According to management and psychology courses, as well as legions of consultants in organizational psychology, shared vision in dyads, teams and organizations can fill us with hope and inspire new possibilities, or delude us into following false prophets. However, few research studies have empirically examined the impact of shared vision on key organizational outcomes such as leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, organizational citizenship, coaching and organizational change. As a result, the field of organizational psychology has not yet established a causal pattern of whether, if, and how shared vision helps dyads, teams and organizations function more effectively. The lack of empirical work around shared vision is surprising given its long-standing history in the literature. Bennis and Nanus (1982) showed that distinctive leaders managed attention through vision. The practitioner literature has long proclaimed that vision is a key to change, while Conger and Kanungo (1998) discussed its link to charismatic leadership. Around the same time, positive psychology appeared in the forms of Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider, Sorensen, Whitney, & Yaeger, 2000) and Positive Organizational Scholarship (Cameron, Dutton, & Quinn, 2003). In this context, a shared vision or dream became a legitimate antecedent to sustainable change. But again, empirical measurement has been elusive. More recently, shared vision has been the focus of a number of dissertations and quantitative studies building on Intentional Change Theory (ICT) (Boyatzis, 2008) at dyad, team and organization levels of social systems. These studies are beginning to lay the foundations for a systematic body of empirical knowledge about the role of shared vision in an organizational context. For example, we now know that shared vision can activate neural networks that arouse endocrine systems and allow a person to consider the possibilities of a better future (Jack, Boyatzis, Leckie, Passarelli & Khawaja, 2013). Additionally, Boyatzis & Akrivou (2006) have discussed the role of a shared vision as the result of a well-developed set of factors that produce a desired image of the future. Outside of the organizational context, positive visioning has been known to help guide future behavior in sports psychology (Loehr & Schwartz, 2003), medical treatment (Roffe, Schmidt, & Ernst, 2005), musical performance (Meister, Krings, Foltys, Boroojerdi, Muller, Topper, & Thron, 2004), and academic performance (Curry, Snyder, Cook, Ruby, & Rehm, 1997). This Research Topic for Frontiers in Psychology is a collection of 14 original papers examining the role of vision and shared vision on a wide variety of desired dependent variables from leadership effectiveness and executive performance to organizational engagement, citizenship and corporate social responsibility, and how to develop it through coaching.

According to management and psychology courses, as well as legions of consultants in organizational psychology, shared vision in dyads, teams and organizations can fill us with hope and inspire new possibilities, or delude us into following false prophets. However, few research studies have empirically examined the impact of shared vision on key organizational outcomes such as leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, organizational citizenship, coaching and organizational change. As a result, the field of organizational psychology has not yet established a causal pattern of whether, if, and how shared vision helps dyads, teams and organizations function more effectively. The lack of empirical work around shared vision is surprising given its long-standing history in the literature. Bennis and Nanus (1982) showed that distinctive leaders managed attention through vision. The practitioner literature has long proclaimed that vision is a key to change, while Conger and Kanungo (1998) discussed its link to charismatic leadership. Around the same time, positive psychology appeared in the forms of Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider, Sorensen, Whitney, & Yaeger, 2000) and Positive Organizational Scholarship (Cameron, Dutton, & Quinn, 2003). In this context, a shared vision or dream became a legitimate antecedent to sustainable change. But again, empirical measurement has been elusive. More recently, shared vision has been the focus of a number of dissertations and quantitative studies building on Intentional Change Theory (ICT) (Boyatzis, 2008) at dyad, team and organization levels of social systems. These studies are beginning to lay the foundations for a systematic body of empirical knowledge about the role of shared vision in an organizational context. For example, we now know that shared vision can activate neural networks that arouse endocrine systems and allow a person to consider the possibilities of a better future (Jack, Boyatzis, Leckie, Passarelli & Khawaja, 2013). Additionally, Boyatzis & Akrivou (2006) have discussed the role of a shared vision as the result of a well-developed set of factors that produce a desired image of the future. Outside of the organizational context, positive visioning has been known to help guide future behavior in sports psychology (Loehr & Schwartz, 2003), medical treatment (Roffe, Schmidt, & Ernst, 2005), musical performance (Meister, Krings, Foltys, Boroojerdi, Muller, Topper, & Thron, 2004), and academic performance (Curry, Snyder, Cook, Ruby, & Rehm, 1997). This Research Topic for Frontiers in Psychology is a collection of 14 original papers examining the role of vision and shared vision on a wide variety of desired dependent variables from leadership effectiveness and executive performance to organizational engagement, citizenship and corporate social responsibility, and how to develop it through coaching.

