Linking leadership to Employee Creativity: a study of Indian R&D laboratories.

Gupta, Vishal ; Singh, Shailendra ; Kumar, Sushil 等

Introduction

Creativity is defined as the production of novel and useful ideas by an individual or a group of individuals working together and is believed to fundamentally contribute to organizational innovation, effectiveness, and survival (Amabile, 1983; Madjar, Oldham & Pratt, 2002; Shalley, Gilson & Blum, 2000; Zhang & Bartol, 2010). The pace of change and the increasing integration of viable knowledge in work processes and outcomes, all require creativity for success and competitive advantage.

Of all the forces that impinge on an employee's daily experience of the work environment in organizations, one of the most immediate and potent influence is likely to be that of his/her supervisor, who directs and evaluates work, facilitates or impedes his/her access to resources and information, and in a myriad of other ways touches his/her engagement with tasks and with other people. Although leader behaviors are potentially one of the most influential factors in an employee's work environment, research exploring the relationships between specific supervisor behaviors and employee creativity is very limited (Amabile et al, 2004; Mumford et al, 2002).

Given the intuitive appeal of the assertion that leader behaviors are likely to have their strongest and most immediate impact on subordinate perceptions, it is surprising that there is little research testing the behavior-perception connection (Shin & Zhou, 2003; Zhou & Oldham, 2001). There exists a dearth of evidence on the possible mediating role of subordinate reactions, and the absence of holistic views of how patterns of leader behaviors might have their effects over time (Amabile et al., 2004).

The present study addresses the important and relatively less explored topic of the impact of supervisor (referred to as leader from here on) behaviors on employee creativity. The study uses a combination of in-depth interviews and exhaustive literature review to provide insights into the role of leaders in enhancing individual creativity in an R8D work context. The first part of the study builds on a series of in-depth interviews carried out in five public R8D labs in India and identifies a comprehensive set of leader behaviors that can promote individual employee's creativity. The second part of the study extends the transformational leadership (Bass, 1985) and charismatic leadership (Conger & Kanungo, 1987) theories by developing a causal framework delineating the processes that have high potential to explain the impact of leadership on employee creativity. The study develops theory linking leader behaviors to employee creativity through justice perceptions, psychological capital and intrinsic motivation. The paper also develops understanding about the role of extrinsic motivation in enhancing employee creativity and about the interrelationships between justice perceptions, employee psychological capital and intrinsic motivation.

Leader Behavior Scale (LBS-RnD)

Research works on the impact of leadership on creativity have mostly focused on the popular two-factor leadership taxonomies describing styles like transformational leadership (e.g. Gong, Huang & Farh, 2009; Jaussi & Dionne, 2003; Jung, Chow & Wu, 2003; Keller, 1992; Paulson & Maldonado, 2009; Shin & Zhou, 2003; Stoker et al, 2001), consideration-initiating structure (Stoker et al., 2001), leader-member exchange (Scott & Bruce, 1994; Tierney, Farmer 8 Graen, 1999), controlling-supportive leadership (Amabile et al., 2004; Madjar et al., 2002; Oldham & Cummings, 1996; Tierney & Farmer, 2002) and empowering-controlling leadership (Zhang & Bartol, 2010).

Most of the researchers studying influence of leadership on employee creativity continue to use an available, "validated" questionnaire for their research without careful consideration to the relevance of the content for their research question and sample. None of the studies give any rationale for including the behaviors in that particular study. Field studies that measure only the behaviors included in an available questionnaire (or selected scales from it) usually miss the opportunity to examine a wide range of behaviors, or to collect rich, descriptive information about leadership behavior. The apparent differences between the leadership requirements of traditional and empowered environments suggest that traditional measures of leadership may be, at most, only partially applicable to empowered team environments (Arnold et al, 2000). The traditional instruments used to measure leadership styles may not encompass the spectrum of behaviors that are required for effective leadership in an empowered work environment. Thus, a more elaborate behavioral measure of leadership that is sensitive to the requirements of environment appears needed (Yukl, 1999, 2008).

