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Effectiveness of organizational change initiatives depends to a large extent on employees? positive perceptions of and attitudes towards these changes (Armenakis, Harris, & Mossholder, 1993). Leadership is crucial in creating these positive attitudes. Research has associated accomplishing favorable change outcomes with leaders? fairness in procedures and interactions with employees, meeting their basic needs (Bernerth, Armenakis, Feild, & Walker, 2007; Cobb, Wooten, & Folger, 1995 in Folger & Skarlicki, 1999). Gappa, Austin, and Trice (2007) describe in their essential elements model six central academic needs: respect, flexibility, employment equity, professional growth, collegiality, academic freedom and autonomy. This thesis aims to explore to what extent different leadership styles are used to manage employees? motivation in organizational change processes, and to what extent this leadership meets basic needs of academic staff in Tanzanian Universities. Leadership styles can be framed as leaders? behavioral approaches (Bass, 1990), or the way in which the manager typically behaves towards members of the group (Mullins, 2005, p.291). We focus on three such behavioral approaches: directive, participative and ethical leadership. Directive leaders? behaviors comprise: instructing, controlling, power centralization, and dominating, while participative leaders? behaviors involve: interacting, facilitating, empowering, involving, and power sharing (Cruz, Henningsen, & Smith, 1999; Mullins, 2005; Yukl, 2010, p.32). Ethical leadership is demonstrated in behaviors such as fair treatment, honesty, trustworthiness and a sincere consideration of employees? concerns (Brown, Treviño, & Harrison, 2005). This thesis explores the use and effects of these three leadership styles. Given the context of higher education in Tanzania, we expect directive leadership to be most prominently used; however, not meeting needs of academic staff in change initiatives. Furthermore, participative and ethical leadership are important to create motivation for change, also in this context. This doctoral thesis aims to contribute to leadership theory in four ways. First, we study leadership and change management in higher education; an understudied field, however, with specific characteristics. Second, we study this in Tanzania, one of the countries with a poor economy, but with a rapid growing population and high pace changes in higher education. Hardly leadership studies have been conducted in this region and domain, and we contribute to leadership literature in ethnographic sense. Thirdly, we explore the motives for leadership to use directive and coercive styles in change management. As this leadership typically is described as ineffective, nevertheless used regularly. Fourth, we contribute to the literature by examining how ethical leadership relates to employees? commitment to change. So far, this has not been done. We used a mixed methods (sequential) research design (Creswell, 2009). Leadership and employees? perceptions were explored using qualitative methods (in the 1st phase) and quantitative methods (in the 2nd phase) in four universities in Tanzania. In each university, institution documents were analyzed, followed by interviews with top management, deans and academic staff. In addition, a unique sample of academic staff filled in surveys (N =257). The thesis comprises of five chapters. Chapter one offers a general introduction, motivation to the study, research questions, hypotheses, and research methods. Chapter two encompasses a review of the history of change management of higher education in Tanzania. Central management has shown a unilateral style and forced changes, creating a resistant culture within higher education. Chapter three involves a qualitative study exploring the ways top leaders in Tanzanian universities lead organizational changes, and the effects of this leadership on employee motivation to change efforts. The findings reveal that leaders most frequently practice a directive leadership style and hardly consider employees? needs. Chapter four presents results of the quantitative study, relating ethical leadership to employees? evaluation of change management and commitment to change. Chapter five comprises a general discussion on the theoretical and practical merits and implications of the s
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Iedere dag krijgen we te maken met een aantal triggers die ons ethisch bewustzijn prikkelen. Wat als kleur ook 1 van deze triggers is? Kunnen we op een subtiele wijze beïnvloed worden door de kleuren uit de omgeving die onze ogen & hersenen te verwerken krijgen? Wat als een bepaalde kleur tot meer ethisch bewustzijn, en daar uit volgend tot meer ethisch gedrag, kan leiden? Dit zou ons een groot aantal praktische implicaties kunnen verschaffen. Kleur behoort tot de omgevingstemperatuur dat op onbewust niveau een persoon kan beïnvloeden. Zo heeft kleur een invloed op affectieve reacties, meer bepaald op arousal (activerend effect) en op pleasure (evaluerend effect). Uit voorgaand onderzoek is gebleken dat warme kleuren, in tegenstelling tot koude