The link between brain learning, attention, and consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 8, 1–44.
21.
GusnardD. A.(2005). Being a self: Considerations from functional imaging. Consciousness and Cognition, 14, 679–697.
22.
GusnardD. A.AkbudakE.ShulmanG. L.RaichleM. E. (2001). Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: Relation to a default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98, 4259–4264.
23.
HagmannP.CammounL.GigandetX.MeuliR.HoneyC. J.WedeenV. J.SpornsO. (2008). Mapping the structural core of human cerebral cortex. PLoS Biology, 6, e159. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060159.
24.
HannahS. T.EggersJ. H.JenningsP. L. (2008). Complex adaptive leadership: Defining what constitutes effective leadership for complex organizational contexts. In GraenG. B.GraenJ. A. (Eds.), Knowledge driven corporation: Complex creative destruction. LMX Leadership: The Series. Volume VI (pp. 79–124). Charlotte, NC: Info Age Publishing.
25.
HannahS. T.LesterP. B.(2009). A multilevel approach to building and leading learning organizations. TheLeadership Quarterly, 20, 34–48.
26.
HannahS. T.WoolfolkR. L.LordR. G. (2009). Leader self-structure: A framework for positive leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 269–290.
HigginsE. T.van HookE.DorfmanD. (1988). Do self-attributes form a cognitive structure?Social Cognition, 6, 177–206.
29.
HogueM.LordR. G.(2007). A multilevel, complexity theory approach to understanding gender bias in leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 18, 370–390.
30.
HooijbergR.(1996). A multidirectional approach toward leadership: An extension of the concept of behavioral complexity. Human Relations, 49, 917–946.
31.
HooijbergR.HuntJ. G.DodgeG. E. (1997). Leadership complexity and development of the leaderplex model. Journal of Management, 23, 375–408.
32.
HooijbergR.SchneiderM.(2001). Behavioral complexity and social intelligence: How executive leaders use their stakeholders to form a systems perspective. In ZaccaroS. J.KlimoskiR. (Eds.), The nature of organizational leadership: Understanding the performance imperatives confronting today’s leaders (pp. 104–131). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
33.
HowellJ. M.ShamirB.(2005). The role of followers in the charismatic leadership process: Relationships and their consequences. Academy of Management Review, 30, 96–112.
34.
HuyQ. N.(2002). Emotional balancing of organizational continuity and radical change: The contribution of middle managers. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47, 31–69.
35.
IbarraH.(1999). Provisional selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional adaptation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 764–791.
36.
IsenA.(2000). Positive affect and decision making. In. M. Lewis & J. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 417–435). New York, NY: Guilford.
37.
JohnsonR. E.ChangC. H. D.LordR. G.(2006). Moving from cognition to behavior: What the research says. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 381–415.
38.
KarkR.ShamirB.ChenG. (2003). The two faces of transformational leadership: Empowerment and dependency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 246–255.
39.
KellettJ. B.HumphreyR. H.SleethR. G. (2006). Empathy and the emergence of task and relations leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 146–162.
40.
KihlstromJ. F.BeerJ. S.KleinS. B. (2003). Self and identity as memory. In LearyM. R.TangneyJ. P. (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 68–90). New York, NY: Guilford.
41.
KleinG.(1997). The recognition-primed decision (RPD) model: Looking back, looking forward. In ZsambokC. E.KleinG. (Eds.), Naturalistic decision making (pp. 49–60). Hillsdale, NJ: LawrenceErlbaum.
42.
KozlowskiS. W. J.KleinK. J.(2000). A multilevel approach to theory and research in organizations: Contextual, temporal, and emergent processes. In KleinK. J.KozlowskiS. W. J. (Eds.), Multilevel theory, research, and methods in organization (pp. 3–90). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
43.
KuhnenU.HannoverB.SchubertB. (2001). The semantic-procedural interface model of the self: The role of self-knowledge for context-dependent versus context-independent modes of thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 397–409.
44.
LeBoeufR. A.ShafirE.BayukJ. B. (2010). The conflicting choices of alternative selves. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 111, 48–61.
45.
LeDouxJ. E.PhelpsE. A.(2000). Emotional networks in the brain. In LewisM.Haviland-JonesJ. M. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2<sup>nd</sup> ed., pp. 157–172). New York, NY: GuilfordPress.
46.
LinvilleP. W.(1985). Self-complexity and affective extremity: Don’t put all your eggs in one cognitive basket. Social Cognition, 3, 94–120.
47.
LinvilleP. W.(1987). Self-complexity as a cognitive buffer against stress-related illness and depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 663–676.
48.
LordR. G.BrownD. J.(2004). Leadership processes and follower self-identity. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
49.
LordR. G.DiefendorffJ. M.SchmidtA. M.HallR. J. (2010). Self-regulation at work. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 548–568.
