Learning leadership in outdoor education: Effects of feedback

There is paucity of knowledge regarding learning outcomes from outdoor leadership training courses. The aim of this pilot study was to examine progress in perceived leadership skills after a six-month outdoor education course, and to examine the effect of systematic feedback from fellow students. Seventeen students were randomized into intervention and control groups and participated in six outdoor excursions during which they took leader roles. The intervention consisted of systematic use of feedback from fellow students. To assess the progress in students’ perceived outdoor leadership skills, the students answered a questionnaire covering four categories of leadership both before and after the course. Significant progress in perceived outdoor leadership was found for all students after the six-month course. Systematic feedback from fellow students did not seem to enhance students’ perceived outdoor leadership skills. The reasons could be that the feedback was not given in the actual situations or that the student feedback was not valued. Feedback from teachers and from nature (self-experience) were found to be important for strengthening perceived leadership skills.

Disentangling Between-Person and Reciprocal Within-Person Relations Among Perceived Leadership and Employee Wellbeing

Based on transactional stress theory and theoretical propositions regarding affective perceptions and reactions, we develop and test a model of reciprocal within-person relations between perceptions of directive and empowering leadership and employee emotional engagement and fatigue. A sample of n = 1,610 employees participated in a study with a three-wave fully crossed and lagged panel design across 6 months. We used a random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to separate within- from between-person sources of variance in leadership perceptions and employee wellbeing. Consistent with previous research, at the between-person level of analysis, we found that directive leadership was positively related to both engagement and fatigue, whereas empowering leadership was positively related to engagement and negatively related to fatigue. Interestingly, at the within-person level, we found that some of these relations occur reciprocally, in that directive leadership predicts engagement and, simultaneously, engagement positively predicts perceptions of both directive and empowering leadership. These findings challenge existing assumptions about the directionality of the association between perceived leadership and employee wellbeing and contribute to an enhanced understanding of the role of employee wellbeing for the development of leadership perceptions over time.

The Importance of Similarity: How Gender Congruence Matters for the Impact of Leadership Training

Leadership training is key to promoting more active leadership, but the effects of leadership training can depend on the gender context. Gender congruence between manager and employee can affect how the manager employs leadership behaviors adapted from training and how employees perceive leadership behavior. Quantitative data on 474 managers’ 4,833 employees before and after a large-scale field experiment with leadership training enable us to examine changes in employee-perceived leadership following training. The results show that gender congruence between manager and employee is associated with stronger leadership training effects on employee-perceived leadership behaviors. Female gender congruence shows the most pronounced effects.

Longitudinal Changes in Leadership and Person-Centered Care Over 5 Years in Swedish Nursing Homes

Nursing home leadership has been described as crucial for person-centred care and psychosocial climate, but longitudinal data are lacking. The significance of manager educational qualifications and operational model of nursing homes for perceived leadership, person-centred care and psychosocial climate also needs further exploration. This study aimed to explore changes in nursing home managers’ leadership, person-centred care and psychosocial climate comparing matched units in a five-year follow-up. Also, to explore changes in leadership characteristics’ and the significance of manager qualifications for perceived leadership, person-centred care and climate. Repeated cross-sectional, valid and reliable, measures of leadership, person-centred care, psychosocial climate and demographic variables were collected from managers and staff n=3605 in 2014 and n=2985 staff in 2019. Descriptive and regression analyses were used. Leadership remained significantly associated to person-centred care in a five-year follow-up, but no changes in strength of associations were seen. Leadership also remained significantly associated to psychosocial climate, with stronger associations at follow-up. Also, certain leadership characteristics significantly increased over time, thus, partly confirms previous findings. It was also shown that a targeted education for managers was significantly associated to person-centred care.

