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Ambivalence is a bad thing. And a good thing. Is that confusing?
The state of simultaneously carrying contradictory attitudes toward a situation can naturally lead to head-scratching. And with contradictory demands and goals in the workplace, leaders and followers can find themselves stuck. Prioritize quality or efficiency? Continue with an efficient existing process or embrace untested innovation?
Traditional research shows that ambivalence can distract workers by sparking coping mechanisms that keep them from thoroughly evaluating a situation. After all, feeling conflicted is not a comfortable state; it can lead to procrastination, detachment, confusion and lack of action. However, we find that when a leader and follower who work closely and frequently together both experience and share their ambivalence about a situation, they can deal with it thoughtfully. Shared ambivalence can be an opportunity for collaboration, lead to better decisions for the organization, and build confidence and growth in employees.
To understand how we arrive at shared ambivalence and its benefits, we must first understand where ambivalence begins. Evidence suggests that negative and positive opinions are independently processed by different parts of the brain. The fact that they are independent explains why they can occur simultaneously, causing you to experience ambivalence. When ambivalence is present within the relationship between a leader and follower, whether it is one-sided or shared, it impacts the outcome of their working relationship and goals. In the case of shared ambivalence, leaders and followers are more likely to jointly and thoroughly process information, which results in more informed, effective decision-making.
There are four possible combinations of ambivalence between leaders and followers. Each has a unique process and outcome based on the level of ambivalence experienced by each party.
Automatic Inference
Issue Selling
Subordination
Joint Contextual Interpretation
While shared leader-follower ambivalence can occur on its own, two factors may enhance this process.
Physical Proximity
Relational Proximity
While leader-follower ambivalence is born from complex work environments and enhanced by physical proximity and high-quality relationships, it can also be constrained by time, frequency and expertise.
Time Availability
Decision Frequency
Expertise
Organizations can use ambivalence as a catalyst to foster a collaborative environment. This can be done by empowering leaders to focus on idea exchange and to encourage followers to participate in decision-making processes.
In order to achieve collaborative exchanges, organizations should encourage followers to be proactive and leaders to be open to constructive conflicts. This could be achieved through idea incubation initiatives or debates within and across departments. Follower confidence can also be built through reward systems and training. Fostering collaboration and learning enhances employee development, meaning that organizations that adopt these systems will have more talent to choose from for future leadership positions.
You likely wear many hats at work. You might be someone’s boss, but also report to a supervisor — all while maintaining personal relationships with colleagues around you. To effectively navigate these roles, it’s best to strive for a collaborative environment. Our research shows that collaboration, especially when derived from ambivalence in complicated work situations, leads to higher-quality discussion, carefully considered solutions and well-rounded employees.
Darden Professor Morela Hernandez and post-doctoral Research Associate Cristiano Guarana co-authored “Building Sense out of Situational Complexity: The Role of Ambivalence in Creating Functional Leadership Processes,” published in Organizational Psychology Review. Research on ambivalence in organizations and leadership processes is part of their ongoing research agenda.