The first part of the study is exploratory. It aims to derive the leader behavior instrument through an inductive, or bottom-up, investigation of leader behaviors in highly innovative R8D labs in India. Fifty-two interviews were conducted with scientists of five public R8D labs located in five different Indian cities in the beginning of the year 2011. The scientists interviewed were working in different areas namely biological sciences, information sciences, chemical sciences, engineering and material sciences. The interview transcripts were content coded and a list of most frequently cited behaviors was prepared. A repository of specific behavior items used in prior leadership, creativity and innovation researches (e.g. Yukl, 2008; Zheng, Khoury and Grobmeiher, 2010; Zhang & Bartol, 2010; Arnold et al., 2000 etc.) was created. Based on the content analysis of each interview transcript, behavior items that matched most closely with the interviewee's description of his/her supervisor were selected. The exercise was repeated for all 52 interview transcripts. If 10 or more respondents mentioned a particular behavior incident/item to be important then that behavior item was kept in the final list. 72 behavior items were generated in this manner. The list of 72 behavior items was given to 5 doctoral students to sort them into different behavior categories. Each behavior incident was coded using a modified version of the leader behavior taxonomy presented in the Managerial Practices Survey (MPS) (Yukl, Wall & Lepsinger, 1990) as it is one of the most comprehensive and rigorously developed leader behavior measures in the field (Arnold et al., 2000; De Jong & Hartog, 2007). This was done to assess how accurately each of the scales measures the intended behavior construct. Based on the consistency score for each of the 72 behavior items, a final list of 55 behavior items representing 13 behavior categories was generated. Items that were consistently marked by, at least, 3 out of 5 raters as belonging to a particular behavior category were retained. The identified leader behavior categories comprise clarifying roles and objectives, problem solving, monitoring, inspiring, consulting, empowering, supporting, developing, team building, recognizing, informing, leading by example, and buffering behaviors that were further classified into five leader behavior meta categories, namely, task-oriented behavior, relation-oriented behavior, team-building behavior, empowering behavior and leading by example behavior. The developed scale was labeled as 'Leader Behavior Scale for R8D Context (LBS-RnD)'. Table 1 presents the definition of each behavior category. Based on interviews with scientists and the survey of leadership and creativity literature, we posit:

P1: LBS-RnD behaviors will be positively related to Employee Creativity

Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation

Work motivation can be defined as "a set of energetic forces that originates both within as well as beyond an individual's being, to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine its form, direction, intensity and duration" (Pinder, 1998: 11). Motivation is manifested by attention, effort, and persistence and is one of the most researched variables in performance studies. Based on our interactions with scientists working in research laboratories, we found strong support for including this variable in our causal model. Majority of the scientists believed that motivation is an important precursor for creative performance. In this part of the study, we draw on the organizational behavior literature to present before the reader arguments linking leadership to creativity through intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is related to the natural inclination toward assimilation, mastery, spontaneous interest, and exploration that is so essential to cognitive and social development and that represents a principal source of enjoyment and vitality throughout life (Ryan, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Leadership is one contextual factor that can potentially influence employee intrinsic motivation. Social-contextual events like feedback, communications and rewards lead to feelings of competence and can enhance intrinsic motivation for action (Dewett, 2007; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Shalley & Oldham, 1985). Developmental feedback and freedom from demeaning evaluations have been found to facilitate intrinsic motivation (Charbonneau, Barling & Kelloway, 2001; Zhang & Bartol, 2010). Subordinates, given an informational evaluation and an example of creative behavior, show greater intrinsic motivation (Shalley & Perry-Smith, 2001). Choice, acknowledgment of feelings, and opportunities for self-direction lead to enhanced intrinsic motivation as they allow people greater feeling of autonomy (Bass, 1985; Charbonneau et al., 2001; Richer & Vallerand, 1995; Yperen & Hagedoorn, 2003; Zhang & Bartol, 2010).

Intrinsic task motivation plays an important role in determining behaviors that may result in creative outcomes. Intrinsic motivation "makes the difference between what an individual can do and what an individual will do" (Amabile 1988: 133). When individuals are intrinsically involved in their work, they are more likely to devote all of their attention to the problems they encounter (Simon, 1967). Such attention directs people to engage in a creative process through self-regulation and influences the extent to which an individual will persist in carrying out the assigned role (Zhang & Bartol, 2010). Thus, we posit:

P2: LBS-RnD behaviors will be positively related to employee intrinsic motivation.

P3: Intrinsic motivation will be positively related to employee creativity.

P4: Intrinsic motivation will partially mediate the relationship between LBS-RnD behaviors and employee creativity.

