Storywork in STEM-Art: Making,Materiality and Robotics within Everyday Acts of Indigenous Presence and Resurgence

Abstract

This article presents findings from TechTales, a participatory design research (PDR) project where learning scientists, public library staff members, informal science educators, and staff members from Native-American-serving organizations collaborated to design a family-based robotics workshop that was grounded in storytelling. We approach this by engaging Indigenous ways of knowing and being from a sociocultural learning theory perspective. Through analyzing families-in-interaction as they constructed dioramas with robotics that told their family stories, we explore how cultivating consequential learning environments in STEM is intimately intertwined with historicity, knowledge systems, and the agentic positioning of learners to design new technologies. We find that using storywork as the design focus of building dioramas created learning environments where computer programing and robotics became dynamic tools toward family-making, collaboration, and the active presencing of Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural practices. Living and interrelating with story and its knowledge systems through making were enactments of Indigenous resurgence in everyday ways. From a structure of social practices perspective, this opens up learning spaces for engagement in STEM-Art practices and in relation to other social practices of consequence, such as cultural flourishing and affiliation, collaboration and family-making, and societal repositioning.     

Perceptions of Organizational Culture and Women's Advancement in Organizations: A Cross-Cultural Examination

This study is a cross-cultural examination of the relationship between organizational culture and women's advancement to management in organizations. The source of data for this study was the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Project, a cross-cultural study of societal culture, organizational culture, and leadership. The results of this study indicate that aspects of organizational culture typically associated with women are related to women's progress. In organizations in which organization members reported shared values of high humane orientation and high gender equity, organization members also reported high percentages of women in management relative to other organizations in their society. In addition, organizational cultural practices that emphasized high humane orientation, high gender equity, high performance orientation, and low power distance were also related to reports of high percentages of women in management relative to societal norms. Results of regression analysis predicting the percentage of women in management from the dimensions of organizational culture indicated that gender equity practices and values emphasizing humane orientation contributed significantly to the prediction of the percentage of women in management. Organizational cultural practices related to gender equity were found to be the most important predictor of the percentage of women in management. This study adds to the literature on women's progress in organizations by further extending the focus from individual and structural characteristics to characteristics of organizational culture. The findings suggest that change agents focused on increasing opportunities for women in management should attend to organizational culture, particularly aspects of culture related to gender equity practices.     

Culture and Testing Practices: Is the World Flat?

There has been much speculation regarding the influence of cultural norms on the acceptance and use of personnel selection testing. This study examined the cross‐level direct effects of four societal cultural variables (performance orientation, future orientation, uncertainty avoidance, and tightness–looseness) on selection practices of organisations in 23 countries. A total of 1,153 HR professionals responded to a survey regarding testing practices in hiring contexts. Overall, little evidence of a connection between cultural practices and selection practices emerged. Implications of these findings for personnel selection and cross‐cultural research as well as directions for future work in this area are described.     

Disaffected Pollyannas: The influence of positive affect on salary expectations,turnover, and long‐term satisfaction

Using a longitudinal sample of MBA graduates, the present study investigates why employees who are high in positive affect (PA) sometimes display higher rates of turnover, as well as the consequences of frequent turnover for long‐term satisfaction. Results show that high PA employees had higher salary expectations than other employees, and that the relationship between low salary and frequent turnover in the 4 years following graduation was stronger among employees higher in PA. High PA employees who changed organizations more frequently in the first 4 years following graduation reported lower job satisfaction and lower life satisfaction 8 years into their careers, a trend that was reversed for low PA employees.     

