This volume is dedicated to examining various points of view of what leadership is, and how the leader supervises those whom he trains. It is divided into three conceptual sections: The Leader, which examines various dimensions of leadership and what it means to lead; The Leader’s Effect on Others, which as the title indicates it looks at the effect and influence that a leader may have on others; and Organizational Culture, the effect of the leader on the culture of the organization or institution. The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Psychology.

How can managers motivate their employees? After conducting detailed field studies of work groups in settings as diverse as insurance company offices and regatta sailboats, Judith Komaki has identified two key behaviours that seem to distinguish effective from ineffective managers; monitoring workers' performance and communicating consequences. Drawing on her research over the last ten years, Komaki combines behavioural and cognitive theories of leadership and puts forward a new model for the study of leadership from an operant perspective.

Research has shown that the relationships employees have with their supervisors or managers is one element that may influence employee engagement and retention (Reina et al., 2018). As part of building a positive relationship, communication may be a key factor of influence (Divleli & Ergun, 2015). In today’s workplace, supervisors are often using technology to communicate with their direct reports. With the increasing use of technology to communicate there could be influences on the perceived relationship employees have with their managers (Colbert et al., 2016). As an example, some studies have shown that lesser rich technology media that are in written format, such as email and text messages, may be less effective in augmenting quality interactions (Colbert et al., 2016; Mackenzie, 2010; Stich et al., 2018). There are leadership theories that describe differences in styles that influence effective supervision. The full range leadership model provides a hierarchy of leadership styles that offer different approaches toward supervision (Bass & Avolio, 1994). Specifically, within the full range leadership model, the transformational leadership style may be an effective approach toward engaging employees (Antonakis et al., 2003) that could also be influenced by technology media (Hambley et al., 2007). The purpose of this convergent mixed methods study was to describe the perception of how media richness, when using technology to communicate, influences the relationship direct reports have with their supervisors. To address the research question, a survey was used with a sample of direct reports who frequently receive communication from their supervisors in different formats. The results from the study suggest that technology media influences the perceived relationship between direct reports and their supervisors. According to the results of this study, technology media may be especially helpful in bolstering the availability of supervisors which may positively influence other elements of the supervisory relationship. The results further suggest that it may be important for all leaders to choose technology media that is personalized and preferred by the employee while also using the most effective media for the type of message. Finally, leaders should understand the concerns that employees may have around privacy and overuse of technology media.