Showing papers on "Formal relationships published in 2005"

Informal Relationships in the Workplace: Associations with Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment and Turnover Intentions

Abstract: Informal relationships between people within organisations can potentially either hinder or facilitate organisational functioning. The presence of informal relationships at work and the degree of cohesiveness perceived by individuals was investigated in two studies. The association between relationship factors and organisational outcomes such as job satisfaction, turnover intentions and organisational commitment were assessed. Study 1: Employees of a large Auckland hospital (NZ) (n=124) were surveyed using a pen and paper questionnaire. Results were analysed using path analysis and indicated that cohesiveness and opportunities for friendships were related to increased job satisfaction; leading to increased organisational commitment and decreased turnover intentions. The actual prevalence of friendships was primarily related to decreased turnover intentions. Overall there was good support for the proposed model. Study 2: To address some of the limitations of Study 1 (primarily sample size and homogeneity) a second study was conducted using an Internet based questionnaire; accessed both from within NZ and worldwide. A diverse sample of employees responded (n=412). Structural equation modelling indicated further support for most aspects of the model, suggesting that the findings are generalisable and the model is robust. ********** Numerous close friendships evolve from existing formal relationships in work places, and for many people, these relationships are maintained within the organisational setting. Yet, despite the frequency of dual friendship/work relationships, we know very little about how they function and how the blurring of relational boundaries might affect organisational functioning, the enjoyment of work, and perhaps even performance. Authors investigating workplace relationships comment on the dearth of literature in this area; there is relatively little theoretical or empirical work that has attempted to examine the behavioural or attitudinal consequences of informal relationships within the work context (Fritz, 1997; Riordan & Griffeth, 1995; Winstead, Derlega, Montgomery, & Pilkington, 1995; Zorn, 1995). In the early nineteen-thirties, Elton Mayo (1933) brought the topic of workplace relationships to wide attention, when he wrote the first management book focusing on the social needs of employees. Mayo advocated the role of socio-emotional factors in determining employee behaviour, contending that the extent to which employees received social satisfaction in the workplace was the most powerful influence on productivity. Subsequently, Maslow's (1954) classic theory of human motivation was published, which first described the "hierarchy of needs" contending that; as lower level needs (such as physiological and safety needs) are satisfied, higher level needs (such as social, esteem and self-actualisation needs) emerge as motivators. Needs have been shown to influence performance in certain jobs. For example, the opportunities to satisfy needs are still studied in organisational contexts, and are thought to be related to competence (Medcof & Hausdorf, 1995), organisational commitment (Steers, 1977; Steers & Braunstein, 1976), job satisfaction and tendency to leave (Zinovieva, ten Horn, & Roe, 1993). Thus, although the simple hierarchy that Maslow envisioned does not adequately reflect the complexity of human motivation, the philosophy still has use (Bedeian & Wren, 2001). Following this early attention to the topic however, the interest in workplace friendships waned. Although Hackman and colleagues developed the job characteristic termed "friendship opportunities" in the early seventies (Hackman & Lawler, 1971; Hackman & Oldham, 1975), it was not really until the last decade that scholars have focused on the impact of workplace friendships once again (e.g., Markiewicz, Devine, & Kausilas, 2000; Nielsen, Jex, & Adams, 2000; Riordan & Griffeth, 1995; Winstead et al. …

Context and Mentoring: Examining Formal and Informal Relationships in High Tech Firms and K-12 Schools:

Abstract: Mentoring relationships have been increasingly used as a means for leadership development across a range of contexts. However, it is unclear whether mentoring and its outcomes are a function of the type of mentoring provided within an organization 's context. To begin to address this issue, the present study examines the effects of mentoring relationship type (formal vs. informal) and organizational context (high tech carporate firms vs. K-12 schools) on proteges' perception of mentoring functions and outcomes using data from 88 working professionals. Results of MANCOVA indicated that mentoring relationship type and organizational context interacted to influence proteges' ratings of career development, role modeling and organizational commitment. Proteges in informal relationships reported higher levels of psychosocial support received than proteges in formal relationships. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

An approach for validating BCL contract specifications

Abstract: We continue the study, started in [5], on the formal relationships between a domain specific contract language (BCL) and the logic of violation (FCL) proposed in [6,7] We discuss the use of logical methods for the representation and analysis of business contracts The proposed analysis is based on the notions of normal and canonical forms of contracts expressed in FCL Finally we present a mapping from FCL to BCL that can be used to provide an executable model of a formal representation of a contract