College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8

The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Psychology, Industrial

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 30
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Virtually a Leader: Mitigating Process Losses through Shared Team States
    (2009) Aiken, Juliet Renee; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research on virtual teams reveals that virtual teams do not operate in the same way as non-virtual teams. Despite increasing interest in this field, virtuality's impact on teams through an integrated IPO framework has yet to be assessed. The current study addresses this limitation by examining how virtuality impacts shared team states, and, subsequently, how shared team states impact communication, and how communication impacts outcomes. Further, this study investigated the role leadership plays in reducing process losses encountered by virtual teams. Results indicate that virtuality impacts the formation of shared team states, and leadership moderates this relationship, but in an unexpected direction. Shared team states were not found to contribute to communication, and communication did not predict outcomes. However, virtuality was found to directly affect communication, and the interaction between virtuality and leadership affected outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Executive Coaching as a Developmental Experience: A Framework and Measure of Coaching Dimensions
    (2008-09-10) Gettman, Hilary J; Stevens, Cynthia; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The widespread and rapidly growing practice of executive coaching (Berglas, 2002) has evolved as a practice outside of the context of any academic discipline. While the literature on executive coaching is voluminous, there has been no attempt to systematically outline and operationalize the important dimensions of coaching practice. This lack of empirical foundation has made it difficult assess coaching in any meaningful way, for example, to determine what aspects of coaching are critical to effectiveness, or if it is even effective at all. In order to begin to fill this gap in the research, I sought to understand the important dimensions of executive coaching. To this end I reviewed the literature on coaching, and relevant research literatures, to get a better understanding of what coaches likely do to promote development, to develop a more grounded conceptualization of the dimensions of executive coaching, and to begin exploring the theoretical bases for these dimensions. I proposed six dimensions of coaching activities: assessment, challenge, emotional support, tactical support, motivational reinforcement and promoting a learning orientation. Second, I operationalized these dimensions by creating items based on the literatures reviewed, as well as input from subject matter experts, and based upon my own expertise. Finally, I administered the scales to 188 coaches and 32 executives, and evaluated the scales for their structure, reliability and validity. In the resulting factor structure, four of the dimensions were found as proposed, but challenge split into three factors and tactical support into two factors, resulting in nine dimensions of coaching activities, with reliabilities ranging from .75 to .91, averaging .84. Finally, some analyses of convergent, divergent and criterion-related validity of the dimensions were conducted, resulting in some preliminary indications of the construct validity of three of the scales, and providing information of where future validation work should be done. Interestingly, levels of engagement in seven of the dimensions varied meaningfully and predictably amongst coaches according to their education and training, which could have widespread implications for coaching selection and training. The resulting dimensions and measures open the door to further study of coaching, advancing both research and practice.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Development and Validation of the Toxic Leadership Scale
    (2008-06-11) Schmidt, Andrew A.; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    While many publications focus on traits and behaviors that make leaders effective, some leaders engage in dysfunctional and destructive behaviors. These "toxic leadership" styles have been largely unexplored. The goals of this study were to empirically derive the dimensions of toxic leadership, to create a reliable and valid survey that measures the construct, to explore convergent and discriminant construct validity, and to perform a preliminary examination of subordinate outcomes that may result from working under a toxic leader. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies across military and civilian sectors, this study suggests that toxic leadership is composed of the following five dimensions: abusive supervision, authoritarian leadership, narcissism, self-promotion, and unpredictability. Toxic leadership is differentiable from other leadership constructs (e.g., transformational, LMX) and its dimensions significantly predict employee outcomes such as turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with the supervisor. Implications for future research are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    When Apologies Work: The Benefits of Matching Apology Content to Victims and Context
    (2007-11-30) Fehr, Ryan; Gelfand, Michele; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research shows that apologies are useful social tools. Yet common sense tells us that apologies often differ in terms of what is said, who they are said to, and the circumstances under which they are said. In each of these cases, an apology's impact can be expected to change. Data from 171 students participating in a policy capturing experiment were used to explore the interacting effects of apology content, victim self-construal, and harm severity on forgiveness. Results suggest that each apology component positively and independently influences forgiveness. Furthermore, victim self-construal moderates apology effectiveness. Specifically, the independent self strengthens the impact of compensation, the relational self strengthens the impact of concern and acknowledgement of a violated rule/norm, and the collective self strengthens the impact of acknowledgement of a violated rule/norm. Lastly, harm severity is found to strengthen the relationship between apology length and forgiveness. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Putting Differences in Context: Incorporating the Role of Status and Cooperation into Work Unit Ethnic Composition Research
    (2007-07-30) Leslie, Lisa M.; Gelfand, Michele J.