Mel Fugate

Normalizing dirty work: Managerial tactics for countering occupational taint

Dirty work refers to occupations that are viewed by society as physically, socially, or morally tainted. Using exploratory, semistructured interviews with managers from 18 dirty work occupations, we investigated the challenges of being a manager in tainted work and how managers normalize taint--that is, actively counter it or render it less salient. Managers reported experiencing role complexity and stigma awareness. Four types of practices for countering taint were revealed: occupational ideologies, social buffers, confronting clients and the public, and defensive tactics. We discuss links between these practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holders express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Managing Employee Withdrawal During Organizational Change: The Role of Threat Appraisal

This article examines antecedents and consequences of employees’ threat appraisal during organizational change. Positive change orientation and change-related fairness are examined as antecedents of threat appraisal and multiple forms of employee withdrawal as outcomes (intentions to quit, voluntary turnover, and absenteeism). Structural equation results show negative relationships between threat appraisals and positive change orientation (change self-efficacy, positive attitudes toward change, and perceived control of changes) and change-related fairness (distributive, procedural, and interactive). Threat appraisals are positively related to absenteeism and intentions to quit, which predict voluntary turnover. Threat appraisals have differential intervening effects on relationships between the antecedents and outcomes.

Thoughts and Feelings About Organizational Change A Field Test of Appraisal Theory

This longitudinal field study examines the relationships among the three focal constructs within appraisal theory—appraisal, emotion, and coping—at the beginning of change and their relationship with employee withdrawal at the end of an organizational restructuring. New theory is used to integrate past theory and research to propose and test a model containing synchronous reciprocal relationships between negative appraisal and negative emotions. Results confirmed a synchronous reciprocal relationship between negative appraisal and negative emotions, which suggests that appraisal is not a sequential process as often conceptualized and tested in the past. Negative appraisals and negative emotions also had negative relationships with control coping, which was negatively associated to intentions to quit, which in turn predicted subsequent voluntary turnover. This study thus extends appraisal theory and demonstrates it is a powerful alternative (theoretical) means for examining employee reactions to organizational change. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Attributional Style in Work Settings: Development of a Measure:

We developed the Work Attributional Style Questionnaire to assess ones attributional propensities in work settings. In Study 1, a tendency to attribute positive events to internal, stable, global, and controllable causes was associated with positive work adjustment (i.e., low helplessness and depression). Study 2 revealed similar results; however, a factor structure comprised of only 2 dimensions (controllability/internality and stability/globality) was evident. Attributional style for positive events was a marginally significant predictor of work adjustment in Study 2. When fitted to Study 1 data, the revised Study 2 model fit the data well. Positive attributional style was a significant predictor of work adjustment and negative attributional style was marginally significant.

Do similarities or differences between CEO leadership and organizational culture have a more positive effect on firm performance? A test of competing predictions.

This study examines the nature of the interaction between CEO leadership and organizational culture using 2 common metathemes (task and relationship) in leadership and culture research. Two perspectives, similarity and dissimilarity, offer competing predictions about the fit, or interaction, between leadership and culture and its predicted effect on firm performance. Predictions for the similarity perspective draw upon attribution theory and social identity theory of leadership, whereas predictions for the dissimilarity perspective are developed based upon insights from leadership contingency theories and the notion of substitutability. Hierarchical regression results from 114 CEOs and 324 top management team (TMT) members failed to support the similarity hypotheses but revealed broad support for the dissimilarity predictions. Findings suggest that culture can serve as a substitute for leadership when leadership behaviors are redundant with cultural values (i.e., they both share a task- or relationship-oriented focus). Findings also support leadership contingency theories indicating that CEO leadership is effective when it provides psychological and motivational resources lacking in the organizations culture. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and delineate directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record

Cognitive appraisal as a mechanism linking negative organizational shocks and intentions to leave

ABSTRACT The past two decades have seen a significant rise in both frequency and size of mergers and acquisitions in the US, many of which have been associated with considerable interruption of organizational activities and a host of negative outcomes for employees. In this study of 763 US-based airline employees, we identify threat appraisal as a key mechanism explaining the relationship between four change-related variables (quality of change communication, procedural fairness in restructuring, change management history, and anxiety about change) and employee turnover intentions. Results indicate that turnover intentions are influenced by quality of change communication, procedural fairness in restructuring, and anxiety about change as mediated by threat appraisal. We also found that job embeddedness moderated the relationships of quality of change communication and procedural fairness in restructuring with threat appraisal. Our focus on malleable levers of withdrawal offers theoretical and practical insights into how turnover intentions can be influenced.

Whistle While You Work: Toward a Model of Emotional Self-Leadership

There has been a growing interest in leader emotion in organizational scholarship. Concomitantly, the body of research on self-leadership continues to expand. Nonetheless, relatively little work has focused on emotional self-leadership. We address this void by exploring intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of emotional self-leadership and its inherent challenges and opportunities. Specifically, we examine how emotional self-leadership strategies can be used to shape emotional experiences, emotional authenticity, and other work-related outcomes. We offer an emotional self-leadership model, research propositions, and implications for research and practice.

Employability in Perspective: Moving Beyond the Hype

Employability has been hyped as an asset for both employees and employers in terms of career and organizational success, with particular resonance in the current time of widespread job insecurity and continuous change. The strong positive beliefs on employability are however not matched with evidence, which led us to challenge the “employability-hype” in a set of four papers. More specifically, these papers together probe a) whether employability and employee investments aid early and sustained career success, and b) whether employability and employer investments contribute to organizational success in the form of employee commitment and performance. Insights from the papers are integrated in a group discussion by Beatrice Van der Heijden and Mel Fugate, two renowned scholars in the field. Particular strengths of this symposium are that it a) brings together an international set of employability research papers, b) combines theoretical and empirical contributions and c) informs practice on how to move bey...