Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Workplace Incivility And Bullying In The Library: Perception Or Reality?, Shin Freedman, Dawn L. Vreven

Shin Freedman

Communication Pathways, Joesph M. Valenzano, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post, Erin S. Parcell

Joseph M. Valenzano III

Description from the publisher's website: From the authors of The Speaker and The Speaker’s Primer comes an innovative new textbook that covers communication curriculum in an approachable way. Communication Pathways introduces a modern approach to the survey course, with concise chapters that emphasize communication theory. The authors organize content around a communication-centric theme: dialogue. A full chapter devoted to dialogic communication unpacks the concept for students; the authors further incorporate and explicate dialogic communication as it applies to subsequent chapter concepts. This theme is unique to the text and is a central element of what the authors aim to accomplish: …

Business As Usual: Ethics As Mundane Behavior, And The Case Of Target Corporation, Jon A. Hess

Jonathan A. Hess

Ethics are in vogue in the 1990s America. Concerns for ethical behavior pervade almost every aspect of our lives and work. This trend has not been unnoticed by the American business community. In fact, many businesses have taken current ethical concerns and tried to put them into action. In some cases, the action has been out of necessity or self-interest, as in the case of companies hurt by an unethical reputation or companies forced to implement ethics programs because of legal indictments. But some companies are taking a proactive stance toward ethics without external pressure.

As these businesses strive to …

The Risks And Rewards Of Serving As A Department Chair, Jon A. Hess

Jonathan A. Hess

Serving as chair is a significant point in the career of any faculty member who inhabits the office. It is a position with high highs and low lows, significant stressors and some perks, the chance to have a positive impact on a program, and the near certainty that at some point you will generate disagreement with almost everyone in the department. The department chair is a boundary position between the university administration and the faculty; a chair inhabits both worlds, but resides fully in neither. Chairs are charged with numerous responsibilities and often lack full authority needed to accomplish their …

Designing For Food Security: Portability And The Expansion Of User Freedoms Through The Corepds In Chhattisgarh, India, Prashant Rajan, Shweta Chopra, A. K. Somasekhar, Chad M. Laux

Prashant Rajan

Cross-Functional Integration And New Product Performance: An Empirical Analysis And Findings, Lisa C. Troy, Tanawat Hirunyawipada, Audhesh K. Paswan

Tanawat "Tom" Hirunyawipada

Although cross-functional integration is often considered an important element in a successful new product development program, a great deal of variance exists in extant literature regarding how integration is defined and implemented and how relevant studies are conducted.

The authors attempt to bring clarity to a diverse set of 25 studies that investigate cross-functional integration by empirically analyzing 146 correlations between integration and aspects of new product success. The authors examine the impact of 12 potential moderators that affect the integration–success link using meta-analysis techniques.

The findings indicate that though cross-functional integration may indeed have a direct impact on success, …

International Management: Strategic Opportunities And Cultural Challenges, Paul B. Sweeney, Dean B. Mcfarlin

Paul B. Sweeney

As the economies of many countries become more interrelated, international managers are facing huge challenges and unique opportunities associated with their roles. Now in its fifth edition, Sweeney and McFarlin's International Management embodies a balanced and integrated approach to the subject, emphasizing the strategic opportunities available to firms on a global playing field, as well as exploring the challenges of managing an international workforce. Integrating theory and practice across all chapter topics, this book helps students to learn, grasp, and apply the underlying principles of successful international management: Understanding the broad context of international business, including the critical trends impacting …

Hprl.Docx, Christian Thompson

Christian Thompson

Understanding Employees' Willingness To Contributeto Shared Electronic Databases: A Three-Dimensional Framework, Guowei Jian, Leo Jeffres

Guowei Jian

Work organizations increasingly adopt shared electronic databases. However, employees' unwillingness to contribute to shared resources undermines the utility of such technologies. Current research is limited to either a utilitarian or normative perspective. To advance understanding in this area, this study proposes a three-dimensional framework. It includes the utilitarian and normative perspectives as two complementary dimensions in addition to a third collaborative dimension. Based on this framework, the study identifies three key organizational processes and advances an additive model to predict employees' willingness to contribute to shared electronic databases. An empirical test was conducted to assess the model in a large …

Spanning The Boundaries Of Work: Workplace Participation, Political Efficacy, And Political Involvement, Guowei Jian, Leo Jeffres

Guowei Jian

Based on the political spillover theory, this study examines the boundary-spanning aspect of workplace participation—the association between participation at work and in politics. A telephone survey was conducted using a regional probability sample. Results indicate that decision involvement at work is positively associated with political voting while work community participation is positively associated with involvement in local communities and political party and campaign activities. The study reveals that internal political efficacy mediates the relationship between job autonomy and political participation.

