When ‘Good’ Leadership Backfires: Dynamics of the leader/follower relation

2019 ◽  
pp. 017084061987847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Einola ◽  
Mats Alvesson

This paper contributes to the understanding of relational aspects of leadership and followership. Our in-depth empirical study of the leader/follower relation uncovers how and why assigning team members into ‘leader’ and ‘follower’ positions may sometimes be a double-edged sword and lead to unintended consequences undermining both the team’s potential and member satisfaction. We report on a multi-voiced story of one team that at first looked like a well-performing one with effective, ‘good’ leadership and satisfied team members. However, a closer investigation revealed frictional understandings, unresponsiveness and dynamics of immaturization as the followers overly relied on the elected leader. Leadership seen as ‘good’ may indeed backfire and encourage satisfied, trustful followers to relax and focus on limited roles. Our study further shows the need to conduct rich empirical studies that capture views of all parties in a relation.

Author(s):  
P. M. Wognum

Design processes in current industrial contexts require integration between different disciplines and functions, not only within an organisation but also across organisational and even national borders. Many barriers to integration can be observed, however, in multi-disciplinary and multifunctional design projects. One of these barriers is the lack of organisational, management, and social knowledge and skills, on the level of team members as well as on the level of project management. To achieve a sufficient level of integration technical knowledge and skills are necessary but not sufficient. Organisational, management, and social skills are necessary too. In our research on organisation and management of business processes we have found that this last category of knowledge needs improvement for the largest part of design team members and managers. As designers are professionals who have been employed because of their knowledge and skills, gained through prior academic or professional education, the question can be asked to what extent organisational, management, and social knowledge is included in this education. One way to answer this question is by studying the knowledge and skills deemed important for performing design tasks. An important source of this knowledge can be found in journal articles in the area of engineering design. The authors of these articles are in most cases also the ones transferring this knowledge to future designers. In this paper, a study of 94 recently published journals articles is described, which reveals, that organisational, management, and social skills are not yet a major focus of attention. In particular the number of empirical studies on the organisational, social, and managerial behaviour of designers in practical contexts is scarce in the engineering research community. These results will be confronted with results from management and social sciences research. We argue that the gap between these two fields of research needs to be bridged to better prepare designers for their task in current industrial contexts.


Author(s):  
L. Vanchenko

The article defines the level of psychological competence of the head of the railway transport, the portrait of the psychological competence of the head is formed. The results of the empirical study of the problems of psychological support of the personnel management system in the railway transport are described.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Mackenzie ◽  
T Davis

Qualitative empirical studies of the illicit antiquities trade have tended to focus either on the supply end, through interviews with looters, or on the demand end, through interviews with dealers, museums and collectors. Trafficking of artefacts across borders from source to market has until now been something of an evidential black hole. Here, we present the first empirical study of a statue trafficking network, using oral history interviews conducted during ethnographic criminology fieldwork in Cambodia and Thailand. The data begin to answer many of the pressing but unresolved questions in academic studies of this particular criminal market, such as whether organized crime is involved in antiquities looting and trafficking (yes), whether the traffic in looted artefacts overlaps with the insertion of fakes into the market (yes) and how many stages there are between looting at source and the placing of objects for public sale in internationally respected venues (surprisingly few). © The Author 2014.


2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 169-189
Author(s):  
Theresa Fritz ◽  
Wolfgang Burr

