Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25years of research and theory

Adaptive leadership in crisis: a healthcare system's resilience journey

BACKGROUND

Amid the complexities of a healthcare system facing economic collapse, pandemic challenges, a devastating human-made disaster, and critical staffing shortages, effective leadership becomes paramount. This article explores the adaptive leadership approach in the face of unprecedented challenges, drawing from the experiences of a healthcare system in Lebanon.

METHODS

Anchored in Maslow's hierarchy of needs and guided by the adaptive leadership framework, leaders addressed challenges resulting from the economic crisis, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and a catastrophic explosion in Beirut, which tested the resilience of the healthcare system.

RESULTS

Challenges ranged from resource shortages and financial strain to the critical staffing upheaval and psychological impact on healthcare workers. Prioritising physiological, safety, belongingness, self-esteem and self-actualisation needs, leaders implemented innovative strategies, including volunteer mobilisation, recruitment plans, makeshift clinics and psychological support. Transparent communication, self-esteem recognition and fostering resilience emerged as crucial components.

CONCLUSION

The article provides insights into the practical application of adaptive leadership and Maslow's hierarchy of needs in navigating multifaceted crises within a healthcare setting. It underscores the significance of fostering resilience, prioritising the well-being of healthcare professionals and leveraging innovative solutions to ensure the continued delivery of high-quality care amid unprecedented challenges.

Integrating worthiness with leader identity development for college students

While leader identity development (LID) and meaning making are interwoven and essential for student development, little research has explicitly explored their intersection. In this article, we briefly summarize the work of two research projects that explored the intersection of LID and meaning making, including a review of the findings that "worthiness" is a central component of the LID process among college students. Next, we propose an Input-Process-Worthiness-Outcome model for LID that highlights the centrality of worthiness, conceptualizing inputs as developmental experiences; processes as meaning making, and outcomes as personal development. Finally, we close with a review of the scholarship behind the concept of worthiness and point out future research directions that require exploration regarding worthiness in LID, particularly among college students.

Co-creating a continuous leadership development program in rural municipal healthcare - an action research study

BACKGROUND

An increasingly complex healthcare system entails an urgent need for competent and resilient leadership. However, there is a lack of extensive research on leadership development within healthcare. The knowledge gaps extend to various frameworks and contexts, particularly concerning municipal healthcare, knowledge leadership, and the application of knowledge in the field of practice. This study is the first in a larger action research project that aims to co-create a knowledge-based continuous leadership development program for healthcare in a rural Arctic municipality. This present study aims to explore the knowledge and experiences of the participating healthcare leaders to develop a common basis for co-creating the program.

METHODS

This hermeneutical study presents the first cycle of the larger action research project. An appreciative approach facilitated the project. Twenty-three healthcare leaders from three different leadership levels attended and evaluated two leadership development workshops and participated in four focus groups. The data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Two main themes were identified: (1) changing from striving solo players to team players, and (2) learning to handle a conflicting and complex context. These results influenced how the leadership development program based on the participants' co-creation was organized as a collective and relational process rather than an individual competence replenishment.

CONCLUSIONS

The knowledge and experiences of healthcare leaders led to the co-creation of a knowledge-based continuous leadership development program based on the facilitated interaction of four essential elements: (1) competence development, (2) structures for interaction, (3) interpersonal safety, and (4) collective values and goals. The interaction was generated through trusted reflection facilitated by appreciative inquiry. The four elements and core played a crucial role in fostering relationships and facilitating learning, driving transformative change in this leadership development program. The study's results provide a solid foundation for further co-creating the program. However, more research is needed to fully explore the practical application and overall significance.

Exploring the effectiveness of pharmacy curriculum in Saudi Arabia in developing leadership skills among pharmacy students from their perspective: A mixed-methods study

Introduction

Leadership is an important component of pharmacy education. This study helps identify the strengths and limitations of the pharmacy curriculum in developing leadership skills among pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia and suggest how to improve the curriculum to better prepare them to become effective leaders in the healthcare profession.

Methods

This study employed a mixed-methods research design with a sequential exploratory design. Phase I involved semi-structured interviews with student leaders of pharmacy student clubs/societies from different universities in Saudi Arabia. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The written transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis. Phase II used a survey questionnaire to collect data from a larger sample of pharmacy students and interns from different universities in Saudi Arabia and the data is mainly presented as frequencies and percentages.

Results

Eleven eligible participants were interviewed. Thematic analysis generated 288 codes which were categorized into 17 subthemes. These subthemes were further categorized into five overarching themes: Leadership development and acquisition; Skills and characteristics of effective leaders; Challenge and support for student leaders; Personal growth and benefits of leadership; Vision, goals and responsibilities of student leaders. The findings informed the development of the survey questionnaire which was completed by 484 students/interns. Mixed opinions were received regarding whether the pharmacy curriculum/program is helping or has helped the respondents develop leadership skills as well as whether the college has provided (or is providing) adequate support, resources or opportunities for the development of leadership skills. Eighty-eight per cent of the participants requested that the pharmacy curriculum in their college should include more courses or workshops focused on leadership development. They favoured several options from the listed topics to be included in these courses or workshops of which effective communication was the most prominent.

