Laurie Larwood

Structure And Meaning Of Organizational Vision

Chief executives in one national and three regional samples participated in a study of the content and structure of their organizational visions. Executives clustered in three groups distinguished ...

Preliminary Validation of the Work-Family Integration-Blurring Scale

Several studies of telecommuting and working at home have alluded to the blurring line between work and family that can result from such highly integrated work-family arrangements. However, little is known about working parents’ perceptions of the integration and blurring of their work and family roles. In this study, the authors created and validated the Work-Family Integration-Blurring Scale using a national sample of business professors raising children in two-parent families. Based on boundary theory and work-family border theory, the authors expected scores on this scale to be associated with the number of hours worked at home and on campus, the number of work-family transitions made when working at home, the presence of distractions when working at home, and the presence of work-family conflict. The scale’s significant and moderately high correlations with these variables supported its construct validity. The research implications and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Extending latent role and psychological contract theories to predict intent to turnover and politics in business organizations.

Organizational researchers broadly accept Gouldners (1957, 1958) early work describing the cosmopolitan-local latent role construct. In practice, however, measurement and external validity issues appear to have inhibited a more broad application to the general workplace environment. The present research provides a model demonstrating that local and cosmopolitan latent roles relate to such career and job concerns as job fit to the psychological contract and job satisfaction. These variables, in turn, predict intention to quit and organizational politics. Results are discussed in the context of structural equation modeling, which provides both theoretical and practical implications for better understanding quit rates and political behavior.

Gender Discrimination and the Workplace: An Examination of Rational Bias Theory

Previous research concerning the “rationalbias” theory of workplace discrimination has beenconfined largely to narrow student samples. This studyextends that work with an experimental-survey design in which employed participants were asked bothhow others respond to conditions classically elicitingrational bias discrimination, and how they believepeople behave in their own firms. Participants were 148 men and 158 women (88.6% Caucasian, 4.6%Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 2.8% other racialidentification) with graduate business degrees from apublic university. Results show evidence of continuingdiscrimination, and support the theory predicting rational biasgender discrimination in the workplace. Gender ofrespondent and locus of control (defined by SpectorsWork Locus of Control scale) are also shown to be related to rational bias discrimination.Suggestions are made for further development and testingof rational bias theory.

Perspectives on Institutional Discrimination and Resistance to Change

A review of evidence concerning the effect of efforts to counter discrimi nation suggests that little progress has been made. Three leading theoret ical and research perspectives on discrimination are examined: economic, sociological, and psychological. This article asserts that a fourth perspective, analyzing the decision process of the rational man ager concerned with the opinions of powerful others, is still needed for a full understanding of organizational discrimination. The new managerial framework is seen as having important implications for policymakers and managers concerned with ending discrimination. Several hypotheses are offered for testing this perspective.

Relation of objective and subjective inputs to exchange preference for equity or equality reward allocation

Abstract This study examines a possible synthesis between the equity and exchange theories concerning the pay-performance relationship. A combined experimental and survey design, in which subjects allocate rewards after receiving performance feedback, finds that the objective choice of the equality, equity, or winner-take-all exchange is associated with the observation of different types of exchange inputs. In particular, performance-related individual inputs such as score and ability are associated with the objective use of equity, while less relevant inputs such as cooperation lead to objective equality; only actual score was seen as significant by users of the winner-take-all exchange. A model of the pay-performance relationship is proposed, based on these and additional findings concerning chance and win/lose outcomes.

Job Tactics of Women in Banking

This study investigated the tactics used by eighty women branch bank officers for succeeding in management. The officers evaluated the impor tance of fifty-one attributes or tactics. Results showed a high degree of agreement about the importance of a number of items, including the ability to make decisions and the demonstration of competence. Masculin ity was rejected as a tactic (that is, it was not checked as an important item) by all respondents. A split-half correlation analysis indicated that certain items were reliably related to both salary and subjective career success. The reliable predictors included some items that were not gener ally accepted by the group as a whole, and the predictors depended in part on the measure of success used. The results suggested a model of career development.

Training Women for Management: Changing Priorities.

A number of top executive women were interviewed to determine their beliefs concerning the needs of women for management training and development. Results, which are compared with those in an earlier examination, show that socialization and skills development needs remain important, while no current concern was found for training concerning stereotyping. Communication and networking, and power and politics are seen as issues that have increased substantially in importance and that are now areas in which substantial training remains to be done.

Perceptions of Fairness with Three Alternative Economic Exchanges

Based on pilot information, a laboratory experiment and field validation were conducted to support the notion that people may use objectively-defined exchange rules other than those governing equit...

Aging, retirement, and interest in technological retraining: Predicting personal investment and withdrawal

Abstract Rapid change mandates that personnel undergo repeated retraining in firms applying or developing new technologies. This research applies expectancy and human capital concepts to examine the conditions under which personnel are most receptive toward technological retraining. Because of changing demographics, the analysis focuses in part on the influence of aging and retirement on retraining. Results for employees in thirteen firms support the expectancy and human capital models of training investment and withdrawal, suggesting that retraining is most likely to be undertaken in response to perceived self-interest. Expected time until retirement distinguishes differences among personnel in their interest in retraining, while age is a secondary variable. Suggestions are offered both for further research and for application of the results in human resource management.