The latest episode of Insights, the CUBS UCC podcast, is focusing on the topic of leadership and the importance of respect for relationships in work.  More recent ideas about leadership emphasise the importance of relationships as central to leadership effects. This suggests that the impact of leadership arises from the nature and characteristics of specific relationships that leaders and followers share.

Professor Nicholas Clarke from EADA Business School, Barcelona was speaking recently at the Human Resource Research Centre (HRRC) In partnership with the Irish Institute for Training & Development about this topic.

In this lecture Nicholas draws upon research over the past 10 years to argue that respect lays at the core of leadership and is critical for achieving positive outcomes in organisations beyond simply better employee performance. Nicholas will examine how the concept of mutuality has received minimal attention in research both within the field of leadership as well as HRM more broadly, yet is a critical aspect of the leadership relationship and the place of respect within it.

The lectures brings together key findings from Nicholas’ own research over the past 5 years in this area to highlight why mutuality in respect matters and how it comes about in leadership relationships. The lecture concludes by exploring its potential implications for enabling organisations to become more sustainable and socially responsive to meet the challenges of today’s business environment.