Leadership in Multi-Space Offices: Realizing the Potential of Modern and Flexible Workplace Concepts

*Sandra Gauer and Luka Ilic*

#### **Abstract**

This chapter discusses the challenges for managers resulting from modern and flexible workplace concepts. It will specifically reflect on stressors that arise for employees when working in a multi-space environment and how employees bind to their workplace. Using a combined methodological approach, which integrates a literature review with the experiences of our daily work as workplace change consultants, managers receive concrete advice on how to lead in multi-space. This article thus aims to reduce the uncertainties and stressors triggered by New Work environments, or even to convert these into growth potential for the entire company, by naming concrete leadership measures based on values formulation and emotional leadership.

**Keywords:** organizational leadership, stress management, multi-space, New Work, training and development

#### **1. Introduction**

The world is in change, and New Work is a result of this. What is meant with New Work, a wide idea which encompasses a whole range of concepts? For that, one must get a hold on the underlying drivers which point the way in which work evolves.

New Work is a socially driven change, encompassed by the dynamics of globalization, technology development, and improvement of living conditions all abroad. Naturally, globalization has its downsides too. On the other hand, changing demographics impact directly the situation of work. Generations X, Y, and Z will progressively incorporate into the workforce, whereas society experiences altogether an aging of its population. The result is a lack of qualified and leading workers [1]. The nature of work turns global as well and demands on mobility and permanent availability increase, with a tendency toward globalized connection among people and coworkers. This widening of our network and social sphere also implies that the workforce has a larger range of employment options to reach. Organizations must therefore consider the needs of their employees more considerately if they want to keep the already scarce human resource.

As our societies have been experiencing, digitalization is abstracting work, information, and data into automatized circuits. It facilitates working with information and knowledge, automatizes physical and digital processes, and helps visualize facts that otherwise would be too complex or expensive to represent. Digitalization is a true disruptive force, which also allows employees to access their jobs within a tick of an eye, or a mouse click. In this sense, the last pandemic has also demonstrated to which degree the current network of jobs in our society can be extrapolated into our own homes, namely under the term of home office.

With changing dynamics and increasing ease of life, people have more resources and can decide more freely what they do. A rash change of values is taking place in our twenty-first century [1]. Generally speaking, work-centered lifestyles are shifting to more balanced ways of living, gaining family, friends, and relationships more consideration [2]. Within work, values divide, ranging from people who seek to live stress-free from work, others want to work in community and for social causes, or work committed with a vision and meaning in mind. New Work is increasingly being conceptualized as an element of life that promotes self-actualization, personal security, meaning in life, and relationships with others [1]. For instance, according to the Zukunftsinstitut, the prevalence of home office has been decreasing after the pandemic. Many long for the social aspect of work where one gets to creatively and genuinely engage with other coworkers [2], which strengthens the idea that people are social in nature.

In consulting practice, however, it is noticeable: executives from larger companies often express the opposite view. Many of their employees apparently do not want to return from the home office. The situation is not quite that simple; the problem seems to be a double-edged one. Often, attempts are made to get people back into the office by offering free coffee, sponsored lunches, or internal sports activities. There is nothing wrong with this in principle, but creating a monetary incentive is the wrong marketing strategy in this situation. Social factors must be used in advertising. Employees must recognize the benefits of the office on their own initiative and want to come back.

Currently, from a practice perspective, the trend is 60/40: 60% of managers struggle to get their employees back to work in the office and in 40% observe that employees are happy to return to the office. The key question is, how do you balance home office engagement with a conducive work environment? A strategy must be chosen that ensures the preservation of the corporate and individual added value of home office. How well this balance is achieved has a lot to do with a company's corporate, leadership, and team culture and its communication strategy. These four areas must therefore be analyzed and optimized. This is exactly where Workplace Change Consulting comes in. The goal is for employees to return to the office voluntarily and with pleasure, and to recognize the added value, especially of direct social interactions.

Indeed, humans are social in nature, a generally acknowledged fact. People are embedded in organizational structures, too, and the organizational structures of enterprises are experiencing deep remodeling because of pressing global demands. Being pressed by a changing work environment [3], organizations must be much more attentive to changes in the industry and technological realm to remain competent. With it, the individual carries more responsibility for the success and survival of the firm. Organizational hierarchies become decentralized, and coworkers gain in freedom and responsibility, which makes the production of internal knowledge a more collectivized and democratized phenomenon. Agility and resilience are

#### *Leadership in Multi-Space Offices: Realizing the Potential of Modern and Flexible Workplace… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106887*

keywords for this development. And where abstract structures reshape also make the space conditions in which employees work. To optimize performance, the resources and physical space need to reflect the organizational dimension and how people cooperate with each other. Digitalization allows for new forms of teamwork, where digital tools and cloud-based services enable for direct communication and collaboration. Nevertheless, as stated before, the digital world cannot replace the real-time social world.

Activity-based work (ABW) is a concept that supports working in various areas, based on to the required work demands and needs [1]. Overall, ABW represents multifunctional workspaces with different work zones available for different needs. For example, an employee might need a day to exchange information with another employee in privacy, work in a bigger team, and then focus alone. Accordingly, he can use the exchange zones, collaboration zones, and retreat zones. The concept of ABW is embodied in Multi-Space offices which provide the users with diverse functional spaces.

