Authentic Leadership, LMX and PsyCap
Positive organizational behavior exists in diverse ways and it influences the relationship between co-workers and leaders. Positive organizational behavior is application or study of psychological capacity and positively oriented human resource strengths that can be managed or developed for improving performances. Leadership is a strategy used by a person for influencing others in order to achieve a target. Leaders who utilize their knowledge and leadership skills facilitate the leadership process. Furthermore, leaders should practice authentic leadership in order to influence the positive psychological capital of employees. Through the authentic leadership practice, the trust is experienced in the organization with subordinates trusting their leaders for their production. The authentic leaders are not born but made if a person has a desire of becoming an effective leader. In addition, a leader with positive psychological capital develops in a non-ending and slow process involving education, self-study, education and training. In order to maintain leader-member exchange (LMX), authentic leaders must be creative, obedient, trustworthy, innovative and have effective communication. These features are essential in the development of (LMX), authentic leaders and employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap). Therefore, the paper seeks to determine the relationship that exists between authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and employees psychological capital, critically review literature explaining “PysCap” of some different types of employees and why emotions significantly influence employees performances.
What is the relationship between authentic leadership, Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap)?
According to Shamir and Eilam-Shamir (2018 p.51), authentic leadership is an approach to leadership that focuses on the creation of a leader’s legitimacy through a truthful relationship. Furthermore, authentic leaders are positive and dedicated people with their leadership being based on self-concept: clarity, self-concept: her or his knowledge, person role merger, self-concordance and the degree that self-concept of leadership is expressed in her or his behavior. According to Hooper and Martin (2008 p.20) Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) is an approach to leadership that emphasis on the relationship that exists between followers and leaders. Furthermore, the theory suggests that leaders are developed in an exchange with each of their subordinates and therefore Leader-member exchange quality influences the subordinates decisions, responsibilities and access to resource and performances. Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap) is a concept developed in an organization with four pillars of optimism, hope, resilience and Efficacy and has been associated with life and job satisfaction.
A research conducted by Coxen, van der Vaart and Stander (2016 p.1-13) indicates that there is a significant positive relationship that exists between authentic leadership, leader-member Exchange (LMX) and Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap). From the research finding, it is clear there is the relevance of authentic leadership to (LMX) and (PsyCap) and utility of effects on both performance and trust.
Authentic relationship increases Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap). Authentic leaders create Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap) as a key developmental change among their followers (Luthans, Norman, Avolio and Avey, 2008 p.119). Therefore, the change is considered to be brought by the effect of authentic leaders on organizational work climate. In addition, the outcome of authentic leadership has received greater empirical attention with the influence of authentic leader’s behaviors being controlled by other factors like an aspect of the work environment and subordinate characteristics. Furthermore, authentic leader’s enables an individual psychological state to have confidence, be prepared to face challenges by putting more efforts and working toward a goal.
Relationship between Authentic Leadership and Employees’ Psychological Capital
Both Authentic leadership and Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap) are also positively related to leader-member Exchange (LMX). A research conducted by Luthans, Norman, Avolio and Avey (2008) further showed that Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap) mediate the relationship that exists between leader-member Exchange (LMX), employee performance and authentic leadership. The leader-member Exchange (LMX) relationship makes the employee be effectively committed to the organization as their needs are addressed appropriately and they have confidence in their authentic leaders. Furthermore, as a result of Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap), authentic leaders have the desired impact on the employee’s actual performance. In addition, leader-member Exchange (LMX) and authentic leadership result in satisfactory and task interdependence positively influencing the level of commitment to the team.
Higher authentic leaders engage in positive appraisals of their situation with LMX relationship. The positive appraisals promote authentic leadership and strengthen the relationship with followers. Furthermore, the relationship is strengthen because positive leaders are likely to have increased trust and confidence with follower’s ability of conducting their duties and responsibilities in a timely manner The effect of psychological Capital (PsyCap) on employee attitude is that people who are high in PsyCap have a belief they can influence and create their own success. The positive appraisal from authentic appraisals PsyCap enhances the perceived success probability in achieving the goals of the organization with given resources.
Critically review the literature that explains how to build the Psychological Capital of some different types of employees (such as professionals versus administrative employees, emotional labor, blue collar versus white collar employees, different generational cohort, and/or different ethnicities)?
According to Toor and Ofori (2009 p.342).hope is a multidimensional construct consisting of the way power or willpower of an individual. Way power is the ability of an individual to devise alternative contingency plans and pathways for the achievement of specific goals in the face of obstacles, while willpower is the determination or agency of an individual to achieve goals. Hope enables employees to stay motivated and attain success in their tasks by finding the best pathway. Therefore, hope components complement each other. Hope has had great input to positive Psychological Capital and has proved to be important in the workplace. For example, researchers found out that hope predicts job performance beyond self-efficacy and cognitive ability. In addition, hope has a positive effect on work happiness, the satisfaction of employees and their commitment to the organization. Furthermore, hope protects the perceptions of unpredictability, uncontrollability and vulnerability of an individual. Therefore, sustaining the hope of a worker is important to their wellbeing.
Optimism has a more close association with positive psychology than the other constructs and is regarded as a more dynamic, flexible and realistic construct that can be developed and learned. Optimism is defined by pervasiveness and persistence which are key dimensions of the way individuals present explanations of events. Individuals who have an optimistic outlook see setbacks as opportunities and challenges that can eventually result in success, which enables them to persevere when faced by obstacles. Optimistic workers can better assess situational, temporary and external circumstances. Research by Simons and Buitendach (2013 p.50) shows that dispositional optimism directly affects cynicism and exhaustion among staff. In addition, optimism correlates with the performance and engagement of employees. Optimism, therefore, forms an important part of the resource capacities of employees since their optimistic approach to challenging and stressful situations could have a positive impact in achieving goals related to their work.
