The study of organizational behaviour in family business

Family businesses (FBs)—enterprises that are significantly influenced by family members and kinship ties—are ubiquitous and play a crucial role across all world economies. Because of the embeddedness of family and business systems in FB, these organizational forms are theoretically distinct from their non-family counterparts. Curiously, FBs have been largely overlooked in the organizational behaviour (OB) literature. The limited available research at the interface of OB and FB highlights the importance of FB as a unique context to advance OB theories, and of OB as a promising discipline to increase our understanding of FB. In a selective review of literature focused on the four topics of values and goals, leadership and power, trust and justice, and conflict, we discuss how insights from the general theory of communal and exchange relationships open exciting avenues for research at the FB-OB interface. Rich fruits of intellectual harvest await scholars who focus on behavioural research in FB.     

Family business: A fertile ground for research on time,teams and positive organizational study

Further reflecting on the study of organizational behaviour (OB) in family business (FB), this rejoinder piece discusses and integrates the points raised in the three thoughtful commentaries and our original article. We start by highlighting the general agreement between us and the commentators on three points: (1) that family firms are theoretically distinct from non-family firms due to significant involvement of kinship ties in the enterprise; (2) there is paucity of research at the interface of OB and FB and (3) there is an abundance of interesting research questions at this interface with the potential to benefit both domains of study. Next, we discuss and elaborate on the research possibilities on time, teams and positive organizational study, suggested by the commentators. An illustrative list of interesting research questions at the OB–FB interface that extend and enrich our agenda for future research is shared. We conclude that not only is FB a promising context for behavioural scholars to investigate, the timing is perfect for such investigations.     

Career proactivity: Conceptual and theoretical reflections

This article adds several conceptual and theoretical reflections to the article “Career proactivity: A bibliometric literature review and a future research agenda” by Jiang et al. The authors conducted a timely and relevant study by analyzing and integrating literature on career proactivity from the domains of organizational and vocational behavior. Prior research has clearly demonstrated that these areas are still largely operating as separate “islands,” both conceptually and methodologically. As such, systematically analyzing the literature and synthesizing the many existing proactivity-related constructs are important steps forward in taking research on career proactivity to the next level. Though their bibliometric analysis confirms the gap between vocational psychology and OB research, there is also a hopeful message in the article, as several clusters showed considerable connections. Thus, it seems that scholars are starting to build bridges between the islands. Building on their analysis and future research suggestions, in this article, we further explore three specific considerations related to (1) conceptual issues, (2) theoretical issues, and (3) additions to their future research agenda.     

Towards a positive organizational study of family-owned businesses: Embracing a fertile territory

In response to the lead article “The study of organizational behavior in Family Business” (this issue), the present commentary focuses on the study of family-owned businesses from a positive organizational perspective with the aim of enriching the avenues for research proposed by the authors. Based on the socioemotional wealth approach, it is argued that family-owned firms represent a unique organizational context to advance positive organizational scholarship (POS) concepts. Likewise, the field of POS is emphasized as an important field of study to increase our understanding of family-owned businesses. In a selective review of the literature, the topic of prosocial practices is discussed. In doing so, it is hoped that scholars begin embracing the fertile territory at the interface between POS and family-business research.     

‘If something doesn’t look right,go find out why’: how intuitive decision making is accomplished in police first-response

ABSTRACT

Intuition is an important mechanism by which organizational actors make significant decisions; however, precisely how intuitive decisions are taken is not well understood and hence is worthy of closer scrutiny. First-response decisions, because of the conditions under which they are executed, offer researchers an interesting and relevant context for the study of intuitive decision making in organizations. We used qualitative methods to explore how “peak performing” police officers used intuition in first-response decisions. Our findings show that intuition’s role in first-response occurs in two differing but complementary ways: “recognition-based intuition” and “intuition-based inquiry”. This finding builds on previous intuition research and informs current debates in behavioural sciences regarding “default-intervention” versus “parallel-competitive” variants of dual-process theory; it also reveals how a complex and situated mix of intuition and analysis can guide effective decision making and support peak performance in uncertain, dynamic and complex environments that typify many organizational decision processes. Our findings contribute to intuition research by extending the current theory of “intuition-as-expertise” in going beyond a simple “recognize-and-respond” model. We propose a “Perceiving-Knowing-Enacting-Closing” framework which captures the complex role that intuition in combination with analysis plays in police first-response decisions, and discuss implications for decision-making policies and practices in organizations.     