Conclusion

This study highlights that pharmacy curriculum/colleges in Saudi Arabia promote essential leadership skills through various pedagogical approaches and support mechanisms to some extent. However, the students identified that the pharmacy curriculum needs to be revised in order to better prepare them for leadership positions.

Reviewing the influence of positive leadership on worker well-being: A comprehensive analysis

The study provides a review of existing empirical studies on the impact of positive leadership on worker well-being. The aim it to integrate current knowledge and provide directions for future research. The study analyses the content of 118 articles retrieved mainly from Google Scholar and Scopus database published between 2004 and 2022. Findings revealed that most of the studies are atheoretical with the dominant theory applied being conservation of resource theory. Furthermore, most of the studies were cross-sectionally designed, used convenient sampling and self-reported questionnaire. A conceptual framework is presented which synthesizes findings from prior works and shows the various dimensions of positive leadership practices and worker well-being. Additionally, a comprehensive future research agenda for theoretical and empirical advancement is suggested. The study offers a comprehensive framework that synthesizes and integrates the existing literature on positive leadership and worker well-being. The findings offer researchers in leadership a common platform for discourse.

Exploring the Peer Leadership Network of Rehabilitation Healthcare Professionals Following Leader Development Training

Purpose

The researcher aimed to identify how rehabilitation professionals engage in their peer leadership network during the first year following leader development training for the purpose of understanding the networking experiences, development of the peer leadership network, and expansion of collective leadership in an organization.

Methodology

A sequential exploratory mixed method design including Q-Methodology and focus group interviews identified the experiences of 11 rehabilitation professionals in an urban rehabilitation hospital during the first year following leader development training.

Findings

Three themes were identified. These include: (a) an opportunity to connect, (b) a community of leaders, and (c) a healthy peer leadership network emerged from the data analysis. These results indicated that shared experiences and opportunities to connect in a robust peer leadership network can influence the growth of all leaders independent of their current leadership or networking competency. The opportunity to connect for shared discussions in a healthy peer leadership network can accentuate the learning following leader development curriculum as individual leaders develop leadership and as collectives advance organizational outcomes.

Practical Implications

Healthcare organizations should facilitate connections in a healthy leadership network to develop individual and collective leadership in an organization.

Motivation to lead in Japan: validation of a Japanese version of the motivation to lead scale

Introduction

This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the motivation to lead (MTL) scale consisting of three factors-affective-identity MTL, non-calculative MTL, and social-normative MTL-and examine its construct validity and reliability.

Methods

The participants comprised 500 university students and 500 employees aged 20-29 years registered with a Japanese research company.

Results

Based on a confirmatory factor analysis, the three-factor model was found to be appropriate for the Japanese context. The measurement invariance analyses indicated scalar invariance between students and employees and between men and women. Finally, the correlation analysis with the Big Five personality traits conducted to examine construct validity indicated that affective-identity MTL and social-normative MTL had significant relationships with all five traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, open-mindedness, and negative emotionality). Although non-calculative MTL was not significantly correlated, it can be interpreted in the Japanese context.

Discussion

The results indicate the adequate construct validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the MTL scale. These findings hold significant implications for leadership development and selection in Japan, highlighting the motivational factors that drive effective leadership.

Leadership in Nursing Science: Four Scholarly Journeys Rooted in Historically Black College and University Excellence

The intricacies of the unique educational and leadership development trajectories of Black PhD-prepared nurse scientists are largely invisible in nursing faculty development literature. A broadened understanding of nursing leadership development and science mentorship can facilitate support for the next generation of Black nurse scientists. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can serve as formative launch pads for nurse scientist development. However, the role of HBCUs and strategies for supporting robust educational and mentor/training opportunities for Black PhD-prepared nurse scientists require thoughtful description and application. Incorporating an intrapersonal, interpersonal, and integrative leadership framework, we describe and synthesize four Black nurse scientists and HBCU graduates' experiences to highlight early science mentorship and leadership resilience through the excellent educational foundations provided at HBCUs.

Do Chameleons Lead Better? A Meta-Analysis of the Self-Monitoring and Leadership Relationship

The relationship between self-monitoring and leadership has been debated. We attempt to resolve this debate through a meta-analysis (N = 9,029 across 55 samples). Since this is the first meta-analysis that focuses on this relationship, we were able to study both focal constructs at a granular level. As hypothesized, self-monitoring is positively associated with leadership emergence and leadership effectiveness. Whereas self-monitoring is positively related to managerial leadership, its relationship with transactional leadership is non-significant. Contrary to our prediction that self-monitoring is negatively related to authentic leadership and to transformational leadership, we found positive relationships. Importantly, the relationship between self-monitoring and leadership variables is typically non-significant when the latter is measured by subordinate ratings. This casts doubt on the general finding that self-monitoring is positively related to leadership. Also, the relationships significantly differ when self-monitoring was measured by different scales. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The Impacts of Leaders' Influence Tactics on Teleworkers' Job Stress and Performance: The Moderating Role of Organizational Support in COVID-19

