본 연구는 콜센터 직원들을 대상으로 이들의 직무특성과 팀장의 정서적 리더십 간의 상호작용이 팀 성과에 미치는 영향을 연구하였다. 이를 위해서 우선 개인적 수준에서 직무특성이 개인들이 인식하는 팀 성과와 팀 몰입, 혁신성향에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 살펴본 후, 이를 기반으로 직무특성이 팀 성과와 팀 몰입, 혁신성향에 미치는 영향에 팀장의 감성적 리더십의 조절효과를 살펴보았다. 첫 번째 연구목적의 규명을 위한 연구가설의 경우, 분석수준은 개인수준으로 회귀분석을 사용하였고, 두 번째 연구목적의 규명을 위해, 개인 및 팀에 대한 다수준 분석(HLM)을 사용하였다. 가설의 검증을 위해 콜센터 47개 팀 653명의 팀원을 분석대상으로 조사하였으며, 개인수준의 분석에서는 직무특성 중 자율성만이 결과변수들에 유의미한 영향을 미쳤다. 또한, 다수준의 분석에서는 팀 수준의 감성적 리더십이 팀 몰입과 혁신성향에 미치는 영향은 유의미하게 나타났다. 또한, 자율성의 경우, 혁신성향에 미치는 영향은 팀의 감성적 리더십이 높아질수록 더 커지는 것으로 나타났다.

Researches on leadership often use one-level approaches and analyses, be it an individual level or a team level. One-level approaches may have real life relevance. For instance, individual employees may perceive the leadership style of the same boss differently(an individual level). Yet, the boss has just one leadership style and manages her or his subordinates with the same style(a team level). The multi-level approach and analysis is required to understand these two single levels at the same time. So far, few studies have been done from the multi-level approach in the study of leadership. This paper aims to achieve two goals. First, at an individual level, we will reveal which job characteristics(autonomy, skill variety, and work overload) enhance the team effectiveness(perceived team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness). We conceptualize the autonomy and skill variety, and not work overload, as job resources which will induce positive effects on team effectiveness. In contrast, we conceptualize work overload as job demand which will induce negative effects on team effectiveness. Second, at a team level, we will examine how the emotional leadership of team leaders moderates the relationship between job characteristics and team effectiveness. In other words, the effects of job characteristics on team effectiveness will vary in each team according to the level of the emotional leadership. At the individual level, autonomy and skill variety will induce positive emotions, whereas work overload will induce negative emotions. At the team level, each team leader will boost employees’ positive individual effects and restrain their negative individual effects. We define the emotional leadership as the degree to which a team leader has demonstrated his emotional intelligence. A high emotional leader has high emotional intelligence and manages team members through it. To examine the direct effects of individual level and the moderating effect of team level, we took multi-level approach and analyzed the data by using hierarchical linear model(HLM). We surveyed employees from a Korea Company’s Call Center division. Most jobs of call center division are service related. Employees in the call center division deal with customers directly and have to respond to them kindly. Even when they experience negative emotions, employees should show positive emotions. Employees in the call center division are emotional laborers. Jobs of the call center division show lower autonomy, skill variety, and higher work overload than others. These characteristics cause burnout or job stress to the employees. Granting the critical role of employees’ emotion management for organizational effectiveness, we propose the emotional leadership is the key to their success. The emotional leadership of a team leader transforms their negative emotions to positive ones. The data were collected from 47 teams and 653 employees. We controlled the demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education level(year). First, to test whether the perceived job characteristics(autonomy, skill variety, and work overload) affect the team effectiveness(perceived team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness), we analyze the unconditional model. This model does not consider variables of team level and just contains variables of individual level. The result shows that only autonomy affects the team effectiveness. In other words, if employees perceive that their jobs allow autonomy, such perceptions enhanced team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness. This result supports the proposition that the perceived autonomy as job resource induces positive outcomes. We cannot, however, find any evidence that skill variety and work overload affect the team effectiveness. Second, we analyze the conditional model to test whether the emotional leadership of a team leader moderates the relationship between the job characteristics and the team effectiveness. This model contains variables of both individual and team level. The result indicates that the effects of autonomy on the team effectiveness vary across teams. Also, the emotional leadership of each team leader moderates the relationship between autonomy and innovativeness. Our conclusion is as follows. First, as employees of the call center division perceive more autonomy, they experience greater team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness. The call center therefore is well advised to guarantee autonomy for employees in its job design. Second, emotional leadership moderates these effects. As a team has higher emotional leadership, the effects of job characteristics on the team effectiveness are higher. This finding calls attention to the emotional management and emotional leadership of team leaders in the call center division. Third, we emphasize the multi-level approach and analysis in the study of leadership. The one-level only approach(either individual or team level) cannot achieve the comprehensive understanding of leadership effects. Therefore, it is to be hoped that future researchers consider the multi-level approach in the study of leadership.