Relationship between Authentic Leadership, LMX and Employees’ Psychological Capital
Resilience is the ability of people to successfully manipulate their environment so as to protect them from the negative consequences of adverse events and includes the ability of people to recover from adversity. In view of this, people who are resilient move on with life easily even after experiencing events or experiences that are stressful such as conflict, failure or personal adversity. Therefore, resilience emphasizes an individual’s strength and their resources of coping to manage or resolve testing situations successfully. Research by Avey, Wernsing and Luthans (2008 p.53) suggests that when workers experience negative events in their jobs, workers who possess high psychological capital have a higher likelihood of adapting positively and recovering from the events thus inhibiting the development and escalation of intentions to quit.
According to Clapp-Smith, Vogelgesang and Avey (2009 p.232) self-efficacy is the conviction of an individual regarding their ability for the mobilization of the courses of action, cognitive resources and motivation necessary for the accomplishment of specific tasks within a particular context. The interpretation and perception of events by an individual determine and influences how they will address challenges that are difficult as well as how they will experience symptoms of stress. Individuals with high self-efficacy levels usually perceive challenges as surmountable, given enough effort and competencies. Self-efficacy is related to the retention and socialization of new employees as well as being related to turnover intentions and organizational commitment of existing staff. Psychological constructs that are positive such as self-efficacy have mediating effects such as work engagement, burnout and occupational stress.
Why do emotions (of for example leaders, managers, employees) significantly impact employees’ performance?
Basically, emotions are reactions or internal feelings towards all situations. Emotions play an integral role in the daily life of people. Further research by Gruman and Saks (2011 p.132) shows that an individual’s personality and professional career are affected by both negative and positive emotions. An emotion is a psychological and mental state that is related to a wide range of changes in body behavior, thoughts and feelings. Anger is a general human emotion experienced by all people and often occurs under unpleasant situations. When employees are performing their jobs, mistreatment from supervisors and managers may lead to anger which will ultimately affect the working environment. Angers demotivates employees and tends to divert their attention towards the particular issue affecting them thus leading to poor performance in their roles.
Trust is also an emotion that is important in the workplace since employees who have secured trust from their superiors are able to be more productive as they can confidently work with minimum supervision. In this case, the managers and supervisors are sure that the employee will deliver on their roles and responsibilities even without their supervision. Therefore, the manager can also take part in other developmental activities for the benefit of the organization. Another emotion is interest whereby it causes attention for an employee to focus on a process, event or object. Interest expresses an excitement of the mind and therefore causes employees to work harder as they have the organization’s interest at heart. On the flip side, negative interest by employees will lead to poor job performance as the employee does not care whether the organization will be successful or not. Employees who have negative interest end up being fired due to their unproductivity in their roles. Therefore, positive emotions by supervisors, leaders and employees will contribute to organizational effectiveness.
Conclusion
There is a strong influence in the emotions of an individual to their performance. Currently, organizations have invested too much effort in measuring and defining performance since emotions and employee performance are interrelated. Bosses seek to have a positive employee attitude so as to improve employee performance. Authentic leadership is an honest approach based on self-concept: clarity, knowledge, person role merger and self-concordance and the extent of expressing the behavior of leadership. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) is a leadership approach emphasizing on the relationship between leaders and followers. Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap) is a developed concept of four pillars including optimistic, hope, resilience and efficacy. All the approaches and concepts are positively related to each other with authentic relationship increasing Employees’ Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and performances on the leader-member exchange. The authentic leadership determines the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX). If the leader is authentic and follows workplace ethics, the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) relationship is significantly boosted.
References
Avey, J.B., Reichard, R.J., Luthans, F. and Mhatre, K.H., 2011. Meta?analysis of the impact of positive psychological capital on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Human resource development quarterly, 22(2), pp.127-152.
Avey, J.B., Wernsing, T.S. and Luthans, F., 2008. Can positive employees help positive organizational change? Impact of psychological capital and emotions on relevant attitudes and behaviors. The journal of applied behavioral science, 44(1), pp.48-70.
Clapp-Smith, R., Vogelgesang, G.R. and Avey, J.B., 2009. Authentic leadership and positive psychological capital: The mediating role of trust at the group level of analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 15(3), pp.227-240.
Coxen, L., van der Vaart, L. and Stander, M.W., 2016. Authentic leadership and organizational citizenship behavior in the public health care sector: The role of workplace trust. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 42(1), pp.1-13.
Gruman, J.A. and Saks, A.M., 2011. Performance management and employee engagement. Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), pp.123-136.
Hooper, D.T. and Martin, R., 2008. Beyond personal leader-member exchange (LMX) quality: The effects of perceived LMX variability on employee reactions. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(1), pp.20-30.
Luthans, F., Norman, S.M., Avolio, B.J. and Avey, J.B., 2008. The mediating role of psychological capital in the supportive organizational climate—employee performance relationship. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 29(2), pp.219-238.
Shamir, B. and Eilam-Shamir, G., 2018. “What’s your story?” A life-stories approach to authentic leadership development. In Leadership Now: Reflections on the Legacy of Boas Shamir (pp. 51-76). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Simons, J.C. and Buitendach, J.H., 2013. Psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees in South Africa. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 39(2), pp.1-12.
Toor, S.U.R. and Ofori, G., 2009. Positive psychological capital as a source of sustainable competitive advantage for organizations. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(3), pp.341-352.
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