WHU
At the Chair of Leadership, Networks and Organizations at WHU Campus Düsseldorf we research, educate and train in new forms of leadership that are more suitable for the rapidly changing world. We aspire to better understand how gender, political skills, charisma, networks, and time interact as they enhance or hinder leadership.

About us

The disrupted, fragmented world generates new organizational challenges for leaders. Leadership and management in such a world necessitate new mindsets and new tools – leaders need to be able to recognize, energize and leverage networks within their organization and ecosystem to respond to these challenges successfully.

At the Chair of Leadership, Networks and Organizations at WHU Campus Düsseldorf we research, educate and train in new forms of leadership that are more suitable for the rapidly changing world. We aspire to better understand how gender, political skills, charisma, networks, and time interact as they enhance or hinder leadership.

Our work has received multiple international awards and has been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Research Methods, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Social Psychological and Personality Science, and The Leadership Quarterly.

By adopting an academic-practitioner focus, our work provides theoretical guidance, training, and consulting to SMBs, governments, and large corporations at the intersection of networks, leadership, and power.

Our team

Shelley Steinhorst
Shelley Steinhorst
Personal Assistant
Kim Scheller
Kim Scheller
Research Assistant/Doctoral Candidate
Roi Shir Dishon
Roi Shir Dishon
Research Assistant/Doctoral Candidate

Research

Our research aims to better understand the interconnectedness of the world. It examines how individual attributes such as personality, attractiveness, gender, and stress influence, and are influenced by, the dynamics of friendship and leadership networks. 

Using field data, surveys, case studies, and lab experiments (as well as integrating sociological and psychological theories) our research provides answers to a range of questions such as what are the antecedents and consequences of leadership and followership emergence over time, how being political interacts with communication style and personal attributes in leader effectiveness, and how forming various types of relationships and being embedded in different types of network configurations influences effectiveness and well-being.

We aim to create an inclusive, inquisitive research group that provides innovative, interdisciplinary research at the intersection of psychology, sociology, and leadership studies.

Our research focus:

With this research, we seek to understand how charisma influences followers by examining how gender, attractiveness, distance, and time interact with leaders’ communication patterns.

Here, we seek to understand how certain personality traits, communication styles, and network astuteness interact in allowing individuals to emerge as leaders and to maintain their position.

We define relationships to understand how different relational configurations are conducive to – or hinder – psychological wellbeing, growth, and the exercise of leadership.

Publications

Social networks 29 (2), 173-191
G Robins, P Pattison, Y Kalish, D Lusher
Social networks 29 (2), 173-191
G Robins, P Pattison, Y Kalish, D Lusher
Management Group

Halevy, N., Kalish, Y. (2022), Broadening versus deepening: gender and brokering in social networks, Social Psychological and Personality Science, Vol. 13 (2), pp. 618-625.

Management Group

Kalish, Y., Oliver, A. L. (2022), Reducing the cost of knowledge exchange in consortia: network analyses of multiple relations, The Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 47 (3), pp. 775–803.

Management Group

Kalish, Y., Luria, G. (2021), Traits and time in leadership emergence: a longitudinal study, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 32 (2), 101443.

Management Group

Peretz, R. A., Luria, G., Kalish, Y., Zohar, D. (2021), Safety climate strength: the negative effects of cliques and negative relationships in teams, Safety Science, Vol. 138, 105224.

Management Group

Kalish, Y. (2020), Stochastic actor-oriented models for the co-evolution of networks and behavior: an introduction and tutorial, Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 23 (3), pp. 511-534.

Management Group

Nudelman, G., Kalish, Y., Shiloh, S. (2019), The centrality of health behaviours: a network analytic approach, British Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 24 (1), pp. 215-236.

Management Group

April, S., Oliver, A. L., Kalish, Y. (2019), Organizational creativity-innovation process and breakthrough under time constraints: mid-point transformation, Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 28 (3), pp. 318-328.

Management Group

Halevy, N., Kalish, Y. (2022), Broadening versus deepening: gender and brokering in social networks, Social Psychological and Personality Science, Vol. 13 (2), pp. 618-625.

Management Group

Kalish, Y., Oliver, A. L. (2022), Reducing the cost of knowledge exchange in consortia: network analyses of multiple relations, The Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 47 (3), pp. 775–803.

Management Group

Kalish, Y., Luria, G. (2021), Traits and time in leadership emergence: a longitudinal study, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 32 (2), 101443.

Management Group

Peretz, R. A., Luria, G., Kalish, Y., Zohar, D. (2021), Safety climate strength: the negative effects of cliques and negative relationships in teams, Safety Science, Vol. 138, 105224.

Management Group

Kalish, Y. (2020), Stochastic actor-oriented models for the co-evolution of networks and behavior: an introduction and tutorial, Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 23 (3), pp. 511-534.

Management Group

Nudelman, G., Kalish, Y., Shiloh, S. (2019), The centrality of health behaviours: a network analytic approach, British Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 24 (1), pp. 215-236.

Management Group

April, S., Oliver, A. L., Kalish, Y. (2019), Organizational creativity-innovation process and breakthrough under time constraints: mid-point transformation, Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 28 (3), pp. 318-328.

Get in touch with us –

We look forward to hearing from you.

WHU Campus Düsseldorf

Entrance 228c
WHU Campus Düsseldorf
WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Erkrather Straße 224a
40233 Düsseldorf