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Full-Text Articles in Labor Relations

Metatheory And Friendly Competition In Theory Growth: The Case Of Power Processes In Bargaining, Edward J. Lawler, Rebecca Ford Aug 2017

Metatheory And Friendly Competition In Theory Growth: The Case Of Power Processes In Bargaining, Edward J. Lawler, Rebecca Ford

Edward J Lawler

[Excerpt] This paper analyzes the theoretical development taking place in a program of research on power processes in bargaining (see Bacharach and Lawler 1976, 1980, 1981a, 1981b; Lawler and Bacharach 1976, 1979, 1987; Lawler, Ford, and Blegen 1988; Lawler and Yoon 1990; Lawler 1986, 1992). The theoretical program takes as its starting point a situation where individuals, groups, organizations, or even societies with conflicting interests voluntarily enter into explicit bargaining. Explicit (as opposed to tacit) bargaining assumes the mutual acknowledgment of negotiations, conflicting issues along which compromise is possible, and open lines of communication through which parties can exchange offers …


Power Processes In Bargaining, Edward J. Lawler Jul 2017

Power Processes In Bargaining, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

This is a theoretical article that integrates and extends a particular program of work on power in bargaining relationships. Power is conceptualized as a structurally based capability, and power use as tactical action falling within either conciliatory or hostile categories. The core propositions are (1) the greater the total amount of power in a relationship, the greater the use of conciliatory tactics and the lower the use of hostile tactics; and (2) an unequal power relationship fosters more use of hostile tactics and less use of conciliatory tactics than an equal power relationship. Distinct research on power dependence and bilateral …


Time Pressure And The Development Of Integrative Agreements In Bilateral Negotiations, Peter J. D. Carnevale, Edward J. Lawler Jul 2017

Time Pressure And The Development Of Integrative Agreements In Bilateral Negotiations, Peter J. D. Carnevale, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

A laboratory experiment examined the effects of time pressure on the process and outcome of integrative bargaining. Time pressure was operationalized in terms of the amount of time available to negotiate. As hypothesized, high time pressure produced nonagreements and poor negotiation outcomes only when negotiators adopted an individualistic orientation; when negotiators adopted a cooperative orientation, they achieved high outcomes regardless of time pressure. In combination with an individualistic orientation, time pressure produced greater competitiveness, firm negotiator aspirations, and reduced information exchange. In combination with a cooperative orientation, time pressure produced greater cooperativeness and lower negotiator aspirations. The main findings were …


Structural Power And Emotional Processes In Negotiation: A Social Exchange Approach, Edward J. Lawler, Jeongkoo Yoon Jul 2017

Structural Power And Emotional Processes In Negotiation: A Social Exchange Approach, Edward J. Lawler, Jeongkoo Yoon

Edward J Lawler

This chapter focuses in the abstract on when and how repeated negotiations between the same actors foster positive feelings or emotions and, in turn, an affective commitment to their relationship. However, we have in mind applications to pivotal dyads within organizations and also to the emergence of "friction” or "stickiness” in market relations. Implicit in the idea that negotiations in pivotal dyads shape institutional patterns is the notion that repeated negotiations between the same two actors are likely to become more than instrumental ways for the particular actors to get work done. We suggest a simple process by which dyadic …


Resolving Conflict Through Explicit Bargaining, Elizabeth Heger Boyle, Edward J. Lawler Jul 2017

Resolving Conflict Through Explicit Bargaining, Elizabeth Heger Boyle, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

This article analyzes the impact of conciliatory initiatives on conflict resolution in two-party bargaining. It specifically develops and tests a theory of unilateral initiatives derived from Osgood's (1962) notion of Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction (GRIT). The major propositions of the theory indicate that, given a pattern of mutual resistance or hostility, unilateral initiatives and tit-for-tat retaliation in response to punitive action will produce more conciliation and less hostility by an opponent. To test the theory, a bargaining setting was created in a laboratory experiment in which parties exchanged offers and counteroffers on an issue across a number …


Bargaining Toughness: A Qualification Of Level-Of-Aspiration And Reciprocity Hypotheses, Edward J. Lawler, Bruce K. Macmurray Jul 2017

Bargaining Toughness: A Qualification Of Level-Of-Aspiration And Reciprocity Hypotheses, Edward J. Lawler, Bruce K. Macmurray

