Monica, I really appreciated your articulation of the “ripple effects” on three different spheres of people. It is so important that we remember that our actions affect far more than those immediately around us. “Leadership involves influence” (Northouse, 2016, p. 6) and power which is “the ability to affect others’ beliefs, attitudes, and courses of action” (Northouse, 2016, p. 10). For this reason, leaders especially need to be aware of how their actions affect others, even those they cannot see.

Within my organization, how our actions affect people we cannot see is something we have become increasingly aware of in relation to sustainable/ethical living. Decisions we make at our office affect people in other parts of the world. As an example, we buy only Fairtrade coffee for our office because we do not want to support exploitation of coffee farmers and workers. The coffee we buy can seem like such a small example, but it touches on this idea of a way we affect “society at large” (MONICAGRACE, 2018). Another way we could discuss this idea of affecting society would be through discussing altruism and this idea “that the servant leader has a social responsibility to be concerned with the have-nots and should strive to remove inequalities and social injustices” (Northouse, 2016, p. 343).

One study found that “cynicism was negatively related the altruistic dimension of OCB [organizational citizenship behaviour]” (Jordan, Schraeder, Field & Armenakis, 2007). People are more likely to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviour if they perceive management and the organization to be trustworthy (Andersson & Bateman, 1997). Another study suggests, “that enhancing transformational leadership, psychological empowerment and psychological capital have a significant effect on decreasing employees` cynicism and even on preventing it” (Yazdanshenas, 2017). Based on this, perhaps reminding staff of the altruistic calling you have as an organization, continuing to work as a transformational leader in a way that is authentic, and working to ensure that staff trust you and other leaders in your organization would also help combat cynicism. I agree with you that in ministry it is easy to become cynical. In my experience my cynicism was in part what eventually lead me to burnout. Given my experience, I think it is great that as a leader you are aware of the potential for cynicism to grow and are actively trying to combat it.

References:

Andersson, L. M., & Bateman, T. S. (1997). Cynicism in the workplace: Some causes and effects. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 18, 449-469. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:3102/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=8cb926af-6594-4840-9ed0-3ed3152f28da%40sessionmgr4009

Jordan, M. H., Schraeder, M., Field, H. S., & Armenakis, A. A. (2007). Organizational citizenship behavior, job attitudes, and the psychological contract. Military Psychology, 19(4), 259–271. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:2420/10.1080/08995600701548122

MONICAGRACE. (2018, November 10). Unit 7- Activity 1 “Ripple Effects” [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/monicagrace/2018/11/10/unit-7-activity-1-ripple-effects/

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Yazdanshenas, M. (2017). Role of positive organizational behavior in the relationship between transformational leadership and employees` cynicism. پژوهشنامه روانشناسی مثبت [Abstract], Vol 2(1), 1-18. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:2420/10.22108/ppls.2017.21293