Terence R. Mitchell

Strategic Decision Processes: Comprehensiveness and Performance in an Industry with an Unstable Environment

Comprehensiveness is a measure of rationality and is defined as the extent to which organizations attempt to be exhaustive or inclusive in making and integrating strategic decisions. Results from a...

The Unfolding Model of Voluntary Turnover: A Replication and Extension

This work reports further theoretical development of Lee and Mitchells (1994) unfolding model of voluntary turnover, which describes different psychological paths that people take when quitting or...

5 Turnover and Retention Research: A Glance at the Past, a Closer Review of the Present, and a Venture into the Future

Given the extensive research on the topic of voluntary employee turnover in the past decade as well as new managerial approaches to employee retention, labor market dynamism, and evolution in research methodology and technology, it is important that researchers evaluate the current state of the field. In

An Unfolding Model of Voluntary Employee Turnover

We report a test of Lee and Mitchells model of voluntary employee departure from an organization. Data gathered from interviews with nurses who had recently quit their jobs and a mailed survey wer...

Image theory: Principles, goals, and plans in decision making☆

Abstract A descriptive theory of decision making is proposed in which decision makers represent information as images. One image consists of principles that recommend pursuit of specific goals. A second image represents the future state of events that would result from attainment of those goals. A third image consists of the plans that are being implemented in the attempt to attain the goals. A fourth image represents the anticipated results of the plans. Decisions consist of (1) adopting or rejecting potential candidates to be new principles, goals, or plans, and (2) determining whether progress toward goals is being made, i.e., whether the aspired-to future and the anticipated results of plan implementation correspond. Decisions are made using either (1) the compatibility between candidates and existing principles, goals and plans, and the compatibility between the images of the aspired-to and the anticipated states of events, or (2) the potential gains and losses offered by a goal or plan.

5. The unfolding model of voluntary turnover and job embeddedness: Foundations for a comprehensive theory of attachment

Abstract In this chapter, a comprehensive approach to understanding voluntary employee turnover and retention is described. First, the literature on employee turnover is briefly reviewed because many of our ideas are grounded in existing theory and research. Second, our recent theory on why and how people leave the organization (called theUnfolding Model of Voluntary Turnover) is detailed. In particular, two empirical studies that confirm and refine the models major propositions are summarized. Third, our analysis of why people stay is explained. This approach to understanding employee retention is grounded in the development, measurement and test of a construct called jobembeddedness. In addition, two empirical studies that competitively test and refine the embeddedness construct are summarized. Fourth, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of organizational attachment, our preliminary ideas about the integration of the unfolding model and job embeddedness are offered. In our last section, the implications of this work are discussed. More specifically, we identify a number of ways that our theoretical constructs and empirical research fundamentally change or challenge many basic assumptions about traditional theory and research on employee turnover and retention. Finally, our concluding comments focus on how an organization can apply these ideas to increase attachment through embeddedness and/or to reduce turnover by understanding the tenets of the unfolding model.

How, When, and Why Bad Apples Spoil the Barrel: Negative Group Members and Dysfunctional Groups

This paper presents a review and integrative model of how, when, and why the behaviors of one negative group member can have powerful, detrimental influence on teammates and groups. We define the negative group member as someone who persistently exhibits one or more of the following behaviors: withholding effort from the group, expressing negative affect, or violating important interpersonal norms. We then detail how these behaviors elicit psychological states in teammates (e.g. perceptions of inequity, negative feelings, reduced trust), how those psychological states lead to defensive behavioral reactions (e.g. outbursts, mood maintenance, withdrawal), and finally, how these various manifestations of defensiveness influence important group processes and dynamics (e.g. cooperation, creativity). Key mechanisms and moderators are discussed as well as actions that might reduce the impact of the bad apple. Implications for both practice and research are discussed.

The contingency model for the selection of decision strategies: An empirical test of the effects of significance, accountability, and reversibility

Abstract : A contingency model for the selection of decision strategies was described and tested. This model suggests that when decisions are more significant, the decision cannot be reversed, and the decision maker is responsible for his actions, then the decision strategy will be more analytic and result in a greater investment of time and effort than when the opposite conditions are true. Three studies tested and supported these assumptions. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the further development of this particular model and for the field of decision making in general. (Author)

Locus of Control: Supervision and Work Satisfaction

This article discusses the increase in public concern surrounding new problems between workers and their employers. Research suggests that employees may have a generalized expectancy regarding whet...

Effects of Job Enrichment and Task Goals on Satisfaction and Productivity: Implications for Job Design

Abstract : A two phase research project investigated the effects of job enrichment and goal setting on worker productivity and satisfaction in a well-controlled, simulated job environment. In the first phase, two conditions of goal setting (assigned goals versus no goals) and two conditions of job enrichment (enriched versus unenriched) were established, producing four experimental conditions. In the second phase (after 2 days work) people with unenriched jobs worked under the enrichment conditions and people originally without goals were assigned goals. Results are discussed in terms of the current theoretical approaches for understanding employee motivation on the job.