Journal of Organizational Change Management

Intervention for supervisors, based on social skills and leadership, in order to improve organizational
climate perception and organizational performance outcomes
alejandro adrian cuadra-peralta Constanza Veloso-Besio Jose Iribaren Rodrigo Pinto
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To cite this document:
alejandro adrian cuadra-peralta Constanza Veloso-Besio Jose Iribaren Rodrigo Pinto , (2017)," Intervention for supervisors,
based on social skills and leadership, in order to improve organizational climate perception and organizational performance
outcomes ", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 30 Iss 2 pp. -
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 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 1

Intervention for supervisors, based on social skills and leadership, in order to improve

organizational climate perception and organizational performance outcomes.

Introduction

The context that organizations face is characterized by many changes and challenges. In

this scenario the role of the leader is not only crucial for the effectiveness of the
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organization, but also for its survival (Martí, Gil & Barrasa, 2009). That is why many

organizations allocate part of their budget for training and leadership development (Collins

and Holton, 2004; Tharenou, Saks & Moore, 2007).

While interventions to develop leadership have attracted the interest of both the

professional world and academia (Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm & McKee, 2014; Special

Edition The Leadership Quarterly, 2010), the latter through review papers (Avolio,

Reichard, Hannah, Walumbwa & Chan, 2009; Collins and Holton, 2004), has highlighted

the need to incorporate organizational performance outcomes when evaluating the

effectiveness of programs for leadership development, because, apparently, they have been

particularly scarce. This is especially important considering that even when organizational

outcomes are seen as more distal, often are perceived as more essential when judging the

success of the training (Alliger, Tannenbaum, Bennett, Traver & Shortland, 1997;

Tharenou et al., 2007).

One way to address the challenge of improving objective outcomes of organizational

performance is through social skills training and leadership of those immediate supervisors

responsible for achieving goals of organizational performance, because is at this level that
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 2

an effect of greater magnitude is achieved, because they have more direct interactions with

their followers (Avolio et al., 2009; Bowles, Cunningham, De La Rosa & Picano; 2007;

Cuadra-Peralta and Veloso-Besio, 2010). In this line, without downplaying the executive

leadership, the leadership responsible for carrying out the main tasks of the organization

occurs in those levels that have direct dealings with workers (Dulebohn, Bommer, Liden,

Brouer & Ferris, 2012). Moreover, recently it has been noted that the leadership of top level

could be a relatively distal cause of adaptation or organizational change (Dinh et al., 2014),

making immediate supervisors a population of interest own their own right.

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In consideration of the aforementioned, the overall objective of this research was to

analyze the effectivenss of an intervention aimed at supervisors, based on social skills and

transformational/transactional leadership, in order to improve organizational climate

perception and objective outcomes of organizational performance.

Social Skills and Leadership: Fundaments of Intervention Program

Social skills.

Social skills represent a broad range of skills that are open to development (R. Riggio

and Reichard, 2008). That is, they can be acquired through training (learned), and its

effectiveness is related to behaviors that have social impact, i.e., a positive interpersonal

result.

In the field of work and organizations social skills are considered an influential factor in

job success (Beheshtifar and Norozy, 2013), being useful for carrying out the work,

because they allow to establish satisfactory and efficient workplace and professional

relationships (Gil, 1998). Besides, social skills are a critical component to teamwork,

conflict resolution and in order to work in a more coordinated, cooperative and integrated

manner with others (Morgeson, Reider & Campion, 2005). Relevant social skills in
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 3

organizational workplace include: assertiveness, communication, to criticize, make

compliments, negotiation, active listening, empathy, supervisory skills, among others (Gil,

Rodríguez-Mazo & Alcover, 1998; Moreno-Jiménez, Blanco-Donoso, Aguirre-Camacho,

de Rivas & Herrero, 2014; Payne, 2005; R. Riggio, H. Riggio, Salinas & Cole, 2003;

Robles, 2012).

