Lars Glasø is a Norwegian psychologist and academic whose career has focused on understanding what happens between people at work. His research brings together several important areas of organizational psychology, especially Leadership, Emotions At Work, Workplace Bullying, and relationships between leaders and employees. His work is particularly interesting because it looks beyond business performance and asks a more human question: how do people actually experience their working lives?
Glasø has built a career that combines psychological practice, academic research, teaching, and organizational consulting. He has worked as a Clinical Psychologist and Organizational Psychologist, spent many years as an organizational consultant, and held academic positions at the University of Bergen and BI Norwegian Business School. BI currently lists him as Professor Emeritus in its Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour.
His research is also practical. Studies associated with Glasø have examined how emotions influence leader–follower relationships, how workplace bullying affects employees, and how leadership styles can influence the likelihood of bullying. This makes Glasø’s work valuable not only to psychologists and researchers but also to managers, employees, and organizations trying to create healthier workplaces.
Quick Bio Information
| Biography Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Lars Glasø |
| Birth Year | 1956 |
| Main Field | Organizational Psychology |
| Professional Area | Work And Organizational Psychology |
| Academic Institution | BI Norwegian Business School |
| Current BI Status | Professor Emeritus |
| Previous University | University of Bergen |
| Psychology Degree | Cand. Psychol., 1983 |
| Doctoral Degree | PhD, 2006 |
| Clinical Qualification | Certified Clinical Psychologist |
| Specialist Qualification | Approved Specialist In Work And Organizational Psychology |
| Main Research Areas | Leadership, Emotions At Work, Workplace Bullying |
| Consulting Experience | Approximately 15 Years |
| Consulting Focus | Leadership Development, Team Building, Conflict Management |
| Academic Teaching | PhD, Executive Master, Master Of Management, Master Of Science |
| Earlier Employer | Norigo A/S Norsk Institutt For Organisasjonspsykologi |
| Research Location | Norway |
| Academic Collaboration | University Of Bergen And BI Norwegian Business School |
| Research Themes | Leadership, Emotion Regulation, Workplace Relationships, Bullying |
Who Is Lars Glasø?
Lars Glasø is an organizational psychologist whose work examines the psychological side of working life. According to his official BI profile, he was born in 1956 and became a professor of Organizational Psychology at BI Norwegian School of Management in Oslo. He is also a certified Clinical Psychologist and an approved specialist in Work And Organizational Psychology.
These qualifications help explain the distinctive character of his work. Rather than looking at organizations only through economics or management theory, Glasø approaches them through psychology. His research asks how leaders behave, how employees respond, how emotions develop at work, and how harmful workplace experiences such as bullying affect people.
His academic profile also shows a broad publication record. BI currently lists dozens of scientific publications and other academic contributions connected with his work, covering subjects ranging from personality and leadership to emotions, bullying, and workplace relationships.
Lars Glasø’s Educational Background
Glasø’s academic journey began at the University of Bergen, where he completed his Cand. Psychol. degree in 1983. He later earned his PhD from the University of Bergen in 2006. His education provided the foundation for a career that eventually combined clinical psychology with research into organizations and leadership.
His educational background is important because Work And Organizational Psychology sits between several areas of psychology. It considers individual behavior, interpersonal relationships, leadership, motivation, health, and the wider organizational environment. Glasø’s later research reflects this broad perspective.
His career therefore did not develop solely inside a university. Before becoming established as an academic researcher, he gained professional experience working directly with people and organizations. That practical foundation became an important part of his approach to organizational psychology.
His Professional Journey In Psychology
Glasø’s early professional experience included working as a Clinical Psychologist. BI records his work with Studentenes Psykiske Helsetjeneste in Bergen from 1984 to 1986, followed by further professional and academic roles. He later worked at Norigo A/S Norsk Institutt For Organisasjonspsykologi from 1989 to 2004 as a manager and organizational psychologist.
This period gave him substantial experience applying psychological knowledge in organizational settings. BI states that he worked for approximately 15 years as an organizational consultant, including work involving Leadership Development Programs, Team Building, and Conflict Management Seminars.
That experience helps explain why many of his research topics have practical importance. Leadership problems, workplace conflict, employee relationships, and emotional experiences are not abstract issues for organizations. They affect communication, satisfaction, cooperation, health, and whether people want to remain in their jobs.
