Fatemeh Ghorbani; Ghasem Eslami; Hossein Afkhami Rohani
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
In the current era, where organizations face a globally competitive environment, the need for changes and innovative work is strongly felt in the workplace. Organizations should not insist on old methods that fail to respond to current organizational needs for survival in this ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
In the current era, where organizations face a globally competitive environment, the need for changes and innovative work is strongly felt in the workplace. Organizations should not insist on old methods that fail to respond to current organizational needs for survival in this competitive environment and should use new ones to perform their tasks. Paradoxical leadership is one of the new leadership styles that can affect the employees' creativity and is one of the challenges managers face in their work environment.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Paradoxical leadership is defined as "seemingly competing, yet related, behaviors to meet structural and follower demands simultaneously and over time." Employees' need for cognitive stability is defined as a person's willingness to give a decisive answer on a given issue and avoid confusion and ambiguity. Identification with the leader means the employees' values are the same as their leaders, are proud to cooperate with their leader, and are upset if their leader is criticized. Workload pressure refers to the extent to which employees have to work quickly and have a lot to do. Self-efficacy is a constructive ability representing the employees' cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral skills to achieve various goals effectively. Employees with high creative self-efficacy deal with issues and problems more effectively due to their confidence in their abilities. Creativity means using the capabilities of the mind to create a new thought. Few Persian researchers have investigated the concept of paradox in leadership and organization management and its possible outcomes, such as creativity.
3- METHODOLOGY
This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of its nature and descriptive method. The data collection tool is a questionnaire, and the statistical population of the research is the employees of government organizations in Mashhad. To determine the sample size, ten questionnaires were considered for each item, and after removing the incomplete questionnaires, the required data were collected from 384 people by stratified random method. The appropriateness of the data was determined by checking its validity and reliability. Then, the structural equation modeling technique was used to test the research hypotheses.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
All hypotheses were tested and confirmed, including the positive impact of Paradoxical leadership on identifying with the leader and creative self-efficacy, creative self-efficacy on employee creativity, and identifying with the leader on employee creativity. The mediating roles of creative self-efficacy and identifying with the leader were also proven, and the positive moderation of work pressure and the negative moderation of employees' need for cognitive stability were also confirmed.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
Considering the significant impacts that creativity may have on the improvement of organizational processes, one of the most important points that should be considered is the development of a security culture in the workplace. To create this environment, managers can take actions, such as encouraging cooperation and interaction between employees, creating a safe space for expressing creative ideas, holding training courses to strengthen creativity, positive evaluation, and providing rewards for creative performance, etc. Considering that contradictory leadership can be effective on creative self-efficacy and identification with the leader, managers should be able to create a balance between conflicting behaviors and have sufficient expertise in achieving goals. Considering the positive relationship between paradoxical leadership and identification with the leader, organizations should prioritize strong relationships between leaders and employees by providing opportunities for employees to get to know their leaders and feel connected to them. Finally, it is suggested that the managers find out about the employees' need for cognitive closure and treat the employees accordingly.
Abstract
Extended abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Today, organizations are faced with a dynamic environment characterized by rapid technological changes, products' shortened lifecycle, and globalization. in such a situation, the main challenge for firms is to create an organization of improving creativity among their ...
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Extended abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Today, organizations are faced with a dynamic environment characterized by rapid technological changes, products' shortened lifecycle, and globalization. in such a situation, the main challenge for firms is to create an organization of improving creativity among their members besides ensuring the effectiveness of activities. the development of organizational creativity and innovation has always been considered by leaders, especially in the petrochemical industry, the leaders of which have pursued various creative approaches and strategies. not only the leadership style is important for developing creativity and innovation, but also the behavioral style of employees is crucial. in general, this study seeks to investigate the role of proactive work behaviors in the relationship between transformational leadership and creativity and innovation in the petrochemical industry.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The role of leadership in creativity and innovation has always been considered by researchers in various organizations. in the meantime, the role of transformational leadership has been more studied, especially in domestic research. on the other hand, researchers suggested that proactive work behaviors such as influencing others, self-initiation, forward-thinking, and desire for active participation may result in organizational creativity and innovation. the present research is particularly accomplished to understand whether transformational leadership improves organizational creativity and innovation through creating proactive morale in employees to exert proactive work behaviors.
3- METHODOLOGY
The statistical population encompasses 300 employees of petrochemical companies and institutes in lorestan province, among which a sample size of 169 was selected based on cochran's formula. needed data was collected through a questionnaire having likert-type scales. obtained data was then analyzed by conducting PLS-SEM in SmartPLS v.3 software.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Current results indicated that behaviors of transformational leader which are consistent with the factors of creativity context (e.g., vision, innovation support, authority, encouragement, recognition, and challenge) act as a driving force for creativity. transformational leadership, as a role model for employees, encourages their proactive work behaviors by empowering them to question the status quo and to find new ways of doing works. proactive employees are actively looking for ideal conditions to put their creativity into action. since proactivity is an important driving force for innovation, the self-initiation component of which is associated with identifying problems and devising innovative solutions. by transformation of personal ethics, ideals, interests, and values of followers, transformational leaders inspire their employees and motivate them to proactively improve their performance.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
The present study explored one of the mechanisms through which transformational leadership is associated with creativity and innovation. the results revealed that transformational leadership directly predicts employees’ creativity, innovation, and proactive work behaviors. proactive work behaviors are also capable of predicting organizational creativity and innovation. in total, the current findings are in line with the idea that supervisors having inspiring motivation, personal consideration, ideal influence, and intellectual stimulation play a key role in promoting the employees’ proactive work behaviors. reciprocally, proactive employees have more enthusiasm to be creative and innovative. as a general suggestion for petrochemical managers and supervisors to become transformational leaders, they are recommended to pay more attention to proactive behaviors and provide needed context to develop these behaviors.