Professor Sharon Parker joined other international speakers in China this week to give a keynote presentation on how leaders can enhance the proactivity of their workforce. She presented at the 3rd Annual Organizational Behaviour / Human Resources Symposium hosted by the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai.
Photo: Welcome Address from Weijiong Zhang, Vice President and Co-Dean, CEIBS
Sharon described how leaders can foster employees' proactive motivation and proactive capability, which in turn translates into behaviors such as voice, taking charge, and individual innovation. She summarised considerable literature on how leader behaviors cultivate employee proactivity, such as how leader's vision fosters employees' future-focus and how a leader's support encourages employees to 'take the risk' to be proactive. She also argued there is much less research on the role of leaders in designing more enriched work as a way to enhance proactivity, and encouraged scholars to take up this challenge.
More than 150 people attended the conference, many traveling from overseas. Conference organisers noted the great success of the conference, commenting on the high quality of cutting-edge research presented by new and returning scholars.