ICOS Dissertation Poster Session
Winter '97

"Creating and Maintaining Sustainable Interorganizational Relationships between Unequal Groups: Exploring levels of connection"

by Gelaye Debebe, Business Administration, Department of Organizational Behavior

ABSTRACT: This dissertation is about how interorganizational relationships are created and maintained between groups with unequal power. Specifically, I propose exploring the patterns and characteristics of the interactions between groups with unequal power in the creation and maintenance of interorganizational connections. In addition, I will attempt to provide an explanation for the factors which explain the observed patterns of interaction.

"Social Collateral: The payoff of group dynamics"

by Corinne Coen, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, School of Business Administration

ABSTRACT: I am interested in group dynamics and how group control or support contributes to task effectiveness. One interesting context for examining these issues is in organizations like the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the FOCAL program in the United States. These loan organizations support impoverished people, 90% of whom are women, develop small businesses. Rather than using physical collateral (i.e., cars or houses) or credit ratings, items which few poor people possess, these lending institutions make loans on the criterion of sustained membership in a peer support group. Although traditional banks regard them as serious credit risks, more than 97% of the participants in these innovative programs repay their loans. I am curious about how the use of social collateral - relationships and dynamics among a group of people - results in higher loan repayment rates than do traditional forms of loan guarantees. I intend to explore the devices used by members of these groups to support or control each other. My preliminary examination of anecdotal evidence suggests that group members use a number of tactics. These tactics include: 1) sharing technical skills, 2) offering psychological support, 3) intimidating outsiders who would interfere with loan repayment, and 4) providing concerted attention to the loan recipient. In addition, the loan organizations use reputational threats aimed at all support group members to encourage repayment. I would like to identify the crucial social factors that account for such extraordinary loan repayment rates.

"Jobs, Careers, and Callings: The significance of work during a life transition"

by Amy Wrzesniewski, Organizational Psychology

ABSTRACT: My dissertation focuses on how work orientation influences the way major employment transitions are handled. I define work orientation as the relative importance given to work by individuals as a domain of life, and have found support in my own research for the tripartite scheme first proposed by Bellah and his colleagues (1985; Schwartz, 1986) regarding how individuals relate to their work (Wrzesniewski, Rozin, McCauley, & Schwartz, in press). The three work orientations are briefly defined in the following way: Those with Jobs are interested primarily in the material benefits from work; those with Careers are defined as having a deeper personal investment in work, marking achievements through both monetary gain and advancement within the occupational structure; and those with Callings are defined as viewing work as inseparable from life, working not solely for financial gain, but instead for the fulfillment of doing the work.

In this project, the three work orientations are used to understand differential outcomes in how a period of unemployment is handled. For example, I propose that unemployment will be more devastating for those with callings because losing their work means losing a major piece of their identity. This research contributes to sociological identity theory by extending our understanding of how the domain of work is organized as a central life role relative to other domains of life, such as family and leisure. Instead of simply locating the centrality of work as a life role relative to other roles, this research focuses more sharply within the domain of work to explain how identity processes shape the way in which major life transitions are handled.

The data for this dissertation are being collected as part of a large, two-site, longitudinal study currently underway at the Institute for Social Research. Unemployed individuals who are part of a couple are surveyed and interviewed at four separate times over the course of one year.

References: Bellah, R. N., Madsen, V., Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, R. (1985); Habits of the heart. New York: Harper & Row; Schwartz, B. (1986). The battle for human nature: Science, morality, and modern life. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.; Wrzesniewski, A., Rozin, P., McCauley, C. R., & Schwartz, B. (In press); Jobs, careers, and callings: People Us relations to their work. Journal of Research in Personality.