Mediating Role of Positive Psychological Capital

The composite construct of psychological capital has been defined as "an individual's positive psychological state of development characterized by: self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007: 3). Based on our literature review and interviews with scientists, the emerging and relatively new construct of positive psychological capital was identified as an important mediating variable for leadership-creativity relationship and serves as the foundation for this part of the study.

Leaders can have an effect on the four sources of efficacy identified by Bandura (1997, 2001): mastery experiences, vicarious learning, positive feedback, and physiological arousal. Supervisors can play a vital role in making the employees experience repeated success at work. A supervisor can break down a complex problem into simpler tasks, clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the employee and empower them to take job-related decisions thereby enhancing his/her chances of meeting success at work. Participative goal-setting enhances the willingness and ability to design creative ways to achieve one's goals, that is, hope pathways (Luthans et al., 2007). Breaking down difficult goals into smaller, proximate and thus more manageable milestones can enhance hope in employees. Optimism has been shown to be amenable to development through Schneider's (2001) three-step process, which includes leniency for the past, appreciation for the present, and opportunity seeing for the future (Avey, Luthans 8 Jensens, 2009). By providing positive feedback to the subordinates and expressing confidence in their abilities, supervisors can motivate the employees to look at brighter side of things, redirect their perspective away from the negatives and focus on the positives and opportunities available. By exhibiting acceptance of failure, supervisors can indicate to the employees that failure is accepted at workplace, thereby enhancing their resilience. Harland, Harrison, Jones and Reiter-Palmon (2005) found that leadership dimensions of idealized influence, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration were positively related to the employee's resiliency.

Out of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience, only self-efficacy has been tested as an antecedent of creativity (Gong et al., 2009; Tierney & Farmer, 2002). Self-efficacy beliefs nourish intrinsic motivation by enhancing perceptions of self-competence (Bandura, 1997; Deci & Ryan, 2000). Employees high on efficacy display (and continue to display) intrinsic motivation even when faced with difficult situations. Individuals with higher levels of hope have the agent capacity to set and pursue goals in such a way that they stay motivated throughout the pursuant process (Avey, Patera & West, 2006). Optimistic individuals form an expectancy perspective and expect good things to happen to them leading to significant cognitive and behavioral implications (Carver & Scheier, 2003). Given the external attribution of negative events, when faced with negative outcome, optimistic individuals will likely attribute the failure to external causes or to individuals around him and avoid reduction in his/her effort (Seligman, 1998). Resilient individuals have a firm acceptance of reality, a deep belief, often buttressed by strongly held values, that life is meaningful, and an astounding ability to improvise and adapt to significant change (Avey et al., 2006; Masten, 2001; Luthans et al., 2007). Thus, we posit:

P5: LBS-RnD behaviors will be positively related to employee psychological capital.

P6: Employee psychological capital will be positively related to employee creativity.

P7: Employee psychological capital will partially mediate relationship between LBS-RnD behaviors and employee creativity.

Mediating Role of Organizational Justice

Justice perceptions play an important role in influencing an employee's outlook towards the organization and its management. The notion of organizational justice has received little attention in the context of creativity. Our study develops propositions linking leader behaviors to employee creativity through organizational justice. Organizational justice construct is considered to comprise three broad dimensions, viz. distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice (Colquitt, 2001; Colquitt, et al, 2001). Research on distributive justice indicates that in order to be perceived as fair, the supervisor must strengthen the employee's instrumentality beliefs by making sure that employees "have well defined beliefs about what outcomes they may expect to receive for the work they do" (Greenberg, 1996: 175). Participative behavior leads to perceptions of procedural justice (Keller & Dansereau, 1995; Ehrhart, 2004; Yukl, 2008). Leaders allowing subordinates voice in decision-making processes, supporting them for thinking on their own, and treating them equitably can influence perceptions of procedural justice in subordinates (Pillai, Schriesheim & Williams, 1999; Podsakoff et al, 2006). Perceptions of interactional justice result when leaders are consistent and do not hide things from members (i.e. maintain open communications) (Scandura, 1999). Leader control strategies that seem akin to punishing behavior negatively predict interactional fairness (Gavin, Green & Fairhurst, 1995; Podsakoff et al, 2006). Leader's contingent reward behavior is associated with higher distributive, procedural, and interactional fairness (Podsakoff et al., 2006;

Van Knippenberg, De Cremer & Van Knippenberg, 2007). Punishment leads to lowered perceptions of distributive and procedural fairness (Van Knippenberg et al., 2007).

