Leadership and Coping

The challenges presented by business environments worldwide require managers to have a strong sense of leadership. The wealth of literature on coping and resilience lacks a fundamental theory to link coping with leadership; on the contrary, the popular cognitive resource theory of leadership states that leaders lose their cognitive skills under stress, and advocates the value of experience only in the face of challenges. In order to cope and face the challenges of the contemporary business environment, organizations are investing billions of dollars on leadership training programs. However, there is only weak evidence that these programs lead to genuine changes, despite the extensive leadership literature on which they are based. In the context of this high focus on leadership training programs that over-promise and under-deliver, some scholars have started to question the added value of corporate leaders. Responding to this call, the research presented in this book further examines the psychological resources of transformational leaders that help them to cope with stress more effectively than other styles of leadership (such as transactional or passive leaders). This research therefore attempts to fill an important gap in the literature. By choosing to focus only on the coping elements of personality, this study is particularly relevant for today’s turbulent business environment. The research presented in LEADERSHIP AND COPING , weaves the relationship between leadership style and the ability of a leader to cope with the stress of uncertainty in business. It therefore discloses and advises practical principles to assist in the development of leadership cultivation programs. It also synthesizes a modified version of the Sense Of Coherence psychometric test applicable to measure coping in business contexts.