ORGANIZATIONS IN MOTION: IMPACT OF LABOR FORCE TRANSITIONS
Dr. Anastasia Luca, Touro University International,
Sharon Kendrick, Touro University International, and FayettevilleTechnicalCommunity College
Dr. Melody Wollan, EasternIllinoisUniversity, (Chair)
ABSTRACT
This symposium was designed to reflect the conference theme and focus on change in organizations. Specifically, the three papers included in this symposium all address transitions that organizations need to consider with changes in labor force. The first paper reflects an empirical cross-cultural study related to the transition of a global workforce, and how perceptions are influenced by culture, specifically looking at positive illusions. The second study is a work-in-development as a dissertation that examines the transition in the broader labor force – that of retirees returning to employment in what has been coined “bridge employment” and is providing a window into an aging population and the attraction and selection components of reentering the workforce post-retirement. The third paper addresses an empirical study conducted with coworkers in environments where employees had recently departed, evaluates the characteristics of the respondent with the exiting employee and makes suggestions based on social identity theory for identification of potential ripple effects from turnover. Thus, all three papers address different types of transitions of labor force: an external cross-cultural shift in available labor supply globally and issues with managing a cross-cultural workforce, a cultural shift in the United States with the population of retirees returning to work, representing a broader shift in an aging labor force, and the effect on the labor force in transitions within organizations under conditions of turnover and exit.
Discussant for these works will be Dr. Mary Sully de Luque, Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, , scholar and author of international management and human resource management research.
PAPER 1
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Positive Work Self-Assessment:
US and Romanian MBAs
Dr. Anastasia Luca, TouroUniversity International
Dr. Luca (PhD, UCLA) was a two-term Fulbright scholar and a post-doc at UCLA, and has conducted research in both Romania and the United States. In her presentation, she will discuss similarities and differences in these environments that shape the perceptions of potential employees, and will discuss her key findings related to positive illusions, extending the work of Taylor and Brown (1988) and Taylor (1989) to a cross-cultural environment. Specifically she summarizes her paper:
A main phenomenon capturing self-serving biases and their impact upon human life is that of positive illusions (Taylor, 1984; Taylor & Brown, 1989; Taylor 1989). Taylor and Brown (1988) and Taylor (1989) determined that mild self-serving biases lead individuals to form a brighter image of self than objective reality permits, a human cognition phenomenon, they named positive illusions (TPI). TPI leads individuals to develop enhanced self-esteem, a sense of control over their lives and unrealistic optimism. TPI also influences individuals to experienced enhanced career prospects, as they compare themselves to their peers. Contrary to expectations, TPI has beneficial consequences for individuals and their lives. No earlier cross-cultural study examines, nor tests TPI. This pilot study examines the phenomenon of positive illusions (TPI), as it influences the work lives of individuals (WTPI), focusing on business professionals enrolled in MBA Programs in Los Angeles and Bucharest.
Findings of this study indicate that business professionals attending MBA Programs in Los Angeles and in Bucharest have high levels of WTPI. Their enhanced career self-esteem is especially elevated. Findings further attest that there are no WTPI differences among the US and the Romanian MBA samples. Both US and Romanian business professionals highly regard their career abilities. They also believe that their career prospects are superior to those of their peers. It thus appears that work positive self-assessment characterizes business professionals, beyond their national background.
PAPER 2
Building a BetterBridge: A Closer Look at Bridge Employment
Sharon Kendrick, TouroUniversityInternational & FayettevilleTechnicalCommunity College
Ms. Kendrick is a PhD student working on her dissertation proposal. To this symposium, she brings a literature review on the current state of research in the area of retirement and bridge employment. By October, she is likely to have defended her dissertation proposal and to have collected her data. Her literature review suggests that retirees select bridge employment on a number of characteristics ranging from their satisfaction with work prior to retirement, the availability of options in bridge employment (work characteristics), and financial considerations, among other themes that have emerged in preparing her study. This would suggest that current and potential employers may be able to influence and position the retiring employee for future “bridge employment” (Feldman, 1994). She summarizes her work:
This study will seek to identify characteristics of jobs and organizations (Davis, 2003; Feldman & Kim, 2000; Singh & DeNoble, 2003) that would be attractive to potential bridge employment seeking. Few have been empirically tested and such research could be used to inform recruiting and job redesign efforts (Adams & Rau, 2004; Seibert, Kraimer, & Crant, 2001) and improve organizational performance in recruitment of older workers. Additionally, this study will seek to determine if situational vs. dispositional attributions negatively or positively influence participation in bridge employment among retirees. The findings of this research study will help employers identify what attracts retiring employees to bridge employment and identify potential candidates for bridge employment.
