bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Relationship Between Work Stress and Leisure Style: British and German Managers
Authors: Kirkcaldy Bruce D. , Cooper Cary L.
Published: August 2005

In a study involving 255 management and executive personnel from Great Britain and West Germany, information was collated regarding occupational stress and leisure pursuits. Managers who exercised regularly were not significantly different in their occupational stress profiles compared to non-exercisers. Furthermore, physical exercise did not serve as a buffer in the stress-health linkage. There was some indication that the work-leisure balance may be moderated by culture. Discriminant analysis revealed that British managers tend to exhibit negative job carryover between their "job" and "off-work" domains, in contrast to the Germans who demonstrated "compensation."
Creating Readiness for Organizational Change
Authors: Armenakis Achilles A. , Harris Stanley G. , Mossholder Kevin W.
Published: August 2005

The purpose of this article is to clarify the readiness for change concept and examine how change agents can influence employee readiness for organizational change. The article contributes to an improved understanding of change dynamics in four important ways. First, readiness for change is distinguished from resistance to change. Readiness is described in terms of the organizational members' beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. Second, a model is offered that describes the influence strategies as well as the importance of change agent credibility and interpersonal and social dynamics in the readiness creation process. Third, by combining urgency of, and employee readiness for, needed changes, a typology of readiness programs is offered. Fourth, a large multinational corporation's efforts to create readiness for large-scale change are described to provide a cogent illustration of the various readiness interventions described in the model.
Organizational Obstacles: Links with Financial Performance, Customer Satisfaction, and Job Satisfaction in a Service Environment
Authors: Brown Karen A. , Mitchell Terence R.
Published: August 2005

A model was developed to describe the roles of organizational obstacles (social and technical) in relation to three types of performance outcomes (customer satisfaction, financial performance, and employee job satisfaction), as well as to various moderators associated with different job types (e.g., customer contact, organizational commitment). In a test of this model, employee perceptions of organizational obstacles were measured in a retail banking environment. For employees in highest contact with customers (i.e., tellers), reports of co-worker obstacles, work environment obstacles, and workbreak scheduling obstacles were associated with lower levels of customer satisfaction. However, there was very little relationship between tellers' perceptions of obstacles and tellers' job satisfaction. For employees in positions associated with more experience and commitment (i.e., account representatives), information timeliness obstacles were linked with higher customer satisfaction, while materials, workspace sharing, and work environment obstacles were linked with lower customer satisfaction. Also for account representatives, the majority of obstacle types negatively affected their job satisfaction. These results are interpreted and discussed and managerial implications are examined.
Chaos Theory and Its Implications for Social Science Research
Authors: Gregersen Hal , Sailer Lee
Published: August 2005

Based on theoretical and mathematical principles of chaos theory, we argue that the customary social science goals of "prediction" and "control" of systems behavior are sometimes, if not usually, unobtainable. Specifically, chaos theory shows how it is possible for nearly identical entities embedded in identical environments to exhibit radically different behaviors, even when the underlying systems are extremely simple and completely deterministic. Furthermore, chaos theory arguments are general enough to apply to any type of entity, including individuals, groups, and organizations, and therefore they are relevant to a large domain of social science problems. As a result, this paper concludes with six familiar claims about the study of social phenomena for which chaos theory provides new theoretical arguments.
The Impact of New Office Information Technology on Job Quality of Female and Male Employees
Authors: Long Richard J.
Published: August 2005

Using data from a study of 114 Canadian companies conducted in 1990/91, this paper assesses the impact of new information technology on the job quality of white-collar workers. Results indicated that while both female and male employees experienced significant increases in job quality subsequent to the introduction of new IT, females experienced significantly larger increases than males. This occurred because clerical and secretarial employees experienced much larger increases in job quality than did professional/technical employees or managerial employees.
The New Behaviorism: A Critique of Economics and Organization
Authors: Martin Roderick
Published: August 2005

This paper examines the "new institutional economics" approach to organizational analysis. Whilst acknowledging the benefits of the approach, especially in micro analysis, the paper discusses five areas of difficulty: the fundamental concepts of transaction and bounded rationality; the inadequate treatment of power relations; the over-simplified treatment of norms and values; the ahistorical treatment of organizational context; and the problematic status of functional explanations. The paper argues instead for an interest-interdependence approach, building upon the work of Blau and more recently Coleman.
Contracts and Commitment: Economic and Sociological Perspectives on Employment Relations
Authors: Kalleberg Arne L. , Reve Torger
Published: August 2005

