Leadership Constructs Research Articles

Developing adaptability and agility in leadership amidst the COVID-19 crisis: experiences of early-career school principals

PurposeDuring the COVID-19 crisis in Victoria, Australia the complexity of school leadership increased greatly for school principals. This study focused on the lived experiences of early career principals in the independent school sector from March to November 2020 in Victoria, Australia. It investigates transformative work that was undertaken by these leaders in leading their schools over a protracted crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe study builds on constructs of crisis leadership, adaptive leadership, agile leadership and emotional intelligence, exploring the leadership approaches undertaken by twenty-two early career principals in Victoria, Australia. Using a narrative inquiry approach, across three temporal points in 2020, storied productions drawn from the findings present four emergent types of emotionally intelligent leadership approaches undertaken by these principals. These leadership approaches are presented as the commander-leader, the conductor-leader, the gardener-leader and the engineer-leader with each approach demonstrating both organisational leadership approaches as well as individual leadership styles used by these principals as they led their schools.FindingsThe findings have direct implications for professional development programs focusing on aspiring principals and early career principals with emphasis on the importance of developing emotionally intelligent skillsets in principals for use during periods of rapid change or high crisis in schools. The findings present insight into the support useful for early career principals in the first five years of principalship.Originality/valueThis study uses a unique emotional intelligence approach to understand school leadership during and after a crisis.

Unraveling the effect of differential leadership on employee performance: Evidence from China.

This paper examines how differential leadership influences employee performance via perceived organizational support and individual-organizational fit. The psychological contract theory was used to investigate how differential leadership influences the performance of employees. The information was obtained by means of surveys distributed to various types of Chinese firms. A total of 358 complete responses for statistical analysis were received and examined. A structural equation model was used, which we believed would be the most appropriate model for testing the proposed study model. The evidence suggests that differentiated leadership promotes employee performance. The association between leadership differences and employee performance is positively mediated by perceived organizational support. Individual-organizational fit lowers the positive effect of differential leadership on employee performance and reduces the positive effect of organizational support perception on employee performance. The results of this research contribute to a better understanding of Chinese culture's differentiated interpersonal cordial leadership construct.

The sustainability of technology-aided leadership adoption among school leaders: If it could ever be this real forever

The 21st century has become a challenging moment for all sectors including education. The rapid advancement of technology has brought a huge impact to leadership style among school leaders in Malaysia. Hence, this quantitative identified the level of technology-aided leadership and analyze the behavioral constructs that contribute to technology-aided leadership. A total of 365 questionnaires adapted from the national educational technology standards for administrators (NETS-A) were answered by respondents. statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) version 26 and Smart PLS 3 were used to analyze the data. Interestingly, the results revealed that the level of technology-aided leadership is high and the six constructs of technology-aided leadership among principals are valid. The constructs are i) Productivity and professional practice; ii) Teaching and learning; iii) Social, legal, and ethics; iv) Leadership and vision; v) management support and operations; and vi) Assessment and evaluation. In general, school leaders should take the opportunity to develop themselves to become high-tech leaders. Meanwhile, the 31 indicators that are verified in this study can be used to evaluate the behavior of technological leadership. Finally, further research is strongly encouraged to enlarge the scope by collecting the data from all Malaysian states to obtain more accurate and generalizable results.

Reviewing Public Sector Leadership

Leadership is an essential component of public administration. There are variety of leadership dimensions, which evolves to highlight effective forms of leadership, in ensuring the stability of the government's administrative machinery. Using Quinn's (1988) dimensions of leadership, which are applicable to the current situation, 20 items were tested for validity using confirmatory factor analysis from the perspective of managerial groups and professionals from several ministries participated in the study. According to the findings, 17 measurement items have been validated, which demonstrates that two types of leadership exist in ensuring the organization's stability by taking into account the two existing internal and external environments. Failure to maintain control over these two environments will have an impact on the public sector's performance and add to the administration's instability. The ongoing effort to shape leadership must continue. The practical and methodological issues in relation to public leadership constructs are discussed in light of these findings.

