The Role of Leaders in Facilitating Healing After Organizational Trauma

2020 ◽  
pp. 194-216
Author(s):  
Lynda Byrd-Poller ◽  
Jennifer L. Farmer ◽  
Valerie Ford

Effective 21st century organizations build cultures that adapt to an unpredictable and changing environment. However, organizational change can be traumatic. This chapter endeavors to make a contribution to knowledge about organizational trauma and leader behaviors - specifically what leaders can do when there are signs of trauma in the organization due to organizational change. Trauma is a psychosocial response to a perceived or actual event beyond one's control that results in personal feelings of overwhelming helplessness. Moreover, this chapter will examine how leader behaviors influence employee engagement and professional identity. The chapter provides background information about employee engagement in general and its positioning inside a broader framework called work-related well-being. The authors also link professional identity to the trauma of organizational change.

Author(s):  
Lynda Byrd-Poller ◽  
Jennifer L. Farmer ◽  
Valerie Ford

Effective 21st century organizations build cultures that adapt to an unpredictable and changing environment. However, organizational change can be traumatic. This chapter endeavors to make a contribution to knowledge about organizational trauma and leader behaviors - specifically what leaders can do when there are signs of trauma in the organization due to organizational change. Trauma is a psychosocial response to a perceived or actual event beyond one's control that results in personal feelings of overwhelming helplessness. Moreover, this chapter will examine how leader behaviors influence employee engagement and professional identity. The chapter provides background information about employee engagement in general and its positioning inside a broader framework called work-related well-being. The authors also link professional identity to the trauma of organizational change.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-711
Author(s):  
Tiziana Lanciano ◽  
Vanda Lucia Zammuner

Integrating theories of adult attachment and well-being at the workplace, the present study tested the role of attachment style in predicting work-related well-being in terms of job satisfaction and job involvement, over and above dispositional trait measures (emotional traits and work-related traits). A sample of workers took part in a correlational study that explored the relationships among a) adult attachment, b) emotional traits, c) work-related traits, and d) work-related well-being indices. The results showed that both secure and anxious attachment style explained workers’ job involvement, whereas the secure and avoidant attachment styles explained workers’ job satisfaction. The current findings thus confirm and expand the literature's emphasis on studying the variables and processes that underlie people's mental health in the work setting, and have implications for assessing and promoting well-being in the workplace.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-282
Author(s):  
Vijay Kuriakose ◽  
Sreejesh S ◽  
Heerah Jose

This study examines the role of negative affect state and relationship conflict in explaining the association between two types of work-related conflicts namely, task and process conflicts; and employee well-being. Drawing from affective events theory and social attribution theory, the study hypothesizes a mediation model in which task and process conflicts are negatively associated with employee well-being through negative affect state and relationship conflict. While examining this model, the study establishes the inter-linkage between task, process conflicts and employee well-being and identifies two pathways to explain these relationships. Based on a sample of 554 IT employees from India, the study found support for the mediation model in which negative affect state and relationship conflict mediates the relationship between two types of conflict and employee well-being. Findings of the present study contribute to the theory by extending our understanding of the effect of task and process conflicts on employee well-being and also explains how it impairs well-being. The current insights will help managers and practitioners to design interventions to mitigate the detrimental effect of task and process conflicts on employee well-being.


Author(s):  
Maija-Leena Huotari ◽  
Mirja Iivonen

The knowledge-based society of the 21st century is characterized by knowledge generation as the primary source of wealth and social well-being. As partly intangible in nature, increased understanding of knowledge and information as a resource is critical (Sveiby, 1996; Teece, 1998). Such intangibles are gradually replacing traditional elements of power in states (Rosecrance, 1999), also emphasizing the role of trust in the positive aspect of economic globalization.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002188632093111
Author(s):  
Benjamin N. Alexander ◽  
Bruce E. Greenbaum ◽  
Abraham B. (Rami) Shani ◽  
Yoram Mitki ◽  
Arik Horesh

This research explores organizational trauma and the phenomenon of organizational posttraumatic growth (OPTG). Many organizations experience traumatic events, events that disrupt core organizational activities. While some affected organizations never recover their prior level of well-being, others surpass their pretrauma state. This research explores this phenomenon by examining how one organization, which was traumatized by a substantial theft committed by a senior leader, emerged transformed and stronger. In the exploration of this intriguing phenomenon, we extend individual-level trauma research to the organization level to address how OPTG occurs. We draw on these findings to chart paths for future research on OPTG and organizational change and consider their implications for development and change practitioners in organizations experiencing trauma.


