Emotional intelligence and multicultural project leadership in Finnish-Chinese MNC context

The main goal of this thesis was to examine how the emotional intelligence skills and multicultural project leadership style of a project manager interrelate and affect the success of a project. The research methods used are literature review in theoretical part of the thesis and semi-structured interviews in empirical part of the thesis. This study is a single case study i.e. one case company was selected to be the secondary level of analysis. Within the case company, four project managers were selected as research units to form the primary level of analysis. Literature review formed the basis for the empirical research and the interview questions were derived from the literature. Findings from the interviews were mirrored against the literature review findings, based on which both conclusions and generalisations could be made. Thus, both deductive and inductive methods were utilised to get more complete picture about the research topic. In the first part of the literature review the general leadership theories and the project leadership terminology are introduced as a background for the concept of emotional intelligence and the integrated leadership model. Emotional intelligence and its interrelation to different leadership concepts are discussed during the literature review. Chinese cultural aspects affecting the way of making business, and the multicultural leadership styles of the Finnish project managers are introduced in the following part of the literature review. It was found that the most successfully used multicultural leadership styles in Finnish-Chinese context are synergistic and polycentric, and these require emotional intelligence skills. In the empirical part on this thesis the findings from the semi-structured interviews are introduced, discussed and analysed. Interviews were done in private meeting rooms, and they were recorded and transcripted to add reliability and validity. Although the sample was only four project managers, the results show that the sample is quite saturated as the responses to several questions followed the same pattern. It was found that Finnish project managers in the case company are democratic and take cultural differences into account in their project leadership. Both synergistic and polycentric leadership styles are used with Chinese team members. Emotional intelligence capabilities and the emphasis of those differ a bit depending on the interviewee. Though, the results show that EI skills and the multicultural project leadership style used in Chinese context are interrelated. The findings from the literature review and the empirical research in this thesis are similar. Though, there is need for further research as the sample was small, and this thesis is a single case study. It is recommendable to make a multi-company study with larger sample of project managers. Also multi-industry perspective is recommendable for further research.

What is left of leadership when the leader is gone?

Tässä kandidaatintyössä tutkitaan voidaanko organisaatioissa määrittää johtajuutta, joka ei ole henkilöitynyt. Jos voidaan, mikä on ei henkilöön sitoutuneen henkilöitymättömän johtajuuden määritelmä ja mitkä ovat tällaisen johtajuuden elementit.

Ethical leadership as a way to promote work-related well-being

The purpose of this study was to clarify the connections of ethical leadership with the work-related well-being of employees. Additionally, the role of occupational health care in ethical leadership that promotes work-related well- being was analyzed. The objective of the study was to produce knowledge to support the development of ethical leadership and work-related well-being as well as to find ways for occupational health care to support organizations in these actions. The target groups of this study consisted of the managers (N=43) and employees (N=336) working in one organization in the Finnish energy industry. The population was studied in November 2014 using census. The data was gathered with two different web-based surveys containing structured and open questions. The survey for managers consisted of background questions and statements concerning ethical leadership, work-related well-being and occupational health care. The employee questionnaire consisted of questions about background and statements about work-related well-being and ethical leadership. The structured questions were analyzed with SPSS Statistical Program and the open questions using inductive content analysis. At least 80 % of the managers saw their actions as ethical in all but one part of ethical leadership. The work-related well-being of the employees was found best in the area of ability to work (91 % agreed) and lowest in the area of experience of ethical leadership (67 % agreed). The results showed a strong positive connection between ethical leadership and all the components of work- related well-being. The managers and employees were generally quite happy with the services of occupational health care but managers saw some problems with the collaboration with occupational health care. Several ways to improve work-related well-being and collaboration with occupational health care were found. One of the most important things was thought to be offering ways to maintain ability to work and making these actions visible. Investing in ethical leadership and work-related well-being is extremely important for the success of an organization and the societal benefits cannot be forgotten either. The role of occupational health care in promoting the health and well-being of employees is substantial. Occupational health care should offer managers more tools to recognize difficult situations and acting in them as well as encourage managers to seek help from occupational health care without hesitation in problematic situations of leadership.

Stretching the drum skin : an analysis of power relations in leadership and succession in the Evangelical Lutheran church in Tanzania-Northern diocese 1942– 1993

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Ethical leadership as a way to promote work-related well-being

The purpose of this study was to clarify the connections of ethical leadership with the work-related well-being of employees. Additionally, the role of occupational health care in ethical leadership that promotes work-related well- being was analyzed. The objective of the study was to produce knowledge to support the development of ethical leadership and work-related well-being as well as to find ways for occupational health care to support organizations in these actions. The target groups of this study consisted of the managers (N=43) and employees (N=336) working in one organization in the Finnish energy industry. The population was studied in November 2014 using census. The data was gathered with two different web-based surveys containing structured and open questions. The survey for managers consisted of background questions and statements concerning ethical leadership, work-related well-being and occupational health care. The employee questionnaire consisted of questions about background and statements about work-related well-being and ethical leadership. The structured questions were analyzed with SPSS Statistical Program and the open questions using inductive content analysis. At least 80 % of the managers saw their actions as ethical in all but one part of ethical leadership. The work-related well-being of the employees was found best in the area of ability to work (91 % agreed) and lowest in the area of experience of ethical leadership (67 % agreed). The results showed a strong positive connection between ethical leadership and all the components of work- related well-being. The managers and employees were generally quite happy with the services of occupational health care but managers saw some problems with the collaboration with occupational health care. Several ways to improve work-related well-being and collaboration with occupational health care were found. One of the most important things was thought to be offering ways to maintain ability to work and making these actions visible. Investing in ethical leadership and work-related well-being is extremely important for the success of an organization and the societal benefits cannot be forgotten either. The role of occupational health care in promoting the health and well-being of employees is substantial. Occupational health care should offer managers more tools to recognize difficult situations and acting in them as well as encourage managers to seek help from occupational health care without hesitation in problematic situations of leadership.