Carol Gill

An Investigation of Authentic Leadership’s Individual and Group Influences on Follower Responses

In this study, we investigated and clarified aspects of the multilevel nature of authentic leadership (AL) and its effects on followers. Specifically, we hypothesized that AL would have distinct effects through both personalized AL, which is a leader’s direct effect on a follower, and through generalized AL, which is a leader’s indirect or group-based effect on a follower as a result of leadership effects among the follower’s coworkers. These hypotheses were consistent with a complete review of the empirical literature on AL’s effects and the results from a sample of leaders and followers working in a large multinational company. The data showed that the two paths of AL’s influence had distinct relationships with follower responses. We discuss the implications of these results, particularly those concerning how to study the multilevel effects of AL.

Union presence, employee relations and high performance work practices

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between unions, employee relations and the adoption of high performance work practices (HPWP). Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey data collected from the senior members of the human resource management (HRM) function in 189 large Australian organisations. Findings – It was found that unions, when coupled with good employee relations, facilitate the adoption of HPWP and consequently have a positive impact on organisational competitiveness, contradicting the simplistic notion that unions are “bad for business”. Research limitations/implications – This study used cross‐sectional survey data from HRM managers, who while being the best single source of information, may have distorted their responses. Further research is required to confirm these results using several data sources collected from a larger sample over more than one time period. Practical implications – This research has implications for Government and organisation approaches to union presence and management in organisations. Social implications – This research contributes to HRM and organisational competitiveness, which has implications for GDP. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the debate on whether the individual and direct voice provided by HPWP is a substitute for union collective voice, with the associated implication that unions are unnecessary and even destructive to organisation competitive advantage.

The role and impact of HRM policy

Purpose – This research aims to answer the call for more empirical research on identity theory by exploring the role and impact of human resource management (HRM) policy, and the gap between HRM policy and practice, on organizations and their employees. It looks at the role that soft policy plays in obscuring hard practice and considers the impact of unions and HRM role on policy.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey data collected from the senior members of the HRM function in 189 large Australian organisations.Findings – The research found a gap between policy and practice with soft policy being used more often than soft practice. It found that a gap between policy and practice has a negative impact on outcomes. Strategic HRM (SHRM) positively impacts on the implementation of soft practices reducing the gap between policy and practice and impoverished HRM that lacks resources, power and time, has a larger gap between policy and practice. Unions did not improve outcomes by minimizing the g...

Leading Change authentically: How authentic leaders influence follower responses to complex change

Organizational change has become complex and challenging, and employee attitudes and beliefs toward change are even more important. This article proposes a theoretical framework on how authentic leadership may influence followers’ change-oriented attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors through follower psychological resources including hope, trust, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience, which influence readiness for change and change implementation. We maintain that an authentic leader’s behavior can influence his or her followers’ change-oriented behaviors in participation in decision-making processes and change initiatives, organization citizenship behavior, organizational learning processes, and forming coalition for change. We developed propositions for further empirical investigation.

Leader-Follower Guanxi: An Invisible Hand of Cronyism in Chinese Management

Guanxi social networks are part of the fabric of Chinese society and central to every aspect of Chinese life including work. The relationship between guanxi and cronyism has been researched and discussed by scholars in supervisor–subordinate guanxi (SSG) studies. However, SSG cannot explain the full extent of cronyism in Chinese management, which usually encompasses a network of actors including a supervisor, a subordinate, a third party (called ‘leader’) who has a higher ranking than a subordinate, and possibly an intermediary between a leader and a supervisor in the same organization. Consequently, this paper develops a new construct leader–follower guanxi (LFG) to explain cronyism in Chinese management. LFG is defined as the existence of direct particularistic (ingroup) ties associated with a particular set of differentiated behavioral obligations based on social norms between a leader and a follower in the same organization. We examine the relationship between LFG and cronyism in Chinese organizations and propose that LFG will be positively associated with cronyism. We then use Chinese ‘face’ theory (mianzi and lian) to illustrate how LFG engenders cronyism in Chinese management. We assert that LFG serves as an invisible hand of cronyism in Chinese organizations. Finally, we consider how to develop leadership and HR practices that prevent cronyism in Chinese organizations.