A leadership style that affects followers' ambivalent feeling and their performance.

In workplaces, there may be shared experiences regarding certain types of supervisors who often change directives after assigning tasks, deny giving orders after subordinates have completed them, refrain from disciplining according to company policies, or assign tasks based on whims, making teamwork predictably unpredictable. These leaders are termed as exhibiting "Inconsistent Leadership".

A study defining inconsistent leadership illustrates the following characteristics:

Leaders who inconsistently establish and impose rules.

Those who balance emphasis on change for safety purposes but also tend to avoid responsibility.

Leaders who often display characteristics that are halfway between leading and not leading.

The inconsistent behavior of leaders is further categorized into three types: failing to provide due rewards for goal achievement, failure to penalize or waive benefits when subordinates break rules, and inconsistent encouragement and the use of coercive leadership.

From the followers' perspective, the inconsistency in leadership behavior impacts the workplace environment, affecting emotional states, thought processes, and interpersonal relationships, resulting in difficulties in decision-making.

A research article published in the Journal of Business and Psychology in 2023 by Cindy S. Ralph and Julian Barling studied how subordinates' experiences of turmoil at work due to inconsistent leaders affected leaders themselves and the subordinates' work performance.

The study revealed that subordinates tended to avoid encounters with inconsistent leaders, showed less trust in them, and experienced more negative emotions. Additionally, the impacts on subordinates were similar regardless of whether the inconsistent leader was male or female.

Based on these research findings, recommendations for workplaces involve encouraging leaders to introspect on their leadership behavior. Observing their emotions during work and being open to discussions or tasks during times of positive moods might be one way to recognize inconsistent leadership. Clear and consistent task assignment might also improve the overall work environment when leaders exhibit more consistent behavior.

Reference

Ralph, C. R., & Barling, J. (2023). Leader inconsistency, subjective ambivalence, and follower outcomes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 38(5), 1003-1021.