Understanding The Wired Workplace: The Effects Of Job Characteristics On Employees' Personal Online Communication At Work, Guowei Jian

Guowei Jian

As organizations increasingly embrace Internet technologies in daily work activities, an unintended consequence is the growing personal Internet use by employees. This study examines the association between job characteristics and a particular form of personal Internet use at work, personal online communication (POC). The study analyzes data of the 2008 Networked Workers Survey sponsored by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The results demonstrate that job characteristics explain a large, significant portion of the variance of POC at work. The findings suggest that for jobs with high knowledge intensity, managing POC could be approached from a work–life balance perspective. …

Identity And Technology: Organizational Control Of Knowledge-Intensive Work, Guowei Jian

Guowei Jian

Much has been written about the functioning of managerial ideologies in identity-based organizational control. However, less attention has been given to the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and identity defined by a technological discourse in regulating knowledge-intensive work. The purpose of this research is to examine the roles of identity and ICTs in the control of knowledge-intensive work. A case study of a technology service organization reveals that the construction and consumption of a technologist identity operate as organizational control, and that ICTs enable the functioning of a dialectic of technological control. This study also demonstrates the paradoxical …

Leader–Member Conversational Qualityscale Development And Validation Through Three Studies, Guowei Jian, Xiaowei Shi, Francis Dalisay

Guowei Jian

The continuing development of leadership research calls for measurement instruments that can tap into the communication process between leaders and members. The purpose of this present research is to develop and validate a Leader–Member Conversational Quality (LMCQ) scale—an instrument that measures the quality of conversations between leaders and members in the workplace. A series of three studies were conducted. Study I involved item generation and content validity assessment. Study II undertook the task of scale construction and reliability assessment. Study III tested the convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity of the scale. These studies resulted in a nine-item instrument with sufficient …

Unpacking Unintended Consequences In Planned Organizationalchanges: A Process Model, Guowei Jian

Guowei Jian

The author develops a process model of the unintended consequences in planned organizational change that draws on the structuration, organizational change, and organizational tension literatures. The model depicts the communicative actions of both senior management and employees and reveals the dynamic through which unintended consequences unfold. The model extends theoretical understandings of planned organizational change and discusses how future research can build a dialectic and dialogic model of planned change focused on employee participation. The author illustrates the model with a case study of organizational change and its unintended consequences. The article concludes with insights on change management for practitioners …

Talk Matters At Work: The Effects Of Leader Member Conversational Quality And Communication Frequency On Work Role Stressors, Guowei Jian, Francis Dalisay

Guowei Jian

Although it is clear that leadership plays a significant role in followers’ psychological health, the specific mechanisms by which leadership effects may take place await further theorizing and investigation. We argue that communication practices may constitute such specific mechanisms. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how leader-member conversational quality (LMCQ) and communication frequency are associated with members’ perception of work role stressors. Through an online survey, the study found that LMCQ has a significant predictive effect on work role ambiguity and role overload. However, LMCQ interacts with communication frequency in their effects on role conflict. These findings …

Where Do I Stand? The Interaction Of Leader–Member Exchange And Performance Ratings, Hassan Baker, Guowei Jian, Gail Fairhurst

Guowei Jian

The congruence model of leader–member exchange (LMX) quality predicts that agreement between leader and members regarding relationship quality is associated with follower performance. However, questions remain over how cultural relational norms influence congruence. This study, based on a government-linked international joint venture in Malaysia, investigates cultural relational norms in relation to leader–member agreement on relational quality and leader evaluation of member performance. Our findings revealed that LMX quality agreement was related to in-role and extra-role performance among dyadic relationships conforming to Malaysian cultural norms. This study contributes to understanding how cultural relational norms provide conditions to the congruence model of …

Clearing The Smoke: Understanding Organizational Change Communication And Misalignment In High-Risk Contexts, Laura Young

Laura Young

Recent economic turbulence in the United States has resulted in budget cuts for many city-funded organizations, including high-risk organizations such as local fire departments. Budget cuts trigger organizational change and create uncertainty among employees, which is a major concern for high-risk organizations. This dissertation examined internal communication practices used during organizational change in an urban fire department and the influence of organizational structure and culture on communication satisfaction. This robust case study used a multi-method approach including interviews with middle managers (i.e., district majors), and focus groups and channel preference surveys with full-time firefighters from lower level ranks (i.e., firefighters, …

The Shifting Self: Social Identity In Retirement, Frances Smith

Frances Smith