It is important to note that, in addition to the type of work, personality also plays an important role. Personality-based working (How are employees structured and under what conditions are individuals efficient and capable?) is just as important as performance-based working. Depending on personality, a zone that is objectively perfectly designed for a certain function may nevertheless not work for a person because of his or her personal way of working.

Multi-Space offices have only recently been used because they are the direct result of New Work demands. Nonetheless, according to a review on modern office concepts, the breadth of literature covering this topic presents clear contradictions when referring to the perceived satisfaction employees experience with new office spaces [4]. Whereas some studies present satisfactory results with Multi-Space offices, others result in low levels of satisfaction and find more negative aspects than positive ones. According to the same study, the difference in perception is explained to a large extent by the fact that office designers do not consider the needs of the employees.

That is why it is so important to involve the employees in the process and check in on them regularly—not only on an architectural but also on a human level.

Nevertheless, the work change process should remain a top-down process. Practical experience has shown that change must be initiated from the top. A bottomup approach does not achieve the desired results. In order to be able to integrate the needs of the employees, it is extremely relevant to define the framework conditions of the new working world in advance. This can be done, for example, by means of a basic document to which everyone can orient themselves and which contributes to a common understanding of the starting position, approach, and goal. In this way, it is also possible to set the right expectations. Incorrect expectation management can jeopardize the transition to the new working worlds and so exactly the opposite of what is intended happens: People are distrustful and close their minds to change.

The same study as mentioned above also shows that the perceived satisfaction with the workplace depends to a large extent on overall satisfaction with the work environment itself [4]. Influencing the satisfaction perception are the cultural aspects and climate of the organization, as well as the subjective aspect of employees. These are all factors that are part of the big picture and that need to be considered by leaders. Because those coworkers who are satisfied with their work overall are satisfied with their workplace, even if the workplace is functionally suboptimal or esthetically unpleasing [4].

Therefore, this chapter will cover the idea of leadership in Multi-Space offices, proposing a theory to diffuse the diverse contradictions found in the general breadth of Multi-Space Office literature. From here on, the psychological grounding to workplace satisfaction will be laid, significant stressors stemming from Multi-Space offices will be presented, and diverse perspectives on leadership will be proposed, concluding with a set of practical recommendations for organizations to influence and increase the performance and satisfaction with Multi-Space offices.

#### **2. The psychology of the individual at the workplace**

Perceived job satisfaction depends on a complex interplay of the individual's personality, attitudes, and goals with his or her physical and social environment. Simply stated: depending on a person's behavior, the environment reacts differently and vice versa, a person behaves differently depending on environmental conditions.

Explaining the intersection at a psychological level between the individual and the work environment is the Job Demands – Job Resources (JD-R) Model [5]. The JD-R Model assumes that the arousal and experience of stress is the result of an assessment weighing the difference between job resources and job demands. Job demands are those physical, psychological, social, and organizational aspects of one's job that are associated with physiological and psychological costs. On the other hand, job resources are those aspects of the job that support and lead to the completion of a goal. Should job demands outweigh job resources, the individual will proportionally experience stress. Where job resources can be, for example, being well equipped with knowledge, computers or being provided functional zones, examples of job demands include high workloads, failing computing equipment or having a distracting environment.

Whereas the JD-R Model explains the underlying cause of stress arousal, it does not picture the internal processes that take place within the individual's psychology at the time of assessment. Lazarus and Folkman's transactional stress theory [6] defines the individual stress assessment process as a series of appraisals. A primary appraisal determines if the situation poses either a threat or a challenge. A secondary appraisal estimates how manageable the threat or challenge is based on one's available resources. If the primary appraisal poses a greater threat than that what can be managed, stress is released accordingly. This stress assessment process is continuous and loops, meaning that the perception of the job situation and experience of stress is a dynamic process, which can also be influenced. The theory finalizes that to deal with stress, coping strategies will be used by the individual, being some coping strategies healthier than others (or not).

The stress model by Gauer also describes how stress in new working environments is evaluated from the interaction of technology/space, people, and companies. It plays a role whether a factor that triggers stress can be seen as an opportunity or as a problem. Such models are an enormously important basis for people from Chance Consulting as at Gauer Consulting. By understanding such processes, teams or companies can be supported. They can be supported in perceiving stressors as challenges and as opportunities, learning from them and growing from such obstacles.

The strength of the transactional stress theory is that it situates the individual in the center of the assessment and hints at the subjectivity of the individual, meaning it is finally the individual who assesses if he really possesses the required resources, some of which are highly personal and relate to one's identity. The solidity of this

#### *Leadership in Multi-Space Offices: Realizing the Potential of Modern and Flexible Workplace… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106887*

self-assessment and self-belief is centralized here, but due to the subjectivity in the assessment, it might be that this self-belief is objectively accurate or not. For instance, a person's lack of trust in swimming might not be justified, if the person indeed knows how to swim.

