Influence of a Leader's Creative Problem Solving Preference on Perceived Efficacy of Team Collaboration

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to add to the body of research assessing the impact of leadership on collaboration and, particularly, research on cognitive orientation. The aim of the research was to provide additional support and documentation for leaders desiring more productive collaborative outcomes. The quantitative research presented in this dissertation focused on how a leader’s FourSight creative problem solving preference, or cognitive orientation, influenced the perception of that leader’s work team regarding the team’s productive collaboration. Productive collaboration was defined as that which generated ideas and enabled their application. Perception of productive collaboration was measured with an 11 item Likert scale administered to the direct reports of the leaders participating in the study. This scale will be referred to in the study as the measure of productive collaboration (MPC). One hundred fifteen leaders completed the FourSight assessment and 391 of their direct reports responded to the MPC. Direct reports were also invited to complete the FourSight instrument and those results were used to examine some potential mediating variables. Results suggest that work teams do rate different FourSight profile types as more or less productive according to the MPC. Clarifier leaders are consistently viewed as not being as productive in leading collaboration as other leader profiles. Developer and Ideator profiles were found to foster greater degrees of productive collaboration. Implementer and Integrator leaders are not statistically significant on any of the elements. A collaboration guide, based on the research results, is proposed, and outlined to help leaders support more productive collaboration amongst their teams. Keywords: FourSight thinking profile, collaboration, leadership