Digital Leadership and Maturity as a Key to Successful Digital Transformation: Country Case Study of Croatia

Organizations are facing a disrupted environment, which results in a need for managers who can quickly respond to volatile conditions. Such conditions lead to changes in traditional leadership and the construction of new leadership recognized by contemporary literature as digital leadership (DL). The main objective of this research paper is to examine the levels of DL and digital maturity (DM) in small and medium-sized Croatian companies in the context of digital transformation (DT). The research sample included 156 companies, and the results indicated relatively high levels of DL; indeed, nearly four companies achieved the highest level of DM. The results indicated a negative correlation between the level of DL and DM. Gender was shown to have an impact on the level of DL, while it was not indicated that gender has an impact on the level of DM.

The development direction of educational leadership in the context of globalization

Information and communication technology, represented by computer and network technology, is greatly changing the way of life and communication of human beings. Therefore, in the 21st century, traditional schools and traditional education systems around the world will be presented with both opportunities and challenges for new development prospects. The construction of educational leadership will be an important key to improve the quality and charm of teachers. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) brings together transformative visions, transformative knowledge systems and transformative skills, It is regarded as the core point in the goal framework of educational leadership construction. The improvement of educational "leadership" is mainly carried out by improving the ability to construct multi-dimensional "change vision", expanding change knowledge based on diversified knowledge system, and improving "change skills" based on optimization management. The above concepts and practices reflect the characteristics of emphasizing the organic combination of international and local strategic thinking, the organic combination of knowledge mastery and innovation, and the organic combination of professional and scientific teaching management, which have an important impact on the development trend of China's educational leadership.

A Daoist understanding of mindful leadership

This article seeks to contribute to the discourse on mindful leadership by drawing on Daoist philosophy as recorded in the Daodejing (Book on the Way and Virtue). Without a clear articulation of its normative underpinnings, mindful leadership can be easily exploited by leaders for immoral agendas and outcomes. The existing literature describes Daoist leadership as antithetical to autocratic leadership, and is unimposing and ethical. Giving additional insights to the construct of Daoist leadership, this essay argues that a Daoist leader exemplifies dao (Way-making) and wuwei (noncoercive action). Way-making is about influencing followers towards a common goal through the leader’s de (virtue). In addition, a Daoist leader promotes wuwei by enacting non-interfering, inspiring, liberating and nurturing management practices. Daoist principles provide an ethical foundation of mindful leadership by replacing McMindfulness with attentiveness to moral virtues. By foregrounding the centrality of ethics in leadership, this study seeks to open a line of inquiry and raise thought-provoking questions on the normative basis of mindful leadership.

Encuentros Nacionales de Líderes Migrantes: espacios de gestación y consolidación de liderazgos africanos en Argentina

This article analyzes the leadership construction of three African migrants, one of Congolese origin and two Senegalese, in the National Meetings of Migrant Leaders (ENLM, for its acronym in Spanish) in Argentina from 2014-2020. For this purpose, participant observations and interviews with varying degrees of depth have been used. The research results indicate that the three migrant leaders have had very heterogeneous roles within the meetings. Their leadership trajectories show unique ways of building legitimacy and visibility and are supported by a differential accumulation of social and political capital. Some contributions of this article are: (a) reconstruct the complexity and diversity of their trajectories, (b) make African migrant leaders’ role visible as human rights promoters, and (c) construct a non-criminalizing view of their political forms of organization.

Leaders’ responses to receipt of proactive helping: Integrating theories of approach–avoidance and challenge–hindrance

How do leaders lead in a complex environment? Leaders often rely on help from others. However, not all help is necessarily beneficial to leaders, especially when it is offered without being asked (i.e., proactive helping). Unfortunately, theory to date has failed to understand the consequences associated with leaders’ receipt of proactive helping at work. To address this shortcoming, we integrate theories of approach–avoidance and challenge–hindrance to unravel how leaders respond to receipt of proactive helping at work, which enabled us to capture both favorable and unfavorable responses to receipt of proactive helping. Our results demonstrated that leaders with higher levels of approach-oriented characteristics were likely to perceive the receipt of proactive helping as more challenging and less hindering. We further found that leaders’ challenge and hindrance appraisals prompt them to engage in transformational and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, respectively. Our work provides an answer to the question of why and under what conditions leaders’ receipt of proactive helping results in constructive leadership.