On the same line, the aforementioned self-assessment acquires strong significance for another theory that literally "binds" the individual to the workplace. Scrima and colleagues [7] present a theory of workplace attachment that situates the individual at the workplace with different types and degrees of bonding with the workplace. This bond or attachment is explained as a cognitive-affective link to a significant place; individuals develop an emotional bond that determines part of the perception of the individual and how he behaves in relation to his environment. The theory uses two factors to determine the type of attachment. These factors are the place-assessment and the self-assessment, and each assessment can be evaluated as either positive or negative, which leads us to form a matrix-like table with four attachment styles (although one of them is not included due to its pathological nature, the negativenegative one).

Before going into the relevant attachment styles, the Scrima and colleagues' theory will be tied with previous theories. Relating the workplace attachment style theory to the JD-R model, it can be deduced that both the place and self-put demands on the individual. The workplace (or organization in JD-R model) objectively provides demands, and the individual integrates them into their assessment framework. On the other hand, the workplace (or organization) provides resources to the individual, and the individual or self is central to the assessment of owned resources, also determined by the belief in one's capacity to resolve the situation effectively. In this sense, a negative self-assessment relates both to the production of stress and less ideal attachment styles to the workplace.

The attachment styles are as follows: the secure attachment style (both positive place- and self-assessments), the avoidant attachment style (negative placeassessment but positive self-assessment), as well as the preoccupied attachment style (positive place-assessment but negative self-assessment). All theories set together and summarized are to be found in **Tables 1** and **2**.


#### **Table 1.**

*The effect of job demands and job resources on place- and self-assessments.*


#### **Table 2.**

*The workplace attachment styles ordered by place- and self-assessments [7].*


#### **Table 3.**

*A logical process to understand how emotional intelligence contributes to leadership in the context of this chapter.*

The next subsection will be dedicated to the analysis of stressors at the workplace. However, even the perception of environmental stressors such as noise is regulated by the self-assessment. For instance, the perception of noise, a stressor that is very common in Multi-Space offices, differs in accordance with one's own emotional state [8, 9]. The same noise will be perceived more negatively when the individual is in an emotionally negative state. Bad planning and management of demands has the potential of boosting the perception of already existing stressors. For that matter, the importance of an appropriate organizational culture, leadership, and climate is of detrimental importance. A study by Zheng and colleagues points out that alone culture, structure, and strategy explain 31% of the variance in organizational efficiency (**Table 3**) [10].

The organization analyzes the business environment and integrates into its strategy the recognized industry demands, which then translate into job demands for the organization at large and their employees. The fact that certain demands are either perceived as challenges or as threats is a partly subjective fact and points at the fact that organizational demands have an effect on the employees' stress level and perception. This indirectly shapes the way that the employee sees the organization, place, and themself. On the other hand, job resources such as a valuable culture that inspires a climate of trust or being qualified and trained with enough knowledge and skills will positively strengthen the perception and felt satisfaction with the workplace, organization, and oneself. Here, too, the manager plays an enormously important role. Especially in change processes, where there is generally a lot of uncertainty, good leadership and communication top-down can be a positive game changer.

*Leadership in Multi-Space Offices: Realizing the Potential of Modern and Flexible Workplace… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106887*

Overall, when applied to the way workplaces are perceived, it is found that employees tend to attach to workplaces mostly in a secure, avoidant, or preoccupied style. However, as stated previously, the analysis of the job situation is a constant and dynamic process [6], and there is much room to change things.

#### **3. The stressors at sight**

The fact that Multi-Space offices boost mobility through the implementation of diverse areas that serve for different activities also implies that new stressors will arise as a result of new dynamics. On the other hand, with new dynamics, open space, and mobility, the constellation of privacy providing spaces is redefined. More concisely, open-space-type offices boost both the need for privacy and the need for social interaction [11]. This apparently contradictory statement is justified by the fact that open offices leave the individual more "exposed" to the world, but the dynamics of the place increase the desire to socialize more [11], which goes in hand with the New Work idea, that the workplace is increasingly becoming a place to socialize [1]. As of this new dynamic and spatial configuration, the most commonly mentioned stressors in Multi-Space offices are as follows:


These stressors can impair the completion of current job demands, which can loop and exacerbate already present stressors and job demands. In accordance with Scrima and colleagues, low levels of privacy seem to amplify the negative consequences of avoidant and preoccupied attachment styles, whereas high privacy settings help buffer exhaustion [7]. Just as the generation of stress is a fact-dependent on personal traits [6], the need for privacy is a factor that is determined by personal characteristics [11].

The occurrence of potential stressors is independent of individual assessment, but managers shall take into consideration that the evaluation of these stressors is subject to personal assessment, which is a function of personal characteristics. On the other hand, stressors in Multi-Space offices arise mostly from social interactions in an environment that is more dynamic and open than traditional spaces. This means that stressors can be targeted independently from the subject and reduced through the implementation of rules at an organizational level. Stressors cause negative emotion to employees and can lead to hindering performance on an individual and organizational level.

#### **4. Formulating organizational values for cultural adaptation and promoting emotional leadership**

Organizational values are the main driver of fluidity in Multi-Space offices and as a determining force in the social climate of a company. Organizational values are also the grounding assumptions on which the collective meaning of the organization is generated, and guidance to employees' action and behavior is given [15]. Values ensure consistency in collective action and give a framework to assess each other's behavior. Values ensure collective fluidity and are of great strategic importance, particularly where firms need to orient themselves toward rapidly changing markets and environments [16].

