Benson Rosen

Beyond Self-Management: Antecedents and Consequences of Team Empowerment

We examined the antecedents, consequences, and mediational role of team empowerment using 111 work teams in four organizations. The results indicated that the actions of external leaders, the production/service responsibilities given to teams, team-based human resources policies, and the social structure of teams all worked to enhance employee team empowerment experiences. More empowered teams were also more productive and proactive than less empowered teams and had higher levels of customer service, job satisfaction, and organizational and team commitment.

The Impact of Team Empowerment on Virtual Team Performance: The Moderating Role of Face-to-Face Interaction

We investigated the relationship between team empowerment and virtual team performance and the moderating role of the extent of face-to-face interaction using 35 sales and service virtual teams in a high-technology organization. Team empowerment was positively related to two independent assessments of virtual team performance— process improvement and customer satisfaction. Further, the number of face-to-face meetings moderated the relationship between team empowerment and process improvement: team empowerment was a stronger predictor for teams that met face-toface less, rather than more, frequently.

A Multilevel Study of Leadership, Empowerment, and Performance in Teams

A multilevel model of leadership, empowerment, and performance was tested using a sample of 62 teams, 445 individual members, 62 team leaders, and 31 external managers from 31 stores of a Fortune 500 company. Leader-member exchange and leadership climate related differently to individual and team empowerment and interacted to influence individual empowerment. Also, several relationships were supported in more but not in less interdependent teams. Specifically, leader-member exchange related to individual performance partially through individual empowerment; leadership climate related to team performance partially through team empowerment; team empowerment moderated the relationship between individual empowerment and performance; and individual performance was positively related to team performance. Contributions to team leadership theory, research, and practices are discussed.

The Leader-Member Exchange as a Link between Managerial Trust and Employee Empowerment:

This article examines the relationship between managerial trust and employee empowerment. Hypotheses derived from leader-member exchange (LMX) theory suggest that the quality of leader-member relations mediates the linkage between managerial trust and employee empowerment. Data from 128 manager-employee dyads from 13 organizations support this model. Whereas previous research has pointed to the influence of organizational and social structural variables on empowerment, this research shows the importance of manager-employee relationships on perceived empowerment. Implications for researchers and managers leading empowerment initiatives are discussed.

Virtual team effectiveness: a proposed research agenda

Abstract. Contemporary competitive demands have forced many organizations to increase levels of flexibility and adaptability in their operations. A growing number of such organizations have explored the virtual environment as one means of achieving increased responsiveness. In particular, the use of virtual teams appears to be on the increase. However, the increased use of virtual teams has not been accompanied by concomitant research efforts to understand better the social‐psychological contributors to effective virtual teams. In this paper, we use a model of group effectiveness to propose a possible research agenda examining sources of virtual team effectiveness. Although much of this model offers insights relevant to the virtual environment, differences between groups and teams and between co‐located and virtual environments suggest that modifications and additions to this model may be necessary. We offer a set of research propositions to advance future research on effective virtual teams beyond anecdote and description. Implications of this research agenda for managers of virtual teams and human resource professionals are also discussed.

Bank loan officers' perceptions of the characteristics of men, women, and successful entrepreneurs

Much anecdotal evidence suggests that women, compared to similarly situated men, have great difficulty securing financing for entrepreneurial endeavors. In addition, a mounting body of evidence illustrates how women in managerial roles are perceived in terms of sex stereotypes rather than in terms of their accomplishments. The present study extends this line of research to investigate whether female entrepreneurs are also viewed in terms of sex stereotypes. One hundred and six bank loan officers evaluated either men, women, or successful entrepreneurs on scales assessing nine attributes of successful entrepreneurs. The nine entrepreneurial qualities were leadership, autonomy, propensity to take risks, readiness for change, endurance, lack of emotionalism, low need for support, low conformity, and persuasiveness. It was hypothesized that sex stereotypes influenced perceptions that women, compared to men, did not possess the characteristics necessary for successful entrepreneurship. Results confirmed the hypothesis that characteristics attributed to successful entrepreneurs were more commonly ascribed to men than to women. On the dimensions of leadership, autonomy, risk taking, readiness for change, endurance, lack of emotionalism and low need for support, bank loan officers rated women as significantly less like successful entrepreneurs compared to men. While gender differences on the remaining three dimensions failed to reach statistical significance, women were never rated as closer to successful entrepreneurs than were men. These results are consistent with anecdotal evidence of the difficulties female entrepreneurs encounter in securing working capital. The results are also consistent with past research examining commonly held sex stereotypes of male and female managers and executives. These findings raise questions regarding the degree to which loan officers are influenced by sex stereotypes in considering loan applications from male and female aspiring entrepreneurs. From a banks perspective, it may be important to train loan officers to avoid falling back on sex stereotypes in evaluating proposals for new businesses. Similarly, it may be important to alert female entrepreneurs to the need to dispel traditional sex stereotypes in the context of loan application interviews.

