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Positive affect and feedback-giving behavior
Abstract
Purpose
New models of career management require individuals to harvest as much learning as possible from situations wherever and whenever feedback is possible. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of positive affect (liking) on feedback giving behavior since authors have suggested a potential bias but little empirical evidence exists on the topic.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 77 trainer‐trainee dyads in a formal field‐based training program over a 60‐day period. Additionally, critical incidents accounts of career setbacks were collected from MBA students and consulting clients.
Findings
Less positive and less specific feedback was reportedly given to liked individuals, compared to disliked individuals, when performance was not attributed to internal causes. Also, an interaction between performance level and affective relationship explained amounts of negative feedback received in low internal attribution group. Less liked trainees received similar amounts of negative feedback despite performance level, while more liked trainees received more negative feedback when performing poorly than when performing well. The qualitative data support quantitative findings and add insights into why liked individuals receive less feedback of the nature that can further enhance career development.
Practical implications
Liked individuals need to be especially vigilant in pursuing feedback necessary for personal development. Managers should be encouraged to monitor the amount of critical feedback given to liked and disliked employees. Specific suggestions are offered.
Research limitations/implications
Objective performance measures may not be available in other field settings. Even so, an objective performance assessment is what is needed to understand the full impact of positive affect on feedback giving behavior and subsequently, personal development.
Originality/value
Few studies regarding feedback giving behavior exist. The only previous study found that investigated the role of positive affect in feedback giving behavior was a lab study dealing only with poor performers. This field study shows how attributions interact with positive affect in feedback giving behavior while controlling for a natural range of performance. More importantly, this study adds a caveat to LMX findings about the advantages of a positive affective relationship.
... Overall, while the evidence mostly shows a positive relationship between newcomers seeking feedback and their understanding and performance of their jobs, there are occasions when this is not the case. It is possible that diff erences in the consequences of feedback seeking are due to the quality of feedback received (Adams, 2005;Ashford et al., 2003), and it is the responsibility of newcomers and insiders to drive this. More straightforwardly, greater feedback seeking is consistently associated with better integration into the social fabric of the organization and, for the most part, is related to more positive attitudes of the newcomer toward the new job and organization. ...
... Boss relationship building is also positively correlated with social integration, job satisfaction, commitment, intent to return, person-job fi t, and person-organization fi t (Gruman et al., 2006;Saks et al., 2011). Intriguingly, one study found a negative relationship between the quality of one's boss relationship and the volume of corrective feedback given (Adams, 2005). It is unclear whether having a good relationship requires less feedback to be given, since perhaps this is given in other, less direct ways, or whether the supervisor would refrain from feedback for fear of damaging the relationship (Levy & Williams, 2004). ...
The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive review of research on newcomer proactive behavior. We start by outlining why proactive behavior is important for new employees today and situating this within the broader proactive behavior literature. Following this, the chapter has six main sections. First, we outline the range of proactive behaviors that newcomers use, under the three categories of changing the role or environment (e.g., changing work procedures), self-change (e.g., feedback seeking), and mutual development (e.g., networking). Second, we discuss the consequences of each proactive behavior by newcomers that has been studied in detail and third, we examine the antecedents of newcomer proactive behaviors. Fourth, we outline longitudinal patterns of change in newcomer proactive behavior. Fifth, we present ideas around the potential for proactive behavior to be maladaptive for organizations and also for newcomers themselves. This is followed with a sixth section on practical implications, comprising a review of the sparse research to date on interventions to increase newcomer proactive behavior. We finish with ideas for future research and concluding thoughts.
... In the only study we found on feedback-giving behaviour, Adams reported that feedback-giving behaviour in the US Army helicopter training school was influenced by a positive affect of trainers, with trainees who were well liked by trainers receiving less positive and less specific feedback. The author concluded therefore that popular trainees should be especially vigilant in pursuing feedback necessary for their personal development [15]. Evidence from studies on feedback seeking showed that benefits of feedback as perceived by trainees depended on the trainer [9,11,12]. ...
... By multiplying the number of observations by the mean number of minutes per observation we obtained the total time (in minutes) spent on observation and feedback during the first two months of training. We adapted the measure of 'quality of content' from the study by Adams [15] to the setting of our study and translated the questions into Dutch. This resulted in twelve questions with five-point Likert scales. ...
The literature provides some insight into the role of feedback givers, but little information about within-trainer factors influencing 'feedback-giving behaviours'. We looked for relationships between characteristics of feedback givers (self-efficacy, task perception, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness) and elements of observation and feedback (frequency, quality of content and consequential impact).
We developed and tested several hypotheses regarding the characteristics and elements in a cross-sectional digital survey among GP trainers and their trainees in 2011 and 2012. We conducted bivariate analysis using Pearson correlations and performed multiple regression analysis.
Sixty-two trainer-trainee couples from three Dutch institutions for postgraduate GP training participated in the study. Trainer scores on 'task perception' and on a scale of the trait 'neuroticism' correlated positively with frequency of feedback and quality of feedback content. Multiple regression analysis supported positive correlations between task perception and frequency of feedback and between neuroticism and quality of feedback content. No other correlations were found.
This study contributes to the literature on feedback giving by revealing factors that influence feedback-giving behaviour, namely neuroticism and task perception. Trainers whose task perception included facilitation of observation and feedback (task perception) and trainers who were concerned about the safety of their patients during consultations with trainees (neuroticism) engaged more frequently in observation and feedback and gave feedback of higher quality.
... specific questions ready. (Adams, 2005) In managerial literature, the general advice is regularly to recognize personnel doing a good job and, when delivering criticism, to do so without delay and with focus on the task. (Pousette et al., 2003) T A B L E 3 The What: Categorisation of actions included in this category particular situations related to performance appraisal and feedback, such as the level of performance appraisal ratings within the organisation (Luffarelli et al., 2016). ...
Research on supervisory feedback has burgeoned over the past twenty years. We ask, what does it have to offer to management practitioners, and is this knowledge conveyed in a constructive way? To answer these questions, we conducted a systematic literature review of the practical implications contained in feedback studies. Based on our retained articles (N=120) and using the W‐H questions as our guiding framework, we critically discuss: Why recommendations are offered, What recommendations are endorsed, When and Where the recommendations are presented as most applicable, to Whom those are addressed, and How they are framed by researchers. In so doing, we summarize the indications that scientific research has offered to practitioners; moreover, following the same framework and the insights collected via a follow‐up survey of academics (N=61), we provide recommendations to researchers across the management and psychology disciplines on how to craft their practical implications sections in a way that may help bridge the gap between research and practice.
