Olivier Doucet

The impacts of leadership on workplace conflicts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of managers leadership styles (transformational, transactional and laissez‐faire) on both the level and the nature of workplace conflicts (cognitive and relational in nature).Design/methodology/approach – Data are collected from hospital employees in Canada. A total of 1,031 completed questionnaires are received, representing a response rate of 46 percent. The hypothesis is tested using confirmatory factor analyses and multiple regressions.Findings – The results indicate that the two conflict dimensions do not derive completely from the same mechanisms, since only two out of the eight leadership dimensions evaluated influence both cognitive and relational conflicts. On the one hand, inspirational motivation has a negative impact on cognitive conflicts while intellectual stimulation and passive management by exception seem to foster it. On the other hand, inspirational motivation and individualized consideration negatively influence relation...

Leader Profiles and Their Effectiveness on Employees’ Outcomes

An underlying premise of the transformational–transactional leadership theory is that different forms of leadership can reside simultaneously within the same individual. This fundamental hypothesis has received scarce attention in the empirical literature. The objectives of this study are thus to examine whether leader profiles combining these leadership forms do exist and to evaluate how these profiles are associated with specific employee attitudes and behaviors. Results obtained from two different samples using cluster analyses revealed six different leader profiles (i.e., superleaders, transactors, moderate leaders, distant-visionary, distant-rewarding, and distant-punitive leaders). Our results showed that these types of leaders differ in terms of employees’ perceptions of trust, justice, and commitment, as well as supervisor-rated in-role and contextual performance. Results and implications for research and practice are discussed.

Exploring the black box of the contingent reward leadership–performance relationship: The role of perceived justice and emotional exhaustion

Using data collected from three different sources (N = 294), we examined a model in which perceived organizational justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional) and emotional exhaustion mediate the relationship between contingent reward leadership (CRL) and two performance indicators, namely organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) and absenteeism. We found that procedural justice mediates the negative relationship between CRL and emotional exhaustion while controlling for work overload and transformational leadership. We also found that emotional exhaustion plays a mediating role in the relationship between two dimensions of justice (procedural and interactional) and both OCB and absenteeism. Interactional justice and distributive justice were also directly linked to OCB. Implications of these findings for research on leadership, psychological health, and organizational justice are discussed.

High involvement management practices as leadership enhancers

Purpose - – Based on the high-involvement management model and the Substitutes for Leadership theory, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the moderating role of high-involvement management practices on the relation between managers’ transformational leadership and employees’ affective organizational commitment. Design/methodology/approach - – Data were collected from employees of a large Canadian financial firm. Questionnaires were sent out and 219 received, representing a response rate of 63.3 percent. The hypotheses were tested using multiple regressions analysis with moderation effects. Findings - – The results show three statistically significant interactions between transformational leadership and high-involvement management practices. More specifically, information sharing and power sharing practices acted as leadership enhancers, while skill development practices served as a leadership substitute. Practical implications - – The results of this research could help immediate supervisors adjust their leadership strategies to their organizations’ HRM practices, and also guide top managers in choosing practices that can support these supervisors. Originality/value - – This study contributes to the literature on leadership by considering how contextual factors may affect the influence of transformational leadership and by integrating HRM practices within the substitutes for leadership framework.

Can “Temps” Secure Future Employment? Investigating the Relationship Between Proactive Behaviors and Employers’ Rehiring Decision:

This study examines how the adoption of proactive socialization behaviors by temporary agency workers is related to contract renewal intention of the supervisor in the client organization in which they are assigned. We propose that the adoption of such behaviors will be associated with a favorable performance evaluation from the supervisor in the client organization, and in turn, to his or her contract renewal intention through two mechanisms, namely, role clarity and leader–member exchange (LMX), which refers to the quality of the relationship between the temporary worker and his or her supervisor. Data were collected from 217 worker–supervisor dyads. Results indicate that information-seeking behavior is related to performance evaluation through role clarity. This indirect relationship is however negative, as greater role clarity relates negatively to performance evaluation. Our results also show that LMX acts as a mediator between feedback seeking, boss-relationship building, and performance. Finally, favorable performance evaluation is positively associated with contract renewal intention.

