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On the Importance of Authenticity for Leaders and Followers

12/13/2014

2 Comments

 
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The Journal of Happiness Studies, (yes, there is such a thing) has been around over a decade. I had not heard or read about it. I will definitely go back through past issues and read more of the empirical research on subjective well-being.

I came across this journal while researching literature on authenticity. Ralph van den Bosch and Toon W. Taris, organizational researchers in The Netherlands, published their research on developing a valid, reliable and short measure of workplace authenticity, the Individual Authenticity Measure (IAM). Their literature review and their own research were well worth my time and effort. Here are some of their observations and findings:
  • What is authenticity? The ability to act “in agreement with one’s true self.” (2) 
  • The great psychologist Carl Rogers argued authenticity was a precondition for a person to be able to eventually be fully functioning, fulfilling one’s potential. Authenticity flows from one’s perceptions about experience, not others' perceptions.
  • Being authentic is important to functioning in a healthy manner
  • Authenticity is related positively to autonomy, personal growth, relations with others,  purpose in life. (3-4)
  • Leader authenticity has been found to be positively related to team performance.
  • Authenticity is related negatively to anxiety, depression, and stress. 
  • People feel authentic in the workplace when what they are doing is consistent with how they see themselves. 
  • Authenticity can vary with different roles. One may be authentic at work and not elsewhere or vice versa. Some may always be authentic. Others, never. 
The authors based their model on earlier formulations of authenticity. Authenticity is about consistency in subjective experience and actual experience. Authenticity is seen at three levels:
  • Knowing or not knowing who you are. Some people are self-alienated, “out of touch” with who they are, their core. Being aware of your moods, your physiological state. 
  • Living in accordance with your beliefs and values. Doing so is authentic living, being true to self in most situations.
  • Being who you are, the degree to which one is influenced by the social environment. The more one is, the higher the probability of self-alienation. 
Bosch et al. studied over 600 Dutch workers, men and women, and produced a good instrument to study workplace authenticity. Their measure was positively related to work engagement, workplace autonomy, performance, and job satisfaction and negatively to stress.

My Take-Aways

1. I applaud Bosch and Taris for (1) shining light on the importance of authenticity for all in the workplace, both leaders and followers and (2) developing a short reliable, valid instrument to measure.  I hope many studies flow from this line of research.

2.  How important is it that we have congruence between our roles and ourselves? I suspect it is very important to health. Katz and Kahn showed decades ago that much of our stress flows from problems related to our roles. How hard is it for us to act one way when in fact we are not like that in our core? Over time my guess is it would grow difficult – or change us. These are research questions.

3.  But among the instruments we now have to assess the well-being of the workplace, we can add another. Authentic workers may be more satisfied, engaged, and healthy but to what degree can the organization make a difference? 
(1) Realistic job previews. Help potential recruits know what the culture is really like. 
(2) Annual Quality of Worklife surveys. Do them. Use them. Show employees they make a difference in improving working conditions. 
(3) Good training of supervisors and development of managers.

4.  Organizations need authentic leaders who recognize the value of authenticity at all levels.


Katz, D., & Kahn, R.L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations (2nd. ed.). New York: Wiley.  

Van den Bosch, R., & Taris, T. W. (2014). Authenticity at work: Development and validation of an individual authenticity measure  at work, Journal of Happiness Studies, 15, 1-18.

"Authenticity." © John Ballard, 2014
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2 Comments
Betty Beeler
12/14/2014 08:48:01 pm

John, does Van den Bosch & Taris's "individual authenticity measure" take into account the role that social interaction plays in the development and state of a person's authenticity? The 2 are intertwined, according to studies on dialogics.
I'd also like to thank you for your introspective comments and the quality of the themes you discuss. By the way, they are quite in line with the conference theme of EGOS 2015 in Athens: Organizations and the Examined Life: Reason, Reflexivity and Responsibility.

Reply
John Ballard
12/18/2014 04:06:55 am

Betty, I think they do. The article discussing authenticity more as a state measure than a trait measure. Thanks for the feedback on my blogs. Appreciated.

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