bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Organization Dimension of Global Change
Authors: Cooperrider David L. , Pasmore William A.
Published: August 2005

This is our hope: to sketch the conceptual outlines for an expanded field of inquiry into the organization dimension of global change more clearly, coherently, and urgently than has been done before. Today, a vital and pioneering latticework of global social change organizations (GSCO) is spreading across continents, involving people from every nation, in an unprecedented attempt to forge a new vision of the world's cooperative capacity. The people-centered GSCO, we submit, is one of the more important social innovations of the past half-century and is one of the greatest unrecognized resources in the world today. In spite of its rapid proliferation in number, scope, and planetary significance, the GSCO has been largely overlooked in leading organizational and administrative science journals of the discipline. An expanded focus to include "the organization dimension of global change" will, we believe, open up exciting vistas of learning and will compel changes in our current theories of human organization, management, and processes of change. The purpose of this special series of seven articles (to be published in Human Relations over the next three issues) is to inaugurate such discovery by: (1) inviting broad reconsideration of the field's priorities; (2) generating a new discourse into the paradigm shift needed to move the systematic study of the GSCO from the periphery closer to the center of the social-organizational sciences, and (3) proposing that study of the GSCO offers all of us the chance to fashion a social science of vital significance to a sustainable planetary future.
Network Relations and Loss of Organizational Autonomy
Authors: Oliver Christine
Published: August 2005

A fundamental premise of resource dependence theory is that organizations tend to avoid interorganizational relations which com- promise their autonomy. This study examined the frequency with which organizations in a population established interorganizational relationships as a function of five different types of network relations that varied in the degree to which they required organizations to relinquish autonomy. The findings failed to support the assumption that organizational independence is a primary consideration in the decision to establish or forego interorganizational relations.
Career Orientations in Women from Rural and Urban Backgrounds
Authors: Poole Millicent E. , Langan-Fox Janice , Omodei Mary
Published: August 2005

This study examines career orientations in women from rural and urban backgrounds, using a longitudinal data set collected over a period of 10 years, from 1973-1982. When first contacted, respondents were 18 years of age. The final data collection in 1982 resulted in a sample of some 1300 women. The longitudinal data was analyzed using LISREL structural equation modeling and was guided by a theoretical framework developed by Krumboltz (1981), which focuses on the process of decision-making. The theory attempts to explain how educational and occupational preferences and skills are acquired and how selections of courses, occupations and fields of work are made and identifies the interactions of genetic factors, environmental conditions, learning experiences, cognitive and emotional responses, and performance skills that produce movement along one career path or another. Results from the study found that there were some differences between women of contrasting geographic background over the secondary school-early career development stage. Noticeably larger differences occurred in values found for rural women in the effect of external constraints on early work satisfaction, the stability of work satisfaction, the effect of work satisfaction on occupational interest and the effect of parental status on career orientation
Toward the Study of Organizational Coalitions: Participant Concerns and Activities in a Simulated Organizational Setting
Authors: Cobb Anthony T.
Published: August 2005

A qualitative laboratory research design is used to study coalition formation within the simulated context of a formal organization. The scenario used focuses on an issue shown to produce political activity: executive succession. A content analytic approach was used to analyze the ideas, perceptions, and actions of the participants as reported by themselves. Results indicate that the process of coalition formation involves a much wider range of concerns, objectives, and interconnected behaviors than suggested by previous research on coalition formation. These are presented and implications for future research and theory building are discussed.
Effects of Supervisor Age and Subordinate Age on Rating Congruence
Authors: Shorel Lynn McFarlane , Bleicken Linda M.
Published: August 2005

Although increasing numbers of older employees are in the workforce, little research has focused on the relationship between age and both self- and supervisory performance ratings. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of supervisor and subordinate age on the level of agreement between self- and supervisory ratings. The sample consisted of 35 male and 35 female assemblers and their supervisors. Results across dimensions did not show consistent effects for any of the independent variables. The results suggest that age bias may not apply exclusively to older workers and may only be associated with selected performance dimensions.
A Proportional Hazards Regression Analysis of Employee Turnover Among Nurses in New Zealand
Authors: Ng Sik Hung , Cram Fiona , Jenkins Lesley
Published: August 2005

