Trouble Between Formal and Informal Leaders: the Effects of Unrequited Friendship

How does the relationship between formal and informal team leaders predict the formal leader’s effectiveness? We answer this question by using a social network approach to assess informal leadership and direction of friendship ties between formal and informal leaders. Based on multiple sources of data from 37 work teams, we focused on the consequences of unrequited friendship ties whereby the formal leader nominates an informal leader as a friend, but the informal leader does not reciprocate the friendship. Our findings reveal that unrequited friendship ties with the informal leader can potentially damage how other team members view the formal leader, as well as the formal leader’s overall effectiveness as seen by the formal leader’s own supervisor