What is I-O?

Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is the scientific study of the workplace. Rigor and methods of psychology are applied to issues of critical relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance, and work-life balance.

Global Vision: Summary of Selected Papers from the 1998 International Congress of Applied Psychologists

Charmine E. J. Hrtel
University of Queensland, Australia

The aim of Global Vision is to provide a forum for discussing international developments in practice, research, and theory especially in relation to emerging views and characteristics of workforces and workplaces. The informative value of the column depends heavily upon your knowledge, experience, and intuition. You can personally help by sending me a note—be it a problem you are trying to solve, research you are conducting, a consulting tip, something you’d like to hear about, or the name of a person or organization you recommend that I contact. You can also send newspaper clippings, references to a great article or book you read, conference papers, or areas of emerging controversy (for your organization or for theory). Furthermore, I am seeking organizations or academic departments to profile that provide examples of innovation in philosophy, research, development, application, or implementation aimed at meeting the demands of contemporary and emerging environments. I am eager to receive your ideas and submissions. You can reach me at any of the following: Graduate School of Management, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia; tel.: +61 7 3365–6747; fax: +61 7 3365–6988; e-mail: c.hartel@gsm.uq.edu.au

Reflections on Racism Research

Following up on the most recent column discussing diversity research, Professor Art Brief of A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University sent in a chapter from his book Attitudes In and Around Organizations (1998). The chapter, entitled "Attitudinal baggage: Negative racial attitudes as an exemplar" discusses stereotypes, prejudice, racism, and potential ways of counteracting racism in organizations. Art points out that organizational research inadequately reflects the problem of racial discrimination in organizations. Even those researching in the area, he observes, avoid using the word "racism." Yet, our ability as organizational scientists "to produce knowledge relevant to alleviating discrimination in and around organizations: obligates us "to apply this expertise to enhance the quality of people’s organizational lives" (p. 138).

The enforcement of EEO legislation and the rhetoric of political correctness may have appeared to reduce the occurrence of racism in the workplace. But perhaps, what has occurred is the transformation of old-fashioned racism or blatant or unrationalized racism into modern racism or rationalized racism. A study by Brief et al. (1998) revealed that scores on the measure of modern racist attitudes were predictive of discriminatory behaviors only when a business justification to discriminate was provided.

Whether blatant or rationalized, racism is a very real problem for organizations. Research is required to identify ways to combat racism in organizations. Art offers a few starting places for potential interventions. First, he suggests designing, implementing, and evaluating a training program "devised to heighten the importance of egalitarian values" (p. 144). Second, he suggests that racism may be reduced by "articulating organizational rules governing the treatment of Blacks, the monitoring of how Blacks actually are treated, and the imposition of sanctions for rule violations." Third, he raises the possibility of using nonprejudiced members "in the fight against racism in organizations." Fourth, he proposes that creating a "climate for equality" may motivate nonprejudiced members to resist racial discrimination. Similarly, encouraging "principled disobedience" may increase the likelihood of nonprejudiced members to whistleblow. Principled disobedience may be encouraged by practices such as dispersed authority, condemning unquestioning loyalty, and endorsing a norm of critical discussion among peers.

Art’s review highlights the problem of racism in organizations and the dire need for organizational researchers to identify the factors contributing to it and ways of combating it.

Recent Advances in I-O Research around the World

The International Congress of Applied Psychologists showcases applied research being conducted around the world. In this edition of Global Vision, highlights from a number of papers presented at the ICAP conference are presented.

Contextualizing I-O Practice

Globalization brings cultures face-to-face. Organizations find that successful penetration into new cultures requires a certain degree of tailoring of operations to the prevailing work and consumer values. Similarly, if I-O research and practice is to generalize beyond the individual countries in which it exists, it needs to make explicit the cultural work, life, and consumer values it is embedded in. A paper by Robert Roe (1998) of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, demonstrates what is to be gained by understanding the cultural underpinnings of I-O practice in the countries of the world.

American I-O values objectivity and the minimization of subjectivity. In contrast, Italy, Spain, and France value subjectivism or the emphasis of meaning. European I-O possesses a degree of pluralism, comfortably placing "objective measurement next to subjective interpretation" (p. 28). "Europeans emphasize definitions, meanings, qualitative methods, contingencies, and are more holistic and contemplative, while Americans stress measurement, criteria, quantitative methods, meta-analysis, and are more analytical and pragmatic" (p. 29). Reasons for these differences include differences in societies, different influences of institutions on research and practice, differences in philosophical backgrounds, and differences in methodologies. Professor Roe argues that these differences provide valuable opportunities for enriching perspectives and theories of work and for assessing what aspects of our understanding are culture-specific. He also identifies societal values as crucial determinants of the acceptance of workplace interventions.

The Emotional Drain of Conflict Management

Researchers from the University of Sevilla in Spain (Fernandez, Cisneros, Dorado, Gomez, 1998) examined emotional outcomes in conflict management. Their study showed that as conflict escalates, the frequency and duration of positive expressions decreases. Reading an opponent’s messages in the simulated on-line conflict was associated with more and longer positive and negative expressions than writing messages to one’s opponent. Negative emotions were displayed more times than positive emotions.

