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This paper aims to examine the impact of leadership style and team context on structural and psychological empowerment perceptions in project teams.

It was posited that span of control and within team interdependence will positively and significantly influence both structural and psychological empowerment. Person‐orientated leadership style was also expected to positively impact both structural and psychological empowerment while task orientated leadership style was expected to have a negative impact. These hypothesized relationships were examined using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) with data obtained through a parallel quantitative questionnaire survey of construction client, consultant and contractor organizations in Hong Kong.

No significant relationship was found between span of control and any facet of empowerment while team interdependence had a positive and significant relationship with psychological empowerment but not structural empowerment. Task‐orientated leadership was positively and significantly related to psychological empowerment in the full sample and contractor teams but not in consultant and client teams. Person‐orientated leadership was positively and significantly related to psychological empowerment in the full sample, consultant and client teams but not in contractor teams.

The link between leadership style, team context and three facets of empowerment are examined compared with previous studies often focusing on one facet. Sub‐sample analysis enabled more subtle differences of the impact of leadership style in different context to be revealed, an indication that samples may not be homogeneous.

The purpose of this viewpoint paper is to explore middle leaders' ability to recognise emotions in the context of workplace research, and to propose measures that might support them in their role.

This paper combines a contemporary literature review with reflections from practice to develop more nuanced understandings of middle leadership. This paper applied the Geneva Emotional Recognition Test (GERT) to explore the level of emotional recognition of 86 individuals (teachers to headteachers (equivalent to school principals)).

The preliminary findings suggest that teachers and headteachers have higher levels of emotional recognition than middle and senior leaders. This paper subsequently argues that the task-orientated nature middle leadership compounds an individual's ability to engage effectively in relationship-orientated tasks. This explains why middle leaders scored lower on the GERT assessment. This is further inhibited by the anti-correlation in the brain's ability to deal with the task-positive network (TDM) and default mode network (DMN) processing functions where individuals operate in one neural mode for long periods.

The viewpoint paper proposes a number of implications for middle leaders and suggests that middle leaders should proactively seek out opportunities to be engaged in activities that support the DMN function of the brain and subsequently the relationship-orientated aspects of leadership, for example, coaching other staff members. However, it has to be recognised that the sample size is small and further work is needed before any generalisations can be made.

This paper offers a contemporary review of the role of middle leaders underpinned by a preliminary study into individuals' ability to recognise emotions.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this viewpoint paper is to explore the fixation of the eyes of human resource (HR) professionals' when identifying emotions in the context of workplace research and to propose measures that might support them in their role.

This paper combines a contemporary literature review with reflections from practice to develop more nuanced understandings of 39 HR professionals' ability to recognise emotions. This paper used eye-tracking technology more commonly used in laboratory-based students to explore the fixation of the eye when identifying emotions.

The preliminary findings suggest that HR professionals with higher levels of emotional recognition principally focus on the eyes of the recipient, whereas those with lower levels or emotional recognition focus more so the nose or the randomly across the face, depending on the level of emotional recognition. The data suggest that women are better than men, in the sample group at recognising emotions, with some variations in recognising specific emotions such as disgust.

The viewpoint paper proposes a number of implications for middle leaders and suggests that middle leaders should proactively seek out opportunities to be engaged in activities that support the Default Mode Network (DMN) function of the brain and subsequently the relationship-orientated aspects of leadership, for example, coaching other staff members. However, it has to be recognised that the sample size is small and further work is needed before any generalisations can be made.

This paper offers a contemporary review underpinned by a preliminary study into HR professionals' ability to recognise emotions.

There is much talking, writing and thinking being done at present on the concept of managing in organisations. The reason for this is not because the subject is now “in”, but because it is probably the chief factor determining the welfare of an organisation. As long as we have organisations, ways and means of managing effectively will be thought about.

Recruiting and retaining staff to work with elderly people in social care is a global issue. The quality of leadership is considered important because it influences employees’ job satisfaction, job turnover and health. This paper aims to identify leadership that employees in residential elderly care facilities in Sweden consider as contributing towards a healthy work environment.

The authors interviewed 14 persons employed in facilities organized in different ways. The data from these interviews was analysed using qualitative content analysis..