This book provides the most thorough view available on this new and intriguing dimension of workplace psychology, which is the basis of fulfilling, productive work. The book begins by defining work engagement, which has been described as ‘an opposite to burnout,’ following its development into a more complex concept with far reaching implications for work-life. The chapters discuss the sources of work engagement, emphasizing the importance of leadership, organizational structures, and human resource management as factors that may operate to either enhance or inhibit employee’s experience of work. The book considers the implications of work engagement for both the individual employee and the organization as a whole. To address readers’ practical questions, the book provides in-depth coverage of interventions that can enhance employees’ work engagement and improve management techniques. Based upon the most up-to-date research by the foremost experts in the world, this volume brings together the best knowledge available on work engagement, and will be of great use to academic researchers, upper level students of work and organizational psychology as well as management consultants.

Successful school leadership starts with you: who you are, what you believe in, and why you do the things you do. In this timely book, Andrew Morrish presents a unique four-part model to help you lead your school with purpose, authenticity, clarity and vision. Based on current research and 20 years of headship experience, The Authentic Leader will help you to take back control of the agenda so that your core values drive everything you do. Accompanied throughout by real-life examples from serving headteachers, this book will take you on a journey to: - construct your purpose, vision, values and beliefs - connect with people to build trust, engagement and motivation - collaborate in a meaningful way to bring about change - create great impact in your school and beyond. Above all, this innovative framework for school improvement will enable you to create a culture where every child and every teacher can thrive and succeed.

Although difficult, complicated, and sometimes discouraging, collaboration is recognized as a viable approach for addressing uncertain, complex and wicked problems. Collaborations can attract resources, increase efficiency, and facilitate visions of mutual benefit that can ignite common desires of partners to work across and within sectors. An important question remains: How to enable successful collaboration? Inter-Organizational Collaboration by Design examines how these types of collaborations can overcome barriers to innovate and rejuvenate communities outlining the factors and antecedents that influence successful collaboration. The book proposes a theoretical perspective for collaborators to adopt design science (a solution finding approach utilizing end-user-centered research, prototyping, and collective creativity to strengthen individuals, teams, and organizations), the language of designers, and a design attitude as an empirically informed pathway for better managing the complexities inherent in collaboration. Through an integrated framework, evidence-based tools and strategies for building successful collaboration is articulated where successful collaboration performance facilitates innovation and rejuvenation. This volume will be essential reading for academics, researchers, leaders and managers in nonprofit, private, and government sectors interested in building better collaborations.

Employee-Organization Linkages: The Psychology of Commitment, Absenteeism, and Turnover summarizes the theory and research on employee-organization linkages, including the processes through which employees become linked to work organizations, the quality of such linkages, and how linkages are weakened or severed. The text identifies the determinants of employee commitment, absenteeism, and turnover, as well as their consequences for the individual, work groups, and the larger organization. The book also presents conceptual models on how employees become committed to, decide to be absent from, and decide to leave their organizations. Human resource practitioners, managers, employers, and industrial psychologists will find the book very informative and insightful.

The Second Edition of The SAGE Handbook of Leadership provides not only an in-depth overview the current field of leadership studies, but also a map into the future debates, innovations and priorities of where the field will move to. Featuring all new chapters from a global community of leading and emerging scholars, each chapter offers a comprehensive, critical overview of an aspect of leadership, a discussion of key debates and research, and a review of the emerging issues in its area. Featuring an innovative structure divided by prepositions, this brand-new edition moves away from essentializing boundaries, and instead seeks to create synergies between different schools of leadership. A key feature of the second edition, is the attention to sensemaking (exploring the current themes, structures and ideas that comprise each topic) and sensebreaking (disrupting, critiquing and refreshing each topic). Suitable for students and researchers alike, this second edition is a critical site of reference for the study of leadership. PART 1: Between: Leadership as a Social, Socio-cognitive and Practical Phenomenon PART 2: About: Exploring the Individual and Interpersonal Facets of Leadership PART 3: Through: Leadership Seen Through Contemporary Frames PART 4: Within: Leadership as a Contextually Bound Phenomenon PART 5: But: A Critical Examination of Leadership