Managing organizational stress: A field experiment.

79 public agency employees (mean age 39 yrs) were randomly assigned to stress-management training or control conditions. The training program consisted of 16 hrs of group exposure over 8 wks. Using procedures based on those developed by D. H. Meichenbaum (1975), treatment Ss were taught to recognize and alter their cognitive interpretations to stressful events at work. Ss were also taught progressive relaxation techniques to supplement this process. Dependent variables were epinephrine and norepinephrine excretion at work, anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), depression, irritation, and somatic complaints, all measured at 3 times (pretest, posttest, and 4 mo after treatment). Treatment Ss exhibited significantly lower epinephrine and depression levels than did controls at posttest, and 4-mo follow-up levels did not regress to pretest levels. However, treatment effects were not replicated in a subsequent intervention on the original control group. The general adoption of such stress management programs is not recommended. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reducing organizational conflict: The role of attributions.

To investigate the role of attributions in reducing organizational conflict, 69 male and 36 female undergraduates played the role of an executive representing a department in a large organization and discussed the division of surplus funds with an accomplice representing a different department who behaved in a conflict-inducing manner. During discussions with the S, the accomplice made remarks suggesting that his/her confrontational behavior stemmed primarily from external causes (felt role obligations), or internal causes (his/her competitive personality, beliefs concerning the value of his/her department). In a control condition, the accomplice provided no information about such causal factors. On the basis of previous research by J. Greenwell and H. A. Dengerink (see record 1973-24784-001), it was predicted that Ss would respond in a more favorable and conciliatory manner to the accomplice when his/her actions seemed to stem from external rather than internal causes. Results indicate that, contrary to this hypothesis, Ss actually demonstrated the most positive pattern of reactions when the accomplice's behavior appeared to derive from sincere beliefs about the importance of his/her department. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reducing organizational conflict: An incompatible response approach.

186 undergraduates played the role of executives and discussed important organizational issues with a confederate, who disagreed strongly with each S's views. Disagreement was expressed in a calm and reasonable manner or in an arrogant and condescending fashion. Ss were then exposed to 1 of 3 treatment conditions (sympathy, gratitude, or amusement) designed to induce positive states incompatible with anger or to a no-treatment control condition. Results show that relative to the control condition the 3 treatment conditions improved Ss' moods, enhanced their impressions of the confederate, and increased their preference for constructive as opposed to destructive modes of dealing with conflict. Disagreement expressed in a condescending manner produced significantly more negative effects on all dependent measures than disagreement expressed in a reasonable fashion. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work--family conflict, perceived organizational support, and organizational commitment among employed mothers.

This study investigated the impact of work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) on women's organizational commitment and examined both the direct and moderating effects of their perceive& organizational support. Participants were 143 professional employed mothers with at least 1 preschool-age child. The study found that WIF was positively related to continuance organizational commitment but unrelated to affective commitment, and FIW was not related to either form of organizational commitment. Results also indicated that perceived organizational support exhibited a main effect on both types of commitment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing conflict with a subordinate or a superior: Effectiveness of conglomerated behavior.

Rather than a single behavior, handling conflict is a conglomeration of behavioral components characterized by a pattern of occurrence and by a pattern of covariation of its components. Theories (R. R. Blake & J. S. Mouton, 1964, see also PA, Vol 46:4821; R. E. Walton, 1969) have predicted (a) that the forcing component counters effectiveness and (b) that the problem-solving component enhances effectiveness, especially at a moderate level of occurrence of the forcing component. Systematic observations of videotapes of 116 male police sergeants handling a standardized conflict with either a subordinate or a superior supported the main effects but not the qualification. An increase in problem solving tended to enhance effectiveness, especially if a superior combined it with much forcing vis-à-vis a subordinate. An increase in controlling the process had an extremely positive effect on the parties' joint outcomes and mutual relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing job seekers' organizational image beliefs: The role of media richness and media credibility.

In this article, the authors assessed job seekers' organizational image beliefs before and after they experienced 3 recruitment media. The authors examined whether perceptions of media richness and credibility were related to improvements in the correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. Both media richness and credibility perceptions were associated with correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. However, results revealed that richness and credibility perceptions were likely to enhance job seekers' initial beliefs about firms' images when their beliefs were positive but did not diminish job seekers' beliefs about firms' images when their initial impressions were too positive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing a new collaborative entity in business organizations: Understanding organizational communities of practice effectiveness.

