Judith A. Clair

Playing the grim reaper: How employees experience carrying out a downsizing

This article reports a qualitative study that explores how employees who are responsible for carrying out a downsizing - ‘downsizing agents’ - experience and react to their downsizing responsibilities. Our results demonstrate that, when the work of carrying out a downsizing becomes emotionally taxing, downsizing agents react by cognitively, emotionally, and physically distancing themselves from their roles. We explore forces that make carrying out a downsizing more taxing and the conditions under which distancing reactions become more likely.

Marginal memberships Psychological effects of identity ambiguity on professionals who are demographically different from the majority

In workplace interactions, professionals who are demographically different from the majority of others in their profession (e.g., one of a few African Americans in a predominately White group of doctors) often experience “identity ambiguity”—the sense and feeling that one’s claims to a professional identity are questioned or not fully accepted in an interaction because of one’s atypical demographic background. We assert here that identity ambiguity can have meaningful psychological and behavioral effects on the demographically atypical professional. We offer a model which explores how such experiences of identity ambiguity evoke identity threats and negative emotions. In turn, we describe how these reactions can impact work role engagement and in-role and extra-role performance for demographically atypical professionals. We discuss the implications for organizations and for individuals who have trouble claiming and/or being granted an identity in work interactions.

This Is How We Do It How Perceived Prosocial Impact Offsets Negative Personal Outcomes Associated With Carrying Out Necessary Evils

“Necessary evils” require employees to psychologically or physically harm others to produce a perceived greater good. Employees can also help others during necessary evils tasks by providing assistance and support to those harmed. Through an inductive, qualitative study of human resources employees’ experiences carrying out downsizing, we explore how the perception of helping the person one has harmed relates to the harm-doer’s ability to withstand the challenges of having to carry out necessary evils. Our research culminates in a theoretical model showing that (a) seven kinds of stressors were associated with participants’ involvement in necessary evils tasks, (b) these stressors triggered a series of negative personal outcomes (negative self-focused emotions, emotional exhaustion, and intention to turnover), and (c) perceived prosocial impacts ameliorated these negative personal outcomes. We discuss the implications our findings for research and practice, address limitations of our study, and offer ideas for future research.

In our own backyard: when a less inclusive community challenges organizational inclusion

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build insight into how the local community impacts an organization’s ability to develop an inclusive culture. The paper introduces the concept of inclusion disconnects as incongruent experiences of inclusion between an organization and its community. Then, using the case of teaching hospitals, the paper empirically demonstrates how individuals and organizations experience and deal with inclusion disconnects across the boundaries of organization and community. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-method qualitative study was conducted in hospitals located in the same city. Focus groups were conducted with 11 medical trainees from underrepresented backgrounds and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten leaders involved with diversity efforts at two hospitals. Data analysis followed an iterative approach built from Miles and Huberman (1994). Findings – The findings demonstrate how boundary conflicts arise from disconnected experiences of organizational an...

What to Expect When She’s Expecting

There has been extensive writing both in the popular press and the academic literature on the unique work-life challenges of professional working mothers. Professional working mothers often must manage competing gender biases – being perceived as cold-hearted (Cuddy et al., 2004) or worse, bad mothers (Epstein et al., 1999) on one hand and less committed to their work roles (Correll et al., 2007) on the other.

Me, Myself, and I: Opportunities and Challenges in Multiple Identities Research

The purpose of this multiple identities panel symposium is threefold. First, by bringing established identity scholars together with different research backgrounds and theoretical perspectives – such as the level of multiple identities studied and the methodological approaches utilized – we hope to both illustrate the diversity and nuances of multiple identity research. Our second purpose is to serve as a practical guide for scholars interested in pursuing multiple identity research with a discussion of both empirical and conceptual challenges with conducting multiple identity research, including selecting the appropriate empirical approach (the pros and cons of qualitative vs. quantitative research), measurement and operationalization challenges, and the selection of what identity variables to account for. Our third and final aim is to take a look forward into the future, with a discussion of multiple identity research trends and the opportunities for future research.

Identity and the Transition to Motherhood: Navigating Existing, Temporary, and Anticipatory Identities

Over the past two decades, there has been extensive research across diverse disciplines exploring the treatment of pregnant women in the work context (Gatrell in Human Relations 1–24, 2013). One of the most significant challenges women experience during pregnancy relates to their ability to manage their evolving sense of self as work and motherhood intersect—often for the first time. Pregnant working women are undergoing an identity transition that relates to three distinct, and often conflicting, identities: their existing professional identity, their emerging mothering identity, and their temporary pregnancy identity. In this book chapter, we engage an identity based perspective to explore this transitional period of pregnancy for working women and how women engage in identity work as they manage the tension between who they are, who they want to be, and who their organizations want them to be. When women are able to successfully navigate this identity transition and establish a strong vision of their future self as a working mother, they are more likely to stay engaged and committed to their professions and be more satisfied at work and at home.