Relational leadership and creativity

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

What kind of leader-employee relationships matter most in terms of creativity? This is the question Stine Therese S. Berg (OSM Aviation Management), Arnhild Grimstad (Google Ireland), Miha Škerlavaj (BI Norwegian Business School), and Matej Černe (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) asked ourselves in the most recent publication from European Management Journal with the title Social and economic leader-member exchange and employee creative behavior: The role of employee willingness to take risks and emotional carrying capacity .

Here is the abstract:

In the current study we explore the relational aspect of leadership for stimulating employee creative behavior. Drawing on leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, we propose that the association between two distinct types of leader-member exchange relationships (social [SLMX] and economic [ELMX]) and creative behavior is mediated by employee willingness to take risks and moderated by emotional carrying capacity. Based on two-wave data from a sample of 147 employees, we surprisingly find only marginal support for the association between SLMX and creative behavior, and, as expected, we find no support for the association between ELMX and creative behavior. We do find evidence of the full mediation of willingness to take risks in these two associations. Furthermore, we also find a positively significant interaction of SLMX with emotional carrying capacity (ECC), but no support for the interaction of ELMX with ECC in predicting employee creative behavior. We contribute to a deeper view of understanding the leadership of employee creativity as a relational process, contingent upon both employee characteristics as well as the nature of leader-member exchange.

Friday seminar on job crafting

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

This Friday, 12.30 – 13.30, Sut I Wong Humborstad and myself will give a research seminar at the BI Norwegian Business School, Nydalsveien 37, Oslo, Norway. Exact location is Department of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour, A3 – 109. Title: Building Coalitions for Job Crafting: Leader-subordinate Autonomy Expectation (In)Congruence and Subordinate Perceived Competence Mobilization. Looking forward to a fruitful discussion. Welcome all of you interested in and curious about proactive behaviours at work and the ways to stimulate them!

CEEMAN Research Award

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

Cited from FELU webpages:CEEMAN Champions Research Award

The researchers from The Faculty of Economics University of Ljubljana and COBIK, Associate Professor Miha Škerlavaj, PhD and Assistant Professor Matej Černe, PhD have been selected as winners of the 2013 CEEMAN Champions’ Award in the Research category. Launched in 2010, the annual CEEMAN Champion Awards recognize and promote outstanding achievements of faculty, management, and staff from CEEMAN member institutions in the categories of teaching, research, institutional management, and responsible management education. The researchers have been awarded for their work focused on the study of knowledge and innovation management at the level of an individual, team, company, and economy. Such a holistic treatment of factors aimed at examining the context of knowledge, creativity and innovation management was designed to ultimately help organizations understand the conditions to achieve superior business performance and consequently the prosperity of society. Together, they have already published 24 SSCI-ranked papers in esteemed SCI/SSCI indexed journals, including one accepted for publication in The Academy of Management Journal, one of the highest ranked academic outlets in the field of management with a 2012 impact factor of 5.91. They will receive the award personally at the 21th CEEMAN Annual Conference Gala Dinner on September 27, 2013.

Kinda cool, I reckon. 🙂

FEEL in SAM konferenca

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

Junij bo domače konferenčno obarvan. Na konferenci Slovenske akademije za management bosta najprej Sabina Bogilović in Matej Černe predstavila dva članka na temo kulturne inteligentnosti ter managerskih inovacij, ki smo jih pripravili v soavtorstvu.
12.6. pa v sklopu mednarodne konference Moč etičnega voditeljstva na Brdu pri Kranju predstavljam prispevek o vlogi etičnih voditeljev pri spodbujanju ustvarjalnosti in inovativnosti zaposlenih, ki sva ga pripravila z Matejem. Pokazati želiva, da je skrb za ustvarjalna in inovativna delovna mesta bistvo etičnosti, saj zaposlenim daje smisel, organizacijam uspeh, družbi pa možnost razvoja in napredka.

Lea and Matej in the spotlights

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

As a mentor I can say, that this is truly a rewarding role. Especially at times like these, where excellent news on my protegees just keep on coming. In was few days ago, when mag. Lea Pfajfar got an award as the Slovenian HR hope 2013 for her master thesis on work engagement and the role of organizational networks and job design. That was in addition to the runner-up award at the Student Business Conference.

Yesterday, dr. Matej Černe was officially promoted to the PhD title at the University of Ljubljana ceremony. It is worth to mention, that Matej is the first Slovenian ever to publish as the first author in Academy of Management Journal and one of four that ever managed to do so.

