Showing papers in "Group & Organization Management in 2007"

The Influence of High-Involvement Human Resources Practices, Procedural Justice, Organizational Commitment, and Citizenship Behaviors on Information Technology Professionals' Turnover Intentions

Abstract: The present study investigates the relationships between a multidimensional, theoretically grounded configuration of high-involvement human resources (HR) practices and turnover intentions. Precisely, it addresses two research questions: What high-involvement HR practices are needed to implement an effective strategy for retaining highly skilled professionals? Do procedural justice, organizational commitment, and citizenship behaviors mediate the effects of high-involvement HR practices on turnover intentions? A survey instrument containing previously validated measures was developed and sent to Quebec members of the Canadian Information Processing Society. Data from 394 respondents were used to test the research model. Key findings reveal that nonmonetary recognition and competency development, and, to a lesser extent, fair rewards and information-sharing practices, are negatively and directly related to turnover intentions. The authors also observed that procedural justice, affective and continuance com...

Can I Trust You to Trust Me? A Theory of Trust, Monitoring, and Cooperation in Interpersonal and Intergroup Relationships

Abstract: Drawing on the diverse literatures of game theory, negotiation, interpersonal trust, and interorganizational relationships, the authors develop a theoretical model of the relationships among trust,...

On the Evolution of Trust, Distrust, and Formal Coordination and Control in Interorganizational Relationships: Towards an Integrative Framework

Abstract: In this article, the authors discuss the evolution of trust, distrust, and formal coordination and control in interorganizational relationships. They suggest that the degrees to which managers trus...

Examining the Link Between Diversity and Firm Performance: The Effects of Diversity Reputation and Leader Racial Diversity

Abstract: Given the scarcity of empirical research on the impact of diversity on organizational performance, the authors used longitudinal data for 100 firms to test hypotheses related to the effects of diversity reputation and leader racial diversity on firm financial outcomes. The results showed a positive relationship between diversity reputation and book-to-market equity and a curvilinear, U-shaped relationship among leader diversity and revenues, net income, and book-to-market equity. The analyses suggest that economic benefits generated from diversity reputation may primarily derive from capital rather than product markets. Furthermore, firm performance declines with increases in the representation of racial minorities in leadership up to a point, beyond which further increases in diversity are associated with increases in performance.

Fitting In: The Effects of Relational Demography and Person-Culture Fit on Group Process and Performance

Abstract: The authors integrate two complementary streams of research on “fit” that document positive impacts of similarity and negative effects of dissimilarity. Fit with an organization's culture typically focuses on similarity in values whereas relational demography examines similarity in demographic attributes. Although both streams emphasize fit and draw on similar underlying theories, little research investigates both simultaneously. In a field study with intact teams, both cultural and demographic fit had independent effects on subsequent performance; however, “deeper” value fit effects were stronger than “surface” demographic fit. Analyses by demographic group suggest that person-group fit has the greatest impact for individuals whose demographic background puts them at risk for poorer outcomes, particularly for socioeconomic status.

Trust and control interrelations: New perspectives on the trust control nexus

Abstract: This article introduces the special issue on New Perspectives on the Trust-Control Nexus in Organizational Relations. Trust and control are interlinked processes commonly seen as key to reach effec...

Are organizational justice effects bounded by individual differences? An examination of equity sensitivity, exchange ideology, and the Big Five.

Abstract: This study explored the extent to which two theoretically derived individual differences (equity sensitivity and exchange ideology) moderated the effects of injustice on behavioral reactions. Participants (N = 707) completed hypothetical vignettes that manipulated distributive, procedural, and interpersonal justice and assessed potential reactions in terms of task performance, citizenship, withdrawal, and counterproductive behavior. Results showed that exchange ideology, but not equity sensitivity, emerged as a significant moderator of several justice-outcome relationships. In addition, a usefulness analysis comparing the moderating potential of the more narrow equity sensitivity and exchange ideology variables to the broader Big Five revealed that the two narrow variables were more impactful moderators than were the Big Five, though these differences were because of the effects of exchange ideology.

Wall Street Reaction to Women in IPOs: An Examination of Gender Diversity in Top Management Teams

Abstract: The authors examine the effect of having women on the top management teams of initial public offering (IPO) firms on the organizations' short- and long-term financial performance. Looking at three ...

Perceived Dissimilarity and Perspective Taking Within Work Teams

Abstract: The authors investigate the relationship between employee perceptions of surface- and deep-level dissimilarity and within-team perspective taking. Results suggest that the more dissimilar employees perceive themselves to be from their fellow team members in terms of their work style, the less their perspective taking (i.e., lower positive attributions and empathy). In addition, the authors found that perceived work-style dissimilarity interacted with a contextually salient surface-level attribute (perceived age dissimilarity) such that when perceived work-style dissimilarity was low, perceived age dissimilarity had a stronger negative effect on within-team perspective taking. This study demonstrates the importance of considering perspective taking in their understanding of the effects of dissimilarity within teams and furthers theoretical understanding of the effects of relational demography by testing competing theories undergirding relational demography research.

