The relationship between leadership, organisational climate and workplace innovation

Innovation is a valued organisational asset that may assist in the creation and maintenance of competitive advantage. Recently, a number of authors have proposed links between the concepts of leadership, organisational climate and innovation. In particular, some literature in leadership, organisational climate and innovation has begun to converge. This convergence led researchers to produced models of the interaction between the three constructs within organisations. It has generally been reported that leadership effects innovation and organisational climate or vise versa. However, to date there is no substantial, direct nor robust empirical evidence to inform this view. This study addressed the relationship between, leadership, organisational climate and innovation simultaneously. The research sample comprised of 142 administrative and health-care professionals from a medium sized private consulting firm located from 28 different sites across Australia. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), Organisational Climate Questionnaire (OCQ) and the Workplace Innovation Scale (WIS) were used to measure leadership style, perceptions of organisational climate and innovation respectively. Ninety-eight surveys were completed resulting in a 69% response rate. Data were analysed using regressions and correlations to determine whether the putative relationship between the three constructs was demonstrated. This research revealed a significant relationship between measures of innovation with OCQ subscales of autonomy, worker cohesion and innovation. T-tests demonstrated that cohesion (p=0.0003) and pressure (negatively p=0.0032) predicted WIS organisational innovation; autonomy (p=0.0080), innovation (p=0.0001) and recognition (p=0.0057), predicted WIS innovation climate; autonomy (p=0.0076) and innovation (p=0.0211), predicted WIS individual innovation while cohesion (p=0.0069) significantly predicted WIS team innovation. The autonomy subscale was almost a significant predictor of team innovation (p=0.0597). Measures of transformational and transactional leadership revealed no relationship to either organisational climate scores or innovation scores. This is the first time this type of study was conducted in the Australian context and these findings were congruent with prior research taken place in the United States of America by Baer & Frese (2003). The findings from this Australian study supported the notion that a suitable vehicle to leverage workplace innovation could be to review aspects of organisational climate such as attention to level of autonomy, along with building strong co-worker cohesion rather than through the vehicle of leadership. The present study was the first of this type conducted in Australia. These parallel findings suggested a universality or generaliseability of the theory.

Organisational climate factors as predictors of innovation

A critical issue for organisation survival for many firms is the ability to become more flexible, adaptive, entrepreneurial and innovative. One factor which may have a direct or indirect relationship with innovation is organisational climate. This paper examines organisational climate factors a predictor of support for innovation in a small to medium enterprise (SME) consulting firm. Supportive of organisational climate was directly connected with an organisation's new product performance for two reasons. Firstly, a central element of a supportive organisational climate was perceived support from managers - a factor that was previously identified as an important predictor of new product success. Employees were more likely to be comfortable in engaging in the kinds of risk taking that have been linked with successful innovation when they perceived they were supported by management. Furthermore, increased organisational commitment of employees was associated with a supportive organisational climate. Secondly, the cross-functional integration associated in new product success was associated with a high level of co-worker cohesion, or peer support as identified in previous literature

The Relationship Between Leadership Styles and Organizational Identification: A Meta-Analysis

The Relationship Between Leadership Styles and Organizational Identification: A Meta-Analysi

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a staff training program to implement consumer directed care on resident quality of life in residential aged care

Background: Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) are moving towards a Consumer Directed Care (CDC) model of care. There are limited examples of CDC in ageing research, and no evaluation of a comprehensive CDC intervention in residential care was located. This study will implement and evaluate a staff training program, Resident at the Center of Care (RCC), designed to facilitate and drive CDC in residential care. Methods: The study will adopt a cluster randomized controlled design with 39 facilities randomly allocated to one of three conditions: delivery of the RCC program plus additional organizational support, delivery of the program without additional support, and care as usual. A total of 834 staff (22 in each facility, half senior, half general staff) as well as 744 residents (20 in each facility) will be recruited to participate in the study. The RCC program comprises five sessions spread over nine weeks: Session 1 clarifies CDC principles; Sessions 2 to 5 focus on skills to build and maintain working relationships with residents, as well as identifying organizational barriers and facilitators regarding the implementation of CDC. The primary outcome measure is resident quality of life. Secondary outcome measures are resident measures of choice and control, the working relationship between resident and staff; staff reports of transformational leadership, job satisfaction, intention to quit, experience of CDC, work role stress, organizational climate, and organizational readiness for change. All measures will be completed at four time points: pre-intervention, 3-months, 6-months, and 12-month follow-up. Primary analyses will be conducted on an intention to treat basis. Outcomes for the three conditions will be compared with multilevel linear regression modelling. Discussion: The RCC program is designed to improve the knowledge and skills of staff and encourage transformational leadership and organizational change that supports implementation of CDC. The overarching goal is to improve the quality of life and care of older people living in residential care. Trial registration: ACTRN12618000779279; Registered 9 May 2018 with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR; http://www.anzctr.org.au/)