Commitments into Action: Translating Psychological Health & Safety While Leading from the Middle
Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: At Maple Ridge University (MRU), a mid-sized research-intensive university in Eastern Canada, formal commitments to psychological health and safety (PH&S) have not consistently translated into team-level practice. Middle managers (MMs), who bear the most direct responsibility for employees’ daily experiences of psychological safety, are typically promoted for technical expertise but left unsupported in relational and equity-responsive leadership. This Dissertation in Practice (DiP) examines that gap through an interpretive constructivist lens. It uses PESTE analysis and a system readiness assessment to situate the problem within MRU’s context. Resource scarcity, bicameral governance, limited authority, and clearly misaligned rhetoric versus experience constrain MMs’ ability to lead in psychologically safe ways. These factors disproportionately impact equity-deserving groups. In response, this DiP proposes a six-month cohort-based action-learning intervention grounded in transformational and relational leadership theory and structured around ADKAR’s five change stages. The program builds MM leadership capability, peer accountability, cross-unit learning, and a feedback loop to senior leadership. A multi-channel communication plan and the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) evaluation framework guide implementation and measure outcomes at individual, team, and institutional levels. The design holds personal development and system advocacy in productive tension, positioning MMs as both learners and organizational change agents. This work offers a context-responsive model for advancing PH&S leadership in higher education (HE) and shows how leaders in the middle can foster meaningful cultural change despite structural constraints.
Author: Plaisant, Lindsay
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7208101800