With the outbreak of COVID-19, organizations have increased non-face-to-face work. This study aims to examine how leaders' influence tactics affect employees' psychological state and job performance in a non-face-to-face work (telework) setting. Moreover, based on substitutes for leadership theory, the study proposes that teleworkers' perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between leaders' influence tactics and their job stress in telework settings. We collected data via time-lagged surveys among 208 full-time employees in South Korean organizations that began teleworking after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that leaders' soft tactics (i.e., behaviors used to elicit the followers' voluntary acceptance of a request) and rational tactics (i.e., behaviors that exert influence by providing empirical evidence based on reason or logic) significantly reduced teleworkers' job stress, which in turn lowered their turnover intention and increased their task performance. Moreover, these tactics and teleworkers' perceived organizational support interact to influence the workers' job stress. By examining how leaders' influence tactics affect teleworkers' psychological stress, task performance, and turnover intention in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study theoretically broadens the influence tactics literature, which previously focused primarily on face-to-face workers. The study concludes with a discussion about the implications of findings and limitations, along with areas for future research.

PROTOCOL: Do hospital leadership styles predict patient safety indicators? A systematic review

This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objectives are as follows: The main aim of this systematic review is to identify whether hospital leadership styles predict patient safety as measured through several indicators over time. The second aim is to assess the extent to which the prediction of hospital leadership styles on patient safety indicators varies as a function of the leader's hierarchy level in the organization.

Clinical Psychologists as T-Shaped Professionals

The modern world is becoming increasingly integrated, and disciplines are frequently collaborating with each other. Following this trend, clinical psychologists are also often working within multidisciplinary teams and in settings outside of traditional mental health. To be competent and effective in these contexts, clinical psychologists could benefit from skills outside of psychology. The current psychology training model provides depth of training in psychology but could be improved by providing the breadth of training required of modern clinical psychologists working in these contexts. Other disciplines, such as engineering, business, and social work, have improved their breadth of training through the adoption of the T-shaped model. This model of training allows individuals to simultaneously acquire the depth of knowledge required for their discipline and the breadth required to work effectively in multidisciplinary contexts. This article discusses areas in which clinical psychologists could benefit from broad training and recommendations to implement the T-shaped model.

Understanding the Leaders of Tomorrow: The Need to Study Leadership in Adolescence

Leadership traits and behaviors are observed early in human development, and although an improved understanding of youth leadership would usefully inform many real-world contexts (e.g., education, parenting, policy), most empirical work on leadership has been limited to adult populations. The purpose of the current article is to add a developmental perspective to leadership research that has so far been absent. Here, we (a) highlight adolescence as a critical developmental period for leadership emergence and development, (b) argue that leadership among youths is poorly understood and critically understudied, (c) provide exemplars of synergy between research on leadership and adolescent development that are ripe for focused inquiry, and (d) underscore some of the positive consequences of accelerating empirical research on leadership in adolescence, including implications for a deeper understanding of leadership in adult working populations.

Profiling leadership: Attitudes, knowledge and training in the biological sciences

The development and practice of good leadership skills (distinct from management skills) enhances both an individual's career development, and their organization. However, universities are known to present unique issues around the development, and practice, of good leadership. Good leadership skills should be considered essential for university staff who train (and mentor) staff or students. Currently, there is no clear evidence that staff in the biological (life) sciences undergo formal (routine) leadership skills training (or appraisal). Furthermore, what leadership training this group needs, or wants, is unknown. A questionnaire was designed to explore leadership dimensions (roles, training, perceptions, and attitudes), and incorporated the Leadership Attitudes and Belief scale (LABS) instrument. Including LABS allows evaluation of leadership attitudes as either Systemic (individual responsibility) or Hierarchical (chain-of-command). Self-selecting biological science academics and staff were recruited using an online survey. Analysis focused on academic staff (lecturer/Assistant professor, and above), and explored the relationship of leadership dimensions with key categories (career stage, gender, age, role, and professional experience). Staff were found to be knowledgeable about what leadership is, but strongly desire formal training in leadership skills and practice. Importantly, staff did not have access to specific leadership training (but did have access to management training), but felt strongly that gaining leadership skills would improve their professional skill set. Analysis found that academics in the biological sciences were oriented towards Systemic leadership, a more collective and supportive approach. It was clear that while good leadership skills are highly valued by academic staff, in practice these skills are underprovided in the biological sciences workplace. This work provides a profile, and benchmark, of leadership (current skills, and desired needs) in the biological sciences. These results provide evidence for the need to embed specific leadership skills training into professional development (and teaching) programmes in the biological sciences.

Developing engaged and 'teamful' leaders: A randomized controlled trial of the 5R identity leadership program

The social identity approach to leadership argues that leaders' capacity to influence and inspire others is grounded in a shared sense of social identity (or 'us-ness') that those leaders create, advance, represent, and embed for the groups they lead. The approach therefore argues that a key task for leaders is to develop insights and skills of (social) identity leadership that allow them to motivate and mobilize groups and transform them into a potent social and organizational force. In contrast to other approaches and programs which focus on leaders' leader identity (their 'I-ness'), the 5R leadership development program supports the development of leaders' social identity by raising awareness of the importance of social identity ('we-ness') for leadership and taking leaders through structured activities that help them build engaged and inclusive teams. The present research assessed the benefits of facilitated and learner self-directed versions of the 5R program (Ns = 27, 22 respectively) relative to a no-treatment control (N = 27). Results (including those of an intention-to-treat analysis; N = 76) indicated that, relative to leaders in the control condition, those who participated in both forms of 5R reported large increases in identity leadership knowledge, as well as medium-sized increases in both team engagement (a compound factor comprised of team identification, team OCB, team efficacy, and work engagement) and 'teamfulness' (comprised of team reflexivity, team psychological safety, team goal clarity, and inclusive team climate). We reflect on the importance of teamfulness for leadership and team functioning and on the value of programs that help leaders develop this.

Being and becoming beginning military leaders: Implications for leadership learning

The purpose of the study is to describe junior military officers' leadership development experiences and to draw implications for leadership learning in their professional development. The research uses a systematic grounded theory design. Through in-depth interviews of 19 military officers, the data were coded and analyzed with a paradigm model that was developed to describe the development of military officers' experiences as leaders. The findings show that military leadership development is a process that is defined by the experiences of establishing oneself as a vocational leader, developing confidence in leadership skills, and leading with mission clarity and genuine concern for their "subordinates." The results reinforce the notion that leadership development is a continuous learning process beyond formal program and other transient events. Results also imply that fundamental assumptions for formal leadership development programs must be conceptualized and conceived as a process of "being, becoming, and belonging." This non-positivist empirical study answers the call for more qualitative and interpretive approaches in leadership development research and contribute to the body of knowledge of leadership learning in military leadership development.

Formal Mentoring and Protégés’ Leadership Development: The Roles of Protégés’ Informal Mentoring Networks, Political Skill, and Gender

We seek to better understand how formal mentoring may impact protégés’ leadership development by arguing that protégés’ informal mentoring networks help explain the relationship between formal mentoring and two protégé leadership development outcomes: motivation to lead and promotability. We also argue that protégés’ political skill and gender serve as boundary conditions of these mediated relationships. Using 100 South Korean mentor-protégé dyads in four organizations across three points in time, we find that a higher level of formal mentoring is positively associated with the quality of protégés’ informal mentoring networks, which, in turn, is positively associated with protégés’ motivation to lead, but not protégés’ promotability. We also find that the relationship between a higher level of formal mentoring and the quality of protégés’ informal mentoring networks is strengthened when protégés have a higher level of political skill. In addition, we find that female protégés obtain more informal mentoring networking benefits from their formal mentors than male protégés. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Leadership's long arm: The positive influence of digital leadership on managing technology-driven change over a strengthened service innovation capacity

Introduction

In this qualitative study, we examine digital leadership (DL) capabilities and their positive influence on the management of technology-driven change by leveraging service innovations. The context of digital transformation (DT) has triggered a new leadership paradigm, among others referred to as digital leadership (DL). However, despite its practical relevance, leadership research has yet paid little attention to conceptualise DL as an approach to digitally transform organisations.

Methods

Drawing on mid- and top-level mangers' experiences with service innovation projects, and based on Grounded Theory, we develop a taxonomy of DL-related capabilities and a conceptual framework which exemplifies their influences on dynamic service innovation capabilities (DSICs). DSICs build on the dynamic capabilities view (DCV) and represent the "organisational muscle" to repeatedly deliver service innovations indicating an effective management of technology-driven change.

Results and Discussion

Taxonomy results show that aggregated dimensions in terms of a digital leader's personal, social, and organisational capital serve as underpinnings (DL-related capabilities) to drive strategic change in DT contexts. The conceptual framework further reveals that especially the personal and organisational capital of a digital leader owns several strong and moderate influences on DSICs which demonstrates DL's "long arm" on the management of technology-driven change. Our findings contribute to leadership research by advancing the conceptualisation of DL and by adding a novel micro-foundational perspective towards the DCV discourse. As organisations struggle to realise the full benefits of DT initiatives, our results also provide a valuable contribution for practitioners by supporting them to strategically prepare for the human-related challenges of DT.

A configurational approach to leadership behavior through archetypal analysis

The behavioral approach to leadership, which has introduced leadership styles, has been of great importance to the leadership field. Despite its importance, scholars have recently argued and demonstrated that these styles have various conceptual, methodological, and empirical limitations that could hamper further development of the leadership field. Consequently, they have called for alternative approaches to study leadership. We argue that taking a configurational or person-oriented approach to leadership behavior, which focuses on ideal-type configurations of leadership behaviors to identify leadership archetypes, offers such an alternative. We demonstrate the potential of such an approach via the use of archetypal analysis, for a dataset of 46 behaviors across 6 leadership styles, including more than 150,000 respondents. Our results offer a clear indication for the existence of archetypes of leadership. We also suggest how the resulting archetypes can get a meaningful interpretation, and discuss implications for future research.

Emergency Nurses' Competency in the Emergency Department Context: A Qualitative Study

Background

The availability of clear emergency nurses' competencies is critical for safe and effective emergency health care services. The study regarding emergency nurses' competencies remained virtually limited.

Purpose

This study aimed to explore the emergency nurses' competencies in the clinical emergency department (ED) context as needed by society.

Methods

This qualitative study involved focus group discussions in six groups of 54 participants from three EDs. The data were analysed using grounded theory approach including the constant comparative, interpretations, and coding procedures; initial coding, focused coding and categories.

Results

This study revealed 8 core competencies of emergency nurses: Shifting the nursing practice, Caring for acute critical patients, Communicating and coordinating, Covering disaster nursing roles, Reflecting on the ethical and legal standards, Researching competency, Teaching competencies and Leadership competencies. The interconnection of the 8 core competencies has resulted in 2 concepts of extending the ED nursing practice and demanding the advanced ED nursing role.

Conclusion

The finding reflected the community needs of nurses who work in ED settings and the need for competency development of emergency nurses.

When and why proactive employees get promoted: A trait activation perspective

Although there is a consensus that workplace proactivity is vital for both employees and organizations, little is known as whether proactivity is beneficial for employees to develop leadership capabilities. Drawing from trait activation theory, we theorize that proactive personality could enhance employee promotability through taking charge behavior. We also propose that task structure determines the odds that proactive employees might be promoted. We tested the theoretical model with data from 226 employees and their direct leaders in 26 teams at three time points. The results of multi-level path analysis indicated that the positive relationship between proactive personality and taking charge was stronger in more organic work unit, which in turn, positively related to employees' promotability. These findings provide new knowledge in understanding the impacts of proactive personality and offers important empirical practices for proactivity management for organizations.

Millennials and the motivation to lead: is a transformational leader a catalyst or barrier?

Purpose

Leaders influence individuals to understand and agree upon goals and methods to accomplish shared objectives. However, how leaders motivate others to assume a leadership role is an open question. This paper aims to examine how employee perceptions of their supervisors’ transformational leadership behaviors might affect a millennial and their motivation toward leadership. This paper also investigated the relationship within a spiritually based organizational context since workplace spirituality has become increasingly popular within contemporary corporate cultures.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper offers propositions, which examine two areas: first, the impact of a spiritual work context on a millennial’s motivation to lead and, second, the proposed moderating impact of a transformational leader on these relationships.

Findings

These linkages are important for organizational leaders to examine, as millennials will be the largest portion of the workforce by 2025. In addition, the influence of a transformational leader may not be as powerful as previous research has demonstrated. This difference is based on aspects of millennials, which are different from previous generations. Organizations spend thousands of dollars on the development of transformational leaders and spiritual (meaningful) workplaces; however, this may not be useful in the future.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, to date no research has examined the impact of a transformational leader on a millennial’s motivation toward leadership in a spiritual work context.

The dark side of leadership: How ineffective training and poor ethics education trigger unethical behavior?

Introduction

The challenge of restricting unethical behavior requires public companies to reinforce ethical practices among leaders through various instruments. Previous research suggests that the (un)ethical behavior of leaders can be influenced by many situational factors. This study aimed to investigate the influence of ethics training and education on unethical leadership behavior in the Algerian public companies.

Methods

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 leaders from public companies in Algeria. Data analysis was facilitated using ATLAS. ti 8 qualitative analysis software.

Results

The findings show that public companies in Algeria suffer from several issues related to leaders’ ethics training and education. The findings also indicate that some of these unethical leadership behaviors are the result of ineffective training programs and poor ethics education within public companies.

Discussion

The absence or ineffectiveness of ethics training and education within and outside organizational settings has a detrimental impact on leaders’ ethical character. This study is the first to explore how public companies in Algeria engage in ethical training and leadership education. The different sectors of the Algerian business can use the findings as a point of reference to embed the appropriate ethical climate in their respective organizations.

Be(com)ing other-oriented: Mindfulness-trained leaders’ experiences of their enhanced social awareness

The potential significance of mindfulness for social relations at work has been recognized in the recent management literature, yet a thorough investigation has been lacking into how mindfulness may help leaders tap into their other-orientation. In this study, we examine whether and how mindfulness training contributes to the development of leaders’ social awareness by studying the experiences of 62 leaders who participated in an 8-week-long mindfulness training program. Our study contributes to the literature on management learning and mindfulness in leadership in three ways. First, it identifies how the leaders who participated in mindfulness training see themselves developing toward becoming more socially aware in situations involving followers across the three interlinked domains of human functioning—the cognitive, affective, and behavioral—clarifying mindfulness as an interpersonal phenomenon. Second, it highlights mindfulness as a value-based developmental practice instead of merely a personal stress reduction and attention-enhancement technique. Third, it proposes mindfulness training as a viable approach to enhance leaders’ social awareness through a combination of a formal program and continuous self-development, departing from the views of mindfulness as a “quick fix.” It also provides a conceptual framework that illustrates the pathway with the potential to build social leadership capacity.

Co-workership: development of an assessment tool

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to develop an easy-to-use, theoretically well-founded and psychometrically sound assessment tool of the concept co-workership.

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, inductively generated examples of favourable and unfavourable co-worker behaviours were collected, clustered and then expressed as frequency-based Likert-type scale items. Data were obtained from 825 Swedish white collar workers and military personnel. A factor analysis (principal axis factoring with oblique rotation) resulted in a seven-factor solution built up by 30 items and forming the instrument Co-Worker Questionnaire (Co-Worker Q).

Findings

The factors have a strong resemblance to the content of dominating models of leadership, followership, organizational citizenship behaviour and leader–member exchange. The factor scales had relatively high reliability (high Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and low standard errors of measurement). Regarding discriminability, women scored more favourably on five of the factors, men on one factor and age differences were noted on two factors.

Research limitations/implications

Shortcomings include the lack of data on possibly related aspects including person factors, such as personality and socio-economic status, and contextual factors such as more detailed data on the type of work environment and organizational culture.

Practical implications

The instrument has an easy-to-use format and can be used in organization development interventions with a co-workership focus and in individualized coaching or mentoring programmes.

Originality/value

The co-workership concept has so far mainly been used in the Nordic countries. The development of the Co-Worker Q opens up for broader applications.

Building health care leadership capacity in a developing country via Talent Grooming Programme (TGP): experience sharing from the Ministry of Health Malaysia

PURPOSE

Formal structured leadership training is increasingly incorporated as a regular fixture in developed nations to produce competent leaders to ensure the provision of quality patient care. However, most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) rely on one-off external training opportunities for selected individuals as they lack the necessary resources to implement long-term training for a wider pool of potential health care leaders. This case study shares the establishment process of the Talent Grooming Programme for technical health care professionals (TGP), a three-year in-house leadership training programme specially targeted at potential health care leaders in Malaysia.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

This case study aims to share a comprehensive overview of the ideation, conceptualisation and implementation of TGP. The authors also outlined its impact from the individual and organisational perspectives, besides highlighting the lessons learned and recommendations for the way forward.

FINDINGS

TGP set out to deliver experiential learning focusing on formal training, workplace experiences, practical reflection and mentoring by supervisors and other esteemed leaders to fulfil the five competency domains of leadership, organisational governance, communication and relationship, professional values and personal values. The successes and challenges in TGP programme delivery, post-training assessment, outcome evaluation and programme sustainability were outlined.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The authors' experience in setting up TGP provided valuable learning points for other leadership development programme providers. As for any development programme, a continuous evaluation is vital to ensure its relevance and sustainability.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

Certain aspects of TGP establishment can be referenced and modified to adapt to country-specific settings for others to develop similar leadership programme, especially those in LMICs.

Growing leaders from below: Identity-based worker education and identity-leader ability among self-employed women in India

Informal and unregulated work is the norm rather than the exception in emerging economies. This study was conducted in India where nine out of 10 women are occupied in informal, unregulated work, and are vulnerable to low-wages, exploitation, and interconnected cultural and social-economic injustices. The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and their education wing the Indian Academy of Self-Employed Women encourage their members to self-define as "self-employed workers" and facilitate identity-based worker education and leadership training. Drawing on insights from the Social Identity Approach to Learning and the New Psychology of Leadership this cross-sectional study (N = 300) explored if this shared social identity significantly predicted participants perceived identity-leadership ability. We further explored if this relationship was partially explained by SEWA norms, values, and beliefs, developed during learning, and measured as "awareness of gendered inequality", "injustice consciousness", and "collective efficacy". A parallel mediation analysis found a direct relationship between "self-employed women identity" and "identity-leader ability" and indirect relationships through "awareness of gendered inequality" and "collective efficacy". No indirect path was evident through "injustice consciousness". The theoretical and practical implications of an identity-based approach to worker education and leader training among vulnerable workers, are discussed.

“One of these things is not like the others”: the role of authentic leadership in cross-cultural leadership development

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to explore a possible relationship between the presence of authentic organisational leadership and the leadership development experience.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a qualitative exploratory hybrid research design which draws on data from multiple sources. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews, document analysis and non-participant observations across two case study organisations in Saudi Arabia.

Findings

The authors' findings suggest that the presence of authentic leadership (AL) within an organisation is a significant factor in the leadership development experience. This study also highlights the key importance of advancing leadership development theory that is holistic and comprehensive.

Research limitations/implications

The study was conducted as case studies within a specific social context. Findings cannot be generalised but offer valuable direction for future research.

Originality/value

The research advances leadership development theory by highlighting the inadequacy of the person-focussed perspective and offering exploratory evidence for the role of social context, organisational leadership and organisational artefacts in the leadership development process.

The Covid Shift: working women's punctuated equilibrium

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper on women in the formal workforce is grounded within the leadership and organization development literature.

Findings

The authors posit the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent instability in the US workforce, particularly among women and mothers, is effectively examined through the lens of punctuated equilibrium. Specifically, the widespread disruption initiated by the pandemic provides an opportunity for transformative change within organizations and society. Furthermore, working women impacted during this punctuated equilibrium are likewise positioned for transformation. The authors suggest the pandemic and its impact on the formal workforce can be leveraged for individual and organizational development as well as transformation, resulting in advancement toward self-authorship and increased equity within organizations, respectively.

Originality/value

This paper offers a novel integration and application of three leadership and organization development concepts: punctuated equilibrium, the self-authorship theory and Theory U, to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women.