50.
LordR. G.HallR. J.(2005). Identity, deep structure and the development of leadership skills. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 591–615.
51.
LordR. G.ShondrickS. J. (2011). Leadership and knowledge: Symbolic, connectionist, and embodied perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 22, 207–222.
52.
MarchJ. G.(1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science, 2, 71–87.
53.
MarionR.Uhl-BienM. (2001). Leadership in complex organizations. Leadership Quarterly, 12, 389–418.
54.
MarkusH.WurfE.(1987). The dynamic self-concept: A psychological perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 299–337.
55.
MischelW.ShodaY.(1998). Reconciling processing dynamics and personality dispositions. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 229–258.
56.
NaidooL. J.LordR. G.(2008). Speech imagery and perceptions of charisma: The mediating role of positive affect. Leadership Quarterly, 19, 283–296.
57.
NiedenthalP. M.WinkielmanP.MondillonL.VermeulenN. (2009). Embodiment of emotion concepts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 1120–1136.
58.
O’ReillyR. C.BraverT. S.CohenJ. D. (1999). A biologically based computational model of working memory. In MiyakeA.ShahP. (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 375–411). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
59.
PageS. E.(2007). The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies. Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press.
PearceC. L.CongerJ. A.(2003). Shared leadership: Reframing the hows and whys of leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
62.
ShahJ. Y.(2003). The motivational looking glass: How significant others implicitly affect goal appraisals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 424–439.
63.
SimonH. A.(1967). Motivational and emotional controls of cognition. Psychological Review, 74, 29–39.
64.
SimpsonJ. R.JrDrevetsW. C.SnyderA. Z.GusnardD. A.RaichleM. E. (2001). Emotion induced changes in human medial prefrontal cortex: II. During anticipatory anxiety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 98, 688–693.
65.
StreufertS.NogamiG. Y.(1989). Cognitive style and complexity: Implications for I/O psychology. In CooperC. L.RobinsonI. (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 49–91). Manchester, UK: Wiley.
66.
StreufertS.StreufertS. C.(1978). Behavior in the complex environment. Washington DC: V. H. Winston & Sons.
67.
StreufertS.SwezeyR. W.(1986). Complexity, managers, and organizations. New York, NY: Academic Press.
68.
SurieG.HazyJ. K.(2007). Generative leadership: Nurturing innovation in complex systems. In HazyJ. K.GoldsteinJ. A.LichtensteinB. B. (Eds.), Complex systems leadership theory: New perspectives from complexity science on social and organizational effectiveness (pp. 349–365). Mansfield, MA: ISCE Publishing.
69.
TrappenbergT. P.(2002). Fundamentals of computational neuroscience. New York, NY: OxfordUniversity Press.
70.
ThatcherR. W.NorthD.BiverC. (2008). Development of cortical connectivity as measured by EEG coherence and phase. Human Brain Mapping, 29, 1400–1415.
71.
ThatcherR. W.WalkerR. A.GuidiceS. (1987). Human cerebral hemispheres develop at different rates and ages. Science, 236, 1110–1113.
72.
Uhl-BienM.MarionR.McKelveyB. (2007). Complexity leadership theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. Leadership Quarterly, 18, 298–318.
73.
Van KnippenbergD.van KnippenbergB.De CremerD.HoggM. A. (2004). Leadership, self, and identity. A review and research agenda. Leadership Quarterly, 15, 825–856.
74.
WatsonD.WieseD.VaidyaJ.TellegenA. (1999).The two general activation systems of affect: Structural findings, evolutionary considerations and psychobiological evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 820–838.
75.
WebsterD. M.KruglanskiA. W.(1994). Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1049–1062.
WeickK. E.(1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
78.
WoodW.QuinnJ. M.KashyD. (2002). Habits in everyday live: Thought, emotion and action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1281–1297.
79.
WoolfolkR. L.GaraM. A.AllenL. A.BeaverJ. D. (2004). Self-complexity: An assessment of construct validity. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 463–474.
80.
ZaccaroS. J.(1999). Social complexity and the competencies required for effective military leadership. In HuntJ. G.DodgeG. E.WongL. (Eds.), Out-of-the-box leadership: Transforming the twenty-first-century army and other top-performing organizations (pp. 131–151). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.
81.
ZaccaroS. J.(2001). The nature of executive leadership: A conceptual and empirical analysis of success. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
82.
ZaccaroS. J.FotiR. J.KennyD. A. (1991). Self-monitoring and trait-based variance in leadership: An investigation of leader flexibility across multiple group situations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 308–315.
83.
ZaccaroS. J.GilbertJ. A.ThorK. K.MumfordM. D. (1991). Leadership and social intelligence: Linking social perceptiveness to behavioral flexibility. Leadership Quarterly, 2, 317–347.