Researches on leadership often use one-level approaches and analyses, be it an individual level or a team level. One-level approaches may have real life relevance. For instance, individual employees may perceive the leadership style of the same boss differently(an individual level). Yet, the boss has just one leadership style and manages her or his subordinates with the same style(a team level). The multi-level approach and analysis is required to understand these two single levels at the same time. So far, few studies have been done from the multi-level approach in the study of leadership. This paper aims to achieve two goals. First, at an individual level, we will reveal which job characteristics(autonomy, skill variety, and work overload) enhance the team effectiveness(perceived team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness). We conceptualize the autonomy and skill variety, and not work overload, as job resources which will induce positive effects on team effectiveness. In contrast, we conceptualize work overload as job demand which will induce negative effects on team effectiveness. Second, at a team level, we will examine how the emotional leadership of team leaders moderates the relationship between job characteristics and team effectiveness. In other words, the effects of job characteristics on team effectiveness will vary in each team according to the level of the emotional leadership. At the individual level, autonomy and skill variety will induce positive emotions, whereas work overload will induce negative emotions. At the team level, each team leader will boost employees’ positive individual effects and restrain their negative individual effects. We define the emotional leadership as the degree to which a team leader has demonstrated his emotional intelligence. A high emotional leader has high emotional intelligence and manages team members through it. To examine the direct effects of individual level and the moderating effect of team level, we took multi-level approach and analyzed the data by using hierarchical linear model(HLM). We surveyed employees from a Korea Company’s Call Center division. Most jobs of call center division are service related. Employees in the call center division deal with customers directly and have to respond to them kindly. Even when they experience negative emotions, employees should show positive emotions. Employees in the call center division are emotional laborers. Jobs of the call center division show lower autonomy, skill variety, and higher work overload than others. These characteristics cause burnout or job stress to the employees. Granting the critical role of employees’ emotion management for organizational effectiveness, we propose the emotional leadership is the key to their success. The emotional leadership of a team leader transforms their negative emotions to positive ones. The data were collected from 47 teams and 653 employees. We controlled the demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education level(year). First, to test whether the perceived job characteristics(autonomy, skill variety, and work overload) affect the team effectiveness(perceived team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness), we analyze the unconditional model. This model does not consider variables of team level and just contains variables of individual level. The result shows that only autonomy affects the team effectiveness. In other words, if employees perceive that their jobs allow autonomy, such perceptions enhanced team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness. This result supports the proposition that the perceived autonomy as job resource induces positive outcomes. We cannot, however, find any evidence that skill variety and work overload affect the team effectiveness. Second, we analyze the conditional model to test whether the emotional leadership of a team leader moderates the relationship between the job characteristics and the team effectiveness. This model contains variables of both individual and team level. The result indicates that the effects of autonomy on the team effectiveness vary across teams. Also, the emotional leadership of each team leader moderates the relationship between autonomy and innovativeness. Our conclusion is as follows. First, as employees of the call center division perceive more autonomy, they experience greater team performance, team commitment, and innovativeness. The call center therefore is well advised to guarantee autonomy for employees in its job design. Second, emotional leadership moderates these effects. As a team has higher emotional leadership, the effects of job characteristics on the team effectiveness are higher. This finding calls attention to the emotional management and emotional leadership of team leaders in the call center division. Third, we emphasize the multi-level approach and analysis in the study of leadership. The one-level only approach(either individual or team level) cannot achieve the comprehensive understanding of leadership effects. Therefore, it is to be hoped that future researchers consider the multi-level approach in the study of leadership.

Job Characteristics, Organizational Effectiveness, Emotional Leadership