Regarding the specific field of leadership development, social skills are considered an

important component in leadership development programs (Gil, Cantero & Antino, 2013;

Golnaz, 2012; R. Riggio and Reichard, 2008), especially in lower hierarchical levels such
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as direct supervisors (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). In this sense, to possess

adequate social skills is a competitive advantage and a critical skill for success and

effectiveness of leaders, due to social skills are one of the specific mechanisms that leaders

use to influence their followers, so efforts to develop them should be supported by training

programs (R. Riggio and Reichard, 2008).

Leadership.

Transformational and transactional theories are considered one of the most accepted

types to classify leadership, with robust predictive validity across a diverse outcomes

(Judge and Piccolo, 2004). Regarding transformational theory, is one of the contemporary

theories of leadership that has received most attention (Dinh et al, 2014.), due to its positive

effect on individual, group and organizational outcomes (Avolio et al., 2009; Braun, Peus,

Wiesweiler & Frey, 2013; Gil, Alcover, Rico & Sánchez-Mazanares, 2011; Piccolo et al.,

2012). Bass (1990) defines transformational leadership as a superior performance

leadership, which occurs when leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their employees,

inspiring followers to look beyond their own interests for the good of the group.

Transformational leadership is composed of four sub-dimensions: a) Charisma or idealized

 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 4

influence: is the degree to which the leader behaves admirably, causing followers to

identify with the leader and want to imitate him or her. Charismatic leaders show

conviction, take positions and relate to their followers on an emotional level. b)

Inspirational motivation: is the degree to which the leader is able to motivate his or her

followers communicating optimism about achieving goals in the future, challenging high

standards and providing meaning to the work/task. In turn, the leader is able to formulate an

attractive and inspiring vision for followers. c) Intellectual stimulation: is the degree to

which the leader challenges assumptions, takes risks and solicits ideas to his or her
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followers. These leaders encourage their followers to be innovative, creative and look for

solutions to problems by themselves. d) Individualized consideration: is the degree to

which the leader attends to each follower’s needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower,

and listens to the follower’s concerns and needs (Judge and Piccolo, 2004, p. 755).

On the other side, transactional leadership consists of three sub-dimensions: contingent

reward, management by exception- active and management by exception-pasive. However,

because the facets of active and passive management does not show robust predictive

validity through various organizational outcomes, we only consider in our intervention the

contingent reward facet, which meets this criterion (Piccolo et al., 2012). Contingent

reward is defined as the degree to which the leader sets financial or emotional exchanges or

constructive transactions with the followers to motivate them, clarifying expectations and

establishing rewards when expectations (goals) are met (Judge and Piccolo, 2004, p. 755).

Although most attention has been paid to transformational leadership (Dinh et al., 2014)

these two types of leadership are not mutually exclusive. According to Judge and Piccolo

(2004) experts have pointed out that the best leaders jointly use a transformational and

transactional style. That is, both styles can be used by the same leader at different times,
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 5

circumstances and degree (Bass, 1998). Evidence of what is stated can be found in the

study of Burpitt (2009), who reported, based on a sample of 91 small companies in the

industrial sector, the most successful organizations had a leader who used jointly

transformational and transactional leadership conducts. Specifically, the combination of

adaptability (associated with transformational leadership) and operational efficiency

(associated with transactional leadership), was associated with further development of

management systems, acquisition of new skills and knowledge, new market entry,

development of new products and manufacturing systems, increased revenue and

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profitability. It should be emphasized that of the 91 companies only 20 reported such

combination of behaviors, highlighting the apparent difficulty of using both types of

leadership behaviors spontaneously. This makes training in both styles a potentially

beneficial tool.

Outcomes at an Organizational Level

Organizational climate.

Organizational climate (OC) is a classic theme in psychology of organizations and

organizational behavior, which has attracted the attention of researchers from its origin to

present day (Schneider, Ehrhrart & Macey, 2013), due to its significant effect on individual

–e.g., work attitudes, motivation and employee performance- and organizational outcomes

–e.g., financial performance and customer satisfaction (Parker et al., 2003).