Types of Leaders Across the Organizational Hierarchy: A Person-Centered Approach

Leadership pipeline research typically has taken a “skill-centered” approach to describe the changing skill requirements across management positions. However, the current study advances previous research by taking a “person-centered” approach to investigate the prevalence of different leader types along the organizational hierarchy. Based on an inverse principle components analysis, this study identified three unique patterns of skill configuration. We labeled the three leader types: (a) Driven Experts, (b) Principled Partners, and (c) Charismatic Advocates. It was found that the prevalence of one type (Principled Partners) decreased across organizational levels, whereas the other two types (Driven Experts and Charismatic Advocates) increased in the prevalence from the low to high management levels. The implications of the findings on leadership development are discussed.     

追踪研究在组织行为学中的应用

追踪研究是一种通过引入时滞, 以探索变量动态变化趋势和变量之间相互关系的调查研究方法。近年来, 在组织行为学中, 追踪研究越来越受到学者们的关注, 追踪研究成果也在逐渐增加, 但是大多数研究者尤其是国内研究者, 对追踪研究尚缺乏全面正确的认识。追踪研究设计可以依照重复测量之间的时间间隔长短进行分类, 不同的类型对应不同的样本量、调查方式和统计分析方法, 未来可以拓展追踪研究在团队和领导力、组织文化和变革以及员工激励等方面的应用, 或开展跨文化的追踪研究。     

Role conflicts of family members in family firms

The existence of role conflict among organizational members tends to create tensions inside organizations worldwide. However, in the context of family firms, having a dual role of being a member of a family and a member of the firm can represent interesting differences that make family firms an important form of organization to study. Following the tenets of the stewardship theory, our article develops a model where reciprocal altruism represents an antecedent to role conflict among family members. We further argue that perceptions of collective efficacy among family members have a moderating effect on the relationship between reciprocal altruism and role conflict. Last, we propose that role conflict in family firms reduces the family firm performance. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Sequential analysis as a method of feedback for family therapy process

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between therapist verbal behavior and family cooperation and resistance during the second session of family therapy with juvenile delinquents. Sequential analysis was used to investigate the impact of one therapist's behavior on family resistance and cooperation in a sample of 12 families. The results of the sequential analysis revealed that therapist “support” and “teach” behaviors were associated with significant increases in the likelihood of family cooperation. The study provides an example of how sequential analysis can be used to inform family therapists about the impact of their behavior on families.     

主管承诺理论研究述评

主管承诺（supervisory commitment or commitment to supervisor）是20世纪80年代以来在组织承诺（organizational commitment or commitment to organization）基础上发展起来的员工承诺理论的一个分支。对它的测量,学者们主要是借鉴Allen和Meyer与O’Reilly和Chatman对组织承诺的测量方法,目前属香港学者陈振雄的测量最为细致和全面。对影响主管承诺的前因,学者们目前探索到文化、感受主管支持（PSS）和领导—成员交换（LMX）三个因素。对主管承诺的结果,学者们普遍认为,主管承诺比组织承诺更能影响员工的工作绩效和组织公民行为（OCB）,但在对工作满意感和跳槽意图的影响上还存在不同的意见。另外,在目前大多数学者的研究中,主管承诺与组织承诺是并列关系,但Hunt和Morgan更主张二者是因果关系,而且是主管承诺带来组织承诺。在全面述评的基础上,作者对未来的研究提出了四点展望。     

