Bruce Barry

Composition, process, and performance in self-managed groups: the role of personality.

Using the five factor model with an emphasis on extraversion and conscientiousness, the authors investigated how personality is related to small group processes and outcomes. Graduate students (N = 289) assigned to 4- and 5-person teams in 61 groups engaged in a series of creative problem-solving tasks over a period of several weeks. Extraversion was associated with group processes and outcomes at both individual and group levels of analysis. At the individual level, extraverts were perceived by others as having greater effect than introverts on group outcomes. Covariance structure modeling suggested that extraverts induce these perceptions through the provision of both socioemotional and task-related inputs. At the group level, the proportion of relatively extraverted members was related curvilinearly to task focus and group performance. Contrary to expectations, Conscientiousness was unrelated to processes and outcomes at either the individual or group level.

Bargainer Characteristics in Distributive and Integrative Negotiation

Negotiation researchers theorize that individual differences are determinants of bargaining processes and outcomes but have yet to establish empirically the role of individual differences. In 2 studies the authors used bargaining simulations to examine the roles of personality and cognitive ability in distributive (Study 1) and integrative (Study 2) negotiation. The authors hypothesized and found evidence that Extraversion and Agreeableness are liabilities in distributive bargaining encounters. For both Extraversion and Agreeableness there were interactions between personality and negotiator aspirations such that personality effects were more pronounced in the absence of high aspirations. Contrary to predictions, Conscientiousness was generally unrelated to bargaining success. Cognitive ability played no role in distributive bargaining but was markedly related to the attainment of joint outcomes in a situation with integrative potential.

I know what you did: The effects of interpersonal deviance on bystanders.

Using social information processing theory, we explore how interpersonally directed deviance affects work group members who observe or are aware of these insidious behaviors. In a field study, we find that indirect knowledge of work group member interpersonal deviance leads to subsequent interpersonal deviance of a focal individual. We also find that when work group cohesion is high, direct observation of deviance is more likely to result in subsequent bystander deviance. These findings add concretely to theory and research on the bystander effects of workplace deviance.

The Dynamics of Consensus Building in Intracultural and Intercultural Negotiations

This research examines the dynamics of consensus building in intracultural and intercultural negotiations achieved through the convergence of mental models between negotiators. Working from a dynamic constructivist view, according to which the effects of culture are socially and contextually contingent, we theorize and show in two studies of U.S. and Chinese negotiators that while consensus might be generally easier to achieve in intracultural negotiation settings than intercultural settings, the effects of culture depend on the epistemic and social motives of the parties. As hypothesized, we find that movement toward consensus (in the form of mental model convergence) is more likely among intracultural than intercultural negotiating dyads and that negotiators’ epistemic and social motives moderated these effects: need for closure inhibited consensus more for intercultural than intracultural dyads, while concern for face fostered consensus more for intercultural than intracultural dyads. Our theory and findings suggest that consensus building is not necessarily more challenging in cross-cultural negotiations but depends on the epistemic and social motivations of the individuals negotiating.

Perceptions of Influence in Managerial Dyads: The Role of Hierarchy, Media, and Tactics

Relationships among dyadic structure, the influence tactics used by managers, the communication media they employ, and perceived influence success were investigated in a field study. Surveyed managers (n = 139) responded to questions about their patterns of communication and influence with respect to a single other individual in the organization. Dyadic relationship (upward, downward, or horizontal) affected influence tactics and media usage; these behaviors in turn were found to be selectively related to influence success, depending on the dyadic relationship between agent and target of influence.

Communication Aspects of Dyadic Social Influence in Organizations: A Review and Integration of Conceptual and Empirical Developments

This chapter presents a review and synthesis of research on dyadic social influence in organizations, defined as the communication processes through which an individual participant within a complex organization elicits cognitive, emotional, and behavioral change from another individual in the pursuit of social objectives. Distinct streams of dyadic influence research have developed in various literatures and rely on divergent methods; this analysis crosses disciplinary boundaries to include work in communication theory, social and industrial/organizational psychology, and sociology, among others. The review considers (a) conceptual models of the process of dyadic influence, (b) efforts to identify and catalog influence-seeking methods, and (c) empirical studies of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of influence method selection. Within each section, research issues, trends, and limitations that are specifically relevant to understanding influence in organizations are discussed. The authors intr...

Ethics in Conflict Resolution: The Ties That Bind

Ethical dilemmas are inevitable in negotiation and other conflict resolution situations as parties seek to guard self-interest while reconciling competing interests. There is a developing body of research on the psychology of ethics in conflict, but a relative dearth of scholarly attention to the wider field of ethics in conflict resolution. In this introductory essay, we describe and comment on the diversity of approaches and contexts featured in the articles that comprise this themed issue of International Negotiation . We identify the ethical dimensions of relationships among disputing parties and interveners as a common thematic element that may represent a fruitful avenue for thinking about the distinctive role of ethics in the resolution of conflict.

Corporatism and Inequality: The Race to the Bottom (Line)

We search for an understanding of how the scholarly field of management tackles, copes with, or perhaps just conveniently avoids the subjects of race and wealth inequality in contemporary America. Doing so means confronting an inescapable paradox between the imposing and expanding power of corporate capitalism on the one hand, and the depressing and stubborn reality of poverty and economic inequality in American society on the other. The paper is structured into three major parts. First, we present a brief overview of poverty and corporatism, followed by a discussion of existing management scholarship on the intersection of poverty, race, and inequality; Second, we discuss underlying conceptual frameworks that create tensions in management scholarship between economic and social imperatives; Last, we conclude with a few speculative words about future directions for more and better management research attention to these issues.

Deception in Negotiations, Organizations, and Markets: Theoretical and Empirical Insights

Deception pervades interpersonal and organizational life. In this symposium, we discuss our state-of-the-science theoretical and empirical research on the characteristics, antecedents, and conseque...

Lies, Damn Lies, and Negotiation: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Nature and Consequences of Deception at the Bargaining Table

This chapter considers what ethicists say normatively about acts of deception in negotiation, and what psychologists and organizational behaviorists report empirically about the causes, forms, and consequences of deceptive behavior. After brief attention to definitions of lying and deception, we describe normative approaches found mainly in the business ethics literature that address negotiator bluffing. We then summarize empirical social science research on deception, highlighting work in social psychology and communication theory on lying and its detection. A discussion of (mainly) empirical work on deceptive behavior in negotiation follows, including informational forms of deceptions as well as strategic simulation or suppression of emotions. In a concluding section we highlight research gaps and fruitful directions for future inquiry.