Edward J Lawler

This research examined the interaction of initial bargaining stance and later concession strategy in dyadic bargaining. Experimental procedures pitted subjects against a programmed opponent and manipulated three variables: initial stance of the opponent across the first two bargaining rounds (tough vs. soft), deadlock vs. no deadlock, and subsequent concession strategy (tough, matching, soft). The results revealed that: (a) with a tough initial stance, a matching strategy produced greater yielding than tough or soft strategies; while in the context of a soft initial stance, a tough concession strategy produced more yielding than a matching or soft concession strategy; and (b) a …


Comparison Of Dependence And Punitive Forms Of Power, Edward J. Lawler, Samuel B. Bacharach Jul 2017

Comparison Of Dependence And Punitive Forms Of Power, Edward J. Lawler, Samuel B. Bacharach

Edward J Lawler

This paper deals with the impact of power on tactical action in conflict. The theory and research is organized around two conceptual distinctions: one between power based on dependence versus punitive capability, and the other between relative power (i.e., power difference) and "total power" in a relationship (i.e., across actors). The paper will argue that these distinctions are important on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Theoretically, they are important to explicate the connection between conceptions of power that stress the coercive foundation of power (Bierstedt 1950; Tedeschi, Schlenker & Bonoma 1973) and those that treat power as dependence (Bacharach & …


The Impact Of Family Economic Structure On Dual-Earners’ Career And Family Satisfaction, Ronit Waismel-Manor, Asaf Levanon, Pamela S. Tolbert Apr 2016

The Impact Of Family Economic Structure On Dual-Earners’ Career And Family Satisfaction, Ronit Waismel-Manor, Asaf Levanon, Pamela S. Tolbert

Pamela S Tolbert

The present study builds on the explanatory power of the “doing gender” perspective to understand the effects of family economic structure on the family and career satisfaction of husbands and wives. Using data from a two-panel, couple-level survey of full-time employed middle-class families in the Northeastern United States, we find that when wives’ earnings increase relative to their husbands’, their career satisfaction significantly increases whereas their husbands’ is significantly depressed. In contrast, family economic structure has little effect on women’ and men’s level of family satisfaction, although we find a significant reduction in family satisfaction among couples who have recently …


Choosing Union Representation: The Role Of Attitudes And Emotions, Adrienne E. Eaton, Sean Rogers Ph.D., Tracy F. H. Chang, Paula B. Voos Apr 2016

Choosing Union Representation: The Role Of Attitudes And Emotions, Adrienne E. Eaton, Sean Rogers Ph.D., Tracy F. H. Chang, Paula B. Voos

Sean Edmund Rogers

In the United States, most unions are recognized by a majority vote of employees through union representation elections administered by the government. Most empirical studies of individual voting behavior during union representation elections use a rational choice model. Recently, however, some have posited that voting is often influenced by emotions. We evaluate competing hypotheses about the determinants of union voting behavior by using data collected from a 2010 representation election at Delta Air Lines, a US-based company. In addition to the older rational choice framework, multiple regression results provide support for an emotional choice model. Positive feelings toward the employer …


Guilt By Design: Structuring Organizations To Elicit Guilt As An Affective Reaction To Failure, Vanessa K. Bohns, Francis K. Flynn Mar 2016

Guilt By Design: Structuring Organizations To Elicit Guilt As An Affective Reaction To Failure, Vanessa K. Bohns, Francis K. Flynn

Vanessa K. Bohns

In this article, we outline a model of how organizations can effectively shape employees’ affective reactions to failure. We do not suggest that organizations eliminate the experience of negative affect following performance failures—instead, we propose that they encourage a more constructive form of negative affect (guilt) instead of a destructive one (shame). We argue that guilt responses prompt employees to take corrective action in response to mistakes, while shame responses are likely to elicit more detrimental effects of negative affect. Further, we suggest that organizations can play a role in influencing employees’ discrete emotional reactions to the benefit of both …


Underestimating Our Influence Over Others At Work, Vanessa K. Bohns, Francis J. Flynn Mar 2016

Underestimating Our Influence Over Others At Work, Vanessa K. Bohns, Francis J. Flynn

Vanessa K. Bohns

Employees at all organizational levels have influence over their subordinates, their colleagues, and even their bosses. But are they aware of this influence? We present evidence suggesting that employees are constrained by cognitive biases that lead them to underestimate their influence over others in the workplace. As a result of this underestimation of influence, employees may be reluctant to spearhead organizational change, discount their own role in subordinates’ performance failures, and fail to speak up in the face of wrongdoing. In addition to reviewing evidence for this bias, we propose five moderators that, when present, may reverse or attenuate the …