PAPER 3
The Impact of Coworker Transitions: How Exiting Employees Influence Others
Melody Wollan, Eastern Illinois University
Dr. Wollan (PhD, University of Nebraska) is interested in the influence that coworkers have on one another based on social information, particularly in transitioning organizational events such as exit announcement and ceremonials. Her research focuses on the exiting and transitional process of employee exits (capturing similarities and differences in retirement, downsizing, voluntary turnover and involuntary terminations), largely utilizing theories of social comparison and social identity categorizations.
In this symposium, she proposes to present a segment of her empirical findings from her dissertation research that suggested that the perception of shared social identity characteristics are a better indicator of the remaining coworker’s impact and influence of ripple effects than friendship or hierarchical similarity as previous studies have suggested. This paper and presentation delve into the results with a refined approach, to suggest what performance, behaviors and attitudes were specifically demonstrated to be more affected by the exit of a coworker.
A cross-sectional sample of 51 workgroups from independent organizations was created in which an employee had left during the previous four months. Surviving coworker responses to questionnaires indicated their degree of social identification with the exited employee was significantly related to the degree of change in the surviving coworkers’ performance, attitudes, and behaviors, when the dependent variable was considered as an aggregate of these three broad categories (Wollan, 2002). Social identification with the exited employee was found to be a better predictor than friendship relationships or hierarchical similarity in predicting changes in performance, attitudes, and behaviors (as an aggregated variable; Wollan, 2002). These results illustrate that turnover can create a ripple effect in the workplace. While some surviving employees responded adversely to the loss of a coworker, others responded favorably and others were not affected at all.
In further analysis of the data within the sample, specific aspects of ripple effects beyond turnover are examined to identify specific outcomes that might occur when a highly identified coworker departs, including anti-social behaviors (i.e., theft, sabotage), performance (in-role and extra-role), absenteeism, changes in career, job, and life satisfaction, and organizational commitment. In this vein, results indicate that managers may be able to better recognize outcomes, predict targeted individuals that might be more greatly impacted, and address the source of adjustment that the employee makes when a coworkers departs.
REFERENCES
Adams, G., & Rau, B. (2004). Job seeking among retirees seeking bridge employment. Personnel Psychology, 57, 719-745.
Davis, M. (2003). Factors related to bridge employment participation among private sector early retirees. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63, 55-71.
Feldman, D.C. (1994). The decision to retire early: A review and conceptualization. Academy of Management Review, 19, 285-312.
Feldman, D.C., & Kim, S. (2000). Working in retirement: the antecedents of bridge employment and its consequences for quality of life in retirement. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 1195-1210.
Seibert, S.E., Kraimer, M.L., & Crant, M. (2001). What do proactive people do? A longitudinal model linking proactive personality and career success. Personnel Psychology, 54, 845-875.
Singh, G., & DeNoble, A. (2003). Early retirees as the next generation of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 27, 207-227.
Taylor, S. E. (1984). Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation.American Psychologist, 38(11), 1161-1173.
Taylor, S. E. (1989). Positive illusions: Creative self-deceptions and the healthy mind.New York, NY: Basicbooks, Inc.
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusions and well-being: A social psychological perspective of mental health.Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193-210.
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1989). Positive illusions and well-being revisited: Separating fact from fiction.Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 21-27.
Wollan, M. L. (2003). Exit transitions at work: How organizational members respond when coworkers leave(Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska, 2002). Dissertation Abstracts International-A, 63/11, 4013.