Lars Glasø At BI Norwegian Business School
Glasø joined BI Norwegian Business School as a professor in 2011. BI’s academic records also show earlier positions at the University of Bergen, including Associate Professor from 2006 to 2011 and an adjunct professorship from 2011 to 2014. BI currently identifies him as Professor Emeritus.
At BI, his teaching has included the PhD Program, Executive Master Program, Master Of Management Programs, and Master Of Science Programs. He has also participated in research collaborations and has been invited to speak to practitioners about Leadership.
His connection with BI is therefore more than a job title. It represents an important part of his academic contribution, allowing his research and teaching to reach both future researchers and professionals working in organizations.
What Does Lars Glasø Study?
The three research interests most clearly identified by BI are Leadership, Emotions At Work, and Workplace Bullying.
These areas may appear different at first, but they are closely connected. Leadership affects relationships. Relationships influence emotional experiences. Emotional experiences can influence job satisfaction and well-being. At the same time, poor leadership and unhealthy workplace relationships can contribute to negative experiences such as bullying or incivility.
This connection is one of the most useful ways to understand Glasø’s work. His research does not simply ask whether a particular leadership style is effective. It also considers what leadership feels like for employees and how interpersonal behavior can influence the wider workplace.
Lars Glasø’s Research On Leadership
Leadership is one of the central themes in Glasø’s academic work. His research has examined the relationship between leaders and followers, including the emotional processes that occur during everyday interaction.
One important concept connected with this research is Leader–Member Exchange, commonly called LMX. The concept focuses on the quality of the relationship between a leader and an individual employee. Glasø’s research shows why such relationships cannot be understood only in terms of formal job roles.
His work on Emotion Regulation In Leader–Follower Relationships examined 135 leaders and 207 followers. The researchers investigated how people express, suppress, or fake emotions during workplace interactions and considered how these behaviors relate to LMX, job satisfaction, and health complaints.
This research makes leadership more understandable from an employee’s perspective. A manager may believe that a conversation is simply professional, while the employee may experience it emotionally. Understanding this human layer can help explain why two employees can respond very differently to the same workplace situation.
Leadership And Emotions In The Workplace
One of Glasø’s important contributions is his attention to emotions as part of normal organizational life. Workplaces are often described using terms such as performance, productivity, targets, and strategy. Yet employees also experience enthusiasm, uncertainty, frustration, disappointment, calmness, and many other emotions during an ordinary working day.
Research involving Glasø has examined experienced emotions in leader–subordinate relationships. Other work has investigated the role of supervision and leadership in employees’ emotional experiences. Research published in the Journal Of Applied Psychology found that supervisors were associated with employees’ emotional experiences and that transformational leadership was linked with more positive emotions during the workday.
This perspective is especially relevant today because emotional experiences can influence how employees understand their managers and their organizations. A workplace that looks successful on paper may still be difficult for employees if everyday interactions create unnecessary stress, fear, or frustration.
Understanding Emotion Regulation At Work
Emotion Regulation describes the ways people manage what they feel and what they show to others. At work, this can be complicated because employees and leaders are often expected to remain professional even when they are disappointed, irritated, worried, or under pressure.
Glasø and Ståle Einarsen examined this issue in their research on leader–follower relationships. Their study found that negative emotions such as disappointment, uncertainty, and annoyance were commonly suppressed, while positive emotions such as enthusiasm, interest, and calmness were commonly expressed or faked. Leaders reported higher levels of emotion regulation than followers.
The study also found relationships between suppressing or faking emotions and lower LMX quality and job satisfaction, as well as more health complaints. These findings do not mean that every attempt to control an emotion is harmful. Instead, they show that continual emotional management can become an important part of workplace experience and deserves attention in organizational research.
Lars Glasø And Workplace Bullying
Workplace Bullying is another major part of Glasø’s research. His work has considered bullying not simply as an isolated conflict between two people but as a workplace issue connected with relationships, emotions, leadership, and organizational conditions.
A major study by Glasø and Guy Notelaers examined emotional experiences as possible links between workplace bullying and important occupational outcomes. The study included 5,520 respondents and looked at Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Intention To Leave. The researchers found that emotions partly mediated these relationships, supporting the idea that emotional experiences are an important part of understanding the consequences of workplace bullying.
