Social face in conflict: Effects of affronts to person and position in China.

Social face concerns have been theorized as greatly affecting management of conflict and as likely to lead to conflict avoidance, especially among collectivist people. However, this study proposed that confirmation of personal face, even with strong negative evaluations of position, can facilitate the effective use of open disagreement to make decisions. Experimental findings obtained in China indicated that confirmation of personal face, compared with affronts, developed a cooperative context for conflict management; specifically, it promoted uncertainty about one's original position, exploration and understanding of the opposing view, efforts to integrate positions, and confidence in the relationship. Affronts to position had very modest effects on the dynamics and outcomes of conflict. Results were interpreted as suggesting that group members can manage their conflicts constructively when they communicate a direct confirmation of face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competitive motives and strategies: Understanding constructive competition.

This study examines the impact of motives and strategies on the constructiveness of competition. Sixty-four managers and 28 employees from Mainland China organizations described specific incidents of competition, from which indices of constructive competition were developed. They then rated motives and strategies that were hypothesized to affect competition and its outcomes. These indices of constructive competitive were then correlated with the motives and strategies. The results indicated that internal motivation to compete and the strategy of competing fairly were found to be the most powerful influences on the constructiveness of competition. Task and ego motives, extrinsic motivation, the motive to prevent others from benefiting, and the strategy to obstruct the other had very little impact on constructive competition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal Interdependence and Applying Abilities for Team In-Role and Extra-Role Performance in China.

Teams can provide structures for applying diverse abilities to solve problems. This study suggests that cooperative, in contrast to competitive and independent, goals promote team members' applying their abilities for mutual benefit, which in turn facilitates team performance. Two hundred employees in 100 work teams in China completed measures of their team's cooperative, competitive, and independent goals and their applying abilities; 100 managers indicated the teams' in-role and extra-role (organizational citizenship behavior) performance. Structural equation analysis suggested that cooperative but not competitive or independent goals promote applying abilities, which in turn results in team performance. These results, coupled with previous research, were interpreted as suggesting that cooperative goals and applying abilities are complementary foundations for effective teamwork. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of approach to controversy on superiors' incorporation of subordinates' information in decision making.

36 experienced managers took the role of supervisors whose position was to eliminate job rotation. Workers' (3 male undergraduates) positions were that rotation should be retained. Supervisors approached this controversy cooperatively, competitively, or tried to smooth over differences and avoid controversy. Results indicate that supervisors who tried to avoid an open controversy did not explore or understand workers' arguments, but did think the arguments were reasonable and sometimes integrated them into their decisions. Supervisors in the competitive-controversy condition neither explored nor understood the workers' arguments, rejected their position, and made decisions that reflected only their own point of view. Supervisors in the cooperative-controversy condition explored, understood, accepted, and combined workers' arguments with their own to make a decision. It is concluded that controversy within a cooperative context can result in curiosity, understanding, incorporation, and an integrated decision. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of organizational values on leaders' use of informational power to affect performance in China.

The traditional idea that power is limited was hypothesized to induce managers to develop a competitive relationship with and withhold their resources from employees. Results of an experiment conducted in China with 60 male and 60 female students indicated that participants used their information power to provide assistance and encouraged their subordinates when their organization valued expandable power compared with limited power and when they believed the others were unable rather than unmotivated. Results were interpreted as suggesting that even in high power distance societies such as China, organizational valuing of expandable power and the development of cooperative goals contribute importantly to the constructive use of information power. Results have implications both for the general theory of cooperation and competition and for our understanding of power in China. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of student motivation and the principal's values on teacher directiveness.

40 in-service and preservice teachers were Ss in a simulated organization study. They were led to believe that their principal valued either collaboration with students or control of students; they also interacted with a student who was either motivated or unmotivated to complete an assignment. Ss gave more rewards and higher grades to the motivated students and considered them more responsible than unmotivated students. Contrary to expectations, Ss tended to be more directive in their teaching of motivated as compared to unmotivated students. As expected, Ss with the control principal taught unmotivated students in a more directive manner than did Ss with the collaborative principal. Results support the argument that the values of colleagues can affect a teacher's efforts to control students and his/her commitment to the unilateral control of students. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of controversy on cognitive perspective taking.

Theorists have posited that controversy among peers in which a person is forced to take the perspectives of others is vital for cognitive and moral development. There is no direct evidence, however, relating controversy and perspective taking. In the present study, 30 undergraduates expressed an opinion about a moral issue and discussed their opinion and reasoning with a confederate (an undergraduate) who always used social order (Kohlberg Stage 4) reasoning. In the controversy condition, the confederate had the opposing opinion and in the no-controversy condition, the same opinion. Compared to those in the no-controversy condition, Ss in the controversy condition indicated more accurate understanding of the structure of the confederate's reasoning than did those in the no-controversy condition. Ss in the no-controversy condition, however, rated that they believed they understood the other's reasoning more than did those in the controversy condition. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational Partnerships in China: Self-Interest, Goal Interdependence, and Opportunism.

Opportunism in organizational partnerships may be understood in terms of how partners conclude that their self-interests are related to each other. When partners believe that their goals are competitively but not cooperatively related, they are tempted to pursue their self-interests opportunistically. Cognitive understandings and values of a shared vision may help partners believe their goals are cooperatively related. Results from 103 pairs of customer and supplier organizations support the argument that partnerships are not inevitably threatened by opportunism. Using structural equation analysis, the authors suggested that shared vision can help partners develop cooperative goals that lead to low levels of opportunism. These results suggest that a shared vision and cooperative goals are important foundations for effective organizational partnerships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transactive memory system links work team characteristics and performance.

Teamwork and coordination of expertise among team members with different backgrounds are increasingly recognized as important for team effectiveness. Recently, researchers have examined how team members rely on transactive memory system (TMS; D. M. Wegner, 1987) to share their distributed knowledge and expertise. To establish the ecological validity and generality of TMS research findings, this study sampled 104 work teams from a variety of organizational settings in China and examined the relationships between team characteristics, TMS, and team performance. The results suggest that task interdependence, cooperative goal interdependence, and support for innovation are positively related to work teams' TMS and that TMS is related to team performance; moreover, structural equation analysis indicates that TMS mediates the team characteristics-performance links. Findings have implications both for team leaders to manage their work teams effectively and for team members to improve their team performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of a control or collaborative orientation on participation in organizational decisionmaking.

64 undergraduates were randomly assigned to high status (management) and low status (worker) in a simulated organization, or placed in a control or collaborative orientation, and asked to generate and evaluate alternative decisions. Ss in the collaborative orientation, compared to controls, felt relaxed, had positive expectations, believed they cooperated, and trusted each other. Ss also interacted in such a way that high-status Ss made a more effective decision for the organization and low-status Ss accepted the decision. Results suggest that collaborative orientation encourages cooperative interaction between superiors and subordinates in participation, whereas a control orientation fosters competition that undermines decision making and relationships. (French abstract) (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)