The strategic importance of HR and people management has increasingly been reflected in the formulation of strategic decisions for organizations. Firms do not only recognize that they need to shift due to technological or market pressures, but that the employees who must contend with these shifts also have to adapt to change swiftly [16]. Being that Multi-Space offices and the division of space into functional areas reflect changing market and technological dynamics, the individuals who work and live on a day-to-day basis in these functional areas must adapt their behavior to live up to both the changing dynamics and the potential of Activity-Based Working (ABW). It is henceforth the task of HR to gear and point the direction of employees' development and their cultures, which makes the adaptation of employees to the usability of Multi-Space offices an ambition that is embedded in larger cultural initiatives within the firm. The way organizations work translate into the physical space. For example, there is evidence that innovative and cooperative climates lead to an increase in social interactions [17] or that confirm that mutual trust, flat hierarchies, or open feedback cultures promote strengthened teamwork [18].

To promote leadership in Multi-Space offices and guarantee the fluidity of these spaces, HR interventions must be designed from a standpoint that considers values as the gearing point of any cultural change. These values must then be incorporated and translated into specific measures and actions [15], such as leadership trainings, learning and development programs, or recruitment strategies. Values are the gasoline, and initiatives are the vehicle for fluidity. One cannot give the wrong gasoline to their vehicle if they intend to be mobile. Cultural change and value reformulations cannot remain in mere promise and must be set into practice and upheld at all levels of the firm through relevant development programs and support structures [16].

From the perspective of values as instruments, generating affective commitment toward the firm [19] are humane values such as courtesy, cooperation and forgiveness, and visionary values such as development, openness, and creativity. The significance of this fact is that such values can directly foster secure attachment styles toward the workplace and organization, since the individual's personal and creative growth is supported on one side, and the organization and the workplace as its physical embodiment serves for a more humane and supporting atmosphere, where individuals might not feel as much exposed to risk and failure as in other scenarios.

Since the fluidity, dynamism, and satisfaction with Multi-Space office depends on a large degree to the emotional climate formed by coworkers, the quality of leadership in Multi-Space offices will be considerable determined by the capability of managers to access employees' emotions, understand where they come from, and extract the information held in them. Accessing the emotional information, which is also the information that gives insights in the way employees relate to the environment or

#### *Leadership in Multi-Space Offices: Realizing the Potential of Modern and Flexible Workplace… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106887*

Multi-Office space [7], is essential to be able to form decisions in an agile manner to promote the civic and dynamic use of Multi-Space offices.

Emotional information can be conceived as a set of signals that communicate information about the individual's assessments and motivated reactions to important survival phenomenon such as perceived threats, conflict, appeasement, alliance, and so on [20]. On the other hand, emotional intelligence is understood by Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso as "the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions to enhance thinking… which includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth" [20].

The emotionally intelligent leader should be able to recognize how a particular employee is relating to their environment and can understand how they are feeling. Furthermore, if one considers that, according to many philosophers of emotion, (a) a particular emotion arises as the outcome of our own evaluative process, and that (b) emotions have its own drive and motivation [21], the emotionally intelligent leader can more accurately calculate the behavior an individual based on their emotional predisposition and values. On the other hand, goals change as do our values [22], together with our emotions as signals of what is important or needed. Accordingly, the meaning employees find in their environment and the objects that occupy it changes as do their broader goals [22]. Simply said, our environment reflects back what we value, and we interact with it accordingly. As an example: an individual is anxious in social situations but values highly providing for their family. Being that the culture of the firm rewards efficiency and creativity, the employee might be more prone to pursue exchange with other coworkers to ensure productivity and new ideas, despite aversion toward social interaction. Naturally, this process is smoother for the employee, when he or she experiences support in that process, and his or her potential is promoted [23].

Employees want to be treated humanely, with room to exploit their potential, and when both organizational and personal values match, affective commitment is more likely to happen [19]. In that the affective commitment of employees toward the organization increases when treated in a humane and visionary way, leaders want to support their employees personally and aid them in the unfolding of their potential, which benefits both the employee and the organization. A competent leader will identify where the development of the individual is obstructed and help them unfold their capabilities and skills.

When targeting the development of staff for fluidity in Multi-Space office, where environmental stressors are have less impact on the individuals, skills that should be fostered to remain competent in more functional and dynamic environments are as follows: self-management, self-awareness, social skills, resilience and courage, empathy and emotional intelligence, critical thinking and questioning one's beliefs, goal setting and goal execution, awareness and focus, attentive listening, and also having a positive attitude toward work, the world, and people. Leaders and managers in New Work increasingly need to undertake the role of development partners for their employees and use situations to stimulate the development of employees [1].

Having mentioned relevant points of discussion for leadership in Multi-Space offices, the points are presented in **Table 4** as relevant topics for organizational development and fluidity in the use of space.

Naturally, by engineering meaning and values, ethical dilemmas come into play, such as that promoting a particular set of assumptions and beliefs might interfere with the development of true well-fare or the construction of healthy personal


**Table 4.**

*Key areas for the design of leadership programs for Multi-Space offices.*

identities. However, the organization that wishes to generate affective commitment and workplace attachment and stimulate the liveliness and civility in Multi-Space offices should target values that are humane and visionary and reach the individual at a profound and existential level [22].