The social integration of healthcare agency workers in long-term care facilities: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUNDnPatient care quality is a key concern for long-term care facilities and is directly related to effective collaboration between healthcare professionals. The use of agency staff in long-term care facilities creates important challenges in terms of coordination and communication within work units.nnnOBJECTIVESnThe purpose of this study is to assess the mediating effect of common in-group identity in the relationship between permanent employees perceptions regarding the use of agency workers -namely distributive justice, perceptions of threat, perceived similarities with agency workers, and leader inclusiveness toward agency staff- and the permanent employees adoption of collaborative behaviours.nnnDESIGNnCross-sectional study.nnnSETTINGSnThree long-term care facilities.nnnPARTICIPANTSn290 regular healthcare employees (nurses and care attendants).nnnMETHODSnData were obtained through questionnaires filled out by employees. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation analyses.nnnRESULTSnThe results showed the indirect effects of perceived distributive justice, perceived similarity and leader inclusiveness toward agency workers on permanent employees cooperation behaviours through common group identification. Perceptions of threat were not related to common group identification or collaborative behaviours. The results also showed that common in-group identification is related to cooperation behaviours only for employees without previous experience as agency workers.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThis study suggests that permanent healthcare employees who feel they are fairly compensated relative to agency workers, who consider these workers as similar to them, and who believe their supervisor appreciates agency workers contributions tend to develop a common in-group identity, which fosters collaborative behaviours. Managers of long-term care facilities who wish to foster collaboration among their blended workforce should thus create an environment conducive of a more inclusive identity, particularly if their employees have no previous experience as agency workers.

Relative influence of authentic and transformational leadership of local union representatives on the adoption of union citizenship behaviors

Purpose n n n n nThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the different mediating processes by which authentic leadership and transformational leadership on the part of local union representatives influence members’ union citizenship behaviors (UCB) (i.e. UCBO and UCBI). Drawing from the social learning perspective, the authors suggest that authentic and transformational forms of leadership are associated with UCB through specific mechanisms i.e. member-representative value congruence and members’ collectivist orientation, respectively. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThis research adopts a cross-sectional design. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap analysis were used to test the hypotheses among 343 members of a Canadian union federation representing professionals in the education sector. n n n n nFindings n n n n nThe results show that the influence of authentic leadership on UCB is explained through value congruence and the influence of transformational leadership is principally exerted through members’ collectivist orientation. n n n n nPractical implications n n n n nBy enhancing the understanding of the behavioral manifestations of local union leadership and its influential mechanisms, this research offers interesting avenues for union organizations that wish to develop and implement leadership training programs at the local level. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nOnly a handful of studies have investigated the relational antecedents of UCB, such as leadership. This research thus contributes to the UCB literature by extending the spectrum of examined local union leaders’ behaviors.

Intermediate Manager Behaviors Leading to Employee Job Performance and Well-being: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract Over the past century, the subject of key management behaviors leading to employee job performance and well-being has generated great interest in the scientific and professional community. In the literature, we observe that those decisive managerial behaviors have been the focus of many studies in three major sub-fields: operational management, leadership, and managerial coaching. Although, research in each field have contributed to our understanding of the efficacy of such management behaviors, a comprehensive picture is yet to develop, as they have evolved independently from one another. The purpose of this study is thus to reconciliate these three distinct bodies of literature and to synthesize the main theories underlying, creating an innovative framework to further our understanding of key management behaviors.

Les équipes de travail : un moteur de performance organisationnelle

La mise en place d’équipes de travail représente l’un des principaux changements survenus dans les organisations au cours des dernières années 1 . L’émergence d’une économie axée sur le savoir, couplée aux exigences accrues en matière de flexibilité, a eu pour effet qu’un nombre grandissant d’organisations s’est tourné vers cette forme d’organisation du travail. À titre d’exemple, on estime que près des deux tiers des 500 plus grandes entreprises aux États-Unis ont maintenant recours au travail en équipe et que 68 % des petites entreprises nord-américaines utilisent cette forme d’organisation du travail 2 .