Attributional conflict between managers and subordinates: An investigation of leader-member exchange effects

The present study investigated the discrepancies, or conflict, between the attributions of leaders and members as a function of LMX quality and explored the relation between attributional conflict and subordinate job satisfaction, perceptions of equity, and turnover intentions. Data for the study were provided by 141 supervisor-subordinate dyads from the managerial ranks of a large manufacturing organization. Both parties of the dyad made attributions for subordinate loyalty, affect, and contributions, member behaviors identified as critical in previous LMX research. Limited support emerged for the hypothesis that attributional conflict would be greater in dyads where subordinates reported lower rather than higher LMX quality. Findings suggested that attributional discrepencies are due, in part, to the tendency of leaders to make more favorable attributions for subordinates reporting higher LMX quality than for subordinates reporting lower LMX quality. Results also revealed that, while attributional conflict was negatively related to subordinate satisfaction and perceptions of equity and positively related to turnover intentions, attributional conflict did not predict subordinate work outcomes when the effects of LMX quality were controlled. Implications of these findings were discussed.     

A laboratory experiment testing the antecedents of leader cognitions

A laboratory experiment was conducted to test relationships between leadership style, feedback on subordinate performance within the context of either the vision or goals of the organization, and leader cognitions representing a modified version of Wofford and Goodwin's (1994) cognitive processing model of leadership. The results indicated that: (1) positive feedback leads to the access of transformational cognitions, whereas negative feedback leads to the access of transactional cognitions; (2) negative feedback about subordinate performance causes transformational leaders to access transactional cognitions in response to subordinates; (3) the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and transformational cognitions is strengthened when feedback received about subordinates is vision‐related compared to feedback that is goal‐related; and (4) the relationship between transactional leadership behavior and transactional cognitions is strengthened when feedback received is goal‐related compared to feedback that is vision‐related. Limitations and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A dimensional analysis of supervisor and subordinate attributions of success and failure

Supervisors in five organizations and subordinates in three organizations were asked how important four primary causes of behaviour—motivation, ability, luck and task difficulty—were as causes of subordinate performance. Consistent across all eight samples, organizational members perceived motivation and ability as more important causes of subordinate success than failure. Task difficulty was perceived as a more important determinant of failure than task ease was of success. Luck was the least important cause of both success and failure. Factor analysis revealed that supervisors and subordinates utilized the internal-external locus of causality dimension to explain subordinate success and failure. It was concluded that organizational members rely upon similar causal schemata to explain performance outcomes.     

Leader‐signaled knowledge hiding: Effects on employees' job attitudes and empowerment

The authors introduce the concept of leader‐signaled knowledge hiding (LSKH) and conduct two studies observing what happens when leaders signal employees that knowledge hiding (KH) is practiced, tolerated, and expected. Social learning theory provides the basis for predicting that LSKH encourages subordinates to hide knowledge, even though they suffer from negative job attitudes in reaction. In Study 1, data measured at two time points (N = 1,162) shows that LSKH positively predicts KH among subordinates. The KH dimensions of evasive hiding and playing dumb (but not rationalized hiding) negatively relate to job satisfaction and positively affect turnover intentions. Study 2 (N = 1,169) replicates these results with cross‐sectional data. Moreover, Study 2 demonstrates that evasive hiding and playing dumb negatively affect empowerment, whereas rationalized hiding has a positive effect. Both studies reveal that subordinates will show less KH when they work under leaders who avoid LSKH and in turn have more job satisfaction, feel more empowered, and harbor fewer turnover intentions. The results in this study provide important practical implications for knowledge management activities.     