2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Travaglianti ◽  
Audrey Babic ◽  
Isabelle Hansez

Orientation: Knowing that it is imperative to better understand the antecedents and consequences of needs-supplies fit, the present research had two main objectives. Firstly we wanted to extend our knowledge about traditional psychological needs, for example highlighted through the Self-Determination Theory, by presenting more specific work-related needs. Secondly, following the new directions of organisational fit theories, we wanted to better understand how individuals make sense of fit.Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose more specific work-related needs in terms of employment quality and to test job crafting as an antecedent of needs-supplies fit (NS fit). We tested the double mediating role of NS fit (i.e. specific: based on more specific work-related needs, and general: based on global job perceptions) between job crafting and individual outcomes namely burnout and work engagement.Motivation for the study: By taking into account more specific work-related needs, this study aimed to add more specific information to better help predict well-being at work. Moreover, the present research responds to the need to better understand how individuals make sense of fit.Research design, approach, and method: Data were collected in a Belgian Public Federal Service (N = 1500). Our research model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling with Mplus.Main findings: Results show, (1) that specific NS fit perception was positively related to a global NS fit perception and (2) the partial mediating role (specific and general) of NS fit between job crafting and burnout and work engagement.Practical/managerial implications: Managers should encourage crafting behaviours and should know their team and that team’s specific needs.Contribution/added-value: By taking into account more specific work-related needs, our study suggests that needs-supplies may have more than one dimension. Moreover, it shows that job crafting is a way to increase NS fit.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110615
Author(s):  
Viktoria Maria Baumeister ◽  
Leonie Petra Kuen ◽  
Maike Bruckes ◽  
Gerhard Schewe

An understanding of the overall relationship between the work-related use of information and communication technology (ICT) and employees’ well-being is lacking as the rising number of studies has produced mixed results. We meta-analytically synthesize and integrate existing literature on the consequences of ICT use based on the job demands-resources model. By using meta-analytical structural equation modeling based on 63 independent studies ( N = 26,295), we shed light on the relationship between ICT use and employees’ well-being (operationalized as burnout and engagement) in a model that incorporates the mediating role of ICT-related resources and demands. Results show that ICT use is opposingly related to burnout and engagement through autonomy, availability, and work-life conflict. Our study brings clarity into the contradictory results and highlights the importance of a simultaneous consideration of both positive and negative effects for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship. We further show that the time of use and managerial position, and methodological moderators can clarify heterogeneity in previous results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 577-594
Author(s):  
Iqra Ameer ◽  
Aisha Zubair

The present research was conducted to explore the role of dispositional positive emotions and appreciative inquiry in employee engagement among university teachers and mediating role of appreciative inquiry in predicting employee engagement from positive dispositional emotions. A convenient sample (N = 237) of university teachers including both men and women with age ranged from 29 to 54 years (mean age = 39.22) was acquired. The major constructs of the study were assessed with Dispositional Positive Emotions Scale (Shiota, Keltner, & John, 2006), Appreciative Inquiry Scale (Clayton, 2015), and Employee Engagement Survey (Wilson, 2009). Results showed that dispositional positive emotions were positively associated with appreciative inquiry and employee engagement, while appreciative inquiry displayed positive association with employee engagement. Appreciative inquiry mediated the relationship between dispositional positive emotions and employee engagement. Findings further showed significant gender differences indicating that women were high on positive dispositional emotions, appreciative inquiry and employee engagement as compared to men. Group differences on job experience showed that employees with more work experience exhibited better dispositional positive emotions, appreciative inquiry, and work related engagement as compared to other groups. 2x2x3 analysis revealed that women teachers with more work experience displayed more dispositional positive emotions, appreciative inquiry and employee engagement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-236
Author(s):  
Vanessa de Fátima Nery ◽  
Kettyplyn Sanches Franco ◽  
Elaine Rabelo Neiva

This study investigates the role of attributes of organizational change and attitudes toward change as antecedents of well-being at work and how these antecedents vary over the course of an organizational change. Drawing on cognitive theories (a) organization change planning, (b) perceived risk level, and (c) attitudes toward organizational change are examined as antecedents. Attitudes toward change have also been tested as mediators in the relationship between change attributes and well-being. Hypotheses are tested in a three-wave study of 505, 390, and 348 respondents in each wave, involving employees from a Brazilian public organization undergoing a strategic reorientation toward continuous improvement. Attitudes toward change had stable positive effects in each wave, conducted 12, 24, and 48 months after the change was initiated. This study corroborates the findings that uncertainty and risk contribute to the formation of negative cognitions and feelings throughout the process of organizational change but do not necessarily result in discomfort in relation to the work and the organization. The effects of both planning for the change and the perceived risk level were not moderated by time. The results of this study do not support the idea of gradual shifts and discontinuous information processing in employee’s cognitive models. On the contrary, it is possible to conclude that perceptions have been confirmed over time. Implications for managing employee reactions and well-being in different phases of change are discussed.


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