This paper proposes a contract model of employment relations that integrates insights from economic and sociological perspectives on labor market transactions. The utility of the contract model is illustrated empirically using a large data set on organizations and their employees in U.S. and Japanese manufacturing industries. The results are consistent with many transaction cost and agency theory predictions, though they also indicate the need to supplement these economic theories with sociological explanations based on political, cultural, and other institutional differences.
Scholarly Dialogues and Participatory Action Research
Authors: Bartunekl Jean M.
Published: August 2005

This paper addresses two issues that are pertinent to the papers in the special issue on Participatory Action Research. The first is the conceptual contributions of the papers. The more explicit these contributions the more dialogue they enable with researchers beyond the action research tradition. The second is the extent to which intervention participants have a say in the scholarly presentations of the interventions. The greater the scholarly dialogue between action researchers and participants the more complete the description of the interventions.
Sitting Between Appreciation and Disappointment: A Critique of the Special Edition of Human Relations on Action Research
Authors: Reasonl Peter
Published: August 2005

The methodological developments raised in the Special Edition of Human Relations on Action Research are welcomed; it is argued that these raise important epistemological issues which must be addressed.
Business Strategy and Interorganizational Linkages Within the Acute Care Hospital Industry: An Expansion of the Miles and Snow Typology
Authors: Beekun R. I. , Ginn G. O.
Published: August 2005

This survey study of acute care hospitals expands Miles and Snow's (1978) strategy gestalts by drawing from the literature on strategic choice, resource dependence, and loose coupling. Building upon the resource dependence perspective, we hypothesize that interorganizational coupling patterns will differ by strategy type. We also contend that different configurations of inter-organizational coupling are involved within each Miles and Snow strategy type when an organization deals with increasing environmental turbulence. The responses of 58 chief executive officers of acute care hospitals indicate that the strategy gestalts associated with Miles and Snow's typology have distinctive patterns or interorganizational coupling.
Involvement, Motivation, and Reorganization in a Social Services Department
Authors: Hugman Richard , Hadley Roger
Published: August 2005

This article reports aspects of research in the reorganization of a local government social services department. It focuses on the issues of involvement, participation, and motivation, utilizing classic and contemporary concepts as a basis for discussing the empirical evidence. It is argued that the intention to allow greater participation foundered on the paradox that these changes lacked the explicit direction which became necessary in the context of sudden changes in the wider political and organizational environment. In conclusion, it is suggested that this case study shows a need for explicit leadership and direction if participation is to be fostered in hierarchical work organizations as a means of creating motivated staff and external contributors to the services provided.
Organizational Change and Barriers to Innovation: A Case Study in The Italian Public Sector
Authors: Landau Jennifer
Published: August 2005

This study describes the introduction of a new working organization in an administrative office of the Italian public sector. Staff members actively contributed and realized their ideas to improve service and increase organizational flexibility. These improvements resulted in a paradox: they went unrecognized by the staff members themselves who moreover sabotaged them to reproduce the organizational malfunctions existent prior to the changes. This study aims to understand both why staff members rejected the changes that they themselves had proposed and why they sought to return to their previous situation. The analysis seeks to shed light on the importance of individual recognition for the public employee and how this variable influences both barriers to, and opportunities for, innovation in the public service organization.
Dual-Earner Couples in Singapore: An Examination of Work and Nonwork Sources of Their Experienced Burnout
Authors: Aryeel Samuel
Published: August 2005

Based on data obtained from 95 dual-earner couples in Singapore, the study reported here examined a model of work and nonwork stressors as determinants of burnout. The model was underpinned by a conceptualization of burnout as emanating from the differential social roles performed by men and women within a gender stratified social structure. T-test, path, and moderated multiple regression analyses were used to examine the hypothesized relationships. Three findings were salient. First, wives reported significantly more burnout than husbands. Second, burnout in wives was influenced by both work and nonwork stressors while burnout in husbands was influenced only by work stressors. Third, the effect of job-spouse conflict on burnout in wives was moderated by quality of spouse experience. In general, the model was better able to predict burnout in wives (R = .34) than in husbands (R2 = .16). Limitations of the study, implications of the findings and directions for future studies are discussed.
Effects of Sex-Based Preferential Selection and Discrimination on Job Attitudes
Authors: Graves Laura M. , Powell Gary N.
Published: August 2005

