Power Dynamics and Organisational Change: An Introduction

Cet article propose un cadre conceptuel pour appréhender les dynamiques de pouvoir lors de changements organisationnels. Weick et Quinn (1999) établissent une distinction entre le changement épisodique, discontinu et intermittent, et le changement continu, évolutif et progressif. Après avoir discuté cette distinction, nous analysons comment les processus de l'influence et du pouvoir social peuvent constituer la base du changement continu. Les bases du pouvoir des agents du changement sont ensuite décrites. Puis nous portons notre attention sur les relations de pouvoir dynamiques entre les agents du changement et les cibles, ainsi que sur les processus sociaux qui facilitent le changement continu. L'article se termine par un survol des contributions à cette édition spéciale.
This article offers a framework for understanding power dynamics in organisational change. Weick and Quinn (1999) make a distinction between change that is episodic, discontinuous, and intermittent, and change that is continuous, evolving, and incremental. After discussing this distinction, we analyse how processes of social power and influence can form the basis for continuous change. Subsequently, the power bases of change agents are described. Then we pay attention to the dynamic power relationships between change agents and targets as well as to the social processes that facilitate continuous change. The article ends with an overview of the contributions to this special issue.     

Integrated Conative Model of Well-Being: from Motives to Well-Being

The aim of this study was to develop the self-concordance model of healthy goal striving through testing the extended conative model of well-being. This model included: goal self-concordance as an aspect of positive motive; sustained effort as positive behaviour directed toward attaining the goal; goal attainment; personal growth interpretation as positive cognition regarding goal attainment; need satisfaction; and finally well-being as the outcome of the successful goal-striving process. Across three studies, university students completed online surveys regarding these variables, making reference to their most important goal during the past 4 weeks. The results indicated that (a) goal self-concordance predicted well-being via mediation of need satisfaction; (b) sustained effort also predicted well-being via mediation of need satisfaction; (c) personal growth interpretation predicted well-being via mediation of need satisfaction. The suggested integrated conative model of well-being provided appropriate goodness of fit. The three model-fitting studies highlight the important role of psychological processes such as construal in the conative processes that predict subjective well-being.     

The Role of Personality Factors in the Dynamics of Context and Psychological Well-Being

The purpose of this study was to determine personality factors that mediate between context and psychological well-being. A convenience sample of 514 mutlicultural participants from Potchefstroom (n=384) and Mafikeng (n=130) comprising mainly of black and white students was drawn. The participants completed measures on extraversion and agreeableness and psychological well-being in a cross-sectional survey. Context was defined in terms of differentials pertaining to race, socioeconomic differentials and infrastructural resources. Regression analyses indicated the viability of relationships among context, personality and psychological well-being. Structural equation models showed that both extraversion and agreeableness mediate the relationship between context and psychological well-being. Future research using longitudinal designs may study the importance of social context, personality factors and psychological well-being within and between groups.     

Coping Self-Efficacy as Mediator in the Dynamics of Psychological Well-Being in Various Contexts

The aim of this study was to explore whether coping self-efficacy mediates between various distress related variables on the one hand (symptoms of stress and depression), and the degree of psycho-social well-being as measured on the upper end of the mental health continuum on the other hand. Participants were two multi-cultural student groups (n₁ = 568; n₂=1480) as well as two community samples of Setswana speaking adults (n₃=477; n₄=1275). Students completed the English versions of measures, and the community samples of adults the Setswana versions. Mediation was evaluated through the testing of structural equation models. Coping self-efficacy mediated significantly between distress and wellbeing, although stressors also influenced the level of psychosocial well-being directly.     

Measuring Lay Conceptions of Well-Being: The Beliefs About Well-Being Scale

A number of explicit conceptions of well-being have been provided by philosophers and psychologists, but little is known about laypersons’ conceptions of well-being. Two studies investigating the content and measurement of lay conceptions of well-being are presented. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures, the 16-item Beliefs about Well-Being Scale (BWBS) was developed to measure lay conceptions of well-being along four theoretically-meaningful dimensions: (1) the Experience of Pleasure, (2) Avoidance of Negative Experience, (3) Self-Development, and (4) Contribution to Others. Initial evidence concerning the reliability and validity of the BWBS indicated that this new scale has acceptable psychometric properties. In both studies, associations between each subscale, representing the above four dimensions, and multiple self-report measures of experienced well-being were also examined. Each subscale was significantly associated with well-being, with Self-Development and Contribution to Others indicating stronger associations with measures of well-being than either Experience of Pleasure or Avoidance of Negative Experience. Implications for future research using this economical new scale are discussed.     