According Piccolo et al. (2012) experts say that organizations can design simple

interventions to improve the leadership skills to deal with others in a polite, caring,

dignified and respectful manner that will have an impact on intermediate outcomes. These

skills are consistent with those addressed in social skills programs that are implemented in

organizations. For example, recently Veloso-Besio, Cuadra-Peralta, Gil-Rodríguez &

 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 6

Ponce-Correa (2016, in preparation) applied an intervention, which included social skills

sessions (give compliments, expression of criticism, change request behavior, interpersonal

relationships) and transformational/contingent reward, on a sample of immediate

supervisors, and whose impact was measured in their employees’ leadership perception.

The authors reported a statistically significant increase in the perception of OC, job

satisfaction, among others, remarking that improving intermediate outcomes associated

with organizational outcomes is directly related to training immediate supervisors.

Objective outcomes of organizational performance.

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According to review of Tharenou et al. (2007) organizational efficacy outcomes can be

divided into four categories: human resource outcomes, organizational performance

outcomes, financial or accounting outcomes, and stock market outcomes (if they are

publicly listed companies). Regarding organizational performance outcomes some

indicators are: productivity/outcome, quality, service, revision, cycle time, on-time

delivery, customer satisfaction, speed, sales, sales growth, claims, to name a few.

As aforementioned at the beginning of this work, organizational performance objective

outcomes have been poorly addressed in the specific field of leadership development. For

instance in meta-analytic review of Collins and Holton (2004), in which the effectiveness of

development managerial leadership programs was analyzed, only 10% (k=7) of the studies

reported results of organizational performance, with a moderate size effect (d=0.39). In

turn, in Avolio et al. (2009) meta-analytic review, which analyzed the impact of

interventions based on leadership, only 1% (k=2) of the studies reported organizational

performance measures, with a high effect size (d=0.97). It should be highlighted that for set

of dependent variables (cognitive, behavioral, affective and performance), the effect sizes
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 7

were higher in direct supervisors (d=0.71) than in middle (d=0.51) and upper management

(d=0.51).

The situation described by Collins and Holton (2004) and Avolio et al. (2009) has again

been evidenced by Jing and Avery (2016), who noted that most studies with respect to

influence of leadership on performance are transversal, with more results at the individual

level, compared with group or organizational level outcomes.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Braun et al. (2013) reported that existing research has

shown that team perception of leadership regarding their supervisor will be an important
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engine for performance. Braun et al. reported results that go in the same direction of what is

stated by using objective measures of performance.

Based on the comments in this sub-section, it seems appropriate to consider objective

measures of performance when analyzing the effectiveness of leadership development

programs.

Method

Participants

Participants of this intervention were eight heads of area corresponding to direct

supervisors responsible for strategic units of an industrial company, with national presence,

dedicated to the sale and production of beverages. Of the eight participants, seven were

male.

Instruments

To measure leadership adapted version by Cuadra and Veloso (2007) Multifactor

Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) 5X Bass and Avolio was used. The following sub-

dimensions of transformational leadership were considered: charisma (ɑ=.91), intellectual

stimulation (ɑ=.84), inspirational motivation (ɑ=.84) and individualized consideration

 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 8

(ɑ=.92). Transactional leadership was assessed through a contingent reinforcement sub-

dimension (ɑ= .93). The reliability coefficients correspond to the study of Cuadra and

Veloso.

To measure organizational climate a scale developed by the company was used, which

considered the following sub-dimensions: structure, responsibility, reward, risks and

decisions, warmth, leadership, communication, regulations, management, conflict

management, identification, internal service, strategic focus and “X” program (to safeguard

anonymity of the company the name of the program had to be omitted).

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The various results of organizational performance, corresponding to all indicators used

by the company in all its plants, were: sales volume, number of customers who buy the

product, amount of customers with benefits and commitment, number of boxes sold with

packaging return (this format is the most profitable for the company), company positioning,

use line operatively, loss of products, quality packaging, product quality, product exchange

expenses, internal losses, nonperforming loans, using operably line (with no maintenance),

mechanical efficiency, utilization of operably line (including maintenance), waste

production during operation, and waste residues being recycled during operation.