INTRAORGANIZATIONAL EMPLOYEE NAVIGATION AND SOCIALLY DERIVED OUTCOMES: CONCEPTUALIZATION,VALIDATION, AND EFFECTS ON OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Intraorganizational employee navigation (IEN) is conceptualized as a means of better understanding how the organizational actor proactively works across their firm's internal environment in the execution of their jobs. Navigation is argued to be a precursor to the employee's overall performance through a class of mediating variables labeled “socially derived outcomes,” which are variables inside the organization that are bestowed upon the employee as a result of them first engaging in proactive behavior (e.g., IEN). Two studies are reported. Study I sees IEN psychometrically validated versus a range of existing proactive behaviors and individual traits (discriminant, nomological, and criterion‐related validity) with a heterogeneous sample of 704 employees. Study II then tests a model relating IEN to performance through six mediating “socially derived outcomes” by leveraging data from 2 Fortune 500 firms. The results of Study II show that IEN significantly impacts multiple measures of the employee's overall performance through mediating effects brought about by key socially derived outcomes, such as the employee's “manager alignment.” The contributions, broader implications, and limitations of the research are then put into context.     

Impact of Organizational Citizenship Behavior on Performance in Women's Sport Teams

The current study examined the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and sport team performance and the moderating role of task interdependence in that relationship. Two types of collegiate teams—softball (N = 25) and tennis (N = 15)—were utilized to represent different levels of task interdependence with softball being considered more interdependent than tennis. Athletes (N = 448) answered survey questions concerning organizational citizenship behavior (helping, civic virtue, sportsmanship [due to the historic use of the term “sportmanship” in developing the measures used in this study, that term will be used instead of “sportpersonship”]), team cohesiveness, athlete satisfaction, and transformational leadership behaviors. Researchers collected performance statistics for athletes. Results indicated that helping behavior was the strongest organizational citizenship behavior predictor of performance, but the effect differed between tennis and softball teams.     

Extending Corporate Social Responsibility Research to the Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior Domains: A Look to the Future

Although issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have become an important topic of research, there have been few studies on this topic conducted in the fields of human resource (HR) management and organizational behavior (OB). To address this gap, we edited a special issue of Personnel Psychology that explicitly focuses attention on CSR in the HR/OB domains. In this introductory editorial, we synthesize and extend the four articles published in the special issue. We also address issues relating to the conceptualization and measurement of CSR, the application of microlevel theories to CSR, and the practical and methodological implications of research in this domain. Finally, we provide suggestions for future research linking CSR with some of the most frequently studied topics in HR/OB. We propose that a focus on HR/OB will improve our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of CSR and also benefit HR/OB in terms of bridging the science–practice and micro–macro gaps.     

Work Motivation in “Post-Socialist” Industrial Organizations

Abstract

This article describes a study into the needs and behavioural reaction patterns in a sample of 715 workers in Bulgarian industrial firms during the “post-Socialist” period. The findings from this study cast doubt on some popular views of the typical motivation and reactions to work in the former “Socialist society”. Our data suggest that higher order needs are dominant in the motivational hierarchy and are significant in determining work outcomes, such as satisfaction, tendency to leave, and stress. We found no evidence for a motivational stereotype characterized by a low level of work involvement, lack of initiative, obedience, etc. hypothesized by other authors. In order to gain a better understanding of work motivation, it is useful to differentiate needs from the opportunities to satisfy those same needs, as well as work motivation from behavioural reaction patterns that actualize the opportunities and relate them to personal outcomes. A specific behavioural reaction pattern seems to exist among Bulgarian workers as an adaptation reaction to the specific environment of the “(post-) Socialist” industrial organization. This pattern, identified as “egocentrism in work”, combines a high involvement in work with partial alienation, i.e. detachment from the organization and income.     