"The Effects of Managed Care on Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Duration: A resource dependence approach"

by Christy Harris Lemak, Health Services Organization & Policy Program, School of Public Health

ABSTRACT: One of the most consistently documented findings in treatment evaluation research is that clients who stay in various types of drug treatment programs for longer periods of time exhibit a variety of better outcomes. Despite these findings, there are strong incentives for managed behavioral programs to shorten treatment duration in order to cut costs. In light of these conflicting pressures, this study will assess the effects of managed care on length of treatment in outpatient substance abuse treatment organizations. As managed care continues to grow, treatment organizations become dependent upon them as important sources of patients and revenues. This study uses resource dependence theory to predict how and why treatment organizations respond to the demands of managed care firms regarding treatment duration. The study will contribute to the resource dependence literature by testing the theory in situations where organizations are likely to comply with the demands of external factors, rather than attempt to change the nature of the interdependency. Data are from a national panel study of organizations conducted in 1988, 1990, and 1995 by ISR. In 1995, the sample included 600 organizations with a response rate of 85.6%. The effects of managed care on treatment duration will be tested in several ways, including a longitudinal comparison of treatment length and tests of specific oversight activities of managed care firms. Findings from this research will assist managers of drug treatment organizations as well as those who must determine public managed care policies and regulate private managed care firms.

"The Dynamics of Helping Behaviors at Work: A model integrating mentoring and social support"

by Regina O'Neill, Organizational Behavior, Business School

ABSTRACT: Research on mentoring and social support has the potential to inform one another, yet they remain separate literatures that barely acknowledge each other. My dissertation develops a theory-based comprehensive framework of mentoring and social support through integration of these two literatures. This framework is rigorously analyzed by examining various antecedents and outcomes such as culture, empowerment, career success, stress, and well-being, using newly developed and validated measures of mentoring and social support.

"Following Your Own True North: The effects of work values on organizational citizenship behaviors"

by Nancy Rothbard, Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management, Business School

ABSTRACT: Large-scale organizational change such as downsizing and technological innovation poses important challenges for motivating workers under conditions of uncertainty because goals and expectations are often unclear. Two of the most viable motivation theories, expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) and goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990), suggest that vague expectations and "do your best goals" are not as effective as clear expectations and specific, challenging goals. Thus, the question remains, what motivates individuals to tackle unforeseen challenges when goals and expectations are unclear. My research examines whether and how people's values influence their organizational citizenship behaviors. Organizational citizenship behaviors are individual employees' voluntary efforts which go beyond formal job requirements and which contribute to overall organizational effectiveness by providing the organization with the flexibility to handle unanticipated problems (Bateman & Organ, 1983; Smith, Organ, & Near, 1983). A motivation perspective that examines collective work behaviors suggests that when goals are not clearly specified and rewards are not directly tied to behavior, values may be powerful sources of motivation (Shamir, 1990; 1991). Values are evaluative standards (Rokeach, 1973) which affect people's choice of activities, the effort they exert, and the length of time they will continue to participate in an activity (Feather, 1992; Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987, 1990). Thus, values are important constructs to examine when considering what motivates people under conditions of unclear goals and expectations. In my dissertation, I develop a framework which categorizes work values by whether they serve collective or individual interests and by what type of need they represent-survival, social, or self esteem. This model predicts how and why different values may promote individual effort under conditions of uncertainty.

"Kicking Them When They're Down: Survivors' reactions to involuntarily terminated co-workers"

by Keisha Smith, Organizational Psychology

ABSTRACT: The proposed study seeks to investigate the emotions, attitudes, and behaviors of work group members following an involuntary termination within their ranks. Anecdotal accounts suggest that "survivors" (those who remain employed) often stigmatize and disengage from terminated colleagues. Such behaviors are noted to occur even when the survivors previously liked the individual and viewed his/her performance as acceptable. It is proposed that survivors do exhibit these reactions, and that they are the products of both individual and group forces. In this view, individual survivors struggle with emotional ambivalence over the loss of their co-worker, perceive increased impression management pressures, and need to regain feelings of control and understanding. The surviving group, in turn, seeks an official account of events and must reinforce the new group boundary. The interplay of these individual and group demands, as well as their contributions to stigmatization and disengagement, will be explored.