Structuring training programs for overall cultural change and leadership in Multi-Space offices should divide the different key areas in a way that makes sense. When training exclusively for emotional leadership, Sadri suggests dividing emotional leadership trainings in different focus areas [24]. After Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso's conceptualization of emotional intelligence, four areas are presented: perceiving emotion, the ability to use emotion to enhance thought, understanding emotion, and the ability to manage emotion. According to Sadri, training sessions should rather focus on single or various but not all focus areas for the development of competence, as this would lead to suboptimal results [24].

Overall, the way leadership trainings are delivered can be classified by methods: by personal growth (promoting self-awareness), by conceptual understanding, by feedback (promoting self-regulation), or by skill building (social skills) [24]. Some specific proposed training tools are given [16, 24], and all these tools can support the development of both focus areas 1 and 2:


Emotionally intelligent leaders present a deeper understanding of their employees and teams, which supports leveraging the transformational capabilities they can exercise on their employees [24] and help boost team cohesion, communication, and teamwork [23].

*Leadership in Multi-Space Offices: Realizing the Potential of Modern and Flexible Workplace… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106887*

#### **5. Conclusion**

Times change and work nowadays has become far from what it used to be centuries, even decades before. As has been narrated in this chapter, New Work is a social change surrounding the way work is performed and is driven by the course of globalization, digitalization, changing demographics, and an overall remodeling of values that individuals in society hold [1, 2]. Because of this development, Multi-Space offices are finding a recent boom in implementation. The literature describing the perceived satisfaction of users of Multi-Space offices is diffuse and contradictory, one study against each other [6]. There have been hints on the underlying psychological grounding of such differences, which can explain how Multi-Space offices can be led to ultimately increase performance, satisfaction, and fluidity in these novel work environments.

In this context, satisfaction is an important factor that depends on the attitude and emotion employees have toward their work environment. Emotions can be controlled from the outside to a certain extent. It is part of a manager's task to ensure a suitable change process in the event of a change in the working environment and to inform and involve the employees appropriately. The positive effects of New Work can only unfold if the introduction to the new working worlds is adapted to the target group.

It is important for managers to keep an eye on employees' stress levels. If job demands exceed job resources, stress is released according to the JD-R Model [5]. Within the context of our chapter, the experience of stress is assumed to be a highlevel proxy of the quality and satisfaction experienced with one's work, since, according to Lazarus and Folkman, stress presents a subjective component [6].

Multi-Space offices are rich in social interaction, and most stressors in this environment present a causal factor that is social in essence, the largest targetable area in order to improve the manageability of Multi-Space offices are the social interactions that conform this work environment. Changes targeting the way social interactions take place and the way individuals behave imply large cultural and climate shifts [15, 16].

Subjective attachment to the job is described as a meaningful cognitive-affective attachment resulting from the evaluation of the place and the evaluation of the self [7]. Thus, job satisfaction can be influenced based on job demands and job resources. Following this train of thought, the main goal of HR is to influence the way social interactions take place in Multi-Space offices and promote a climate of trust, growth, vision, and cooperation. Values such as cooperation, trust, or any other value in general direct much of human thought and action, each value in its direction. Being that organizational values determine the context in which actions take place, and the meaning of social interactions is derived [14], fostering and implementing humane and visionary values across the length of the company is primordial in order to guarantee a good use of Multi-Space offices. With emotional leadership in mind, leaders can target their employees and improve their place- and self-assessments by gaining access and working with emotional information that explains much of the satisfaction experienced for the organization and workplace [24, 25].

Which work zone is supportive for which activity depends, for example, strongly on a person's personality or personal way of working. Therefore, special attention should be paid to which work types, work styles, and work methods are represented in a team. In practice, it has been repeatedly found that performance and team climate improve significantly when these points are taken into account and incorporated into the implementation of the new working environment.

It is also the task of the manager to clarify the framework conditions before introducing Multi-Space offices and to ensure appropriate and transparent communication with the employees. In this way, a large part of the conflict potential of a change process is nipped in the bud. Not only the goal but also the path to new working environments must be clear. If the manager has clarified how the employees will be involved in the process, the employees can be approached. People have no problem with not having a say in the process. They only struggle when they a) do not know why they are not being involved or b) believe they have a say in the process and that is not the case.

To develop leadership traits that foster emotionally intelligent leadership, HR professionals can go through several considerations or specific programs that they can implement as part of leadership development programs. However, the central point of leadership development programs is to create a climate and culture that supports individuals in their workplace. Emotionally intelligent leadership can therefore be seen as an important tool for recognizing how employees relate to their environment.

### **Author details**

Sandra Gauer\* and Luka Ilic Gauer Consulting, Bern, Switzerland

\*Address all correspondence to: s.gauer@gauer-consulting.com

© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Leadership in Multi-Space Offices: Realizing the Potential of Modern and Flexible Workplace… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106887*

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#### **Chapter 11**

## Career Development and Employee Value Proposition People Management Future

*Caroline Igoki Mwangi*

#### **Abstract**

Career development has gained a lot of interest over time as organizations and employees attempt to match individual goals with organizational goals to maximize performance. Value proposition, in human resource management focuses on the value that organizations and employees place on their worth, thereby the future of work for both. This chapter reviewed existing literature and linked the relationship between the two constructs to inform on their contribution to the future of people management. Global changes have made it necessary for employers and employees to re-examine the world of work and people management. How organizations manage employee careers is strategic in adding value to both the organization and the employees. The methodology employed was to search online and identify literature, review, and analysis were done per construct reviewed literature. Further the link between the career development and employee value proposition was identified. The limitation is that most of the available literature on the two constructs is before the Covid-19 pandemic and does not emphasize the future. The findings are that career though fast changing remains an important motivator for employees as an aspect of the employee value proposition that would impact people's management futures.