Understanding the Leadership Construct of Young Women Leaders

This study, the first part of a four-part dissertation, investigated the leadership construct of eight young women student leaders, four in middle adolescence and four in late adolescence from Metro Manila Philippines, using the multiple case study approach. Four were from sectarian schools, and four were from non-sectarian schools. Results show four major themes: positive values, positive identity, guide and source of inspiration, and collaboration skills. Participants’ leadership construct included both traditional female and male leadership qualities. Compared to middle adolescent participants, late adolescents’ leadership constructs reflect more themes of positive values and identities. Compared to non-sectarian school participants, sectarian school participants reflect more collaboration skills themes. This study argues that understanding young women’s leadership construct should be included in a complex leader identity formation process that identifies explicitly and integrates young women’s leadership values or behavioral standards.

Fadiga por compaixão e estratégias de enfrentamento diante da finitude

Abstract Compassion fatigue threatens healthcare professionals’ mental health in face of difficulties in managing empathy. This integrative review sought to verify the correlation between compassion fatigue and health professionals’ performance in hospital units that frequently deal with death, considering the self-care strategies adopted. Bibliographic search conducted on the MEDLINE and PubMed databases retrieved 11 articles published between 2011 and 2021. Results show that compassion fatigue occurs frequently in professionals who deal directly and recurrently with death, especially when dysthanasia measures are adopted. Case discussion between teams, leisure time and peer support, spirituality and meditation as well as constructive leadership were the main psychological adaptation strategies identified. Further and in-depth research is needed given the scarcity of study on the topic, especially in Brazil.

Managing intellectuals: Reaping the most and the best of knowledge workers in the post-COVID world

The COVID-19 crisis forced massive changes in work practices, channeling most of the activities to digital/remote work paradigms almost overnight. In this post-COVID locked-in world, traditional top-down control and command mechanisms simply ceased to exist. Profoundly different approaches and understandings became necessary to reap the most and the best outcomes from workers. In this new paradigm, cultivating organisational citizenship behaviors might be the most – if not only – viable way to ensure comprehensive results and sustained success. That necessitates a highly rooted insight into the influences of leadership styles. This article discusses the constructs of transactional leadership and transformational leadership styles. Contextualisation of the data patterns investigates the interrelationships between these two styles by comparing and contradicting their effects on organisational citizenship behaviors. It explains how these two approaches work in tandem for better results, mutually enabling each other, like the two legs of an athlete, where the lack of one profoundly cripples the outcomes, making the other ineffective as well. Using a survey inquiring about the perceptions of online knowledge workers, a three-step analysis was conducted and, as a result, established a robust argument that these two leadership styles are not paradoxical; they need not be mutually exclusive or contradicting can enable and complement each other. This finding is crucial for managing knowledge workers and knowledge workers as managers.

Integrated e-learning for knowledge management and its impact on innovation performance among Jordanian manufacturing sector companies

E-learning in knowledge management was examined in this study, specifically on how it assists organizations in improving knowledge transfer and e-learning management, to increase performance and employee knowledge management. In this study, e-learning and knowledge management systems and technology were jointly implemented, and its impact on organizational performance was examined. Organizational management was also explored. The present study investigated the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and innovation performance (IP). The mediating effect of knowledge Management was deeply explored. Randomly selected managers from 57 Jordanian manufacturing companies were the study samples, and there were 470 managers involved in this study, from strategic, tactical, and operational levels. Questionnaires were used to gather data, and the questionnaire items covered the constructs of knowledge management, organizational learning (OL), knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL) and IP. A research model was proposed and was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings were as follows: KOL positively affected KM; KOL positively affected IP; OL negatively affected IP; KOL positively affected KM; OL positively affected KM; KM positively affected IP and KM mediated the relationship between KOL, OL and IP.

Shared Leadership Emergence in Product Development Project Teams—A Reflective Practice Perspective

Many researchers believe that leadership is “the most critical ingredient of team success”. The paper presents a shared leadership emergence in product development project teams. We conducted two steps research, by applying reflective practice perspective approach in the semi structured interviews and workshops within the German company which represents a dynamic and changing environment, and practice shared leadership in product development project teams. Results show alignment with previous theory about the topic, but also added new viewpoints trough glasses of practitioners. They believe that complex environment is the main driver for shared leadership, where emergence as an informal process and factors in practice are hard to be influenced. The findings show that interactions between people and team dynamics play a central role in shared leadership emergence and the resulting increase in the complexity of the leadership construct. This paper contributes to shared leadership research by adding a reflective practice dimension and bridging the theory with practice.