The Role Of Leader Emotion Management In Leader-Member Exchange And Follower Outcomes, Laura M. Little, Janaki Gooty, Michele Williams Jan 2016

The Role Of Leader Emotion Management In Leader-Member Exchange And Follower Outcomes, Laura M. Little, Janaki Gooty, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

Drawing upon social exchange and emotion regulation theories, we develop and test a model of four specific leader behaviors directed at managing followers’ negative emotions. These leader interpersonal emotion management (IEM) strategies are posited to affect followers’ organizational citizenship behaviors performed within interpersonal relationships (OCBIs) and job satisfaction via follower perceptions of the quality of the leader-follower exchange relationship. In contrast to most current cognitive-transactional views of social exchange, here we posit that some, but not all, leader emotion management behaviors promote and strengthen the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship. Specifically, we contend that followers’ perception of problem-focused leader emotion-management strategies …


Thinking About You: Perspective Taking, Perceived Restraint, And Performance, Michele Williams Jul 2015

Thinking About You: Perspective Taking, Perceived Restraint, And Performance, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

Conflict often arises when incompatible ideas, values or interests lead to actions that harm others. Increasing people’s willingness to refrain from harming others can play a critical role in preventing conflict and fostering performance. We examine perspective taking as a relational micro-process related to such restraint. We argue that attending to how others appraise events supports restraint in two ways. It motivates people to act with concern and enables them to understand what others view as harmful versus beneficial. Using a matched sample of 147 knowledge workers and 147 of their leaders, we evaluate the impact of appraisal-related perspective taking …


Affect, Emotion And Emotion Regulation In The Workplace: Feelings And Attitudinal Restructuring, Michele Williams Jul 2015

Affect, Emotion And Emotion Regulation In The Workplace: Feelings And Attitudinal Restructuring, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

[Excerpt] Almost 40 years after publishing A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations in 1965, the fields of negotiations and organizational behavior experienced an “affective revolution” (Barsade, Brief and Spataro 2003). Although Walton and McKersie could not have predicted the widespread academic and public interest in emotion and emotional intelligence, they foreshadowed this affect-laden direction in the section of their book on attitudinal structuring, which identified the dimension of friendliness-hostility as a critical aspect of the relationship between negotiating parties in the workplace and other settings.


Generational Diversity Can Enhance Trust Across Boundaries, Michele Williams Jul 2015

Generational Diversity Can Enhance Trust Across Boundaries, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

In interorganizational project teams, generational diversity among team members undermines the experience of trust within demographically similar dyads but enhances the experience of trust within demographically dissimilar dyads.


Being Trusted: How Team Generational Age Diversity Promotes And Undermines Trust In Cross-Boundary Relationships, Michele Williams Jul 2015

Being Trusted: How Team Generational Age Diversity Promotes And Undermines Trust In Cross-Boundary Relationships, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

We examine how demographic context influences the trust that boundary spanners experience in their dyadic relationships with clients. Because of the salience of age as a demographic characteristic as well as the increasing prevalence of age diversity and intergenerational conflict in the workplace, we focus on team age diversity as a demographic social context that affects trust between boundary spanners and their clients. Using social categorization theory and theories of social capital, we develop and test our contextual argument that a boundary spanner’s experience of being trusted is influenced by the social categorization processes that occur in dyadic interactions with …


Squeezed In The Middle: The Middle Status Trade Creativity For Focus, Michelle M. Duguid, Jack Goncalo Jun 2015

Squeezed In The Middle: The Middle Status Trade Creativity For Focus, Michelle M. Duguid, Jack Goncalo

Jack Goncalo

Classical research on social influence suggested that people are the most conforming in the middle of a status hierarchy as opposed to the top or bottom. Yet, this promising line of research was abandoned before the psychological mechanism behind middle status conformity had been identified. Moving beyond the early focus on conformity, we propose that the threat of status loss may make those with middle status more wary of advancing creative solutions in fear that they will be evaluated negatively. Using different manipulations of status and measures of creativity, we found that when being evaluated, middle status individuals were less …


The Effect Of Regional Airline Attendance Policies On Pilot Self-Removal From Duty For Illness Or Fatigue, David R. Freiwald Ph.D., Csp, Michael F. O'Toole Ph.D. May 2015

The Effect Of Regional Airline Attendance Policies On Pilot Self-Removal From Duty For Illness Or Fatigue, David R. Freiwald Ph.D., Csp, Michael F. O'Toole Ph.D.

Michael F O'Toole Ph.D.