The results showed that the employees felt that their health partly depended on the attributes that leaders possessed, what leaders do and how leaders do it. This study confirms that leadership influences the perception of a healthy workplace. It also shows that questions about leadership are complex.

Research about factors that increase health risks is wide-ranging; however, research that examines factors that promote health, especially how leadership influences employees’ well-being, is not as comprehensive.

In the current era, characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), organizations are becoming increasingly more complex and less formal. Consequently, traditional control processes are being replaced by knowledge-sharing processes, informal coordination, and networks. Hence, different leadership theories and methods, which are more in line with these developments, are required. Terms such as “leadership in the plural,” “emergent leadership,” “leadership as a structural and networked phenomenon” reflect changes in how the author understands the phenomenon of leadership and sets the direction for new approaches. This chapter describes four paradigm shifts from the traditional approach to leadership, which highlighted the role of a formal leader who influences a group of followers. The author presents a stream of research emphasizing a relational approach among multiple individuals and reframe leadership as an influence action of many. These influence exchanges result in an emergent influence pattern or a leadership configuration. Nevertheless, the author sought to not “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” therefore the author claims that the formal leader is embedded in this configuration. Building on social network analysis and recently developed methodologies, the author provides a platform for measuring leadership as a many-on-many influence process. The author depicts the research she conducted analyzing advice networks, while aspiring to create a synthesis between the traditional and emergent leadership approaches. At the practical level, to understand and develop leadership in organizations nowadays, the author suggests acquiring a “broad and multi-focal lens” to capture the complexity of leadership.

With the objective of identifying the combinations of principal—deputy principal leadership styles perceived to be most effective in Victoria's State high schools, style was defined in terms of task and relationship orientation. Fieldler's semantic differential scales for measuring orientation and atmosphere were adopted. The expectations of a groups of Education Department inspectors and administrators were utilised in the development of an effectiveness scale. Principal—deputy principal partnerships in which at least one of the two leaders was oriented towards tasks were perceived to be more effective than combinations in which neither was oriented towards tasks. Obversely, combinations in which relationship orientation was absent were seen as more effective than combinations in which relationship orientation was present. In the breakdown of schools by their atmosphere scores, the general finding linking task orientation with perceived effectiveness was replicated in the group of schools having the least‐favourable atmosphere.

This editorial aims to introduce the special issue on leadership in projects and to highlight salient points from the background literature in this in order to place the articles contained in this special issue in context.

A summary of key findings from the literature relating to leadership in projects is provided highlighting limitations with previous research and challenges for research in this area.

Much of the literature relating to leadership in projects has adopted primarily a style perspective of leadership and the results from a number of studies show a number of inconsistencies. Generally many of the findings are additive and an overall theory of leadership in projects has yet to emerge. Findings from the review of previous studies suggest the need to examine far more mediator and moderator variables in future research using a style perspective given the variable contexts affecting project and leadership effectiveness. In addition, alternative perspectives on the nature of leadership may better accommodate the increasing environments of complexity in which projects find themselves. The contributions of each of the four papers in relation to this agenda are highlighted.

To date there have been few attempts to offer a synthesis of findings from empirical studies that have explored leadership in projects. In addition to offering a context in which to place the contribution of each of the articles that follow in this special issue, the editorial provides a summary of major findings from previous research to help inform current theorising and debates in this field.

This is an exploratory study with the purpose of empirically testing and advancing knowledge on the relationship between top management team (TMT) leadership styles and a service recovery culture. A further test explores a contingency perspective, examining if gender diversity on the TMT shapes this relationship.

We examine the perceived TMT transformational leadership style, as well as the moderating effect of TMT gender diversity. Relying on both survey and archival data, our hypotheses are tested with a sample of 234 public firms based in the United States. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis is used as the statistical approach.

Results suggest that perceived TMT transformational leadership is positively associated with a service recovery culture. When accounting for TMT gender diversity, the relationship between perceived TMT transformational leadership and a service recovery culture is positively moderated.

The study represents a sample of for-profit public firms operating in the United States and should not be taken as a general population sample. The findings could vary relative to other countries, private companies and non-profit organizations.

This is the first known study to explore the relationship between TMT leadership styles, TMT gender diversity and a service recovery culture. The study extends findings with the respect to the impact of TMT leadership and gender diversity on organizational development, as well as offers new insights into the antecedents of a service recovery culture.