kleuren, voor een verhoogde activeringsgraad en meer negatieve emoties zorgen. Juist deze verhoogde arousal zou meer ethisch gedrag uitlokken. Ik heb experimenteel de invloed van kleur op ethisch gedrag getest bij 40 proefpersonen. Deelnemers werden random aan een blauwe of rode kamer toe gewezen. Ik maakte dus gebruik van 2 kleurencondities: warme vs. koude kleuren. Aan de hand van een vragenlijst en een leugentest ben ik tot enkele resultaten gekomen. Met oog op mijn hypothese zou in de rode kamer meer ethisch gedrag worden geuit (minder personen die liegen bij de leugentest) en hoger gescoord worden op de ethische bevraging. Bijkomend wordt verondersteld dat de score op negatieve emotie, alertheid en negatieve omgevingsevaluatie hoger zal liggen in de rode kamer dan in de blauwe kamer. Wat blijkt? De resultaten stellen vast dat er in de rode kamer kamer wel degelijk een verhoging merkbaar is in alertheid en negatieve emoties. Voorgaand onderzoek wordt hierbij nogmaals bevestigd. Wat nu met ethisch gedrag? De resultaten op de leugentest waren niet significant. In beide kamers werd zeer weinig gelogen. Als we echter kijken naar de resultaten van de ethische bevraging, zien we dat de scores in de rode kamer hoger neigen
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Unethical work behavior occurs in all sectors and at all organizational levels. Every year, it leads to enormous economical and psychological costs, harming both the organization and its employees. To explain the dynamic nature of these behaviors, researchers have recently turned their attention to physiological factors as antecedents of unethical work behavior. To extend this research, we examine the influence of the visceral state hunger on unethical work behavior. Furthermore, drawing from the ego depletion model we investigate the role of an individuals ability to exert self-control in this relationship. The goal of the current study is to assess how the visceral state hunger affects unethical work behavior. We expect that hungry individuals, opposed to satiated ones, will engage in more unethical work behavior. Furthermore, we expect this effect to be mediated by an individuals ability to exert self-control. Specifically, we assume that hungry individuals have difficulty exercising self-control. Difficulty exercising self-control, in turn, will be positively related to unethical work behavior. We tested our predictions in two studies. The first study assessed the direct effect of hunger on unethical work behavior, using a questionnaire administered to 96 students. To examine the mediation effect by cognitive self-control, 104 hungry and 101 satiated students were questioned entering or exiting a college dining hall. Both direct and indirect effects were examined using anova, regression and bootstrapping procedures. The results indicate that hunger leads to more unethical work behavior. Furthermore, results of the mediation analyses show that cognitive self-control mediates this relationship between hunger and unethical work behavior. The present study shows that when individuals are hungry, they are more inclined to engage in unethical work behavior. This behavior can be overcome, in part, by taking a break to eat a meal. This is in line with previous r
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Managers are vital for organizations to benefit from employees talents and resources. Yet, not all leaders are good. This is reflected in the popular saying: People join companies, but leave their managers. Abusive supervision, defined as supervisors sustained (non)verbal hostility towards subordinates, is an example of leader behavior that is extremely destructive for employees. Various studies demonstrate that such behavior has a severe influence on followers attitudes and behaviors. For example, research typically finds that abusive supervision is related to increased follower turnover intentions. Furthermore, multiple studies also link abusive behavior to a decrease in employees organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB).It is important to notice that subordinates do not always react in the same way against their supervisors abuse. Yet, little research explains under which circumstances their tolerance differs. Therefore, my focus is on understanding the possible boundary conditions of employees negative reactions to their supervisors abusive behavior. Here, I draw on Hollanders (1958) idiosyncrasy credit (IC) theory, stating that subordinates award their leaders credit for every good act they perform (c.f. a bank account). In turn, this credit allows managers a certain latitude to deviate from followers expectations regarding their behavior. In my study, I use this theory to investigate the moderating role of leaders idiosyncrasy credit, which I operationalize by using three dimensions of trustworthy behavior namely: ability, benevolence, and integrity trustworthiness credits. I hypothesize that employees who assign their leaders many rather than few credits will show a smaller increase in turnover intentions and a smaller decrease in OCBI and OCBO when confronted with abusive supervision. Furthermore, I also test this hypothesis for a specific subdimension of abusive supervision, active abusive supervision, in order to test if bo
