Human Relations

The need for a unified, cross-level (organization, work group, individual employee) model of organizational downsizing has been suggested by several authors (e.g., Kozlowski et al., 1993). The definition of downsizing, in terms applicable only at the organization level, prevents researchers from developing a more cohesive view of the interactive impact of downsizing for the organization, work groups, and individuals. In this paper, we define downsizing more broadly as a constellation of stressor events centering around pressures toward work force reductions which place demands upon the organization, work groups, and individual employees, and require a process of coping and adaptation. This stress-based view of downsizing allows researchers to develop concepts to guide research on downsizing that are more broadly applicable across levels of analysis. To show the advantages of this stress-based view of downsizing, this paper uses concepts from the stress coping literature to identify a set of critical dependent variables that should be studied in downsizing research. We argue that these variables are applicable for organization, group, and individual employee-level research.

Data obtained from unionized employees in Singapore (N = 205) were used to investigate Strauss' (1977) suggestion that union participation studies be fitted into the general theories of role and commitment. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the contribution of role commitment variables (family and union) net of demographic, job or work and union-related variables to the explained variance in a unidimensional model of union participation. The model accounted for 43% (R2) of the explained variance in participation with the role commitment antecedent set contributing a modest 5% (ΔR²). The significant positive individual variables were union satisfaction, union commitment, union tenure, and gender while union socialization and marital status positively, and family commitment negatively approached significance. Extrinsic satisfaction was significantly negatively related to participation. Limitations of the study, directions for future research and the implications of the findings are discussed.

This paper extends previous work on the psychological impact on candidates of selection and assessment processes, presenting results from a study of 32 participants in an assessment center (AC) program of a major U.K financial services organization. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are used to investigate: (a) the impact of the assessment outcome on cognitive and affective reactions to the assessment process and candidates' post-assessment psychological states, job-related attitudes, and intentions, and (b) the role of factors such as quality of feedback from the assessor, managerial support, and career line position on the impact process. Results show that the assessment outcome decision does have an effect on post-assessment psychological states and work-related attitudes but this effect works through a person's perception of the impact the assessment process will have on their career. This perception of impact is well predicted by the candidate's perceived quality of feedback and current career position. Good feedback helps careers more than poor feedback and the nearer the person's current role is to the position for which they are being assessed the more likely they are to benefit from the process.

Data were collected from the managers of 77 groups in a large service organization and a large manufacturing organization. The results revealed that the relation between group control over decision making and group performance became more positive with increased levels of task interdependence. The main implication of the findings is that increasing group control over decisions may result in high performance only for groups that are highly task interdependent. The performance of groups that are low in task interdependence may suffer when provided with group-level control of decisions.

This paper locates contemporary social psychological conceptions of group identity in the context of crises in forms of knowledge, and in the ways researchers have responded to crises in disciplinary identity. Forms of group social psychology that emerged within the European tradition of research promised a fully social account of human activity and experience, but recent trends of research in the discipline, even within group identity frameworks, have returned to the individual as a focus of study. The work of Bion is used to draw attention to the ways in which crises in group identity often provoke particular varieties of response which serve to defend the group, varieties of response which look to the individual as an escape from the threat or as a solution to the problem.

This paper examines the economic beliefs and value correlates of adults either optimistic or pessimistic about their economic future. On the basis of an internally reliable, 19-item scale, nearly 277 British subjects were divided into economic pessimists, optimists, and status quo observers. These economic views were then correlated with ratings on economic social comparisons, beliefs about work, job involvement, and economic "values." Subjects with Marxist-related work beliefs tended to be more pessimistic and those with leisure ethic beliefs tended to be more optimistic. A multiple stepwise regression showed that nearly 45% of the variance could be accounted for by five factors which indicated that older, less religious, richer people who strongly believed in the humanistic work-belief system, but not in the leisure ethic, tended to be more pessimistic about the economic future of their country. The results are discussed in terms of the literature on psychological and economic optimism and pessimism.

This article explores the relationships among time, organizational, and national cultural distance in an international joint venture setting. More particularly, the extent to which the longevity of an international joint venture affects the intensity of its cultural differences, is investigated in a sample of 51 international joint ventures set up in Hungary. It addresses certain mechanisms available to an international joint venture's managers and to its partners to deal with cross-cultural issues. The results suggest that the temporal dimension is a cultural moderator of prime importance, but to be totally effective, it must be combined with a willful strategy of cultural integration.