Achieving organizational performance results was estimated by comparing the performance

of the unit in charge of each direct supervisor and performance objectives set by the

company. The results of nearly all performance variables were supplied by the same

company. Note that the outcome positioning company was evaluated by an external

company. In addition, the level of achievement of the performance targets of the previous

year (pre evaluation) was included for each of the units (departments).

Procedure
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 9

The design of this research was quasi-experimental with pre-posttest measurements, no

quasi-control group. The independent variable was the intervention program. The

dependent variables were: organizational climate perception and indicators of

organizational performance outcomes (see Table 2).

Regarding the procedure, this began with the development of the manual, based on

social skills and theories of transformational and transactional leadership (contingent

reward), which contained each of the topics to be discussed during the sessions, along with

the corresponding logs of the developed tasks by the direct supervisors outside the sessions.
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It is noteworthy that a session of emotional intelligence (EI) was added, since according

Golnaz (2012) various authors point to it as an important element to consider in leadership

development programs for their impact on leadership effectiveness. Recently, Lopes (2016)

refers also to consider the importance of EI in leadership training programs for its

relationship with various outcomes of interest for organizations.

Before starting the intervention, HR manager applied the survey to measure perceptions

of organizational climate subordinates (N=34) of the direct supervisors (heads of

department). This survey is applied in all company plants nationwide. Regarding to heads

of departments, the third and fourth author of this research applied a leadership assessment

360°, in which the perceptions of the superiors of the department heads, peers, subordinates

and supervisors self-perception were recorded. This information was used to guide the

sessions corresponding to leadership. It should be highlighted that there was a session back

360° survey results to each of the participants, by the first author of this work. We decided

to use this tool given that its main focus is on facilitating processes of leadership

development by allowing the identification of skills and competencies of effective (and

 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 10

ineffective) leadership received from various sources and that are relevant to the

organization (Day et al., 2014 ).

The sessions were held in the premises of the company. The intervention program was

implemented by the second author of this paper and other trained psychologist (Ps. Romina

Cousins). Training methods were applied: lectures, group discussions, role-playing and

various cognitive-behavioral techniques (see description below).

The intervention covered a period of two months, with a total of eight sessions

corresponding to the implementation of the program. The frequency of the intervention was
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a weekly session of 90 minutes each. During the inter-session periods the participants had

to carry out the activities and record them in the logs provided, which was intended to

verify that the participants generalize skills learned in the sessions to their working

environment, as well as providing feedback to participants who will report difficulties.

Logbooks were socialized by the participants at the beginning of the next session. A month

after the conclusion of the last session post intervention measurement of organizational

climate to direct subordinates was applied by the HR manager. The post intervention results

for organizational performance objective outcomes were provided by the company four

months after completion of the intervention.

The sessions were structured as follows: Session 1: Company; Session 2: Leadership;

Session 3: Communication and Leadership; Session 4: Problem Solving; Session 5:

Emotional Intelligence; Session 6: Make and Accept Criticism; Session 7: Assertiveness;

Session 8: Teamwork.

Regarding the sessions based on the transformational approach, it should be mentioned

that the sub-dimension of intellectual stimulation is not addressed, this because we believe
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 11

that is not relevant to exhibit by the supervisor when it comes to the proper performance of

mechanical tasks behavior.

Concerning to training social skills, this was addressed by cognitive-behavioral

techniques, which are predominant in social skills intervention programs (Gil Rodríguez,

León Rubio & Jarana Expósito, 1995), namely: Instruction, modeling, behavioral rehearsal,

feedback, reinforcement and generalization strategies. In turn, we decided to focus on more

than one skill in order to maximize its effect (Moreno-Jiménez et al., 2014).

Finally, we believe that the focus of the social skills and theories of transformational and
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transactional leadership are complementary to the design an intervention to develop

leadership, because, according to Gil (1998) the establishment of an individualized

treatment and intellectual stimulation (components of transformational leadership) is not

easily understood without the leader having a direct relationship with its partners and use

the necessary social skills, that is, important and solid resources for social interaction. This

relationship has received empirical longitudinal support (Guerin et al., 2011).