Escalating conflict was associated with increased heart rate, disgust, self-anger, contempt, surprise, sadness, guilt, anger, and tiredness. The extent to which participants facially expressed positive emotions and happiness and reported enjoyment depended upon the feedback they received prior to the negotiating task regarding their negotiating ability. Namely, "high expectancies of success influenced self-report and facial expressions of positive emotions, but not the expression of negative emotions nor heart rate." Perceived effectiveness was lower for participants reporting high levels of anger and disgust.

Successfully Integrating New Employees

The goals examined in most organizational socialization studies are those assigned to employees rather than those selected by employees. A longitudinal study of 910 managerial candidates by Gabriele Rappensperger (1998) of Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich demonstrates that organizations can improve the chance of hiring and successfully integrating new employees by providing information during recruitment and socialization that shows employees how their work goals and the organization’s goals align.

Professor Rappensperger’s research shows that "work goals and progress in personal vocation goals play an important role even during a newcomer’s first few months in an organization" (p. 12). She found "a positive relationship between perceived progress in personal work goal attainment and successful integration." In other words, "the higher the progress in personal work goal attainment the higher the new employees’ job satisfaction, the stronger their organizational commitment and the lower their intention to leave" (p. 10).

"Early socialization experiences account for a significant portion of variance in job satisfaction, in organizational commitment and in intention to leave" (p. 9). "Perceived progress in personal work goal attainment is a mediating element between early socialization experiences and successful integration" (p. 12). "The extent to which newcomers proceed in their work goals depends on integration experiences" such as realistic job previews and social support "and the success of the integration" (p. 13).

Effect of Women on Implicit Work Norms

Marin Ignatove and Bernhard Wilpert (1998) of the Berlin University of Technology presented data obtained from an on-going joint German-Eastern European research project examining safety culture in nuclear power plants. Their findings show that implicit norms influence safety related behaviors in high-hazard low-risk socio-technical systems. "Implicit norms evolve through repeated reinforcement of behavior in specific situations, making implicit norms difficult to recall without recalling the specific situation. In other words, the norms seem to be cognitively represented only in connection with information about situations that have been experienced" (p. 6).

Operators were in fact managing "two processes simultaneously: the technological process in the reactor or the turbine, and the group psychological process of passing on information about themselves, their feelings, their character, and social status." Operators reported a strong implicit norm to appear outwardly competent and confident. In fact, "some operators felt that they would encounter contempt and antipathy or become objects of ridicule or scorn if their fear, anxiety, or doubt were to be discovered by their co-workers in the reactor control room. There appeared to be no mechanism for sharing fears in the specific environment of the control room. In this context the presence of several women operators turned out to be very positive for the safety culture. As representatives of the opposite sex, the women operators were not expected to comply fully with the masculine implicit norms, so they were in a much better position to make feelings of fear and anxiety a "legitimate" matter, thus modifying the whole structure of implicit norms for the male operators as well" (p. 5).

Maternity Support for Professional Women

A survey of 116 Australian lawyers who were mothers (Hrtel, Bohle, & Grant, 1998) revealed that 70% of the women finished work in the last month of their pregnancy and tended to resume work between 10 and 19 weeks (median) following the birth. Thirty-nine percent of the women changed employers since the date of their most recent pregnancy. Of these, 37% changed work for reasons relating to working hours. Eighty percent of women found their employers receptive to their working flexible hours while 20% did not. Fifty-two percent of respondents indicated they had experienced health problems prior to leaving work or after resuming work. Sixty-nine percent of women reported their employer gave them the time off they needed for their illness while 31% had difficulty getting time off. Seventy-one percent of women said their employer was supportive during their illness, while 29% said their employer was not supportive. Fellow workers appeared to be more supportive than employers with 87% indicating co-workers were supportive and 13% indicating co-workers were not supportive. Several women wrote in comments that they had hidden their illness from their employers.

Women reported that their main sources of support in the weeks following birth were husbands or partners (68%) and mothers (22%). The study revealed a need for more part-time work to be made available to women with small children. Importantly, it showed that for flexible working policies to succeed, the issues of time inflation, mommy-tracking, and psychological impediments to part time work must be addressed. Further, the study revealed the need to amend parental leave policies to allow fathers to take leave when the child comes home from hospital or such other time as the mother needs the most support.

Column Mission and Call for Contributions for Upcoming Columns

My goal for this column is to discuss within a global framework the future of practice and research related to work and the workplace. The effectiveness of I-O research and practice in different cultural settings requires an understanding, openness, and appreciation of the societies in which we operate. As such, it is imperative that you share your learnings from your international experiences and that those of you outside of North America share the perspectives of your home countries. To this end, I hope that, no matter where you are in the world, you will e-mail, call, write or FAX me (see contact information below) with your suggestions, views, requests and contributions (the name of an organization or academic department I can profile in a manner consistent with the goals of this column, newspaper clippings, company program pamphlets, news of research-in-progress, experience with OD and HR strategies/programs and any other information—nothing is too small). Please send any information relevant to the points discussed in this column along with your ideas for future topics to me (address above.)

Vol. 36/No. 3  January, 1999

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