**Keywords:** career, development, employee, value, proposition, management

#### **1. Introduction**

Global changes have affected organizations and employees significantly, impacting the world of work. People are identified as the most important resource in organizations, yet it is observed that organizations have to come up with ways of managing people in the wake of rapid changes and many factors, such as the pandemic, knowledge economy, and knowledge workers, among others.

Career development is one of the individual responsibilities that employees need to grow themselves. Previously, organizations also had a significant role to play. A career may be defined as an individual's work-related and other relevant experiences, both inside and outside of organizations that form a unique pattern over the individual's lifespan [1].

Careers would previously entail a job for life several years ago where an organization employed an individual, and the individual developed through on-the-job training and

gaining experience in addition to formal education to grow their careers. Over time formal education required that an individual identify an area of interest and grow in it as a vocation and acquire certification in that area. The certification became proof of one having acquired certain knowledge and skill to enable them to enter an organization and work in the respective capacity. Once an employee acquired a job in a particular field, they then sort to grow in their line of career sometimes up to managerial levels in that area.

However, this has changed over time as individuals and organizations seek to align themselves with the current global changes. The need to develop one's career over the years has handed the organizational role and the individual role and matching organizational and individual career needs in the process. This has necessitated that right from recruitment and selection organizations obtain employees taking into consideration their dreams and aspirations and how these will be aligned to the goals and objectives of the organization, including succession management. Organizations, therefore, have availed information necessary for individuals to utilize to grow their careers and also carried out career counseling where necessary as part of mentoring and coaching. Individuals, on the other hand have hand to identify their career paths and to use formal opportunities, for example,. educational institutions and informal opportunities, to grow their career and utilize where possible the knowledge and experience either in the organizations they are in or look for employment in organizations where their newly acquires skills may be used. Mulhall [2] notes that human resource practitioners and business leaders have a critical challenge in providing employees with career management programs that are effective.

Shaito [3] states that there is a need to develop an effective career development strategy in organizations. He identifies the career development process to consist of recognition of career needs, provision of career paths, carrying out job analysis, and succession planning for purposes of developing effective career opportunities. Further, there is a need to integrate the needs of employees with career opportunities using management by objectives and career counseling then having monitoring and evaluation regularly. Management may be seen as an antecede for career development as career development is a complex long-lasting procedure [4].

The employee value proposition has gained a lot of interest as organizations seek to brand themselves to attract and retain talented employees for competitive advantage. Employee value proposition focuses on how an employee may offer value to an organization and how an organization may receive and utilize that value as they also offer quality employment for employees. It is worth noting that with the increase in knowledge acquisition, the pool of available potential employees continues to increase, however, due to the current need for competitive advantage for employees, organizations need to offer value to obtain and retain employees and get value for money.

Deshoande, A. [5], states

*"Employee value proposition (EVP) is the balance of the rewards and benefits that are received by employees in return for their performance at the workplace. Organizations generally develop an EVP to provide a consistent platform for employer brand communication and experience management. Value proposition is the full array of elements an organization delivers to employees in return for the contribution those employees make to the organization.*

*Employee's value proposition also refers to creating a balance between employee's job satisfaction and performance of the employee in work culture. Employee's value*  *Career Development and Employee Value Proposition People Management Future DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106932*

*proposition can be used as an effective tool for employment branding as it outlines the desired and desirable requisites of employees related to employment. By creating the better recruitment objectives, identifying the needs of employment and the positioning of the employees at the right place, and by creating the values of existing employees in the organization."*

It is worth noting that although career development research has been done from vocational skills development, and employee value proposition has been developing over the years, this paper focus on career development in the adult life within organizations in the face of change, such as mass layoffs, that have led to career shock. Further, this chapter utilizes hope action theory (HAT) in an attempt to contribute to the future of people management. Career development is part of the employee value proposition whose responsibility is now more on employees. Literature is reviewed to come up with the possible significance of career development and employee value proposition in the future contribute to people management futures.

#### **2. Career development**

Several scholars have defined career from individual and employee perspectives that it may be objective or subjective. Saleem [6] cites other scholars on career definition and change that "a 'career' has been described as a long-term procedure made up of a sequence of actions and relevant behavior or behaviors that take place in a person's perform lifestyle. It is also considered as a routine of performing relevant encounters, such as job roles, tasks responsibilities or actions, perform relevant decisions; and a very subjective understanding of performing relevant events, such as work aspirations, objectives, principles, needs, and feelings about particular perform encounters, that period the course of an individual's lifestyle.

