Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Power Conflict: Struggles for Intragroup Control and Dominance(2009) Keller, Kirsten Michelle; Gelfand, Michele J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There has been a considerable amount of research at the individual level of analysis examining strivings for power and influence within an organizational context. However, research has largely yet to examine how these individual motives and behaviors designed to garner power may translate to processes at the interpersonal and group level, and in particular, the extent to which they may result in conflicts or power struggles between individuals. Therefore, the goal of this dissertation was to delineate and explore a construct of power conflict using both qualitative and quantitative methods in two complementary studies. In the first study of this dissertation, I conducted an inductive, qualitative examination of power conflict designed to provide an in depth exploration of different types or manifestations of power conflict. Using data obtained from 58 semi-structured interviews with employees across 23 different bank branches, this study explored how conflicts over power are enacted within context, including key actions and motives. In addition, this study explored potential antecedents and consequences of power conflict in an effort to begin developing a nomological network. In Study 2, I then built upon these qualitative results by using survey data from 131 bank branches to empirically establish power conflict as an important fourth factor of intragroup conflict, along with the already established task, relationship, and process factors. In support of this, the confirmatory factor analysis results provide evidence that power conflict is a distinct factor of intragroup conflict and is distinct from the potentially related construct of dominating conflict management strategies. I also test a portion of the nomological network developed through the qualitative study by examining the relationship of power conflict to several group level antecedents and consequences. Regression results indicate that groups with higher mean levels of extraversion, lower mean levels of agreeableness, and that are predominantly female tend to have higher levels of power conflict. In contrast, groups that have high learning goal orientation climates tend to have lower levels of power conflict. In terms of consequences, power conflict was significantly related to branch stress and greater branch turnover above and beyond the other three conflict types.Item Being Different: A Study of Relational Demography and the Influence of Individual and Team Characteristics(2005-11-04) Keller, Kirsten Michelle; Hanges, Paul; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the effects of gender and ethnic dissimilarity to team members on the individual level outcomes of team commitment, turnover intentions, and psychological empowerment. Results provided some support that dissimilarity to one's teammates has the most adverse effects for males and African Americans. In addition, there was some support that ethnic and gender identification and climate for ethnic diversity may be important moderators of this relationship. Specifically, individuals with low ethnic and gender identification felt more empowered when dissimilar to teammates, while individuals with high ethnic and gender identification had similar levels of empowerment regardless of their dissimilarity to teammates. Focusing on the team context, a positive climate for ethnic diversity reduced the negative consequences for individuals who often find themselves in the demographic minority, while, unexpectedly, a low climate for ethnic diversity seemed to heighten feelings of empowerment for individuals more dissimilar to their teammates.