Engaging Leadership

__Abstract__ Leaders play a profound role in the daily life of their followers. Not only do followers rely on their leader for guidance, leaders also influence how followers feel about their work and how well they perform their work (Skakon, Nielsen, Borg, & Guzman, 2010). Leaders may, for instance, have an impact on how satisfied followers are with their work, how exhausted they are and how stressed they feel. But what exactly is leadership? Although many definitions of leadership exist, they have certain commonalities. Accordingly, leadership is a process (i.e., interaction between leader and follower) in which an individual (i.e., the leader) influences a group of individuals (i.e., followers) to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2012). For long, researchers have been looking for the most effective person to lead, focusing on personality traits that characterize effective leaders. However, no specific set of traits has been found to characterize all effective leaders. From the mid-nineties, researchers started to focus on effective leadership behaviors rather than personality traits to describe effective leaders. This resulted in a broad distinction between task-oriented leader behaviors, such as setting clear performance expectations and defining performance standards; and people-oriented leader behaviors, such as being friendly and being considerate of followers’ well-being. These behaviors are still reflected in many contemporary leadership styles such as transformational (people-oriented) and transactional (task-oriented) leadership and leader-member exchange theory, in which leader behaviors range from task-oriented to people-oriented, depending on the quality of

Trapped at Work: The Barriers Model of Abusive Supervision.

While research on abusive supervision is thriving, we still know very little about the sustained nature of the phenomenon. Additionally, most papers focusing on the prolonged character of the detrimental relational dynamic take a within-dyad perspective, largely ignoring within-person, group or other external influences. Addressing these gaps in the literature, we introduce the Barriers Model of Abusive Supervision. This model posits a hierarchically organized set of obstacles that make it difficult for followers to escape the abusive supervisor, explaining why abuse can continue over long periods of time. Specifically, we present an onion-shaped model in which the follower has a central position with each subsequent layer representing a more external cluster of barriers to leaving the abusive supervisor. Ranging from external to internal, these layers are: Barriers in the larger societal context (Layer 1; e.g., ambiguous laws), barriers in the organizational context (Layer 2; e.g., unclear policies), barriers due to the abusive supervisor (Layer 3; e.g., isolating followers), and barriers within the abused follower (Layer 4; e.g., implicit leadership theories). We hope that our model inspires future research on the sustained nature of abusive supervision and provides practitioners with the necessary background information to help abused followers escape their supervisors

Followers’ HEXACO personality traits and preference for charismatic, relationship-oriented, and task-oriented leadership

The aim of the current study was to examine the HEXACO personality traits in relation to followers’ preference for charismatic, relationship-oriented, and task-oriented leadership. Based on the similarity perspective, we expected followers high on HonestyHumility, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience to prefer a charismatic leader, and those followers high on conscientiousness and low on Openness to Experience to prefer a task-oriented leader. In addition, from a need fulfillment perspective, we expected followers high on Emotionality to prefer a task- and a relationship-oriented leader. We examined these expectations using paper vignette methodology in a sample of 272 undergraduates. The results showed that most participants preferred a relationshiporiented leader over a charismatic or task-oriented leader. In addition, we found support for all our hypotheses, with the exception of the relations between Honesty-Humility and preference for charismatic leadership, and Conscientiousness and preference for task-oriented leadership. Our findings contribute to the nomological network of the role of follower characteristics in the leaderfollower relationship. Implications and suggestions for research on charismatic leadership are provided

Voice and silence as immediate consequences of job insecurity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the weekly effects of job insecurity on employee voice and silence. Specifically, the authors argue that because employment fulfils important needs, employees’ needs are less fulfilled when they feel that their job is at risk (i.e. high job insecurity). Consequently, the authors argue that employees engage in less voice and more silence because when employees’ needs are not fulfilled, they are less committed to the organization and/or protect their personal resources. Design/methodology/approach – The authors tested their hypotheses in a five-week long diary study among 97 employees. Findings – The authors found that employees reported lower need fulfilment in those weeks and the week after job insecurity was higher, which, in turn, decreased employee voice and increased employee silence in those weeks and the week after. Research limitations/implications – The study shows that feelings about one’s job insecurity fluctuate from week to week and that the weekly negative effects associated with increased job insecurity can be explained from a needs fulfilment perspective. The study also highlights the importance of studying voice and silence simultaneously. Practical implications – Managers could indirectly increase employees’ voice an

