The (In)congruency of behavior in managerial activities

Abstract

Purpose – Managers are important to effective organizational performance and so their well-being should be a priority for organizational leaders. But sometimes what managers believe is important for them to do and what they actually have to do in their daily activities is not congruent. This can result in higher levels of stress and lower overall levels of well-being. This study looks at managers' perceptions of activity importance and the congruency to activity frequency as a groundwork for future studies into the importance of task congruence to manager well-being. Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were used in an action research approach. Study 1 is a qualitative study used to identify core managerial activities, and Study 2 uses the results of Study 1 to design a quantitative study which identifies the importance and frequency of these activities across a variety of contextual factors. Findings – Results of the studies suggest that, overall, most managers give significant importance to a number of managerial activities, but often engage in activities that are not congruent with the importance they give them. Contextual factors also play a role in this incongruency. Originality/value – Using the job demands-resources model as an explanatory framework, this study suggests that incongruency between activities managers feel are important and what they actually do may lead to manager coping behaviors and resource expenditures that otherwise might be applied more productively. Human resource professionals can help identify these incongruencies and design interventions that alleviate them, resulting in increased manager well-being and performance.