Relationship Between Authentic leadership, Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap)
The whole of this study aims to cover various topics and details of discussions related to Leadership, as a concept. The relationship between authentic leadership, Leader member exchange and employee’s psychological capital shall be covered in the initial part of this study. After this, the study shall take a turn into covering various aspects related to the process or manner of building the psychological capital different kind of employees. Study related to different kind of employees shall also be covered in the whole the study, such as Professional Vs Administrative employees, emotional labour, Blue collar versus white collared employees and different kind of other ethnic group employees. Various details shall be provided and it shall be linked with the kind and type of leadership that can work out in various situations. Further, emotions do different people and how they impact on the employees shall also be provided here.
The term Authentic Leadership can be termed to be a different kind of positive manner of Leadership. It leadership takes up its concepts and underlying principles based on both positive psychological capacities and a highly developed organizational context. In a context of Authentic Leadership, the individual has to be self-aware and kind of self-controlled optimistic kind of demeanor. An authentic leader has to be rational, maintain regional transparency and has to be present in a kind of balanced processing (Du Plessis, 2014).
Leader Member Exchange is a kind of theory which puts on a kind of two-way relationship between the leaders and their followers. It can be said that in those kind of a theory, the leader develops relations with all the subordinates present under him and the overall stance of this leader and subordinate relationship affects the overall performance and indulgence in the work of the subordinates. This kind of engagement between the leader and his followers and subordinates may instill positive work attitude along the subordinates of the employees. This may help in ensuring the secure organizational effectiveness at a point of time (Wong and Laschinger, 2013). The effective kind of member exchange may help in the development of a vertical dyadic workplace influence and team performance in the realm of selection of accurate kind of staffs that may help in the overall good of the organization.
Employees’ psychological capital may be defined as the interest and the job satisfaction that employees have towards their work (Cotter-Lockard et al. 2017). With the increased level of job satisfaction among the employees of a concern, the level of employees’ psychological capital increases. It’s a kind of things, a positive force that helps in the proper indulgence for employees towards their work and this helps in the overall development of the organization.
The relations between the three concepts can be said that the authentic relationship is mandatory in order to ensure the proper and healthy kind of leader and follower exchange. The authentic and good leadership shall help in easing the relationship between the leaders and his followers. The right kind of relation between the leaders and the followers shall help in increasing the kind of employees’ psychological capital (Luthans et al. 2016). It can be said that the three concepts are quite related. The accurate kind of authentic leadership shall also help in elevating the overall employees’ psychological satisfaction and also this may help in developing the leader followers exchange. This ma utterly helps the organization to develop and prosper as per the situation. Thus it can be clearly said that the three of the concepts are quite related with each other.
How to Build the Psychological Capital of Different Types of Employees
Professionals versus administrative employees`: Administrative employees can be termed as such kind of employees who get such kind of validation related to minimum kind of wage rate. It can be said that the overall wage of the executive employees is good enough and they get all kind of facilities from the organization. It can be said that the overall efficiency of the executive ekes are lesser than that of the professional employees. They for to be the top most part of a business organization. While the professional workers and employee work under them (Luthans et al. 2015). It can be seen that the overall efficiency of the professional employees is much than that of the executive employees. However, the overall remuneration gathered by the professional employees can be seen to be much less as compared to that of the executive employees. The need for thee professional as well as thee administrative employees as well as needed in any organization. The administrative employees work in the overall functioning and running of the whole of thee pagination. While the professional employees indulge themselves in performing such kind of specialized tasks that can be only done by them and known by them. They form to be an inherent and important part of the whole of the business organization.
Emotional labour: In order to maintain high performance levels in an organization healthy and positive work environment should be maintained in the workplace. However, there are several factors that come under consideration when the environment of the workplace is in question. It is common knowledge that the professional space is very different from the personal and thereby, the persons inhabiting the space should regulate and check their temperaments so that work can progress smoothly (Karatepe et al. 2015). The term ‘emotional labour’ becomes very relevant in this context and it is used to denote the management of the emotions of the workers so that they do not pose an obstruction to the completion of their duties. The term was first put to use by the sociologist Arlie Hochschild in order to signify the bodily and facial appearance in workers that was essential to preserve the culture within a workplace.
As a manufacturing based economy progresses to a service based one the concept of emotional labour becomes all the more important. Services require employees to come into direct contact with the customers (Paterson et al. 2014). Therefore, the maintaining of an etiquette becomes very crucial in order to ensure the maximum satisfaction of the customers. It is imperative for employees to act politely with customers even if they have to put on a facade of politeness. However, emotional labour is not the same for all kinds of jobs. Employees are trained to display certain kinds of emotions depending upon the nature of their responsibilities in the workplace. For example, in case of a therapist, the required display rule would be to appear neutral and caring and consequently the therapist’s personal emotions should not cloud his/her professional judgement (Dubos, 2017). Conversely, in the case of roles where a worker is expected to collect bills, he/she should be acting aggressively.
Professionals Versus Administrative Employees
Blue collar versus white collar employees: The term blue collar worker is used to refer to a person whose work primarily involves manual work. Workers of this category are usually paid remuneration on an hourly basis and needless to mention, as these jobs require no specific specialization, the wages are usually low. Therefore, one can naturally assume that since these kinds of jobs are physically demanding and coupled with the low wages the psychological capital of blue collar employees are in a precarious condition. Too much pressure of work can breed stress and negativity in the workers and can thereby seriously hamper their performing capacity. Thus, in such situations it is very essential for the employers and the management to understand the plight of the blue collar workers (Siu et al. 2015). They should be provided with sufficient remuneration and they should also be regularly encouraged in their workplace so that they can derive the maximum satisfaction from their jobs and do not fall prey to stress or demoralization.