Leader communication approaches and patient safety: An integrated model

IntroductionLeader communication is known to influence a number of employee behaviors. When it comes to the relationship between leader communication and safety, the evidence is more scarce and ambiguous. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether and in what way leader communication relates to safety outcomes. The study examines two leader communication approaches: leader safety priority communication and feedback to subordinates. These approaches were assumed to affect safety outcomes via different employee behaviors.MethodQuestionnaire data, collected from 221 employees at two hospital wards, were analyzed using structural equation modeling.ResultsThe two examined communication approaches were both positively related to safety outcomes, although leader safety priority communication was mediated by employee compliance and feedback communication by organizational citizenship behaviors.ConclusionThe findings suggest that leader communication plays a vital role in improving organizational and patient safety and that different communication approaches seem to positively affect different but equally essential employee safety behaviors.Practical applicationsThe results highlights the necessity for leaders to engage in one-way communication of safety values as well as in more relational feedback communication with their subordinates in order to enhance patient safety.     

建筑工人不安全行为影响因子分析及控制措施研究

为有效的控制建筑工人的不安全行为,从而减少事故,须分析出建筑工人不安全行为主要影响因素,并提出针对性控制措施。从各种不安全行为中提取13个影响因子,在此基础上通过访谈和调研获得直接影响矩阵,借助决策试验和评价实验室方法(DEMATEL)计算出每个因子的影响度、原因度和中心度,由此分析出安全态度、安全技能、安全认知和安全培训在影响因素体系中最为重要,领导的重视对建筑工人的不安全行为也有很大影响。结果表明:个人因素是影响工人安全行为的主要因素,环境因素和管理因素通过影响个人因素影响工人的安全行为。最后,针对个人影响因素,提出了合理开展安全培训、加强现场行为管理、加强安全心理干预、完善用工制度等措施。     

Production supervisor impacts on subordinates' safety outcomes: an investigation of leader-member exchange and safety communication

PROBLEM: Supervisors are increasingly important to the functioning of manufacturing operations, in large part due to their role as leaders. While supervisors' relations and communication with their subordinates are known to be important in influencing subordinates' behavior, little is known about how these two factors will impact subordinates' safety. This study investigated how much each factor contributes to safety-related outcomes for blue-collar production employees. METHOD: Production employees at five Pennsylvania wood manufacturers completed a survey during their work shift. Five hundred and ninety eight employees provided data on leader-member exchange (LMX), safety communication, and safety-related events. Archival data on OSHA recordables were also obtained from the producers' human resources database. RESULTS: Analyses found that the influence of LMX was greater than that of safety communication in predicting safety-related events. Neither LMX nor safety communication was significantly related to OSHA recordables. Results also demonstrated that employee job satisfaction and demographic variables such as gender and age have safety implications. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Results from this study further emphasize the importance of production supervisors and illustrate the potential role of leader-member exchange in enhancing workplace safety. Specifically, organizations should foster positive social exchange between their employees and supervisors and enhance the leadership qualities of supervisors to help reduce workplace injuries.     

Job satisfaction as mediated by the value congruity of supervisors and their subordinates

This study represents an attempt to individualize values and job satisfaction. Using a specifically designed Value Scale and the J.D.I., a sample of 48 supervisors and 337 subordinates in six production organizations was investigated. It was found that those subordinates who indicate high job satisfaction tend to have value structures more similar to their superiors than do subordinates who evidence lower satisfaction. The implications of this value homogeneity within work groups were advanced and further research suggested.     

The role of self‐regulation in the relationship between abusive supervision and job tension

Trait and state self‐regulation both have critical influences on workplace behavior, but their influences are thought to operate quite differently. We draw from social exchange and ego depletion theories to investigate the relationship between trait and state self‐regulation, as well as how they differentially affect the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision and job tension. Specifically, we examine (a) how the interaction between abusive supervision and trait self‐regulation affects job tension and (b) how state self‐regulation mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and job tension. Using 3 studies that include an experiment (n = 81) and 2 field studies with cross‐sectional (n = 157) and time‐separated (n = 109) data, we demonstrate that the interaction between abusive supervision and trait self‐regulation increases experienced job tension for subordinates who report higher levels of abusive supervision and trait self‐regulation than others. Also, we provide evidence that abusive supervision is indirectly associated with job tension through state self‐regulation. This study's findings have important implications for abusive supervision and self‐regulation research, as well as social exchange and ego depletion theories, because we extend our understanding of how trait and state self‐regulation affect cognitive responses associated with abusive supervision.     

