Communication Behaviors, Innovation, and the Maverick Leader

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the communication and leadership behaviors of mavericks as they relate to innovation in the organization. We sought to answer the following questions: (1) Can mavericks be identified by other organizational members? (2) What impact do their communicative behaviors have on the process of innovation in the organization? (3) How do they perceive themselves in the organizational context? Since an interpretive approach to studying innovation was used, these questions served as a general framework for our investigation. Qualitative data (in-depth interviews with 32 organizational members), were collected from individuals who had been nominated by others as "organizational mavericks" and a sample of non-mavericks. Organizational mavericks were found to be more eager to communicate than non-mavericks, and less apprehensive about a variety of communication situations. It appears that skillful mavericks do not want to be identified as separate from the group and that the organization which is "loosely coupled" facilitates maverick behavior.

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