This chapter defines a career broadly taking into consideration that there is no agreed-upon definition as a career keeps changing. A career refers to those experiences that are work-related for an individual forming a unique lifespan pattern, whether within or outside an organization. Further, careers may be portfolio or encore. Portfolio careers refer to workers engaged in the line of work that is more than one whole encore career refers to retired individuals who take up another kind of work as opposed to the work they did before retirement.

Career development then may be defined as both from an individual and organizational perspective. They point out that "individual perspective, career development is a lifelong process involving psychological, sociological, educational, economic, and physical factors, as well as chance factors that influence the career of the individual. From an organizational perspective, it is a process of assuring an alignment of individual career planning and organization career management processes to achieve an optimal match between individual and organizational needs.

There are many career theories, however, those that are development-focused include those of scholars, such as Donald Superlife, John Holland, Linda Goffredson, John Kromboltz, Ginberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, and Herma, where development refers to a process over time.

Tamper [7] propose that career development be focused on only for core employees in the light of portfolio career in the workplace to enable organizations to focus on competencies that are core and match portfolio skills with the needs of the organization in the wake of changing HR function.

Career development is the lifelong process of managing learning, work, leisure, and transitions in order to move toward a personally determined and evolving preferred future [8]. Pawar [9] notes that employee value proposition is core to other organization processes to attract and retain employees.

Egan, and Lyneham [10] note that the twenty-first century realities need to be captured in a theoretical framework [11] and the need for career development to be made relevant in human resource development. Career definition also may be seen as aligning career aspects that are subjective with those aspects which are objective for pest fit purposes in terms of organizational and individual needs [12].

Simonsen as cited by Hite [13] defines career development as "career development is an ongoing process of planning and directed action toward personal work and life goals. Development means growth, continuous acquisition, and application of one's skills. Career development is the outcome of the individual's career planning and the organization's provision of support and opportunities, ideally a collaborative process."

Colon, [14] in a literature review identifies eight themes on Career development namely demographics, old vs. new economy, career patterns, workplace justice, lifestyle & welfare trends, employee responsibilities, employee and individual responsibilities, education and training, and they note that there is a shift of career development from being a responsibility of the organization to being more of individual responsibility.

Nagarathanam et al. [15] in their study found that career development practices resulted in moderate employee retention. The specific practices were leadership development, career development structure, talent management structure, success planning development, and self-assessment evaluation.

A study by Crocitto et al. [16] emphasizes the need for mentorship as a career development practice for expatriates.

A recent study found unique challenges that have been experienced in the world of careers for individuals. The study by Yoon et al. [17] using the HAT theory developed by Niles, Yoon, and Amundson in 2010 classified workers into four types, namely, essential workers, remote workers, outgoing workers, and displaced workers. They emphasize the need for career development interventions and policies that facilitate continuous career development progression. Further the hope-action competencies.


MacDonald and Hite [13] suggest that human resource development remains an integral part of the career development process and that organizational interest in expanding career development efforts should have a return on investment considered.

#### **3. Employee value proposition**

Employee value proposition may be seem to have motivation as an underlying factor, whereas process motivational theories connect in expectancy, goal setting, reinforcement, and equity. These areas connect with heart to action theory of career development.

Beacon Review [18] gives a framework of five elements for employee value proposition:


Research shows that employee value proposition attracts employees [19]. Pawar [20] notes that most organizations have an employee value proposition to attract, motivate and retain the right talent and to provide a line of sight to the company's culture. He points out that career is one of the attributes of employee value proposition and concludes that employee value proposition can help attract talent.

Parreira [21] carried out an analysis of employee value proposition and found out that there are two parts that are dependent on each other, that is, attraction and retention, where retention success depends on the attraction and retention strategy.

EVP purpose to a company:


There are elements to EVP that Sibson consulting has created in a reward for work (ROW) model.


Shinde [22] gives three steps in developing an employee value proposition namely:-.


Pawar A. and Charak [23] carried out research that showed that employee value proposition has not been formalized by many organizations even though it should be calc early statement that is written and communicated to employees and they are aware of it. They note the importance of employee value proposition to include in the corporate leadership councils research.

Isabel Holm and Linn Anderson Hutsch [24] carried out research on employer branding focusing on the importance of balancing the needs of employees with employer offerings note that the specific performance of an individual or a group of workers has a profitability impact that is significant. They note that organizational strengths are important and they may originate from behavior and assets of employees or the unique assets of the specific organization. Talent management focuses on how an organization manages its talent. Employer branding focuses on how talent perceived the organization.

Armstrong [25] notes the need for organizations to first identify employee expectations who are already engaged in the industry, that is, employee value proposition. This may include benefits offered to current and potential employees. Literature on employee retention and turnover indicate trust, satisfaction, work-life policies, and role congruence as some of the positive aspects that encourage employee value proposition and lead to retention.

#### **4. Hope action theory**

Reviewed literature shows using hope-centered model of career development promotes career management of individuals encountering challenges and opportunities, reinforcing the vigilance needed for individuals to maintain self and occupational awareness. They use (a) hope, (b) self-reflection, (c) self-clarity, (d) visioning, (e) goal setting/planning, and (f) implementing/adapting [26].

Niles, S. G., Amundson, N. E. & Neault, R. A. (2010). development. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Niles, S. G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. G. (2009). Career development interventions in the 21st century (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Pursglove [27] carried out a study on hope the holistic evaluation of employee hope, wellbeing and engagement using the hope theory and found out positive outcomes of employees with hope.