Happiness Revisited: Ontological Well-Being as a Theory-Based Construct of Subjective Well-Being

The current model of subjective well-being (SWB) has been operationalized as the unity of affective and cognitive dimensions concerning the evaluation of one’s life, called emotional well-being and life satisfaction, respectively. There has been no theoretical framework, however, by which the unity is explained. The present paper offers a new construct of subjective well-being in an attempt to show that the cognitive and affective dimensions of SWB can be unified using the concept of goal. The concept of goal refers to the life as a project when the concern is the evaluation of life as a whole. The evaluation of the whole life, moreover, should take a whole-time perspective into account if it is supposed to be ‘whole’. Ontological well-being (OWB) construct is structured in a theoretical framework by which the cognitive and affective components of the current conceptualization of SWB are reframed and interpreted in a whole time perspective. By taking as base the historical and philosophical resources of the affective and cognitive dimensions of subjective well-being, this new construct defines subjective well-being as one’s evaluation of life in both past and future time perspectives in addition to the present.     

Dynamics of team cognition and team adaptation: Introduction to the special issue

Although cognitions are known to play a major role in team adaptation, the cognitive dynamics underlying a team’s responsiveness are poorly understood. The studies brought together in this special issue break new ground in this area. In this introductory article, we offer a brief summary of the research field, provide an overview of the contributions, and suggest directions for future research.     

Direct versus Indirect Well-Being Measures: Using Partially Structured Stimuli to Evaluate Well-Being

Given the important limitations of direct (explicit) measures, the study of indirect (implicit) measures of psychological constructs has received increased attention of social researchers. However, in the field of well-being the measures that have traditionally been used have tried to capture people’s well-being in an explicit and direct way, with some exceptions that are based mainly on adaptations of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Given the critics that the IAT has received, the first aim of the present research was to develop a new life satisfaction measure using partially structured stimuli (PSWBS). The second goal was to examine the relation between direct and indirect well-being measures. In the first study, PSWBS showed good internal consistency, test–retest reliability and construct validity. Factorial analyses indicated that this measure acted as an indirect measure. In addition, direct and indirect well-being showed a significant but weak relation. To explain this result, in a second study we analyzed the moderating role of social comparison orientation on the relation between direct and indirect well-being measures. As expected, more social comparison tendency implied a stronger relation. In a third study we analyzed the criterion validity of both kind of measures. The PSWBS, the Personal Wellbeing Index-Adults and the Satisfaction With Life Scale significantly correlated with a criterion validity coefficient in terms of a semi-structured interview made by an external experimenter. Finally, in a fourth experiment we analyzed the influence of social desirability on direct and indirect measures of well-being. In contexts of high desirability, partially structured stimuli seemed to be more resistant to response factors (e.g., control of impressions) than traditional direct measures.

     

Spirituality and Subjective Well-Being: Evidences for a New Domain in the Personal Well-Being Index

Subjective well-being explores the evaluations, both positive and negative, of how people experience their lives. Research in the field inquires how people perceive their well-being in different settings, including different cultures, regions and cities. A large number of different measures have been designed to capture subjective well-being. One of the most used SWB measure is the Personal Well-being Index (PWI), an evaluation of life developed by Cummins et al [(2003). Social Indicators Research, 64, 159–190] which proposes that satisfaction with life consists of seven different life-domains. Theoretical considerations of the contribution of spirituality and religiosity to life satisfaction, from a eudaimonic (from the Greek, it consists of the word "eu" (good or well-being) and the word “daemon” (spirit)) point of view, led to test the contribution of this new domain in the prediction of the Personal Well-being Index (PWI) in Bogotá, Colombia. Empirical results confirm the construct validity and reliability of the scale. The contribution of the new domain—satisfaction with spirituality and religiosity—to PWI was found significant. Based on these results the paper explores conceptually the role of spirituality contributing to satisfaction with life. The finding stresses the importance of interpreting satisfaction with life as a whole from the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia. New questions for research in this important area are proposed     

Age-Related Differences in Lay Conceptions of Well-Being and Experienced Well-Being

Conceptions of well-being are defined as a system of beliefs concerning the nature and experience of well-being and can be described generally by the degree to which four dimensions, representing (1) the experience of pleasure, (2) avoidance of negative experience, (3) selfdevelopment, and (4) contribution to others, are emphasized. A first main objective of the current study was to investigate age-related differences in younger and older adults’ conceptions of well-being. A second main objective was to address whether conceptions of well-being are differentially associated with experienced well-being in younger and older adults. Results indicated several age-related differences in conceptions of well-being, with younger adults reporting more emphasis on the experience of pleasure and self-development, older adults reporting more emphasis on avoidance of negative experience, and younger and older adults reporting similar levels of emphasis on contribution to others. Results further indicated several age-related differences in associations between the experience of pleasure and avoidance of negative experience dimensions and well-being, with these two dimensions being more strongly and positively associated with well-being in older adults. Self-development and contribution to others were found to be positively associated with well-being regardless of age.     

