A liderança eficaz no contexto organizacional: uma análise das práticas prevalentes na alta gestão de uma instituição pública de ensino superior

Abstract

The leadership process is an extremely important aspect in the organizational environment, whether it is influencing employee satisfaction in the work environment or increasing their engagement in the tasks assigned to them. Indeed, the convergence of such factors, which are the result of effective leadership, contributes greatly to the achievement of the objectives that are defined by an organization. Although leadership can manifest itself at any level of the institutional structure, the maxim that the “example starts at the top”applies strongly when it comes to the occurrence of this social phenomenon in the top management of an organization. From this perspective, it wasintended to investigate the adherence of senior management at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte -UFRN regarding the exemplary leadership practices postulated by theorists and professors on the theme James Kouzes and Barry Posner. The verification of this intention was made through the instrument of psychometric properties that they developed, called LPI-Leadership Practices Inventory, and through which it waspossible to obtain the perception of both the leaders themselves and their followers as to the frequency with which they are engaged in five major practices that define an effectiveand transformationalleader at the peak of his performance. This research was characterized as an applied, descriptive and quantitative study. Her sample was defined by the simple criterion that the units of analysis needed to belong to the senior management of UFRN, represented by the pro-rectories. As a result, the final amount of this sampling was the sum of 07 pro-rectors (leaders) and 110 employees (followers) of these higher units. After analyzing the set of responses obtained, based on statistical calculations and the transformational theory of leadership supported by the authors mentioned, the results showed that UFRN's top management is at a good level of commitment to exemplary practices of this type of leadership, but with room to increase it. In addition, significant divergences were found within the two main perceptions investigated (leaders and followers), which also signaled an opportunityfor UFRN to invest in the development of said leadership. As a contribution to this favorable scenario observed at UFRN, a booklet of good leadership practices was proposed that serves both to motivate or, at least, to awaken the interest of leaders' self-development, as well as to support the creation or improvement of specific training actions for their managers and even some greater and structuring institutional intent with regard to leadership practices to be pursued towards better organizational effectiveness