Christine Unterrainer

The relationship between organizational democracy and socio-moral climate: Exploring effects of the ethical context in organizations

A great deal of attention has been devoted recently to the study of the ethical context in organizations. This article refines the concept of socio-moral climate (SCM) and its impact on organizational socialization towards ethics-related behavioural orientations. The authors expand on previous research by focusing also on specific pre-occupational socialization experiences. The empirical research was conducted in northern Italy. Employees from small and medium-sized enterprises with different levels of structurally anchored organizational democracy were surveyed with standardized questionnaire scales. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between structurally anchored organizational democracy, SMC and employees’ attitudes pertaining to prosocial work behaviours, solidarity at work, democratic engagement orientation and organizational commitment. Controlling for pre-occupational socialization experiences, the results provide evidence for a substantial socialization potential linked to structurally anchored organizational democracy and a favourable work environment in terms of SMC.

Quality of life, coach behaviour and competitive anxiety in Winter Youth Olympic Games participants

Background To ensure the highest technical performance, speed, safety, excellent control and to improve competitive performance, a successful regulation of competitive anxiety is necessary. Therefore, it seems crucial to identify factors influencing competitive anxiety of adolescent athletes. Research suggests that people reporting high quality of life are more capable to cope with stressful and challenging situations than others. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of quality of life, the involvement of parents in sports career and coachs leadership behaviour on competitive anxiety in Winter Youth Olympic Games participants. Methods During the first Winter Youth Olympic Games 2012 in Innsbruck/Austria, 662 (316 women) participants completed questionnaires and single items to assess quality of life, coachs leadership behaviour, parental involvement in sports career and competitive anxiety. Results Multiple regression analysis revealed positive influences of high quality of life and useful coach instruction on competitive anxiety. Conclusions The relationship between quality of life, coach behaviour and competitive anxiety in young elite athletes competing at the first Winter Youth Olympic Games should be considered in long-term programmes for reducing competitive stress.

Is our knowledge of voice and silence in organizations growing? Building bridges and (re)discovering opportunities

This article has three objectives. Firstly, we seek to demonstrate the relevance of voice and silence – that is, whether employees contribute or withhold information, ideas, views and/or concerns at work – for the sustainable development of individuals, organizations and societies. Our second objective is to identify emerging (and enduring) issues – conceptual, theoretical and methodological – that have not yet been adequately addressed in voice and silence research. These issues include the relationship between voice and silence, how they may manifest in organizations, their manifold antecedents inside and beyond organizational boundaries, their potentially positive and negative effects for internal and external stakeholders, and methodological questions. The third objective is to propose opportunities for addressing these issues with the ultimate aim to build a broader and more integrative approach to the nature of silence and voice and their antecedents and consequences. These opportunities include a multi-level model specifying elements and processes leading to individual and collective voice and silence, approaches to voice and silence that have received little attention in organizational research so far, and methodological developments that might reveal new facets of voice and silence. Based on these elaborations, we derive avenues for practitioners who are concerned with promoting voice and preventing/overcoming silence in organizations.

The Analysis of Preconditions for the Fostering of Democratic Behavioural Orientations in Business Organizations – The ODEM Questionnaire (POPD)

Is it possible to support the (further) development of democratic and democracy-related orientations through structures and practices of democratic decision-making in business organizations embedded in a capitalistic economy? This is the frame research question of the project series ODEM that is performed within the research centre Psychology of Everyday Activity (PsyAll) and the research platform Organizations and Society (OrgSoc) at the University of Innsbruck.

The Effect of Transformational Leadership and Job Autonomy on Promotive and Prohibitive Voice: A Two-Wave Study:

Although there is a vast amount of research on leadership and improvement-oriented voice behavior, the amount of cross-lagged research on leadership that also incorporates more challenging forms of voice is sparse. This article reports on a two-wave study of white-collar workers in a Norwegian medical technology company, investigating the relationship among employees’ perceived transformational leadership behaviors, job autonomy, and promotive and prohibitive voice. Testing our results cross-lagged, we demonstrate that perceived transformational leadership is significantly related to prohibitive voice over time, whereas this effect worked in the opposite direction for promotive voice. We also explore the boundary conditions of transformational leadership, demonstrating that perceived job autonomy strengthens the effect of transformational leadership on prohibitive voice. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

Der Einfluss von Risiko- und Wirkfaktoren auf den Erfolg in der Krisenintervention für Kinder und Jugendliche

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag widmet sich der Evaluation der (stationaren) Krisenintervention fur Kinder und Jugendliche, die zum akuten Schutz vor massiver Gewalt, Vernachlassigung oder familiaren Konflikten in der Beratungs- und Notschlafstelle des KIZ fur bis zu acht Wochen in den Wohnbereich aufgenommen werden konnen. Wie erfolgreich die Krisenintervention ist bzw. sein kann, hangt von verschieden Faktoren ab, die in dieser Studie herausgearbeitet wurden. Verschiedene Faktoren haben Auswirkungen auf den Erfolg in der Krisenintervention; vor allem tragt die erlebte Partizipation und eine gute Beziehung bzw. Zusammenarbeit im KIZ zu einem hohen Erfolg bei. Eine Wiederherstellung eigener Handlungsmoglichkeiten nach einer massiven Krise, die Starkung der Selbstwirksamkeit in der Krisenintervention muss kritisch betrachtet werden. Die Jugendlichen sehen hier wenig Veranderung. Die Krisenintervention muss sich also nicht nur auf ihre wichtigste Funktion, Schutz und Sicherheit zu gewahrleisten, konzentrieren, ...The Impact of Risk Factors and Effective Factors on Success in Crisis Intervention for Children and Adolescents This article focuses on the evaluation of (inpatient) crisis interventions for children and adolescents, who can be admitted into the residential area of the KIZ for up to eight weeks in order to provide acute protection against massive violence, neglect or family conflicts in emergency situations. How successful the crisis intervention is or can be depends on various factors that have been worked out in this study. Various factors have an impact on success in crisis intervention; above all the participation, a good relationship and/or cooperation with the Counselors in the Crisis Intervention Center contribute to a great success. Restoring their own possibilities for action after a massive crisis, the strengthening of self-efficacy in crisis intervention must be considered critically. The young clients see little change here. The crisis intervention must therefore not only focus on its most important function, protection and security, but also on the strengthening of self-esteem and a positive sense of coherence as part of the crisis intervention.

Detached Concern, Me and My Clients – Professionals’ Emotion Regulation, Burnout, and Patients’ Care Quality at Work

Abstract Detached Concern and its core dimensions – employees’ concern toward and detachment from their clients – are important facets of the emotion-generative process during client interaction in people-oriented work environments. We studied the intra- and interpersonal effects of Detached Concern on professionals’ burnout (N = 1411) and patient-centered care quality (N = 332 patients; 43 physicians). Our findings indicate different Detached Concern types. Balanced employees (scoring high on concern and detachment) yielded lower burnout levels compared to imbalanced professionals. Patients’ perception of care quality was positively related to their physicians’ concern and detachment, and was significantly higher for the balanced than for the imbalanced physicians.