This presentation provides an overview of my MSc research investigating the influence of supportive manager behaviours on employee engagement and job satisfaction. This was presented at the Annual Division of Occupational Psychology 2013 Conference.

1. Leveraging the role of the manager to
improve organisational performance
SANJAY BHOGAITA
TONY ZAROLA PHIL LEATHER

2. Overview
 Rationale for research & What I did
 Context research was set in
 Key findings & Practical Applications
 Questions

3. Rationale for current research
 Way people are managed consistently shown to influence
organisational performance (CIPD, 2011).
 Previous research focused on perceptions of manager
support.
 In my research I focused on overt behaviours in order to
leverage the role of the manager to foster positive
employee attitudes and behaviours.
 This allowed a more practical approach to be taken e.g.
the development of behavioural frameworks (as opposed
to working at the level of perceptions).

4. The research
 Took a holistic approach and integrated the literatures on
manager behaviours, job demands-resources model,
engagement theory & organisational support theory.
 This informed the development of a model (that I could test)
of how manager behaviours influence:
 (i) employees perception of support from the organisation, and
 (ii) how this influences employee attitudes and behaviours.
 The outcomes of interest were: work-engagement (WE), job-
satisfaction (JS), organisational commitment (OC) and self-
rated performance (SRP).
 Previous research has investigated health-outcomes such as
stress and well-being.

5. Context
 Data collected by ZEAL Solutions who have been
working with specialist ambulance service units in
the NHS across England.
 Findings reported here involved sample of 362
employees ( approx. 80% male).

6. Key findings
 Supportive manager behaviours predicted higher levels
of WE & JS but, not OC or SRP (direct effect).
 Unsupportive manager behaviours did not predict lower
levels of WE, JS, OC/ SRP.
 E.g. if employee’s thought manager was more supportive
they also perceived the organisation as more supportive.
 Highlights how critical the role of manager is as the
manager also acts as an agent for organisation.

7. What does ‘(un)supportive’ look like?
 This research: a bespoke measure developed by ZEAL to
measure ‘support’
 Supportive behaviours-e.g. managers:
 showing some form of recognition for job well done,
 encourages you to put across your point-of-view, and
 Demonstrating a genuine willingness to learn from others
 Unsupportive behaviours-e.g. managers:
 being too quick to blame someone when there are problems,
 criticising effort put into job, and
 Telling others what to do rather than listening to their views

8. Practical Applications
 Supportive:
 Develop Behavioural Framework
 Identify management competencies relevant to engaging employees
& improving employee job-satisfaction..
 Integrate with other research: management competencies in
preventing stress & managing conflict
 Use as a tool for the selection, training and development and
performance management of managers.
 Unsupportive:
 Develop Behavioural Framework
 Identify training and development needs of managers/ those who
may be successing into such roles.

9. Questions?
Contact details:
 Sanjay Bhogaita: sanjay@modhaconsulting.co.uk
 Phil Leather: phil.leather@nottingham.ac.uk
 Tony Zarola : tony@zealsolutions.co.uk