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Due to increasing diversity within organizations, understanding the impact of ethnic differences in work units has become a strategic imperative. Although the topic of much research, findings regarding the effect of work unit ethnic composition on work unit outcomes are inconsistent. I begin to address inconsistencies in the literature by incorporating the role of two moderators of intergroup contact, status and cooperation (Allport, 1954), into ethnic composition research. First, I introduce the construct of ethnic status, which reflects the degree of status ascribed to individuals based on ethnic group membership, and predict that work unit ethnic status separation (ESS) will negatively impact work unit processes (conflict, cohesion, trust) and performance (financial, manager-rated, citizenship behaviors). Second, I theorize that elements of the work unit (learning climate, performance climate) and community (ethnic composition, economics, political climate) context will moderate work unit ethnic composition effects, such that cooperative contexts ameliorate, but competitive contexts exacerbate, the negative relationship between work unit ESS and unit-level outcomes. In Study 1, I developed a measure of ethnic status and found support for the stability and validity of ethnic status in both student and adult samples. In Study 2, I used the status measure to calculate work unit composition (i.e., ESS). I then tested the interaction of work unit ESS with elements of the work unit and community context as a predictor of unit-level outcomes in a sample of 703 employees of a large bank, who were nested within 121 geographically dispersed work units (i.e., branches). To assess community contexts, I supplemented the bank sample with data from the United States Census. At the work unit level, I found that high ESS work units experienced less conflict and better financial performance in high learning climates than in low learning climates. At the community level, I found that the negative outcomes of work unit ESS, including high conflict, low cohesion and trust, and poor financial performance, were most severe in communities similarly characterized by high ESS. Results for the remaining work unit (performance climate) and community (economics, political climate) context factors were mixed. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Individual and Unit Level Goal Orientation as Predictors of Employee Development
    (2007-05-17) Spara, Ellen Godfrey; Hanges, Paul; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In recent years, goal orientation has gained interest among academics and practitioners alike. This paper examines several variables related to goal orientation that have not been thoroughly investigated in the past. I hypothesized that both team- and individual-level learning orientation would have a direct effect on the decision to pursue development opportunities. I also hypothesized that the previously-mentioned notion of team goal orientation would affect the belief that increased performance leads to certain consequences (instrumentality), which are either deemed as positive enough to desire or negative enough to avoid (valences). Key findings include positive relationships between team learning orientation climate and individual contextualized and non-contextualized learning orientation, as well as a direct relationship between contextualized learning orientation and development. Additional findings indicate that valence and instrumentality mediate the relationship between contextualized learning orientation and development. Hypothesis testing for performance-prove and performance-avoid orientation models was not as successful, but the study does give some support to a two- (as opposed to three-) factor model of goal orientation. Limitations and directions for future research are also presented.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Replicating and Extending Job Embeddedness across Cultures: Employee Turnover in India and the United States
    (2007-04-25) Ramesh, Anuradha; Gelfand, Michele; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation explored the job embeddedness model of turnover in a collectivistic country (India).The job embeddedness model (JE) by Mitchell and Lee (2001) has 6 original dimensions - organization links and community links (individual connections with people in the organization and community), organization fit and community fit (individual perception of fit within an organization and community), and organization sacrifice and community sacrifice (what the individual gives up when leaving the organization or community). JE has been found to explain variance in turnover above the most significant predictors, such as job satisfaction and job alternatives in the US, but has not been explored in collectivistic cultures. This dissertation took a two-step approach to testing and extending the JE model to India. First, I explored the generalizability of the JE model in India and applied the individualism-collectivism framework to posit differences in how strongly each dimensions of JE relates to turnover in the US and in India. I suggested that organization links, community links, and organization fit are more important predictors of turnover in India than in the US, while community fit is a more important predictor of turnover in the US. In addition, I examined fit with job and suggested that perception of job fit is a more important predictor of turnover in the US than in India. Second, I expanded the job embeddedness model to include a family factor by creating three new dimensions, family links, family fit, and family sacrifice, and suggested that this factor would predict turnover in both countries. Data were collected from call center employees in the US (n = 323) and in India (n = 474). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure of job embeddedness (organization, community, and family factors) in both cultures. As hypothesized, organization embeddedness and family embeddedness predicted turnover in both countries. Community embeddedness did not predict turnover in either country. In addition, organization fit, organization links, and community links interacted with country in the hypothesized direction such that they were more important in predicting turnover in India, while job fit was more important in predicting turnover in the US.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The missing link: An examination of safety climate and clinical outcomes in a national sample of hospitals
    (2007-04-30) Lyon, Julie Stella; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation examined the effect of safety climate on caregiver and patient safety outcomes in a national sample of hospitals. Hypotheses testing climate level and climate strength were not supported for caregiver injuries and postoperative patient outcomes. The main contribution of this dissertation was to test whether the system of care--as evidenced by the patterns of safety climate in multiple units--was related to patient harm. The pattern of safety climate across units within hospitals predicted compliance with procedures for treating heart failure and pneumonia patients over and above the effect of safety climate elevation and variability. In addition, variability in safety climate between units in hospitals was related to lower compliance with procedures for treating heart attack patients. The sample consisted of caregiver survey data collected from 59 hospitals that belonged to a non-profit hospital system in the United States.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Culturally Intelligent Negotiator: The Impact of CQ on Intercultural Negotiation Effectiveness
    (2007-04-15) Imai, Rin; Gelfand, Michele J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Although scholars have repeatedly touted the practical importance of being able to negotiate effectively across cultures, paradoxically, no study has directly addressed what predicts intercultural negotiation effectiveness. In this thesis, we examined the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) as a potential predictor of intercultural negotiation effectiveness. The negotiation transcripts of 124 American and East Asian negotiators (62 dyads) were coded for joint sequencing of integrative behaviors as well as sequencing of cooperative relationship management behaviors. CQ measured a week prior to negotiations, and aggregated to the dyad level, predicted the extent to which negotiators sequenced integrative behaviors, which in turn predicted joint profit. CQ predicted integrative sequences over and beyond international experience, openness, extraversion, empathy, cognitive ability and emotional intelligence. Exploratory analyses revealed that the motivational facet of CQ had particularly strong predictive power, and that the minimum CQ score within the dyad was enough to predict integrative sequences.