Research on employee turnover has usually relied on employment status (quitters vs. stayers) to index the criterion variable (turnover), and on multiple regression (MR) to model the turnover process. In the present study, which was based on a national sample of nurses in New Zealand (n = 1249), we improved the criterion variable by combining employment status with a continuous measure, namely, job survival duration (length of employment starting from the time of survey). We then applied Cox's (1972) proportional hazards regression (PHR) analysis to the improved criterion, and compared the results with those obtained by applying MR on employment status. The comparisons favored PHR: (1) MR selected an extra predictor of quitting that turned out to be nonsignificant, and (2) the numbers of quitters estimated by PHR tended to be more accurate than those by MR.
Employee Responses to Technologically-Driven Change: The Implementation of Office Automation in a Service Organization
Authors: Parsons Charles K. , Liden Robert C. , O'Connor Edward J. , Nagao Dennis H.
Published: August 2005

The purpose of this research is to study employee responses to a new office automation system over an extended period of time. Following the conceptual framework proposed by O'Connor, Parsons, Liden, and Herold (1990), constructs of interest were categorized as individual differences, implementation outcomes. The research occurred in a life insurance trade association over an 18-month period. Three waves of questionnaires focused on different parts of the conceptual framework. Support was found for the direct relationships between inputs, facilitators (or resistors), and outcomes. The role of facilitators/resistors as intervening variables received mixed support. These results and others are discussed in the context of a conceptual model and future research suggestions are made.
Exchange Ideology as a Moderator of the Relationships Between Importance of Participation in Decision Making and Job Attitudes
Authors: Witt L. Alan
Published: August 2005

The present study examined the relationships between reported importance of participation in decision making and three job attitudes of relevance to Yugoslav self-management, namely job satisfaction, perceptions of organizational support, and perceptions of organizational goal norms. Data collected from 134 of 200 randomly sampled workers in a Yugoslav tooling plant yielded weak correlations but also indicated a moderating effect of exchange ideology. These results have implications not only for Yugoslav self-management but also for exchange theory and the study of job attitudes.
Leadership: An Alienating Social Myth?
Authors: Gemmill Gary , Oakley Judith
Published: August 2005

The social construct of leadership is viewed as a myth that functions to reinforce existing social beliefs and structures about the necessity of hierarchy and leaders in organizations. The dynamics of the leadership myth in terms of its consequences for alienation characterized by intellectual and emotional deskilling is discussed. A trend toward massive deskilling on a societal scale is viewed as indicated by the current emergence of magical wishes for omnipotent leaders demonstrating a sense of helplessness and despair in being able to personally initiate and create less alienating social forms for the workplace. The types of experimentation required for refraining socially constructed meanings of leadership are explored, with emphasis placed on the role of heightened awareness of covert and undiscussable power and authority dynamics in an organizational context.
A Structural Analysis of Health-Related Quality of Life Dimensions
Authors: Romney David M. , Jenkins C. David , Bynner John M.
Published: August 2005

Of critical importance in the applications of quality of life theory and measurement to clinical situations is the need to know how the different components of quality of life relate to each other and what these relationships mean. To answer this question, the present study reanalyzes data collected 6 months after surgery on 469 patients with cardiovascular problems. The data were factor analyzed and five factors were extracted, namely, Symptoms of Illness, Neurological Dysfunction, Interpersonal Relationships, Morale, and Socioeconomic Status. Because the factor scores derived from these five factors intercorrelated, we were able to hypothesize causal models suggesting how the factors might affect each other. Two competing models were tested against the data using LISREL. A crucial difference between the two models was that in one, Symptoms lowered Morale whereas in the other, low Morale aggravated Symptoms, i.e., a psychosomatic effect. The first model fitted the data very well in contrast to the second model which did not fit the data at all. The authors consider the implications of the first model for improving quality of life in cardiac patients.
Social Support Under Conditions of Organizational Ambiguity
Authors: Erera Irit Pauline
Published: August 2005

This study examines how supervisors perceive the singular characteristics of social support from their superior, peers, and subordinates. It also examines the effects of organizational ambiguity on each of these support sources. Both quantitative and qualitative measurements were applied in the investigation of 62 supervisors employed in departments of social services. The findings indicate that only subordinates were perceived as supportive, providing emotional and approval support. Superiors were criticized for providing inconsistent and insufficient information, and for withholding emotional, approval, and tangible support. Peers were accused for withholding emotional support. Relationships with other organizational departments, headed by peers, reflected competition and mistrust. It is argued that relationships with all these support sources were determined by organizational uncertainty, produced by ambiguous policies. The study concludes with implications for future research and practice.
Organizational Change and the Corporate Career: The Restructuring of Managers' Job Aspirations
Authors: Goffee Rob , Scase Richard
Published: August 2005