A model for the effects of job insecurity on performance,turnover intention,and absenteeism

This study investigates the effects of job insecurity on four organizationally important outcomes: in‐role behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, turnover intention, and absenteeism. A model is tested in which job insecurity is simultaneously a hindrance and a challenge stressor. In particular, job insecurity is proposed to have a predominantly harmful effect on performance, turnover intention, and absenteeism, and it is argued that these effects are mediated by (reduced) work attitudes. In addition, job insecurity is also assumed to affect these behaviours in the opposite way (i.e. a suppressor effect) because job insecurity might motivate employees to make themselves more valuable to the organization by working harder and being less absent. The model is tested with a sample of 136 German non‐managerial employees. Data from supervisors (i.e. in‐role behaviour and organizational citizenship behaviour), the company's personnel files (i.e. absenteeism), and self‐reports (i.e. job insecurity, work attitudes, turnover intention, in‐role behaviour, and organizational citizenship behaviour) were used. Structural equation modelling showed that a model that included both negative and positive effects fitted the data best. The negative effect was stronger than the positive effect. The results show that the effects of job insecurity are more complex than previously assumed. In addition, the results also extend previous research into hindrance and challenge stressors because they show that stressors should not be categorized as either hindrance or challenge. Instead, it might be more appropriate to conceptualize hindrance and challenge as two dimensions.     

Understanding the "personological" basis of employee withdrawal: the influence of affective disposition on employee tardiness, early departure, and absenteeism

This study investigated the impact of positive affectivity (PA) and negative affectivity (NA) on employee tardiness, early departure, and absenteeism, controlling for demographic, job-related, and environmental variables. The 3 temporary withdrawal measures were collected from organizational records in the 12 months following the survey. The LISREL analysis was based on a sample of 362 blue-collar employees from a multinational automotive manufacturer. The results indicate that individuals high in PA were associated with increased tardiness and early departure but decreased absenteeism. Individuals high in NA were associated with increased early departure. In terms of moderator effects, job satisfaction had a significant negative impact for individuals low in PA in predicting tardiness and early departure, whereas job satisfaction displayed a significant negative relationship with early departure for individuals high in NA. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Managing diversity in organizations: An integrative model and agenda for future research

The literature on policies, procedures, and practices of diversity management in organizations is currently fragmented and often contradictory in highlighting what is effective diversity management, and which organizational and societal factors facilitate or hinder its implementation. In order to provide a comprehensive and cohesive view of diversity management in organizations, we develop a multilevel model informed by the social identity approach that explains, on the basis of a work motivation logic, the processes by, and the conditions under which employee dissimilarity within diverse work groups is related to innovation, effectiveness, and well-being. Building on this new model, we then identify those work group factors (e.g., climate for inclusion and supervisory leadership), organizational factors (e.g., diversity management policies and procedures, and top management's diversity beliefs), and societal factors (e.g., legislation, socioeconomic situation, and culture) that are likely to contribute to the effective management of diversity in organizations. In our discussion of the theoretical implications of the proposed model, we offer a set of propositions to serve as a guide for future research. We conclude with a discussion of possible limitations of the model and practical implications for managing diversity in organizations.     

Opportunities for Immigrants’ Acculturation and Identification Varieties

This article elucidates how members of the two largest immigration groups living in Germany (i.e., immigrants with a Russian or Turkish background) deal with and integrate values and practices deriving from their ethnocultural minority group and the larger society. A special emphasis of this article is on how context conditions form opportunities for varieties of acculturation and identification. The pattern of results suggests a taxonomy of immigrants’ acculturation, consisting of Blended Integration, Alternating Integration, Separation, and Dis‐Integration. This taxonomy is based on immigrants’ integration of cultural aspects, while it proved to be analytically useful to conceptualize their national self‐allocation as an additional dimension. Immigrants’ development of these different varieties was found to be linked to their perceptions of compatibility and acceptance by the larger society. Relative to immigrants with a Turkish background, immigrants with a Russian background experience less deep incompatibilities between values and practices deriving from the cultural groups, thus having more latitude for acculturation and integration. In contrast, immigrants with a Turkish background experience more challenges to acculturation and integration as a result of being confronted more frequently with incompatibilities and experience less societal acceptance. Further conceptual and societal implications are discussed.     

