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Leadership can positively affect the work environment and health. Communication and dialogue are an important part in leadership. Studies of how dialogue is valued and handled in first‐line leadership have not so far been found. The aim of this study is to develop a theoretical understanding of how first‐line leaders at hospitals in western Sweden value and handle dialogue in the organisation.

The study design was explorative and based on grounded theory. Data collection consisted of interviews and observations. A total of 11 first‐line leaders at two hospitals in western Sweden were chosen as informants, and for four of them observation was also used.

One core category emerged in the analysis: leaders' communicative actions, which could be strategically or understanding‐oriented, and experienced as equal or unequal and performed equitably or inequitably, within a power relationship. Four different types of communicative actions emerged: collaborative, nurturing, controlling, and confrontational. Leaders had strategies for creating arenas and relationships for dialogue, but dialogue could be constrained by external circumstances or ignorance of the frameworks needed to conduct and accomplish dialogue.

First‐line leaders should be offered guidance in understanding the consequences of consciously choosing and strengthening the communication component in leadership.

The positive valuation of dialogue was not always manifest in practical action. One significant consequence of not using dialogue was that information with impact on organisational efficiency and finances was not communicated upwards in the management system.

Describes how BT Business Sales developed a customer‐focused coaching culture through training provided to its call‐center managers, first‐line managers and call‐handling advisors.

Explains why the program was needed, the form it took and the results it has achieved.

Reveals that call‐center advisors are dealing with calls more consistently, the business's 40 first‐line managers are coaching their employees more effectively and the nine call‐center managers are no longer “pushing” to achieve numbers but are striving to achieve better results by changing people's behaviors.

Reveals that recognition at managing‐director level for top performers is driving people's pride and passion, while stronger relationships have developed between agents and their managers and between agents and their customers.

Describes an approach to training – combining new technology with “whole site” training, creating a customer‐focused coaching culture – that could have wider application.

Claims that the program is unusual in the holistic approach it took, achieving behavioral change through combining new technology with practical, skill‐based behavioral training and with perceptional and actual performance measurements.

Existing research evidence shows a fragmented understanding of the roles of first-line employees (FLEs) as essential factors for successful lean implementation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), provoking recent calls for additional research on the identification of enablers and barriers for lean acceptance among workers. Therefore, this paper aims to identify related enablers and barriers to lean implementation among FLEs and determine future research avenues for improving the understanding of lean methodology implementation in SMEs.

Relying on a systematic literature review methodology, the authors aimed to synthesize and evaluate available peer-reviewed papers on the role of FLEs in lean implementation in SMEs. General descriptive and thematic analysis comprehensively depicted the selected research topic and identified the main themes within collected papers and potential future research questions.

The authors identified four main themes related to FLEs’ role in lean implementation: cultural change factors, employee characteristics, management involvement and lean job design. Within each theme, the authors present a comprehensive overview of FLE-related factors and associated enablers and barriers that should be considered for a successful lean implementation in SMEs.

The research outcomes are important to practicing managers in SMEs, helping them facilitate lean acceptance and enhance the likelihood of successful lean implementation.

The insights from this study present building blocks in developing a lean implementation model for SMEs that considers the FLEs’ role more comprehensively.

According to the authors’ research, while top-level executives look forward to the potential of artificial intelligent systems in their firms, line managers are much more skeptical. This article advises on i8mplementation strategy.

Drawing on findings from Accenture’s survey of 1,770 managers in 14 countries and interviews with 37 senior executives responsible for digital transformation, the authors have identified patterns in managers’ attitudes and offer strategies for effective adoption of the new technology.

When managers have a say and involvement in initial training efforts, they gain a sense of ownership throughout the learning process as well as familiarity with intelligent systems.

The introduction of AI will put a premium on “soft” skills such as collaboration, creativity and good judgment, which may be just as important, if not more important, than technical skills in the future.

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) promises to transform the nature of work and the relationship among human beings and machines in organizations. When the authors asked whether leaders would be comfortable with AI monitoring and evaluating their work, 42 percent of the top managers in our survey strongly agreed, while only 15 percent of first-line managers shared the same sentiment.” This research discovered that top executives cannot assume that mid- and lower-level managers will share their appreciation for AI.

