Fully funded PhD: Leadership, creativity, innovation and well-being

The Institute of Work Psychology at Sheffield University Management School is seeking applications for a fully funded PhD from exceptional UK/EU/International students with an outstanding academic record (distinction/high merit or equivalent), as well as a proven record in research training.

Project description

Organisations are facing increasing pressure to become more innovative in order to survive and thrive. Innovation can be defined as the generation and implementation of new ideas to create new and valued products, services, processes, strategies and policies.

The project will investigate how managing teams and others through the innovation process (problem identification, problem definition, idea generation and evaluation, solution implementation) impact on the affect and well-being of leaders. For example, inspiring team members to be creative may generate positive feelings of excitement in the leader but evaluating ideas generated by others could provoke anxiety. Furthermore, encouraging subordinates to question the status quo and suggest ideas may be beneficial for subordinates’ engagement but could mean that leaders doubt their own approaches. By understanding the varying emotional demands on leaders during the innovation process we could develop leadership capabilities to cope with adverse impacts better. We could also highlight how individual differences (e.g. resilience, emotional stability) can moderate the emotional impact.

The project will also evaluate the impact of creativity/innovation training interventions on the affect as well as the knowledge, skills and behaviour of leader participants. A prime candidate for intervention would be the CLEAR IDEAS model developed at The University of Sheffield in which hundreds of people have already been trained. The rationale behind this is that such initiatives are designed to equip participants with the knowledge, skills and confidence to better deal with innovation and hence positively help them deal better with the demands of innovation.

How to apply

The deadline to apply is 1 July 2019 at 17:00 UK time. Please note that applications will not be processed if they are incomplete or received after the deadline. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview on Tuesday 13/Wednesday 14 August 2019.

Applicants should submit a 1000 word research proposal which directly addresses the theme and/or specific topic to which they are applying. The proposal should contain a brief background to the topic, which demonstrates knowledge of existing work in the field, and potential contributions to knowledge. It should also explain the proposed research methods and include a plan of the research, and a timeline.

For more information and to submit an application, visit: www.sheffield.ac.uk/management/study/researchdegrees/fundedprojects
Please clearly indicate the number of the project in your application: IWP 1/3

The project will involve a collaboration with Prof Kevin Kelloway at St Mary’s University, Canada.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact: Dr Kamal Birdi [Email Address Removed]