Ever had a boss?
Happy people in
successful organizations:
Insights from 'positive' theories of leadership
•Would you feel happier with a manager who cares for you as a person?
•Would you work harder and smarter for a manager who cares for your work?
•Are managers more efficient when they care for people & community?
Université Libre de Bruxelles | Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Research Management Seminar | 8 Dec. 2015
Vincent Giolito – Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Our results
•People with servant leaders
experience a higher level of holistic wellbeing
✔
•Business-units with servant
leaders get better sales and earnings growth
✔
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Giolito, Liden, & van Dierendonck, 2014
Servant Leadership
• “Placing the good of
those led over the
self-interest of the
leader” (Laub, 1999; 2004)
• “Modeling service by
humbly serving the
led, rather than
expecting to be
served” (Graham, 1991)
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
• Dimensions (Liden et al., 2008)
‣ Conceptual skills
‣ Putting subordinates first
‣ Helping them grow and succeed
‣ Empowering
employees
‣ Creating value for the
community
‣ Behaving ethically
Holistic wellbeing
•Two perspectives on wellbeing
‣ Objective vs. Subjective
•Two visions of
subjective wellbeing
•Hedonic view (Diener, 2000; Waterman, 1993)
‣ Having / getting what
we judge important
‣ "Hedonic treadmill" risk
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•Eudemonic view
Holistic Wellbeing
Positive emotions
• “At work, how often do you feel joyful?”
Engagement (flow)
• “At work, how often are you totally absorbed in what you do?”
(Waterman, 1993)
‣ Aristotelian 'daimon', i.e.
doing what we feel we
are meant to do
‣ Doing for the sake of
doing, not expecting a
(hedonic) reward
•New multifaceted
constructs (Huppert & So,
2013; Keyes, 2000; Seligman, 2011, )
‣ Flourishing
‣ Mental health
‣ Etc.
High quality relationships
• “To what extent do you receive help
from coworkers when you need
help?”
Accomplishment
• “How often do you feel you are making progress toward
accomplishing your work goals?”
Meaning
• “To what extent do you feel your work is worthwhile and valuable?”
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Sample & method
H1: e = 2.08**
•A retail chain in France
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49 business-units & leaders
504 employees: sales, delivery, administrative
80% male, average education below graduate
Response rate 98% of present
•Multilevel structural equation modelling
Revenue growth
H1: c' = 219.61**
Business-unit (level 2)
Individual (level 1)
Servant Leadership
‣ Level 1 (individual): servant leadership, well-being and other variables
‣ Level 2 (business-unit): performance as DV
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Earnings growth
Employee Holistic Wellbeing
H2: a = 1.04**
Unstandardized coefficients
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Contributions
H1: e = 2.08**
H1: c' = 219.61**
Revenue growth
Earnings growth
Business-unit (level 2)
1. Theoretical: bridges Organizational studies with Positive psychology
Individual (level 1)
Servant Leadership
H2: a = 1.04**
H4a (moderation): ns
Power Distance
H3 (mediation): b – ns
2. Servant leadership: prolongs findings
of SL impact on objective, general
management-relevant performance
Employee Holistic
Well-Being
H4b: d = -.13** Unstandardized coefficients
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
3. Positive psychology: shows leadership
as an antecedent of holistic wellbeing
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McGregor's Theories X & Y
McGregor, 1957, 1966
Toward a unified,
'positive', 'Theory Y' of leadership
•Theory X
•Theory Y
‣ People are lazy,
selfish, and work only for rewards
‣ Management's role
is to prod &
incentivize them
vs.
‣ People are ready to
cooperate, aspire to
self-development
‣ Management's role
is to have/help them
fulfill their potential
Organizational economic goals
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Positive studies
• Positive
psychology
• Positive
organizational
scholarship (Seligman &
Csikszentmihailyi, 2000: 5)
(Cameron & Spreitzer, 2012)
‣ "A science of positive
subjective experience,
individual traits, and
institutions promises
to improve quality of
life and prevent
pathologies that arise
when life is barren and
meaningless"
‣ Practices that
"elevate" individuals,
groups &
organizations
Authentic
leadership
Responsible
leadership
(Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008)
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Authentic leadership
Self-awareness (attribution)
• “My manager describes accurately
how others view his/her capabilities”
Never
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Trust
Empowering
leadership
• Positive OB Internalized moral
perspective (attribution)
• “My manager makes
difficult decisions
based on high ethical
standards”
Sales
Ethical
leadership
Spiritual
leadership
Org.
commitment
Job
satisfaction
Frequently if not always
OCB
Absenteeism
(-)
Job
performance
Servant Leadership
‣ Conceptual skills
‣ Emotional healing
‣ Putting subordinates first
‣ Empowering them
‣ Helping them grow and succeed
‣ Creating value for the
community
‣ Behaving ethically
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Ind.
Obj.
Subj.
(Liden et al., 2008)
(Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing and Peterson, 2008)
Quality
Withdrawal
(-)
PsyCap
•Behaviors Balanced
information
processing
(behavior)
• “My manager
analyzes all
relevant data
before coming
to a decision”
Org.
