Research purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which both employees and leaders in extreme environments perceive the same levels of safety participation. Furthermore, this study examines the association between empowering leadership and team performance as well as empowering leadership and safety participation. Research design, approach and methods This study follows a quantitative approach as its main purpose is to establish relationships between constructs. As such, correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Convenience sampling was applied to obtain the data. Firefighters and their immediate line officers (lieutenants) were surveyed. Five fire departments in small to medium cities were chosen in the Great Lakes and south-eastern regions in the United States (US). Questionnaires were distributed to 263 firemen, of which 186 were firefighters and 78 were their line officers/lieutenants. Main findings Results indicated that a positive association does not exist between firefighters' perceptions of safety participation and their leaders' perception of safety participation when control variables are added. Therefore, no significant relationship exists between firefighters' perceptions of safety participation and their leaders' perception of safety participation. Furthermore, the results also showed a positive association does not exist between empowering leadership and safety participation when control variables are added. Consequently, no significant relationship exists between firefighters' reports of empowering leadership and lieutenants' reports of safety participation. Lastly, regarding empowering leadership and team performance, the results did not support a direct relationship between these two constructs. Limitations The results should be interpreted bearing in mind that they are applicable to the United States of America and may not be generalised to the South African context. Additionally, very little research has been conducted on empowering leadership and safety behaviour in extreme environments, and therefore the literature review was limited to other organisational environments. Lastly, only three cultural groups (White, Black and Hispanic) and only men participated in this study, so results may not be generalisable to other demographic groups. The study was only positioned in extreme environments, specifically in firefighting, therefore it is unclear whether the results can be generalised to other work environments. Future Research It is suggested that this study is replicated, firstly because little research has been done in extreme environments but, secondly, that it also be specifically replicated in South Africa. Indicated by the data, a lieutenant's age has a positive association with how he perceives his team's safety participation. This could be due to various reasons. For example, the more experienced the lieutenant the more comfortable he gets towards the extreme environment. Lastly, it is suggested that research is conducted to determine other leadership styles which could be effective in extreme environments. Conclusion Insight was given into the empowering leadership style in terms of team performance and safety behaviour. Furthermore, the relation between firefighters' perceptions of safety participation and their leaders' perceptions of safety participation was not confirmed. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Human Resource Management / MCom / Unrestricted

The concept of empowering leadership has attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners because of its important role in enhancing employee performance. Although empirical evidence clearly demonstrates that empowering leadership can have a significant effect on positive managerial outcomes, there is a paucity of research on its antecedents and processes through which it influences work outcomes. Thus, this study suggests a comprehensive conceptual model of empowering leadership, mainly focusing on the trickle-down effects of across levels of hierarchy. Specifically, based on theories of social learning and social exchange, this study examines the influence of empowering leadership of second-level leaders on subordinates’ various work outcomes through first-level leaders’ empowering leadership to help identify mediating process that may underlie relationships between second-level leaders and subordinates’ outcomes. Additionally, in order to explore the social learning of empowering leadership in detail, this study focuses on the antecedents and processes of empowering leadership learning. Data were obtained from subordinate–supervisor dyads from the South Korean Army. The results of this study showed mediating effects of first-level leaders’ empowering leadership on the relationship between second-level leaders’ empowering leadership and subordinates’ task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, and social loafing. These results support the trickle-down effects of empowering leadership on subordinates’ outcomes. Moreover, LLX mediates the relationship between second-level leaders’ empowering leadership and the first-level leaders’ empowering leadership, and this result supports the social learning of empowering leadership. Exchange ideology also moderated the social learning of empowering leadership, such that the relationship was stronger when exchange ideology was low rather than high. The results of this study have both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this study provides empirical evidence to help determine whether second-level leaders’ empowering leadership facilitates first-level leaders’ empowering leadership. This study contributes to the literature by further examining the antecedents of empowering leadership by showing how relational, individual, and situational factors influence empowering leadership. This study also explains how empowering leadership can spread across multiple downward linkages by supporting the existence of “trickle-down effects” of empowering leadership. Practically, this study helps understand the importance of high-level leaders’ empowering leadership to facilitate their low-level leaders’ empowering leadership. This study also suggests the importance of relational, individual, and contextual factors to facilitate the social learning of empowering leadership. In conclusion, empowering leadership has a synergistic effect across leadership levels; therefore, top managers and high-level leaders should focus on training empowering leadership of field managers and leading by example to create a more empowering environment. However, this study has limitations, such as the use of cross-sectional analyses and perceptual data. Future research may seek to use longitudinal and objective measures.