This finding adds depth to discussions about workplace bullying. The damage caused by bullying may not be limited to the negative behavior itself. The emotional experience surrounding that behavior can influence how employees feel about their jobs and whether they want to remain with an organization.
Does Personality Explain Workplace Bullying?
Another interesting area of Glasø’s research concerns personality and the people who become targets of workplace bullying. A 2007 study examined 144 participants, including 72 people identified as bullying victims and a matched comparison group. The researchers found some personality differences between the groups, but their cluster analysis showed that 64 percent of the victim group did not differ from non-victims in personality.
This is an important finding because it challenges the simplistic idea that people who experience workplace bullying all share a single “victim personality.” Workplace bullying is complex, and personality alone cannot provide a complete explanation.
The broader lesson is that organizations should be cautious about blaming employees for harmful treatment. Understanding the workplace environment, interpersonal behavior, leadership, and organizational culture is essential when examining why bullying occurs.
Workplace Bullying, Emotions, And Employee Well-Being
Glasø’s research also connects bullying with employee well-being. Research involving Glasø and colleagues has examined the health consequences associated with workplace bullying, including research into musculoskeletal complaints and health outcomes.
Another study involving Glasø examined workplace bullying among bus drivers, using a sample of 1,023 employees. It considered bullying exposure alongside factors including trait anger, Job Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intentions.
Together, this body of work illustrates why Workplace Bullying is more than a human-resources problem. It can become connected with emotional experiences, health, satisfaction, engagement, and employees’ decisions about whether to stay in an organization.
Glasø’s Work On Leadership And Workplace Relationships
Leadership can also influence the conditions in which bullying occurs. Research involving Glasø and colleagues examined bullying in work groups and found that Laissez-Faire Leadership was associated with increased risk of exposure to bullying behavior, self-labeled victimization, and perpetrated bullying among a sample of Norwegian seafarers. Transformational and Authentic Leadership were associated with lower risk of exposure.
The findings are useful because they show that leadership is not only about motivating employees or achieving organizational goals. Leaders can also influence workplace safety and the social environment.
When leadership is absent, inconsistent, or ineffective, harmful behaviors may become easier to tolerate or overlook. By contrast, leadership that promotes positive relationships and psychological safety may help create conditions where negative behavior is less likely to flourish.
His Contribution To Organizational Psychology
The broader contribution of Lars Glasø lies in connecting subjects that are sometimes studied separately. Leadership, emotions, workplace bullying, personality, employee health, and organizational relationships can all influence one another.
His work encourages readers to see organizations as human systems rather than machines. Employees bring emotions, personalities, expectations, and personal experiences into the workplace. Leaders influence those experiences through their communication, decisions, and everyday behavior.
This approach makes Organizational Psychology highly practical. Understanding people at work can help organizations design better leadership development, improve communication, address conflict earlier, and create healthier working environments.
Lars Glasø As A Researcher And Academic
Glasø’s academic record extends across many journals and research areas. BI lists publications connected with journals including Personality And Individual Differences, British Journal Of Management, Work And Stress, Journal Of Managerial Psychology, Violence And Victims, European Journal Of Work And Organizational Psychology, Scandinavian Journal Of Psychology, and Scandinavian Journal Of Management.
His more recent academic work also demonstrates that his interests have continued to develop. BI lists a 2025 chapter on Personality And Leadership and a 2025 article titled “Is There An Upside To Leader Narcissism?” among his recent publications.
This newer work adds another dimension to his research profile. While Workplace Emotions and Bullying remain important themes, his academic interests also extend into personality and leadership, showing how psychological characteristics can be examined alongside organizational behavior.
His Experience As An Organizational Consultant
Glasø’s consulting background is an important part of his professional story. BI reports that he spent about 15 years working as an organizational consultant and applied organizational theory to practical challenges. His consulting work included Leadership Development, Team Building, and Conflict Management.
This experience gives his academic profile a practical dimension. Research can identify patterns, but organizations ultimately need to translate those findings into better decisions and everyday behavior.
Leadership training, for example, becomes more meaningful when it helps managers understand not only what they should do but also how their behavior affects employees. Similarly, conflict management is more effective when organizations understand the emotions and relationships behind disagreements.