The effects of managerial and professional employees' (N = 188) perceptions of sex-based preferential selection and discrimination on their job attitudes were examined. As expected, men and women had negative job attitudes when they believed that selection practices discriminated against their own sex. Contrary to previous findings, however, both men and women had more positive job attitudes when their own sex was given preferential treatment than when decisions were sex-neutral. Overall, there was no support for the notion that preferential treatment has a negative effect on the job attitudes of its intended beneficiaries.
A Taxonomy of Behavioral Strategies for Coping with Work-Home Role Conflict
Authors: Wiersma Uco J.
Published: August 2005

The purpose of this study was to catalogue specific behavioral strategies used by dual-career couples to solve work-home role conflicts in each of seven broad areas: domestic chores, maintaining social relations, role cycling, job relocations, sex-role socialization, social pressure, and direct competition between spouses. Twenty-four men and women from dual-career families were interviewed using the critical incident method. Results show that six of the seven dimensions could be supported empirically with behaviorally defined solutions; the exception being sex-role socialization. Differences between the results of this study and those of previous studies which have investigated coping behaviors are discussed, and suggestions are offered as to how the findings may be of help to practitioners.
Promotion Decisions by Managers: A Dependency Perspective
Authors: Deshpande Satish P. , Schoderbek Peter P. , Joseph Jacob
Published: August 2005

Promotion decisions of 197 managers (63 males, 134 females) from a large not-for-profit organization were investigated using a dependency perspective. Both performance level and organizational connections of a subordinate influenced promotion decisions. Subordinate influence attempts had an impact on promotion recommendations only when a manager was aware of a subordinate's organizational connections. Potential subordinate turnover did not influence promotion decisions by managers. The implications of this study for both practice and research are discussed.
The Relative Influence of Life Events and Hassles on Work-Related Injuries: Some Australian Evidence
Authors: Savery Lawson K. , Wooden Mark
Published: August 2005

Using data collected from over 1400 employees from 61 different workplaces, this study investigates the relative importance of stressful life events and daily hassles for the occurrence of injuries within the workplace. A multivariate model of the factors associated with injury occurrence is developed and estimated using probit regression techniques. The results provide strong support for the hypothesis that stress contributes to injuries in the workplace. More importantly, the observed relationship between stress and injuries is found to be far stronger for a measure of stress based on the frequency of daily hassles than it is for a measure based on the occurrence of stressful life events. The results are argued to have at least two implications for stress management interventions in the workplace: first, such interventions should be directed toward the management of extra-organizational stressors, not just stressors within the workplace; and second, intervention programs should give priority to improving the ability of employees to cope with and respond to stress.
The Information Technology Field: Using Fields and Paradigms for Analyzing Technological Change
Authors: Friedman Andrew L.
Published: August 2005

The technology field is proposed as a concept which will allow us to analyze the history of substantial technologies and to make predictions about future developments. The history of information technology is analyzed as an example of a technology field. The technology field gives place both to "supply-side," "natural," technological trajectories, and to "demand-side" socioeconomic factors. Unlike the recently developed concept of technological paradigm, the technology field directs our attention to issues of management and work organization which accompany the diffusion of a major new technology.
A Radical Humanist Perspective of Interorganizational Relationships
Authors: Hazen Mary Ann
Published: August 2005

A radical humanist perspective frames a case describing the formation of an interorganizational service delivery system for psychiatric emergencies. Critical incidents exemplify dialogue as a method of inquiry and change in the interorganizational context and as a metaphor for understanding such contexts. Implications for organizational theory and development are discussed.
Acculturation in Acquired Organizations: A Force-Field Perspective
Authors: Elsass Priscilla M. , Veiga John F.
Published: August 2005

The acculturation process involved when one organization is acquired by another, and the two organizational cultures merge, has not been adequately conceptualized in the strategic management literature. It is argued here that the acculturation process can be more fully understood by utilizing Lewin's (1951) force-field approach. In addition, major forces of cultural differentiation and organizational integration are identified. It is also argued that the dynamic acculturative change process will both influence and be influenced by postacquisition organizational performance. Predictions as to how post-acquisition performance influences subsequent acculturation modes are offered.
An Examination of the Antecedents of Subjective Career Success Among a Managerial Sample in Singapore
Authors: Aryee Samuel , Chay Yue Wah , Tan Hwee Hoon
Published: August 2005