Formal Control and Trustworthiness Shall the Twain Never Meet

Abstract: In this article, a framework is provided for analyzing conditions that lead to positive or negative relations between trustworthiness and formal control in the context of manager-subordinate relationships, a domain often discussed controversially in the literature. In analyzing the relationship between managerial formal control and subordinates' trustworthiness, the author draws on self-determination theory. Self-determination theory is useful in showing how to link characteristics of organizational regulation (i.e., managerial formal control) with individual intentions (i.e., subordinates' intentions to behave in a trustworthy fashion). Subsequently, empirical findings related to formal control and trustworthiness are integrated into this framework to deduce a set of propositions that can be tested in the future.

Threats of Workplace Violence and the Buffering Effect of Social Support

Abstract: Based on the perspective of the psychological contract, this study among 2,782 constabulary officers tested the hypothesis that threats of workplace violence lead to reduced job investments (i.e., affective organizational commitment and dedication). Multilevel analyses showed negative relationships between threats of workplace violence (individually experienced and as expressed in an unsafe climate) and job investments. Peer support was related to more job investments and buffered an unsafe climate, that is, the negative relationship between an unsafe climate and reduced job investments was stronger for employees with low levels of peer support. Experiencing an unsafe climate at the aggregate level by the cumulative experience of threat by employees can perhaps be thought of as facing a common enemy, and it has been shown that this has consequences for employees' attitudes that can be buffered by peer support.

The Benefits of Justice for Temporary Workers

Abstract: This study tested a multidimensional model of organizational justice in the context of contingent employment. Based on previous conceptual and empirical research, the authors generated the following predictions. First, they predicted that the data would be consistent with a four-factor model of organizational justice, including distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice. Second, distributive justice was expected to predict outcome satisfaction. Third, procedural justice was expected to predict commitment to the temporary organization, though the authors anticipated that this relationship would be mediated by perceived organizational support. Finally, informational and interpersonal justice were thought to predict commitment to one's staffing agent, but this effect was expected to be mediated by trust. These predictions were tested on a sample of 162 employees of a temporary staffing agency. Findings generally supported the predictions, though there were also some unexpected results.

Makin' It, by Keeping It Real: Street Talk, Rap Music, and the Forgotten Entrepreneurship From “the ’Hood”

Abstract: This article deals with rap music and with two distinct discourses in which rap artists habitually engage. It also deals with the way that one, in these, can find a dialectic between the special an ...

Group Risk Taking The Constructive Role of Controversy in China

Abstract: Considerable research has suggested that because of persistent cognitive biases organizations often lack the ability and discipline to take risks effectively. However, group members who discuss their opposing views openly for mutual benefit (constructive controversy) may be able to manage risks effectively. Members of 107 teams working in Chinese organizations indicated their constructive controversy and risk taking; their manager provided ratings of the group's innovation and recovery from mistakes. Results of the structural equation analysis supported the reasoning that constructive controversy can facilitate risk taking that, in turn, promotes innovation and recovery.

The Impact of Individual Expectations and Expectation Conflicts on Virtual Teams

Abstract: Virtual teams are characterized by geographical dispersion, organizational, and cultural heterogeneity, and their members have little history and lateral and weak relationships. Literature denotes the importance of expectations in virtual settings, but individual expectations of virtual team members are hardly investigated. In this article, the author discusses the presence of different kinds of expectations and the impact of mismatches of individual expectations within virtual teams. Psychological contract literature states that expectation mismatches result in negative outcomes, whereas learning literature posits that mismatches enhance learning. These concepts addressing mismatches of expectations are discussed as a theoretical paradox.

Trust, control, and risk: A test of Das and Teng's conceptual framework for pharmaceutical buyer-supplier relationships.

Abstract: This study investigates the interaction among trust, control, and risk by empirically testing Das and Teng's conceptual framework in a long-term supply agreement following a qualitative study of context. Results suggest that only three model propositions were not supported. Goodwill trust was not related to relational risks, whereas output control and social control were positively related to relational risks and performance risks, respectively. The relationship between trust and social control is complementary, whereas that for trust and output control is substitutive. Goodwill trust is positively related to performance risk taking. Also, output control undermines goodwill and competence trust, whereas social control enhances both types of trust. Goodwill trust and competence trust are positively related to social control. Although goodwill trust decreases the need for output control, competence trust does not. The results suggest that Das and Teng's original model is substantially applicable to the give...

Preference for Group Work, Winning Orientation, and Social Loafing Behavior in Groups

Abstract: The authors developed a multilevel interactive model for predicting social loafing behavior in groups and tested this model in a study of 367 individuals working in 102 groups during a 4-month period. Study results revealed the importance of integrating both person (preference for group work and winning orientation) and situation (task interdependence) factors in predicting social loafing. Preference for group work was consistently and negatively related to social loafing behavior (self-reported and peer rated), and this relationship was moderated by both winning orientation and task interdependence. As predicted, group members were more likely to self-report social loafing when their preference for group work and winning orientation were both low. Peer-rated social loafing was most likely when preference for group work, winning orientation, and task interdependence were all low, as predicted. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are addressed, and several directions for future research a...