... The leader can ask the team-member to reflect on their reflected best self [79]. When people reflect on past experiences that they consider successful, it enhances positive emotions such as contentment and excitement [80]. ...
Research about stress management has traditionally focused on reducing possible stressors. However, more recent studies have highlighted the importance of renewal as an antidote to stress. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical explanation of how renewal activities can invoke a psycho-physiological response that enhances personal sustainability. By drawing upon recent evidence from the fields of medicine, psychology, and management, we developed a conceptual understanding of how renewal activities are characterized by the movement of the individual from a negative to a positive psycho-physiological state. Such a transition happens over a tipping point, which people can enact in themselves and in others through emotional and social intelligence competencies. We illustrate this proposition with the specific case of ideal self-based coaching in the workplace that can enhance personal sustainability among both leaders and their team members.
... Conversely, ability and effort attributions were unrelated to the non-punitive feedback (e.g., meeting to discuss problems), but external attributions were negatively related to such feedback. Also worth noting is that Adams (2005) found that liking for a subordinate and supervisor attributions for performance interacted to predict the types of feedback provided to subordinates, suggesting liking and attributions play a joint role in influencing feedback giving. ...
Over the past few decades, researchers have considered how a number of between-person differences (i.e., personal influences) impact workplace feedback processes. This chapter provides a review of research that has examined various personal influences (i.e., personality traits, demographics variables, and other individual differences) in relation to three critical aspects of the feedback process (i.e., feedback-seeking behavior, recipient reactions to feedback, and feedback giving), with a primary focus on identifying and describing research trends and gaps in this literature. Drawing from our review, we provide suggestions for practitioners who are interested in enhancing the effectiveness of feedback processes in organizations.
... Based on the suggestion of the editor and an anonymous reviewer, we expanded the measures collected with Sample 3, which was a second sample of 176 working adults in the USA recruited through Amazon's MTurk. These participants worked in their current organization for 3.5 years, were 30 years old, and responded to 50 items, including the newly created gossip items, 11-item loneliness scale (de Jong Gierveld & Kamphuis, 1985), 13-item social undermining scale (Duffy, Ganster, & Pagon, 2002), 14-item communication scale (Kramer, Callister, & Turban, 1995), 8-item feedback giving scale (Susan, 2005), and demographic questions. Sample 4 was a third separate data collection and sample from Amazon MTurk (n = 200). ...
... In comparison, employees do not have frequent contact with distant leaders, who have greater influence at the organizational, rather than individual, level (Hill, Seo, Kang, & Taylor, 2016). These aspects of hierarchical distance also affect the emotional experience of employees at work (Adams, 2005;Ashkanasy, 2003), their well-being and satisfaction (Karanika-Murray, Bartholomew, Williams, & Cox, 2015), and their subsequent organizational behaviors (Nifadkar, Tsui, & Ashforth, 2012). ...
Meetings are a frequent occurrence in today’s work environment and yet they remain understudied empirically. This study focused on better understanding the relationship between hierarchical distance in meetings and emotional labor. More specifically, we investigated the direct effect of surface acting and deep acting on hierarchical distance, respectively, using social-comparison theory and norms of professionalism as our theoretical framework. In addition, we explored whether an individual-difference variable, susceptibility to emotional contagion, moderates these relationships. Utilizing a panel of full-time working adults from various industries who attend meetings regularly, we found that hierarchical distance is positively related to surface acting, but no conditional effect was found. However, emotional contagion was shown to moderate the relationship between hierarchical distance and deep acting such that the relationship was positive for high emotional contagion but negative for low emotional contagion. Conclusions concerning the implications for research and practice of consulting psychology are drawn.
... Convergence refers to the adjustment of communication behaviours to adapt to differences between an individual and others by using certain words, changing the pace of speech, or adopting accents as conversational tactics (Gallois, Ogay, & Giles, 2005). Accommodating actual or perceived individual differences assists in achieving effective communication outcomes (Adams, 2005), which in a globalised business environment leads to enhanced organisational outcomes (Zhang, Tsui, Song, Li, & Jia, 2008). ...
Student mobility presents both challenges and opportunities in higher education due to language, cultural and learning background differences among students. Effective integration of ‘real world’ group situations into class and assessment activities assists students to develop skills in accommodating cross-cultural language differences in line with convergent principles of communication accommodation theory. This case study reports on a cross-cultural post-graduate Management subject in a regional Australian university, demonstrating how explicit teaching results in improved learning outcomes by integrating experiences with theory, while better preparing students to participate in a globalised workforce.
... In terms of antecedents, customers' perception towards providers such as service quality [28], service provider performance [29] and hedonic or utilitarian consumption [30] are frequently positioned as drivers of pleasant emotions. Past research have shown that positive affect yields beneficial outcomes; namely, feedback-giving behaviour [31], and variety seeking behavior in brand choice [32]. ...
Businesses are gradually realizing the importance of corporate social responsibility in securing greater returns in their operations. This approach is intended to create good image for the company subsequently to attract consumers to purchase products or services from that company. The issue now is whether the consumers are ethical or not in their decision to purchase products or services from the company. Ethical consumers will think twice before making their decision to purchase. Within the western world, pertinent issues like human rights, environmental concern, sustainability, intellectual property rights and others are recognized as the major concern for the consumers before making purchase decision. In other parts of the world especially in developing countries, Muslim community is a steadily growing consumer group that should not be rightfully ignored. Studies in the areas of Muslim consumer ethics and purchasing behaviour have still remained relatively unexplored, thus, calling for this research to lessen the gap. The objective of this study is to conceptualize, develop and validate a Muslim consumer ethical model. The expected result of the study is the development of the Muslim consumer ethical model that can be used to identify the determinants of this behaviour. The results will provide deep insights on the right strategies that could be devised by companies based on the model.
