Deanna Geddes

Exploring the Dimensions of Emotional Labor The Heart of Hochschild’s Work

This study empirically identifies the dimensions and initiates the development of a measure of emotional labor. Phase 1 of this project generated items for an exploratory questionnaire to which a broad sample of service workers responded (N = 358). Analysis revealed two dimensions of emotional labor: emotive effort, a construct never before identified in the emotional labor literature; and emotive dissonance, an acknowledged dimension that is further validated by this study. Several viable antecedent constructs of emotional labor also were identified and incorporated into an emerging model of emotional labor. In Phase 2, revised scales were administered to a second sample of service workers (N = 427) for reliability and validity purposes. Structural equation modeling also was used to establish relationships among emotional labor’s dimensions and various antecedent variables, facilitating development of a model of emotional labor.

Demographic Differences and Reactions to Performance Feedback

This study examined the effects of demographic similarity and dissimilarity on perceptions of performance appraisals and reactions to negative feedback. We surveyed a sample of 180 non-supervisory employees from an organization whose members represent over 120 nationalities. Consistent with predictions based on status characteristics theory, employees reacted more favorably to feedback from White managers. An asymmetrical dissimilarity effect was observed in which men reacted more unfavorably to feedback from women. Contrary to predictions based on the similarity–attraction hypothesis, employees reacted more unfavorably to negative feedback from same-race managers. Implications with regard to self-identity threat are discussed as a possible explanation for this phenomenon.

The trouble with sanctions: Organizational responses to deviant anger displays at work

This article examines management and coworker reactions to employee anger expressions that violate salient emotion display norms, for example, deviant anger, and explores whether these reactions can promote subsequent positive change at work. Full-time US employees volunteered information about workplace anger expressions they personally witnessed and felt ‘went too far’. Using open-ended survey questions, we identified three categories of deviant anger (physical acts, intense verbal displays, and inappropriate communication), as well as various formal and informal sanctioning and supportive responses initiated by organizational observers. Additional data collection and generalized linear modeling analysis revealed that when coworkers and management responded supportively to the angry employee (rather than with sanctions or doing nothing), favorable change occurred, improving the problematic situation. Implications for future research, management practices, and employee socialization are discussed.

Exploring the Dimensionality of Positive and Negative Performance Feedback.

Positive and negative performance feedback may best be examined not as opposite ends of a single continuum, but as two separate, unique constructs, each with its own dimensional structure. This study explores the nature of these distinct structures by applying multidimensional scaling techniques to performance feedback messages given in organizational settings. The results indicate that positive feedback messages are characterized by two underlying dimensions (no instruction/praise versus instruction/guidance; process versus product focus), and that negative messages reflect a four‐dimensional structure (explicit versus ambiguous; destructive versus constructive criticism; high versus low knowledge of performance conditions; mixed/inconsistent versus clear standards of evaluation). Implications of these constructs are discussed with regard to the delivery, cognitive processing, and responses associated with performance feedback.

Representation and processing in the self‐system: An action‐oriented approach to self and self‐relevant phenomena

This paper outlines a cognitive model of the self‐system. The model details the structural representation of self‐relevant information in memory and the processes by which that information is retrieved and utilized. Central to the model is the assumption that self‐knowledge is held in action‐relevant modular units that are employed in guiding and regulating cognition and behavior. Five experimental tests of various facets of the model are also reported. These studies support the view that self‐relevant information is held in modular units, independent of other units comprising the self‐system. Further, it is possible to prime the symbolic primitives comprising these modules by presentation of situational features. Finally, once a particular symbolic node is activated, that activation will spread to other, associated nodes. Implications of the model and its relation to other cognitive models of the self‐system are discussed.

Examining the dimensionality of performance feedback messages: Source and recipient perceptions of influence attempts

Performance feedback is considered an effective means of influencing organizational members. Nevertheless, recipient perceptions regarding such attempts to motivate, change, and/or reinforce certain behaviors and attitudes will determine the eventual response. Often these responses are unexpected and less than desirable. Efforts to better understand the performance feedback construct have produced conceptions emphasizing its complexity and multidimensionality. However, a recent challenge to the usefulness and /or validity of such conceptualizations has prompted the research reported here. This study explores feedback recipients’ and sources’ perceptions of the underlying dimensionality or “hidden structure” of performance feedback messages.