Playful Work Design: Introduction of a New Concept

This article introduces the concept of playful work design - the process through which employees proactively create conditions within work activities that foster enjoyment and challenge without changing the design of the job itself. First, we review play theory and the motives people may have to play during work. In addition, we use the literature on proactive work behavior to argue that individuals can take personal initiative to increase person-job fit. Combining these literatures, we provide a theoretical framework for playful work design. We discuss the development and validation of an instrument to assess playful work design, and review recent studies to elucidate the psychological effects of playful work design and its possible outcomes. Finally, we briefly discuss pra

Trapped at Work: The Barriers Model of Abusive Supervision

While research on abusive supervision is thriving, we still know very little about the sustained nature of the phenomenon. Additionally, most papers focusing on the prolonged character of the detrimental relational dynamic take a within-dyad perspective, largely ignoring within-person, group or other external influences. Addressing these gaps in the literature, we introduce the Barriers Model of Abusive Supervision. This model posits a hierarchically organized set of obstacles that make it difficult for followers to escape the abusive supervisor, explaining why abuse can continue over long periods of time. Specifically, we present an onion-shaped model in which the follower has a central position with each subsequent layer representing a more external cluster of barriers to leaving the abusive supervisor. Ranging from external to internal, these layers are: Barriers in the larger societal context (Layer 1; e.g., ambiguous laws), barriers in the organizational context (Layer 2; e.g., unclear policies), barriers due to the abusive supervisor (Layer 3; e.g., isolating followers), and barriers within the abused follower (Layer 4; e.g., implicit leadership theories). We hope that our model inspires future research on the sustained nature of abusive supervision and provides practitioners with the necessary background information to help abused followers escape their supervisors

Daily self-management and work engagement

The present study adopts a bottom-up approach to work engagement by examining how self-management is related to employees' work engagement on a daily basis. Specifically, we hypothesized that on days that employees use more self-management strategies, they report higher resources at work and in turn, are more vigorous, dedicated, and absorbed in their work (i.e., engaged) on these days. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 72 maternity nurses who filled out an online diary for 5 days (N = 360 data points). In line with our hypotheses, results of multilevel structural equation modeling analyses showed that daily self-management was positively related to the resourcefulness of the daily work environment (i.e., more skill variety, feedback, and developmental opportunities) and consequently, to employees' daily work engagement. However, contrary to our expectations, the measurement model showed that two of the five included self-management strategies (i.e., self-reward and self-punishment) loaded onto a separate factor and were unrelated to all job resources. The findings contribute to our understanding of employees' role in regulating their own daily work engagement

Daily SOC Strategy Use and Innovative Performance: The Role of Job Autonomy and Time Pressure Journal of Personnel Psychology

Knowledge on how to improve employees’ daily innovative performance is imperative, because innovation contributes importantly to organizational competitiveness. We tested a model in which daily use of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) strategies mediates the relationship between daily job autonomy and daily innovative performance. Moreover, we predicted that the association between daily SOC strategy use and daily innovative performance is stronger on days when time pressure is high (vs. low). Hypotheses were tested using a daily diary study in which employees filled out a short questionnaire at the end of their workday for a period of five workdays (N = 91; 381 daily entries). Results of structural equation modeling analyses supported our mediation, but not our moderation hypothesis

The measure of state work engagement : a multilevel factor analytic study

While diary studies have gained in popularity, the validity of the measures utilized in such studies remains an underresearched issue. This study examines the factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) on both between-person (trait) and within-person (state) levels. A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis was performed to confirm that the between-level factor structure also operates on the within-level. Data from 271 employees who filled in a state version of the UWES on five consecutive days were used to perform the analysis. Results showed that the UWES can be used to measure both trait and state work engagement. The three-factor multilevel model appeared to best fit the data. Implications for future research on engagement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved