Moving beyond the employee: The role of the organizational context in leader workplace aggression

'They treat us like machines': migrant workers' conceptual framework of labour exploitation for health research and policy

BACKGROUND

The exploitation of migrant workers ranks high on global political agendas including the Sustainable Development Goals. Research on exploited workers, using assessment tools where exploitation is defined by professional experts, indicates serious health concerns and needs. Yet, migrant workers are rarely asked about their understanding of a phenomenon they may experience. Our study aimed to conceptualise 'labour exploitation' from the perspective of migrant workers employed in manual low-skilled jobs.

METHODS

Twenty-seven Latin Americans working in London (UK) participated in Group Concept Mapping; a participatory mixed-method where qualitative data are collected to define a concept's content and then analysed using quantitative methods to generate a structured conceptual framework. Participants generated statements describing the concept content during brainstorming sessions, and structured them during sorting-rating exercises. Multi-Dimensional Scaling and Cluster Analysis were performed, generating a conceptual framework that clarified the dimensions, subdimensions and constituent statements of the concept of labour exploitation from migrant workers' perspectives.

RESULTS

Three key dimensions were identified: 'poor employment conditions and lack of protection', covering contractual arrangements and employment relations; 'disposability and abuse of power' (or 'dehumanisation') covering mechanisms or means which make migrant workers feel disposable and abused; and 'health and safety and psychosocial hazards' encompassing issues from physical and psychosocial hazards to a lack of health and social protection. 'Dehumanisation' has not been included in mainstream tools assessing exploitation, despite its importance for study participants who also described harsh situations at work including sexual, physical and verbal abuse.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides a conceptual framework of labour exploitation that gives voice to migrant workers and can be operationalised into a measure of migrant labour exploitation. It also calls for the dimension 'dehumanisation' and structural forms of coercion to be integrated into mainstream conceptualisations, and their workplace hazards to be urgently addressed.

Organizational health climate as a precondition for health-oriented leadership: expanding the link between leadership and employee well-being

The link between leadership and employee well-being is long established. In particular, health-oriented leadership is discussed as a leadership style specifically promoting employee well-being. However, the preconditions of health-oriented leadership remain largely unexplored. From the perspective of conservation of resources theory, leaders can only provide resources when receiving some themselves. We propose that organizational health climate (OHC) is an important organization-based resource for a health-oriented leadership style. More specifically, we hypothesize that the relationship between OHC and employee job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion is mediated by health-oriented leadership. We thereby differentiate two levels of analysis: a within-team level and a between-team level. We examined 74 teams with 423 employees of childcare centers at three time points, each 6 months apart. By means of multilevel structural equation modeling, we found OHC to be a significant antecedent of health-oriented leadership at the between-team level. The relationship between OHC and employee job satisfaction was mediated by health-oriented leadership at the between-team level, but not at the within-team level. The relationship between OHC and employee exhaustion showed another pattern of relationships at the different levels of analysis, while it was not significantly mediated by health-oriented leadership. This indicates the value of differentiating between levels of analysis. We discuss the implications for theory and practice that can be drawn from our findings.

Does an abusive climate promote performance: an investigation of public sector hospitals of Pakistan

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the abusive supervision climate as an antecedent abusive supervision and attempts to uncover underlying mechanisms that affects employees' behavioural outcomes in terms of their performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A framework embedded in social learning theory is developed and empirically tested using a time-lag research design. Data have been collected from 330 functional dyads of supervisors and followers using judgement sampling (from public hospitals in Pakistan) that have been identified and matched for drawing analysis and inferences.

Findings

The results indicate that abusive supervision does occur because of the hypothesized precursor (abusive supervision climate) and that the underlying mechanisms (fear) delineated in this research positively and significantly affect performance of employees. The added significance of the study is its relevance for practitioners with opportunities to manage the factors affecting supervision and its relationship with employees' outcomes through appropriate interventions to improve the behavioural outcomes.

Social implications

The current study holds not only managerial and academic implications but also has economical and social implications. The findings of the study will help the supervisors and organisations understand how they become a source of their abusive behaviour. With the understanding of the root causes, they can encourage employees in developing mindfulness in recommendations which helps them build an internal capability to face external adversities. Policymakers will get insights into the underlying mechanisms of abusive supervision as well as problems they are facing with the employees. This understanding will help employers and employees in building internal control of employees improving their performance as well as mental health ultimately.

Originality/value

The study opens new avenues for further research with regard to the study of contextual, organisational and personal factors to mitigate abusive supervision as well as exploring additional moderators to lessen the relationship between abusive supervision and behavioural outcomes.

Strategic leadership and ambidextrous learning

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics of “leadership and organizational learning” process and the factors that shape this process. Building upon the ideas of transformational and transactional leadership (TFL and TAL), explorative – and exploitative – learning (ERL and ETL), dynamic capabilities (DCs) and intellectual capital architecture (ICA), this paper develops a model of organizational learning. The model explains how leadership styles trigger versatile learning, and how DCs and ICA of a firm influence this process.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper builds upon a systematic review of the literature to develop propositions delineating the complex and poorly understood relationship between leadership styles, organizational learning and the role of DCs and ICA in this process. The paper develops multiple propositions, which together constitute an overarching framework explaining how leadership styles shape organizational learning.

Findings

Leadership approaches, DCs and ICA of a firm all have a differential effect on ERL and ETL. TFL and TAL promote ERL and ETL, respectively. The presence of DCs facilitates the effect of TFL in supporting ERL but negatively influences the role of TAL in ETL. The effect of ICA is discussed in terms of knowledge stocks (generalist vs specialist), social architecture (entrepreneurial vs cooperative) and organizational capital (organic vs mechanistic). The generalist knowledge facilitates TFL → ERL, while the specialist knowledge facilitates TAL → ETL path. Entrepreneurial architectures are suitable for TFL → ERL, while cooperative structures promote TAL → ETL trajectory. Finally, organic systems facilitate TFL → ERL, while the mechanistic systems promote TAL → ETL.

Originality/value

The key contribution of the paper is in developing a model furnishing profound insights into leadership approaches and organizational learning and the role of two critical factors. To the best of the author’s knowledge, these aspects have not been discussed in a unified framework in the previous studies. Hence, the paper is novel in its contribution.

Supervisor Narcissism and Time Theft: Investigating the Mediating Roles of Emotional Exhaustion and the Moderating Roles of Attachment Style

Although some studies have begun to explore the factors influencing employees' time theft, it has not been uncommon to link employee time theft to leader personality traits. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this paper examines the influence of supervisor narcissism on employee time theft. It is found that supervisor narcissism positively affects employee time theft via the emotional exhaustion of employees. Further, employee's attachment styles moderate the mediation effect of emotional exhaustion between supervisor narcissism and employee time theft. This study adds important insights into employee time theft, leader negative traits and the theory and practice of organizational management.