Results

To test the effect of the intervention program on organizational climate perception (OC),

and its sub-dimensions, a t-test for related samples was applied. Regarding the dimensions

of sub-OC, mean statistically differences different from zero were observed: structure

[t(33)=2.21, p<0.05], responsibility [t(33)=3.35, p<0.05], reward [t(33)=4.77, p<.05], risks

and decisions [t(33)=3.70, p<.05], warmth [t(33)=3.92, p<.05], head [t(33) =7.07, p<.05],

communication [t(33)=4.09, p<.05], standards [t(33)=3.67, p<.05], training [t(33)=3.84,

p<.05], conflict management [t(33)=3.24, p<.05], identification [t(33)=3.03, p<.05],

internal service [t(33)=4.46, p<.05], values [t(33)=4.17, p<.05], strategic foci [t(33)=4.59,

p<.05]. OC overall statistically significant difference [t(33)=5.96, p<.05] was also obtained.
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 12

The only sub-dimension in which no statistically significant increase was observed was in

program "X" [t(33)=1.91, n.s.] (see Table 1).

In addition, a measure of magnitude of change was estimated using the effect size

statistical index (ES). In case of studies on efficacy of treatments, the ES is an indicator of

the degree in which the treatment has been effective (Sánchez-Meca, Marín-Martínez &

López-López, 2011). The same reasoning applies in the case of assessment of effectiveness

of leadership development programs (Collins & Holton, 2004). Due to research design

used, and level of measurement of dependent variable (OC), the ES index most appropriate
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was the standardized average exchange index (dMR), belonging to the family of indexes d

(standardized mean difference).

Through dMR the magnitude of change is quantified by calculating the difference

between the means of pretest and posttest (in our case pretest minus posttest), divided by

the standard deviation of the pretest (Morris & DeShon, 2002). It is interpreted as the

change that occurs from pretest to posttest in a group receiving treatment. The dMR

valuation was done under the normative criterion proposed by Cohen, in which absolute

values of the d/dMR index around 0.20, 0.50 and 0.80 would match effect sizes low, medium

and high size, respectively.

As shown in the last column of Table 1, the sub-dimensions: structure, responsibility,

risks and decision, warmth, standards, training, conflict management and identification

showed dMR of moderate magnitude, with values between 0.38 and 0.67. The sub-

dimensions: communication, and internal service and values showed dMR of moderately

high magnitude, with values between 0.70 to 0.77. The sub-dimensions: reward, leadership

and strategic focus showed high magnitude dMR, with values between 0.80 to 1.21.
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 13

Regarding the overall perception of OC the obtained dMR was high of magnitude, with a

value of 1.03 dMR.

TABLE 1 HERE

Regarding performance outcomes, it is evident that in all of them there was an

improvement on the percentage of achievement established by the organization (Table 2).

Overall improvement is seen in organizational effectiveness. Specifically, for example, the

use of line indicator increased by 6%, which implies a better use of company resources, i.e.,

more products available for sale. Sales volume indicator increased by 18% compared to the
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target set, which implies greater market share and higher revenues for the company. The

exchange expenses product indicator falls favorably by 25% compared to the target set,

which means a lower return of the product by the market. The indicator operably form use

of line increases by 25%, which means a greater number of bottles available for use.

Improvement was also observed when the percentage of goals achieving after the

intervention (four months) versus the percentage of achievement of goals of the previous

year before intervention. It should be mentioned that the indicators that went down were in

the desired direction, as in the case of indicator exchange of expenditures.

TABLE 2 HERE

Discussion

Our results suggest that leadership development, through leadership development

initiatives, such as the application of our intervention program based on social skills and

leadership, has an effect on intermediate variables associated with organizational outcomes

such as organizational climate, and organizational objective outcomes, as organizational

performance.
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 14

Our model of leadership training was based largely on the development of interpersonal

skills and leadership behaviors (e.g., social skills, sub-dimensions of individualized

consideration and contingent reward), and to lesser extent in the development of

intrapersonal skills (emotional intelligence). We also address the organizational vision

(inspirational motivation) to contextualize the program sessions. In many cases combined

effects of intrapersonal processes (emotional intelligence) and interpersonal are those that

produce emergent phenomena in organizations (Dinh et al., 2014), such as improvement in

perceived organizational climate.