Toxic Leadership, Destructive Leadership, and Identity Leadership: What are the Relationships and Does Follower Personality Matter?

Integrating leadership theories and understanding the interactions between these theories is a goal for many leadership scholars. The dark side of leadership has become a topic of interest for researchers and practitioners alike in recent years. Dark leadership is likened to poison in an organization, embedding toxins in the company’s culture and instilling deep-rooted behaviors, attitudes, and actions that are a source of internal organizational decay. After viewing a brief introductory video, this article uses a cross-sectional design to investigate followers’ evaluations of a potential leader’s toxic leadership, destructive leadership, and identity leadership propensities. Relevant theory relating to identity leadership, toxic leadership, and destructive leadership constructs is reviewed and empirically tested to clarify how these topics interrelate. Most studies examining follower personality and leadership attributions have focused on positive leadership styles (e.g., transformation or transactional). This study addresses this gap in the literature in several ways. First, we examine how identity leadership is related to destructive and toxic leadership characteristics. We examine how the perceived relationship between these variables varies based on the follower’s personality, a need identified in previous studies. Further, this study contributes to Pelletier’s (2012) discussion of the lack of research that considers leader-follower relationships in the context of the dark side of leadership. Specifically, to clarify the influence of followers’ evaluations, the role of follower personality is explored as a moderating variable. These results support research from others showing that personality affects the interpretation of leadership actions. However, the current study extends this notion to show that even a short period of contact with the leader allows followers to make judgements about the leader.

THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP AND SOFT-SKILLS COMPETENCIES OF THE PERFORMANCE AT THE FACILITY AND CONSTRUCTION UNIT INDONESIAN ARMED FORCES

<p>One of the work units under the Indonesian Armed Forces Headquarters Detachment (<em>Detasemen Markas Besar</em> <em>Tentara Nasional Indonesia </em>or Denma Mabes TNI) organization is the Facility and Construction Unit of Indonesian Armed Forces known as the Facility and Construction of Indonesian Armed Forces. The Facility and Construction of the Indonesian Armed Force shipment of construction materials have been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, the working-from-home (WFH) implementation affects the restrictions on collaboration and communication between leaders and participants. The existence of a leadership role supported by good soft-skills competencies, and career development, is expected to improve the performance of Indonesian Armed Force members. This study aims to determine the actual impact of leadership, soft-skills competencies, and career development on the performance of TNI members at the Facility and Construction of the Indonesian Armed Force. The study's findings revealed that soft-skills competencies and leadership characteristics directly impacted member performance. Additionally, a strong direct impact on professional development and soft-skills competencies on career development was discovered. It is well-organized that the leadership variable's influence on performance during career growth is insignificant in the indirect effect. On the other hand, the soft-skills competencies variable has a major impact on performance across career growth. This study concludes that organizational members' career growth and performance can be influenced by leadership and soft-skills competencies in the facility Construction of the Indonesian Armed Forces while leadership characteristics have no substantial impact on performance, career development as an intervening variable has a considerable impact on soft-skills competencies. Organizational performance improvement policies can be achieved through the career development of Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) members. Capacity-building efforts can focus on leadership and soft-skills competencies. </p>

Effectiveness and Sustainability Indicators in Higher Education Management

This research aims to analyze the determinant factors of the effectiveness and sustainability indicators of higher education management at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. The research is characterized as a quantitative study of inferential nature, with structural equation modeling. Data were collected from a survey and applied to professors and employees of two teaching centers at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. The theoretical basis is the Baldrige Excellence Model. This research brings together several theoretical and practical implications involving the sustainability of higher education management, because higher education institutions have been under pressure to improve their performance, and many governments have implemented new regulations that seek to professionalize universities in pursuit of excellence. So, this paper discusses one of the models in the academic literature, the Baldrige model, which focuses on the effectiveness of university management, encompassing quality improvement and excellence in management. The results obtained show that the construct leadership, focus on the student, and society, have a direct effect on strategic planning and an indirect effect on the effectiveness of management. In addition, the constructs of transparency and management by competencies have a direct effect on work processes. Universities face a management challenge and demand new quality models.