... Based on the suggestion of the editor and an anonymous reviewer, we expanded the measures collected with Sample 3, which was a second sample of 176 working adults in the USA recruited through Amazon's MTurk. These participants worked in their current organization for 3.5 years, were 30 years old, and responded to 50 items, including the newly created gossip items, 11-item loneliness scale (de Jong Gierveld & Kamphuis, 1985), 13-item social undermining scale (Duffy, Ganster, & Pagon, 2002), 14-item communication scale (Kramer, Callister, & Turban, 1995), 8-item feedback giving scale (Susan, 2005), and demographic questions. Sample 4 was a third separate data collection and sample from Amazon MTurk (n = 200). ...
We examine the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) quality and advice network centrality using multi-source data from a sample of 250 retail employees and their respective managers in Turkey to test our hypothesized model of value and costs of being sought out for advice. Drawing upon the tenets of Network Generation Theory (Nebus, 2006), we predict that the tendency of focal actors to help others and their own tendency to gossip would be behavioral moderators of the relationship between LMX quality and their advice network centrality. Consistent with Network Generation Theory, our results reveal that LMX quality is positively related to centrality only for those actors with a high tendency to help coworkers and a low tendency to gossip about coworkers, suggesting that behaviors indicating helpfulness and discretion are necessary for high LMX members to maintain a central position in their work group's advice network. Implications and future research directions are discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... However, measuring performance is hampered by a number of factors (Furnham 1996). (1) Managers feel uncomfortable with giving negative or corrective feedback, and most are unaware of the negative consequences (Adams 2005). (2) Managers are not adequately trained in measuring performance. ...
Unquestionably, adequate selection, recruitment, and retention of employees
(for example through (re)training) results in high-quality work outcomes.
Ultimately, however, efficient, effective, and competitive organisations require
more than just experience and expertise from their employees—some personal
traits enrich not only individual, employee performance but also collective,
organisational performance. Research has confirmed the link between emotional
intelligence and work outcomes (see, for example, Spencer Jr. and Spencer 1993;
George 2000; Lopes et al. 2006)—emotional intelligence tests assist with the
selection and recruitment of employees, more loyal and better performing than
employees selected and recruited the ‘usual’ way, and with their subsequent
training and retraining, through the identification of personal traits likely to affect
their work (and life) outcomes. In the particular case of the hospitality sector,
studies have started to emerge exploring the links between emotional intelligence
and work outcomes (see, for example, Langhorn 2004; Sy, Tram, and O’Hara
2006; Scott-Halsell, Blum, and Huffman 2008; Min 2012). However, thorough
research into the emotional intelligence of functional managers in the hotel
industry—and into its role in task and contextual performance within given
organisational cultures—is scant, both in Hungary and internationally.
Consequently, this article investigates the links between emotional intelligence
and work outcomes—measured through task and contextual performance—in the
particular context of the hotel industry. It is based on the author’s extensive
examination of the literature as part of her doctoral research, currently (February2013) in midway progress, and it aims to make recommendations with regard to
employee selection, recruitment, and retention. Customised (re)training, for
example, enhances functional managers’ awareness both of those personal traits
that influence individual performance and of those organisational cultures that
would most suit individual functional managers.
This article intends to synthesise the results of the literature review, not to
reproduce the literature review in its entirety. To this end, the article is divided
into six sections. Following this short introduction, the second section presents an
overview of the hospitality sector in general and of the hotel industry in particular.
The section examines the role tourism plays in the economy, with particular
reference to the Hungarian economy and the wider EU economic context. The
section also looks into possible explanations for the high employee turnover so
characteristic of the tourism sector. The third section looks into similarities and
differences between hospitality / hotel management and management in other
industries. The section defines general and functional management and identifies
the similarities and differences between them. It also examines the factors that lead
to successful management and looks into the particular role personality plays. The
fourth section defines the concept of performance and discusses ways in which
performance could be measured. The section examines task and conceptual
performance in particular. The fifth section introduces the concept of emotional
intelligence and presents the theoretical and methodological evolution of this area
of research. The section distinguishes between ability emotional intelligence and
trait emotional intelligence, as well as between their respective methods of
measurement. The link between emotional intelligence and performance at work is
also discussed in this section, particularly with regard to the hospitality sector and
the hotel industry. The final, sixth section summarises the findings of this extensive literature review. The section explains the implications these have for
the author’s wider, doctoral research and suggests further possible avenues for
research.
... On submission of the dissertation, students were asked to submit their proforma to the tutor and to discuss their thoughts in more depth. The intention was to improve the quality of tutor feedback (Nicholson, Cook, Cason, & Carter, 2005) and to find a way to monitor the feedback given (Adams, 2005). For the benefit of the dissertation tutor, the proforma was divided into four stages, enabling focused data collection: ...
The aim of this study was to establish and evaluate a method of recording tutor feedback given to students during the undergraduate dissertation tutorial process. The areas under review included both the tutorials themselves and written comments provided on draft work. Attention was paid to how effective these mechanisms were in supporting students through the dissertation process. Twelve sports education undergraduate students were asked to complete a dissertation feedback evaluation proforma after tutorials they attended between September 2006 and April 2007. The form covered key aspects of the student-tutor relationship, with specific reference being made to the strengths and weaknesses of tutorial feedback and support. The findings of the evaluation identified key issues for practice within the dissertation supervisory relationship. Furthermore, it was suggested by the students that this was an exercise with inherent merits for them: encouraging reflection on the learning process and helping them identify their responsibilities as independent learners. As a result, some students engaged more with the tutorial system and gained more from the experience.
Purpose
Studies on managerial coaching have documented the challenges and complexities involved. Therefore, this study aims to develop a conceptual framework to understand these challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
This article uses the lens of paradox theory and intentional change theory to develop a conceptual framework to explain that managerial coaching is the source of emergent tensions.
Findings
In this study, four tensions that emerge in the socio-psychological response of the team member and their bi-directional impacts are described, namely, the tensions between change and continuity; autonomy and structure; short and long-term orientations; and authenticity and social influence.
Originality/value
The theory developed in this paper could help researchers design methodologically rigorous studies on managerial coaching effectiveness.
