The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Leadership, Change and Organizational Development

6

Leader–Culture Fit: Aligning Leadership and Corporate Culture

Gary N. Burns, Lindsey M. Kotrba, and Daniel R. Denison

6.1 Introduction

Both organizational culture and a leader’s behaviors have been identified as critical ­determinants of an organization’s effectiveness (Berson et al., 2008; Denison, 1984; Schein, 2010). Yet the extent to which the fit between a leader’s behavior and an organization’s culture impacts organizational variables and leader effectiveness has not been empirically examined. This is an important issue for both academics and practitioners in the study of workplace behavior because of its many implications for selection, training, and organizational development.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the importance of examining psychological fit in terms of an organization’s culture and leadership. To accomplish this, we must ­discuss the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between leaders and an organization’s culture. In addition, leader–culture fit represents a special case of fit and faces additional challenges and hurdles that must be overcome. While we will review the scant empirical evidence on this topic, our discussion on leader–culture fit will be largely based in the traditional fit literature, focusing on situational aspects that might cause either complementary or supplementary fit to be beneficial. Finally, we will discuss how leader–culture fit can be leveraged for the future and propose a research agenda to advance research in this area. ...