Funding new business ventures: Are decision makers biased against women entrepreneurs?

Women have been leaving large corporations in increasing numbers in recent years to start their own businesses. However, they have not been succeeding at the same rate as their male counterparts. One potential barrier to a successful new venture is access to startup capital. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women starting their own businesses may have more difficulty obtaining financial support than men. In a loan decision simulation, this study systematically tested the allegations of female entrepreneurs that bank loan officers are more likely to grant loans, to make a counteroffer, and to make larger counteroffers to male entrepreneurs compared to female entrepreneurs under identical circumstances. Loan officers usually make funding decisions on the basis of information gathered from an interview and a business plan, while venture capitalists often screen proposals on the basis of a business plan alone. A second purpose of this study was to determine whether the mode of presentation— business plan versus business plan with interview—increased the male or female entrepreneurs probability of successfully obtaining a loan. A third purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the decision makers previous experience on funding decisions. The recommendations of (experienced) loan officers versus (inexperienced) undergraduate students were compared in order to determine how experience and accountability influence loan decisions. The study consisted of a 2 x 2 x 2 research design with three independent variables. Loan officers and undergraduate students either read a business plan, or read a business plan and watched a videotape of an interview between a loan officer and a male or female entrepreneur who was seeking a loan to start a business. Participants then indicated the likelihood that they would recommend approval of the loan, make a counteroffer of a smaller amount, and the magnitude of the counteroffer. There was no evidence that sex stereotypes influenced business funding decisions. With respect to the amount of counteroffer, a significant three-way interaction was obtained between entrepreneurial gender, presentation format, and participant status. Loan officers made larger counteroffers to the female compared to the male when they read the business plan and watched the interview. Students made larger counteroffers to the male compared to the female when they read the business plan and observed the interview. Loan officers were significantly more cautious and conservative than students in their funding decisions. Failure to support allegations of bias against women entrepreneurs is discussed in terms of possible unrealistic expectations regarding the ease of obtaining startup capital. Further research is needed to examine this explanation. One implication of these findings is that female entrepreneurs should seek opportunities to meet with loan officers to present their business proposals. In the interview, the female has the opportunity to address questions of motivation and competence. On the other hand, bankers may make more impartial decisions when relying on information in the business plan alone, where financial considerations would have greater weight. Finally, the results suggest that studies using students as proxies for bank loan officers have very limited generalizability.

The Impact of Demographic Heterogeneity and Team Leader-Team Member Demographic Fit on Team Empowerment and Effectiveness:

The authors report the results of an investigation on how demographic heterogeneity in work teams influences team empowerment and team effectiveness. Using data collected from 111 intact work teams in four organizations, it was found that team race heterogeneity was negatively related to team empowerment and to multiple indicators of team effectiveness. Teams were also less effective when their team leaders had longer, rather than shorter, organizational tenure. Team empowerment fully mediated the relationships that race heterogeneity had with team leader ratings of team effectiveness and partially mediated the relationships with team member ratings. In addition, demographic dissimilarity between team leaders and their teams on race was negatively related to empowerment and team leader ratings of team effectiveness; and team members reported less empowerment when led by older team leaders. The authors discuss both theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Career Outcomes The Cost of Being a Good Citizen

Existing research suggests that relationships among organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), task performance, and individual career outcomes are necessarily positive. The authors question this assumption and hypothesize that in organizations with outcome-based control systems, time spent on OCB comes at a cost to task performance. Building on this idea, the authors propose not only that time spent on task performance is more important than time spent on OCB in determining career outcomes (i.e., performance evaluation, salary increase, advancement speed, promotion) in an outcome-based control system but also that time spent on OCB may negatively impact career outcomes. Results based on archival data from 3,680 employees in a professional services firm lend some support for these ideas. Specifically, time spent on task performance was more important than OCB in determining all four career outcomes. Further, controlling for time spent on task performance, employees who spent more time on OCB had lower salary increases and advanced more slowly than employees who spent less time on OCB. These findings suggest that relationships between OCB and outcomes are more complex than originally thought and that boundary conditions may apply to conclusions drawn about the outcomes of OCB.

Perceived Sex Differences in Managerially Relevant Characteristics.

A national sample of 884 male managers completed a survey of managerially relevant perceived sex differences. Females were rated lower on the following scales: (a) aptitudes, skills, and knowledge; (b) motivation and job interest; (c) temperament; and (d) work habits and attitudes. Moreover, lower ratings of women were prevalent among males in a variety of jobs, organizations, and industries.