This chapter explains how to practice delivering one's presentation. Like any other project one develops, effective communication depends on a series of trials and errors with thoughtful course correction. Speaking skills are best developed through consistent practice. For the speaker, practice achieves improvement in two ways: it strengthens the quality and clarity of one's information, and it allows one to become comfortable with the physiological aspect of delivery. Practice provides information one may not intuitively be aware of, including time, language choice, body language, vocal variety, and visuals. The chapter provides several steps for practicing one's speaking, thereby reducing the associated anxiety. By cultivating self‐awareness, speakers can make corrections to their own speech patterns. In addition to learning how to accept feedback from others, it is also important to learn how to provide constructive feedback.
This study investigated preference for delivering feedback, including preferred channels, degree of privacy, and degree of synchronicity. Participants were asked to rate their preferences for various channels and delivery methods as senders of feedback. Specifically, this study explored how senior-level undergraduate students would prefer to deliver informal feedback to prospective students regarding their scores on a standardized test. Face to face delivery was the most preferred channel over email, chat, phone call, and text message. The participants also rated more synchronous delivery more highly regardless of feedback valence. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.
Purpose
Human factor is often cited as one of the biggest challenges for organizational information security management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why employees fail to carry out required security tasks.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of coping theory, this paper develops a theoretical model to examine employee effortful security behavior (ESB). The model is tested with the data collected through a survey of computer users.
Findings
The results suggest that employee procrastination of security tasks and psychological detachment from security issues are two antecedents of ESB. Psychological detachment and procrastination are in turn influenced by perceived externalities of security risk and triage of business tasks over security issues by employees.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the information systems security literature by providing a nuanced understanding of the antecedents and process of how employees cope with security task demands. It also offers some insights for practitioners in terms of the importance of designing and implementing security measures that are viewed as relevant to employees.
Scholars and practitioners in the OB literature nowadays appreciate that emotions and emotional regulation constitute an inseparable part of work life, but the HRM literature has lagged in addressing the emotional dimensions of life at work. In this chapter therefore, beginning with a multi-level perspective taken from the OB literature, we introduce the roles played by emotions and emotional regulation in the workplace and discuss their implications for HRM. We do so by considering five levels of analysis: (1) within-person temporal variations, (2) between persons (individual differences), (3) interpersonal processes; (4) groups and teams, and (5) the organization as a whole. We focus especially on processes of emotional regulation in both self and others, including discussion of emotional labor and emotional intelligence. In the opening sections of the chapter, we discuss the nature of emotions and emotional regulation from an OB perspective by introducing the five-level model, and explaining in particular how emotions and emotional regulation play a role at each of the levels. We then apply these ideas to four major domains of concern to HR managers: (1) recruitment, selection, and socialization; (2) performance management; (3) training and development; and (4) compensation and benefits. In concluding, we stress the interconnectedness of emotions and emotional regulation across the five levels of the model, arguing that emotions and emotional regulation at each level can influence effects at other levels, ultimately culminating in the organization's affective climate.
The article deals with conceptions of feedback from manager, job satisfaction, and factors influencing the efficiency of feedback. The impact of principal’s feedback on primary education pedagogues’ job satisfaction is analysed as well. The model of empirical research is introduced in order to evaluate the interface of principal’s feedback, pedagogues’ reactions to the feedback, and job satisfaction. The results and conclusions of the conducted empirical research (on the basis of quantitative questionnaire method) are provided. After conducting the research, the significant correlations between principal’s feedback and pedagogues’ job satisfaction have been established.
This study investigated how perceptions of supervisor communication competence and source credibility were affected by the valence and synchronicity of a feedback message and the channel used to deliver the feedback message. Results indicated that those receiving feedback preferred phone calls rather than text messages as a channel for managers to deliver feedback. Also, supervisors delivering positive feedback were identified as more positive in general than those delivering negative feedback. Further results and implications are discussed.
This meta-analysis reviewed the magnitude and moderators of the relationship between rater liking and performance ratings. The results revealed substantial overlap between rater liking and performance ratings (ρ = .77). Although this relationship is often interpreted as indicative of bias, we review studies that indicate that to some extent the relationship between liking and performance ratings potentially reflects “true” differences in ratee performance. Moderator analyses indicated that the relationship between liking and performance ratings was weaker for ratings of organizational citizenship behaviors, ratings made by peer raters, ratings in nonsales jobs, and ratings made for development; however, the relationship was strong across moderator levels, underscoring the robustness of this relationship. Implications for the interpretation of performance ratings are discussed.
Performance management and its integral part – feedback delivery to employees have received growing managers and researchers attention. However, the majority of researches have been performed in the Western Europe and US context, where the expertise and knowledge is accumulated.
Post-Soviet countries is an unique region, as fifty years of Soviet regime made an imprint on performance management and feedback intervention style, where managers preferred critics to recognition and focused more on negative feedback than positive.
The aim of this paper is to provide theoretical grounding and empirical evidence of feedback delivery mechanism and its outcomes in post-Soviet countries context.
Using theoretical background and empirical knowledge we develop propositions and create theoretical model for the future empirical research.
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine how employees perceive the differential quality of relationships with their supervisors, and their emotional experiences within the leader‐member exchange (LMX) process for these differential relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study presents the interview findings of 25 full‐time employees working within five teams in two organizations.
Findings
The qualitative results revealed a consistent pattern of descriptors used by employees to differentially describe their high‐quality and low‐quality LMX relationships. A range of positive and negative emotions were experienced within the context of the LMX relationship and individuals reported different levels of positive and negative emotions for high‐quality versus low‐quality LMX relationships.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation is the reliance on self‐reports of the subordinate (not leader) in terms of the role of emotions in the LMX process.
Practical implications
The authors contend that these findings increase understanding of the role of emotion in supervisor‐subordinate relationships and how this is reflected in relationships of differential quality. The findings also suggest ways to enhance the quality of leader member exchanges and ultimately improve employee experiences.
Originality/value
Although the role of emotions in LMX has been theorized, this study is one of the first to use a workplace sample to empirically and qualitatively examine the role of emotions in supervisor‐subordinate relationships of differential quality.