A white collar worker is a person whose profession requires him to work in an office. A white collar job does not require manual labour and thereby one can assume that a certain degree of specialization is involved in these kinds of jobs. However, it must be remembered that since white collar jobs usually pay well and do not involve physical strain, they are not any less susceptible to the problems of stress and demotivation (Dutton and Ragins, 2017). There can be acute pressure of work in the workplace and often this can lead a worker to feel tired and exhausted. Therefore, in order to safeguard the employees from such problems a positive and caring leadership is a necessity. The management should keep track of the emotional requirements and the problems of workers so that they can be swiftly dealt with (Britt et al. 2016). This shall help in infusing hope and optimism in them and build up trust between the employees and the management.
Therefore, it can be seen that the problems that are being faced by blue collar and white collar employees are quite different in nature. It can be observed that a positive leadership that values its subordinates in the organizational hierarchy is the key to meting out the problems related to psychological capital that might arise in the workplace. In case of blue collar workers, the solution can be attained by shorter working hours and increase in wages and in case of white collar ones the leadership should develop interaction with the employees and keep them motivated and cared for (Hmieleski et al. 2015).
Different generational cohort, and/or different ethnicities: For a workplace to smoothly function, employees belonging from different backgrounds must coexist harmoniously with one another. On account of the differences in identities and perspectives, a possibility of clash or antagonism is always looming and might threaten the progress of work (Laschinger et al. 2014). Therefore, the employees should put in efforts to cultivate their predispositions so that they can interact politely and amicably with one another. Emotional labour becomes relevant in this context as the employees have to put in efforts to maintain an appearance that shall be conducive to a positive work culture. In the following sections the area of different generational cohorts and the impact of different ethnicities within the same workplace shall be discussed in detail (Luthans et al. 2014)
Emotional Labor
It is very natural for a workplace to be occupied by workers belonging to different generations. Therefore, a generation gap might arise out of the differences in the values and perspectives of the people. Traditional ideas might clash with new ones and these conflicts might cause a loss of direction of the organization. This rift might also prevent workers from working effectively as teams as it often might be the case that younger employees will be dissatisfied with their seniors with whom they might not agree. However, it must be kept in mind that a proper leadership can reach a solution to this problem after accommodating all the different opinions that might arise in the workplace (Forrier et al. 2015). The leadership should be able to impress upon the employees the idea that the interest of the organization supersedes that of the individuals. Therefore, they all have to forget about their personal rivalries inside the workplace and prioritize efficiency of performance over everything else.
Presently, most organizations are try to create an inclusive workplace that shall house people belonging from various ethnicities not only in the interests of humanity but also it helps in bringing different perspectives and talents within the organization and this shall contribute towards the growth of the same. And it is a fact that diversity shall also help in increasing the organization’s competitive advantage over others. However, all being said, there still exists a possibility of racial antagonism and discrimination arises inside the workplace. The primary responsibility of avoiding such occurrences and maintaining a fair and impartial work culture rests upon the leadership. Just like maintaining the psychological capital of the workers is its responsibility, safeguarding the rights of the employees is as well. There should be a strict regulation imposed by the leadership in order to discourage employees from carrying out discriminatory practices inside the workplace (Dello Russo and Stoykova, 2015).
Although it cannot be quantified, disengaged employees severely affect the performance of an organization. Therefore, the management of emotions becomes crucial in this aspect in order to maintain high levels of performance in the workplace (Vidyarthi et al. 2014). Positive emotions such as hope, optimism and motivation can boost productivity whereas negative ones like stress, pessimism, antagonism can lead to a poorly performing workforce. While speaking about emotions, that of leaders, managers and employees should be put under consideration as all of them play significant roles in the proper functioning of the organization. Like commands and instructions, emotions can also be transmitted through the chain of hierarchy in the workplace. On one hand there are rules and regulations that define the ideal demeanor that an employee must maintain in the work environment (Breevaart et al. 2015). But the sole responsibility of keeping the work culture positive does not rest upon the employees. The managers and leaders should be equally involved and see to it that they act responsibly and encourage positivity in the workplace.
The leaders should themselves carry out efficient management of psychological capital. The first step towards doing this shall involve the management of their own emotions. While it is true that the job of a leader is demanding, he/she should always try to be polite to the subordinates. Moreover, it is the duty of the leader to keep managers in line and also motivate the employees (Liu et al. 2015). Managers should be obedient to the instructions that they receive from the leaders and try to keep maintain a unified order throughout the organization. An integrated work culture is necessary to keep the work smoothly flowing. Employees tend to get disoriented and they would be subsequently unable to discharge of their duties if there is no unity of command and they are constantly henpecked by their superiors. Therefore, it can be understood that emotional labour is a criteria that applies to all the members in an organization. Emotional instability of leaders and managers contrary to what the general understanding might be, adversely affects the work culture (Dollwet and Reichard, 2014).
Blue Collar Versus White Collar Employees
Conclusion:
The studies related to different concepts of leadership and the exchange between the leaders and the followers have been explained through the various parts of this whole assignment. Further concepts related to the psychological capital have also been explained and different kind of employee has also been shown in this project. It can be said that the right kind of leadership is required in order to ensure the good relation between the employee and the leaders and the overall well-being of the business organization. Further, the emotion of the leaders and the managers, determine and how these things affect the overall performance of the employees. All these facts with dedication have also been explained through the various parts of this whole study.
References:
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