Companies worldwide are turning to organizational communities of practice (OCoPs) as vehicles to generate learning and enhance organizational performance. OCoPs are defined as groups of employees who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic and who strengthen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on a consistent basis. To date, OCoP research has drawn almost exclusively from the community of practice (CoP) literature, even though the organizational form of CoPs shares attributes of traditional CoPs and of organizational teams. Drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) original theory of legitimate peripheral participation, we integrate theory and research from CoPs and organizational teams to develop and empirically examine a model of OCoP effectiveness that includes constructs such as leadership, empowerment, the structure of tasks, and OCoP relevance to organizational effectiveness. Using data from 32 OCoPs in a U.S.-based multinational mining and minerals processing firm, we found that external community leaders play an important role in enhancing OCoP empowerment, particularly to the extent that task interdependence is high. Empowerment, in turn, was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We also found that OCoPs designated as “core” by the organization (e.g., working on critical issues) were more effective than those that were noncore. Task interdependence also was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We provide scholars and practitioners with insights on how to effectively manage OCoPs in today's organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward an organizational psychology for organizational psychology.

Pursuit of the goal for organizational psychology postulated by M. D. Dunnette (1976) is viewed as being analogous to the task accomplishments by formal organizations. This perspective suggests that organizational psychologists might improve their collective effectiveness by applying the substance of organizational psychology to themselves. Six elements are considered: (a) domain and task requirements, (b) required diversity, (c) stimulus variability and search processes, (d) problem definition, (e) resource allocation, and (f) requirements for a self-designing system. Analysis of these dimensions suggests that many aspects of the structure of contemporary organizational psychology are in conflict with the achievement of Dunnette's goals. It is concluded that the way many current processes (e.g., searching for solutions and processes and defining problems) are managed by organizational psychologists stimulates closed-systems approaches for tasks that require creative, open-systems approaches. Potential benefits of an organizational psychology of organizational psychology are suggested. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and work outcomes for older working women.

This article examines the relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and four work outcomes for 489 working women over the age of 50. Survey results from two U.S. health care organizations and one U.S. financial services organization indicate that older working women experience differing amounts of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-to-family enhancement, and family-to-work enhancement. Hypotheses relating organizational work-family culture to work-family conflict and enhancement were partially supported, and hypotheses relating conflict and enhancement to four work outcomes were partially supported. Work-to-family conflict and work-to-family enhancement partially mediate the relationship between organizational work-family culture and selected work outcomes. Implications for theory and practice, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived organizational support.

Administered a survey of perceived organizational support (SPOS) to 361 employees (among them postal clerks, financial trust company employees, and manufacturing firm workers) and 71 private high school teachers in 2 studies. Teachers also completed an exchange-ideology questionnaire that measured their belief that work effort should depend on treatment by the organization. Results show that (a) employees in an organization form global beliefs concerning the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being, (b) such perceived organizational support reduces absenteeism, and (c) the relation between perceived organizational support and absenteeism is greater for employees with a strong exchange ideology than those with a weak ideology. These findings support the social exchange view that employees' commitment to the organization is strongly influenced by their perception of the organization's commitment to them. Perceived organizational support is assumed to increase the employee's affective attachment to the organization and his/her expectancy that greater effort toward meeting organizational goals will be rewarded. It is concluded that the extent to which these factors increase work effort depends on the strength of the employee's exchange ideology favoring the trade of work effort for material and symbolic benefits. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring organizational communication.

Considers that past research on organizational communication has not included systematic development of a measurement method that can be used to compare dimensions of communication within and across organizations. This research reports on initial attempts to develop such instrumentation. 7 samples (including mental health workers, military personnel, hospital workers, managers, and English and American workers in large financial institutions), with a total number of over 1,200 respondents, were used to develop a 35-item questionnaire measuring 16 facets of communication (e.g., trust, influence, mobility, and satisfaction). (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Managing Affect and Differences Scale (MADS): A self-report measure assessing conflict management in couples.

In this article, the authors present a newly developed self-report measure that assesses specific communication skills that couples may use, particularly during conflict discussions. The authors present preliminary findings from 2 studies on this measure to support its validity and use in guiding and measuring the effectiveness of clinical interventions with couples. Specific clinical implications related to the development of this measure are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role conflict and burnout: The direct and moderating effects of political skill and perceived organizational support on burnout dimensions.

Drawing from previous research on the effect of role conflict on burnout and the Conservation of Resources theory, the authors propose that individual differences in political skill and perceptions of organizational support will be negatively related to burnout and will also moderate the relationship between perceived role conflict and burnout. In a sample of 120 professional employees, political skill was associated with less depersonalization and feelings of reduced personal accomplishment and moderated the role conflict-reduced personal accomplishment relationship. Perceived organizational support was associated with less emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and moderated the role conflict-emotional exhaustion relationship. Implications of results are discussed and directions for future research are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing countertransference.