For managers in large-scale organizations, careers have traditionally provided a set of organizing principles around which they have been able to structure both their private and professional lives. Through them, they have been able to experience a sense of security, stability, and order. Personal feelings of growth and advancement have been achieved through jobs which provide not only the opportunities for the completion of specific tasks but also a mean whereby longer-term personal goals can be achieved. Indeed, the combined promise of job security and advancement within corporate hierarchies-as linked with incremetal increases in authority, status, and pay-have constituted the major rewards of the modern managerial career. It has been largely through these mechanisms that large-scale organizations have been able to obtain the motivation and commitment of their managerial staff. During the 1980s, however, a variety of technological, organizational, and broader social changes have led many observers to suggest that the nature of corporate careers has fundamentally changed. In this paper we explore the attitudes of managers toward their careers in the context of restructuring processes which limit opportunities for hierarchical advancement and which also reduce job security. In particular, we discuss the ways in which those whose career expectations have been frustrated develop coping strategies. These can have important implications for their attitudes and behavior both within and beyond their employing organizations.
Turnover Intentions and Desire Among Executives
Authors: Gaertner Karen N. , Nollen Stanley D.
Published: August 2005

We propose a typology of turnover intentions that uses desire to stay and intent to stay with the firm. The typology has four categories, leavers, stayers, locked-ins, and jilteds. Two questions are addressed. First, does the typology discriminate among executives empirically? Second, how do executives in one category differ from those in other categories? Using surveys from a sample of executives, we find empirical support for the typology. Results from three-category discriminant analysis indicate stayers are line employees characterized by high job satisfaction, integration into the management team, and perception that the company provides employment security. Leavers are more likely to be staff employees and have the opposite opinions of stayers about their jobs. Jilted executives are distinguished by moderate seniority, high outside career opportunity, and somewhat low inside career opportunity. The results suggest development of a non-linear model of unplanned turnover.
Feedback and Feedback Inconsistency as Sources of Strain and Self-Evaluation
Authors: Greller Martin M. , Parsons Charles K.
Published: August 2005

Six hundred and forty police officers participated in a survey of job performance feedback. Results were interpreted in terms of a hierarchical view of feedback, in which task feedback is relied upon most heavily for evaluating one's own performance, but feedback from the organization is used to adjust the way information from the task is used. Consistent with these expectations, self-evaluations were most closely associated with task feedback. Strain varied as a function of both (a) inconsistency between organization and task feedback, and (b) affective relevance of feedback from others.
The Situational Occurrences Theory of Job Satisfaction
Authors: Quarstein Vernon A. , McAfee R. Bruce , Glassman Myron
Published: August 2005

A two-phase study was conducted to test the Situational Occurrences Theory of Job Satisfaction. The theory was designed to address the following anomalies: (1) why do employees holding seemingly excellent jobs in terms of the traditional job facets such as pay and benefits sometimes report low satisfaction, (2) why do employees holding similar jobs at the same or different organizations with similar pay, etc. have different job satisfaction levels, and (3) why do employee job satisfaction levels change over time when pay, etc. remains relatively stable? The theory posits that job satisfaction is a function of a relatively finite and stable set of variables called Situational Characteristics and a broader based, fluid set of variables called Situational Occurrences. It was hypothesized that overall job satisfaction could best be predicted from a combination of Situational Occurrences and Situational Characteristics than by either alone. It was also hypothesized that Situational Occurrences play a dominant role in determining subsequent satisfaction with the job. Both hypotheses were supported. In addition, male and female differences in the relative importance of Situational Characteristics and Situational Determinants were found.
Leadership Among Middle Managers - An Exploration in the Context of Technological Change
Authors: Beatty Carol A. , Lee Gloria L.
Published: August 2005

Although the importance of top managers in promoting technological innovation has been identified, the crucial role played by middle level technical managers in implementing the changes has been largely neglected. This paper offers a framework for the analysis of leadership roles in technological change, which draws upon often unrelated bodies of literature on leadership, technology, strategy, and organizational change. Data from empirical case studies of the implementation of CAD/CAM systems in British and Canadian companies are used to illustrate the impact of leadership by middle managers on organizational outcomes.
Replication Requisites: A Second Look at Klenke-Hamel and Mathieu (1990)
Authors: Bedeian Arthur G. , Mossholder Kevin W. , Kemery Edward R. , Armenakis Achilles A.
Published: August 2005