Perceptions of organizational justice are important determinants of employee judgments about the work environment. Supervisors can provide a supportive context for creativity by demonstrating organizational justice (George & Zhou, 2007; Prempanichnukul & Ussahawanitchakit, 2009). When employees experience events characterized by high levels of fairness, they feel the need to reciprocate that treatment, making them more likely to engage in activities that enhance the organizational environment (Blau, 1964; Moorman, Blakely & Niehoff, 1998; Settoon, Bennett & Liden, 1996; Walumbwa, Cropanzano & Hartnell, 2009) and less likely to engage in behaviors that interrupt group and organizational functioning like organizational politics (Byrne, 2005), or deviant workplace behaviors (Berry, Ones & Sackett, 2007). Creativity necessitates taking risks. When employees are being creative, they are taking the risk of failure that is inherent in creative endeavors. Risk further comes into play in that even when an employee does come up with a new and useful idea, a certain level of uncertainty exists concerning whether the team and his/her supervisor will fairly evaluate the idea and will be open to implement it (George & Zhou, 2007). Organizational justice perceptions likely contribute to employees' beliefs that it is safe to take such risks. In a fair work environment, employees may be willing to accept the risk of failure that accompanies creativity. Moreover, they will be confident that their idea will not be dismissed outright and will be given due attention. Fair procedures followed to evaluate the idea may not only enhance risk-taking behaviors but also have a symbolic meaning in that employees are treated as ends rather than means (Pillai et al., 1999). Thus, we posit:

P8: LBS-RnD behaviors will be positively related to organizational justice perceptions.

P9: Organizational justice perceptions will be positively related to employee creativity.

P10: Organizational justice perception will partially mediate the relationship between LBS-RnD behaviors and employee creativity.

Moderating Role of Extrinsic Motivation

The term extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain some separable outcome. Creativity researchers contend that extrinsic rewards are detrimental to creative performance (Amabile, 1983; 1997; Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999; Woodman, Sawyer & Griffin, 1993) because they redirect attention away from the heuristic aspects of the creative task and toward the rule-bound aspects of task performance. Within the context of an organization, motivation has to be managed so that the required intrinsic and extrinsic components are regarded as complementary and not mutually exclusive (Murdock, 2002; Manolopoulos, 2006). Not all forms of extrinsic motivation may be detrimental to performance. Extrinsic motivation has been classified according to variations in relative autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2000; Tremblay et al., 2009). At the low end lies amotivation in which individuals either lack the intention to act or act passively. Next along the continuum is external regulation, which means doing an activity only to obtain a reward. Next is introjected regulation of behavior through self-worth contingencies like self-esteem and guilt. Identified regulation, refers to doing an activity because one identifies with its value or meaning, and accepts it as one's own. Finally, there is integrated regulation, which refers to identifying with the value of an activity to the point that it becomes part of the individual's sense of self. Actions characterized by integrated motivation share many qualities with intrinsic motivation, although they are still considered extrinsic because they are done to attain separable outcomes rather than for their inherent enjoyment. Integrated extrinsic motivation can promote an employee's intrinsic motivation and also his/her internal psychological states. In some studies, integrated, and intrinsic forms of regulation have been combined to form an autonomous motivation composite (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Thus, we posit:

P11: Integrated extrinsic motivation will positively moderate the relationship between LBS-RnD behaviors and employee creativity.

Organizational Justice

De Cremer and Stouten (2005) found that participants in the high procedural justice condition exhibited stronger positive emotions than those participants in the low procedural justice condition. Chebat and Slusarczyk (2005) demonstrated that fair interactions were more frequently associated with positive emotions (e.g., joy) and less frequently associated with negative emotions (e.g., anxiety). Weiss, Suckow & Cropanzano (1999) showed that emotions like happiness, anger, guilt and pride result from specific and unique combinations of outcome favorability and procedural fairness. Taken together, these results suggest that justice perception does influence both positive and negative emotions.

