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1 – 10 of over 34000Mary Bambacas and Margaret Patrickson
The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, to investigate the interpersonal communication skills that human resource (HR) managers expect managers in supervisory positions…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, to investigate the interpersonal communication skills that human resource (HR) managers expect managers in supervisory positions possess. Second, to identify which of these skills HR managers expect managers use to engender subordinate commitment to the organisation. Third, the paper aims to investigate what interpersonal communication skills that enhance employee commitment to the organisation are most lacking in managers in supervisory positions.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach of the study is a series of in‐depth interviews with 32 senior HR managers in organisations with over 100 staff.
Findings
The paper finds that senior HR managers expected managers to be effective in interpersonal communication focusing mainly on the clarity and frequency of the messages, their ability to actively listen and the ability to lead in a collaborative way. The way messages were sent, especially their clarity, and a leadership style that engendered trust, was of the highest importance when HR managers wanted to enhance employee commitment to the organisation. However, these skills were also the ones found most lacking.
Practical implications
HR practitioners need to consider more explicitly what behaviours are important to promote organisational commitment.
Originality/value
This paper highlights that the interpersonal communication skills that enhance organisational commitment and are most valued by organisations are those that are most lacking in managers. This paper also provides insight for practitioners to the interpersonal communication skills areas that managers need to develop so that their interaction with staff may enhance commitment to the organisation.
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Interpersonal skills in the management of libraries and informationorganisations are increasingly important, as is the need for adequatetraining in this area. Training methods are…
Abstract
Interpersonal skills in the management of libraries and information organisations are increasingly important, as is the need for adequate training in this area. Training methods are discussed which might be used to improve the interpersonal skills of librarians and information workers. Factors which might inhibit or encourage individuals from transferring their learning from training to work are also outlined.
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Darren C. Treadway, L.A. Witt, Jason Stoner, Sara Jansen Perry and Brooke A. Shaughnessy
Based on social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity, interactional justice has been proposed to be an important construct in explaining individual performance. However…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity, interactional justice has been proposed to be an important construct in explaining individual performance. However, meta-analytic results have noted the relationship is modest at best. The present study extends the understanding of the justice-performance relationship by empirically examining how interactional justice and political skill interactively influence contextual job performance. Focusing on interpersonal aspects of justice and performance, the paper proposes that the existence of interactional justice will only lead to improvements in interpersonally facilitative behavior if employees recognize this situation as an opportunity to invest their skill-related assets into the organization. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Integrating research on political skill with social exchange theory, the current study contends that interactional justice stemming from the supervisor will likely lead to employees feeling obligated and/or wanting to help, cooperate, and consider others in the workplace. However, only employees with political skill will be able to recognize the conditions and act appropriately on these conditions. As such, this paper investigates the moderating role of political skill in the interactional justice-performance relationship. The paper used multi-source survey methodology and applied hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Results from 189 respondents indicated that interactional justice was more strongly related to supervisor-rated interpersonal facilitation when employees possessed higher levels of political skill. This suggests that when both interactional justice and political skill are high, the potential for interpersonal facilitation is also high. Conversely, when one or both are low, interpersonal facilitation is less likely.
Originality/value
Previous articulations and evaluations of the relationship between interactional justice, political skill, and interpersonal facilitation have omitted either situational determinants of motivation or individual differences in job-related skills. With the current study, the paper sought to address these omissions by exploring the interactive effects of interactional justice and political skill on interpersonal facilitation.
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Joe Pagnoccolo and Santina Bertone
This research explores the training experiences of Australian apprentices in the workplace with a focus on workplace relationships and their link to interpersonal attributes and…
Abstract
Purpose
This research explores the training experiences of Australian apprentices in the workplace with a focus on workplace relationships and their link to interpersonal attributes and people-related generic skills among apprentices.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research is conducted, and the authors analysed interview data from 20 apprentices (17 men, three women; average age 25 years) who came from a range of industries and trade sectors.
Findings
These findings revealed common themes around the importance of communication, emotional direct cognition, self-awareness and teamwork during training on the job. This suggests that interpersonal attributes are central to apprentices' practices within their training experiences.
Research limitations/implications
The findings indicate a need for greater emphasis on the development of interpersonal attributes in training both on the job and within training packages.
Practical implications
The paper extends the literature on the role of interpersonal skills in the apprentice experience, presents information about young people's challenges in training and points to further investigations needed to explore this phenomenon.