Studien har utförts på uppdrag av en avdelning som arbetar med säkerhet och kvalitet på ett svenskt kärnkraftverk. Avdelningen ansvarar bland annat för analys och värdering av säkerhetskulturen samt kunskapsspridning inom området. Bristande säkerhetskultur har vid flera tillfällen varit orsaken till kärnkraftsolyckor och ledarskap anses vara en viktig faktor för att utveckla och upprätthålla en stark säkerhetskultur. På kärnkraftverket arbetar skiftlag dygnet runt. Skiftlagen har i uppdrag att leda den operativa driften och varje skiftlag har en skiftchef. Denna studie har syftat till att undersöka skiftchefens beteenden och erfarenheter som ledare inom organisationen samt identifiera eventuella utveklingsområden gällande ledarskapet och dess förutsättningar.  Studien är kvalitativ och datainsamlingen består av nio intervjuer som analyserats via tematisk analys. Skiftcheferna som grupp uppvisar flera beteenden som enligt ledarskapsmodellen Stärkande ledarskap bidrar till mer säkra beteenden hos medarbetarna. Arbetsmetoder och de nära relationerna i skiftlaget är en möjlig faktor till att vissa beteenden som en stärkande ledare bör uppvisa främjas. Däremot framgår det att beteenden kopplade till bland annat att förklara företagsbeslut och mål, vilket är en viktig del i att upprätthålla en stark säkerhetskultur, inte uppvisas.  Skiftcheferna uttrycker flera utmaningar i sin roll och det framgår även en skillnad i hur skiftcheferna upplever att vara ledare och vad ett ledarskap innebär. Kärnkraftverket uppmanas att undersöka vidare hur man kollektivt kan arbeta med ledarskapsutveckling och vem som är i behov av att utveckla ledarskapskompetenser. / This study has been carried out on behalf of a unit working with safety and quality at a Swedish nuclear power plant. The unit is responsible for tasks such as analyzing and evaluating safety culture, as well as spreading knowledge within the field. Insufficient safety culture has been identified as a contributing factor to nuclear accidents, and leadership is considered an important factor in developing and maintaining a strong safety culture. The nuclear power plant is operated by shift teams on a round-the-clock basis, with each team being led by a shift manager. This study aims to investigate the behaviors and experiences of shift managers in their role as a leader within the organization and identify areas for development regarding leadership and its prerequisities.  The study is qualitative, and the data collection consists of nine interviews that have been analyzed using thematic analysis. The shift managers as a group show several behaviors that according to the leadership model of Empowering leadership contribute to safer behaviors from the employees. It is possible that the work methods and close relationships within the shift team promote certain behaviors that an empowering leader should demonstrate. However, it appears that behaviors linked to explaining company decisions and goals, which is an important aspect of maintaining a strong safety culture, are not shown.  The shift managers express sedveral challenges in their role and there is also a distinction in their perception of leadership and its implications. The nuclear power plant is encouraged to durther examine how they can collectively work on leadership development and identify indiciduals in need of developing leadership competencies.

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Background: Leadership practices in general are of great interest and today’s workforce mainly consist of people from the millennial generation. As this phenomenon is becoming apparent, management must adapt to the changing needs of employees. Long gone are the times when people stayed at the company for their whole careers since it is not only easier to relocate but they act on their dissatisfaction more frequently. Therefore, it is imperative that leadership evolves to match the new demands set out by millennials to make them less inclined to depart.   Purpose: We set out to explore how leadership can be used to satisfy the needs of millennial employees. Empowering leadership is the style that was found to fit the best so we set out to explore millennials through the lens of empowering leadership. This in turn allowed us to also enrich the leadership theory with added insights based on employee needs.   Method: We conducted a qualitative study with thirteen semi-structured interviews which resulted in rich data. Gaining insights from our interviewees, we were able to critically assess the validity of empowering leadership. We analyzed our data with thematic analysis to categorize it in different themes and further comprehend the findings.   Conclusion: The results show that most empowering leadership practices fit the needs of millennial employees. Based on the findings, we further identified two distinct practices that are to be added to leadership literature and were able to understand what the millennials require in the workplace.

Title: A study on empowerment leadership and service recovery in the restaurant industry.   Level: Student thesis, final assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration   Authors: Ellinor Strinnholm and Emma Söderstjerna   Supervisor: Svante Brunåker and Monika Wallmon   Date: 2020 – June     Aim: This study interprets empowering leadership's impact on frontline staff's initiative in service recovery in the restaurant industry.   Method: Through a qualitative-phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with both frontline staff in the restaurant industry as well as managers. Through a thematic analysis, connections were made between themes in the respondents' statements and Spreitzer's four dimensions.   Result & Conclusions: The results indicate that frontline staff do not feel that Spreitzer's four dimensions of empowerment leadership, are met. Instead, the study found that authoritarian leadership in various forms is implemented at all restaurants in the study, despite the fact that empowerment leadership is in demand.   Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes with frontline staff's views on empowerment leadership as well as key drivers for increased staff performance. In addition, the problems in the restaurant industry are highlighted today and how these can be linked to a certain kind of leadership.   Suggestions for future research: For future research, we recommend exploring further why empowerment leadership is not implemented in the restaurant industry today.