The place and role of (moral) anger in organizational behavior studies

Summary The aim of this article is to conceptually delineate moral anger from other related constructs. Drawing upon social functional accounts of anger, we contend that distilling the finer nuances of morally motivated anger and its expression can increase the precision with which we examine prosocial forms of anger (e.g., redressing injustice), in general, and moral anger, in particular. Without this differentiation, we assert that (i) moral anger remains theoretically elusive, (ii) that this thwarts our ability to methodologically capture the unique variance moral anger can explain in important work outcomes, and that (iii) this can promote ill‐informed organizational policies and practice. We offer a four‐factor definition of moral anger and demonstrate the utility of this characterization as a distinct construct with application for workplace phenomena such as, but not limited to, whistle‐blowing. Next, we outline a future research agenda, including how to operationalize the construct and address issues of construct, discriminant, and convergent validity. Finally, we argue for greater appreciation of angers prosocial functions and concomitant understanding that many anger displays can be justified and lack harmful intent. If allowed and addressed with interest and concern, these emotional displays can lead to improved organizational practice.

Muted Anger in the Workplace: Changing the 'Sound' of Employee Emotion Through Social Sharing

This study is a preliminary effort to examine “muted anger” in the workplace. Muted anger is a unique interpersonal and organizational phenomenon, incorporated in the Dual Threshold Model (DTM) of workplace anger (Geddes & Callister, 2007). Characterized as a form of suppressed workplace anger, muted anger occurs when angry organizational members intentionally keep their anger hidden from management and those responsible for the problematic situation, and instead express their emotions to colleagues (and others) unrelated to the initial anger-provoking incident. Using the DTM framework, we surveyed 296 full-time employees regarding their experience with an angry colleague who vented to them after an infuriating event. Our findings indicate that whether or not muted anger episodes can lead to productive communication practices depends on the anger intensity of both the actor and the sympathetic responder as well as the responders level of organizational commitment. Those who themselves felt moderate anger intensity after hearing their colleagues plight and those with high organizational commitment were more likely to advocate on behalf of their angry colleague and approach management or someone in a responsible position to help address the problematic situation. Those with lower anger intensity and organizational commitment typically discussed the situation with one or two additional, but unrelated persons – expanding the muted anger episode.

Crossing the Line: A Dual Threshold Model of Expressing Anger in Organizations

This paper proposes a Dual Threshold Model of anger expression in organizations in which the expression threshold is crossed when an organizational member chooses to verbally express, rather than silence anger at work, and the impropriety threshold is crossed when organizational members express anger in ways deemed inappropriate by organizational or social norms. This paper proposes when neither or both thresholds are crossed, the probability of more negative outcomes increases; however, when the expression threshold is crossed, but the impropriety threshold is not, the probability increases that more positive outcomes will occur. The model also builds on the theory of bounded emotionality (Martin, Knopoff, & Beckman, 1998; Mumby & Putnam, 1992; Putnam & Mumby, 1993) to suggest that it would be beneficial for individuals to alter behavior and organizations to alter norms to expand the space between these two thresholds and increase the probability of positive outcomes from anger expressions.

What Makes a Quiz Fair? Applying the Organizational Justice Literature

Marketing instructors can use quizzes to maintain academic standards for student preparation and performance, particularly in large introductory courses. However, when quizzes provide students with negative feedback, the students may respond by further reducing their efforts or by turning against the instructor. In light of these potential student responses, it matters a great deal whether students perceive the quizzes as fair. The organizational justice literature (e.g., Greenberg 1986; Tata 2002) has shown that employee reactions to negative feedback improve when the employees perceive the managers approach as fair. This study examines instructor-controllable quiz practices that may boost student perceptions of quiz fairness. Data were collected from 530 undergraduates in 10 AACSB-affiliated colleges of business in the United States. Regression analysis shows that student perceptions of quiz fairness were most influenced by surprise questions, unbiased grading practices, satisfactory explanations, and the perception that preparation can boost quiz grades.