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How Should Bosses Lead? New Revelations from Frontline Managers

Curtis, Bonnie A.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9849-6187
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1655727696967253

Abstract Details

2022, Ph.D., Antioch University, Leadership and Change.
Strategic business change in the 21st century has been fraught with issues, resulting in failure for more than half of all attempted efforts to transform companies. Frontline managers (FLMs) are key to successful corporate change, transforming a company’s direction into action and results and the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique business challenge for every Consumer Products Group (CPG) company and FLM by interrupting supply chains. The aim of this grounded theory study was to create theory by conducting open-ended interviews with 20 frontline managers to determine how they viewed themselves and their roles, teams, and bosses during change. Results demonstrated that the FLMs viewed themselves as protectors of their teams. The FLMs were competent, resilient leaders who loved the work of managing a team to deliver daily results. Unfortunately, many FLMs were required to navigate bosses that ranged from negligent to abusive. Even the FLMs who described having great bosses asked for something more, declaring a need for help. They called for bosses to provide four elements of leadership: Delivering clarity on the role, expectations, and escalation channels, quickly producing requested resources, hosting regular one-on-one meetings to discuss issues and career, and engaging with empathy and support while giving the FLM autonomy to do the role. When the boss delivers on the four requests, the frontline manager will likely have the autonomy, confidence, and partnership to fully engage in their challenging work. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu ) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).
Mitchell Kusy, PhD (Committee Chair)
Harriet L. Schwartz, PhD (Committee Member)
Ronald E. Riggio, PhD (Committee Member)
306 p.
Business Administration; Business Community; Business Education; Management; Organizational Behavior
boss; business; change; consumer product group; company; corporate; CPG; COVID-19; direct report; frontline leader; frontline manager; grounded theory methodology; GTM; leader; leadership; manager; pandemic; supervisor; supply chain; support, team; VUCA

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Curtis, B. A. (2022). How Should Bosses Lead? New Revelations from Frontline Managers [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1655727696967253

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Curtis, Bonnie. How Should Bosses Lead? New Revelations from Frontline Managers. 2022. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1655727696967253.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Curtis, Bonnie. "How Should Bosses Lead? New Revelations from Frontline Managers." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1655727696967253

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1655727696967253
567
© 2022, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.