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Tegenwoordig zijn online sociale media niet meer weg te denken uit onze leefwereld. Door de opkomst van tablets en smartphones worden zij bovendien steeds toegankelijker, ook op de werkvloer. Medewerkers krijgen daardoor de kans om ook tijdens de werkuren sociale netwerk sites te bezoeken. Verschillende organisaties hebben al een verbod op deze sociale media ingevoerd. Vermoedelijk is dit het gevolg van het feit dat het gebruik van sociale media op de werkvloer als negatief wordt ervaren en voor frustraties zorgt bij de leidinggevenden.Daarom tracht deze studie enerzijds het verband na te gaan tussen het gebruik van sociale netwerk sites op de werkvloer en frustraties van de leidinggevende. Een tweede hypothese stelt dat deze frustraties geassocieerd zijn met minder integer leiderschap. Een integere leider zegt wat hij doet en doet wat hij zegt. Vervolgens wordt ook het rechtstreeks verband nagegaan tussen het gebruik van sociale netwerk sites en integriteit van de leidinggevende. Tot slot vroegen we ons af of zich hier een mediatie-effect voordoet van frustraties.De dataverzameling gebeurde in verschillende organisaties in Vlaanderen. Vragenlijsten werden afgenomen bij drie verschillende bronnen. Werknemers, hun collegas en hun leidinggevenden beantwoordden daarbij verschillende vragen. De hypothesen werden getest door middel van conditionele procesanalyses en een regressie-analyse. Drie van de vier hypothesen werden hierbij bevestigd. Er bleek een positief verband tussen het gebruik van sociale netwerk sites en frustraties van de leidinggevende. Daarnaast bleek dat deze frustraties een negatieve associatie hebben met integer leiderschap. Een direct verband tussen het gebruik van sociale netwerk sites en integriteit was onbestaande. Wel kwam hierbij een indirect verband naar voren via frustraties van de leider. Deze laatste variabele medieert met andere woorden het verband tussen het gebruik van online sociale media en integriteit van de leidinggevende.We kunn
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In the present study we examine the moderating effect of the organizations ethical climate on the relationship between self-serving leadership and followers reactions, more specifically supervisor directed deviance and organizational citizenship towards the organization. Moreover, we test whether affective commitment has a mediating role between self-serving leadership and the two followers reactions. As predicted we found that self-serving leadership was positively related to supervisor directed deviance and negatively related to organizational citizenship behavior towards the organization. Further, we found that this relation was stronger in the high ethical climate condition. Our results also indicated that affective commitment has a mediating role between self-serving leadership and followers reactions. Theoretical and practical implications as well as limitations, strengths, and future avenues for research are discussed.
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Due to the recent financial crisis, the hunt is on for ethical leadership. Research has indeed shown the benefits to having an ethical leader, namely that such leadership has a positive influence in elevating subordinates participation in prosocial actions and decreasing participation in workplace bullying. However, is ethical leadership always beneficial for employees or are there gradations within such a leadership type that could have potential negative effects on the leaders environment? In the present study I address ethical leadership, specifically whether an extreme ethical leadership exists and what kind of impact such leadership will have on employees. An extreme ethical leader is someone who places too much emphasis upon ethics by proclaiming his own morality above that of others. This shall be contrasted by a medium ethical leader who emphasizes a relativistic view with regards to ethics. More specifically, I argue that an extreme ethical leader with an overemphasis on ethics will come across as self-enhancing and shall demotivate subordinates. However, the extreme ethical leader will still maintain that he is indeed the highest moral authority in order to justify when doing so. Proclaiming moral superiority over others is a form of self-enhancement. Self-enhancement takes place when a person claims to be the best on a certain characteristic than is objectively warranted. Such a proclamation will probably not go unnoticed by followers and is likely to be seen as moral hypocrisy. Therefore, followers will see through the extreme ethical leader and evaluate him as self-enhancing. I posit that an extreme ethical leader will have negative consequences for followers' motivation, perceptions, attitudes and well-being and will have a positive effect on followers self-rated own moral behaviour. In order to test this hypothesis, I conducted an experimental study. A total of 46 Psychology students of the University of Leuven voluntarily participated in t
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