In a recent article, Klenke-Hamel and Mathieu (1990) report an operational replication and extension of the Bedeian and Armenakis (1981) investigation of the effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on a number of job-related attitudes. Utilizing multiple samples involving diverse jobs, they tested the generalizability of the Bedeian and Armenakis framework and explored the effects of employee personal characteristics on its focal variables. Although we encourage replication research, the Klenke-Hamel and Mathieu study contains concerns which may render its findings suspect. We examine some of these concerns, indicating where we feel interpretational problems surface, and comment on the role of replication in extending theory.
Organizational Interdependence and Organizational Mortality in the Cooperative Sector: A Community Ecology Perspective
Authors: Staber Udo H.
Published: August 2005

This study examines the effects of organizational population growth on organizational mortality rates in three populations of cooperative sector organizations in Maritime Canada for the period from 1900 to 1987. The findings reveal a partly asymmetric pattern of density dependence. At times, cooperatives cooperated with one another and benefitted from mutualist relations, consistent with the conventional view of the cooperative sector as an integrated community of mutually supportive organizations. But they also competed with one another and failed to achieve a united movement, increasing the chances of organizational dissolution. The empirical findings are interpreted within a community ecology perspective.
Workers as Owners: An Empirical Comparison of Intra-Firm Inequalities at Employee-Owned and Conventional Companies
Authors: Onaran Yalman
Published: August 2005

Based on a sample of three employee-owned and seven conventional companies, this study empirically tests the theoretical claim that employee ownership and management reduces inequality at the firm level. Inequality is broadly defined as the unequal distribution of income, wealth, power, prestige, and privileges, as well as the existence of social boundaries between classes. Results, based on questionnaires, interviews, and study of workers' wages, reveal a more equal distribution of all of the above rewards among the worker-owners of the three employee-owned and managed companies in contrast to the distribution of those among employees of the conventional firms. Implications of results are discussed and further research suggestions are presented.
Drugs and Deception: Undercover Infiltration and Dramaturgical Theory
Authors: Jacobs Bruce A.
Published: August 2005

This paper addresses interactional strategies used by undercover narcotics agents during covert drug transactions. Specific emphasis is given to the extent to which these strategies depend on particular drugs involved. In this regard, four narcotics are examined: marijuana, LSD, crack cocaine, and heroin. Discussion revolves around the concept of "interaction as infiltration," a new reading of dramaturgical theory which considers the relationship between structural (extent of group closure) and qualitative (extent of verbal and nonverbal machination needed to deceive) aspects of role performances. Data for this paper were drawn primarily from ethnograpahic interviews with 35 undercover narcotics agents located in a moderate-sized midwestern (U.S.) municipality.
Authoritarianism, Dominance, and Social Behavior: A Perspective from Evolutionary Personality Psychology
Authors: Smither Robert D.
Published: August 2005

The concept of authoritarianism has been widely misunderstood because of both confusion about values and science and disagreement about a definition of the concept within different areas of psychology. Research in cognitive and social psychology has focused on linking scores on authoritarianism scales with social behavior or information processing, but these efforts have not been very successful at either defining the concept or predicting behavior. In developmental research, authoritarian parenting refers to an emphasis on parental control and decision making. Organizational authoritarianism has been linked to higher productivity and, in some cases, with lower job satisfaction. One way of making sense of the variety of definitions of authoritarianism is in terms of evolutionary personality theory and the concepts of dominance and submission. These biological concepts are relevant to both human and animal behavior, and they can be used to explain authoritarianism in scientific, rather than pejorative, terms.
Emerging Varieties of Action Research: Introduction to the Special Issue
Authors: Elden Max , Chisholm Rupert F.
Published: August 2005

Action research is defined and its scientific basis is noted but not argued. Although its original, classical form established almost a half century ago still exists, there has recently emerged a variety of new models for doing action research today. The basic classical model is described in terms of five elements. These are, in turn, used to introduce the present collection of reports on new, emergent varieties of contemporary action research that complement and extend the classic model. The reports come from projects in hundreds of organizations, in communities and regions, and in numerous countries. The ideas behind the basic model of action research may remain viable today only because they are being practiced in new ways, in innovative research designs, and applied to new problems. The collection of cases presented in this special issue illustrates the rich variety of new thinking available in contemporary action research.
Self-Design for High Involvement: A Large-Scale Organizational Change
Authors: Ledford Gerald E. , Mohrman Susan Albers
Published: August 2005

