| This is a study of leaders and their teams while working collectively inside organizations. It is an investigation of groups that are able to maximize their potential as they develop constructive internal dynamics and optimal positioning in the social network of an organization; in other words, groups that attain maximum benefits from their social capital. In addition, it is an investigation of a specific class of managers that could represent the best form of leadership in making sure that groups develop such levels of social capital.; The foundation of this work rests on recent developments in two solid schools of organizational studies: the study of organizational social capital and the constantly evolving neo-charismatic paradigm of leadership, specifically the recent elaborations around values-based leadership. I believe that values-based leaders are especially well positioned to develop the social capital of their groups because they have strong inspirational abilities and a solid value structure, and because they do not need to resort to authoritarian approaches to influence their subordinates.; With that foundation in place, I suggest a leadership-based approach to fostering the social capital of groups. Social capital is a complex manifestation of social systems, which is usually associated with improved social economic outputs; consequently, it is a desirable feature for organizational groups. Despite the consistent message of the advantages of social capital, there are limited understandings on how organizations could actually improve it; this is the main motivation for presenting the following leadership model.; The suggested model was investigated with 70 leaders and their groups. Through a 360-degree methodology, I investigated the leadership dimensions of inspiration, integrity, and authoritarianism, while assessing the social capital of the leaders in question. At the same time, I questioned the groups linked directly to them as I assessed the group's bonding and bridging social capital. Subsequently, a series of mixed-model regressions showed support for the idea of values-based leaders as being promoters of social capital in their groups, which in its turn becomes a driver of group performance. |
