The role of transformational leadership in the mental health and job performance of employees with disabilities

Expanding Workplace Inclusion of Employees Who Are Parents of Children with Disabilities through Diversity Training

Employed parents raising children with disabilities manage exceptional care responsibilities along with their work careers. This study examines the effects of targeted diversity training on human resource (HR) professionals' knowledge of the work-family experiences of these parents, and on their self-efficacy in providing workplace supports. Using computer-based training in field settings, 64 U.S. human resource professionals in an international company participated in two diversity training sessions. Data related to knowledge and efficacy of dependent and disability care were collected before the first training and immediately after the second. HR participants demonstrated significant increases from pretest to posttest on the trained items: knowledge of dependent and disability care and self-efficacy regarding provision of workplace supports. There was no change in relevant but untrained variables over time. Training HR professionals on parents' exceptional care responsibilities, specific community resources, and heightened self-efficacy promoted their likelihood to grant flexible work arrangements. Results suggest HR self-efficacy is developmental, building on prior knowledge of dependent care and tenure in HR positions. This is one of the first studies that address the effects of HR diversity training regarding employees providing exceptional care. Theoretical developments and implications for inclusive practices are discussed.

Transformational Leadership and Psychological Well-Being of Service-Oriented Staff: Hybrid Data Synthesis Technique

Leaders play a significant role in organizations and their leadership behaviors can either enhance or undermine the well-being of their employees. This study aimed to meta-analyze the relationship between transformational leadership and well-being in the service industry, and how employees’ gender and service sector moderated the strength of this relationship. This study used a convergent mixed-method approach. PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, AMED, and Scopus electronic databases were utilized to search for relevant studies. Textual data were analyzed using a text data-mining technique (Leximancer) to determine the relevant themes and concepts. Statistical data were examined through a comprehensive meta-analysis to determine their effect sizes. The qualitative results outline the major themes that emerged: leadership, well-being, and health. The quantitative findings revealed that the perceived well-being of male employees and those working outside of the health-care service sector was positively higher when employees’ leaders showed transformational leadership. In general, the findings from the qualitative and quantitative data converge. The findings confirm the positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee well-being. This study also highlights the applicability of a convergent mixed-method approach as a useful methodological strategy when analyzing both lexical and statistical data.

Factors associated with implementation of a school-based comprehensive program for students with autism

LAY ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to identify influences on the implementation of a school-based, comprehensive program for autistic students. Influences from the community context, from within the school organization, and from features of the intervention itself were examined. The study took place in 39 elementary schools in a southeastern state in the United States. Transformational leadership style of the building principal, percentage of white students at the school (which was proposed as a broader community socioeconomic variable), and adequacy of coaching were all associated with implementation.

Measuring leadership an assessment of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire

Although the most used measure of transformational leadership, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), has been the subject of intense scrutiny among leadership scholars, little interest has been shown in analyzing the relationship between its underlying constructs and / or their measures. The present study identifies a formative factor structure for most MLQ first-order factors, replacing the usual reflective model. We demonstrate the value of this structure using data from two different samples. First, we applied the MLQ to a sample of 129 police officers from the Catalan Police workforce. Second, we ran an online survey with 300 US citizens. We argue that three second-order factors (transformational, transactional, and laissez faire) should be used as emergent aggregate multidimensional models to describe three different leadership styles, challenging the ubiquitous multidimensional latent models favored in the extant literature. We then propose that transformational/charismatic leadership should be treated as a multidimensional emergent profile model, replacing the leadership development order of precedence, which is dominant in modern leadership research.

Key findings about hearing loss in the working-life: a scoping review from a well-being perspective

OBJECTIVE

This scoping review investigated key findings about hearing loss (HL) in the working life (WL) from a well-being perspective.

DESIGN

A scoping review protocol was used to search the literature and to explore and extract key findings. A narrative analysis of key findings was used to group the data into themes. Study sample: Fifty-three articles from 29 different journals were included in the analysis.

RESULTS

The narrative analysis identified three broad themes; individual aspects, work environment and work organisation. Individual aspects concerned problems that workers with HL experienced in their working lives, strategies they used to manage their working lives and different aspects of health in relation to WL. Work environment focussed on the physical, organisational and social work environment. Work organisation identified aspects related to division of labour and employment status.