We present a case study of a 5-year action research project in a 12-plant division of a multi-billion dollar firm. The division is attempting to design new plants and re-design all established plants as high involvement, high performance work systems (Lawler, 1986). The design process is based on a self-design learning model (Mohrman & Cummings, 1989). The history of the change process and data about its effects are reported. We review in detail how the self-design learning system is shaped by the nature of change in a large, multi-level, multi-site organization. We also consider the unusual role of the action researcher in large-scale change.
Swedish Network Development for Implementing National Work Reform Strategy
Authors: Engelstad Per H. , Gustavsen Björn
Published: August 2005

During the early history of action research it was common to work with one single enterprise or workplace. More recently there has been a tendency toward linking organizations together in networks of development projects. One of the chief reasons for this new approach is to achieve "critical mass" of changes between organizations. In creating networks, different approaches can be applied. While the first efforts to develop networks were seen as appendices to single case projects, the current tendency is to see networks as organizational structures in their own right. Their development requires means or action parameters which go beyond those generally applied in "organization development." Networks were a key means in a recently concluded 5-year, nationwide action research-based Swedish work reform effort involving more than 100 organizations in various networks (the "LOM" program). This article describes the LOM program and the background for the interest in network development, the means invented to create and develop the necessary networks, the role of action research, and the resulting perspective on networks that emerged.
A Comparative Examination of Attitudes Toward Software Piracy Among Business Professors and Executives
Authors: Taylor G. Stephen , Shim J. P.
Published: August 2005

This study investigates attitudes toward unauthorized copying of microcomputer software, a practice which is costing the industry an estimated $800 million to $2 billion a year in lost revenue. Specifically, the copying activities of business executives are compared with those of business faculty members. Executives are found to report less unauthorized copying activities both personally and by colleagues; they also reject rationalizations for such copying. Academicians, on the other hand, tend to view unauthorized copying as being less unethical. Possible explanations for the differences between the two groups include the degree and type of job-related supervision, identification with the organization vs. the profession, and social-desirability bias. Implications of these findings and future research needs are discussed.
Correlates of Employee Attitudes Toward Functional Flexibility
Authors: Cordery John , Sevastos Peter , Mueller Wally , Parker Sharon
Published: August 2005

Public service employees (3044) completed a questionnaire seeking information on their expectations regarding a proposal to increase their functional flexibility. It was proposed that beliefs concerning the unfavorability of outcomes of the intervention would be correlated with a range of biographical, affective, and job content variables. Multivariate analyses revealed that the scope of an employees' existing job and biographical variables (apart from age) were not generally predictive of attitudes to functional flexibility. Rather, unfavorable attitudes were weakly associated with low levels of extrinsic satisfaction, perceived reward equity, aspiration organizational commitment, and age. The implications of these findings for work and skills restructuring interventions and organizational change in general are discussed.
The Influence of Cognitive and Affective Based Job Satisfaction Measures on the Relationship Between Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Authors: Moorman Robert H.
Published: August 2005

One of the most widely believed maxims of management is that a happy worker is a productive worker. However, most research on the nature of the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance has not yielded convincing evidence that such a relationship exists to the degree most managers believe. One reason for this might lie in the way in which job performance is measured. Numerous studies have been published that showed that using Organizational Citizenship Behavior to supplant more traditional measures of job performance has resulted in a more robust relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. Yet, recent work has suggested that the relationship between job satisfaction and citizenship may be more complex than originally reported. This study investigated whether the relationship between job satisfaction and citizenship could depend upon the nature of the job satisfaction measure used. Specifically, it was hypothesized that job satisfaction measures which reflect a cognitive basis would be more strongly related to OCB than measures of job satisfaction which reflect an affective basis. Results from data collected in two midwestern companies show support for the relative importance of cognition based satisfaction over affect based satisfaction. Implications for research on the causes of citizenship are discussed.
The Concept of Intergroup Mirroring: Reality or Illusion?
Authors: Wheelan Susan A. , Abraham Marcia
Published: August 2005