Children of the Affluent: Challenges to Well-Being

Growing up in the culture of affluence can connote various psychosocial risks. Studies have shown that upper-class children can manifest elevated disturbance in several areas-such as substance use, anxiety, and depression-and that two sets of factors seem to be implicated, that is, excessive pressures to achieve and isolation from parents (both literal and emotional). Whereas stereotypically, affluent youth and poor youth are respectively thought of as being at "low risk" and "high risk," comparative studies have revealed more similarities than differences in their adjustment patterns and socialization processes. In the years ahead, psychologists must correct the long-standing neglect of a group of youngsters treated, thus far, as not needing their attention. Family wealth does not automatically confer either wisdom in parenting or equanimity of spirit; whereas children rendered atypical by virtue of their parents' wealth are undoubtedly privileged in many respects, there is also, clearly, the potential for some nontrivial threats to their psychological well-being.     

幸福感研究新视角——社会幸福感概述

幸福感研究实际上存在三种思路,即主观幸福感、心理幸福感、社会幸福感。所谓社会幸福感是指个体对与他人、集体、社会之间关系质量的评估,他包括社会整合、社会认同、社会贡献、社会实现、社会和谐五个维度。社会幸福感为现代幸福感研究提供了新的视角。     

An Intentional Model of Emotional Well-Being: The Development and Initial Validation of a Measure of Subjective Well-Being

The major problem with the current emotional well-being scales is that they lack intentionality (being about something), which makes them incongruent with the definition of subjective well-being. A new emotional well-being scale with new affect adjectives has been developed by addressing intentionality. It focuses on individuals’ affective evaluations of their life and has showed good psychometric quality. In the first and second studies, the factor structure of the scale, the Emotional Well-Being Scale, was determined by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Study 3 showed that the scores on the scale were stable in time. The fourth and fifth studies indicated that this new construct did not overlap with personality dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism, with impressive predictive and incremental validity estimates.     

Father Postdivorce Well-Being: An Exploratory Model

The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model of the psychological well-being of fathers following divorce. The theory postulated that father postdivorce well-being was related to father role clarity, role satisfaction, age, income, education level, custody arrangement, encouragement from others, time since divorce, and involvement in an intimate relationship following divorce. Participants were 94 fathers from a midwestern city who completed self-administered questionnaires. Data were assessed using path analytic techniques. Involvement in an intimate relationship was found to have the greatest influence on father postdivorce well-being. Role satisfaction had direct effects on father postdivorce well-being and was important as a mediating variable for 4 constructs within the model. The findings suggest that father well-being following divorce is a complex phenomenon, influenced by all of the model variables except income, education level, and time since divorce. Implications for preventive intervention strategies, based on risk factors identified in this study, and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Religion and Subjective Well-Being: Western and Eastern Religious Groups Achieved Subjective Well-Being in Different Ways

Culture can moderate which variables most influence subjective well-being (SWB). Because religion can be conceptualized as culture, religious differences can be considered cultural differences. However, there have been few studies comparing how different religious groups evaluate SWB at any given time. This study is among the first to investigate this issue. The present study compared Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, and atheists. In addition to demographic items, 451 Chinese adults completed Chinese version of the Socially Oriented Cultural Conception of SWB Scale. Religious belief was distributed as follows: 10 % Christian, 20 % Buddhist, 25 % Taoist, and 43 % atheists. As predicted, the socially oriented cultural conception of SWB was found to be highest among Buddhists, followed in order by Taoists, atheists, and Christians. It was concluded that the various religious groups achieved SWB in different ways.     

Well-Being and Pluralism

It is a commonly expressed sentiment that the science and philosophy of well-being would do well to learn from each other. Typically such calls identify mistakes and bad practices on both sides that would be remedied if scientists picked the right bit of philosophy and philosophers picked the right bit of science. We argue that the differences between philosophers and scientists thinking about well-being are more difficult to reconcile than such calls suggest, and that pluralism is central to this task. Pluralism is a stance that explicitly drives towards accommodating and nurturing the richness and diversity of well-being, both as a concept and as an object of inquiry. We show that well-being science manifests a contingent pluralism at the level of methodology, whereas philosophy of well-being has largely rejected pluralism at the conceptual level. Recently, things have begun to change. Within philosophy, conceptual monism is under attack. But so is methodological pluralism within science. We welcome the first development, and bemoan the second. We argue that a joined-up philosophy and science of well-being should recognise the virtues of both conceptual and methodological pluralism. Philosophers should embrace the methodological justification of pluralism that can be found in the well-being sciences, and scientists should embrace the conceptual reasons to be pluralist that can be found in philosophical debate.