Academic literature on the topic 'Organizational sociology Adjustment (Psychology)'

Dissertation (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Psychology-Industrial/Organizational, 2007.
"December, 2007." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 01/31/2008) Advisor, Rosalie J. Hall; Committee members, Paul E. Levy, Young Lin, Robert G. Lord, Linda M. Subich; Department Chair, Paul E. Levy; Dean of the College, Ronald F. Levant; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Tese de Doutoramento em Psicologia Aplicada, Área de especialidade: Psicologia das Organizações, apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada
Os seis artigos desta dissertação constroem o conceito de ajustamento ético de expatriados liminais inseridos num contexto de mudança permanente e de devir. O primeiro artigo apresenta o conceito de liminalidade enquadrando-o no fenómeno organizacional. O segundo artigo estabelece a ligação entre liminalidade, organising, e ética ao explorar o caso da liderança ética como um processo liminal que se desenvolve em contextos de ambiguidade. No terceiro artigo, a ética empresarial e o ajustamento dos expatriados são perspectivados como uma dualidade para criar o conceito de ajustamento ético de expatriados liminais. O quarto artigo corresponde a uma investigação empírica qualitativa que foi conduzida junto de 52 expatriados europeus na África sub-Saariana com o propósito de perceber como é realizado o ajustamento dos expatriados em contextos éticos desafiantes. Foi estabelecida uma comparação entre este processo e o processo de sensemaking. O comportamento dos expatriados face a desafios éticos é legitimado pela idea de identidade pretendida no futuro, sendo esta limitada por variáveis contextuais e por um processo de construção de identidade. Os dois últimos artigos encerram aproximações práticas aos conceitos entretando criados. O quinto artigo introduz o conceito de focal manager, o gestor internacional que consegue conciliar os elementos estrangeiro e local para aumentar a sua eficácia. O último artigo apresenta um roteiro para o ajustamento ético de expatriados. ---------- ABSTRACT ---------- The six articles in this dissertation build the concept of ethical adjustment of liminal expatriates in a context of permanent change and becoming. The first paper introduces the concept of liminality and frames it within the realm of the organisational phenomenon. The second paper establishes the link between liminality, organising and ethics, by exploring the case of ethical leadership as a liminal process that evolves in contexts of ambiguity. In the third paper, business ethics and expatriates' adjustment are addressed as a duality to create the concept of ethical adjustment of liminal expatriates. The fourth paper is an empirical qualitative research conducted next to 52 European expatriates in sub-Saharan countries with the purpose of understanding how expatriates adjust to ethically challenging contexts. A comparison was established between an adjustment and a sensemaking process. Expatriates' behaviour in face of ethical challenges is legitimised by the idea of an intended future identity, which is bounded by contextual variables and a process of identity construction. The last two papers are managerial approaches to the theoretical concepts hitherto created. The fifth article introduces the concept of focal managers as the international managers that are able to coalesce the foreign and the local elements to increase effectiveness. The last article presents a roadmap to expatriates' ethical adjustment.

Previously, a worker one set of skills for an occupational lifetime. In today's environment, the need for constant skill changes have created difficulties for individuals who must unlearn, store and use knowledge in new processes to update the old. Today's workers must keep pace with changes to maintain competency. The amount of wasted time, additional energy and resources required continues to increase when actions are not updated through unlearning. Confusion regarding unlearning remains a persistent problem because a clear definition does not exist. This study: 1) investigated and collected descriptive unlearning characteristics; 2) proposed a theory to define unlearning. Study results: Ninety-three interviews with 31 participants were conducted. The participants' responses were categorized into unlearning experiences and perceptions. One Hundred-Seven participant quotations referred to Experimentation in unlearning of their Windows-based system or application. Experimentation was divided into Subcategories: 1) Unstructured Experimentation, 2) Structured Experimentation, and, 3) Resource-Based Experimentation. Employee perceptions were identified as category with subcategories of Incompetence and Competence. The third category, factors, suggests participant unlearn with, availability of support, time constraints and opportunities for experimentation. This definition was proposed: Unlearning is the process of using experimentation and available resources to promote the disuse of previous actions. Additionally, to propose a new theory of the unlearning process, the force-field theory was used as a basis for this new unlearning theory. From the study results, organizations can develop effective employees to maintain a competitive advantage.

The quantitative correlational research study addressed the problem of a lack of knowledge on the predictive nature or strength of the independent variables; trust in immediate supervisor, trust in top management, and organizational trust precursors for producing organizational effectiveness (OE) that can also lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. The study was conducted on a research division of a federal government agency via electronic survey format. The study revealed that in addition to significant and positive correlations among the trust and OE variables, the results of a multiple regression analysis for the model as a whole showed an adjusted R² value of .6630, indicating that 66.3% of the variation in the dependent variable, OE, was explained by the independent variables. An F-value of 134.8, significant at the .05 level (p-value < .0001), indicated that the overall regression model was a good fit. All three levels of trust experienced by subordinate employees were positive and significant predictors of OE. Hierarchical multiple regression also showed that organizational trust precursors (B^a = .379, β^b = .573, t-value = 8.310, and p-value < .0001), and not trust in top management (B^a = .096, β^b = .128, t-value = 1.970, and p-value = .0508) or trust in immediate supervisor (B ^a = .120, β^b = .245, t-value = 5.370, and p-value < .0001) was a stronger positive predictor of OE. Managers and supervisors will be able to gain practical knowledge that will aid in positive and productive interactions with subordinate employees within organizations.