Data obtained with a questionnaire instrument from managerial employees (N = 200) in Singapore were used to examine some antecedents of subjective career success. The choice of antecedents was informed by recent calls to place research on career issues in the context of an individual's life roles. Confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL VII) was used to examine the one-factor and three-factor models hypothesized to underlie the subjective career success data. The results revealed a three-factor model to have adequate fit statistics - financial and hierarchical success, and career satisfaction. The antecedent sets of human capital, work values, family and structural or work variables accounted for over 40% of the explained variance in each career success dimension. While the career success dimensions were influenced by different variables, individual-organizational value congruity, quality of parental role and internal labor market emerged as consistent antecedents of the career success dimensions. The pattern of significant antecedents of the career success dimensions was interpreted as providing support for the approach that underpinned the study. The limitations of the study, and practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
Understanding Our Differences: Performance in Decision-Making Groups with Diverse Members
Authors: Maznevski Martha L.
Published: August 2005

The purpose of this article is to develop a model to explain performance in decision-making groups characterized by high diversity in composition. It begins with a brief discussion on the nature and effects of diversity. Previous research on group performance is then reviewed with the general conclusion that diverse groups perform less well than homogeneous ones do. This conclusion is challenged by closely examining a small group of studies specifically researching the effects of diversity, and it is shown that diversity can enhance a group's performance if it is integrated. Communication is proposed as an integrating mechanism, and a theory of communication in terms of preconditions is described. This theory is then used to develop propositions concerning the relationships among diversity, integration, and performance in decision-making groups. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Professional/Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction for Employed Lawyers
Authors: Gunz Hugh P. , Gunz Sarah P.
Published: August 2005

This paper presents the results of a two part field study designed to examine issues of organizational-professional conflict (OPC) amongst employed layers (corporate counsel). The study adopts the Johnson (1972) collegiate/oligarchic typology, and hypothesises that the unexpectedly low OPC found by Aranya and Ferris (1984) amongst employed accountants is a function of the nature of the profession. It replicates the Aranya and Ferris study using subjects from a collegiate profession where, arguably, external reference groups and traditions are more powerful. Using standard multi-variate analysis, the study suggests that for this sample, OPC is no more of an issue than in the Aranya and Ferris study. There was, however, evidence of career factors impacting strongly upon organizational commitment, suggesting that previous ideas on the nature of the link between professionals and their employers are an oversimplification. The theoretical and practical iplications of these findings are discussed.
Factors Involved in Constructive Union-Management Relationships
Authors: Huszczo Gregory E. , Hoyer Denise Tanguay
Published: August 2005

The authors propose that neither the legalistic, adversarial approach, nor the cooperative approach stands alone as the set of practices that constitutes "good quality" union-management relations. In fact, it is suggested that the ideal union-management relationship is one that is "constructive," a term drawn from the conflict literature. Utilizing data gathered with the Quality of Union-Management Relationship (QUMR) Instrument, evidence is provided that six major factors are related to the effectiveness of a union-management relationship. Two of these factors are classified as cooperative, two as adversarial, and two as neutral. A model of union-management relationships is presented.
Understanding the Meaning of Participation: Views from the Workplace
Authors: Marchington Mick , Wilkinson Adrian , Ackers Peter , Goodman John
Published: August 2005

It is now generally agreed that there has been a growth in the extensiveness of employee involvement (El) in Britain in recent years. However, the value of this information is limited because many of the studies rely heavily on management viewpoints about the impact of El. Even when surveys of employee opinion are undertaken, however, the results are typically abstracted from the organizational context in which they are located. In this article, we present information from six organizations collected as part of a larger study on El in Britain. This illustrates that employee attitudes to El are dependent, inter alia, upon the prior experiences which employees have of El and work in general, management's approaches to employee relations, and the recent and projected corporate performance of the organization. This leads us to suggest that El is as much affected by the prevailing organizational culture and environment as it is a source of change. The authors call for more research studies of this kind to be undertaken.
Empowered Managers and Empowered Workers: The Effects of Managerial Support and Managerial Perceived Control on Workers' Sense of Control over Decision Making
Authors: Parker Louise E. , Price Richard H.
Published: August 2005

In this study, we sought to identify conditions under which workers could experience empowered managers as empowering. Within an organizational context, we defined empowerment as the belief that one has control over decision making. Specifically, we proposed that when workers believe that their managers both have a high level of control over decision making and are supportive, workers will report that they themselves are empowered. We reasoned that managers who exercise power in a supportive manner will be an empowering force for their workers. In support of these hypotheses, we found that it is possible for both workers and supportive managers to enjoy relatively high levels of perceived control over organizational decisions.
Social Information Processing and Social Networks: A Test of Social Influence Mechanisms
Authors: Meyer Gordon W.
Published: August 2005