Originality/value
An authentic detailed account is presented of apprentices' interpersonal attributes and people-related generic skills in their training experiences.
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Lianying Zhang and Xiaoyan Huo
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between interpersonal conflict and construction project performance. The authors test the proposition that this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between interpersonal conflict and construction project performance. The authors test the proposition that this relationship is mediated by negative emotions and moderated by political skill.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a structured questionnaire survey and gathered 266 completed data from 45 construction project teams in mainland China. To test the hypotheses, bootstrapping procedures were used.
Findings
The results show that interpersonal conflict and negative emotions all have inverse relationships with project performance. Additionally, negative emotions mediated the relationship between interpersonal conflict and project performance, and this indirect relationship will be mitigated when team members have a high level of political skill.
Research limitations/implications
These findings indicate that interpersonal conflict has a detrimental influence on project performance and should attract broad attention for future empirical literature. Furthermore, political skill is an effective contingent factor to suppress the detrimental influence of interpersonal conflict.
Practical implications
The findings imply that managers should highlight the importance of interpersonal conflict in construction projects.
Originality/value
This paper addresses a moderated mediation model to examine the relationship among interpersonal conflict, negative emotions and construction project performance, and it takes into account the moderating role of political skill. The paper also offers practical assistance to construction project managers in managing interpersonal conflict.
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Theres Konrad, Arnim Wiek and Matthias Barth
For professional sustainability work, graduates need to be able to work in teams and collaborate with stakeholders; in other words, they need to have developed interpersonal…
Abstract
Purpose
For professional sustainability work, graduates need to be able to work in teams and collaborate with stakeholders; in other words, they need to have developed interpersonal competence. There is growing evidence that project-based sustainability courses facilitate interpersonal competence development. However, research so far has focused on single case studies and on assessing learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of how graduate students learn interpersonal competence in project-based sustainability courses.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a multi-case study approach triangulating observations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups supported by Photovoice method. A comparison of three project-based sustainability courses in graduate programs at universities in the USA, Germany, Switzerland and Spain is conducted to gain generalizable insights on how interpersonal competence can be developed through project-based sustainability courses.
Findings
Receiving inputs, experiencing, reflecting and experimenting are four learning processes supportive of interpersonal competence development. Interpersonal attitudes seem to be mostly learned through a combination of experiencing and reflecting, followed by experimenting; not surprisingly, interpersonal knowledge is mostly developed through a combination of receiving inputs, experiencing and (collective) reflection; and interpersonal skills seem to be mostly learned through a combination of receiving inputs and experimenting, or, more directly, experiencing and experimenting.
Practical implications
These findings support the unique learning opportunities offered through project-based sustainability courses and can help instructors to better facilitate students’ development of interpersonal competence.
Originality/value
The value of this study is three-fold: (i) it provides a comprehensive picture of interpersonal competence, including attitudes, knowledge, and skills; (ii) it spells out specific teaching and learning processes; and (iii) it links these to specific interpersonal competence facets and components.
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Despina Whitefield and Louise Kloot
The definition of individual generic skills is problematic, despite the pressure for the development of such skills during accounting degrees coming from government and employers…
Abstract
Purpose
The definition of individual generic skills is problematic, despite the pressure for the development of such skills during accounting degrees coming from government and employers. This study aims to present definitions to allow academics to establish a point of reference when designing accounting curricula to encompass such skills.
Design/methodology/approach
The skill classification of explicit curriculum content is straightforward, and is undertaken by using content analysis to record objectives and/or tasks that are clearly stated in the curriculum documents. The classification of implicit skills was developed by setting, as clearly as possible, internal criteria that are used to determine whether a task embodied a particular behavioural skill.
Findings
The results show that not all 22 personal and interpersonal skills which should be developed during an accounting degree, according to the Australian professional accounting bodies, are in fact developed. The higher order and difficult skills of: think creatively and innovatively; handle conflict; handle challenges; handle change and empathy are not present in either the explicit or implicit curricula.
Originality/value
Concepts and understandings of many of the behavioural skills are abstract and a range of interpretations exists. Although the definition of each skill presented in this study is not as extensive or exhaustive as a lexicographer's compilation, this study is unique in that it offers clearer and more acceptable definitions for accounting educators to use than has previously been available.