Leadership and Military Power – Can a Leadership Approach Provide a Competitive Advantage? When does a military commander's leadership approach give his or her unit a performance advantage? U.S. Army senior leaders have asserted that forces led using the mission command approach will have an edge in future combat. Mission command decentralizes decision-making to empower subordinates to react more successfully and seize battlefield opportunities. American forces have struggled to employ mission command partly because of a lack of understanding of the approach. This study applied two concepts from organizational psychology, empowering leadership and directive leadership, to better define and examine mission command and an opposing approach, detailed command. I observed three combat-like exercises at the U.S. Army's Combat Training Centers to evaluate the impact of leadership on unit performance. Using qualitative data gained from my observations and interviews with unit leaders, I found that empowering leadership/ mission command could provide significant advantages to units with high team experience. However, I found that empowered units with low team experience tended to perform worse than similar units led by directive leadership/ detailed command.

Abstract : Using a quantitative research design and survey data from 83 supervisor - employee dyads working in North American facilities of a large multinational healthcare organization, this study explores the critical role of first line supervisors in a lean environment. Many organizations have adopted the Toyota Production System (TPS, also known as lean management or the Toyota Way) in an effort to improve organizational effectiveness. Implementation success has been surprisingly limited. The predominantly negative effects documented in the scientific literature are attributable to the introduction of lean as a series of tools and techniques for cost cutting. In environments that truly manage according to the TPS, all share the belief that the development and participation of all employees is essential to maintain competitiveness. Increased emphasis on teamwork and worker involvement in a lean environment places rising demands on the first - line supervisor. The supervisor role in a lean environment is considered critical and becomes one of encouraging more participation, and creating an environment of continuous improvement. Given that leadership is a complex construct, the current paper uses a multi - domain approach proposed by Graen and Uhl - Bien (1995) to study the effect of empowering leadership behaviours (leader domain), leader - member exchange (relational domain) and psychological empowerment (follower domain) on individual performance (measured as in - role performance and organizational citizenship behaviours) through the mediating variable of job involvement in the work setting. Findings indicate that the role of the first line supervisor in a lean environment is critical. The follower (psychological empowerment) and relational (leader - member exchange) domains of leadership are significant in predicting variations of job involvement in the work setting, and job involvement mediates the relationship between the relation domain variable of leader - member exchange and individual performance (organizational citizenship behaviours targeted at the individual). Empowering leadership behaviours are significantly related and directly related to in - role performance. Development of first line supervisors should emphasize building high quality relationships, facilitating employee psychological empowerment, and demonstrating empowering leadership behaviours in order to enhance involvement in a team setting and individual performance. // Résumé : En utilisant une méthode de recherche quantitative ainsi que les résultats de sondages auprès de 83 dyades superviseur-employé travaillant dans des établissements nord-américains d’une grande organisation multinationale du domaine de la santé, cette étude explore le rôle clé des superviseurs de premier niveau dans un environnement de production « lean ». Plusieurs organisations ont adopté le Système de production Toyota (SPT, aussi connu sous les vocables de « lean management » ou de « méthode Toyota ») dans le but d’améliorer l’efficacité organisationnelle. De façon surprenante, le succès de l’implantation de cette méthode de production s’est montré limité. L’effet négatif prédominant documenté dans la littérature scientifique est attribuable à l’introduction du « lean » comme une série d’outils et de techniques pour réduire les coûts. Dans les environnements véritablement gérés selon le SPT, on partage la croyance que le développement et la participation de tous les employés est essentielle pour maintenir la compétitivité. L’accent sur le travail d’équipe et sur l’implication des travailleurs dans un environnement « lean » place des attentes élevées sur les superviseurs de premier niveau. Le rôle du superviseur dans ce type d’environnement est considéré comme critique et consiste à encourager la participation et la création d’un environnement d’amélioration continue. Étant donné que le leadership est un construit complexe, la présente étude utilise une approche multi-domaines proposée par Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995) pour étudier l’effet des comportements de leadership habilitant (empowering leadership; domaine du leader), de l’échange leader-membre (leader-member exchange; domaine de la relation) et de l’habilitation psychologique (psychological empowerment; domaine de l’employé) sur la performance individuelle (performance dans le rôle et comportements de citoyenneté organisationnelle) via la variable médiatrice de l’implication au travail, et plus spécifiquement dans l’environnement de travail (job involvement in the work setting). Les résultats indiquent que le rôle du superviseur est crucial. Les domaines de leadership de l’employé (c.-à-d. l’habilitation psychologique) et de la relation (c.-à-d. l’échange leader-membre) sont significatifs lorsqu’il s’agit de prévoir les variations de l’implication au travail, et l’implication au travail agit comme médiateur entre les variables des domaines de leadership et la performance individuelle (comportements de citoyenneté organisationnelle). Le développement des superviseurs de premier niveau devrait mettre l’accent sur la formation de relations superviseur-supervisés de grande qualité et faciliter l’habilitation psychologique des employés afin d’encourager l’implication dans le travail d’équipe, et par le fait même, la performance individuelle.