After identifying the implicit assumptions about social influence mechanisms and the social structural bases reflected in the social information processing literature, social network analysis concepts and structural models are used to clearly specify three alternative influence mechanisms. Simple interaction contact, norm enforcing cohesive groups, and the occupation of structurally equivalent positions or roles in an interaction structure are hypothesized as the structures underlying different social influence processes. The relative efficacy of these various structural configurations in predicting similarity of perception of and attitudes about organizational phenomena are then evaluated. While the evidence seems to indicate that the social influence of norm enforcing groups is most robust, multiple mechanisms appear to operate, sometimes simultaneously, for different kinds of perceptions. The limits of social information processing effects are discussed in light of the findings here of no significant effects on some perceptions.
Social Support, Depression, and Self-Acceptance Among Gay Men
Authors: Vincke John , Bolton Ralph
Published: August 2005

This study analyzes how low social support of gay men when coming out affects the reported levels of depression and self-acceptance in a non-clinical sample of Flemish (Belgium) gay men. The model used is nonrecursive. It incorporates the mutual causation between depression and self-acceptance. The manipulation of social support is considered as part of the general process of social control. After delineating the methodological problems associated with studying the relationship between the perception of support and depression, it is shown that low social support because one is gay leads first to depression and then to low levels of gay self-acceptance. Findings are discussed within the framework of social stress research and the characteristics of the social context of the setting where the data was collected.
Matrix Management of Projects and Power Struggles: A Case Study of an R&D Laboratory
Authors: de Laat Paul B.
Published: August 2005

Matrix management of projects, it is argued, may generate normative conflict, prompting project and functional managers to engage in nonconformist conflict behavior which challenges the division of authority in matrix. An analysis of such struggles has been lacking yet. The present study fills this gap. Distinguishing between retreatism, ritualism, manipulation and rebellion, forms and outcomes of such power struggles are explored in a case study of the R&D establishment of a multinational corporation. A so-called balanced matrix was applied, in which power between both kinds of matrix managers is equally balanced. Analysis shows, how each party tried to shift the balance of power toward its side -mostly in vain however; in the end, the "hot" war between contending parties gave way to a mixture of "cold" war and willing cooperation. From the case data, organizational features other than matrix design as such are identified, that seem to affect the chances of mutual conflict escalating. Finally, it is conjectured, that types of matrix other than the balanced matrix are less susceptible to such intense power struggles, as the balance of power is not nearly equal.
Cognitive Schemata of Professional Obsolescence
Authors: Pazy Asya
Published: August 2005

This exploratory study used qualitative data as a basis for grounding a new theoretical framework for understanding obsolescence and updating. Fifty professionals were interviewed at length. Four propositions emerged out of the data. One, obsolescence and updating are multifaceted phenomena. Obsolescence has different meanings for different people. Professionals adopt world views-or cognitive schemata-regarding the nature of obsolescence, its relevance to them, and their roles in coping with it. Eleven cognitive schemata were identified. Two, the various schemata constitute various ways of coping with the obsolescence threat. Three, schemata are not individual creations. They are shared by groups of people in organizations. Four, organizational rank and career stage determine to a large extent which schema will be adhered to by the person (or the group). These four propositions are integrated with extant literature, and organizational implications of the new framework are discussed.
Professional Control as Process: Beyond Structural Theories
Authors: Harrison Michael I.
Published: August 2005

Until recently, studies of the impact of bureaucratic employment on professionals drew heavily on structural models, such as the theories of proletarianization and of professional stratification. In contrast, this paper develops a processual approach to professional control. This approach views control as resulting from struggles by occupational groups for institutional recognition and from struggles and negotiations within and between occupations. The structural and processual approaches are applied to the explanation of union activity-an increasingly prominent form of collective action among employed professionals. Unionization and union militancy are examined among Israeli physicians, who have a long history of bureaucratic employment. Although they are helpful, neither the proletarianization nor the stratification theories adequately account for the overall pattern of medical unionization or for individual and subgroup involvement in a lengthy physicians' strike. The processual approach points to several forces that help explain unionization and variations in strike involvement. These forces include institutional and contextual conditions, power differences between professional-subgroups, interactions among multiple actors in and around the professions, and the professionals' subjective interpretations and feelings. Although the processual approach is a loose perspective, rather than a tight-knit theory, it offers a better guide than the structural theories to investigating both professional-bureaucratic relations and collective actions aimed at enhancing professional control.
Testing the Effect of Level and Importance of Pay Referents on Pay Level Satisfaction
Authors: Blau Gary
Published: August 2005