Why Lars Glasø’s Research Matters Today
The themes found throughout Glasø’s work remain highly relevant in 2026. Modern workplaces continue to face questions about leadership quality, employee well-being, workplace conflict, psychological safety, retention, and harmful interpersonal behavior.
His research provides a useful reminder that workplace problems rarely have a single cause. An employee who feels dissatisfied may be responding to leadership, relationships, workload, organizational culture, or accumulated emotional experiences. Workplace bullying may similarly involve interpersonal behavior and broader organizational conditions.
This makes his work useful for managers as well as researchers. Understanding how employees experience leadership can help organizations move beyond superficial solutions and pay greater attention to the quality of everyday working relationships.
Key Lessons From Lars Glasø’s Work
The most important lesson from Glasø’s research is that people cannot be separated from the organizations in which they work. Leadership has an emotional side, workplace relationships matter, and harmful behavior can have consequences that extend well beyond a single unpleasant interaction.
His research also encourages a more careful understanding of Workplace Bullying. Employees should not automatically be placed into simplistic categories, and personality should not be treated as the sole explanation for why bullying occurs.
Perhaps most importantly, his work demonstrates why Organizational Psychology matters. Healthy organizations require more than effective systems. They require respectful relationships, thoughtful leadership, emotional awareness, and attention to employee well-being.
Final Thoughts
Lars Glasø’s career offers a valuable example of how Organizational Psychology can connect academic research with real workplace challenges. From his early work as a Clinical Psychologist to his years as an Organizational Consultant, researcher, professor, and academic at BI Norwegian Business School, his career has remained closely connected to understanding people at work.
His research on Leadership shows why relationships between managers and employees matter. His studies of Emotion Regulation demonstrate that workplace interactions involve more than words and tasks. His research on Workplace Bullying highlights the emotional and organizational consequences of harmful behavior, while his work on personality and leadership adds further depth to the study of organizational behavior.
The lasting value of Glasø’s work is therefore not limited to any single study. It lies in the broader message running through his career: workplaces are human environments, and understanding how people feel, communicate, lead, respond, and relate to one another is essential to understanding how organizations function.
For readers interested in Lars Glasø, his career is ultimately a window into a much larger subject—the psychology of working life and the many ways Leadership and Human Relationships can shape the experience of work.
FAQs About Lars Glasø
Who Is Lars Glasø?
Lars Glasø is a Norwegian psychologist and academic specializing in Organizational Psychology. His main research interests include Leadership, Emotions At Work, and Workplace Bullying. He has worked as a Clinical Psychologist, Organizational Psychologist, consultant, researcher, and professor. BI currently lists him as Professor Emeritus.
What Is Lars Glasø Known For?
Glasø is particularly known for research into Leadership, Workplace Emotions, Emotion Regulation, Leader–Follower Relationships, and Workplace Bullying. His studies have examined how emotions influence workplace relationships and how bullying can affect Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, health, and employees’ intentions to leave.
Where Did Lars Glasø Study?
Glasø studied at the University of Bergen. BI records that he completed his Cand. Psychol. degree in 1983 and earned his PhD in 2006.
What Is Lars Glasø’s Connection With BI Norwegian Business School?
Glasø joined BI as a professor in 2011 and has taught across several programs, including PhD, Executive Master, Master Of Management, and Master Of Science programs. His current BI profile identifies him as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour.
What Has Lars Glasø Researched About Workplace Bullying?
His Workplace Bullying research has examined emotional experiences, personality, health, employee attitudes, and organizational outcomes. One large study involving 5,520 respondents found that emotions partly mediated the relationships between bullying and Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Intention To Leave.
What Does Lars Glasø’s Research Say About Emotions At Work?
His research shows that emotions are an important part of workplace relationships. Studies involving Glasø have examined how leaders and followers express, suppress, or fake emotions and how these behaviors relate to LMX, Job Satisfaction, and health complaints.
Why Is Lars Glasø’s Research Important?
Glasø’s work is important because it connects Leadership, Emotions, Workplace Relationships, Bullying, and Employee Well-Being. Instead of treating organizations only as systems for achieving business goals, his research highlights the psychological experiences of the people working inside them.
Learn more and explore exciting content on: Hederic: Meaning, Definition, and How the Word Is Used
Leave a Reply