Leadership and Organizational Performance: Isolating Links between Managers and Collective Success

Abstract Many studies of leadership succession have been undertaken, but there are more accurate ways to gauge manager effects on organizations. This study looks at the effects of baseball managers on team won-loss records. Manager-specific dummies predict team wins after an exhaustive number of alternative explanations are controlled. Superior managers win more games with player performances held constant, so it is plausible that differences in the tactical skills of managers are the main reason for this finding. To isolate another link between managers and team wins, we use independent measures of manager performance in first difference form to predict first differences in the batting average of traded players. The findings support a hypothesis that better managers improve player performances. Luck and halo effects cannot account for the combined results.