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Original Article

How Managers Respond to Exhausted Employees

Published Online:July 08, 2016https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000157

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of this study is (1) to investigate how managers act in situations when employees are exhausted and (2) to compare these leadership behaviors to more general, context-independent leadership styles (transformational leadership, consideration, initiating structure). Interviews with 48 managers of different industries were used to examine how managers respond to exhausted employees. Based on action regulation theory, interview protocols provided insight into managers’ information collection, planning, execution of actions, and feedback processing when responding to exhausted employees. In addition, context-specific leadership behaviors were identified and compared to prominent leadership styles. Managers highlighted redesigning the task and emotionally supporting the employee as particularly useful in situations when employees are exhausted.

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