SHIFT WORK RELATED TO JOB ATTITUDES,SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL BEHAVIOR: A STUDY OF NURSES AND INDUSTRIAL WORKERS1

The present study investigates the relationship between shift schedules and mental health, job satisfaction, social participation, organizational commitment, anticipated turnover, absenteeism and tardiness among nurses (N=440) in two hospitals and among rank-and-file workers (N=383) in a manufacturing organization. Results are generally supportive of the model which projected that workers on fixed work schedules (high routine-oriented) would be better off than workers on rotating work schedules (low routine-oriented) in terms of mental health, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and social participation. In addition, workers on fixed shift schedules are found to be lower on anticipated turnover, absenteeism and tardiness than workers on rotating shift schedules. Six potential moderators: age, marital status, place of socialization, cultural background, seniority and respondent's sex, were measured and their association with these relationships analyzed. Results are discussed in the light of the previous empirical evidence.     

Leadership style,salesperson's work effort and job performance: the influence of power distance

As multinational organizations increase operations in emerging economies, firms need to understand how cultural values prevailing in a host country can influence leadership practices developed and practiced in Western economies. This study explores the relationships among leadership styles and salespeople's attitudes and behaviours with data from salespeople in India with power distance measured at the individual level. Results suggest that for employees' instrumental leadership is more effective in promoting employee effort and increasing job performance. In addition, the relationship between satisfaction with supervisor and turnover intentions is weaker or insignificant, while the relationship between satisfaction with supervisor and effort is stronger for employees in higher power distance organizations. The study highlights cultural sensitivities that need to be considered in formulating an effective leadership style in emerging market contexts.     

Right‐wing authoritarianism,Big Five and perceived threat to safety

Using structural equations modelling, we performed a secondary analysis of the data collected by the Italian Observatory of the North West (Italian national sample, N = 976) to investigate the direct, mediated and moderated relations connecting the Big Five personality factors and perceived personal and societal threat to safety with right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA). Openness, Conscientiousness and perceived societal threat to safety exerted additive effects on RWA; the relation between Openness and RWA was partially mediated by societal threat to safety and that between societal threat to safety and RWA was moderated by Openness. Limitations and possible developments of this research are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ORGANIZATIONAL FRUSTRATION: A MODEL AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

A model that describes the effects of frustration on individual behavior in organizations is presented. Included is a discussion of the definitional problems with the frustration construct as well as a brief overview of laboratory research. This research is used to develop a model of organizational frustration and its behavioral effects, including increased and decreased job performance, organizational aggression (e.g., sabotage, strikes, work slowdowns, and stealing), absenteeism and turnover. Supporting evidence is supplied by the few studies which have investigated frustration in field and simulated organizational settings. Finally, frustration is shown to provide an alternative explanation to the effects of job dissatisfaction, inequity and participation in organizational change.     

Combined Effects of Positive and Negative Affectivity and Job Satisfaction on Job Performance and Turnover Intentions

Capturing data from employee–supervisor dyads (N = 321) from eight organizations in Pakistan, including human service organizations, an electronics assembly plant, a packaging material manufacturing company, and a small food processing plant, we used moderated regression analysis to examine whether the relationships between trait affect (positive affectivity [PA] and negative affectivity [NA]) and two key work outcome variables (job performance and turnover) are contingent upon the level of job satisfaction. We applied the Trait Activation Theory to explain the moderating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between affect and performance and between affect and turnover. Overall, the data supported our hypotheses. Positive and negative affectivity influenced performance and the intention to quit, and job satisfaction moderated these relationships. We discuss in detail the results of these findings and their implications for research and practice.     

Doing bad through being selective in doing good: the role of within-unit variability in ethical leadership

Although it is commonly assumed that perceptions of equity at work have a significant impact on employee absenteeism, our understanding of the equity–absence relationship is limited in that (1) little is known about equity concepts other than procedural and distributive justice; and (2) for the most part, research has overlooked variables likely to mediate and moderate the impact of equity on absenteeism. Drawing from the effort–reward imbalance model (ERI; Siegrist, 1996), our study advances past research by investigating the association between status inconsistency (a situation in which there is a mismatch between, for example, a person's education and his/her income) and absenteeism, and the variables likely to account for this association. Results from a sample of 416 customer-care employees show that stress mediates the relationship between status inconsistency and absenteeism, and that HRM practices attenuate this relationship. Moderated mediation analyses further reveal that HRM practices moderate the indirect effect of status inconsistency on absenteeism via stress.     

