CoSha – Co-leadership via job sharing in senior positions: Conditions of formation and success in public and private organizations
The professional world of today and of the future seeks innovative part-time models that respond to two developments: Demographic change produces a shortage of professional and executive staff on the labor market. At the same time, the values of young professionals change with increasing expectations on work-life balance. These developments lead to a revival of the job sharing model, i.e. two employees sharing one position. This model has been employed since the 1970s as a result of the flexibilization of working hours. A new aspect is to transfer the job sharing model to senior positions (“top sharing”) despite a strong culture of full-time work commitment and regular presence in the office. It represents a possibility for organizations to recruit and retain executive staff. This particularly applies to organizations of the public sector, which are even more affected by the shortage of professional and executive staff than private organizations, on the one hand, and which, as employers, serve as role models in society on the other hand.
When two members of executive staff form a tandem and share their managerial responsibility, it is called co-leadership. The conditions of the formation and the success of co-leadership (compared to solo leadership) have not been thoroughly studied yet. Our focus is hence on the following research questions:
When two members of executive staff form a tandem and share their managerial responsibility, it is called co-leadership. The conditions of the formation and the success of co-leadership (compared to solo leadership) have not been thoroughly studied yet. Our focus is hence on the following research questions:
- What are the expectations of executive staff, who consider sharing their position, on top sharing in general and on the potential tandem partner in particular?
- How does the organizational context and individual dispositions facilitate the successful search for a tandem partner?
- If the search has been successful, how is the executive success influenced by the compatibility of the tandem partners in task- and relation-oriented characteristics (“co-leader-fit”) and by their social interaction?
- How do conditions of formation and success of co-leadership differ between public and private organizations?
The answers to these questions will provide a more thorough research understanding on types of shared leadership and on the differences between the conditions of leadership in the public and private sector. This empirical research project is conducted in cooperation with Tandemploy, an online job sharing platform.
- Duration: 07/2015-06/2016
- Project lead: Prof. Dr. Rick Vogel, Cooperating researcher: Assc.-Prof. Dr. Nina Katrin Hansen (University of Bath, UK), Project member: Markus Kreysch
- Sponsor: self-financed