Some organizations are more effective at using their knowledge resources than are others, and this can lead to performance differences among organizations with equivalent resources. One aspect of organizations that helps to explain differences in effective use of organizational resources is the cognitive styles of organization members. We propose that a better matching of cognitive style and knowledge resources will improve organizational performance through improved knowledge resource utilization. In particular, and based on adaption-innovation theory (Kirton, 1976), we propose that teams of individuals with an adaptor cognitive style will perform better when explicit knowledge is available and teams of individuals with an innovator cognitive style will perform better when tacit knowledge is available. In addition, when there are significant differences in cognitive styles among a team of organizational members we suggest that training can improve the successful use of available organizational knowledge resources.
With full- or part-time employees in Hong Kong as subjects, two studies examined how supervisors (n = 113) and subordinates (n = 145) reacted to a feedback scenario under the social accountability conditions depicted by a 2 (Valence: Positive or Negative) × 2 (Medium: FTF or e-mail) factorial design. Message valence explained greater variance than did medium, and e-mail was viable in mitigating both accountability-related reactions. Negative feedback, compared to positive feedback, created higher accountability that led participants in the role of a manager to feel greater anxiety and pressure, to perceive less effective message delivery and image and relationship management, and more likely to anticipate accountable behaviors. The perceptions by subordinate-subjects largely mirrored those by supervisor-subjects.
Background: Professional nurses play a vital role in the provision of health care globally. The performance of health care workers, including professional nurses, link closely to the productivity and quality of care provision within health care organisations. It was important to identify factors influencing the performance of professional nurses if the quality of health care delivery was to improved.Objectives: The aim of the present study was to identify factors affecting the performance of professional nurses in Namibia.Method: A quantitative, descriptive survey was used to collect data by means of a questionnaire. A random sample of 180 professional nurses was selected from six hospitals in three regions of Namibia.Results: Factors affecting the performance of nurses negatively were identified such as: lack of recognition of employees who are performing well, quality performance outcomes and an absence of a formal performance appraisal system and poor working conditions. Various factors contribute to both the positive and negative performance of professional nurses in Namibia. Strategies were developed for addressing the negative factors that could positively affect the performance of professional nurses in Namibia.Conclusions: This study emphasises the importance of developing strategies to promote the performance of nurses; build knowledge and expertise; develop mechanisms for improving the performance of nurses; expand leadership and management capacity; and generate information and knowledge through research.
The theory of relational demography within groups has generated considerable interest because of its importance for understanding the meaning and impact of demographic diversity within work organizations. Specifically, relational demography suggests that the more similar an individual is to a social unit in demographic characteristics, the more positive will be his/her work-related attitudes and behaviors. However, previous research has not produced a clear and consistent pattern of results supporting the idea that demographic similarity positively affects individuals' attitudes and behaviors or, conversely, that demographic dissimilarity negatively affects individuals' attitudes and behaviors. It is an appropriate time in the life cycle of relational demography research to conduct a systematic review of the literature. As such, the purposes of this chapter were to describe the theoretical foundations of relational demography, review previous research and identify contradictions, and discuss new directions for future research.
When employees perform poorly, they should seek feedback from managers. In return, managers should give constructive feedback to employees, so that they can improve their performance. However, this kind of meaningful exchange about employee performance is often precluded by managers themselves. Some managers have an overly supportive style and feel uncomfortable giving negative feedback. Other managers are intolerant of failure and react harshly to feedback-seeking from poor performers. This causes employees to stop asking for feedback or even to avoid discussing performance with their managers entirely. Some employees, such as those who generally fear negative feedback, will be more likely than others to avoid feedback from their managers, even though it might be helpful. Others will be reluctant to seek feedback because of the potential cost of being perceived as incompetent. These actions of employees and managers can mutually instigate and reinforce one another, creating a vacuum of meaningful exchanges about poor performance. We refer to this phenomenon as the feedback gap. We propose a get-well plan that offers concrete guidelines so that managers can narrow the feedback gap. Our prescription stimulates managers to view feedback about poor performance as a learning opportunity, rather than as a chance to blame others.
Executive Overview
Performance feedback is an important part of many organizational interventions. Managers typically assume that providing employees with feedback about their performance makes it more likely that performance on the job will be improved. Despite the prevalence of feedback mechanisms in management interventions, however, feedback is not always as effective as is typically assumed. In this article, we present specific conditions under which feedback might be less effective, or even harmful. We then discuss the implications of our results and model for designing of interventions aimed at improving performance, and focus more narrowly on 360-degree appraisal systems. After arguing that these systems typically have design characteristics that reduce effectiveness, we conclude with recommendations for improving their effectiveness. We also emphasize the need for systematic evaluations of feedback interventions.
The literature on transformational and transactional leadership suggests integrating the leader-memher exchange (LMX) approach with research on mentoring. Using LISREL VII confirmatory factor analysis. and 183 managerial dyads, we show LMX and mentoring to be empirically distinct from the supervisors' perspective hut not from the sub-ordinates'. LMX and mentoring each also accounted for meaningful incremental variance over the other with respect to rated performance, salary progress, and promotion rate. Implications are briefly discussed.
Subordinate and supervisor leader-member exchange (LMX) were examined as correlates of delegation and as moderators of relationships between delegation and subordinate performance and satisfaction. Raw score analyses of data on 106 dyads showed both to be significantly related to delegation and to have similar main and moderating effects for subordinate performance and satisfaction. Finally, within-and between-groups analyses largely supported the level-of-analysis predictions of the LMX approach. Implications for future LMX research are discussed.
Following a review of literature on the leader-member exchange model of leadership, the model's methodological and theoretical problems are discussed. First, it is argued that leader-member exchange is a multidimensional construct and should be measured accordingly. Second, it is noted that the leader-member exchange developmental process has not been fully explicated. In addressing these problems, a three dimensional conceptualization of the leader-member exchange construct is proposed and a model of the leader-member exchange developmental process is presented.
We introduce social networks theory and methods as a way of understanding mentoring in the current career context. We first introduce a typology of "developmental networks" using core concepts from social networks theory-network diversity and tie strength-to view mentoring as a multiple relationship phenomenon. We then propose a framework illustrating factors that shape developmental network structures and offer propositions focusing on the developmental consequences for individuals having different types of developmental networks in their careers. We conclude with strategies both for testing our propositions and for researching multiple developmental relationships further.
