Optimistic managers and their influence on productivity and employee engagement in a technology organisation: Implications for coaching psychologists
By D. Arakawa, M. Greenberg. International Coaching Psychology Review, 2007
94 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Objectives:Executive coaches are often involved in working with executive managers. The objective of this study is to investigate whether teams are more engaged and productive when led by an optimistic manager. Furthermore, we hypothesise that optimistic managers embody positive leadership – employing a strengths-based approach, maintaining a positive perspective, and frequently providing recognition and encouragement – which increases the engagement and productivity of their employees.Design:The study used a cross-sectional survey design at two time points.Method:The researchers developed a survey to measure this concept of positive leadership. In addition, two measures were used: the Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R) to measure optimism and the Gallup Organisation’s Q12to measure engagement.Results:In a cross-sectional study of 86 employees and 17 managers in an Information Technology (IT) organisation, positive leadership correlated with employee optimism, engagement, and project performance. When we looked at a subset of this data prospectively, with 39 employees and 14 managers, manager optimism predicted project performance.Conclusions:Our data support the claim that positive leadership is correlated with employee engagement and performance, and further extends the importance of optimism in the workplace. Coaching implications are also discussed, in terms of exploring how coaching psychologists can work with executives to develop their managerial style.
Subfields: Applied Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/692da8f8225f622b32ec49ea4fd508e97b500216
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In Applied Psychology
- B. Shuck
- Karen K. Wollard
- J. Simons
- J. Buitendach
- Thomas G. Reio Jr.
- Kim F. Nimon
- Drea Zigarmi
- Tonette S. Rocco
In Clinical Psychology
In Social Psychology
Citations in the corpus
- Antecedents to Employee Engagement (2011, methodology): “For example, research has propagated the role of manager self-efficacy (Arakawa & Greenberg, 2007), the role of the manager in creating a supportive climate (Kroth & Keeler, 2009; Plakhotnik, Rocco, & Roberts, 2011), execution of mission and vision on a local level (Fleming & Asplund, 2007), and…”
- Psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees in South Africa (2013, background): “Other research has shown that optimism correlated with employee engagement and employee performance (Arakawa & Greenberg, 2007; Medlin & Faulk, 2011).”