Employee absenteeism: A review of the literature

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on employee absenteeism as a form of withdrawal behavior apart from turnover. Studies examining the psychometric properties of absence measures are reviewed, along with the relationship between absenteeism and personal, attitudinal, and organizational variables. Studies exploring the relationship between absenteeism and turnover are examined according to the unit of analysis studied in the research. Programmatic efforts to reduce employee absenteeism are also reviewed. Throughout the paper emphasis is placed on the indices used by investigators to measure absenteeism, and the problems that have arisen in the literature through the use of multiple indicators of absenteeism. The review concludes with suggestions for research that are of both theoretical and practical concern.     

Revolutions, Samurai, and Reductons: The Parodoxes of Change and Continuity in Iran and Japan

This paper assesses policies for managing cultural diversity in Iran and Japan, with particular focus on the treatment of women as a cultural minority. Following social reducton theory, the distinction between rates of cultural change at macro- and microlevels is highlighted. It is argued that macro political and economic changes have taken place fairly rapidly, but micro changes in everyday social practices have changed much more slowly. The latter, it is argued, are structured by social reducton systems, which can act to slow down societal change. This insight is used to cast light on the situation of women and other minorities in North America.     

An Assessment of Meyer and Allen's (1991) Three-Component Model of Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intentions

Propositions about the relationship between Meyer and Allen's (1991) model of organizational commitment and turnover intentions were tested via field research. Specifically, we assessed concurrent and longitudinal effects of affective, continuance, and normative commitment on turnover intentions. We tested main and interaction effects and also assessed the effects of two continuance commitment sub-dimensions—CC-hisac and CC-loalt—on turnover intentions. Two studies were conducted to test these relationships. Data were collected from a sample of engineering personnel working at an aerospace firm, and from university students employed full time in a variety of organizations. The results revealed that, (1) contrary to expectations, the three components of commitment differed in the significance of their effects on turnover intentions, and (2) the CC subdimensions differed in their effects on turnover intentions. The discussion of these results focuses on their implications for theoretical and practical issues in commitment research.     

The combined influence of affective, continuance and normative commitment on employee withdrawal

In a sample of 288 hospital nurses, commitment profiles were compared to turnover intentions, job search behavior, work withdrawal (absenteeism and lateness) and job stress. Five empirically-derived commitment profiles emerged: highly committed, affective-normative dominant, continuance-normative dominant, continuance dominant, and uncommitted. Results indicated that the most positive work outcomes were associated with the affective-normative dominant profile which included lower turnover intentions and lower levels of psychological stress. There were no differences among the commitment groups for lateness, and unexpectedly, the continuance-normative dominant group had the lowest levels of absenteeism. It was suggested that future research focus on the combined influence of commitment on work outcomes.     

Meta-analytic evidence of the effectiveness of stress management at work

To increase employees’ psychological health and to achieve a competitive advantage, organizations are increasingly introducing flexible work arrangements (FWAs) and stress management training (SMT). This paper provides meta-analytic evidence of the effects of two forms of FWA (flexitime and telecommuting) and three forms of SMT (cognitive-behavioural skills training, relaxation techniques and multiple SMT) on employees’ psychological health, job satisfaction, job performance and absenteeism. Applying the conservation of resource theory, we conjecture that both FWAs and SMT improve all four employee-related outcomes. Quantitative meta-analyses based on 43 primary studies and 22,882 employees show that both FWAs and SMT are positively associated with psychological health and job satisfaction. However, due to a lack of primary studies we were mostly unable to analyse the effects on performance and absenteeism. Although we found a large heterogeneity in the hypothesized relationships, additional moderator analyses of study quality, age, gender, duration and intention of intervention yielded no significant effects. We discuss limitations and implications for practice and for future research.