Return on
assets
Servant
leadership
‣ "Life-giving" vs. "lifedepleting"
Transparent
communication (behavior)
• “My manager says
exactly what s/he means”
Positive leadership
favorable outcomes
•Traits (Van Dierendonck & Nujiten, 2011)
‣ Accountability
‣ Humility
‣ Standing back
‣ Authenticity
‣ Empowerment
‣ Courage
‣ Interpersonal
acceptance
‣ stewardship
Empowering leadership
•Dimensions
•Definition
(Arnold et al., 2000)
‣
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Coaching
Leading by example
Informing
Showing concern /
interacting w team
‣ Participative decisionmaking
‣ Perception of control,
negotiating latitude,
support for self-worth
‣ "Implementing
conditions that
increase employees'
feelings of self-efficacy
and control and
removing conditions
that foster a sense of
powerlessness" (Arnold
& al., 2000)
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Ethical leadership
•Definition
‣ "Normatively appropriate
conduct" ...
‣ ... demonstrated through
personal actions and
interpersonal relationships,
and the promotion of such
conduct to followers
through two-way
communication,
reinforcement, and
decision-making
‣
‣
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‣
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Fairness
Integrity
Ethical guidance
People orientation
Powers sharing
Role clarification
Concern for sustainability
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Responsible leadership
•Definition (Doh & Quigley, 2014; Stahl &
Sully de Luque, 2014)
‣ "Benefit the
stakeholders of the
company and/or
avoid harmful
consequences for
stakeholders and the
larger society."
‣ "Personal
accountability
beyond
shareholders"
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•Dimensions
(Kalshoven et al., 2011)
‣ "Proactive dialogue
with stakeholders"
‣ "Particularly open,
transparent, and
confident"
‣ ... Leadership as a
relationship (Pless &
Maak, 2006)
• Dimensions (Vögtlin, 2011)
‣ Dialogue with
employees, unions
NGOs, regulators,
etc.
Spiritual leadership
•Definition (Fry, 2003)
‣ "Values, attitudes, and
behaviors... necessary to
intrinsically motivate one’s
self and others so that
they have a sense of
spiritual survival through
calling and membership"
‣ "Vision wherein members
experience a sense of
calling... Their life has
meaning, makes a
difference"
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
‣ "Culture based on altruistic
love whereby leaders and
followers have genuine
care, concern, and
appreciation for both self
and others"
•Dimensions (Fry, 2005)
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Vision & mission
Altruistic love
Hope & faith
Membership
Can it work
beyond dyadic level?
How?
Why would people
be influenced by those leaders?
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Attribution theory revisited
Attribution theory may help unpack the 'Theory Y' effect
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
• Followers may form attributions
regarding leaders so as to explain
favorable outcomes at individual,
group, organizational levels
• Positive attributions of leaders
encourage followers to better align with
the leader's objectives and attributes –
e.g. via social learning (Bandura, 1977)
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Attribution theory
Attribution theory
Martinko, Harvey, & Douglas, 2007, citing Heider, 1958
•Attribution: causal ascription for a
positive or negative outcome
‣ People as "naïve psychologists"
•Attributions help people solve
problems and become more
efficacious within their environments
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
•Attributions were studied...
‣ From the leader's standpoint
‣ Mostly to explain negative dynamics
‣ May underlie "Set-up to fail" syndrome (Manzoni & Barsoux, 1997)
•Example:
‣ A leader attributes poor follower performance
to lack of work (instead of lack of competency)
➔ prods and monitors more closely, which in
turn may trigger negative behaviors
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
A triple twist
to attribution theory
• From top- •From
• From
down to
individual
negative to
bottom-up
to grouppositive
attributions & org- level attributions
attributions
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Research question
What attributes formed
by followers about their
leaders may explain
empirically demonstrated
positive outcomes?
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Toward a unified "Theory Y" leadership
Method
•Leadership literature selection
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'Positive' inspiration, i.e. good for ppl & org.
150-400 peer-reviewed publications / theory
With operationalization
Servant, Authentic, Empowering,
Responsible, Spiritual (≠ transformational)
•Cross-examination
‣ Base: theories scales' dimensions
‣ Table of similarities & differences
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Selfawareness
Reflexive knowledge and
acceptance of one's personal and specific
characteristics, including
weaknesses(Church, 1997,
Diddams & Chang,
2012)
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Integrity
Consistency between words
and actions, representing
oneself accurately in
communication with others (Palanski & Yammarino, 2007;
Simmons, 2002)
Ethical
sense
Consciousness of what is good and bad in human
relationships with each other and other living
things (Aronson, 2001; Ciulla, 2004)
Contributions
•Reviews and synthesizes main
'positive' leadership constructs
•Offers a framework for explaining
positive outcomes - happy people in
successful organizations
•Proposes three attributes as crucial:
‣ Self-awareness+Ethical sense+Integrity
•Expands attribution theory scope
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
Key Takeaways
•Leadership is the capability of
influencing people towards
organizational goals...
•... Positive leadership works!!!
•Consider 3 personal qualities
‣ Self-awareness + Ethics + Integrity
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
What do you think?
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]
© Vincent Giolito - [email protected]