Christine M. Pearson

When Workers Flout Convention: A Study of Workplace Incivility

Many organizations are concerned about the potential for workplace aggression and violence, yet pay little heed to lesser forms of interpersonal and organizational mistreatment. Drawing from knowledge and experiences of managers, attorneys, law enforcement officers and emergency medical professionals, we report a multi-method, multidisciplinary inductive study addressing two questions: (1) what is the nature of workplace incivility and how does incivility differ from and fit among other types of workplace mistreatment; and (2) what are some implications of incivility for employees and organizations?

Creating an empowering culture: examining the relationship between organizational culture and perceptions of empowerment

Abstract A study of front line employees in four textile plants located in the Southeastern United States is used to examine how organizational culture may support empowerment efforts. Our results indicate that organizational cultures that were perceived as being more collective and more doing-oriented were related to significantly greater perceptions of empowerment. Power distance was related to empowerment and organizational commitment in unexpected ways. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.

Crisis Management And Civil Unrest: Seeing The La Riots Through An Industrial Lens

Pearson, C. and Kirby, M., 1993, Crisis management and civil unrest: seeing the LA riots through an industrial lens, Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly, 7:4, 262-278. This article describes an industrial perspective of the effects of and respons es to the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Using a time phase model, this study examines the efforts made by businesses to detect early warning signals, pre pare for the riots, contain damages, and resume operations. In addition, the authors identify lessons that businesses can apply to prepare for civil unrest.