Using 162 pharmaceutical managers in a longitudinal research design, this study tested whether level and importance of a pay referent interacted to affect pay level satisfaction. Five pay referents (financial, historical, organization, market, and social) and three standardized pay level satisfaction scales (Job Descriptive Index, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire) were used. After controlling for employee salary, job inputs, job characteristics, pay system administration, and level and importance pay referent main effects, interactive effects were found which varied by pay satisfaction scale. Results and limitations of this study are discussed.
A Comparative Look at Dual Commitment: An International Study
Authors: Reed Celeste Sturdevant , Young Willard R. , McHugh Patrick P.
Published: August 2005

North American scholars have had an historical interest in the extent to which workers can be committed to both their employer and their union. This is particularly relevant given the recent emphasis on greater labor-management cooperation as part of a competitive strategy. This paper reviewed the correlational literature concerning the relationship between company and union commitment. Meta-analysis procedures were applied to the results of 76 samples involving a total of 15,699 respondents and found a mean corrected effect size of .42. The extended analyses included multiple studies from Canada, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. A system-level moderator, adversarial, or consensual approach to industrial relations, was found. While further moderator analysis was warranted, studies lacked sufficient information for coding. Conceptual and practical implications from the findings are drawn.
The Ideology of Professionalism and Work Computerization: An Institutionalist Study of Technological Change
Authors: Prasad Pushkala , Prasad Anshuman
Published: August 2005

This paper examines the process of work computerization in a Health Maintenance Organization from an institutionalist perspective. It investigates how one element of the institutional environment, viz., the ideology of professionalism, became a powerful presence and continually influenced the process of work computerization in the organization. Using ethnographic methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews, the paper identifies the different local meanings of professionalism held by organizational members. It then examines how the ideology of professionalism became institutionalized within the organization through a combination of micro-and macro-level forces. The paper also looks at the consequences of this ideology for the computerization process. Mainly, it shows how the ideology of professionalism facilitated a climate of acceptance toward computers, escalated commitment to the technology and was partly responsible for the suppression of individual concerns regarding work computerization. Finally, implications for organization theory and research are drawn.
Cognitive Style and Attitudes to Work
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Brewin Chris R. , O'Kelly Harriet
Published: August 2005

This study examined the relationship between work-specific cognitive style, and measures of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and involvement. One hundred working adults completed the revised Occupational Attributional Style Questioinaire and three validated measures of work attitudes. In general, cognitive style showed few associations with demographic variables, occupational status, and salary. Internality and perception of personal control over positive outcomes were positively correlated with job commitment, involvement, and satisfaction, a finding that appears to generalize across different occupational groups. The discussion considers the relative merits of attributional style vs. locus of control methodology in assessing work-related cognitions.
Of What Value is a Job Attitude? A Socio-Cognitive Analysis
Authors: Pratkanis Anthony R. , Turner Marlene E.
Published: August 2005

Job attitudes are often weakly predictive of job-related behaviors. A socio-cognitive model is presented to demonstrate why job attitudes are important, to identify their structural and functional properties, and to specify when they predict behavior. According to this model, attitudes are represented in memory by a cognitive structure consisting of an object label, an evaluative summary of that object, and a knowledge structure. This structure serves several functions: it allows individuals to make sense of their social world (heuristic and schematic functions of attitudes) and to maintain self-worth (self functions of attitudes). Finally, we use the socio-cognitive model to identify six propositions for increasing the attitude-behavior relationship.
Emotion in the Workplace: A Reappraisal
Authors: Ashforth Blake E. , Humphrey Ronald H.
Published: August 2005

Although the experience of work is saturated with emotion, research has generally neglected the impact of everyday emotions on organizational life. Further, organizational scholars and practitioners frequently appear to assume that emotionality is the antithesis of rationality and, thus, frequently hold a pejorative view of emotion. This has led to four institutionalized mechanisms for regulating the experience and expression of emotion in the workplace: (1) neutralizing, (2) buffering, (3) prescribing, and (4) normalizing emotion. In contrast to this perspective, we argue that emotionality and rationality are interpenetrated, emotions are an integral and inseparable part of organizational life, and emotions are often functional for the organization. This argument is illustrated by applications to motivation, leadership, and group dynamics.
Allen and Meyer's 1990 Longitudinal Study: A Reanalysis and Reinterpretation Using Structural Equation Modeling
Authors: Baker W. Kevin
Published: August 2005

