Authentic Leadership in the Workplace: Being your authentic self as a leader and creating better employee job performance

By Dr. Sherrie A. Johnson

Dr. Sherrie A. Johnson is an expert in organizational leadership and communication and on how authentic leader behavior affects employee job performance. She is an authority on leading and communicating in a global environment and has competency in leadership. Dr. Johnson conducted research on authentic leadership and the effect it has on employee job performance in the workplace. She details the findings in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667845128

Book preview

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A heartfelt thank you to my parents, Thomas Johnson and JoAnn Johnson, my brother, Thomas Johnson Jr., and friends for their support and for reminding me that I can write this book.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright by Sherrie Antoinette Johnson, 2021.

No parts of this document may be reproduced

without the consent of Dr. Sherrie A. Johnson.

Requests are to be emailed to [e-mail].

Print ISBN: 978-1-66784-511-1

eBook ISBN: 978-1-66784-512-8

All rights reserved.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1. WHAT IS AN AUTHENTIC LEADER?

Chapter 2. LEADERS’ ETHICAL AND MORAL BEHAVIOR

Chapter 3. INCLUDING EMPLOYEES IN DECISION-MAKING

Chapter 4. LEADERS AND TRANSPARENCY

Chapter 5. LEADERS AND COMMUNICATION

Chapter 6. JOB PERFORMANCE

Chapter 7. AUTHENTIC LEADERS IN THE WORKPLACE: PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

CONCLUSION

SUMMARY

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

With scandal after scandal in public universities appearing in news headlines far too often, it was clear that a study on the important topic of authentic leadership in educational institutions was needed, especially the impact unethical attitude of leaders has on others.¹ Data points toward the suffering of employees working in offices or organizations who succumb to mental disorders caused by the malicious behaviors of their leaders.² Leadership styles have been widely studied in the literature, especially when it comes to how leaders not only make decisions but also how they solve problems and issues that in turn influences the success, failures, and job performance of organizations. With the rise in ethical concerns as well as scandals among organizations, interest in positive leadership styles has grown.³ Leadership styles, such as transformational, servant, authentic, participative, and ethical, have been studied for positive attributes, with a focus on ethical and moral values.⁴ While most of these styles have gained the attention of scholars in numerous studies, authentic leadership has very limited research.⁵ With leaders behaving unethically, it was necessary to explore the need for authentic leadership, how it influences job performance among postsecondary instructors, and how authentic leaders can prevent the scandals that so often damage our universities.⁶

What we now know is that authentic leadership creates a positive culture. Educational institutions are organizations that need leadership styles that promote success.⁷ Authentic leaders have specific behaviors that separate them from their employees.⁸ Future research is needed to determine how elements of various leadership styles, including authentic leadership, influence public universities.⁹ However, in the upcoming chapters, you will see the importance of an authentic leader, how the authentic leadership style contributes positively to an organization, and why it is needed in public universities today.

When we look at authentic leadership, it contains four distinct aspects: internal moral perspective, balanced processing, self-awareness, and relational transparency. The two aspects of internal moral perspective and relational transparency alone are very relevant in solving the issue of leaders behaving unethically.¹⁰ Having a sense of self and personal morals and ethics is a trait of authentic leadership and needed in today’s universities.¹¹ Transparency with employees points toward a climate of openness, which allows them to contribute to the organization and creates a sense of positivity.¹² These things are vital to the success of an educational institution.

It is important to also study authentic leadership because it became very apparent that the behaviors of leaders influence employees and job performance. Leaders’ behaviors were examined for internal moral perspective and relational transparency, which are critical to the performance of instructors in universities.¹³ During the research process, data analysis and participant self-awareness provided information on leaders’ feelings and motives; however, it was not relevant to the study.¹⁴

With very few studies exploring how postsecondary instructors described administrators’ authentic leadership behaviors and its influence on job performance at public universities, it was clear that a study on authentic leadership was needed. There is an additional need, however, to explore how postsecondary instructors describe leadership practices when it comes to elements like internal moral perspective and relational transparency.¹⁵ Information on authentic leadership at public universities is also needed because these setups require authentic leaders as they continue to encounter unethical attitudes by those in charge of staff.¹⁶

Future studies to find elements of other leadership styles that are effective in other public and private universities other than transformational leadership and paternalistic leadership were limited. It’s important that leaders understand and appreciate methods that enhance job performance in universities. Leaders play an important role in influencing employee attitudes and behaviors within organizations. Future studies should expand to other countries to increase the data on issues plaguing other universities worldwide similar to those throughout the United States.¹⁷

The reason behind the current in-depth study was to explore how leaders in public universities influence job performance of those they lead and how authentic leadership can benefit institutions. The results of this study contribute to scholarly literature for educators and administrators on effective leadership behaviors at public universities and can help leaders learn how to lead effectively. It also provides new data on leadership styles and their characteristics, along with their importance in leading others positively.

The introduction and background of this groundbreaking study are found in Chapter 1. This includes the problem areas universities face today and the scandals that seem to abound. It also explains the importance of this study and its purpose. This research has advanced scientific knowledge surrounding leadership styles today. Most importantly, this research explains what an authentic leader is, how to become one, and why it is important to lead with authenticity, earning the respect of followers in return.

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1 Saeed & Ali, 2018

2 Otaghsara & Hamzehzadeh, 2017

3 Bandura, Kavussanu, & Ong, 2019

4 Hoch et al., 2016

5 Hoch et al., 2016

6 Saeed & Ali, 2018

7 Karadag & Oztekin-Bayir, 2018; Pavlovic, 2015

8 Pavlovic, 2015

9 Hashmi et al., 2018

10 Duncan et al., 2017; Saeed & Ali, 2018

11 Duncan et al., 2017

12 Duncan et al., 2017

13 Duncan et al., 2017

14 Karadag & Oztekin-Bayir, 2018; Rego et al., 2018

15 Duncan et al., 2017; Fleming, 2017; Hashmi et al., 2018; Iqbal et al., 2019; Saeed & Ali, 2018

16 Saeed & Ali, 2018

17 Iqbal et al., 2019

CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS AN AUTHENTIC LEADER?

In the world of organizational leadership, many styles have come and gone. If you take a minute to search online for the most common leadership styles, I guarantee you will get a barrage of results—none consistent with one another, as some websites list five, seven, and even ten of the best leadership styles available to learn, practice, and promote within your own organization. Authoritarian leadership, participative leadership, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, delegative leadership … the list goes on and on, but which style is the most effective?

Throughout history, leadership has been known to produce remarkable effects in human life. Leadership has been known to make organizations successful, but unhealthy leadership can devastate the infrastructure of organizations. Nowadays, individuals and employees are the focus of organizations. Organizations tend to keep employees happy and motivated because they have realized that employees are the main assets. Loyal