Asking for work adjustments or initiating behavioural changes – what makes a ‘problematic co-worker’ score Brownie points? An experimental study on the reactions towards colleagues with a personality disorder

People with mental disorders, especially personality disorders, often face low acceptance at work. This is particularly problematic when returning to work after sick leave, because it impedes reintegration into the former workplace. This study explores colleagues’ reactions towards a problematic worker dependent on the returning person’s reintegration strategy: The returning person undertaking changes in their behaviour is compared with the person requesting adjustments of the workplace. In an experimental study, 188 employed persons read one of four vignettes that described a return-to-work-situation of a problematic co-worker. Across all vignettes, the co-worker was depicted as having previously caused problems in the work team. In the first vignette, the co-worker did not change anything (control condition) when she returned to work; in the second, she asked for workplace adjustments; in the third vignette she initiated efforts to change her own behaviour; and the fourth vignette combined both workplace adjustments and behavioural change. Study participants were asked for their reactions towards the problematic co-worker. Vignettes that included a behavioural change evoked more positive reactions towards the co-worker than vignettes without any behavioural change. Asking for workplace adjustments alone did not yield more positive reactions compared to not initiating any change. When preparing employees with interactional problems for their return to work, it is not effective to only instruct them on their statutory entitlement for workplace adjustments. Instead, it is advisable to encourage them to proactively strive for behaviour changes.     

The role of the psychosocial safety climate in coping with workplace bullying: A grounded theory and sequential tree analysis

Workplace bullying is a severe workplace stressor that affects both employees and organizations. Despite a wealth of research of the prevalence of workplace bullying and its correlates, little research has been done on the process of bullying. In a qualitative study, based on the grounded theory approach, we examine the role of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) in influencing employees’ coping strategies and ultimately the escalation of bullying. Interviews were conducted with 20 Malaysian workers from various organizational settings, who also completed a 12-item PSC scale. The analysis revealed that coping strategies took the form of a modified exit-voice-loyalty-neglect (EVLN) model, whereby acquiescence replaced loyalty in the matrix. In turn, five escalation patterns of bullying were identified, linked to the coping options used by employees. We found that employees tended to voice in high PSC contexts, which led to swift resolution of bullying. In low PSC contexts, employees tended to neglect or acquiesce before exiting the organization because the bullying remained unresolved, which was revealed in four different trajectories of escalation without resolution. These results emphasize the influence of the organizational climate for psychosocial safety in shaping the coping options available to bullied workers, and the likely success of these strategies.     

Comment favoriser l’anticipation positive d’un déménagement organisationnel chez des salariés ? Test d’un modèle psychosocio-environnemental

French academic research on organizational relocation is scarce. This study aimed to explore how positive attitudes can be developed before organizational relocation using a psycho-social environmental model. More specifically, this paper analyzes the impact of workplace attachment and socio-professional support on anticipated satisfaction with relocation and the mediating role of the agreement with the top management decision to move. We conducted an empirical study with a sample of 119 employees of an audiovisual company based in France. Results show that anticipated satisfaction with relocation was inhibited by workplace attachment and facilitated by socio-professional support. Moreover, agreement with the change decision to move mediated these relationships.     

Area-Based Socioeconomic Characteristics of Industries at High Risk for Violence in the Workplace

This study examined socioeconomic factors associated with the presence of workplaces belonging to industries reported to be at high risk for worker homicide. The proportion of 2004 North Carolina workplaces in high-risk industries was computed following spatial linkage of individual workplaces to 2000 United States Census Block Groups (n = 3,925). Thirty census-derived socioeconomic variables (selected a priori as potentially predictive of violence) were summarized using exploratory factor analysis into poverty/deprivation, human/economic capital, and transience/instability. Multinomial logistic regression models indicate associations between higher proportion of workplaces belonging to high-risk industries and Block Groups with more poverty/deprivation or transience/instability and less human/economic capital. The relationship between human/economic capital and Block Groups proportion of high-risk industry workplaces was modified by levels of transience/instability. Community characteristics therefore contribute to the potential for workplace violence, and future research should continue to understand the relationship between social context and workplace violence risk.     

