Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

About: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad is a education organization based out in Ahmedabad, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Emerging markets. The organization has 1828 authors who have published 4011 publications receiving 59269 citations. The organization is also known as: IIMA & IIM Ahmedabad.

Protecting My Interests: HRM and Targets' Coping with Workplace Bullying

Abstract: Introduction The study of interpersonal bullying at the workplace originated in Scandinavia in the 1980s with the work of Heinz Leymann who used the term "mobbing" to describe the phenomenon (Duffy & Sperry, 2007; Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2003; Leymann, 1996). Evolving through research over time, interpersonal bullying at work has come to be defined as ...harassing, offending, socially excluding someone or negatively affecting someone's work tasks. In order for the label bullying (or mobbing) to be applied to a particular activity, interaction or process it has to occur repeatedly and regularly (e.g., weekly) and over a period of time (e.g., about six months). Bullying is an escalating process in the course of which the person confronted ends up in an inferior position and becomes the target of systematic negative social acts. A conflict cannot be called bullying if the incident is an isolated event of if two parties of approximately equal 'strength' are in conflict. (Einarsen et al., p. 15) The terms "bullying" and "mobbing" are increasingly being used interchangeably though earlier they signified different foci of the same phenomenon. That is, while bullying and mobbing include a victim orientation and the negative impact on targets, bullying focuses on actors and mobbing focuses on targets (Zapf & Einarsen, 2005). In this paper, the contemporary perspective is adopted and the term bullying is used. Bullying is a social stressor (Zapf, Knorz, & Kulla, 1996) that precipitates strain and trauma in targets with serious detrimental effects on their health and well-being. Low self-esteem, poor selfconfidence, decreased self-worth, self-hatred, sleep problems, anxiety, anger, depression, nervousness, insecurity, suspicion, bitterness, concentration difficulties, chronic fatigue and various somatic problems as well as suicidal thoughts are commonly reported (Einarsen & Mikkelsen, 2003). Empirical research on targets' coping with workplace bullying which looks at targets' "cognitive and behavioral efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the internal and/or external demands that are created by the stressful transaction" (Folkman, 1984, p. 843) is limited. Studies emphasize the predominance of emotion-focused, passive and avoidant strategies. Hogh and Dofradottir (2001) found problem solving being used less often and avoidance and resignation being used more often by those exposed to bullying compared to those not exposed to bullying. Rayner (1997) pointed out that non-bullied respondents anticipated a more proactive reaction in terms of confronting the bully, consulting personnel, seeing the union and seeking help from colleagues compared to those who were actually bullied. The latter group was much higher on doing nothing and much lower on using supportive services. Twenty-seven percent of the latter group quit their jobs. Rayner's (1999) later work confirms these findings. Olafsson and Johannsdottir (2004) identified four clusters of coping strategies including assertiveness, seeking help, avoidance and doing nothing, arranged on an active-passive continuum that reflects the severity or duration of the bullying situation. Their findings confirmed gender stereotypes, highlighting that men sought help less and relied on avoidance less while being more assertive than women. Increased and prolonged bullying was associated with the use of passive coping strategies comprising avoidance and doing nothing. Niedl's (1996) inquiry, rooted in Withey and Cooper's EVLN (exit-voice-loyalty-neglect) model, indicated that most targets first reacted to the experience of bullying with constructive coping strategies (voice and/or loyalty) whereby they attempted to resolve the situation while maintaining their commitment to the organization. But after perceiving that problem solving was not possible, targets resorted to destructive coping strategies (neglect and/or exit) which involved reducing commitment and leaving the organization, thereby adversely affecting organizational interests. …

An exploratory investigation of divergent thinking through protocol analysis

Abstract: Verbal protocols were recorded while 21 MBA students at India's leading management school sought to solve a complex divergent thinking task. The content analysis of these protocols yielded five major categories and 23 subcategories of divergent thinking. The five major categories were problem structuring, searching, feeling, ideating, and evaluating. Ideating turned out to be the most commonly utilized category. The resort to ideating, that is, articulating solutions, was negatively correlated with feeling and problem structuring and positively correlated with evaluating. There were marked differences in the way the subjects tackled the divergent thinking task. Three cognitive styles were uncovered through cluster analysis: the intuitive ideator style, the anxious analyst style, and the random scanner style. Transitions among categories were examined, and yielded several recursive divergent thinking paths. Contrary to several extant models of creative problem solving, there was no marked evidence...

eWOM: Extant Research Review and Future Research Avenues

Abstract: Executive SummaryWord-of-mouth (WOM) communication is widely accepted as a critical factor in building marketing strategies and communications. Invention of the Internet and proliferation of social...