A Critical Review and Best‐Practice Recommendations for Control Variable Usage

The use of control variables plays a central role in organizational research due to practical difficulties associated with the implementation of experimental and quasi‐experimental designs. As such, we conducted an in‐depth review and content analysis of what variables, and why such variables are controlled for, in 10 of the most popular research domains (task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, turnover, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee burnout, personality, leader?member exchange, organizational justice, and affect) in organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) and applied psychology. Specifically, we examined 580 articles published from 2003 to 2012 in AMJ, ASQ, JAP, JOM, and PPsych. Results indicate that, across research domains with clearly distinct theoretical bases, the overwhelming majority of the more than 3,500 controls identified in our review converge around the same simple demographic factors (i.e., gender, age, tenure), very little effort is made to explain why and how controls relate to focal variables of interest, and control variable practices have not changed much over the past decade. To address these results, we offer best‐practice recommendations in the form of a sequence of questions and subsequent steps that can be followed to make decisions on the appropriateness of including a specific control variable within a particular theoretical framework, research domain, and empirical study. Our recommendations can be used by authors as well as journal editors and reviewers to improve the transparency and appropriateness of practices regarding control variable usage.     

“赋能”还是“负担”?领导者授权行为对员工工作行为影响的双刃剑效应探究

在数字化经济迅速发展的时代, 领导者授权行为是一种激励员工的重要措施。然而, 以往关于领导者授权行为有效性的研究存在不一致发现。为了更深入地探讨领导者授权行为对员工的影响, 基于资源保存理论, 系统地构建了领导者授权行为对员工的“双刃剑”影响机制。具体而言, 第一, 基于资源视角, 将授权视为领导者为员工提供的资源, 深入分析领导者授权行为产生的“赋能”过程机制和“负担”过程机制, 并提出员工的调节定向是影响“双刃剑”机制的边界条件; 第二, 从动态角度看待领导者授权行为, 探讨领导者每日授权行为和领导者授权行为的日波动对员工的“双刃剑”影响机制; 第三, 从动态角度看待领导者授权行为所发生的组织情景。探讨相对动态的情景, 即工作事件, 对领导者授权行为“双刃剑”机制的影响。通过结合静态和动态的双重视角, 系统地探讨了领导者授权行为对员工的“双刃剑”影响机制, 具有一定的理论和实践意义。     

Consultation in family therapy

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of the use of consultants by experienced family therapists. The authors discuss the need for consultation under different circumstances and review a number of models currently being utilized. Emphasis is placed on preparing the clients for the consultation, providing background information to and preparing with the consultant for the session(s), and transferring “power” to the consultant and back again to the primary therapist.     

HUMAN PHENOTYPIC MORALITY AND THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS FOR KNOWING GOOD

Co‐creating knowledge takes a new approach to human phenotypic morality as a biologically based, human lineage specific (HLS) trait. Authors from very different backgrounds (anthropology and biology, on the one hand, and astronomy, philosophy, and theology, on the other) first review research on the nature and origins of morality using the social brain network, and studies of individuals who cannot “know good” or think morally because of brain dysfunction. They find these models helpful but insufficient, and turn to paleoanthropology, cognitive science, and neuroscience to understand human moral capacity and its origins long ago, in the genus Homo. An unusual narrative capturing “morality in action” takes the reader back 900,000 years, and then the authors analyze the essential features of moral thinking and behavior as expressed by early and later species on our lineage. In what has primarily been the province of philosophers to date, the authors’ morality model is presented for further scientific testing.     

Dimensions of counselor functioning

In 1957 the editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology rejected an article on group counseling because, by definition, “Counseling is a process in which two persons….” Since then the functions of a counselor have broadened to include working with groups in many ways. Some will maintain that we have expanded far beyond our domain into that of the organizational psychologist. The authors of this article assume that the counselor's functions should include a wide range of interventions and have organized them within a “Cube.” This model provided the structure for this Special Issue. The three dimensions of the Cube are: (a) the target of the intervention, (b) the purpose of the intervention, and(c) the method of intervention. We think this model has great heuristic potential as a tool for both research and practice.     

Family measurement techniques: The family health scales (fhs): Review and critique

Abstract

Kinston, Loader and Miller (1987) have developed the Family Health Scale (FHS), a research instrument designed to assess a family's level of overall functioning based upon the clinical observation of family interaction. The authors state that the FHS is primarily a research tool, allowing its users to test hypotheses about family dysfunction, to examine changes in the family longitudinally, and to categorize families by “degree of disturbance.” While not its principal use, the scale is also thought to have teaching utility.