The purpose of this paper was to study the effect of current regional airline attendance policies on the willingness of crewmembers to remove themselves from duty when ill or fatigued. This study sought to determine if the current punitive attendance policies are encouraging crewmembers to operate contrary to federal regulation. A survey was given to current pilots of four regional airlines with similar attendance policies. The responses were correlated with supplied demographic and experiential data. The goal of the paper was to examine the major areas of concern and suggested solutions. The overwhelming majority of respondents felt that their companies’ …


Collective Failure: The Emergence, Consequences, And Management Of Errors In Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski Mar 2015

Collective Failure: The Emergence, Consequences, And Management Of Errors In Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski

Bradford S Bell

The goal of the current chapter is to examine the emergence, consequences, and management of errors in teams. We begin by discussing the origin and emergence of errors in teams. We argue that errors in teams can originate at both the individual and collective level and suggest this distinction is important because it has implications for how errors propagate within a team. We then consider the paradoxical effects of errors on team performance and team learning. This discussion highlights the importance of error management in teams so that errors can prompt learning while at the same time mitigating their negative …


Work Groups And Teams In Organizations: Review Update, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Bradford S. Bell Mar 2015

Work Groups And Teams In Organizations: Review Update, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Bradford S. Bell

Bradford S Bell

This review chapter examines the literature on work team effectiveness. To begin, we consider their nature, define them, and identify four critical conceptual issues—context, workflow, levels, and time—that serve as review themes and discuss the multitude of forms that teams may assume. We then shift attention to the heart of the review, examining key aspects of the creation, development, operation, and management of work teams. To accomplish objectives of breadth and integration, we adopt a lifecycle perspective to organize the review. Topics involved in the team lifecycle include: (1) team composition; (2) team formation, socialization, and development; (3) …


The State Of The Art In Performance Management: Learnings From Discussions With Leading Organizations, Bradford S. Bell, Christopher J. Collins Mar 2015

The State Of The Art In Performance Management: Learnings From Discussions With Leading Organizations, Bradford S. Bell, Christopher J. Collins

Bradford S Bell

Performance management is one of the fundamental HR tools that has been part of organizational life for decades and has long been the backbone of other activities of the HR system (e.g., pay decisions, development plans). Despite the importance of performance management, it has historically been rated by employees, managers, and the HR function itself as one of the least effective and understood HR practices. Given the stagnation in academic research on the topic and discontent on the part of organizational stakeholders, we decided it was an opportune time to meet with leading companies to understand the state of the …


Rigor And Relevance, Bradford S. Bell Mar 2015

Rigor And Relevance, Bradford S. Bell

Bradford S Bell

[Excerpt] As the incoming editorial team, our goal is to build on this position of strength and to advance both the reputation and readership of the journal. One way in which we intend to do this is by staying true to the mission that has guided P-Psych since its inception, which is to publish rigorous psychological research centered around people at work. Over the years, this focused mission has enabled the journal to publish seminal articles in personnel selection (Barrick & Mount, 1991), person-organization fit (Schneider, 1987), organizational citizenship behavior (Organ & Ryan, 1995), and many other areas of industrial-organizational …


Three Conceptual Themes For Future Research On Teams, Bradford S. Bell Mar 2015

Three Conceptual Themes For Future Research On Teams, Bradford S. Bell

Bradford S Bell

[Excerpt] Tannenbaum, Mathieu, Salas, and Cohen (2011) identify three change themes – dynamic composition, technology/distance, and delayering/empowerment – that are affecting the nature of teams and discuss future research directions within each thematic area. They acknowledge that these emerging research needs may require new theories, research methods, and analyses and describe a few specific approaches that may hold promise, but focus their attention largely on describing the substantive issues and questions research should target going forward. We do not dispute that these themes are important – they are garnering substantial research attention (see Bell, 2007; Chen & Tesluk, in press; …


Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration And Review, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Sabrina Blawath Mar 2015

Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration And Review, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Sabrina Blawath

Bradford S Bell

With the increasing emphasis on work teams as the primary architecture of organizational structure, scholars have begun to focus attention on team learning, the processes that support it, and the important outcomes that depend on it. Although the literature addressing learning in teams is broad, it is also messy and fraught with conceptual confusion. This chapter presents a theoretical integration and review. The goal is to organize theory and research on team learning, identify actionable frameworks and findings, and emphasize promising targets for future research. We emphasize three theoretical foci in our examination of team learning, treating it as multilevel …


Hedonic And Transcendent Conceptions Of Value, Joel M. Podolny, Marya Besharov Feb 2015

Hedonic And Transcendent Conceptions Of Value, Joel M. Podolny, Marya Besharov

Marya Besharov

In this paper we introduce a conceptual distinction between a hedonic and transcendent conception of value. We posit three linguistic earmarks by which one can distinguish these conceptions of value. We seek validation for the conceptual distinctions by examining the language contained in reviews of cars and reviews of paintings. In undertaking the empirical examination, we draw on the work of M.A.K. Halliday to identify clauses as fundamental units of meaning and to specify process types that can be mapped onto theoretical distinctions between the two conceptions of value. Extensions of this research are discussed.