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Sue Malthus and Carolyn Fowler
During the 1990s the value to an intending professional accountant of undertaking a period of liberal (general) studies was promoted internationally by a number of individuals and…
Abstract
During the 1990s the value to an intending professional accountant of undertaking a period of liberal (general) studies was promoted internationally by a number of individuals and organisations, including the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (the “Institute”). The Institute significantly changed its admissions policy for Chartered Accountants in 1996 and one change was to require four years of degree level study with a compulsory liberal studies component. This study surveys the perceptions of New Zealand accounting practitioners on the impact of this compulsory liberal component. The results of this study demonstrate that there is little support from accounting practitioners for IFAC’s claim that liberal education “can contribute significantly to the acquisition of professional skills”, including intellectual, personal and communication skills. In addition, the majority of respondents did not perceive any improvements in the professional skills of the staff that had qualified under the Institute’s current admissions policy. However, any perceived improvements were mainly attributed to the Institute’s admissions policy change. Notwithstanding the lack of support for the assertion that liberal education develops professional skills, there is a strong belief by respondents in the value of liberal education for intending professional accountants.
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Leaders in education face diverse challenges in an increasingly competitive and changing environment. Although women numerically dominate the workforce, senior managers are…
Abstract
Purpose
Leaders in education face diverse challenges in an increasingly competitive and changing environment. Although women numerically dominate the workforce, senior managers are predominately men. The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership skills required for senior management roles in vocational education training (VET); determine if the ranking of importance of skills differs by gender and if the ranking contributes to women not advancing to senior management roles. As skills are abilities that can be developed and learned focusing on leadership skills will provide further insight into leadership and influence leadership development programs in VET to re-orientate women into senior management roles.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology was based on the theoretical framework of the Leadership Skills Strataplex Model (LSSM). The model categorises leadership skills into cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills and determines skill requirement based on management level. A quantitative study with data collected from an online survey completed by 100 senior managers employed in Australian VET, with an even distribution of men and women, identified leadership skills and ranked the importance of the skills. Analysis of the data was conducted using correlation test and principal factor analysis.
Findings
Both men and women identified that cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills were required for senior management roles in VET; however, they ranked the importance of these skills differently. Men ranked business and strategic skills as the most important whilst women ranked cognitive and interpersonal skills. The findings provide insight into how gender influences leadership with men focused on task-orientated leadership skills whilst and women focused on relationship development leadership skills.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation of this study was that the results were derived from the employees’ perspective and not that of the employer. However, the limitation does not detract from the overall contribution, this study makes to leadership, leadership skills and VET. The findings of this study suggest that further education leadership research is warranted as most studies are predominately focused on leadership theory with limited reference to leadership skills.
Practical implications
The findings of this study provide practical implications to inform VET leadership professional development programs for teachers and managers to focus on leadership skills. The difference in ranking of importance of leadership skills by men and women highlights that focusing on specific leadership skill development of cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills for aspiring managers may help re-orientate women into senior management roles.
Originality/value
The use of the LSSM, previously used in government and higher education to identify leadership skills, the online survey as the data collection tool and quantitative analysis provides originality in the methodology rarely seen in VET education. The study adds value to education management, VET, leadership, and gender research by providing insight into leadership skills.
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Recently, ethical leadership has become a widely studied research topic. Simultaneously, many studies have begun to emphasise the role of interpersonal communication competence…
Abstract
Recently, ethical leadership has become a widely studied research topic. Simultaneously, many studies have begun to emphasise the role of interpersonal communication competence (ICC) in successful leadership. However, there has been little discussion on the links between ethical leadership and leaders’ ICC. To address this research gap, this study aims to compare and combine the research traditions of ethical leadership and leaders’ ICC. The study is based on two literature reviews examining (a) ethical leadership (substudy 1; N = 27) and (b) leaders’ ICC (substudy 2; N = 18). The research questions are as follows: (a) How are the requirements of leaders’ ICC noticed in the literature of ethical leadership? (substudy 1) (b) How are the requirements of ethical leadership noticed in the literature of leaders’ ICC? (substudy 2) The findings reveal that (a) studies in ethical leadership rarely pay attention to leaders’ ICC and (b) studies in leaders’ ICC do not often discuss ethical aspects of ICC, at least explicitly. While a larger sample would have been preferred, the study contributes to previous research by addressing a research gap between ethical leadership and leaders’ ICC and suggests integrating these research traditions to better understand the nature of ethics and ICC in leadership. By promoting novel interdisciplinary research perspectives, the study provides a foundation for further research and development of (a) a competence-based approach to ethical leadership and (b) an ethics-focused approach to competent leadership communication.
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