Zusammenfassung Empirische Untersuchungen zur Gründungslandschaft der deutschen Energiewirtschaft sind in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur bisher unterrepräsentiert. Im Zuge einer explorativen Darstellung von deutschen Energie-Startups wird zu Beginn ein Überblick über die Gründungsbereiche, die Gründungsteams sowie die finanzielle Lage von 126 deutschen Energie-Startups gegeben. Mithilfe einer Regressionsanalyse werden im nächsten Schritt die Einflüsse von Humankapital und technologischen Ressourcen auf die Akquise von Finanzierungsmitteln überprüft. Im Rahmen der Auswertung kann ein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen der Anzahl der Gründer, den individuellen Fähigkeiten der Teammitglieder sowie der Anzahl der Patente und Gebrauchsmuster auf die Akquise von Finanzierungsmitteln nachgewiesen werden. Dies legt den Schluss nahe, dass die Kombination der beiden Ressourcen Humankapital und technologisches Kapital den Aufbau von Kompetenz bei der Finanzierungsmittelakquise auf organisationaler Ebene begünstigen und zum Wachstum des Startups beitragen können. Abstract Empirical studies on the start-up landscape of the German energy industry have so far been underrepresented in the scientific literature. In the course of an exploratory presentation of German energy start-ups, an overview of the start-up areas, the founding teams and the financial situation of 126 German energy start-ups is given at the beginning. In the next step, a regression analysis is used to examine the influence of human capital and technological resources on the acquisition of funding. As part of the evaluation, a significant relationship between the number of founders, the individual skills of the team members and the number of patents and utility models on the acquisition of funding can be demonstrated. This suggests that the combination of the two resources human capital and technological capital can facilitate the development of skills in the acquisition of funding at the organizational level and contribute to the growth of the start-up.


Author(s):  
Violina Ratcheva

The uniqueness of multidisciplinary teamwork is in its potential to integrate different bodies of knowledge into a new synergy. However, previous empirical studies have shown that member heterogeneity and geographic separation hinder effective sharing and use of team knowledge. The chapter explores how such teams interact to overcome the barriers and take advantage of their “built in” knowledge diversity. The findings indicate that often teams lack common background knowledge at the beginning of the projects, and in order to resolve differences members rely on their external intellectual and social communities. The reported research establishes a positive correlation between team members’ participation in multiple professional and social networks and teams’ abilities to successfully build on their knowledge diversity. The findings also suggest a need to reconceptualize the boundaries of multidisciplinary teams and to consider the processes of sharing diverse knowledge in a wider social context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Happy Chua ◽  
Bernadette Brady ◽  
Melissa Farrugia ◽  
Natalie Pavlovic ◽  
Shaniya Ogul ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Models of care for managing total knee or hip arthroplasty (TKA, THA) incorporating early mobilisation are associated with shorter acute length-of-stay (LOS). Few studies have examined the effect of implementing early mobilisation in isolation, however. This study aimed to determine if an accelerated mobilisation protocol implemented in isolation is associated with a reduced LOS without undermining care. Method A Before-After (quasi-experimental) study was used. Standard practice pre-implementation of the new protocol was physiotherapist-led mobilisation once per day commencing on post-operative Day 1 (Before phase). The new protocol (After phase) aimed to mobilise patients four times by end of Day 2 including an attempt to commence on Day 0; physiotherapy weekend coverage was necessarily increased. Poisson regression modelling was used to determine associations between study period and LOS. Additional outcomes to 12 weeks post-surgery were monitored to identify unintended consequences of the new protocol. Time to first mobilisation (hours) and proportion mobilising Day 0 were monitored to assess protocol compliance. An embedded qualitative component captured staff perspectives of the new protocol. Results Five hundred twenty consecutive patients (n = 278, Before; n = 242, After) were included. The new protocol was associated with no change in unadjusted LOS, a small reduction in adjusted LOS (8.1%, p = 0.046), a reduction in time to first mobilisation (28.5 (10.8) vs 22.6 (8.1) hrs, p < 0.001), and an increase in the proportion mobilising Day 0 (0 vs 7%, p < 0.001). Greater improvements were curtailed by an unexpected decrease in physiotherapy staffing (After phase). There were no significant changes to the rates of complications or readmissions, joint-specific pain and function scores or health-related quality of life to 12 weeks post-surgery. Qualitative findings of 11 multidisciplinary team members highlighted the importance of morning surgery, staffing, and well-defined roles. Conclusion Small reductions in LOS are possible utilising an early mobilisation protocol in isolation after TKA or THA although staff burden is increased likely undermining both sustainability and the magnitude of the change. Simultaneous incorporation of other changes within the pathway would likely secure larger reductions in LOS.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiju Antony ◽  
Michael Sony ◽  
Mary Dempsey ◽  
Attracta Brennan ◽  
Thomas Farrington ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the limitations and emerging trends of Six Sigma through an empirical study. Six Sigma is one of the most powerful business process improvement strategies used by numerous World Class corporations for over three decades. A handful of existing publications address some limitations and potential trends of Six Sigma, yet there are no empirical studies investigating the fundamental limitations and emerging trends of Six Sigma. Design/methodology/approach The authors developed an online survey instrument based on the existing literature addressing the above. In this study, 61 Six Sigma Master Black Belts and Black Belts from large manufacturing companies and 25 academics who are familiar with the Six Sigma topic participated and contributed to the research. Findings The study reports the top 5 limitations and emerging trends of Six Sigma from the viewpoints of both academics and experts from large manufacturing companies. These are: integration of Six Sigma with Big Data, use of Six Sigma in small medium and micro enterprises, over emphasis of Six Sigma on variability reduction, poor implementation of Six Sigma and its negative impact on employee satisfaction and non-exploitation of integration of Six Sigma with Industry 4.0. Practical implications In order to sustain Six Sigma initiatives, it is imperative that limitations and fundamental gaps are understood, and strategies developed to address them. The authors argue that leading academic scholars have a vital role to play in working with industry practitioners to overcome the limitations and emerging trends addressed above. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study looking into the limitations, research gaps and emerging trends of Six Sigma.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 630-647
Author(s):  
Marcello Chedid ◽  
Ana Caldeira ◽  
Helena Alvelos ◽  
Leonor Teixeira