A fairly treated individual feels positive affect as a result and is likely to evaluate a given task at hand as more enjoyable and hence more intrinsically motivating (Zapata-Phelan, et. Al, 2009). In contrast, an unfairly treated individual (who feels negative affect as a result) will tend to evaluate a given task at hand as less enjoyable and hence less intrinsically motivating. Martin, Ward, Achee, and Wyer (1993) found that individuals in positive moods persisted longer on tasks than individuals in negative moods, presumably to maintain their positive affective state. Taken together, we propose that one potential reaction to organizational justice is an increase in intrinsic motivation. Thus, we posit:

P12: Organizational justice perceptions will be positively related to employee intrinsic motivation.

Psychological capacities are states rather than enduring traits, they can fluctuate over time, increasing or decreasing depending on the existing conditions. An employee who has been promoted to a more demanding job with unfamiliar and/or uncertain responsibilities will exhibit a drop in self-efficacy (Luthans et al., 2007). The way the decisions are formed and implemented may lead to formation of perceptions of organizational justice which, in turn, may lead to the enhancement of or deterioration of employee's psychological capital. Thus, we posit:

P13: Organizational justice perceptions will be positively related to employee psychological capital.

Psychological capacities are considered to be antecedent of positive emotions (Lazarus, 1999; Ong et al, 2006; Frederickson, et al, 2003). Lazarus (1999:663) argued that the experience of psychological capacities like hope "usually involve a change in intensity of one's mental state, which is often evident in behavior, subjective affect, and physiology". Similarly, optimism can be considered to be conceptual opposite of pessimism and even overlaps with hope to a certain extent (Lazarus, 1999). Ong et al. (2006) observed that positive emotions are more common in high-resilient individuals and over time, positive emotions serve to assist high-resilient individuals in their ability to effectively rebound from adversity. Thus, we posit:

P14: Psychological capital will be positively related to intrinsic motivation.

Discussion

Leaders exhibit behaviors based on their assumptions about the nature of both the task and the employees. Assumptions pertaining to the employees are influenced by characteristics of the societal-level culture, which is conceived as shared value orientations among people in a given society. Our study reported 'task-oriented' behavior and 'leading by example' behavior as important leader behavior metacategories. Indians are highly status conscious and are dependence prone. They seek assistance, support, suggestions, and attention even in situations where they are capable of functioning on their own (Sinha, 2008). Politics and power play are an integral part of Indian society (Sinha & Sinha, 1990). The relationships between bosses and subordinates quite often degenerate into manipulation and ingratiation leading to simmering tensions on both sides that is often quite dangerous for organizations. An effective leader provides task-related assistance and also acts as a buffer between senior management and the juniors thereby saving them from undue political interferences.

'Relation-oriented' behavior and 'team-building' behavior are important meta categories that emerged from the present study. India is a collectivist society. Indians find it easier to work in paternalistic relationships (i.e. superior-subordinate roles) rather than with equals (Sinha & Sinha, 1990). They prefer personalized relationships based on their societal values of deference (sneh) and affection (shraddha). Leaders who are supportive and encouraging lead to enhancement of employee creative performance. Inspiring leaders instill a sense of optimism and motivate their junior by developing the proud feeling of doing something useful and contributing to the society's growth (Cappelli et al, 2010). 'Inspiring' behavior has been included in relation-oriented behavior meta category. Those striving for the collective's achievement are appreciated, for achievement in Indian culture implies being a good person, thinking about the well-being of others, fulfilling one's duties, and helping others. Supervisors, by emphasizing team work, can increase the frequency of interactions between team members leading to greater understanding of the problem and creative solutions to the problem.

Although Indians are indeed collectivists, there are strands of thoughts, feelings, and actions in the minds of Indians that reflect the underlying value of individualism. Educational institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have served as the fountainheads of western values. Increasing ease of access to technology and various forms of media has led to an enhanced exposure of Indians to the ideals and values of western societies. This has led to the development of a broader world view and the younger, educated employees of today nourish western values of achievement, advancement and ability utilization. 'Empowering' behavior should be developed and encouraged in managers even in the Indian cultural context.

The behavior taxonomy developed in this study presents number of advantages. It provides a parsimonious conceptual framework describing leader behaviors that are important for better R8D performance. It combines the parsimony of a few, broadly defined meta categories with the greater explanatory power of specific component behaviors that can be selected based on the requirements for a particular situation.

The study extends popular leadership theories by developing a causal model linking leadership and creativity through work motivation, psychological capital and organizational justice. Researchers have not yet explored the mechanisms through which leaders can impact employee creativity. Studies on this aspect are few and have often lacked strong theoretical grounding. The present study presents a set of testable propositions exploring the role of employee perceptions (i.e. justice perceptions), cognitive and affective reactions (i.e. psychological capital and motivation) to leader behaviors in influencing employee creativity.