This paper aims to advance the view that, as organizations realize the limitations of working in isolation and accept the need to develop partnerships and coalitions, they seek a new type of leadership model in which the charismatic individual who, by sheer force of personality, drives through changes and makes thing happen – the hero – is replaced by a type of leadership in which all managers are leaders.

Provides a case example of how Lancashire County Council's Directorate of Community Services introduced this new leadership through management development.

Describes the origins and implementation of the directorate's executive‐coaching initiative, and how this was rolled out to the next tier of management through learning sets or management‐development groups facilitated by management consultants. Following this, the program focused on the 300‐plus first‐line managers, by using the management‐development groups facilitated by volunteers from the top 30 managers working in pairs.

Reveals how management development in the Directorate of Community Services is being used to equip managers for the fast‐changing world of local government.

Highlights the way in which two management consultants have been used over four years, in contrast to the usual model of hiring consultants for short‐term assignments.

What role can service employees’ direct supervisors play in stimulating service excellence? The aim of the current study was to provide more insight into the relationship between perceived leader behaviour and employees’ willingness to provide excellent service as well as their perceptions of service quality. In a survey study involving more than 3,500 service employees, the impact of the behaviours of first‐line supervisors on service related outcomes was studied. Supervisors’ supportive behaviours, providing useful information, giving feedback, fair evaluations of performance and their direct stimulation of service related behaviours were all found to be positively related to service outcomes. The results as well as the practical implications of these findings are discussed.

If any organization wants to be globally recognized leadership plays an important role. This chapter deals with the leadership failure in creating good salesperson behavior in India’s pharmaceutical industry. There are four types of salesperson’s behavior: selling orientation, customer orientation, adaptive selling, and unethical selling. Selling oriented and unethical selling behaviors negatively impact customer trust and customer value, while customer orientation and adaptive are more positive. This chapter explores how senior managers can create good organization culture and organization climate by creating positive sales behavior. This chapter will be an eye opener to many first-line managers for helping their salespersons to practice customer orientation and adaptive selling behavior.

Presents 31 abstracts, edited by Johanthan Morris and Mike Reed, from the 2003 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, held at Cardiff Business School in September 2003. The conference theme was “The end of management? managerial pasts, presents and futures”. Contributions covered, for example, the changing HR role, managing Kaizen, contradiction in organizational life, organizational archetypes, changing managerial work and gendering first‐time management roles. Case examples come from areas such as Mexico, South Africa, Australia, the USA, Canada and Turkey.

This paper aims to present empirical results from a study of attitudes of police managers to different leadership roles in their jobs in two police districts in Norway.

A questionnaire was developed and administered among police managers in two police districts in Norway. Participants in leadership programs were selected for this survey research carried out in March and April 2010. Follo police district and Hedmark police district had a total of 130 participants in these programs with 60 managers from Follo and 70 managers from Hedmark.

The personnel leader role was found to be most important, followed by the resource allocator role. Responding police managers reported that they felt least competent in the liaison role.

Limitations were that the relatively small sample size restricted the use of sophisticated statistical tools and the generalisability of results to police services other than Norway.

Key implications are the necessary shift from resource allocation to personnel leadership and potential for role conflict.

A well‐regarded police service is a prerequisite for the positive perception of law enforcement and justice. Leadership is a key element for ensuring integrity and accountability in policing.

This is the first survey of its kind of Norwegian police managers.

The purpose of this study is to examine components of good personnel management and how they come true in accounts of social and health care managers.

The data were obtained by means of a postal survey sent to middle‐line managers in positions above the first‐line management level in the responsibility area of Tampere University Hospital. The questionnaire was sent to 703 managers; 433 sent in responses indicating a response rate of 62 percent.

Middle‐line managers considered themselves as interactive, responsibility‐sharing and understanding leaders, but found shortcomings in the leadership style of their superiors. Only 18 percent of the middle‐line managers received feedback and only 42 percent received support from their superiors when needed. There were significant differences between genders, activity sectors and professional backgrounds in the responders' accounts concerning personnel management practices.

The results of this study reliably describe how middle‐line managers consider things to be, not necessarily how things are in reality.

The findings confirm the assumption that the importance of personnel management is still not perfectly understood in the upper management levels of the social and health care sector. At the same time the self‐evaluations of middle‐line managers implied an ambition towards better personnel management.

This study identifies components of good personnel management from literature and uses them as the basis for analysing the data.