Changing the Office Design to Activity-Based Flexible Offices: A Longitudinal Study of How Managers' Leadership Behaviours Are Perceived

This longitudinal study examines the impact of office type on employees' perception of managers' leadership behaviours, which is an unexplored area. The expanding research related to activity-based flexible offices (AFOs) has mainly focused on employees' working conditions and health outcomes, not on the changes in leadership behaviours when moving from traditional offices to AFOs. Office workers (n = 261) from five office sites within a large Swedish government agency were included in a controlled study of a natural intervention. At four sites, traditional offices were replaced by AFOs, while workers at one site with no relocation acted as the control. The same employees rated different leadership behaviours in a web-based questionnaire at baseline and at one follow-up. The analyses showed that relocations from cell and open-plan offices to AFOs were clearly related to a decrease in the perception of relation-oriented leadership behaviours. However, coming from open-plan offices to AFOs also decreased the perception of the other leadership dimensions. As expected, the control group was stable over time in their perceptions. This emphasises the need for organisations to provide managers with prerequisites so they can keep up with behaviours that support employees' performance and health when office designs and ways of working are changed.

Authentic leader(ship) development and leaders' psychological well-being: an outcome-wide analysis

Purpose

Despite a fast-growing interest in leadership development programs, there is limited research on the impacts of leadership development and a narrow focus on professional competencies as outcomes. The authors’ aim was to test whether authentic leadership development (ALD), an identity-based leadership development approach, is associated with positive changes in leaders' psychological well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

In a large sample of leaders (N = 532) from five different ALD programs, the authors conducted a pre-registered outcome-wide analysis and tested within-person changes in key indicators of psychological well-being and explored individual differences moderating these changes.

Findings

Results showed significant increases in self-concept clarity, sense of purpose in life and personal growth about two to three weeks after the programs ended. Changes in stress and health were not consistent. These changes did not differ across socio-demographic status (gender, age), work-related factors (leadership, industry and tenure) and most personality factors (extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience). Those with high emotional variability experienced greater improvements in some outcomes of well-being while individuals with higher income and conscientiousness (who had high baseline self-concept clarity) experienced smaller improvements. Longer follow-up assessments were associated with smaller changes.

Originality/value

As one of the most comprehensive assessments of ALD outcomes to date, this study shows the potential of ALD for improving outcomes beyond leadership skills, the well-being of leaders, highlighting the return on value in leadership development and pointing to learning and development as a workplace well-being intervention.

Don't be afraid to eat the whole whale! Using mixed methods to enhance what we learn in leadership research and assessment

The purpose of this article is to identify proper uses for mixed methods in leadership research and assessment. This article will highlight research and assessment questions that are best served by mixed methods and will offer practitioner-friendly guides and examples for integrating quantitative and qualitative data to help eat the whole whale "one bite at a time." Sound decision-making in the design, execution, and presentation of mixed methods studies and outcomes assessments not only produces better outputs, but greatly increases the likelihood of (a) publication in reputable journals, (b) sound program evaluation decisions, and (c) public consumption of study or assessment results.

Do personal traits of the leader predict differences in leader and subordinate evaluations of leader effectiveness: a study in the banking industry in Ethiopia

Purpose

This study aims to examine whether the internal locus of control, self-esteem and leadership self-efficacy can predict differences in self–other rating agreement on leader effectiveness. First, the authors predicted that the greater the internal locus of a leader the more their self-rating will be in agreement with others' rating of them (1a). Second, the authors proposed that the greater the self-esteem of a leader the more their self-rating will be in discrepancy with others' rating (1b). Third, the authors hypothesized that the greater the self-efficacy of a leader the more their self-rating will be in agreement with others' rating (1c).

Design/methodology/approach

To test the hypotheses, multisource data were collected from 128 banking leaders (who responded about different aspects of leadership self-efficacy, internal locus of control, self-esteem and leadership effectiveness) and 344 subordinates (who rated their leaders' effectiveness in performing leadership tasks).Multivariate regression was performed by jointly regressing both leaders' self-ratings and subordinates' ratings as a dependent variable on internal locus of control, self-esteem and leadership self-efficacy as predictor variables.

Findings

Self-esteem of a leader the more their self-rating will be in discrepancy with others' ratings.

Originality/value

The study tried to investigate the leader-subordinate dis(agreement) on leaders’ effectiveness taking banking leaders in the Ethiopian Context. The finding of the results is crucial and important for leadership development programs.

The problematic persistence of gender reflexivity in women's leadership development

Purpose

Research on women's leadership development over the past two decades has seen a move away from feminist theory that embeds action at a structural level as the objective of consciousness raising realised during the programme. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the stalling of collective action needed to challenge the continued under-representation of women in leadership roles.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is conceptual. Gender reflexivity – as the basis for claims within women's leadership development programmes (WLDPs) that are based on identity work to enable wider transformation of organisations in respect of structural barriers – is examined and critiqued.

Findings

Women's leadership development is unlikely to be able to used as a vehicle for structural change whilst it remains focused on self-acceptance, self-management and self-development of the individual participants. Gender reflexivity, as the warrant for change and transformation, is not used in a way that can deliver organisational change. Part of this is the way in which it is misapplied within human resource development and part of this is the continued lack of framing WLDP as a historical practice in support of the current logic of leadership.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the development of a critical approach to women's leadership development from a feminist theory perspective.

Acquiring and developing healthcare leaders’ political skills: an interview study with healthcare leaders

Background

Research suggests health and care leaders need to develop a distinct set of political skills in order to understand and manage the competing interests and agenda that characterise health and care services.

Aim

To understand how healthcare leaders describe the acquisition and development of political skills with the aim of providing evidence for leadership development programme.