"Is the Doctor In, and Does It Matter?: Medical directors and nursing home quality of care"

by John F. McCarthy, Health Services Organization & Policy Program, School of Public Health

ABSTRACT: Since the late 1950s, health care analysts have claimed that physician participation is essential for quality assurance and quality improvement in nursing homes. Concerned about inadequate and indifferent physician involvement, federal regulators have mandated a new role for physicians in long-term care, the medical director. In 1974, medical directors were required in skilled nursing facilities; in 1990 this was extended to all nursing facilities. Despite the importance placed on medical direction, and despite recent advances in defining this position, there has been little research on what medical directors actually do, and no studies evaluating their impact on quality of care. This study addresses a number of policy concerns: 1) Who becomes a medical director, why and how? 2) What predicts performance in the various job domains? 3) How well does the medical director function as a boundary spanner, facilitating the coordination of patient care and the transfer of information across disciplines and institutions? 4) How do medical directors perceive their position as clinician-manager and those factors that facilitate or impede their work? and 5) How do involvement, communication, and quality efforts relate to facility quality indicators? These issues are examined in light of theories of professional relations and inter- and intra-organizational communication. This study will survey medical directors of nursing facilities in a large midwestern state. Relationships among the survey data will be assessed independently and with regard to facility quality indicators, including aggregations of patient-level data collected by the state. The results of this study will assist policy makers, nursing facility executives, and medical directors themselves.

"Competition and Cooperation in Entrepreneurial Activity"

by David Obstfeld, Organizational Behavior/Business School

ABSTRACT: How do entrepreneurial efforts evolve and what determines their success? This dissertation explores why competition and cooperation may emerge in different entrepreneurial undertakings.

Social capital provides one compelling means for analyzing entrepreneurship. Coleman (1988) defines social capital as aspects of social structure or relationships that facilitate action. Coleman suggests that social capital has three forms: the obligations, expectations, and trustworthiness of the social environment, access to information, and the extent to which norms and sanctions enable and constrain action. The social capital concept has come to refer to very different conceptions of social action. Putnam (1993) sees social capital facilitating coordinated action and spontaneous cooperation. Alternatively, Burt (1992) has identified the importance of a form of social capital, structural holes, through which the entrepreneur accesses unique control and information advantages by playing conflicting demands and preferences against one another for competitive advantage.

This dissertation will propose that different factors lead to different uses of social capital and different forms of entrepreneurial action. In some contexts, entrepreneurs operate as self-interested, autonomous agents. Other forms of entrepreneurship (e.g., certain alliances, virtual organizations, and microcredit lending efforts) display dense networks, high levels of trust and cooperation, and strong norms. In certain microcredit entrepreneurship programs, for example, groups of women, often with shared ties to a given community, are encouraged to support each other in achieving business success and timely repayment of loans.

This study will compare entrepreneurs in several milieus in order to identify distinctions in the emergence and evolution of social networks, relationships, and individual identities. Data gathering will involve qualitative interviews, survey data, and social network analysis to identify how and why the social structure of the entrepreneur and their associated organizations evolve over the initial start up.

"Leadership and Collectivistic Motivation: A dissertation proposal in the works"

by Carl B. Watson, Department of Psychology

Abstract: The fundamental responsibility of leadership is to enable effective collective action. However, as Shamir (1990) notes, there are few theoretical links or bridges between theories of leadership and collective action. Most existing theories rely on individualistic or hedonistic explanations that may not adequately account for group life. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore two potential bridges. Following Shamir, House, & Arthur (1992), these bridges are built upon the effects of leaders on followers' sense of the collective efficacy and identification with the group. In other words, leaders' effectiveness may be understood in part by their influence on the collective efficacy and collective identity. Collective efficacy and identity are both motivational constructs that were extrapolated from individual psychology to the group level. Particularly with collective efficacy, individual psychology has been relied upon too much to explain collective motivation. For example, collective efficacy has been treated as a mere extension of self-efficacy theory to larger aggregations. We often treat collective efficacy and identity as if individual responses are independent of other responses in the social environment. However, whether collective efficacy and identity represent individual or shared beliefs or both has important conceptual and methodological implications. The multi-level nature of collectivistic motivation will be explored emphasizing the effect of leadership on group dynamics.

"Talking Each Other Into A New Idea: The role of relationships and conversation in building momentum for an organizational change"

by Sandy Kristin Piderit, Organizational Behavior

ABSTRACT: How do friendships between employees shape their reactions to proposed organizational changes? Some research suggests that friends experience a sense of obligation to one another, and will almost automatically support each others ideas in order to maintain their relationship; this work takes a very static view of how friendship matters. In contrast, relational communication research emphasizes the role of conversation, as friends continually renegotiate the implications of agreement or disagreement for their future friendship.

