מנחה: פרופ’ גיל לוריא, החוג לשירותי אנוש, אוניברסיטת חיפה.
כיום: Founder – BIGroup
Academic background
PhD candidate – Department of Human Services, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, Haifa University.
M.A. Cognitive Psychology Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University.
Thesis: The effect of the base calculations are made in on the representation of number size
Supervisor: Prof. Joseph Tzelgov.
B.A. Behavioral Sciences Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ben-Gurion University.
Dissertation:
Everyday sensegiving: Leaders’ sensegiving strategies to existing paradoxical policy
Dissertation abstract
Sensegiving, the leader’s attempt to influence the sensemaking process of his followers, has mostly been studied in the context of change. Yet leaders engage in sensegiving all the time for numerous reasons. Sensegiving research has also focused primarily on the phenomenology of leaders’ strategies to influence followers’ sensemaking while the subject of sensegiving and outcomes remains almost entirely unexplored. The aim of this dissertation was to explore everyday sensegiving conducted by leaders in the context of paradox and explore the relationships between everyday sensegiving strategies to leadership style and team performance. The dissertation is comprised of two independent studies.
In study 1 findings indicate two triggers for everyday sensegiving processes performed by leaders in the context of paradox:
a) an observed or expected difficulties in meeting the paradoxical policy and
b) high levels of tension and resentment towards the policy expressed by followers.
In study 2 Three sensegiving strategies were identified: bureaucratic – adhering to the written policy concentrating on delivering it with accuracy, practical – connecting the policy to larger organizational goals when sensegiving on the policy and internalization – connecting the policy to norms, experiences and values of team members when sensegiving. Findings also indicated that leaders who employed the internalization sensegiving strategy had lower rates of deviations from the policy than leaders who chose the bureaucratic sensegiving strategy and were also perceived as more authentic in their leadership by their followers.
This dissertation offers theoretical contributions as well as practical ones. Theoretically, our findings elaborate on sensegiving theory in two ways: first, by broadening the concept of everyday sensegiving and linking it to paradox literature. Second, by connecting sensegiving strategies to outcomes, pointing to the crucial role that sensegiving strategies which give context to a policy have on team performance and the perceptions of team members on their leaders. Practically we contribute by demonstrating sensegiving strategies that leaders can use when sensegiving to paradox to increase team effectiveness.
Publications
Benbenisty, I., & Luria, G. (2021). A time to act and a time for restraint: Linking everyday sensegiving strategies in the context of paradoxical policies with followers’ compliance. Journal of Organizational Behavior https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/job.2537
Yizhaq Benbenisty & Gil Luria (2021) The restrained unit: A case studyon everyday sensegiving to a use-of-force policy calling for restraint, Military Psychology, DOI:10.1080/08995605.2021.1906076
Ben-Shalom, U., & Benbenisty, Y. (2016). Coping Styles and Combat Motivation During Operations: An IDF Case Study. Armed Forces & Society, 42(4), 655-674.
Ben-Shalom, U., Klar, Y., & Benbenisty, Y. (2012). Characteristics of sense-making in combat. In J. H. L. M. D. Matthews (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Military Psychology (pp. 218-231). New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press.
בנבניסטי, י. ולוריא, ג. (2018) מנהיגות אותנטית בתרחישים מורכבים: כיצד מנהיגים מסבירים לפקודיהם מדיניות מורכבת. בין הזירות 15 (76-87).
בנבניסטי, י. וצחי, מ. (2018) המנגנון המסדר או המנגנונים המאפשרים? כיצד גנרלים ומפקדות מבינים את ה”מצב”. בין הקטבים 14 (151-170)
בן שלום, י., בנבניסטי, י., (2013) דחק, התמודדות ומוטיבציה במבצע עופרת יצוקה – מקומה של התמודדות מבוססת אמונה. בתוך ראובן גל (עורך) בין הכיפה לכומתה.
בנבניסטי, י., בן שלום, ע., ורונאל, ז. (2010). חבר’ה זה לא הכל: המוטיבציה ללחימה בעופרת יצוקה. מערכות, 430, 38-45
Presentations at Conferences
Benbenisty, Y., & Luria, G. (2018). Authentic leadership in paradoxical environment – The use of sensegiving to explain contradictions. Paper presented at the 3rd Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Leadership Symposium, Chania, Greece.
Benbenisty, Y., & Zachi, M. (2016). Strategic sensemaking in the general headhunters – The bureaucratic mechanism and the enabling mechanisms. Paper presented at the Kineret Conference for Civil/Military researches, Kineret College, Isreal.
Benbenisty, Y., & Luria, G. (2016). Climate for restraint: Emergence and emotional responses. Paper presented at the Emonet X, Rome, Italy.
Benbenisty, Y., & Luria, G. (2015). Managing sensemaking: Sensebreaking and Sensegiving in military units during policing missions. Paper presented at the 13th Biennial conference of ERGOMAS Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel.
Benbenisty, Y., & Luria, G. (2013). Climate of restraint in the use of force in units performing policing missions. . Paper presented at the Kineret Conference for Civil/Military researches, Kineret College, Israel.