Background: Although Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is acknowledged to have an impact on families as a whole, few studies have investigated psychosocial aspects. Investigation of fathers in paediatric psychology literature is also neglected, and available DMD studies focus on maternal adjustment. This study addresses calls for both, research within the area of DMD and inclusion of fathers. Aims: The overall aim was to investigate psychosocial adjustment, and experiences, of fathers of sons with DMD by studying associations between paternal adjustment and: •boys’ functioning (physical and psychological) •perceived paternal involvement in condition management •perception of support •fathers’ experiences of parenting a son with DMD. Methods: A mixed methods approach, incorporating questionnaires evaluating level of boys’ functional ability (Functional Disability Inventory) and psychiatric adjustment (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire); paternal involvement in condition management (Dads Active Disease Support Scale); paternal ratings of satisfaction, and paternal adjustment (General Health Questionnaire), was used. In-depth interviews were also undertaken, and written accounts of experiences and views recorded. Results: 50 fathers completed questionnaires and 48 provided written accounts, with a cohort of 15 participating in interviews. Paternal adjustment was comparable to that of mothers, as noted in previous studies, with 38% above cut off for risk of psychological problems. Predictors of paternal adjustment were boys’ psychosocial adjustment, perceived amount of involvement in condition management and perceived support from friends. Themes emerging from the qualitative strand were 1) loss and acceptance; 2) support versus isolation; 3) the fight for resources and 4) race against time. Conclusion: Findings emphasise the need for bio-psychosocial interventions, acknowledging fathers’ needs, role, and involvement in their child’s condition. Alongside consideration of the family, the psychosocial impact for fathers should be acknowledged as being equally important to dealing with physical issues surrounding DMD. Professional awareness is needed of the emotional implications, and issues fathers face.

Social class has become increasingly popular in the organizational sciences. Recent studies have found that one’s social class influences phenomena ranging from decision-making, to pro-social behavior, and interpersonal interactions. Despite the burgeoning interest in this topic, there remains a great deal of ambiguity concerning the conceptualization and operationalization of social class. For instance, scholars have used income, education, as well as subjective ratings to measures one’s social class. In order to improve the conceptual clarity of social class, I develop and present a model that draws on the dominant theories of social class from both sociology and psychology, while organizing their key principles to explain how social class influences an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. By using this model as a framework, this dissertation attempts to refine the conceptualization of social class by testing core research questions pertaining to the construct validity of this construct. Based on a comprehensive, interdisciplinary literature search, which yielded nearly 4,000 effect sizes, I used meta-analytical structural equation modeling to test the proposed research questions and hypotheses. The findings offer clear support for two distinct components of social class (i.e., objective and subjective) that are both highly related to one another and associated with other micro-level constructs (i.e., job attitudes). Given the timeliness and importance of social class, the findings of this conceptual review and empirical meta-analysis offer a means of summarizing this large, interdisciplinary literature while guiding future management research on this critical topic.

This study examined the relationship of sales employees' emotional intelligence (EI) to their organizational justice (OJ) perceptions, and examined if sales employees' job satisfaction (JS) moderated the strength of the relationship between their EI and OJ perceptions. Three assessments were administered electronically and completed by 135 participants. The Job In General (JIG) assessment measured overall JS of employees. The assessment used to measure employee EI was the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0). The assessment used to measure employee justice perceptions was the Perceived Overall Justice scale. Hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis (MRA) was used to identify any relationships. No statistically significant finding between EI, JS, and OJ were found when using hierarchical moderated MRA. Because of the violations of assumptions for MRA, it was determined that follow-up non-parametric testing was required. Non-parametric testing found a significant relationship between employees' EI and their OJ perceptions. The non-parametric testing confirmed previous findings of significant relationship between EI and OJ. Recommendations for future research include examining individual facets of EI and OJ, using different assessment to measure EI and OJ, and using a controlled environment to recruit participants.

Over the past two decades, Taylor (1983; Taylor & Brown, 1988) has explored the tendency of individuals to develop positive illusions in coping with stressful, or traumatic events. These illusions consist of unrealistic positive self evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism. According to Taylor, illusions are important in accomplishing several tasks associated with successful adaptation, namely, search for meaning, regaining a sense of mastery, and restoring self-esteem through processes of social comparison. The purpose of the study was threefold: (a) to explore the construct of positive illusions (PI), (b) to explore employees' use of PI in coping with a stressful work event, and (c) to discover how PI, temporal distance, level of perceived stress, and a priming manipulation affect the type and frequency of inferences made while responding to items taken from a coping inventory.
The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase I, 209 nurses responded to a questionnaire which identified their level of PI, perceptions of occupational climate, and job satisfaction. They were also asked to describe a stressful work situation, and their appraisals and coping strategies used to manage the event. Results demonstrated that the PI construct for this population was best identified by enhanced self-perception, high dispositional optimism, and low internal locus of control. PI were associated with high self-efficacy for resolving the stressful event, appraisals of challenge, positive reappraisal and self-controlling coping, and the nonuse of escape-avoidance coping.
In Phase II, 36 nurses "high" and "low" in PI were assigned to two priming conditions. Nurses participated in a think-aloud procedure during which time they rated 16 coping items in relation to their previously identified work event and gave reasons for their ratings. After protocol analysis, results demonstrated that, (a) the type of prime used affected the consistency of recall even after controlling for temporal distance, and (b) positive illusions, prime, and time interact to produce significantly different patterns of self-statements and contextual inferences for the four groups. The results demonstrate that measures which rely on the recall of coping strategies need to be treated with considerable caution.

With the accelerated process of political and socio-economic transformation in South Africa, revolutionary organisational change has become a given in contemporary South African business life (Human & Horwitz, 1992). For revolutionary organisational change to succeed in South Africa, middle managers who represent the 'cement' of the organisation, need to adjust at the individual level. However, the literature on organisational change remains curiously silent about individual adjustment (Ashford, 1988). The goals of the research were firstly, to recount the middle manager's perceptions and experiences of revolutionary organisational change. Secondly, to detail the psychological re-