Managing (in) times of uncertainty: the effects of leadership sensemaking on employee well-being in dynamic business environments

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

Authors

Leadership behavior is an important factor for employee well-being. Research about occupational health promotion has shown that the support of managers is crucial to the success of measures for improving employee health and well-being. However, little interest has been paid to the psychological effects of dynamic environments on employee and management health. To address this gap, we will review publications concerning the interplay of environmental dynamism, employee uncertainty, leadership sensemaking, and employee well-being. We argue that change(s) in economic systems promotes personal uncertainty, which affects employee well-being. More specifically, we focus on leadership behaviors that diminish uncertainty in times of dynamic environments. In this chapter, we will describe two alternative routes for leadership influence on employee well-being and argue that environmental change has to be actively managed. Possible implications that can be derived from our concepts are: (1) that preserving employee well-being through leadership sensemaking in turbulent economic times could contribute to maximizing employee performance; and (2) that especially designed leadership trainings could provide organizations with means of dealing with employee uncertainty stemming from rapidly changing economic environments.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHealthy at Work : Interdisciplinary Perspectives
EditorsMarkus Wiencke, Mirella Cacace, Sebastian Fischer
Number of pages11
Place of PublicationSchweiz
PublisherSpringer International Publishing AG
Publication date01.01.2016
Pages127-137
ISBN (print)978-3-319-32329-9
ISBN (electronic)978-3-319-32331-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.01.2016

    Research areas

  • Management studies - Leadership Behavior, Power Centralization, Cognitive Overload, Environmental Dynamism, Entrepreneurial Employee