To accomplish policy tasks, political leaders and executives entrust bureaucrats who possess specialized knowledge, however in doing so, they face the potential loss of control over policy...Show moreTo accomplish policy tasks, political leaders and executives entrust bureaucrats who possess specialized knowledge, however in doing so, they face the potential loss of control over policy formulation and execution. This becomes problematic if bureaucrats hold differing preferences from their superiors. The study examines how leaders in public institutions behave in face of insubordination under modern governing conditions where decentralization, outsourcing and market-based reasoning are major factors. It establishes how executives manage bureaucratic insubordination in a specific case of Polish sub-national institutions, contributing to an academically underrepresented institutional setting. Supported by the typology of Yukl (2012) it outlines practical and realistic models of executive behavior.Show less
This paper sought to find out how public healthcare employees with an ethnic minority background experience more job stress than their native Dutch counterparts. Based on existing literature it was...Show moreThis paper sought to find out how public healthcare employees with an ethnic minority background experience more job stress than their native Dutch counterparts. Based on existing literature it was expected that ethnic minority public healthcare staff has less job resources and more job demands due to their experiences with differential treatment at work, resulting in higher levels of job stress. The research question was answered through deductive qualitative research with interviews. The empirical findings confirmed the theoretical expectations. Generally, the cultural distance felt by ethnic minority employees made them lack social support in job settings with predominantly native Dutch colleagues, leading to less job resources. Furthermore, experiences with differential treatment at any intensity increased emotional demand from work, leading to more job demands. The enlarged imbalance between job resources and demands increased job stress. These effects were experienced by respondents in various degrees. Overall, respondents could be categorised into three groups: Those who felt their ethnic background strongly has a negative impact on their job stress, those who felt their ethnic background may sometimes have a negative impact on their job stress and those who did not feel as though their ethnic background significantly impacts their job stress.Show less
This thesis sets out to uncover the relationship between different forms of workplace ambiguity and the networking behaviour of managers in public organisations. Public leaders are frequently made...Show moreThis thesis sets out to uncover the relationship between different forms of workplace ambiguity and the networking behaviour of managers in public organisations. Public leaders are frequently made to handle numerous obstacles as part of their work, which can often include the emergence of ambiguity in their objectives, responsibilities or policies. Goal and role ambiguity have been known to have a significant effect on the behaviour of public workers, often increasing feelings of dissatisfaction as well as decreasing productivity. For this reason, academics have strived to closely study the influence of workplace ambiguity on the various roles that a manager performs on a day to day basis. This thesis aimed to make a contribution to this endeavour, by focusing on the networking behaviour of public managers and hypothesising whether different forms of ambiguity are positively or negatively related to its prevalence. To accomplish this task, this thesis has drawn on academic literature on leadership behaviour, managerial networking, goal ambiguity, role ambiguity, and public organisations. Furthermore, this thesis used a quantitative approach for its research, utilising a large-N dataset collected by Leiden University and Erasmus University Rotterdam via an online survey. This data was used to test the hypotheses by conducting three regression analyses in SPSS. The results from these analyses suggested that within the social support teams in the Netherlands, the presence of goal ambiguity and role ambiguity are negatively related to the networking behaviour of team leaders.Show less
This thesis analyses the extent to which red tape negatively relates to employee job satisfaction through two specific dimensions: red tape's burden and lack of functionality. Furthermore, the...Show moreThis thesis analyses the extent to which red tape negatively relates to employee job satisfaction through two specific dimensions: red tape's burden and lack of functionality. Furthermore, the thesis examines the extent to which two leadership behaviours - supporting leadership behaviour and encouraging innovation leadership behaviour - mitigate the negative relationship between red tape and job satisfaction. Each leadership behaviour has been expected to moderate the relationship between one specific dimension of red tape and employee job satisfaction. Hypotheses have been tested with a statistical method using an existing dataset generated by a research project on the functioning of Dutch social welfare neighbourhood teams. The results show that the two dimensions of red tape negatively relate to employee job satisfaction. The leadership behaviours both positively relate to employee job satisfaction. The results of the moderation analysis were, however, insignificant.Show less
Prosocial rule breaking is a relatively new topic in public administration. Therefore, this research contributes to the literature by studying it in the Dutch social welfare domain. In the...Show moreProsocial rule breaking is a relatively new topic in public administration. Therefore, this research contributes to the literature by studying it in the Dutch social welfare domain. In the scientific realm of leadership and management, the question was if it could be influenced by supportive leadership behavior, and whether psychological safety functions as a mediator variable. Although no significant direct relation appears, important indirect associations have been found: between supportive leadership behavior and psychological safety; and between psychological safety and prosocial rule breaking. Prosocial rule breaking appears to be an inherent part of social welfare work, amidst a high bureaucracy, prosocial motivation and unpredictable and discretionary situations. As such, believed is that it is indifferent toward supportive leadership behavior. However, it is expected that the variables relate stronger in contexts where prosocial rule breaking is less obvious, and therefore more susceptible to supportive leadership behavior.Show less
This paper tests the relationship between shared leadership with TLBs in Dutch welfare teams, exploring and accounting for the mediating variable of psychological safety. The research is...Show moreThis paper tests the relationship between shared leadership with TLBs in Dutch welfare teams, exploring and accounting for the mediating variable of psychological safety. The research is constructed around the following research question: How does the shared leadership influence team learning in Dutch welfare teams, and to what extent is this relationship mediated by psychological safety? The research question is examined within social welfare teams with team members from various public and non-profit stakeholders that work together.Show less
The COVID-19 crisis is a complex cross-sectoral crisis that requires a large number of actors to be involved in crisis management. But amidst a crisis, uncertainty, time pressure and chaos arise....Show moreThe COVID-19 crisis is a complex cross-sectoral crisis that requires a large number of actors to be involved in crisis management. But amidst a crisis, uncertainty, time pressure and chaos arise. Luckily, few crises occur and therefore the intended crisis management structures are not frequently put to a robust test. But the COVID-19 crisis is different and discrepancies between the intended and actual crisis management structures were uncovered. This research investigates how the discrepancy between intended and actual crisis management can best be explained. A congruence analysis focussing on contingency and institutional theory seeks to explain which of these two theories provides the best explanation by focussing on the degree of centralisation/decentralisation. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were conducted to collect the data. The analysis shows that contingency theory best provides an explanation for the discrepancy, but institutional explanations better explain discrepancies in crisis management related to the public, such as communicationShow less