My research extends this work by focusing on a particular type of conversation called consultation, which is conversing with the objective of attaining an acceptable consensus, in the context of conversations between employees about organizational changes proposed to solve defined problems. Consultation is an inherently mutual activity, meaning that it does not occur unless both participants share the objective of attaining an acceptable consensus. Consultation is also unique because before the conversation, neither participant has a definite preference for a potential change, but wants to select one through a process of seeking consensus.

My model describes the process of consultation between two individuals, and specifies which process characteristics are most likely to lead to consensus, depending on their degree of friendship with one another. The model is novel because it examines behavior interactively; rather than focusing on the effects of either person behavior alone, it specifies how each must consider the responses of the other in order to move toward consensus. This research has implications for research on negotiation, participative decision-making, resistance to change, and related phenomena.

"Strengthening the Bond of Identification through Volunteerism: An investigation of the effects of corporate community service on employee volunteers"

by Caroline A. Bartel, Organizational Psychology

ABSTRACT: This research explores some of the mechanisms by which employee participation in corporate-sponsored community service programs strengthens organizational identification (i.e., perceived oneness with or belonging to an organization). Based on social identity theory and social comparison theory, I propose that enhanced collective self esteem (esteem derived from organizational membership) is the primary mechanism through which organizational identification is strengthened. By involving employees in corporate-sponsored community service programs, organizations create opportunities for employees to engage in "downward social comparisons" with relatively disadvantaged groups at the community service site. Such comparisons enhance employees' collective self esteem which, in turn, increases the attractiveness of their organizational membership and strengthens organizational identification. This research represents a first attempt to empirically test the effects of social comparison on collective self esteem and organizational identification. In addition, this research explores the effects of enhanced organizational identification on employee behavior in the work place. Specifically, I focus on work-related effort, interpersonal cooperation, and various organizational citizenship behaviors. To empirically test the proposed model, a field experiment is currently being conducted at Honeywell, Inc. and The Pillsbury Company. This research has implications for both theory and practice.

(Working Title) "Factors Determining the Organizational Form and Administrative Patterns of the Virtual Post-Secondary Educational Organization"

by Daniel Carchidi, Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education

ABSTRACT: (I am currently in the initial stages of developing the proposal.) Forces within society are causing profound transformations in the nature of post-secondary education. Changes in core technologies, organizational entrants, and the customer and supplier base are moving post-secondary education toward a nascent knowledge industry model in which competition will be more intense. Greater competition, non-university certification, virtual learning communities, and global collaboration are all predicted to be conditions of the emerging knowledge industry that post-secondary educational organizations will face.

Signs of these changes are evident in a new form of post-secondary institution, which has taken a more prominent and controversial role in the educational landscape. These new institutions, called virtual universities or virtual colleges, have coincided with the growth of the Internet and other electronic infrastructures and offer the promise of highly relevant educational content delivered to ones desktop. As these institutions develop, there is concern being expressed over their organization, mission, value, and long-term viability.

Because of the recent appearance of these institutions, little is known about their organizational form or administrative patterns. Therefore, the central research question guiding this study is: Which factors determine the organizational form and administrative patterns of virtual post-secondary educational organizations?

The emergent nature of the phenomenon under study and differences in the characteristics of virtual institutions may best be studied through a multiple case study. A purposive sample of institutions will be selected representing the institutional types present in the emerging knowledge industry.

"Understanding the Power of Relational Demography"

by Joana Young, Organizational Psychology

ABSTRACT: Increased attention has focused on the experiences of women as they advance further into male dominated arenas. Kanter (1977a, 1977b) proposed the theory of tokenism to explain the occupational experiences of numerically underrepresented groups in a skewed population (up to a ratio of 85:15). Tokenism is comprised of three phenomena: heightened visibility (draws undue attention to the actions of tokens); boundary heightening (the numerically dominant group isolates the tokens by exaggerating the differences between the two); and role encapsulation (the dominant group stereotypes the tokens). While Kanter's research followed only female subjects, she proposed tokenism as a theory capable of explaining the experiences of any group in a skewed population. However, recent research has shown that the dynamics of tokenism may be significantly impacted by sociocultural and psychological factors that differ among demographic groups. One way researchers have tested this hypothesis is to study men (the majority group in Kanter's research) as a minority. In contrast to Kanter's group of female tokens, who were disadvantaged by tokenism, males found advantages as tokens amidst a majority of women. One flaw in the research on male tokens is that although researchers studied occupations dominated by women (e.g. nurses, secretaries), these occupations are situated in male dominated industries. Looked at from that perspective, it is not so surprising that men are promoted faster or paid more. Under circumstances where males worked in both a female dominated occupation and industry, one would more reasonably expect tokenism to have similar negative consequences for men that Kanter found for women. This study will compare occupational outcomes for male and female tokens where they work in an occupation that is dominated by the other gender, and in a combination of an occupation and an industry that is dominated by the other gender.