Bystander training for faculty: A promising approach to tackling microaggressions in the academy

Microaggressions present significant barriers to entry and advancement for faculty from traditionally marginalized groups, yet workplace interventions to stymy them remain undocumented in the literature. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of bystander training to deal with subtle expressions of bias in the academic workplace. We developed a 2-h interactive bystander training workshop that specifically addressed intervening in microaggressions university faculty experience; approximately 21% of the full-time faculty participated in the training. Results indicate that post workshop, participants endorsed higher levels of likelihood of bystander intervention and higher levels of bystander efficacy to deal with microaggressive events (compared to pre-test 4 days before the workshop); scores on these measures remained significantly greater than pre-test at both 6-week and 12-week follow-up. Furthermore, preliminary evidence suggests that both likelihood of bystander intervention and bystander efficacy scores predicted self-reported bystander behavior at both 6 and 12 week follow up. These findings suggest that bystander training may be a promising approach to tackling microaggressions faculty experience in higher education.     

Hierarchy and the Meaning of Working

Abstract

This study investigated the meaning of working for subjects from three levels of an organizational hierarchy. Staff members of a high technology manufacturing organization were surveyed using an abridged version of the Meaning of Working Questionnaire. Five central aspects of the ‘meaning of working’ concept were explored using this instrument, namely Work Centrality, Work Role Identification, Valued Working Outcomes, Societal Norms about Working, and Work Goals. Results show a high level of shared perceptions by members of the three hierarchical levels on ‘meaning of working’ variables, a finding which is at odds with past research, which for the most part indicates clear hierarchal effects. Such findings are discussed within the context of the internal processes of the organization as well as in a specific industry-wide framework.     

Individual‐ and group‐level effects of social identification on workplace bullying

A study of 494 employees nested in workgroups from 19 different organizations revealed group identification to be an important factor influencing work-related bullying at both the individual and the group level. Results show that the more employees identified with their group, the less likely they were victims of bullying, which is in line with previous social identity-based analyses of work stress. More importantly, the higher the average level of group identification in the organization, the lower the odds of being a victim versus not being a victim. The latter effect constituted a genuine context effect. These findings redress a neglect of the social bases of workplace bullying and suggest that bullying needs to be understood within a broader perspective of workgroup identities.     

Enterprising behaviour of ordinary people

Starting out with the idea that everybody is in principle capable of enterprising behaviour, the concept of enterprise is applied to non-business people as well as business people. A random sample of people is asked to furnish an example of enterprising behaviour that they have shown themselves. Further, they are asked what is enterprising about this behaviour. The results show that in different realms of enterprising behaviour different dimensions of enterprise are mentioned. For example, people giving an example from their leisure time regard merely being active as enterprising, employees mention risky elements in their work, business owners emphasize autonomy, and students regard it as enterprising that they work for their professional or personal development. So people can be enterprising in different areas of life and in different manners. Obtaining a domain of enterprising behaviours and dimensions is a first step in constructing a scale of ''enterprising behaviour of ordinary people''.     

Interdisciplinary Linkage of Community Psychology and Cross-Cultural Psychology: History, Values, and an Illustrative Research and Action Project on Intimate Partner Violence

An analysis of the respective organizational histories, missions, and scholarly activity of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology and the Society for Community Research and Action was conducted in order to inform the development of interdisciplinary linkages between members of the two organizations. The analysis revealed many points of shared values and actions, as well as some important differences. Both scholarly organizations developed out of a similar historical and cultural zeitgeist in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The missions emphasize the role of culture/diversity in psychological phenomena, adopting an interdisciplinary orientation, the value of collaboration, the importance of research method and ethics, and the value of action research. However, community psychology generally lacks an adequate treatment of cultural phenomena while cross-cultural psychology often fails to draw on community and participatory methods useful for understanding culture in context. These common roots and differences are examined. Finally, we describe a community based, participatory research and intervention project to address intimate partner violence among Latinos and European-Americans living in Oregon. Analysis of the research process and on some of our initial findings illustrates challenges and potential benefits of an interdisciplinary, cultural community psychology.