The purpose of this research was to investigate the viability of intergroup mirroring as a theoretical construct. Mirroring is said to occur when two or more groups operating within the same social system act in similar ways. The Institutional Event of a Group Relations Conference was the focus of study. The staff group and two member groups were audiotaped. Each group met five times and each session was 11/2 hours in length. A content analysis method was used to determine the conversational themes in each group. Seven major themes were identified in this manner. The findings suggested that mirroring occurred among the groups in both the total amount of minutes and the percentage of actual group time spent in discussion of the various themes. Mirroring was also noted during simultaneously occurring sessions but infrequently. In addition, the groups became more aligned over time with regard to developmental processes and their responses to focal issues. Intergroup mirroring was evident in the overall discussion content of the groups and was more prevalent in later sessions. The findings of this exploratory study suggested that intergroup mirroring appears to be the result of interaction over time, multiple conversations, and the continuous exchange of information as opposed to leader influence or the responses of leaders to critical incidents. Intergroup mirroring may describe not only the result (alignment) but also the process by which alignment occurs. Intergroup mirroring appears to be the regulatory process by which variations in intragroup dynamics and intergroup attributions become increasingly aligned in order to support both the viability of individual groups and the system as a whole.
Personality and Occupational Behavior: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Correlates of Managerial Practices in Two Cultures
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Stringfield Paul
Published: August 2005

This study aimed to determine whether widely-used personality test scores would be significantly related to the actual ratings of managers' performance in two different cultures. Chinese and European middle and senior management of an Asian-based international airline completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) which was related to reliable, behavioral ratings of the managers actual managerial practices (innovation, direction, support, decision making, planning, commitment, and participation) and departmental organizational climate (recognition, participation, unit-relations, standard maintenance, clarity, inter-unit communications, and inter-unit relations). The internal reliability of these measures was first checked and then both sets of scales were correlated with the four dimensions arising from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - separately for the European expatriates and local Chinese managers. Because there were major cultural (and to a lesser extent gender) differences on the MBTI but not the management practices or climate survey results, correlations were done separately for each cultural group. Whereas extroversion and introversion seemed important correlates of management practices and climate for the Chinese group it was the thinking/feeling dimension for the European group. Introversion, however, was a strong negative correlate of climate in both cultural groups. Implications for using this personality measure for management selection and training is discussed.
An Empirical Study of Occupational Stress Transmission in Working Couples
Authors: Jones Fiona , Fletcher Ben (C.)
Published: August 2005

The associations between work demands, supports, and levels of psychological and physical health have been clearly established by research. There is growing evidence that occupational stressors are transmitted to spouses, with a possible subsequent effect on disease risks and life expectancy of both marital partners. The present study investigates the extent and direction of occupational stress transmission and the possible psychological mechanisms in a survey of 60 working couples. It analyzes the relationships between partners' psychological strain levels, investigates the accuracy of couples perceptions of each other's work stressors, and analyzes the complex interrelationships between an individual's work and the mental well-being of their spouse. Results show that work-related discussion is frequent among marital partners and that individuals have accurate perceptions of their partners' jobs. The study found evidence of transmission of stress from men to women, particularly where men have high strain jobs (high in demand and low in support), but no corresponding transmission from women to men. Some tentative explanations and proposals for further research are offered.
Success Patterns of Cuban-American Enterprises: Implications for Entrepreneurial Communities
Authors: Peterson Mark F. , Roquebert Jaime
Published: August 2005

Twenty-four of the most successful Cuban-born business founders in Dade County (Miami) Florida responded to a semi-structured interview. The sociology of enclave development provides the context for understanding the development of the larger Cuban-owned businesses in Dade County. The results indicate the sources of power upon which the entrepreneurs were able to draw, particularly their motivation and ability to use various forms of "Latin connections" with respect to suppliers, employees, and markets. The development of this enclave supporting entrepreneurial initiatives has implications for the potential for entrepreneurship in various communities in the post-Soviet world.
Mirrors, Butterflies, and Training Policy
Authors: Marquand Judith
Published: August 2005

Training holds a central place in the activities required to enable an economy to change and grow, but because it relates largely to process and changing capacity over time, it is an area where the limitations of traditional economics as an aid to decision-making are readily seen. Examples are given of practical areas where the narrow methodologies of neo-classical economics are unable to analyze training in a way which is useful for policy purposes. The abandonment of the view that theory can provide a perfect mirror of nature allows appraisal of the common sense view of the training professional. A broad range of social science methodologies can be applied to the analysis of the economic aspects of training. Economics itself has a contribution to made, but a limited one. Most of the problems of training policy today are much the same across industrialized countries and concern the different institutional responses to similar challenges. The search for good procedures in training policy, as in other areas of decision-making, is more important than many of the particular decisions taken. It is good planning and evaluation procedures which can modify the unforeseen impacts of poor decisions in time.
Organizational Contexts and Contingent Leadership Roles: A Theoretical Exploration
Authors: Egglestonl Kathryn K. , Bhagat Rabi S.
Published: August 2005