Using videotaped interviews with 60 managers in utility companies, the authors found that a composite of vocal interview cues (pitch, pitch variability, speech rate, pauses, and amplitude variability) correlated with supervisory ratings of job performance (r = .18, p < .05). Using videotaped interviews with 110 managers in a news-publishing company, the authors found that the same composite of vocal cues correlated with performance ratings (r = .20, p < .05) and with interviewers’ judgments (r = .20, p < .05) and that a composite of visual cues (physical attractiveness, smiling, gaze, hand movement, and body orientation) correlated with performance ratings (r = .14, p < .07) and with interviewers’ judgments (r = .21, p < .05). Results of tests of mediation effects indicate that personal reactions such as liking, trust, and attributed credibility toward interviewees explain relationships (a) between job performance and vocal cues and (b) between interviewers’ judgments and both visual and vocal cues.
This paper presents and organizes the results of two decades of research on feedback-seeking behavior according to three motives: the instrumental motive to achieve a goal, the ego-based motive to protect one’s ego, and the image-based motive to enhance and protect one’s image in an organization. Each motive is discussed with reference to its impact on the frequency of feedback seeking, seeking method (whether by inquiry or monitoring), timing of feedback seeking, choice of the target of feedback seeking, and the topic on which feedback is sought. The role of context in influencing these patterns is also discussed. Issues in the literature are identified throughout, and the review ends by identifying five promising areas for future research.
We hypothesized that positive and negative affect would interact with ability information in predicting exchange quality ratings of leaders and group members in a laboratory study. Ninety-six undergraduates completed a measure of cognitive ability, as well as a measure of positive-and negative-trait affect before participating in several group exercises. Exchange quality ratings collected from emergent leaders were best predicted by the interaction of member ability and negative affect. Specifically, there was a positive relationship between ability and exchange quality for those members with low negative affect, but no relationship for those with high negative affect. Exchange quality ratings gathered from group members (i.e., nonleaders) were best predicted only from leaders' positive-affect scores. Discussion centers on the particular role that affect plays in initial exchange quality judgments, as well as practical implications and generalizability issues.
Employees develop exchange relationships both with organizations and immediate superiors, as evidenced by research on perceived organizational support (POS) and leader-member exchange (LMX), respectively. Despite conceptual similarities between these two constructs, theoretical development and research has proceeded independently. In an attempt to integrate these literatures, we developed and tested a model of the antecedents and consequences of POS and LMX, based on social exchange theory. Results indicated that POS and LMX have unique antecedents and are differentially related to outcome variables, providing support for the importance of both types of exchanges.
We introduce social networks theory and methods as a way of understanding mentoring in the current career context. We first introduce a typology of "developmental networks" using core concepts from social networks theory - network diversity and tie strength - to view mentoring as a multiple relationship phenomenon. We then propose a framework illustrating factors that shape developmental network structures and offer propositions focusing on the developmental consequences for individuals having different types of developmental networks in their careers. We conclude with strategies both for testing our propositions and for researching multiple developmental relationships further.
Career patterns are changing. As fewer people attach their long-term fortunes to the fates of a single organization, more and more people follow a free agent route. The free agent scrambles, bee-like, from opportunity to opportunity without regard to boundaries. While this career scramble is new to most industries, it has been common to the American film industry for a quarter century. In this article, we look back at successful careers in the film industry to gain insight into the challenges facing free agents in the 21st century.
The literature on feedback to individuals has previously been reviewed with respect to its effect on the behavior of individuals in performance-oriented organizations. Although contemporary views of individual behavior in organizations stress that feedback is necessary for effective role performance, little attention is given to the psychological processes affected by it. This review focuses on the multidimensional nature of feedback as a stimulus and addresses the process by which feedback influences behavior. Emphasis is placed on those aspects of feedback that influence (a) the way it is perceived, (b) its acceptance by the recipient, and (c) the willingness of the recipient to respond to the feedback. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A review of the literature revealed that superiors were often thought to be poor sources of performance feedback for their subordinates. A study was undertaken to discover if and when delay and upward distortion of feedback occurred. It was expected that feedback to moderately low performers would be delayed longer and distorted upward more than would feedback to moderately high performers. Further, superiors of moderately low performers were expected to anticipate a less pleasant reaction to feedback by superiors and to believe that their subordinates liked them less than superiors of moderately high performers. A 2–2 design was used with the factors feedback vs no feedback and moderately high vs moderately low subordinate performance. 168 college students served as superiors of a subordinate who was a confederate. Ss monitored and rated their subordinate's performance, then those in the feedback condition gave feedback at a time of their own choosing. All hypotheses were supported except the delay hypothesis. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews research in psychology, sociology, and organizational behavior to develop a conceptual framework that specifies how positive emotion (PE) helps employees obtain favorable outcomes at work. It is proposed that feeling and expressing PEs on the job have favorable consequences on (1) employees, independent of their relationships with others (e.g., greater persistence); (2) reactions of others to employees (e.g., "halo," or overgeneralization to other desirable traits); and (3) reactions of employees to others (e.g., helping others). Results from an 18-mo study of 272 employees indicate that PE on the job at Time 1 is associated with evidence of work achievement (more favorable supervisor evaluations and higher pay) and a supportive social context (more support from supervisors and coworkers) at Time 2. PE at Time 1 is not significantly associated with job enrichment at Time 2. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This longitudinal study examined hypothesized moderating effects of role development on the link between unmet expectations and socialization outcomes. Data were collected from 248 new hires before organizational entry and at an average of 4 weeks after entry. Three role expectations, conflict, clarity, and acceptance, were measured at both data collections. Two role development constructs, leader-member exchange (LMX) and team-member exchange (TMX), and three socialization outcomes, organizational commitment, turnover intention, and job satisfaction, were measured after entry. Results showed that met expectations, LMX, and TMX were significant predictors of all outcomes. In addition, LMX and TMX significantly moderated several relationships, such that favorable role development relationships with supervisors or work groups ameliorated the negative effects of unmet expectations. Research and applied implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Since the beginning of the century, feedback interventions (FIs) produced negative--but largely ignored--effects on performance. A meta-analysis (607 effect sizes; 23,663 observations) suggests that FIs improved performance on average (