*Career Development and Employee Value Proposition People Management Future DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106932*

Snyder [28] in hope theory defines hope as "the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways." He notes that there are two major types of goals in hope theory, namely:

Type 1 involves positive goal outcome.

a.Reaching for the first time.

b.Sustaining present goal outcome.

c.Increasing that which already has been initiated.

Type 2 involves a negative goal outcome.

a.Deterring, so that it never appears.

b.Deterring, so that its appearance is delayed.

Building on this further research by Pursglove [27] notes that previous research views individual goal attainment as leading to a likelihood of attainment of organizational goals. That where hope is fostered in organizations, negative impacts of change are countered with a focus on shared goals.

In addition, Yoon et al. [29] carried out research and found that hope action competency, general self-efficacy, and job search clarity were effectively developed. They noted that HAT integrated three theories: human agency theory, career metacompetencies, and hope theory.

#### **5. Career development, employee value proposition and people management futures**

Dipak [30] states that at the recruitment level, career value proposition, which is specific and individualized with manager and employee roles, needs to be introduced to employees. Also, North [31] points out the need to make employee value proposition recognized and more intentional as a strategic and sustainable approach.

Pawar [32] argues that most organizations have an employee value proposition to attract, motivate and retain the right talent, and to provide a line of sight to the company's culture. He points out that career is one of the attributes of employee value proposition and concludes that employee value proposition can help attract talent.

Parreira [21] carried out an analysis of employee value proposition and found out that there are two parts dependent on each other, that is, attraction and retention where retention success depends on the attraction and retention strategy.

This chapter notes that the hope Action theory would go a long way in employee proposition where individuals lay emphasis on career development as of prime importance.

#### **6. People management**

Human resource management literature shows that there are challenges that are being faced in the twenty-first century. Armstrong [33] states that human resource management deals with people in organizations in three ways, namely, employment, management, and development.

Career development is an aspect of the employee value proposition. As organizations seek for uniqueness in employee value proposition, the career development aspect becomes invaluable in assisting employees to connect with employer value.

This is because career development offers present and future employees the opportunity to realize their goals alongside those of the organization. This is because there is a need to create a more compelling EVP. This takes into consideration the need to anticipate intense competition for talent, changing workforce needs due to disruptive technology, and general workers' view that employee satisfaction is not enough.

Research conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic identifies career development as a human resource management challenge due to career shock and fear of job loss and that job loss may lead to a reevaluation of individual goals or position fit by Akkermans, [34] who previously had defined career shock as:

*… a disruptive and extraordinary event, that is, at least to some degree, caused by factors outside the focal individual's control and that trigger a deliberate thought process concerning one's career. The occurrence of a career shock can vary in terms of predictability, and can be either positively or negatively valenced."*

They give the definition and point out the key elements to be frequency, intensity, controllability and predictability, valence, and duration which Hite [35] posits are relevant in the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a need to make careers sustainable and the implications for human resource development is to come up with training strategies that enable individuals to adapt making career development part of human resource development for sustainability and moving from job specialization to generalization.

It is suggested that people management is transitioning from human resource management, and human capital management where talent management is the focus to human self-management, and that multitalented employee value proposition is one of the drivers of human resource and human capital transition. This emphasizes the importance of employee value proposition for organizations in people management [36].

#### **7. Conclusion**

The reviewed literature brings out changes in career development to shift more to employees for sustainability. However, the literature emphasizes that career may be changing but remains important to employees. Further, the need for employees to focus on attainable goals that bring satisfaction is pointed out. Career development is being focused more on human resource development. It is further noted that career development is one of the outcomes of the employee value proposition that organizations may use to attract and retain employees with hope action theory (HAT) being utilized to offer employees sustainable career development for employee attraction and retention as a people management future aspect to address the challenge of employee attraction and retention in the people management future.

This chapter has examined the literature on career development and employee value proposition and the shift pointing out the need for management to play an active role in the future management of people. It is suggested that career development and employee value proposition policies need to be put in place and taken into consideration at the recruitment level in future for retention purposes. The future

*Career Development and Employee Value Proposition People Management Future DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106932*

management needs to be trained on incorporating career development and employee value proposition in the retention practices as part of supervision for future people management. Also, career value proposition and employee value proposition should be practiced simultaneously to cater for types of employees with training on building hope for employees.

#### **Acknowledgements**

I wish to acknowledge my University Murang'a University of Technology for allowing me to take the time to publish this chapter. I wish to thank IntechOpen for grating men the opportunity to publish this chapter in the book. I wish to acknowledge Jelena for her assistance to ensure that this work is published and for the reviewers who reviewed this chapter and made recommendations to improve the work. I acknowledge researchers who have published articles on these constructs and availed them online, thereby stirring interest in the two constructs.

#### **Conflict of interest**

I wish to state that I do not have any conflict of interest.

#### **Notes/thanks/other declarations**

I wish to declare that this work has not been published before.

#### **Author details**

Caroline Igoki Mwangi Murang'a University of Technology, Nairobi, Kenya

\*Address all correspondence to: cigokim@mut.ac.ke

© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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#### **Chapter 12**
