| Abstract [eng] |
Short description of MA thesis: The question concerning employee commitment has always remained relevant for organizations since committed and motivated employees appear to be one of the most valuable assets that companies can obtain. In the times of the global pandemic and, consequently, remote working conditions, this topic is even more concerning. At the same time, even though there are few practical investigations of adaptive leadership practices and their effectiveness during such rapid changes caused by the pandemic, it is especially relevant to clarify and research adaptive leadership practices and the influence they might bring to promote employee commitment. Aim and Objectives: The purpose of this study will be to explore a variety of approaches and practices applied by project managers and which of these practices they find the most efficient to promote their team members’ commitment in transition to remote working conditions caused by the quarantine restrictions. The main objectives of the research include the following steps: to perform literature analysis on main adaptive leadership competencies and their impact on employee commitment that would result in creating a research model for the further empirical investigation; to determine the importance of adaptive practices of the leader under remote working conditions; to empirically identify fundamental adaptive leadership principles and challenges as well as the impact the made on the team members and derived from theoretical results of the research and empirical findings come up with recommendations and conclusions on the application of adaptive leadership to promote employee commitment during the transition to remote working conditions. Methods and Results: It was decided to choose the qualitative method that encompasses gathered information from different sources and social contexts for this research purpose. The data was gathered with the help of semi-structured interviews, a questionnaire based on six adaptive leadership competencies, and an organizational commitment questionnaire. As a result, the final results represented two points of view: project managers and their team members. It helped to assess the efficiency of certain practices more objectively and introduce a realistic view on the transition to remote working. Main conclusions: The research findings disclosed and explained the effectiveness of the six leadership competencies in the context of promoting employee commitment in transition to remote work. In addition, the interviewed project managers provided a more detailed explanation of what actions in practice they perform in the course of adaptability. As concluded from the empirical research, all practices have a common point that is directly connected with communication, and it aims to establish more reliable connections with team members. It means that project managers regularly conduct meetings with their teams in formal and informal formats and encourage employees to actively voice their concerns and opinions to create a comfortable working environment and build loyal relationships within the teams. Employees stated that when they are heard and feel their value in the project, their motivation to contribute and commit increases, leading to the conclusion that protecting leadership voices from below has a significant impact on their commitment. Both employees and project managers stated that it would be impossible to deliver projects successfully and continue basic working without effective communication within the team, for example, informal team meetings, one-on-one conversations, and daily stand-ups in transition to remote working conditions processes. |