d = .41) but that over one-third of the FIs decreased performance. This finding cannot be explained by sampling error, feedback sign, or existing theories. The authors proposed a preliminary FI theory (FIT) and tested it with moderator analyses. The central assumption of FIT is that FIs change the locus of attention among 3 general and hierarchically organized levels of control: task learning, task motivation, and meta-tasks (including self-related) processes. The results suggest that FI effectiveness decreases as attention moves up the hierarchy closer to the self and away from the task. These findings are further moderated by task characteristics that are still poorly understood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the 1st 6 mo that 166 newly hired employees and their immediate supervisors worked together. Expectations, perceived similarity, liking, demographic similarity, and performance were examined as determinants of leader–member exchanges (LMXs). Leader and member expectations of each other assessed in the 1st 5 days in the life of the dyad predicted LMXs at 2 wks and at 6 wks following the 1st day of the dyads' existence. Member expectations of leaders also predicted LMXs at 6 mo. Following nearly the same pattern, perceived similarity and liking from both the leaders' and members' perspectives predicted LMXs at most time periods. Demographic similarity between leaders and members had no significant effects on LMX development, and subordinate performance ratings were relatively less important in predicting LMX than were affective variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
While feedback is considered to be among the most effective motivational tools available in organizations, there is substantial evidence that leaders are often poor sources of feedback. Following poor subordinate performance, leaders have been shown to avoid providing feedback, delay providing feedback, and distort feedback to make it less negative. While these findings are strong, there is evidence that this ‘mum’ effect may be limited by certain boundary conditions. A 2×2 experimental study was designed to determine the extent to which leader performance attributions (effort and ability) and outcome dependence (high and low) affected the frequency, latency, and type of feedback provided to poor performers. The results suggest that the feedback offered to poor performers by leaders is significantly affected by both performance attributions and outcome dependence. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The authors develop a model of how a salesperson's task and social attraction affect a sales manager's causal attributions explaining the salesperson's poor performance and the manager's corrective feedback based on these attributions. The authors’ experimental results, based on a sample of 218 sales managers, suggest that (1) causal attributions, cognitive effort, and decision confidence are directly affected by task and social attraction; (2) the effects of task and social attraction on coercive feedback are mediated by internal attributions; and (3) external attributions play a partial, but negative, mediating role for nonpunitve feedback. The authors also find evidence that interpersonal affect directly influences manager feedback. Implications for research and practice are developed that recognize that appraisal processes are influenced by affect and attributional considerations, not simply bias and inaccuracy in rating performance itself.
Three studies examined the possibility that being liked intrinsically by others - for who one is - reduces self-esteem defense, whereas being liked for what one has achieved does not. All 3 studies contrasted the effects on self-esteem defense of liking based on intrinsic or achievement-related aspects of self. Study 1 showed that thoughts of being liked intrinsically reduced defensive bias toward downward social comparison. Study 2 demonstrated that being liked for intrinsic aspects of self reduced participants' tendency to defensively distance themselves from a negatively portrayed other. Study 3 revealed that being liked for intrinsic aspects of self encouraged a preference for upward over downward counterfactuals for a negative event. In all 3 studies, similar reductions in defensiveness were not found when liking was based on achievements. Discussion focuses on implications for understanding the functional value of different bases of self-worth.
Following a review of literature on the leader-member exchange model of leadership, the model's methodological and theoretical problems are discussed. First, it is argued that leader-member exchange is a multidimensional construct and should be measured accordingly. Second, it is noted that the leader-member exchange developmental process has not been fully explicated. In addressing these problems, a three dimensional conceptualization of the leader-member exchange construct is proposed and a model of the leader-member exchange developmental process is presented.
Executive Overview
While the new paradigm of the “intelligent enterprise” has captivated the imagination of managers and management scholars alike, few have considered its impact on people's careers.¹ Thus, as a point of departure, we take up that challenge. By exploring the competency-based, learning-centered view of the intelligent enterprise, we suggest its complement, the “intelligent career.” The intelligent career involves the development of “knowing why.” “knowing how.” and “knowing whom” competencies, and, as we will show, promotes a new set of principles to underlie intelligent enterprise employment arrangements. Finally, we suggest how career actors, managers, and human resource professionals can rethink popular employment practices and prepare for the new career world.
This study examined the relation of cognitive factors (implicit theories, self-schemas, and perceived similarity) to liking and leader-member exchange (LMX) in a field setting. Perceived similarity significantly predicted LMX quality, with liking mediating this relationship. Supervisor-subordinate match on implicit performance theories, the normativeness of both subordinates' and supervisors' self-schemas, and subordinates' negative affectivity also predicted liking and LMX ratings. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
The role of social and situational influences in the performance-rating process has received relatively little research attention yet merits increased attention. Although there has been acknowledgment of the role of social and situational factors in shaping rater cognition and evaluation, research has typically proceeded in a piecemeal fashion, isolating a single variable at a time. Such an approach fails to recognize that performance rating is a process with multiple social and situational facets that need to be considered simultaneously. In the present study, we tested a model of the performance-rating process, employing several social and situational variables that have been infrequently investigated and typically not in conjunction with one another. Results indicated support for the overall model and specific links within it. Implications of the results for performance-rating research are discussed. There is perhaps not a more important human resources system in organizations than performance evaluation. Supervisors' ratings of subordinates' performance represent critical decisions that are key influences on a variety of subsequent human resources actions and outcomes. Indeed, this pivotal role of performance evaluation has promoted systematic efforts to develop a more informed understanding of the performance-rating process. Landy and Farr (1980) issued a call for research investigating the cognitive processes underlying performance appraisal decisions. Although the process focus has generated considerable research concerning various components of performance-rating decisions, more comprehensive investigations incorporating several of those components has been lacking. Furthermore, process-oriented research has been limited by its reliance on laboratory studies (DeNisi & Williams, 1988). Whereas the cognitive processes involved in performance-rating decisions can be well illuminated in laboratory studies, the "quiet" nature of laboratory studies often does not match the "noisy" context in which performance-rating decisions are actually embedded (Lord & Maher, 1989).
The authors develop a model of how a salesperson's task and social attraction affect a sales manager's causal attributions explaining the salesperson's poor performance and the manager's corrective feedback based on these attributions. The authors' experimental results, based on a sample of 218 sales managers, suggest that (1) causal attributions, cognitive effort, and decision confidence are directly affected by task and social attraction; (2) the effects of task and social attraction on coercive feedback are mediated by internal attributions; and (3) external attributions play a partial, but negative, mediating role for nonpunitve feedback. The authors also find evidence that interpersonal affect directly influences manager feedback. Implications for research and practice are developed that recognize that appraisal processes are influenced by affect and attributional considerations, not simply bias and inaccuracy in rating performance itself.
