Developing leadership and employee health through the arts: Improving leader-employee relationships

Abstract

This book examines the problems that a "laissez faire" attitude from managers can create in the workplace, as well as the ensuing illness such problems may cause among employees. The book offers new ideas for dealing with these problems and proposes the use of cultural experiences as an active component in leadership development programmes for managers. It presents the findings from a randomized trial to show how cultural experiences can be deployed, and what the effect on employees is. The book discusses health-promoting leadership and key components in cultural activities for the benefit of workplaces from several points of view, offering a historical, social, psychological, biological, educational and organizational perspective. Finally, it presents new theories on empathy in managers, and on employee effects of good/bad changes in manager behaviour.