Methods

A qualitative interview study was carried out between 2018 and 2019 with 66 health and care leaders located within the English National Health Service. Qualitative data were subject to interpretative analysis and coding, with themes related to pre-existing literature on the methods of leadership skill development.

Results

The primary method of acquiring and developing political skill is through direct experience in leading and changing services. This is unstructured and incremental in nature with skill development increased through the accumulation of experience. Many participants described mentoring as an important source of political skill development, especially for reflecting on first-hand experiences, understanding the local environment and fine-tuning strategies. A number of participants describe formal learning opportunities as giving them permission to discuss political issues, and providing frameworks for conceptual understanding of organisational politics. Overall, no one approach appears to reflect the changing developmental needs of leaders.

Conclusions

The study suggests that healthcare leaders’ development of political skills and behaviours might be supported through an integrative approach that takes into account the evolving learning needs and opportunities at different career stages in the form of a maturation framework.

Leader Attentive Communication: A new Communication Concept, Validation and Scale Development

Effective communication is a foundational leadership skill. Many leadership theories implicitly assume communication skills, without investigating them behaviorally. To be able to research leader communication as a building block of effective leader behavior, we propose a new concept, i.e., leader attentive communication which refers to “an open-minded, attentive demeanor while in a conversation with an employee”. Instead of focusing on the content or form of the communication, we propose to study the communication skills of the leader from the viewpoint of the employee. In this article, we both validate a questionnaire and test LAC's influence on employee wellbeing in four different studies. We use information from 1,320 employees and their leaders, in 422 teams, in 3 different datasets. The result is a 10-item questionnaire with 2 dimensions consisting of general attention (towards the employee) and attention to non-verbal cues. We also find that LAC is associated with work engagement, psychological needs and Kahn's conditions for work engagement. With this questionnaire, we contribute to calls for a more behavioral, detailed view on leader communication behavior.

Developing an engineering leadership identity

This article posits the importance of viewing leadership development in engineering through an identity lens. The model presented shows the development of an engineering leadership identity at the intersection of engineering and leadership identities and explores that development through the findings from two national surveys with additional support from a deeper investigation using student focus groups.

In search of a definition and frameworks for engineering leadership development

Despite an elusive definition of engineering leadership, educators and researchers forge ahead to identify disparate and complementary theories which frame engineering leadership.

Leadership competencies for digital transformation: An exploratory content analysis of job advertisements

Harnessing the opportunities of emerging information technologies is one of the great challenges companies are facing today. To successfully master digital transformation, organizations need leaders who can grasp the opportunities of digitalization for their business and transform them into new business models. Aiming at providing empirical evidence regarding competencies sought by practitioners for managing digital transformation, we analyze 239 job advertisements targeting digital transformation experts and examine the skills and traits explicitly called for. Our results reveal that technical skills and in-depth expertise in information technologies play only a secondary role in job requirement profiles. Like in earlier strategic change processes, digital transformation experts should primarily possess collaboration, strategic thinking, leadership, customer orientation, and communication skills. Moreover, in contrast to purely conceptual studies limited to skills and abilities, our analyses emphasize the importance of specific personality traits, such as proactivity and creativity, since these are often explicitly mentioned in corresponding job advertisements.

If philosophers went on a leadership course: A (serious) farce in three Acts

Leadership development is big business, with business schools and private providers offering leadership development programmes claimed to help turn managers into wise, good and able leaders. Leadership development originated in philosophy and, in the Western tradition, dates back at least as far as Socrates. This article asks: how would philosophers qua wisdom-lovers [philo-sophes] respond to contemporary programmes? We use the dramatic licence offered by theatre to imagine Foucault, Butler, Kant, Hume and others participating in a leadership training course. As our play opens, we find them critiquing a 360-degree psychometric assessment instrument they have been asked to complete. Our highly select group argue it solicits docile, servile supplicants to the interests of neoliberal capitalism. They offer an alternative containing key questions putative leaders should explore. The script includes other dramatis personnae and a Chorus (the authors of this paper). Speeches and programme notes provide the necessary bones of an academic paper, such as literature reviews and philosophical contexts. We ask colleagues to join with us in reconnecting leadership development to its philosophical roots in an effort to foster wiser and more ethical leadership.

Leadership development evaluation (LDE): reflections on a collaboratory approach

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on the experience of attempting a “collaboratory” approach in sharing knowledge about leadership development evaluation (LDE). A collaboratory intertwines “collaboration” and “laboratory” to create innovation networks for all sorts of social and technological problems.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors, alongside a variety of public and private sector organisations, created the collaboratory. Within the process, the authors collected various forms of qualitative data (including interviews, observations, letter writing and postcards).

Findings

The findings show key areas of resonance, namely, the ability for participants to network, a creation of a dynamic shift in thinking and practice and the effective blending of theory and practice. Importantly, there are some critiques of the collaboratory approach discussed, including complications around: a lack of “laboratory” (hence bringing into question the idea of collaboratory itself), and the need to further develop the facilitation of such events.

Originality/value

The originality is to ultimately question whether the network actually achieved the collaboratory in reality. This study concludes, however, that there were some distinct benefits within our collaborations, especially around issues associated with LDE, and this study provides recommendations for academics and practitioners in terms of trying similar initiatives.