The study also specifies the probable linkages between organizational justice, intrinsic motivation and psychological capital. Though the constructs are popular in industrial and organizational psychology literature, they have been studied separately till now and there has been no research to explore the interrelationship between these constructs.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Due to its detailed and exhaustive theory building, this study yields specific suggestions for leaders managing employees involved in creative problem solving. The conceptualized model is presented in fig 1.

Conclusion

To date, few studies have focused on understanding how leadership is related to individual employees' creativity. There exists a dearth of empirical evidence on the possible mediating role of subordinate reactions. The study presents a holistic framework specifying linkages between specific leader behaviors and employee creativity. Focusing on specific leader behavior that are enacted out in everyday interactions between supervisors and their subordinates, the study tries to better understand the mechanisms of influence that impact subordinate's creative performance. The model should serve as a good starting point for anyone who is interested in studying creativity and presents a set of significant research issues relating to leadership and creativity. The conceptualized model, when tested, can provide a lot of insights for managers and researchers alike.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India for allowing them to conduct the in-depth interviews with the scientists working in R8D laboratories and for extending all possible help for completing the exercise in time.

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Vishal Gupta (E-Mail: vishal.gupta@iiml.org) is Assistant Professor, Human Resources Management Group Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. Shailendra Singh, Sushil Kumar & Abhijit Bhattacharya are Professors in Indian Institute of Management Lucknow.

Table 1. Identified Leader Behaviors for R&D Context

BEHAVIOR             DEFINITION

Task-Oriented

Clarifying           Assigning tasks,
                     providing directions
                     about how to do the work,
                     and communicating a
                     clear understanding of
                     job responsibilities,
                     task objectives,
                     deadlines, and
                     performance expectations.

Problem Solving      Identifying work-related
                     problems, pointing out
                     problems and giving suggestions
                     to improve, and
                     acting decisively to
                     implement solutions to
                     resolve important
                     problems or crises.

Monitoring           Gathering information
                     about work activities and
                     external conditions
                     affecting the work,
                     checking on the progress
                     and quality of the work,
                     evaluating the performance
                     of individuals
                     through regular meetings.

Buffering            Serving as the main
                     buffer between their
                     teams and the labs, in
                     order to filter down
                     unnecessary
                     administrative duties to
                     protect staff time, while
                     ensuring communication
                     between the lab and the
                     members.

Empowering

Consulting           Checking with people
                     before making changes
                     that affect them,
                     encouraging suggestions
                     for improvement, inviting
                     participation in decision
                     making, and incorporating
                     the ideas and
                     suggestions of others in
                     decisions.

Empowering           Allowing subordinates to
                     have substantial
                     responsibility and
                     discretion in carrying
                     out work activities,
                     handling problems, and
                     making important decisions.

Relation-Oriented

Motivating and       Using influence
Inspiring            techniques that appeal to
                     emotion or logic to
                     generate enthusiasm for
                     the work, commitment to
                     task objectives, and
                     compliance with requests
                     for cooperation,
                     assistance, support, or
                     resources.

Supporting           Acting friendly and
                     considerate, being
                     patient and helpful,
                     showing sympathy and
                     support when someone is
                     upset or anxious, and
                     being like a friend.

Developing           Shows concern for
                     development, helps
                     identify skill
                     deficiencies, does thing
                     to facilitate a person's
                     skill acquisition,
                     professional
                     development, and career
                     advancement, and allows
                     access to resources and
                     facilities.

Recognizing          Providing praise and
                     recognition for effective
                     performance, significant
                     achievements, and special
                     contributions, and
                     expressing appreciation
                     for someone's
                     contributions and special
                     efforts.

Informing            Disseminating relevant
                     information to people who
                     need it to do their work,
                     providing written
                     materials and documents,
                     and answering requests
                     for technical in
                     formation.

Team Building

Team Building        Facilitating the
                     constructive resolution
                     of conflict, and
                     encouraging cooperation,
                     teamwork, and
                     identification with the
                     work unit.

Leading by Example

Leading by           Sets high standards of
Example              behaviors, works hard,
                     and leads by example in
                     terms of punctuality,
                     doing work, meeting
                     deadlines, and
                     optimization of time.