Collaboration has been considered a way to address the challenges of the 21st century, fostering the necessary innovation, growth and productivity for all parties involved. Several studies reveal that collaboration can be strongly influenced by knowledge sharing. The literature suggests that this topic is quite relevant and that there is an evident lack of empirical studies that properly investigate the relationship between knowledge-sharing and collaborative behaviour in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In this context, the purpose of this work is to examine whether knowledge-sharing intention has a positive relationship with collaborative behaviour among professors and researchers in a public Portuguese HEI, taking into account other constructs that can have effect on the knowledge-sharing intention. In order to reach this objective, a conceptual research model was developed based on the theory of reasoned action. The empirical study was conducted based on a questionnaire, and the data analysis was performed using partial least squares. The results indicate that intrinsic motivation and networking are the factors that positively affect the attitude towards knowledge sharing. Nevertheless, it is concluded that trust is the variable that more strongly affects the knowledge-sharing intention. Finally, the study identified that knowledge-sharing intention has a positive influence in collaborative behaviour. It is considered that this study can contribute to support institutions’ management in defining strategies and developing actions in order to promote an organisational culture based on knowledge management that significantly leads to knowledge-sharing and collaboration relationships.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Luo Fan ◽  
Muhammad Anwar-Ul-Haq

The determinants of career success have been widely investigated in the extant literature.This paper aims to review the empirical studies on the role of political skill in determining careersuccess. Major data bases like science direct, emerald insight, sage and springer were searchedfor finding out the relevant studies. The findings of each empirical study along with the contextand brief methodological information have been given. Through this review, it was surfaced thatthe underlying mechanisms in the political skill-career success relationship need to be exploredfurther, and the dimensional analysis of political skill should be conducted.


2018 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 11017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolland Epafras Fanggidae

In today’s organizations, Human Resources is one of the important driving factor. By creating a humanistic work environment, employees are more creative and have a passion to do the job. In order to improve the quality and quantity of human resources needs to the strategy of the organization. One of the strategies that can be undertaken by the organization is the psychic and spiritual fulfillment of employees in order to create a work environment that is humane. Spirituality is not about the workplace as religious practices are organized and not on God or theology. In this study proposes a theory Spirituality workplace, through a review of the literature and empirical study shows the definition of spirituality, the effects on work attitudes, as well as clarify the link spirituality and culture of the organization. This research is done through empirical studies related link workplace spirituality and organizational culture on college lecturer in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT)-Indonesia. Data were collected through a survey with simple random sampling proportional and involve ± 320 Lecturer Private college as respondents. Data analysis techniques with linear regression method using SPSS 23 determines the relationship between Organizational Culture and Spirituality workplace.


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