In a field experiment involving 106 form-processing employees of a large, public service organization four treatment conditions are compared—leader—member exchange (LMX), job design, a combination of LMX and job design, and a placebo control—on satisfaction and productivity. The job design manipulation fails to take, and only the LMX condition results in significant before—after gains. Employee growth need strength moderates the LMX effect. Both dyadic exchange and work itself outcomes show significant gains in the LMX condition. The implications of these results are discussed.
Informal performance feedback from supervisors can have a significant and generally desirable impact on the performance and job-related attitudes of their subordinates. A model of the overall feedback process is outlined. The model is concerned with the factors that influence supervisors' performance feedback behavior, as well as with the effects that giving feedback can have on both the subordinate and the supervisor him/herself. Empirical evidence bearing on this model is reviewed, and several of the model's major implications are discussed.
This study investigated the role of differences in age, organizational tenure and gender between manager and employee as potential moderators between employees' leader-member exchanges (LMX) and related work outcomes. The results support the interaction effect of manager-employee organizational tenure difference with LMX and outcome variables. Employees with a high organizational tenure difference from the manager reported the worst work outcomes when they perceived LMX was of low quality, whereas when the quality of LMX was high, they reported the highest work attitudes and well-being.
This study examined the extent to which dimensions of feedback are related to self-development. Employees rated their perceptions of feedback received, and supervisors rated employees’ self-development (seeking feedback and development) and job performance. Self-ratings of career motivation, public self-consciousness, and feelings of empowerment were also examined as correlates of self-development and performance. Respondents were 115 employees and their supervisors in a large Danish bank. A factor analysis showed four dimensions of feedback: positive reinforcement, evaluative feedback, threat, and development focus. Younger managers were higher on self-development. Those who perceived receiving more positive reinforcement and nonthreatening feedback and who felt empowered were rated higher in performance. Implications for practice and future research taking into account feedback dimensions and national culture are discussed.
Research suggests that the decision to engage in feedback seeking behavior will depend both on the expected diagnosticity of the feedback message and on the seeker's expectations about his or her performance level. An experi- ment was conducted in which both of these factors were manipulated. It was predicted that poor performers would seek diagnostic feedback (feedback that could be used to improve future performance) more frequently than non- diagnostic feedback, whereas good performers would seek feedback regard- less of diagnosticity. The results suggest that individuals will be most likely to seek feedback when they expect it to be both diagnostic and favorable. Impli- cations of this finding are discussed.
Observes that previous research on the value and effect of supervisory feedback has focused on the recipient of the feedback (the salesperson). The research reported in this article examines the feedback construct from the provider’s perspective (the sales manager). Explores the relationship between Sujan’s failed sales effort attribution model and the feedback provided typology developed by Jaworski and Kohli. The results confirm a direct relationship between failed sales effort attributed to poor strategy and positive feedback directed to salesperson behavior. A direct relationship is reported between the failed sales effort attributed to lack of effort (or intensity) and negative feedback provided by the sales manager that is directed to the salesperson’s output.
This study explored the ability of liking and two forms of rater-ratee similarity to predict multi-source proficiency ratings of managerial competencies. Findings from the regression model that included all raters indicated that technical proficiency, rater-ratee liking, demographic and attitudinal similarity about work all were significant predictors of proficiency ratings. For these ratings, attitudinal similarity was the strongest predictor of ratings after technical proficiency. Liking, attitudinal and demographic similarity combined increased explained variance by about one-third over technical proficiency. Regression models, run for each rating source separately, suggested that supervisors, subordinates and peers may weigh performance and interpersonal elements differently, when making performance ratings.
Notes that during the past 100 years, a significant amount of social science research has attempted to elucidate the relationship between feedback and behaviour. Research designs and behavioural models clearly reflected the researcher’s basic assumptions about the determinants of human behaviour. Behaviourism, for example, had a pervasive influence on feedback research, especially during the first half of the century. During the 1940s, more cognitive approaches began to emerge. Recently, the importance of contextual variables has been recognized. Explores how these trends in psychology have affected feedback research and models. Also discusses the future of feedback research.
The theory of relational demography within groups has generated considerable interest because of its importance for understanding the meaning and impact of demographic diversity within work organizations. Specifically, relational demography suggests that the more similar an individual is to a social unit in demographic characteristics, the more positive will be his/her work-related attitudes and behaviors. However, previous research has not produced a clear and consistent pattern of results supporting the idea that demographic similarity positively affects individuals' attitudes and behaviors or, conversely, that demographic dissimilarity negatively affects individuals' attitudes and behaviors. It is an appropriate time in the life cycle of relational demography research to conduct a systematic review of the literature. As such, the purposes of this chapter were to describe the theoretical foundations of relational demography, review previous research and identify contradictions, and discuss new directions for future research.
This study investigated the contribution of both subordinate and leader characteristics in the development of leader-member exchange (LMX) quality. Data from 56 subordinate-superior dyads working at a large West-coast media company revealed that subordinates high in work self-efficacy were liked more by their supervisors, perceived to be more similar to their supervisors, experienced more positive LMX quality, and were rated as better performers than subordinates low in self-efficacy. Previous job experience, was related only to one outcome; supervisor's liking of the subordinate. Subordinates initially low in self-efficacy benefited from high LMX, as evidenced by increased end-of-program self-efficacy. Perceptions of similarity between supervisor and subordinate were found to be more important to LMX quality than actual demographic similarity. Leader self-efficacy and optimism predicted subordinates' ratings of LMX quality only for female supervisors. Unexpectedly, leader self-efficacy and optimism were related to the leaders' own ratings of LMX and subordinate performance.
This paper proposes a competency-based view of careers, derived from competency-based models of employer firms. The implications for boundaryless careers are explored by reference to changing organizational, occupational and industry community contexts. All of these contexts are seen as likely to promote boundaryless career behaviors. Future research possibilities for each of three career competencies, and for interdependence among the competencies, are briefly examined.