This paper advances the premise that leadership roles are contingent upon the requirements of evolving organizational contexts. Leadership's substantive and symbolic role aspects are reinterpreted in a conceptual model. Emphasis is given to leadership roles in situations of decline. A transition state is proposed to illustrate the volatile and unstable nature of decline contexts. In a transition state, leaders are predicted to emphasize both their symbolic and substantive roles. During more stable convergent time periods, leaders are predicted to primarily emphasize their symbolic roles while in times of major organizational reorientation, leaders are predicted to primarily emphasize their substantive roles. A conceptual model is developed to provide a framework for understanding the contingent relationship between leadership roles and the organizational context particularly in situations of decline. Some implications of this model are discussed.
Purgatory or Place of Safety? The Managerial Plateau and Organizational Agegrading
Authors: Nicholson Nigel
Published: August 2005

The managerial plateau is generally assumed to be problematic for organizations, generated by motives for advancement outstripping opportunities for upward mobility. However, previous research has used unitary criteria for plateauing of untested validity, and failed to examine the phenomenon contextually by taking account of internal labor market characteristics. Measurement of agegrading was used to address these problems. Drawing upon a sample of 4000 managers at various levels of a large corporation the present study had three objectives. First, in setting out to evaluate the characteristics of the internal labor market, results showed patterns consistent with a partial "tournament" career system, but also that different career systems may coexist within the single organization, through advancement criteria differing across company levels. Second, in aiming to assess the relationships between conventional plateau criteria and agegrading, agegrading was found to covary with the more widely used criteria, while avoiding some of their difficulties. Third, looking at the consequences for managers' career attitudes and adjustment, it was found that off-line slow (i.e., plateaued) managers did not exhibit lowered career satisfaction, adjustment, or mobility aspirations, despite the fact that they have lower expectations of promotional and non-promotional job moves. At the same time some off-line fast (i.e., high fliers) managers did have higher satisfactions and expectations. Results are interpreted in terms of countervailing satisfactions, exit costs, and loyalty. It is also noted that these features can conceal from companies the shortcomings of their career development systems, and lead to the neglect of constructive alternatives to promotion for plateaued staff.
Attributions for Job Termination and Psychological Distress
Authors: Miller Michael V. , Hoppe Sue Keir
Published: August 2005

The nature of job termination and causal attribution for termination were examined for their association with psychological distress among a sample of working-class men in San Antonio, Texas who had recently become unemployed. Laid-off workers were found to experience significantly lower levels of distress than fired workers, largely because the former overwhelmingly defined job loss as a function of the economy. The fired typically attributed job loss to unfair treatment by employers, and they, like the laid off who made similar attributions, indicated significant distress. Psychological reactivity was by far the highest among fired and laid-off workers who reported having been unjustly terminated because of personal shortcomings or deficiencies. Contrary to conventional thought, job loss self-blame was not found to be associated with high levels of distress.
Interpersonal Attachment and Organizational Commitment: Subgroup Hypothesis Revisited
Authors: Yoon Jeongkoo , Baker Mouraine R. , Ko Jong-Wook
Published: August 2005

Studies have hypothesized conflicting results regarding the effect of actors' interpersonal attachment on commitment to the encompassing large group. The cohesion approach hypothesizes that interpersonal attachment among actors will enhance group cohesiveness, which produces more commitment to the large group. In contrast, the subgroup approach predicts that interpersonal attachment among actors will contribute more to subgroup fragmentation which sets up barriers to actors' commitment to the large group. We derive hypotheses from these opposing approaches and test the hypotheses over a sample of 1621 employees drawn from 62 work organizations in Korea. The empirical tests indicate the following: (1) Interpersonal attachment among employees in local work units is shown to have a positive effect on commitment to the work organization encompassing the work units. (2) Interpersonal attachment between dissimilar positions in the same work units is shown to have a more positive effect on commitment than that between similar positions. Implications of these findings on the two theories are discussed.
A Typology of Executive Career Specialization
Authors: White Michael C. , Smith Mark , Barnett Tim
Published: August 2005

This paper presents a career specialization typology that is specifically designed to assess a CEO's career specialization, but more generally can be used to assess other top executives' career specialization as well. The typology is based on the results of a study involving 544 chief executive officers of Fortune 1000 companies. The typology integrates the functional and institutional specializations of the executives into a single typology of career specialization and empirically groups the executives into one of three career "types" based on their functional and institutional specializations.
The Interpersonal Octagon: An Alternative to the Interpersonal Circle
Authors: Birtchnell John
Published: August 2005