In this article, we review the history and definition of countertransference as well as empirical research on countertransference, its management, and the relation of both to psychotherapy outcome. Three meta-analyses are presented, as well as studies that illustrate findings from the meta-analyses. The first meta-analysis indicated that countertransference reactions are related inversely and modestly to psychotherapy outcomes (overall weighted effect r = ?.16, p = .002, 95% CI [?.26, ?.06], k = 10 studies, N = 769 participants). The second meta-analysis suggested that countertransference management factors that have been studied to date play little to no role in actually attenuating countertransference reactions (r = ?.14, p = .10, 95% CI [?.30, .03], k = 11 studies, N = 1065 participants). However, the final meta-analysis revealed that managing countertransference successfully is related to better therapy outcomes (r = .56, p = .000, 95% CI [.40, .73], k = 7 studies, N = 478 participants). We conclude by summarizing the limitations of the research base and highlighting the therapeutic practices predicated on research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of conflict frame: Disputant interpretations of conflict.

This research was conducted to uncover and define disputant cognitive interpretations of conflict. In Study 1, 31 disputants and 9 mediators were asked to describe a conflict with which they were currently associated. Multidimensional scaling techniques were used to inductively derive the dimensions necessary to represent people's cognitive interpretations of conflict (i.e., dimensions of conflict frame). The resulting configuration consisted of three dimensions: (a) relationship versus task, (b) emotional versus intellectual, and (c) compromise versus win. In comparison with disputants, mediator interpretations were more likely to be viewed by disputants in relationship, compromise terms. Study 2 replicated the multidimensional scaling findings of Study 1 using a different subject population (i.e., undergraduate students). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing organizational goal congruence: A solution to organizational politics.

Results of moderated multiple regression analyses on data collected from 979 workers in 5 organizations confirmed the hypothesis that supervisor–subordinate goal congruence would moderate the relationship between organizational politics and organizational commitment. Similar analyses on data collected from 366 workers in 2 of those organizations provided partial support for the second hypothesis that goal congruence would also moderate the relationship between organizational politics and job performance. Perceptions of politics were more strongly related to expressions of commitment and supervisor-rated performance among individuals who did not share the priorities of their supervisors than among those whose goal priorities were consistent with those of their supervisors. Results suggest that supervisors and managers can help their employees cope with politics by making efforts to ensure that they share their goal priorities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict and organizational commitments.

Used a multiple constituency framework to examine the correlates (antecedents) of organizational commitment among 124 mental health professionals (mean age 28 yrs). Ss completed a constituency endorsement measure and an organizational commitment questionnaire. Conflicts among multiple commitments and multiple commitments to several constituencies (3 internal and 1 external) were correlated with global organizational commitment. Results indicate that the perceived conflict between individual and managerial goal orientations was significantly associated with organizational commitment. In addition, only commitment to top management's goals was positively associated with commitment to the organization. It is suggested that commitments may develop over time and should therefore be studied longitudinally. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training and organizational psychology.

Discusses the relevance and significance of training programs in organizations. It is argued that emphasis on design of new instructional techniques is misplaced; the concern should be on the development of appropriate need assessment procedures that consider task, person, and organizational characteristics. The design should include the determination of tasks to be performed, behaviors essential to the performance of those tasks, type of learning necessary to acquire those behaviors, and the type of instructional content best suited to accomplish that type of learning. Evaluation designs must recognize that the training program and the evaluation are an intervention within the structure of the organization. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Durability of organizational change.

Describes a program by a manufacturing firm to change their organizational system and member attitudes, and motivations from the existing "autocratic" model to a more "participative" one. A follow-up inquiry made 5 yr. later in 1969 assessed the direction and degree of systemic change during a period in which no further change efforts were made. Results indicate that progress continued. Job attitudes became more favorable, task orientation and amount of supervisory leadership increased, control became more dispersed across hierarchical levels, and participation increased in goal-setting, decision making, and communications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of conflict management strategies on perceptions of intragroup conflict.

Although conflict over ideas is thought to be beneficial to task performing groups, research documents a strong interrelation between idea-based task conflict and emotionally laden relationship conflict. The current study posits the manner in which task conflicts are managed influences subsequent relationship conflict. Two hundred seventy participants formed dyads to discuss a task issue. The conflict management strategy of one member was manipulated to examine the resulting level of relationship conflict perceived by the partner. The level of relationship conflict after the meeting was significantly impacted by the management style used during the meeting: competing produced the most, and collaborating the least, relationship conflict. Findings suggest competing to resolve task-based differences may be particularly harmful by generating relationship conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)