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Publications & Resources

Kaiser, R.B. & Kaplan, R.E. (2001, April). The forceful and enabling polarity: A fresh look at an old distinction. In M. Kelly and M. Russell (Co-chairs), Use of Assessment Tools in Leadership Development. Presented at the 16th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego, CA.

The cumulative research base on standard measures of leadership shows a sizable positive correlation between opposing styles like task-orientation vs relations-orientation or initiating structure vs consideration. This would suggest that leaders who make effective use of one side also effectively use the other. Because our own experience was clearly inconsistent with this, we set out to create a measure that reflected the tendency for executives to gravitate toward one approach and away from the other. In so doing, we present an alternative perspective and supporting data on an age-old distinction made by students of leadership.

Download paper: F&EPolarity(Kaplan&Kaiser2001F&EPolarity(Kaplan&Kaiser2001).pdf


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Kaplan DeVries Inc
1903-G Ashwood Ct
Greensboro, NC 27455 USA
Tel 336.288.8200
Fax 336.282.6878