Group & Organization Management

Lack of vitality and creativity within an organization is often attributed to widespread boredom and the underlying lack of personal meaning members associate with their work process. However, exploration of the causes of chronic patterns of boredom in organizational life is often blocked because of the indiscussibility and repression of powerful negative feelings that surface with the experience of boredom. By developing a better understanding of the meaning of boredom in organizations, organization members can learn to constructively confront their boredom, thereby expanding their awareness and unblocking repressed feelings. The net effect of exploring such deeper meanings and unblocking them is the infusion of vitality and new personal meaning into the experience of work.

An empirical study of alternative methods of diagnosing burnout in a human-services organization was conducted. Scholars previously debated the merits of a phase approach versus a traditional-regression approach to assess the virulence of burnout among employees. Results of this study suggest that the approaches lead to contradictory results as hypothesized. However, problems with measurement and research in applied settings underscore the need for longitudinal and experimental designs that include outcome measures.

We hypothesized that positive and negative affect would interact with ability information in predicting exchange quality ratings of leaders and group members in a laboratory study. Ninety-six undergraduates completed a measure of cognitive ability, as well as a measure of positive-and negative-trait affect before participating in several group exercises. Exchange quality ratings collected from emergent leaders were best predicted by the interaction of member ability and negative affect. Specifically, there was a positive relationship between ability and exchange quality for those members with low negative affect, but no relationship for those with high negative affect. Exchange quality ratings gathered from group members (i.e., nonleaders) were best predicted only from leaders' positive-affect scores. Discussion centers on the particular role that affect plays in initial exchange quality judgments, as well as practical implications and generalizability issues.

Previous research has examined the effect of participation in decision making on various psychological and managerial variables, but has often overlooked levels of analysis considerations. In this study, levels of analysis were considered explicitly from theoretical and empirical perspectives to better understand participation in decision making. In a first demonstration of a new method to the participation literature, results from Within and Between Analysis (WABA) suggested that relationships between participation in decision making and several job activities and employee outcomes were based on between-groups differences. Some support also was obtained for an individual view of the associations between participation in decision making and activities and outcomes.

Understanding factors associated with workers' inclination to participate in employee involvement programs can contribute to program success. The results of this study support hypotheses that predict that employees who are interested in participation will be younger, more interested in job advancement, more optimistic about program benefits, and more active in their union than those who are uninterested. These findings are consistent with viewing workers' interests in participation as a search for increased responsibility, self-expression, and personal need fulfillment.

Despite extensive turnover research, there is little information on whether people's perceived job quality actually improves as a function of turnover. Using data from people who stayed with the job, who changed jobs, or who changed employers, this study examined the relative validity of three theoretical frameworks regarding the impact of turnover on perceived job quality. The results, although not overwhelming, provided tentative support for dispositional arguments; people tended to retain similar attitudes regardless of actual job quality.

A model for announcing major layoffs was developed. First a model was developed from the existing literature. Using this model as a guiding framework, layoffs from eight organizations were analyzed. The model was then refined as a result of this analysis. The resulting model emphasizes the importance of understanding existing rumors, matching the announcement to the organizational culture, considering the current climate, being aware of legal constraints, and addressing both internal and external publics. A list of recommendations is provided.