Oratie uitgesproken door Prof.dr. Ben S. Kuipers bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van hoogleraar Publiek Leiderschap aan de Universiteit Leiden op vrijdag 14 juni 2024
Changing bureaucratic structures and increasing collaboration within public service delivery create new questions for leadership. With formal authority becoming more dispersed and various actors... Show moreChanging bureaucratic structures and increasing collaboration within public service delivery create new questions for leadership. With formal authority becoming more dispersed and various actors increasingly involved, revised expectations as to who contributes to organizational coordination are emerging. We investigate how both managers and non-managerial employees use leadership behaviours and how characteristics of the organizational context affect their engagement in leadership. Analyses of survey data collected among public servants (n = 1,266) in the Netherlands show that employees both with and without formal leadership positions demonstrate more leadership behaviour in situations of higher environmental complexity, but the latter group faces more bureaucratic constraints. Show less
Governments initiate major public sector reforms for variousreasons. Although change leadership appears crucial, its role inimplementing reforms in public organizations receives scantattention.... Show moreGovernments initiate major public sector reforms for variousreasons. Although change leadership appears crucial, its role inimplementing reforms in public organizations receives scantattention. Insights from public administration and change man-agement literature help to bridge the gap between thesemacrolevel and microlevel perspectives. Our multilevel study oftwo youth care organizations addressing public sector reformexplores how leadership behavior—and in interaction betweentop and middle managers—contributes to the concept of whatwe callchange embeddednessamong front-line employees. Theuse of leadership behaviors during the reform that are leadercentric (shaping) appear to be associated with greater ambiguityand worse change embeddedness. However, leadershipfocused onengagingemployees andboundary spanningwithexternal organizations seems to support the embeddedness ofthe reform, especially when these behaviors are connected toa clear sense of purpose around the change. Show less
In organizations with a diverse workforce, inclusive leadership is assumed to be required to support the full appreciation and participation of diverse members. To date, studies identifying how... Show moreIn organizations with a diverse workforce, inclusive leadership is assumed to be required to support the full appreciation and participation of diverse members. To date, studies identifying how leadership enables an inclusive climate in diverse teams are scarce. The aim of this study, therefore, is to examine how inclusive leadership fosters inclusiveness in diverse teams. Hypotheses were tested on a sample of 293 team members clustered in 45 public sector teams using structural equation modeling. The results showed that inclusive leadership positively moderates the negative relation between team ethnic–cultural diversity and inclusive climate. This study shows that greater team diversity does not automatically yield an inclusive climate. Inclusive leadership is needed to support an inclusive climate in which different team members are valued for what they bring to work practices. Inclusive leadership is crucial for fostering inclusiveness in diverse teams. Limitations are discussed and recommendations for future research are proposed. Show less
Nooteboom, L.; Eilander, J.; Voet, J. van der; Kuipers, B.S.; Steijn, A.J.; Vermeiren, R.J.M.; Mulder, E.A. 2020
Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to identify critical success factors for the management of complex change processes in fire service organizations and to apply these in a case study of the... Show morePurpose–The purpose of this paper is to identify critical success factors for the management of complex change processes in fire service organizations and to apply these in a case study of the Rotterdam-Rijnmond fire service.Design/methodology/approach–The paper provides review of literature on organizational change, casestudy of the Rotterdam-Rijnmond fire service supported by the analysis of policy documents and 30semi-structured interviews with key persons.Findings–Combining different theoretical approaches helps to get a more complete picture of important issues and dilemma’s in the management of change processes–which is a first step in the successful implementation of changes–whereas other approaches tend to emphasize only some and overlook others. Applied in a case study, this approach revealed serious weaknesses in the management of change within the Rotterdam-Rijnmond fire service and offered practical guides for solutions.Originality/value–This paper combines insights from different theoretical approaches into a more integrated perspective that aims to be helpful as a practical tool for designing and implementing complex changes in fire service organizations. Show less
With the rise of performance management, work in the public sector has changed. An output focus has become more common. Other changes include decentralization and managing organizations more... Show moreWith the rise of performance management, work in the public sector has changed. An output focus has become more common. Other changes include decentralization and managing organizations more horizontally. Setting performance goals and working in teams exemplify these developments. Despite an extensive literature on goal setting, research on goal setting in teams and empirical studies in public organizations have been largely absent. This study contributes to the fields of public management and teamwork by examining whether and under what team conditions clear goals contribute to team performance in the Dutch public sector. Analyses on survey data (n = 105 teams) show that both goal clarity and self-management positively affect team performance. The effect of goal clarity on team performance is not affected by teamwork though, indicated by insignificant moderation effects of self-management and information elaboration. Suggestions are offered for future research to better understand goal setting in public sector teams. Show less
For the HR function to have a positive impact on performance and thus strategically add value to the organization, it has been suggested to redefine its traditional operational role. However, to... Show moreFor the HR function to have a positive impact on performance and thus strategically add value to the organization, it has been suggested to redefine its traditional operational role. However, to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between these HR roles and performance, their alignment with the organizational strategy should not be ignored. In this paper, we therefore focus not only on whether the operational and strategic HR roles are linked to performance, but also on the extent to which their alignment with the applied organizational strategy actually matters for performance. We carried out a survey study among 336 respondents either holding an HR function or being responsible for HR-related tasks in various organizations. We found a positive effect of the strategic role on performance, and also how it might substitute a lack of innovation strategy. Further, we found an alignment effect between a cost strategy and the operational HR role in relation to organizational performance. We discuss these findings based on the literature and provide some practical recommendations for further developing the role of HR. Show less
This study assesses the relationship between prosocial motivation and commitment to change among youth care professionals. We draw on person–environment fit theory to propose that this... Show moreThis study assesses the relationship between prosocial motivation and commitment to change among youth care professionals. We draw on person–environment fit theory to propose that this relationship is conditional on employees’ perceived meaningfulness of the change for society and clients. Our results confirm the expected positive relationship between prosocial motivation and commitment to change. Our analysis suggests that the moderating relationship between prosocial motivation, client meaningfulness and commitment to change should be understood as a substitutive relationship: both prosocial motivation and client meaningfulness are sufficient conditions, but the presence of both is not a necessary condition for commitment to change. Show less
Voet, J. van der; Groeneveld, S.; Kuipers, B.S. 2016
To achieve greater sustainability, governments need to continuously adapt their purchasing activities to innovations in the market. Sustainable procurement is a decision-making process in which the... Show moreTo achieve greater sustainability, governments need to continuously adapt their purchasing activities to innovations in the market. Sustainable procurement is a decision-making process in which the decisions of procurers determine if the full potential of sustainable procurement is used. The decisions and thus behaviour of procurers are therefore crucial for the successfulness of sustainable procurement. According to organizational theory, commitment to change could influence this behaviour. Hence, in the study, we examined if commitment to implement sustainable procurement increases sustainable procurement behaviour by Dutch public procurers and what determines this commitment to implement sustainable procurement are. Our study shows first that both affective commitment to implement sustainable procurement and procedural justice increase sustainable procurement behaviour. In addition, the results show that commitment to change acts as a mechanismbetween fitwith vision, ecological sustainability attitude, procedural justice and sustainable procurement behaviour. Show less
