| Abstract [eng] |
This master's thesis analyzes the links between empathetic leadership and teamwork engagement. The theoretical framework is based on the concepts of empathetic leadership, emotional intelligence, and employee engagement in teamwork. The aim of the thesis is to identify the links between empathetic leadership and employee engagement in teamwork in general education schools. Three tasks have been set to achieve this aim: 1) to examine the concept of empathetic leadership and its main elements; 2) to reveal the concept of employee involvement in teamwork; 3) to identify the links between empathetic leadership and employee involvement in teamwork. The object of the work: the links between empathetic leadership and involvement in teamwork. The theoretical basis of the work was formed by analyzing scientific literature by Lithuanian and foreign authors, as well as the latest empirically based research. A quantitative research method was chosen for the study – a questionnaire survey. The following programs were used to process the research results: Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS 31.0.1.0. A review of the literature revealed that empathetic leadership is closely linked to emotional intelligence and manifests itself in a leader's ability to recognize employees' emotions, understand their experiences, use empathetic communication, and express emotional support. Scientific research emphasizes that this leadership style can contribute to strengthening trust, creating psychological security, increasing team cohesion, and enhancing employee engagement. Although the links between empathetic leadership and employee engagement have been studied extensively in foreign research, the relationship between empathetic leadership and engagement in teamwork in the context of general education schools remains less explored. The results of the study showed that the manager's empathetic (ilocutionary) language and motivational support correlate statistically significantly and positively with the overall involvement of employees in teamwork. In this context, illocutionary speech is understood as a linguistic act whereby a manager not only conveys information but also communicates empathetically with an employee. Respondents indicated that managers often use elements of empathetic (illocutionary) language – they express trust in employees, support their efforts, and praise them for a job well done. However, the expression of empathetic leadership in organizations is not uniform – some respondents noted that managers' attention to the professional and emotional well-being of employees is less frequent. The results of the regression analysis revealed that the manager's empathetic (illocutionary) language and motivational support did not prove to be statistically significant predictors of intellectual and social engagement in teamwork. However, it was found that the manager's empathetic (illocutionary) speech is a statistically significant predictor of employees' emotional (affective) engagement in teamwork – more frequent praise, encouragement, and support are associated with higher emotional engagement of employees in team activities. No connection between motivational support and emotional engagement was found. The results of the study also showed that the type of educational institution is not statistically significantly related to either the assessment of empathetic leadership or employee involvement in teamwork. Although team size did not have a statistically significant effect on most of the variables studied, it was found that in larger teams, employees' assessments of empathetic (illocutionary) managerial language differed statistically significantly, therefore, it can be argued that the expression of empathetic (illocutionary) language by managers differs depending on the size of the team. |
