Jørn K. Rognes

Employment relations in Norway: some dimensions and correlates

This article draws upon psychological, sociological, and economic theories of employment relations to examine five dimensions of employment conditions (information, compensation, time frame, investment, and change) in Norway. Each of these dimensions is conceptualized as a continuum anchored by relational exchange on one side and transactional exchange on the other. Using data from nationally representative surveys of Norwegian work organizations and their employees, we first develop measures of the five dimensions of employment relations and test several hypotheses about their antecedents. We find that full-time employees in supervisory positions and in higher prestige occupations generally have employment conditions that have more relational aspects. In addition, we find that degree of relationalism tends to be greater in organizations that have firm internal labour markets and encourage personal development. We then examine some individual-level consequences of relationalism, and find that persons with relational employment conditions are generally more committed to their organizations, somewhat less likely to leave them, and more satisfied with their jobs. Copyright

Understanding the integrative approach to conflict management

Purpose – Integration is an active search for information about facts and interests – motivated by a willingness to find mutually satisfactory agreements – and is usually necessary for creating high quality settlements in conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the integrative approach to conflicts.Design/methodology/approach – Surveys, scenario studies, and experiments were used to explore factors relating to an integrative approach. First, how integration affected various outcome qualities (Study 1 and Study 2) was examined. Then Studies 3, 4 and 5, respectively, examined how integration was influenced by demographic (gender and education), individual (achievement motivation, creativity, and cognitive style), and relational (quality of the relationship) factors.Findings – Results demonstrated that an integrative approach is beneficial for various outcome‐dimensions (quality, satisfaction, fairness, and trust). Regarding predictors of an integrative approach, being male business students are n...

Small Group Negotiation: When Members Differ in Motivational Orientation

Members of small groups often disagree when making decisions. Therefore, they need to negotiate to reach a joint decision. Small group negotiations will often be difficult because group members approach the task with different motivational orientations, some members being individualistic (i.e., focusing only on their own interests) and others being more cooperative (i.e., focusing both on their own interests and those of the group as a whole). Examining 3-person groups in simulated negotiations, it was found that the differences in group members’ motivational orientations affected both (a) how resources were distributed within the groups (individualistic members exploited cooperative members and got the lion’s share of the resources, even when the cooperators were in a majority) and (b) how fairness was perceived across group compositions (members of groups with only cooperative members perceived the negotiations to be more fair than did members of groups that had one or more individualistic members).