Konferenca FEEL – napovednik

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

logo feel12. junija 2013 bom v okviru FEEL konference predaval na temo vloge voditeljev pri oblikovanju organizacijske klime za ustvarjalno in inovativno delo. Prispevek sva pripravila skupaj z Matejem Černetom, povzetek pa sledi:

V vedno bolj dinamičnem in negotovem poslovnem okolju so organizacije odvisne od ustvarjalnih idej posameznikov. Ustvarjalnost je temeljni dejavnik, ki služi kot odskočna deska za inovativnost posameznikov, skupin in organizacij. Zasledovanje ustvarjalnosti in inovativnosti je etično do vseh deležnikov organizacij – zaposlenih, partnerjev, lastnikov in družbe. Inovacije namreč vodijo v višjo dodano vrednost zaposlenih, spodbujajo rast in razvoj podjetij, ekonomski napredek in vodijo v večjo blaginjo družbe kot celote. Pri spodbujanju ustvarjalnosti zaposlenih in pretvarjanju le-te v inovativnost seveda igrajo veliko vlogo voditelji. S svojim delovanjem spodbujajo ustrezno organizacijsko klimo za ustvarjanje in udejanjanje idej. Primerna organizacijska klima mora uravnotežiti tako sodelovanje in razvoj (mojstrstvo), kot tudi poudarjati doseganje ciljev (uspešnost). Poleg spodbujanja tovrstne klime in zagotavljanja ustreznega motivacijskega mikro-okolja (pomen, avtonomija in mojstrstvo) morajo voditelji izražati podporo ustvarjalnim idejam in zagotoviti resurse za njihovo izvedbo. Velja biti pozoren tudi na organizacijske realnosti, ki se jim moramo pri etičnem voditeljstvu izogibati oz. jih preprečevati – npr. skrivanju znanja in pretiranem izražanju posameznih stilov vodenja. Tovrstna vedenja namreč vodijo v to, da številne iniciative za spodbujanje ustvarjalnosti v podjetjih ne dosežejo svojih učinkov. Če se destruktivna vedenja pri delu ponavljajo dalj časa, lahko pride do nevarne spirale nezaupanja, kar ima lahko katastrofalne družbenoekonomske, organizacijske in posamezne učinke v smislu zavrte ustvarjalnosti in inovativnosti.

Publication in the Leadership

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

LeadershipFor those of us interested in leading creativity and innovation, there is a new publication of ours, fresh from the oven: Černe, M., Jaklič, M., & Škerlavaj, M. (2013): Authentic leadership, creativity, and innovation: A multilevel perspective, Leadership, 9(1): 63-85.

This study aims to propose and empirically test a multilevel model of cross-level interactions between authentic leadership and innovation at the team level, and perception of support for innovation and creativity at the individual level. We use data from 23 team leaders and 289 team members in a Slovenian manufacturing and processing firm engaged in producing innovative products and customer solutions and conduct a multilevel analysis using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). The results indicate that whereas perceived team leaders’ authentic leadership directly influences team members’ individual creativity and team innovation, the impact of self-ascribed team leaders’ authentic leadership was not significant. In addition to that, the relationship between team leaders’ authenticity and creativity is mediated by perception of support for innovation. Using a multilevel approach, this is the first study to our knowledge to quantitatively examine the relationship between authentic leadership and creativity and innovation. In addition, unlike previous research on related topics that relied solely on one source of information, we examine authentic leadership with empirical data gathered from both team leaders and their employees.

Your ideas, comments more than welcome!

Publication in the AMJ

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

AMJ_cover_blankThanks to a wonderful group of co-authors and friends from Slovenia and Norway, amazingly developmental feedback from the three anonymous reviewers and AMJ associate editor Adam Grant, we got accepted our first Academy of Management Journal publication:

ČERNE, Matej, NERSTAD, Christina, DYSVIK, Anders, ŠKERLAVAJ, Miha (Forthcomming): What goes around comes around: Knowledge hiding, perceived motivational climate, and creativity.  Academy of Management Journal. 

Here is the abstract for those interested:

Knowledge hiding prevents colleagues from generating creative ideas, but it may also have negative consequences for the creativity of the knowledge hider. Drawing on social exchange theory, we propose that when employees hide knowledge, they trigger a reciprocal distrust loop in which coworkers are unwilling to share knowledge with them. We further suggest that these effects are contingent on the motivational climate such that the negative effects of hiding knowledge on one’s own creativity are enhanced in a performance climate and attenuated in a mastery climate. A field study of 240 employees, nested into 34 groups, revealed a negative relationship between knowledge hiding and the knowledge hider’s creativity as well as the moderating role of a mastery climate. Study 2 replicated these findings in an experimental study of 132 undergraduate students, testing a reciprocal distrust loop and comparing it with an alternative intra-psychic explanatory process based on situational regulatory focus. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

You never forget your first time! 🙂

Napoved predavanja na Kadrovskih dnevih 2011

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

Vabljeni 14. in 15. aprila na 16. Kadrovske dneve v Portorož. Na otvoritvenem, planarnem delu bom predstavil prispevek o vlogi, ki jo imajo HR managerji pri spodbujanju inovativnosti zaposlenih, sodeloval pa bom tudi v okrogli mizi na temo Kdo naj bo gibalo inovativnosti in motivacije: vodje ali HRM služba?  Program tukaj.

Kje je skriti zaklad?

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

V reviji MQ (št. 16, december 2010) smo avtorji Matej Černe, Miha Škerlavaj in Marko Jaklič objavili članek z naslovom Kje je skriti zaklad? Znanje in inovativnost zaposlenih ostajata ključni izziv netehnoloških inovacij, saj vplivata tudi na porajanje tehnoloških inovacij in posledično na dolgoročno konkurenčnost podjetij. Domače raziskave opozarjajo na slabo organizacijo inovacijskega procesa. Zato navajamo številne primere dobrih praks slovenskih in tujih podjetij, ki uspešno obvladujejo netehnološke inovacije v podporo tehnološkim.