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Building a Relationship with the Supervisor: An Exploratory Study

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New Advances in Information Systems and Technologies

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 445))

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Abstract

There is little knowledge regarding how the relationship between supervisors and subordinates is built. This study focuses on that process, according to the subordinates’ perspective—cognitions, behaviours and emotions. We conducted a qualitative study, gathering data from 12 subordinates using the Critical Incident Technique. Results show there are four types of supervisors’ behaviours that influence the process of building a relationship with the subordinate, including caregiving and fight (the two most stressed). The supervisors’ caregiving behaviour is associated with the subordinates’ positive emotion and careseeking behaviour. On the other hand, supervisor’s fight behaviours are associated with negative emotions and the activation of the subordinate’s self defence system. Consistently, we see that the first event that impacted the relationship were events where the supervisor had a caregiving or fight behaviour. It’s important that supervisors understand the impact of their dominant behaviours particularly at the early stages of the relationship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135, Porto, Portugal

    Catarina Brandão, Cláudia Henrique & José Miguez

Authors
  1. Catarina Brandão
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  2. Cláudia Henrique
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  3. José Miguez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Catarina Brandão .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. DEI/FCT, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Álvaro Rocha

  2. ISEGI,, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Ana Maria Correia

  3. College of Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Hojjat Adeli

  4. DSI, Universidade do Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Luis Paulo Reis

  5. Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, DoisIrm, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

    Marcelo Mendonça Teixeira

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Brandão, C., Henrique, C., Miguez, J. (2016). Building a Relationship with the Supervisor: An Exploratory Study. In: Rocha, Á., Correia, A., Adeli, H., Reis, L., Mendonça Teixeira, M. (eds) New Advances in Information Systems and Technologies. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 445. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31307-8_69

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31307-8_69

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31306-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31307-8

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