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We should indicate that we performed the intervention under an extended form in time

(low intensity) and non-intensive or concentrated (high intensity), this means that a weekly

session, of approximately an hour and a half was applied. The aim of this was to allow

proper transfer of learning, assigning tasks to participants who were to perform at their

workplace, e.g., recognize work well done. These tasks were checked not only at the next

meeting, but in all sessions held after the initial training of them, as they are considered

leadership skills to be practiced continuously. This is in the same line designated by Day

(2010), with respect to facilitate the deliberate practice of activities in the same workplace,

when developing leadership. Moreover, the notion of continuous practice (daily) is the

cornerstone where it really resides development (Day et al., 2014). That is, to create

significant change -whether in individuals, groups/teams, and organizations- the leadership

development efforts require time and multiple repetitions. Participants will learn new ways

of thinking and acting, then must practice and apply those new ways to performance

leadership, and have multiple opportunities for feedback (Gentry and Martineau, 2010). We

believe that our work is on the line designated by the experts. It is noteworthy that the

emphasis we place on transfer of learning is based on the fact that is considered the main
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 15

point of support for which training is successful and influences the results at the

organizational level (Kozlowski, Brown, Weissbein, Cannon-Bowers & Salas, 2000). As

proof of this, after intervention the company raised prominently in the ranking of efficiency

(elaborated by the company) of the 20 branches across the country. Before the intervention

the branch was in 17th place, being in the third place the following year, as a result of the

intervention received.

In connection with the aforementioned, regarding to the intensity with which an

intervention is applied, it is necessary to indicate that in the meta-analysis of Avolio et al.

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(2009) it was reported that the duration of interventions, based on leadership, did not

exceed seven days, with a median of three to six hours. Consequently, this suggests to

consider a form of widespread application in time and not concentrated at the time of

developing leadership in order to impact on substantive outcome variables.

A first contribution to mention was that organizational outcomes were measured, on the

one hand, using survey methodology based on self-reported perceptions (in the case of

OC), and second, organizational performance outcomes of objective type also were

considered, by providing a full image on the effectiveness of training. As a second

contribution, the OC variable corresponds to a short-term outcome, and organizational

performance corresponds to a medium-term outcome.

In relation to the performance outcomes, with this research a third contribution is made

to answer the call of Collins and Holton (2004) and Avolio et al. (2009) to consider

objective measures of organizational performance, which are usually scarce, preferring

instead cognitive and behavioral measures for its greater accessibility (Avolio et al., 2009).

Regarding the study limitations we can point to the low number of supervisors

intervened (despite applying the intervention to all direct supervisors), so we suggest

 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 16

caution in generalizing these findings. While we know that this is a limitation, the sample

size used is not a major deviation from what was reported in the scientific literature on

leadership development (see Collins and Holton, 2004), especially if one considers that the

results were measured in direct subordinates (OC) and organizational performance

indicators. The lack of measures of variability is another limitation which prevented

performing statistical hypothesis testing for objective indicators of organizational

performance.

Another limitation refers to research design, quasi-experimental pre-posttest with one

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group, often associated with weak controls because of the lack of a control group to detect

possible sources of invalidity (e.g., effects of history) that eventually affect the internal

validity of the study. With regards to this point we should mention that it was impossible to

have a control group at the same venue as almost all subordinates were assessed.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned, the authors consider that the limitations on the design

used do not invalidate the statistical conclusion, but, as in any investigation, should be

taken into account when making a fair assessment of the reported results and possible

theoretical and/or practical implications.