Is It Me Or Her? How Gender Composition Evokes Interpersonally Sensitive Behavior On Collaborative Cross-Boundary Projects, Michele Williams, Evan Polman Dec 2014

Is It Me Or Her? How Gender Composition Evokes Interpersonally Sensitive Behavior On Collaborative Cross-Boundary Projects, Michele Williams, Evan Polman

Michele Williams

This paper investigates how professional workers’ willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity is influenced by the gender and power of their interaction partners. We call into question the idea that mixed-gender interactions involve more interpersonal sensitivity than all-male interactions primarily because women demonstrate more interpersonal sensitivity than do men. Rather, we argue that the social category “women” can evoke more sensitive behavior from others such that men as well as women contribute to an increase in sensitivity in mixed-gender interactions. We further argue that the presence of women may trigger increased sensitivity such that men can also be the recipients …


The Relational Ecology Of Identification: How Organizational Identification Emerges When Individuals Hold Divergent Values, Marya Besharov Sep 2014

The Relational Ecology Of Identification: How Organizational Identification Emerges When Individuals Hold Divergent Values, Marya Besharov

Marya Besharov

This research builds on theory about how identification develops when members differ in which organizational values they hold to be important. It is relatively well established that conflict and dis-identification arise under such conditions. In the socially responsible retail company I studied, in contrast, I found identification as well as dis-identification. Both outcomes emerged from members’ interactions with others whose values and behaviors differed from their own. Identification arose when managers interpreted and enacted organizational values for frontline employees by developing integrative solutions, removing ideology, and routinizing ideology. Dis-identification developed in the absence of these practices. The resulting process model …


Multiple Institutional Logics In Organizations: Explaining Their Varied Nature And Implication, Marya Besharov, Wendy K. Smith Jun 2014

Multiple Institutional Logics In Organizations: Explaining Their Varied Nature And Implication, Marya Besharov, Wendy K. Smith

Marya Besharov

Multiple institutional logics present a theoretical puzzle. While scholars recognize their increasing prevalence within organizations, research offers conflicting perspectives on their implications, causing confusion and inhibiting deeper understanding. In response, we propose a framework that delineates types of logic multiplicity within organizations, and we link these types with different outcomes. Our framework categorizes organizations in terms of logic compatibility and logic centrality and explains how field, organizational, and individual factors influence these two dimensions. We illustrate the value of our framework by showing how it helps explain the varied implications of logic multiplicity for internal conflict. By providing insight into …


A Voice Is Worth A Thousand Words: The Implications Of The Micro-Coding Of Social Signals In Speech For Trust Research, Benjamin Waber, Michele Williams, John Carroll, Alex Pentland Jan 2014

A Voice Is Worth A Thousand Words: The Implications Of The Micro-Coding Of Social Signals In Speech For Trust Research, Benjamin Waber, Michele Williams, John Carroll, Alex Pentland

Michele Williams

While self-report measures are often highly reliable for field research on trust (Mayer and Davis, 1999), subjects often cannot complete surveys during real time interactions. In contrast, the social signals that are embedded in the non-linguistic elements of conversations can be captured in real time and extracted with the assistance of computer coding. This chapter seeks to understand how computer-coded social signals are related to interpersonal trust.


Voice Without Say: Why Capital-Managed Firms Aren’T (Genuinely) Participatory, Justin Schwartz Aug 2013

Voice Without Say: Why Capital-Managed Firms Aren’T (Genuinely) Participatory, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Why are most capitalist enterprises of any size organized as authoritarian bureaucracies rather than incorporating genuine employee participation that would give the workers real authority? Even firms with employee participation programs leave virtually all decision-making power in the hands of management. The standard answer is that hierarchy is more economically efficient than any sort of genuine participation, so that participatory firms would be less productive and lose out to more traditional competitors. This answer is indefensible. After surveying the history, legal status, and varieties of employee participation, I examine and reject as question-begging the argument that the rarity of genuine …