Allen and Meyer (1990) proposed a possible latent factor, role certainty, impacting the effects of socialization tactics on organizational commitment and role orientation. Their data was reanalyzed with structural equation modeling to test this proposal and to examine the overlooked factor of interaction with job incumbents. The results indicated the presence of two latent factors, role certainty, and incumbent interaction. More importantly, the most pronounced impact was from incumbent interaction. Interaction with incumbents had a strong early impact on organizational commitment of newcomers, but this effect diminished significantly over time. The implications of this are discussed.
The Concept "Acceptable" as a Means of Assessing Heuristic Work Practices in the Professional Arena
Authors: Dale A.
Published: August 2005

This paper examines the limitations of established assessment techniques when applied to the heuristic work practices found in professions. The paper observes that the search for quality by means of the imposition of quantitative measures is at best restrictive and at worst dangerous and misleading when applied to the work of professional services. Describing an approach originally conceived for the assessment of police work, the paper argues that the concept "acceptable" has high utility in the valuing of professional work. The paper argues that the model of professional as "negotiator" is relevant in terms of the way an "acceptable" solution to novel problems may be defined. The paper reasons that in terms of the provision of direct professional services, success should be judged according to what may be negotiated between those affected and the constraints imposed by the role of the professional practitioner.
Job Satisfaction, Mental Health, and Occupational Stress Among Senior Civil Servants
Authors: Bogg Janet , Cooper Cary
Published: August 2005

This study found that senior U.K. civil servants were significantly more job dissatisfied and displayed more mental and physical ill health than their private sector counterparts. The main sources of stress were "factors intrinsic to the job" such as poorer comparative pay and working conditions, and a strong feeling of possessing little control over their job and their organization. These results are fully discussed.
The Managerial Performance Implications of a Developmental Assessment Center Process
Authors: Engelbrecht A. S. , Fischer A. H.
Published: August 2005

The purpose of this study was to determine if a developmental assessment center process improves managerial performance in the workplace. Focus was placed on the behavioral level of evaluation. The research design made use of a two-group design with random selection and a control group. A sample of 76 managers, at supervisory level, was used. Behaviorally anchored rating scales were developed to measure the job performance of participating managers. The results indicated significant differences between the experimental and the control groups for six performance dimensions. Significant differences were also found in all the second-order factors and the total managerial performance score. Thus, the developmental assessment center process had a positive impact on managerial performance, and this effect was still measurable 3 months after center attendance. In order to generalize the results of this study, it is essential to do further research on the utility of the developmental assessment center.
Motivational Underpinnings of Command-and-Control, Market-Based, and Voluntarist Environmental Policies
Authors: Karp David R. , Gaulding Clark L.
Published: August 2005

Historically, regulatory command-and-control schemes have dominated the environmental policy process. Recently, market-based incentives and voluntarist programs have begun to compete with regulatory policies. We argue in this article that policymakers must distinguish these strategies by their motivational underpinnings. While each strategy attempts to achieve the same goal, behavioral or organizational change that reduces pollution and/or provides environmental protection, each strategy is distinct in its means. We discuss how command-and-control capitalizes on fear, market-based incentives capitalize on greed, and voluntarism on one's sense of social responsibility. We discuss the implications of choosing each of these policy alternatives by drawing on the insights of "social dilemmas" research that analyzes situations in which the individual and the collective good are in conflict.
Strategic and Tactical Logics of Decision Justification: Power and Decision Criteria in Organizations
Authors: Bacharach Samuel B. , Bamberger Peter , Mundell Bryan
Published: August 2005

Organizational researchers tend to explain the often high degree of unpredictability in managerial decision-making in terms of differences in the cognitive processes of decision-makers. However, the decision criteria used by managers remain relatively unexplored. Viewing the use of decision criteria as a method by which managers justify their decisions, we examine the logics of justification underlying an empirically-generated list of decision criteria. We then test a number of hypotheses regarding the impact of power-related individual and role characteristics on the decision criteria used by the 962 public sector managers in our sample. The results suggest that although managers may indeed use decision criteria based on two different underlying logics of justification (i.e., strategic and tactical), power-related characteristics of individuals and roles explain only a limited proportion of the variance in the use of decision criteria based upon strategic logics of justification, and explain an even smaller proportion of the variance in the use of decision criteria based upon tactical logics of justification.
Managing the Work-Nonwork Boundary: An Assessment of Organizational Responses
Authors: Kirchmeyer Catherine
Published: August 2005

Three types of organizational responses to nonwork were identified according to orientations toward the work-nonwork relationship and toward the employer-worker relationship. The attitudes and experiences of 221 managers active in multiple domains were used to assess the effectiveness of the types. The type that enhanced the flexibility of the work-nonwork boundary, and involved the employer providing resources for workers to fulfill nonwork responsibilities themselves, proved most effective. This framework serves to shift the thinking about work-nonwork programs from a practice-by-practice focus to a more strategic level.
Groupthink Remodeled: The Importance of Leadership, Time Pressure, and Methodical Decision-Making Procedures
Authors: Neck Christopher P. , Moorhead Gregory
Published: August 2005