CONCLUSIONS

Several of the included papers revealed lots of findings but did not substantially discuss the findings from a WL perspective. HL and well-being in WL is a multidimensional phenomenon due to the interplay between the individual and the environment. This interplay is rarely discussed in the included papers. Furthermore, intersectional aspects are infrequently highlighted and need to be further explored in future research.

When affirmative action is not enough: challenges in career development of persons with disability

Purpose

There is dearth of research pertaining to how persons with disability (PWDs) view their career and the issues they face in career development; past studies highlight either the organizational initiatives or individual factors in this regard. The present study bridges this gap by studying the PWDs' experiences and perceptions on challenges in their career development.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory study through interview of professionally qualified PWDs in India, who have a permanent employment.

Findings

PWDs experience that affirmative action has a negative fallout as it leads to positive discrimination and hence, adversely affects their confidence and development.

Research limitations/implications

The present study throws up new themes in the organizational climate that the PWDs face in career development, future studies can understand the aspirations of PWDs toward career and focus on the how the PWDs engage in shaping their career. Researchers can explore strategies that PWDs plan/adopt in creating a sustainable career for themselves. Scholars can also map the issues raised by PWDs with the career outcomes.

Social implications

The Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016, of Government of India introduces a social model of disability in India. This paper deploys the social model of disability to enhance our understanding of the disability climate in India from a new lens.

Originality/value

This study introduces new themes that depict the environmental factors and are related to the organizational climate rather than self-focused issues of PWDs. The paper introduces two new subjective criteria, voiced by PWDs, for career development – a well-crafted capability-based career path and role of inspirational platforms. It introduces hitherto undiscovered issues toward career development, faced by PWDs who have a secure employment and a professional career. This is the first exclusive study of PWDs employed in public sector and thus, brings uniqueness in the context.

Tortoise or hare? Supporting the chronotope preference of employees with fluctuating chronic illness symptoms

OBJECTIVE

Our aim is to understand how to facilitate the job retention of employees with chronic illness. We focus on multiple sclerosis (MS) as a criterion chronic illness.

DESIGN

An opportunity sample of 20 individuals of working age (13 female; 7 male) were recruited who had been in paid employment for over 28 months with a concurrent diagnosis of MS. Participants took part in one of three focus groups with a topic guide comprising keywords: work, coping, performance, support, future, expectations, sharing and symptoms. Data were analysed using dialogical analysis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

As a qualitative study, no outcome measure was used. However, the specific focus of interest was to search for differential patterns of 'timespace' - chronotope - that people with chronic illness utilise to manage their condition in the workplace.

RESULTS

Participants oriented to two distinct chronotope types: unsustainable epic (characterised by condensed time) and temporary idyll (characterized by condensed space). Perceived managerial discretion was identified as possibly influencing participants' chronotope preference.

CONCLUSION

Identifying chronotope preference has practical implications for health psychologists and related professionals who provide and advise on support to facilitate people with chronic illness to thrive in the workplace.

Is There a Downside of Job Accommodations? An Employee Perspective on Individual Change Processes

By modifying the work environments, work routines, and work tasks of employees with health restrictions, organizations can effectively help them continue to perform their jobs successfully. As such, job accommodations are an effective tool to secure the continued employment of aging workers who develop disabilities across their life span. However, while accommodations tackle health-related performance problems, they might create new challenges on the part of the affected employee. Building on the organizational change and accommodations literatures, we propose a theoretical framework of negative experiences during accommodation processes and apply it to qualitative data from group interviews with 73 manufacturing workers at a German industrial company who were part of the company's job accommodation program. Although problems associated with health-related impairments were mostly solved by accommodation, affected employees with disabilities reported about interpersonal problems and conflicts similar to those that typically occur during organizational change. Lack of social support as well as poor communication and information were raised as criticisms. Furthermore, our findings indicate that discrimination, bullying, and maltreatment appear to be common during accommodation processes. To make accommodation processes more successful, we derive recommendations from the organizational change literature and apply it to the accommodation context. We also emphasize unique characteristics of the accommodation setting and translate these into practical implications.