Cultivating Authentic Leaders: Toward Conceptual Coherence and Sustainable Practice

The purpose of this paper is twofold. One is to better understand the contested construct of authentic leadership and its cultivation and practice. The other is to offer a conceptual framework for practicing sustainable authentic leadership. Based on a review of authentic leadership literature with a focus on its sustainability, we introduce a conceptual framework through a lens of an ecological model to capture the dynamics of individual and systems perspectives. Practicing sustainable authentic leadership is not a simple act; rather authentic leaders need to embrace paradoxes to navigate today’s complex systems and to find new ways to create positive and valuable roles both in and outside of their organization. In addition to a new conceptual framework, this paper offers approaches for leaders and educators to develop and practice authentic leadership. It also provides opportunities for values-based leadership community members to further discuss and examine sustainable authentic leadership approaches with the proposed conceptual framework.

Enablers and inhibitors of community participation in Ghana’s Community-based Health Planning and Services programme: a qualitative study in the Builsa North Municipality

BackgroundCommunity participation is essential for the successful implementation of primary health care programmes across the globe, including sub-Saharan Africa. The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) programme is one of the primary health care interventions in Ghana which by design and implementation heavily relies on community participation. However, there is little evidence to establish the factors enabling or inhibiting community participation in the Ghanaian CHPS programme. This study, therefore, explored the enabling and inhibiting factors influencing community participation in the design and implementation of the CHPS programme in the Builsa North Municipality in the Upper East Region of Ghana.MethodsA qualitative approach, using a cross-sectional design, was employed to allow for a detailed in-depth exploration of the enabling and inhibiting factors influencing community participation in the design and implementation of the CHPS programme. The data were collected in January 2020, through key informant interviews with a stratified purposive sample of 106 respondents, selected from the 15 functional CHPS facilities in the Municipality. The data were audio-recorded, transcribed and manually analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsThe results showed that, public education on the CHPS concept, capacity of the community to contribute material resources towards the construction of CHPS facilities, strong and effective community leadership provided by community chiefs and assembly persons, the spirit of volunteerism and trust in the benefits of the CHPS programme were the enablers of community participation in the programme. However, volunteer attrition, competing economic activities, lack of sense of ownership by distant beneficiaries, external contracting of the construction of CHPS facilities and illiteracy constituted the inhibiting factors of community participation in the programme.ConclusionExtensive public education, volunteer incentivization and motivation, and the empowerment of communities to construct their own CHPS compounds are issues that require immediate policy attention to enhance effective community participation in the programme.

Influence Interpersonal Communication and Leadership on Work Discipline and Their Impact on Teacher Performance of SMK Negeri 8 Palembang

This study aims to determine the effect of Interpersonal Communication, Leadership and Discipline on the employment of teacher performance at SMK Negeri 8 Palembang. In this study, the population is 60 people as sample tests as samples. Sampling was conducted using the saturated sampling technique sampling is done on the whole of the population. The results of this study are Interpersonal Communication's positive significant effect on employment Discipline Master, Interpersonal Communications positive significant effect on Teacher Performance. Leadership has a positive and significant effect on employment Teacher Discipline, leadership and significant positive effect on teachers' performance. Teachers' work discipline has a positive and significant effect on the performance of teachers of SMK Negeri 8 Palembang, and work discipline is mediating variables Interpersonal Communication relation to the performance and discipline of work is mediating variables Leadership relation to performance. Discipline variable labor has a value r-square of 0.996, meaning that the variable Disciplinary work can be explained by the Interpersonal Communication and Leadership construct 99.6%. Variable Performance r-square value of 0.255 means that the variable performance can be explained by the construct of Interpersonal Communication, Leadership, and the Discipline of the work amounted to 25.5% Based on these conclusions, if the principal of SMK Negeri 8 Palembang intends to increase Interpersonal Communications to improve the performance of teachers, it is necessary to work through increased Discipline Discipline of work is mediating variables Leadership relationship to performance. So based on these conclusions, if the principal of SMK Negeri 8 Palembang. intends to enhance its leadership to increase performance, it is necessary to work through increased Discipline of the three variables used to see the effect on the performance, ie Interpersonal Communication, Leadership, and the Discipline of the work, all of which have a positive effect on performance. But of these three variables, can be prioritized improvement of Leadership. Because of 9 indicators of Leadership., One indicator has a value of loading factor is quite high, namely more than 0.9.