The mediating relationship of self-awareness on supervisor burnout and workgroup Civility & Psychological Safety: A multilevel path analysis

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe purpose of this study was to examine whether managerial self-awareness (defined as degree of agreement between self and subordinate ratings of leaders' behaviors) mediates the relationship between supervisor burnout and supervised workgroup climate. Using an HLM approach, supervisor emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment exhibited significant indirect relationships with workplace Civility and Psychological Safety, via managerial self-awareness. No direct relationships between supervisor burnout and workgroup climate were found, suggesting that self-awareness may be an important mediator for individual characteristics of leaders previously thought to be non-significant. Additional post hoc comparisons indicated that workgroups with supervisors who over-rated their own performance behaviors reported the lowest levels of Civility and Psychological Safety compared to workgroups with supervisors who accurately rated or under-rated their own performance behaviors. However, supervisors that under-rated their own performance reported the highest levels of burnout, highlighting the importance of self-awareness (accurately rating oneself) in relation to individual and group outcomes. The relationships between supervisor burnout, managerial self-awareness, and workgroup perceptions of Civility and Psychological Safety differed when considering the directionality of self-other rating agreement, with the negative impact of burnout at the supervisor level having a more direct impact on the workgroup level perceptions of Civility and Psychological Safety when the workgroup is managed by an under-rater, as opposed to an accurate-or over-rater. Practically, organizations should consider the role of managerial self-awareness in influencing subordinate performance and creating desirable work climates. Also, this study suggests the effects of burnout extend beyond the individual and have significant implications for the performance of those in the supervision of the burned out manager.

Psychological Unsafety in Schools: The Development and Validation of a Scale

“…Some previous research findings related with Turkish teachers are coherence with the results of the current study that teachers experience some degree of psychological unsafety. When we count on the result suggesting "psychological safety is an important aspect of workplace climate" (Hernandez et al, 2015) we can relate the current results to the results of school culture, school climate and professional well-being. For instance, Yaman and Güngör (2014) found that teachers had a low level of exclusion bias.…”

“…Inversely, psychological unsafety indicates more conflict and less team satisfaction among group members. Thus, it is an important aspect of workplace climate (Hernandez, Luthanen, Ramsel and Osatuke, 2015). Workplace climate is a basic condition for psychological safety.…”

“…"I am not afraid to express my opinions at work. " Hernandez, Luthanen, Ramsel and Osatuke (2015) used two items to measure psychological safety in workgroup: "Members in my work-group are able to bring up problems and tough issues" and "It is safe to take risks in this workgroup". Edmondson et al (2004) studied psychological safety among nurses (N=20-30) from two different hospitals and asked a single survey item (if you make a mistake in this team.…”

Analyzing the Psychological Unsafety in Schools in Terms of Individual and Institutional Variables

“…Studies on psychological un/safety include items as: "It's easy to speak up anything on your mind" Garvin et al, 2008), "I am not afraid to express my opinions here" (Lyu, 2016), "People, here, can bring up problems and difficult situations and don't hesitate to take risks" (Hernandez et al, 2015), "If you make a mistake here it is held against you afterwards" (Edmondson et al, 2004). "Institutional Psychological Unsafety Scale" which was developed and its validity and reliability analysis conducted by Yıldırım and Yenipınar (2017) was used.…”

“…As for "Psychological unsafety", it is that for employee, considering Employees who work in organizations in which psychological unsafety faced intensively are inclined to blame others for mistakes, problems and failures (Carmeli and Gittell, 2008). This situation threats also positive work environment, organisational learning and employees in displaying their potentials for organisational development (Carmeli and Gittell, 2008;Hernandez, Luthanen, Ramsel and Osatuke, 2015). Mistakes, failures are tools of learning and development in organisational learning (Garvin, Edmondson and Gino, 2008;Kahn, 2007).…”