Vocational Education and Training Organisation’s Staff Members Perceptions of Positively Deviant Leadership and Organisation

Abstract

Vocational Education and Training (VET) organisations play a key role in preparing young people for the workplace and society of the future. This also means meeting multiple challenges: the skills needs of the world of work are changing rapidly, while the well-being of students is challenged by multiple global crises such as the COVID19 pandemic. These challenges and demands can best be met by skilled and enthusiastic staff in VET organisations: research shows that staff enthusiasm and job satisfaction are linked to organisational performance, efficiency and quality. Previous research has shown that positive leadership and organising are connected to VET organisations’ staffs’ experiences of holistic, active well-being at work, i. e., enthusiasm and work engagement. It is also suggested that psychological safety and community-related factors are among the mediating factors between positive leadership and work engagement. However, less is known about how positive leadership manifests itself according to staff perception and which factors in positive leadership and organisation are crucial fostering their work engagement.  The present study focused on investigating positive leadership and organisation in VET from employees’ perspective focusing on experiences of psychological and social safety. The study examined staff perceptions as a case study in one VET organisational unit, which received the best results of the entire VET organization (total 9 units) in the measurement of positive organisational index and work engagement. The perceptions of the staff in this top-unit were investigated by qualitative survey. The research data consisted of open-ended responses from staff members (N=15) which were analysed using data-driven content analysis. The results show that staff perceive the management and organisation of their unit as strengthening trust and fostering a sense of community. The small size of the unit was perceived as a factor contributing to a sense of community and safety. From the data-driven subcategories, four super-categories were formed, which are theoretically linked to basic psychological needs: competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Furthermore, the results indicated the manifestation of psychological safety. The results are consistent with previous studies on positive leadership but introduce a vocational training perspective. The study also provides new insights for the development of leadership in VET.

Keywords: positive organization, psychological safety, leadership, work engagement

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-35-05

Publication date: December 31^st 2023