Aukje Nauta

Self-Interest and Other-Orientation in Organizational Behavior: Implications for Job Performance, Prosocial Behavior, and Personal Initiative

In this article, the authors develop the self-concern and other-orientation as moderators hypothesis. The authors argue that many theories on work behavior assume humans to be either self-interested or to be social in nature with strong other-orientation but that this assumption is empirically invalid and may lead to overly narrow models of work behavior. The authors instead propose that self-concern and other-orientation are independent. The authors also propose that job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative are a function of (a) individual-level attributes, such as job characteristics when employees are high in self-concern, and (b) group-level attributes, such as justice climate when employees are high in other-orientation. Three studies involving 4 samples of employees from a variety of organizations support these propositions. Implications are discussed for theory on work behavior and interventions geared toward job enrichment and team-based working.

Understanding the factors that promote employability orientation : The impact of employability culture, career satisfaction, and role breadth self-efficacy

This study among 702 Dutch employees working in the health care and welfare sector examined individual and organizational factors that are related to workers employability orientation and turnover intention. Additionally, push and pull motives were examined of employees who aimed to leave their job. Results indicated that a strong employability culture adds extra variance over and above individual factors such as career satisfaction and role breadth self-efficacy in the explanation of employability orientation, turnover intention, and push motives of employees who aim to leave their job. That is, employability culture is positively related to employability orientation, but negatively related to turnover intention and to push motives of those who aim to leave. Pull motives of employees who want to leave are explained by individual factors only, such as career dissatisfaction and role breadth self-efficacy, but not by employability culture. These findings suggest that organizations that need to adapt to changing environments should implement a strong employability culture, because such a culture stimulates employability orientations among their employees while simultaneously decreasing turnover intentions.

PERSON-JOB FIT APPLIED TO TEAMWORK A Multilevel Approach

This study examined the moderating role of team task autonomy on the relationship between the mean level of three personality traits in a team—conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience—and two individual outcomes—job satisfaction and learning. Questionnaire data were collected from 133 task groups of undergraduate business students. Multilevel analyses showed that team task autonomy strengthens the relationship between conscientiousness and learning and the relationship between openness to experience and satisfaction. We conclude that team attributes, characteristics of the individual member, and team task autonomy as a moderator variable explain differences in individual outcomes and help in predicting the effectiveness of teamwork.

The effects of conflict asymmetry on mediation outcomes: Satisfaction, work motivation and absenteeism

Purpose – This paper seeks to link conflict and mediation theory to practice using an asymmetry framework. Past conflict research often assumes that conflict parties perceive the same amount of conflict, neglecting that members may have different perceptions.Design/methodology/approach – This study conducted surveys and interviews with 30 conflict parties involved in mediation and examined the effects of asymmetry of parties perceptions of task and relationship conflict on absenteeism, motivation, and satisfaction with the mediation. In addition, mediator bias was considered as another asymmetry variable that influences mediation success.Findings – Using quantitative and qualitative data it was found that these perceived asymmetries were negatively associated with work motivation and satisfaction, and positively associated with absenteeism.Originality/value – Recommendations for mediators and organizations are provided.

Social Cohesiveness and Absenteeism The Relationship Between Characteristics of Employees and Short-Term Absenteeism Within an Organization

This study tries to explain the relationship between characteristics of the employees (e.g., gender and working hours) and short-term absenteeism by examining the social cohesiveness of a team. Hypotheses are formulated concerning gender and working hours of employees, social cohesiveness, and short-term absenteeism. To test these hypotheses, network data on 56 employees in 8 comparable teams within an organization were collected. The results show that similarity in gender and percentage of full-time employees within a team were positively related to the social cohesiveness of a team and that social cohesiveness is negatively related to short-term absenteeism.

The structure and management of conflict: Fighting or defending the status quo

Although conflict and negotiation studies have examined symmetrical structures in which both parties want change, or asymmetrical structures in which one party wants change and the other to maintain the status quo, no research provided a direct comparison of both structures. Two experiments were conducted to fill this void. Results show that in asymmetrical structures challengers engage in more problem solving and more contending, have less of a loss frame and perceive less control than defendants, and are perceived be less successful. In symmetrical structures, behavior and attitudes of parties are more alike and there is more reciprocation of problem solving and yielding. Furthermore, findings reveal that challengers see their defendant as less friendly and more dominant than defendants see their challengers. Finally, no evidence was obtained that social value orientation moderates these effects. Implications for conflict theory and research, and for third party interventions in symmetrical versus asymmetrical conflicts, are discussed.

In Search of the True Group Animal: The Effects of Affiliation Orientation and Social Comparison Orientation upon Group Satisfaction

A study among 653 undergraduate students examined the effects upon group satisfaction of social comparison orientation (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) and affiliation orientation, i.e. the preference for doing things together and in groups versus a preference for doing things alone. Affiliation orientation correlated positively with extraversion and agreeableness, and social comparison orientation correlated negatively with emotional stability and openness to experience. A multi‐level analysis showed that individual level variance in group satisfaction was explained by an interaction effect of affiliation orientation and social comparison orientation: a high level of affiliation orientation was associated with high group satisfaction of individual group members, but only among those low in social comparison orientation. Among those high in social comparison orientation, a high level of affiliation orientation was even associated, though not very strongly, with low group satisfaction. These effects were upheld when simultaneously controlling for all ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions. It was concluded that the typical ‘group animal’ is someone who has a strong preference for affiliation, combined with a low tendency to compare him‐ or herself with others. Copyright

Industrial relations and works councils in the Netherlands—Results from interviews and a survey among HR managers

The Netherlands has highly institutionalized industrial and employment relations, as is illustrated by the so-called Dutch ‘Building of employment relations’, in which the works council plays an important role. Although Dutch industrial and employment relations are quite peaceful—very few strikes—a serious threat to Dutch industrial relations is the current flexibilization of the labor market, causing a gap between so-called insiders and outsiders on the labor market. Dutch government and central social partners are currently trying to close this gap, and the works council can also play a role, for example by pressing the company to appoint workers with difficult positions on the labor market. This asks for open dialogue and constructive negotiations between management and works council. Based on ten interviews and a survey among Dutch HR managers, it appears that social dialogue is quite constructive within Dutch organizations. Most managers talk openly with the works council, involving ERs early in the process of decision-making, trusting them, and sometimes they succeed in innovating the system of employee participation, especially by extending employee participation to all employees. The survey shows that Dutch HR managers perceive relatively little task conflict with ERs, high integrity of ERs, cooperative conflict management by ERs, high impact of ERs on innovative issues (e.g. CSR) and high organizational commitment of ERs.

Interventions for Building Trust and Negotiating Integrative Agreements Between Management and Works Council

This chapter describes three interventions performed by one or more of the authors, in order to simultaneously build trust and negotiate substantial deals between management of organizations vis-a-vis employee representatives in their role as works council members. The first intervention case was aimed at restoring trust between management and works council, who experienced various conflicts of interests. The second case aimed at reinforcing trust between management and works council that was still fragile. In the third case, we used trust-reassuring methods to enable an innovative bargaining agreement between management and works council. The three interventions show that by addressing trust issues explicitly, using work methods that help parties express themselves in safe and transparent ways, management and works councils are able to negotiate integrative agreements. Social innovation is then likely to result, due to agreeing on and implementing practices that help organizations as well as their employees to develop optimally.