The effect of workers' visibility on effectiveness of intervention programs: supervisory-based safety interventions

INTRODUCTION: This paper discusses an organizational change intervention program targeting safety behaviors and addresses important considerations concerning the planning of organizational change. Using layout of the plant as a proxy for ease of daily leader-member interaction, the effect of workers' visibility on the effectiveness of supervisory-based safety (SBS) interventions is examined. Through a reinforcement-learning framework, it is suggested that visibility can affect supervisors' incentive to interact with subordinates regarding safety-related issues. METHOD: Data were collected during SBS intervention studies in five manufacturing companies. RESULTS: Results suggest a reinforcement cycle model whereby increased visibility generates more frequent exchanges between supervisors and employees, resulting in improved safety behavior among employees. In turn, employees' safer behavior reinforces continued supervisory safety-related interaction. CONCLUSION AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Visibility is an important moderator in supervisory based safety interventions, and can serve to increase workplace safety. Implications of these findings for safety are discussed.     

Facilitating and inhibiting effects of job control and social support on stress outcomes and role behavior: a contingency model

High levels of job control and social support are often related to effective job performance and coping with work stressors. However, support may have more positive effects on role behavior when job control is low. In addition, despite theoretical expectations, simple demands–control and demands–support interactions are infrequently found to predict health and psychological strain outcomes. The ‘demands–control–support’ model (Johnson and Hall, 1988) of stress coping integrates these ‘stress buffering’ and ‘decision latitude’ models and observes more consistent findings. This model posits that social support buffers the adverse effects of high demand, low control jobs. However, explicit tests of the interaction of these variables suggest that control can have positive or negative effects on strain, depending on the level of social support. In this study, supervisor consideration was positively related to subordinate job performance, extra-role behavior, and in-role prosocial behavior (conscientiousness) among subordinates perceiving low job control. The relationship between consideration and performance and extra-role behavior was negative among high control subordinates. The demands×control×support interaction predicted health symptoms, organizational commitment, supervisor satisfaction, and absence due to illness, but the interaction plots do not support the prevailing perspective that support buffers the effects of ‘high strain’ (i.e. low control, high demand) jobs. Patterns were similar for different demands and different social support loci (i.e. supervisor, co-workers). An alternative theoretical process of the demands–control–support interaction is proffered, and implications for organizational intervention are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pedestrian distraction: The effects of road environment complexity and age on pedestrian’s visual attention and crossing behavior

Introduction: Little is known about how characteristics of the environment affect pedestrians’ road crossing behavior. Method: In this work, the effect of typical urban visual clutter created by objects and elements in the road proximity (e.g., billboards) on adults and children (aged 9–13) road crossing behavior was examined in a controlled laboratory environment, utilizing virtual reality scenarios projected on a large dome screen. Results: Divided into three levels of visual load, results showed that high visual load affected children’s and adults’ road crossing behavior and visual attention. The main effect on participants’ crossing decisions was seen in missed crossing opportunities. Children and adults missed more opportunities to cross the road when exposed to more cluttered road environments. An interaction with age was found in the dispersion of the visual attention measure. Children, 9–10 and 11–13 years old, had a wider spread of gazes across the scene when the environment was highly loaded—an effect not seen with adults. However, unexpectedly, no other indication of the deterring effect was found in the current study. Still, according to the results, it is reasonable to assume that busier road environments can be more hazardous to adult and child pedestrians. Practical Applications: In that context, it is important to further investigate the possible distracting effect of causal objects in the road environment on pedestrians, and especially children. This knowledge can help to create better safety guideline for children and assist urban planners in creating safer urban environments.     