If humans have evolved from earlier animals, there must be a common core of relating which runs from the simplest to the most complex, which is capable of multiple adaptations and variations. This is represented by the interpersonal octagon, constructed around the two nodal points of a dimension concerned with regulating distance, the two nodal points of a dimension concerned with relative power, and four intermediate points. Each point is associated with a relating objective called a state of relatedness. This is attained or maintained either by relating or being related to. People acquire relating competencies and establish sources and stores of each state. Emotional responses are linked with the successful attainment, danger of losing, or actual loss of states. Maladaptive forms of relating may be egocentric, insecure, or avoidant. Interrelating is the process by which two people reconcile their respective relating objectives.
Self-Organization in Small Groups: A Study of Group Effectiveness Within Non-Equilibrium Conditions
Authors: Smith Charles , Comer Debra
Published: August 2005

Dissipative self-organization, a theoretical framework with roots in physics and biochemistry, has often been proposed as having relevance to change in social systems. Specifically, the processes and design features associated with dissipative self-organization have been used to describe the dynamics of social groups and organizations, especially in cases where highly turbulent and/or near-chaos conditions are present. A study assessing the usefulness of the self-organization paradigm as applied to the small group is described herein. The study took place within the context of a Tavistock-like group intervention, wherein the necessary condition for self-organization, a situation of turbulence, was induced within experimental groups. Based upon an approach suggested by Ackoff (1981), the general self-organization model served as a hypothetical idealized design of a self-organizing task group. A quasi-experimental design provided a test of whether the presence of self-organizing characteristics made any difference in group effectiveness among experimental groups and in a comparison condition where turbulence was not induced. The study provided preliminary support for the usefulness of the paradigm in understanding small group dynamics within the turbulent or non-equilibrium conditions. Specifically, task effectiveness within the experimental condition was found to correlate significantly with the degree to which groups developed the properties or design features specified by the self-organization paradigm. Consistent with the model, fewer significant relationships were found within the comparison condition between effectiveness and the presence of self-organization design features.
Petty Tyranny in Organizations
Authors: Ashforth Blake
Published: August 2005

A petty tyrant is defined as one who lords his or her power over others. Preliminary empirical work suggests that tyrannical behaviors include arbitrariness and self-aggrandizement, belittling others, lack of consideration, a forcing style of conflict resolution, discouraging initiative, and noncontingent punishment. A model of the antecedents of tyrannical management and the effects of tyranny on subordinates is presented. Petty tyranny is argued to be the product of interactions between individual predispositions (beliefs about the organization, subordinates, and self, and preferences for action) and situational facilitators (institutionalized values and norms, power, and stressors). Tyrannical management is argued to cause low self-esteem, performance, work unit cohesiveness, and leader endorsement, and high frustration, stress, reactance, helplessness, and work alienation among subordinates. It is further argued that these effects may trigger a vicious circle which sustains the tyrannical behavior. Research implications are discussed.
Loyalty to Whom? Workplace Participation and the Development of Consent
Authors: Hodson Randy , Creighton Sean , Jamison Cheryl Sorenson , Rieble Sabine , Welsh Sandy
Published: August 2005

Heightened worker autonomy and participation characterize emerging workplace relations in the 1990s. Some analysts fear that, while such relations may make the workplace more hospitable for workers, they may also undermine workers' solidarity and unity. We investigate this thesis using a telephone survey of a random sample of employed persons from a Midwestern state. Participation increases rather than decreases worker solidarity and it is a more important factor in this regard than job autonomy. In addition, participation heightens workers' concerns with organizational injustice. These findings contrast sharply with fears that heightened autonomy and participation will undermine workers' autonomous cultures of solidarity and resistance.
A Definition and Illustration of Democratic Leadership
Authors: Gastil John
Published: August 2005

Renewed calls for democracy make it imperative that we understand the nature of democratic leadership. Existing definitions of democratic leadership are inconsistent and inadequate, so this essay provides a clear definition that applies to social groups both large and small. As defined herein, democratic leadership is conceptually distinct from positions of authority; rather, it is defined as the performance of three functions: distributing responsibility among the membership, empowering group members, and aiding the group's decision-making process. Many, most, or all members of a group serve these functions, regularly exchanging the roles of leader and follower. A limited number of practical and moral considerations are identified for assessing the appropriateness of the democratic leadership model for different groups. In addition, the National Issues Forums program is used to illustrate the model, and suggestions are made for future research on democratic leadership.