Group influence on individual behavior

Henri Tajfel and John Turner (1979) found that groups influence individual psychology. An individual’s social identity is the part of a person that group membership defines. Social identity makes group behavior possible by allowing people to share identity, goals, and actions. When social identity exists among members of a group, the person who is best suited for influencing the group’s members is the person who best represents the group’s identity. To Reicher et al. (2007), this means that “the best leaders are prototypical of the group”; leaders not only belong to the group but they also embody that which distinguishes the group from other groups.

From the relationship perspective, the leader’s traits and behaviors must fit the culture of the follower. Anything that differentiates the leader from the followers can diminish leadership effectiveness. “Fitting in is important for gaining influence” (Reicher, Platow, & Haslam, 2007). In other words, the leader’s capacity to lead is diminished to the degree that the followers perceive the leader to be different from them. Miriam Erez’s (2002) meta-analysis of organizational culture research emphasized the importance of leadership fit by finding that managers must adjust their practices to match the cultural identity of subordinates. Fitting management practices with the culture requires that the manager understand the cultural values they represent and the cultural meaning of management practices.