The effects of employee voice, perceived leadership integrity, and work-related curiosity on counterproductive meeting behaviors

This study assesses the effects of employee voice, perceived leadership integrity, and work-related curiosity on counterproductive meeting behaviors within Nigeria’s work organizations. The study’s sample was taken from nine work organizations in Lagos and Oyo States of Nigeria. The nine work organizations were selected from Nigeria’s financial, manufacturing, and service industries. These work organizations are Guarantee Trust Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Full Range Microfinance Bank Limited, Seven-up Bottling Company Plc, Isoglass Industries Nigeria Limited, Atlantic Textile Company, Pixels Digital Services Limited, Pacesetters transport Services Limited, and IBFC Alliance Limited. Nevertheless, this paper has applied a cross-sectional survey approach, of which the present researcher randomly disseminated the survey forms (questionnaires). However, out of 450 questionnaires, 432 were fit for research and analyzed with statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS vs. 27). The current results established significant joint and independent negative effects of employee voice, perceived leadership integrity, and work-related curiosity on counterproductive meeting behaviors within Nigeria’s work organizations. The management of work organizations ensures adequate and consistent encouragement of employee voice by allowing employee expressions, suggestions, making the employee feel important, and rendering listening ears. They should also train and inspire leaders who stimulate and exemplify leadership integrity. Furthermore, the management of work organizations should inspire employee curiosity as it relates to their work.

Identifying Emergent Leaders in Small Groups in the Language Learning Classroom: An Exploratory Study

Researchers claim that when students work together in small groups in the language classroom, a single student often emerges as a group leader and that teachers should construct groups based on roles adopted by students. This advice is based on the assumptions that leaders emerge and that teachers can identify leaders in their own classrooms. This paper reports on research that empirically tested these assumptions. Students working in small, fixed groups rated their group members based on perceived leadership. The teacher was responsible for identifying the leader in each group. Individual difference variables of English proficiency, extroversion, and English-speaking self-efficacy (SE) were used to predict emergent leadership. In most groups clear leaders emerged, but the teacher accurately identified the leader in only half of the cases. The findings suggest that teachers should regularly vary group membership and be cautious when assigning roles within groups. 語学の授業において、学生が少人数のグループで活動していると、リーダーが一人現れることがしばしばある、ということが研究者により指摘されている。そして教師は学生それぞれの役割に基づいてグループを作るべきであるという提案がなされている。これは、授業において現れるリーダーを教師は特定できるという想定に基づいている。本稿では、これらの想定を実践的に検証した研究について述べる。固定メンバーの小グループで活動を行う学生たちが、自分の考えるリーダーシップに基づいて自分のグループのメンバーを評価した。また、教師も各グループのリーダーを特定した。グループ内で現れるリーダーを予測するために、英語能力、外向性、英語スピーキングの自己効力感、という個人差が使用された。ほとんどのグループで明確なリーダーが現れたが、教師がそのリーダーを正確に特定できたのは、クラス全体の半分にすぎなかった。検証の結果、グループメンバーを定期的に入れ替えるべきである事と、グループ内で役割を決めるときには十分に注意が必要だと言うことが分かった。 Keywords: emergent leaders; group work; pedagogy; TBLT

Leader-Employee Gap in Verbal Transactional Leadership and Distributed Leadership: Evidence From a Randomized Field Experiment

Leadership behavior only contributes to goal attainment in public organizations if the employees perceive the behavior. Given that studies on self-other agreement show large gaps in perceived leadership between leaders and employees, it is highly relevant to ask how HRM-programs such as leadership training can reduce these gaps. Based on a large randomized field experiment including 130 leaders and their 4,800 employees in the Danish municipality of Aarhus, this article compares how different types of leadership training affect gaps in perceived leadership. Results from pre- and post-intervention surveys show a decreased gap in leader-employee perceptions of verbal transactional leadership, while the gap in perceived distributed leadership did not change. This suggests that leadership training can make leaders’ and employees’ perceived leadership behaviors more aligned, but less so for employee-centered leadership approaches such as distributed leadership.

Behavior-Based Perceived Leadership Styles as Determinants of Organizational Functionality

This study aimed at exploring how the perception about leadership styles affected the functionality of the Higher Education Institutions. We used a self-administered questionnaire to a sample of 328 administration and faculty members of several public sector universities. The data collected were analyzed through structural equation modeling in AMOS 26. We found significant results between autocratic and democratic leadership styles as determinants of organizational functionality; such that the perceived autocratic leadership style negatively affected organizational functionality and the perceived democratic leadership style positively affected organizational functionality. The effect of laissez-faire was however statically insignificant. We thus conclude that the perception of a democratic leadership style improves organizational functionality; whereas, the perception of autocratic leadership negatively affects organizational functionality. Practically, the study shows as the employees are given the right to participate in the matters of a higher education institution, the organization becomes more functional.