Feeling Valued, the fuel for a better organizational leadership

Feeling Valued, the fuel for better organizational leadership!

Employees are the building blocks and the natural diamonds of any organization. Diverse workforces serve as a two-edged sword as they provide increased retention and performance and at the same time increase conflict and turnover. It is worth mentioning that non-profit leaders are the ones at higher risk in facing the challenge of effectively managing their workforces due to the limited resources in providing competitive salaries for their employees. (1-3)
Thus, increasing employee commitment -which means identification with organizational values and goals- to the organization remains as the most effective method for increasing retention and eventually performance in non-profit organizations. (2)(4)(5)
Creating an atmosphere where the employees feel valued for their unique personal characteristics and appreciated as pivotal members of the organization can be an excellent tool for transferring diversity into positive workplace outcomes. (6-7)
How can leaders act to make their followers feel valued and accepted?
The classical answer is simply expressing more appreciation by giving compliments or rewards to the employees. (8-9)
Though, employees are different from each other in benefiting from various leadership styles. (10)
The novel answer to this question is that the value experience arises from the regular familiarity between a leader’s regulatory focus and a follower’s regulatory focus. (11)
We mainly have 2 types of regulatory foci; promotion-focused and prevention-focused. 
The former one -promotion-focused- leader tends to have a transformational style of leadership; like showing faith and trust, displaying an attractive and optimistic vision of the future, challenging employees and providing meaning for their work, encouraging employees to express their ideas and opinions freely, and finally assuming employees as individuals with abilities, demands, and aspirations. (12)
On the other hand, the prevention-focused leaders display a transactional behavior, including the motivation of avoiding loss with emphasis on obligations and responsibilities and a special orientation towards vigilant/avoidant strategies. (9) (13)
Consequently, as the foci of the employees differ, the best leadership model is a transformational–transactional form based on the personalized approach of the employees. (14)


By: Kawthar Mohamed 
The manager of the UJA Team 

References:
1- Brimhall, KC. Inclusion and commitment as key pathways between leadership and non-profit performance. Non-profit Management and Leadership. 2019; 30: 31– 49. https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21368

2-Erdurmazli, E. (2019). Satisfaction and commitment in voluntary organizations: A cultural analysis along with servant leadership. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Non-profit Organizations, 30, 129–146. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11266-018-9992-z

3-Johnson, J. M., & Ng, E. S. (2016). Money talks or millennials work the effect of compensation on non-profit millennial workers sector-switching intentions. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 36, 283–305. https://doi.org/10.
1177/0734371X15587980

4-Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commit- ment to the organization. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 63, 1–18. https://doi.org/10. 1111/j.2044-8325.1990.tb00506.x

5-Vecina, M. L., Chacon, F., Marzana, D., & Marta, E. (2013). Volunteer engagement and organizational commitment in non-profit organizations: What makes volunteers remain within organizations and feel happy? Journal of Commu- nity Psychology, 41, 291–302. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21530

6-Shore, L. M., Randel, A. E., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., Holcombe Ehrhart, K., & Singh, G. (2011). Inclusion and diversity in work groups: A review and model for future research. Journal of Management, 37, 1262–1289. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0149206310385943

7-Mor Barak, M. E., Lizano, E. L., Kim, A., Duan, L., Rhee, M.-K., Hsiao, H.-Y., & Brimhall, K. C. (2016). The prom-
ise of diversity management for climate of inclusion: A state-of-the-art review and meta-analysis. Human Service Organizations: Leadership, Management & Governance, 40, 305–333. https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2016. 1138915

8-Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press.

9-House, R. J. (1971). A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16, 321–338.

10-Epitropaki, O., & Martin, R. (2005). The moderating role of individual differences in the relation between transformational/transactional leadership perceptions and organi- zational identification. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 569–589. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.06.005.

11- Higgins, E. T. (2000). Making a good decision: Value from fit. American Psychologist, 55, 1217–1230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.11.1217.

12-Conger, J. A. (1999). Charismatic and transformational leadership in organizations: An insider's perspective on these developing streams of research. The Leadership Quarterly, 10, 145–179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(99)00012-0

13-Sosik, J. J., & Dionne, S. D. (1997). Leadership styles and Deming's behavior factors. Journal of Business and Psychology, 11, 447–462. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02195891.


14-Hamstra, M. R. W., Sassenberg, K., Van Yperen, N. W., & Wisse, B. (2014). Followers feel valued — When leaders' regulatory focus makes leaders exhibit behavior that fits followers' regulatory focus. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 51, 34–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.11.003