Modeling drivers’ reaction when being tailgated: A Random Forests Method

Background: Tailgating is a common aggressive driving behavior that has been identified as one of the leading causes of rear-end crashes. Previous studies have explored the behavior of tailgating drivers and have reported effective solutions to decrease the amount or prevalence of tailgating. This paper tries to fill the research gap by focusing on understanding highway tailgating scenarios and examining the leading vehicles’ reaction using existing naturalistic driving data. Method: A total of 1,255 tailgating events were identified by using the one-second time headway threshold criterion. Four types of reactions from the leading vehicles were identified, including changing lanes, slowing down, speeding up, and making no response. A Random Forests algorithm was employed in this study to predict the leading vehicle’s reaction based on corresponding factors including driver, vehicle, and environmental variables. Results: The analysis of the tailgating scenarios and associated factors showed that male drivers were more frequently involved in tailgating events than female drivers and that tailgating was more prevalent under sunny weather and in daytime conditions. Changing lanes was the most prevalent reaction from the leading vehicle during tailgating, which accounted for more than half of the total events. The results of Random Forests showed that mean time headway, duration of tailgating, and minimum time headway were three main factors, which had the greatest impact on the leading vehicle drivers’ reaction. It was found that in 95% of the events, leading vehicles would change lanes when being tailgated for two minutes or longer. Practical Applications: Results of this study can help to better understand the behavior and decision making of drivers. This understanding can be used in designing countermeasures or assistance systems to reduce tailgating behavior and related negative safety consequences.     

The influence of subordinate age on managerial actions: An attributional analysis

The present research examined the effects of employee age on managers attributions and actions toward subordinates. The major prediction was that managers attributions would mediate the effects of age on managerial actions. One-hundred and twenty-four undergraduate management students participated in a laboratory experiment in which subordinate age (30 versus 60 years) and performance (high versus low) were manipulated. A laboratory study was conducted so that subordinate credentials and performance levels could be controlled. Analyses indicated that poor performance by older subordinates was attributed more to stable factors than similar performance by younger subordinates. In addition, job simplification was rated as more appropriate and training was recommended as less appropriate for older subordinates. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the differences in managerial actions were a function of subjects' attributional patterns. Implications of the findings for practice and future research are discussed.     

Factor structure of the transformational leadership model in human service teams

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of the transformational leadership model in human service teams. As the nature of this work environment mandates certain management‐by‐exception practices, patterns of correlations between perceptions of active and passive management‐by‐exception behaviors and transformational, transactional, and laissez‐faire leadership were of interest. 236 leaders and 620 subordinates from 54 mental health teams completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, form 8Y. Results suggest that active and passive management‐by‐exception factors are independent constructs. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Leader self‐awareness: An examination and implications of women's under‐prediction

Self‐awareness represents an important aspect of leadership. However, past research on leader self‐awareness has focused on one component of self‐awareness, self versus others' ratings, leaving the second component, the ability to anticipate the views of others, largely neglected. We examined this second component of self‐awareness by focusing on women leaders who have been found to under‐predict how others rate them. In two studies, we measured how women leaders anticipate the views of their bosses in regard to their leadership. In Study 1, 194 leaders rated their leadership, were rated by their bosses, and then predicted how their bosses rated their leadership. While we found that women under‐predict their boss ratings compared with men, we did not find that boss gender or feedback played a role in this under‐prediction. In Study 2, 76 female leaders identified (via open‐ended questions) possible reasons and consequences of under‐prediction for women in organizations. Results from Study 2 reveal the following: (1) the reasons for women's under‐prediction include a lack of self‐confidence, differences in feedback needs, learned gender roles, and self‐sexism; and (2) the perceived consequences of under‐prediction are negative for both women and the organization. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conflict values and team relationships: conflict's contribution to team effectiveness and citizenship in China