"Strategic Organizational Response to The Michigan Mandate: The Influence of Institutional Environments and Resource Dependencies"

by Dave Siegel, Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education, School of Education

ABSTRACT: This dissertation utilizes institutional and resource dependence theories to explain the strategic organizational responses of selected schools and colleges at the University of Michigan to the Michigan Mandate, a comprehensive diversity initiative treated here as an institutional pressure. The theoretical framework guiding the investigation is an adaptation of Oliver's (1991) antecedents of strategic responses, which are characterized in terms of the reasons for external pressures (cause), who is applying them (constituents), the pressures being exerted (content), the means by which they are applied (control), and the nature of the environment in which they occur (context). Using a comparative case study approach, a sample of schools and colleges exhibiting variable responses and levels of interconnectedness with their external environments will be selected and analyzed with an aim to discovering and explaining the influence of multiple levels of the external environment in response formulation. For purposes of this study, the external environment may include the larger operating structure within which schools and colleges are nested (i.e., the University of Michigan), as well as the wider social contexts in which schools and colleges exist. It is hypothesized that schools and colleges will pursue response strategies based on the complex interaction of pressures and expectations originating in multiple environments, and they will likely exhibit greater levels of responsiveness to the Michigan Mandate when compliance is believed to enhance social legitimacy and access to critical resources from key constituents.

"Relationships, Identity, and the Transition into New Organizational Settings"

by Daniel Friedland, Organizational Psychology

ABSTRACT: This poster represents an early attempt at narrowing down a dissertation topic. I am interested in learning about how people manage transitions into new organizational settings. More specifically, I would like to explore the links between personal and social identity, relationship formation, and the adjustment of new organizational members. How do personal and social identity influence the types of relationships individuals form upon entering a new organization? How does the formation of different types of relationships (e.g., social, task, political) relate to adjustment in the workplace? By adjustment, I mean several things: psychological adjustment (i.e., mental health), adjustment to the work itself, and adjustment to the organizational setting (e.g., team). Finally, how do both anticipated length of placement in the new setting and the degree to which people seek to satisfy their social needs in the workplace play into shaping both the relationships formed and adjustment to the new work setting? I would like to explore these questions by studying new organizational members, particularly temporary employees. Through participation in this poster session, I hope to begin to focus my interests into a manageable research project.

"Understanding Determinants of Complex Interorganizational Relationships in the Knowledge Industry: An Analysis of a Nonprofit Organization"

by Scott Rosevear, Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education

ABSTRACT: Colleges and universities are currently existing in an increasingly complex environment characterized by new organizational entrants in a growing knowledge industry. In response to such changes, institutions are implementing innovative strategies that include establishing interorganizational relationships with organizations not previously associated with higher education. There has been little research that explains why higher education institutions and organizations from other industries collaborate to form new organizations. This study will explore this phenomena using a conceptual framework derived from research on higher education, nonprofit organizations, and organizational theory. In particular, this study will examine the reasons and environmental conditions that influence organizations from different industries to enter into an interorganizational relationship. Such research will further develop the knowledge base of interorganizational relationships for both researchers and practitioners. For researchers, the results of this study will extend our understanding of the determinants of interorganizational relationships. For practitioners, the results will inform managers of factors that may influence other organizations to participate in interorganizational relationships. A comparative case study will be the methodology utilized for this research. The individual cases studied and compared will be participating organizations in the Michigan Virtual Automotive College, a nonprofit organization based on a collaboration between state government agencies, colleges and universities, and automobile companies.