abstract: In spite of the existence of successful humble CEOs, the current strategic leadership literature has little understanding regarding what humility is and how humble CEOs influence organizational effectiveness by creating a context to motivate managers. After applying the self-concept framework to integrate the humility literature, I proposed four mechanisms through which CEO humility were related to middle manager ambidextrous behaviors and job performance: CEO empowering leadership, empowering organizational climate, top management team integration and heterogeneity. After developing and validating a humility scale in China, I collected survey data from a sample of 63 organizations with 63 CEOs, 327 top management team members and 645 middle managers to test the research model. Except for top management team heterogeneity, the other three CEO-middle manager mediating mechanisms received moderate support. Specifically, I found that humble CEOs were empowering leaders; their empowering leadership behaviors were positively associated with top management team integration and empowering organizational climate, which in turn correlated positively with middle manager ambidexterity and job performance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Business Administration 2011

Syfte: Studien har till syfte att undersöka hur anställdas självledarskap påverkas av arbetsautonomi och stärkande ledarskap samt hur det i sin tur påverkar arbetstillfredsställelse.   Metod: Denna studie utnyttjade en kvantitativ forskningsmetod med en deduktiv ansats. En enkätundersökning användes som datainsamling och resulterade i 137 användbara svar från ett bekvämlighetsurval. Datan analyserades med hjälp av statistikprogrammet JASP, där en deskriptiv-, korrelations- samt nätverksanalys genomfördes.    Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att självledarskap påverkas positivt av både arbetsautonomi samt stärkande ledarskap som helhet och att dessa två därför kan ses som antecedenter. Dock fann studien att arbetsautonomi och stärkande ledarskap har en större inverkan på arbetstillfredsställelse direkt, än vad de har via självledarskap. Ytterligare en slutsats var att resultatet skiljer sig mellan män och kvinnor. Studien hittade att det inte existerar något samband mellan stärkande ledarskap och självledarskap för kvinnor. Männen uppvisar istället att det finns ett samband mellan stärkande ledarskap och självledarskap.   Examensarbetets bidrag: Detta arbete har hjälpt till att fylla ett forskningsgap om vad det finns för potentiella antecedenter till självledarskap. Dessutom har studien bidragit till att fylla ytterligare ett forskningsgap om hur stärkande ledarskap fungerar som potentiell antecedent till självledarskap.     Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Stora skillnader mellan män och kvinnor hittades i nätverksanalysen, det skulle därför vara intressant att göra en större studie med fler respondenter för att gå in djupare på könsskillnader. Det hade även varit intressant att undersöka hur personers självledarskap inom olika branscher påverkas av antecedenterna som undersökts i denna studie. / Aim: The purpose of the study is to investigate how employees' self-leadership is affected by job autonomy and empowering leadership, and how this in turn affects job satisfaction.   Method: This study utilized a quantitative research method with a deductive approach. A questionnaire survey was used for data collection and resulted in 137 usable responses from a convenience sample. The data was analyzed using the statistical program JASP, where a descriptive, correlation and network analysis was carried out.   Results and conclusion: The study shows that self-leadership is positively affected by both job autonomy and empowering leadership as a whole and that these two can therefore be seen as antecedents. However, the study found that job autonomy and empowering leadership have a greater impact on job satisfaction directly than they have via self-leadership. Another conclusion was that the results differ between men and women. The study found that no relationship exists between empowering leadership and self-leadership for women. Instead, the men show that there is a connection between empowering leadership and self-leadership.   Contribution of the thesis: This work has helped to fill a research gap regarding potential antecedents of self-leadership. In addition, the study has contributed to filling another research gap on how empowering leadership functions as a potential antecedent to self-leadership.   Suggestions for future research: Large differences between men and women were found in the network analysis, it would therefore be interesting to do a larger study with more respondents to go deeper into gender differences. It would also be interesting to investigate how people's self-leadership in different industries is affected by the antecedents investigated in this study.