The reported results in this research shed light on the important role played by direct

supervisors when getting their employees to meet performance goals. We can say, at least

provisionally, that appropriate leadership skills and social skills have an impact on

organizational effectiveness, and this impact can be achieved through initiatives in

leadership development (intervention programs) with a strong emphasis on continuous

practice and feedback. In this line, we believe that training and leadership development

should be seen as another form of investment, with short- and medium-term impact on the

effectiveness of the organization, such as those presented in this paper.

 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 17

The implications of our findings for HR managers is that improving outcomes

associated with organizational effectiveness, such as those addressed here, are directly

related to the supervisors training. That is, if the goal is to achieve a change it must

necessarily consider the figure of the direct supervisor, because as said by Dulebohn et al.

(2012) the leadership responsible for carrying out the main tasks of the organization occurs

in those levels that deal directly with workers.

Finally, although we are aware of the inherent difficulties associated with access to

objective measures of organizational performance, we invite the scientific community to

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replicate these findings and continue to enrich the field of leadership development.

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Intervention for supervisors, based on positive psychology and social skills, in order

to improve leadership, organizational climate, life satisfaction, job satisfaction and

work motivation of employees. In preparation.

Acknowldgement:
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 23

The support to the Convenio de Desempeño MINEDUC-UTA is appreciated.

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Table 1.
Difference of medias pre-post intervention in organizational climate.
VD: Organizational Climate Time Media DS t p dMR
Structure Pre 60.6 22.5 2.21 .03 0.38
Post 69.1
Responsibility Pre 71.4 19.7 3.35 .00 0.57
Post 82.7
Reward Pre 26.9 30.4 4.77 .00 0.82
Post 51.8
Risks and Decisions Pre 59.6 23.3 3.70 .00 0.63
Post 74.5
Warmth Pre 51.9 20.3 3.92 .00 0.67
Post 65.5
Head Pre 58.7 18.0 7.07 .00 1.21
Post 80.5
Communication Pre 52.7 20.6 4.09 .00 0.70
Post 67.2
Norms Pre 59.9 22.8 3.67 .00 0.63
Post 74.3
Training Pre 54.2 27.1 3.84 .00 0.66
Post 72.1
Conflicts Management Pre 36.5 34.8 3.24 .00 0.56,
Post 55.9
Identification Pre 84.2 12.3 3.03 .00 0.52
Post 90.6
Internal Service Pre 50.5 17.6 4.46 .00 0.77
Post 64.0
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 24

Values Pre 59.6 28.7 4.17 .00 0.71

Post 80.1
Program “X” Pre 59.6 29.1 1.91 .07 0.32
Post 69.1
Strategic Focus Pre 48.6 32.0 4.59 .00 1.00
Post 80.9
General Climate Pre 55.7 15.8 5.96 .00 1.03
Post 71.9
Note: VD= dependent variable.
Program “X”= to safeguard anonymity of the company the name of the program had to be omitted.
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Table 2.
Management indexes outcomes.
Departments Management Indexes % Set % Prior %
objective year’s Achievement
achievement of goals post
before intervention
intervention
Volume of sales 100% 106% 118%
N° of clients purchasing the 70% 64% 73.5%
product
Sales Amount of clients with 70% 50% 71%
Department benefits and commitment
Number of boxes sold with 100% 100% 115%
packaging return
Positioning of the company 62% 57.5% 63.5%
regarding the customer
Production Using of line in a operably 61% 58% 65%
Department manner
Product decrease 0.8% 1.16% 0.5%*
Quality Quality of container 87% 94% 95%
Department Quality of product 95% 94% 98%
Exchange of expenses product 2% 2.5% 1.5%*
Patio Internal decrease 0.7% 1.0% 0.5%
Department
Collection Invalid list 3.0% 5.0% 2.0%*
Department
Using operating line (without 90% 85% 92%
 INTERVENTION FOR SUPERVISORS 25

maintenance)
Using Line Mechanical efficiency 95% 93% 98%
Department Using operably line (including 90% 78% 96%
maintenance)
Waste and Generation of waste or debris 10.0% 11.5% 9.8%*
Recycling during operation
Department Amount of waste recycled 95% 80% 97%
from operation
Note: *= the lower the better.
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