Motivations to Maintain Social Ties With Coworkers: The Moderating Role of Turnover Intentions on Information Exchange

Abstract: This study examines the relationships among an individual's motivations to maintain social ties with coworkers, information exchange with others outside the firm, and turnover intentions. The authors considered both relationship motivation to maintain friendships at work and job facilitation motivation to maintain workplace relationships that facilitate an individual's job performance. Results suggest that both types of motivation are related to workplace social inclusion, a concept that has been based in part on the social capital literature. The authors also find that individuals with job facilitation motivation for maintaining social ties with coworkers engage in more interorganizational information exchange than do those with relationship motivation. When individuals have turnover intentions, the relationship between job facilitation motivation and interorganizational information exchange is stronger.

The Relationship Between Self—Other Rating Agreement and Influence Tactics and Organizational Processes:

Abstract: This study examined the extent to which subordinates' perceptions of soft (i.e., consultation, ingratiation, inspirational appeals), hard (i.e., legitimating, pressure, exchange), and rational pers...

Managing anger and annoyance in organizations in China : the role of constructive controversy

Abstract: Results from critical incidents, developed through diaries of organizational members in China, support the social cognitive perspective's emphasis on the role of cognitions in the experience and response to anger and suggest that this perspective is a potential foundation for managing anger. Findings indicate that the open-minded discussion (constructive controversy) of the anger and annoyance incidents confirms social face and strengthens relationships. These productive dynamics and outcomes were found to occur when organizational members felt cooperatively interdependent. Results were interpreted as suggesting that even in a society where collectivist and conflict-negative values are influential, anger and annoyance can be constructively managed through an open-minded discussion of the incident.

Coevolution in management fashions: The case of self-managing teams in the Netherlands

Abstract: In their theory-development case study on management fashions, Abrahamson and Fairchild (1999) proposed that “[t]he lifecycle of discourse promoting a fashionable management technique co-evolves with the lifecycle of this technique's diffusion across organizations” (p. 731). Because this generalization is based on the case of a single management fashion in one national setting, management fashion literature should benefit from additional data supporting or contradicting this claim. The authors reassess coevolution by comparing the life cycle of Dutch discourse on self-managing teams (SMTs) with data on their prevalence. They show that Dutch discourse on SMTs was temporarily intensive, while in praxis they see signs of a stabilization in the number of organizations that use SMTs. Unlike past conceptualizations, they assert that organization concepts that are the subject of a temporary popular discourse are thus not necessarily transient in praxis.

An Investigation of Traditionality as a Moderator of Reward Allocation

Abstract: The authors hypothesized that group members' perceptions of group cohesion would affect their tendency to allocate equally to other members in their group and to make egocentric self-allocations. They also posited that individuals' adherence to Chinese traditional values (or traditionality) would moderate these relationships. Two hundred sixty Hong Kong undergraduate students were assigned to groups of five to eight members to complete two in-class projects. The students evaluated peer contributions to the projects and allocated contribution points to themselves and other members in the group. The contribution points formed part of the final grade assigned to the students. The authors found that traditionality moderates the relationship between perceptions of cohesion and deviations from equality when making allocations to their peers. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the study of reward allocations in groups and for the concept of traditionality in Chinese contexts.

Music at work: An introduction

Abstract: There are many ways in which music and the management of work, space, time, bodies, and feelings are linked, and there is a small but rich tradition of academic research that has attempted to explore these connections. This special issue aims to contribute to this work. Our introduction identifies existing work, introduces the three articles that make up the substantive contribution of this special issue, and points to opportunities for researchers to make further contributions.

Outside the Gates of Eden: Utopia and Work in Rock Music:

Abstract: This article explores how the relationship between work and utopia has been articulated in rock music. Rock is a cultural discourse that provides insight into the tension between representations of...

Management and Music: The Exceptional Case of the IBM Songbook

Abstract: The use of music in organizational management is a rare occurrence. IBM in the United States is an exceptional case. IBM managers routinely and successfully used songs from the IBM songbook to engage, enthuse, and inspire employees during a number of decades in the mid-20th century. In this article, the authors locate the songbook in its organizational setting and present a detailed analysis of the lyrics and the music of the songs contained in it. Using a metaphor of musical resonance, they offer explanations for the prolonged use and then subsequent decline of the IBM songbook. The authors assess the ways in which understanding this exceptional case can help explain why music has been so rarely used by managers to engage workers.

Moving Beyond Gender to Discover Differences in Sensitivity to Disempowering Acts: An Examination of the Role of Social Context

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine levels of perceived offensiveness based on observations of disempowering acts and to identify any differences in perceptions based on gender, ethnicity, and a social context in which respondents held majority versus minority status. Gender emerged as a strong determinant of differences in levels of perceived offensiveness, with women reporting higher levels of perceived offensiveness when viewing disempowering acts than did men. However, when comparing groups of the same ethnicity (i.e., African American) on differences in perceived offensiveness based on social context, social context had a significant effect on perceptions, and men, not women, reported higher levels of perceived offensiveness.