This article reviews the research on groupthink and analyzes the results and identifies areas of inconsistency. Based on these analyses and integration of research on the effects of time pressure on group decision making, a revised groupthink framework is presented. The revised framework alters the role of the leader, adjusts the linkages between groupthink antecedents and symptoms, and focuses attention on the importance of time pressure and methodical decision-making procedures on the prevention of groupthink. The revised framework attempts to correct a fundamental flaw of Janis' (1983) model - that is, to explain why within the same group, groupthink can occur during one decision-making situation and not another.
The Interaction Effect of Information Asymmetry and Decentralization on Managers' Job Satisfaction: A Research Note
Authors: Chia Yew-Ming
Published: August 2005

This study investigates the interaction effect of information asymmetry and decentralization on the job satisfaction level of sub-unit managers. Responses gathered by means of a questionnaire survey from 42 managers in Singapore were generated and analyzed using regression analysis. The findings indicate the presence of nonmonotonic relationship between information asymmetry and job satisfaction over the range of the degree of decentralization in the organizations. More specifically, the results indicate that a higher level for information asymmetry was associated with a higher level of job satisfaction for managers working under conditions of high decentralization.
Freud on Civilization
Authors: Appel S.
Published: August 2005

There is a widespread neglect in social psychology of the work of Sigmund Freud. The paper provides a systematic overview of his writings on "civilization." Along the way, Freud's critical engagement with Gustave Le Bon's The Crowd is detailed. It is suggested that analyses of collectivities ignore Freud's contribution to their detriment.
A Model of Social Loafing in Real Work Groups
Authors: Comer Debra R.
Published: August 2005

Social loafing is the decline in member effort that often occurs in groups. This paper discusses factors that may contribute to social loafing, and proposes a model integrating these factors. The model attempts to move social loafing research from the laboratory to the workplace. Recommendations are offered for reducing social loafing in work groups.
Virtual Reality as a Communication Environment: Consensual Hallucination, Fiction, and Possible Selves
Authors: Mantovani Giuseppe
Published: August 2005

This article addresses a matter of potentially great social significance-Virtual Reality (VR) as a communication environment-from the point of view of social psychology. While it is easily recognized that technological research is deeply involved in the ongoing development of VR systems, there is no equal agreement about behavioral sciences having good reasons for both interest and concern in VR as medium. This paper reviews current research on the quality of VR experience and integrates it in a theoretical framework centered on self identity processes. The main issues are: which sense may be ascribed to the "consensual hallucination" experienced in VR? Which sort of fiction is peculiar to VR? Which influence can VR as a medium have on the construction of the self? We cannot reject in principle the idea that VR could, when fully developed, create alternative realities almost paralleling, in sensory richness, "conventional" realities. The "cyber" view, stressing the capability of VR to supply alternative, disembodied forms of community, cannot be dismissed as irrelevant: technologies nurture specific political, ideological, and also mystical beliefs as essential aspects of their moral foundation (and vice versa, ideologies can inspire specific technological projects).
Charitable Giving by Individuals: A Study of Attitudes and Practice
Authors: Radley Alan , Kennedy Marie
Published: August 2005

Charitable giving is a topic that has received little attention in the literature to date, in spite of the recent growth of the voluntary sector in the U.K This paper uses data from interviews with 49 people about their preferences for ways of giving, for kinds of causes, and their beliefs about the role of charity in society. Two main themes are selected for analysis: (a) the kinds of experience that people have had of others in need, and (b) the organization of giving, formally or informally, within social institutions. These themes are used to construct a conceptual framework showing that charitable giving reflects variations in the relationship of individuals to the community of which they are a part. This is a critical alternative to explanations of charity based upon either individual motive, social norms, or the setting in which the solicitation of gifts occurs.
Leadership for Self-Managing Work Teams: A Typology and Integrative Model
Authors: Stewart Greg L. , Manz Charles C.
Published: August 2005

Many organizations are currently implementing self-managing work teams. Supervision of these teams is particularly challenging in that leaders are expected to lead others to lead themselves. Grounded primarily in the positivistic paradigm of research, a typology of leadership approaches is thus developed to explain team leader behaviors and their impact on team self-management. A model incorporating leader and organizational characteristics is then presented to illustrate antecedents of team leader behavior.