Although conflict has traditionally been considered destructive, especially in collectivist societies like China, recent studies indicate that valuing and approaching conflict can contribute to effective teamwork. A hundred and six pairs of employees and their leaders were recruited from State Owned Enterprises in Shanghai and Nanjing. Employees described their conflict values and relationships. Their immediate supervisors rated the effectiveness of their teams and the extent of their citizenship behavior. Results indicate that positive conflict attitudes and approaching conflict can contribute to strong relationships, which in turn strengthen team effectiveness and employee citizenship. Findings suggest that how conflict values affect relationships and outcomes are more differentiated than originally expected. Results were interpreted as supporting the traditional idea that relationships are critical for effective organization work in China but also challenging future research to understand the processes by which conflict has a positive contribution to work relationships. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An interpersonal perspective of perceived stress: Examining the prosocial coping response patterns of stressed managers

We adopt an interpersonal perspective and examine the adaptive effects of managers' perceived stress on their behavior towards subordinates. Drawing from the transactional model of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), we advance a model that highlights the propensity for stressed managers to engage in prosocial coping behaviors towards their employees, which in turn are related to lower levels of turnover and higher levels of job performance. We tested our predictions in a sample of 281 employees and their 53 managers working in a clothing retailer in Turkey. Consistent with predictions, we found positive effects of managers' perceived stress on their prosocial coping behaviors and employee outcomes. Managers' perceived stress was positively related to sharing credit with employees for managers who held positive implicit prototypes about employees. Results also indicated that managers' perceived stress was positively related to sharing knowledge with their subordinates regardless of implicit follower prototypes. Both sharing credit and sharing knowledge, in turn, were related to turnover intentions and actual turnover, and sharing credit was related to job performance. This study extends past work by adopting an interpersonal perspective of stress and demonstrating that managerial stress can have positive effects on employee outcomes via prosocial coping behaviors.     

Allocation of performance shaping factors in the risk assessment of an offshore installation

Offshore oil production is one of the most important human productive activities. There are many risks associated with the process of constructing a subsea well, pumping oil to the platform, and transporting it to refineries via underwater pipes or oil tankers. All actions performed by workers in those operations are influenced by specific working conditions, involving the use of complex systems. Contextual factors such as high noise, low and high temperatures and hazardous chemicals are considered to be contributors to unsafe human actions in accident analysis and also give a basis for assessing human factors in safety analysis. Some failure modes are particularly dangerous and can result in severe accidents and damage to humans, the environment and material assets. Fires and explosions on oil rigs are some of the most devastating types of offshore accidents and can result in long-term consequences. The most typical root causes related to accidents include equipment failure, human error, environmental factors, work organization, training and, communication, among others. The principal objective of this study is to propose a methodological framework to identify the factors that affect the performance of operators of an offshore unit for oil processing and treatment. In this phase, an ergonomics approach based on operators' work analysis is used as a supporting tool. After identification of factors that affect the performance of operators, a decision-making model based on AHP (analytic hierarchy process) is applied to rank and weight the principal performance shaping factors (PSFs) that influence safe operations. The next step involves the use of the SHELLO model to group the main PSFs in elements named software, hardware, environment, liveware and organization. In the last phase, a relevant accident that occurred aboard a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is analyzed. The allocation process of the factors that affect the operator's performance in risk assessment was developed through fuzzy logic and the ISO 17776 standard.     

Database for accidents and incidents in the fuel ethanol industry

The purpose of the present research is to collect information about accidents and incidents that have occurred at fuel ethanol facilities from 1998 to October 2014, and to keep complete unified records of them in a database. The developed database contains general information about the accident or incident, its sequence, mitigation measures, its causes and consequences for humans, environment and for the plant. Until now, this information is not available. The work consisted in gathering information from different documental sources and subsequent organization in a database. It complements the previous work made for biodiesel industry and fills the existing gap in the field of ethanol. Knowledge about this information enables us to manage plant risks, since the accidents that are more likely to occur and the main sources of risk can be easily identified. Also, it makes it possible to exchange information with interested third parties. Statistical analysis shows that accident frequency has an oscillatory behavior, rising in the last year. Fire is the most common type of accident, while equipment mechanical failure is the main cause of accident. Partial material loss has been identified as the most common consequence. Finally, some conclusions are obtained concerning to the importance of having an updated and complete accident and incident database.