The impact of relational demography on the quality of leader-member exchanges and employees' work attitudes and well-being

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.

El trabajo en equipo en el Proceso Administrativo y de Compras en OPL Carga de Bucaramanga

El proceso administrativo y de compras de OPL Carga tiene algunas falencias entre ellas: fallas en la Comunicación entre el personal operativo, no se realizan llamadas internas usando con frecuencia el email, produciendo la saturación de solicitudes las cuales terminan sin ser resueltas en cuanto a roles se refiere, no hay enfoque de procesos en vista que no se tiene claras las tareas de cada cargo, adicionalmente no hay claridad en los subprocesos, perjudicando el proceso con el aumento de costos, pérdida de tiempo, las responsabilidades de los funcionario no todas las veces se ejecutan en el tiempo asignado, el liderazgo compartido presenta ambigüedades. Objetivos: Definir el trabajo en equipo en el proceso administrativo y de compras en OPL carga de Bucaramanga. La investigación que a realizar es de tipo descriptivo, busca descubrir las falencias o características que permiten diseñar y desarrollar un modelo de solución para los problemas del equipo de OPL Carga S.A.S. Materiales y métodos: La investigación efectuada es de tipo descriptivo, el objetivo es definir el modelo del trabajo en equipo y describir las falencias en el proceso administrativo y de compras en OPL carga de Bucaramanga, que permitan obtener un diagnóstico integral que conlleve a la implementación de estrategias de solución. Resultados: Se identificaron las falencias en los siguientes aspectos: Variable comunicación, rendimiento, destrezas complementarias, propósito significativo y meta específicas de los funcionarios en OPL carga sección administrativa. Conclusiones: El modelo de trabajo en equipo que OPL aplica es jerárquico, en el que se ofrece estabilidad, seguridad, se toman decisiones en forma piramidal, mediante la planeación de tareas, la colaboración, igualdad y respeto por los miembros, trabajando en pro de la solución de problemas. Se construyó un plano conceptual que permitió exponer la interpretación que la estudiante tiene de las teorías, investigaciones y antecedentes válidos para la comprensión del problema investigado. Área comunicacional: Coordinar acciones tendientes para que los funcionarios respondan a tiempo los emails atenientes a su trabajo. Área condiciones de trabajo: Clarificar y diseñar las reglas de comportamiento al interior de los equipos de trabajo que redunden en el mejoramiento del mismo y la búsqueda de soluciones oportunas. Área metas específicas: Procurar mediante auditorías el cumplimiento de las metas y objetivos propuestos por cada equipo de trabajo.

Consequences of feeling dissimilar from others in a work team

This study extended the current literature on group diversity by examining the moderating influence of perceived group openness to diversity on the relationships between perceived individual visible, informational, and value dissimilarity; individual task and relationship conflict; and work group involvement. A survey was administered to 129 public service employees who worked in intact teams. Results revealed that value dissimilarity had a positive association with task and relationship conflict and a negative association with work group involvement. Perceived group openness to diversity moderated the associations between visible and informational dissimilarity and work group involvement, and between value dissimilarity and task conflict. These results highlight the importance of managing differences by introducing norms promoting diversity and the involvement of all team members.

Why does dissimilarity matter? Exploring self-categorization, self-enhancement, and uncertainty reduction

Although relational demographers have based their arguments on self-categorization theory, they have paid little attention to the underlying processes associated with this theory. The authors examined whether demographic dissimilarity affects individuals' identification with groups by affecting the group's prototype valence and clarity and the individual's perceptions of self-prototypicality. The data showed that the proportion of women and non-Australians in 34 work groups negatively influenced prototype valence, prototype clarity, and self-prototypicality for all members of the group. These results provide support for the continued use of self-categorization theory by relational demographers.

Perceived dissimilarity and work group involvement: The moderating effects of group openness to diversity

Perceived dissimilarity and its association with work group involvement were examined in this study. Additionally, perceived group openness to diversity was examined as a moderator of this relationship. A longitudinal study was conducted with nurses in four departments of a public hospital. Results revealed that visible dissimilarity was negatively associated with work group involvement at both times, and informational dissimilarity was negatively associated with work group involvement at Time 1. Openness to diversity interacted with visible and informational dissimilarity in the prediction of work group involvement at both times. This interaction pattern showed that there was a negative relationship between dissimilarity and work group involvement when individuals perceived low group openness to diversity, whereas there was no relationship when individuals perceived high group openness to diversity. Results highlight the importance of managing perceptions of difference and introducing norms that encourage the active involvement of group members.

Supervisor-subordinate age dissimilarity and performance ratings:the buffering effects of supervisory relationship practice

Using 394 pairs of employees and their immediate supervisors working in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in three northern European countries, this study examined the effect of workplace moderators on the link between relational demography and supervisor ratings of performance. Directional age differences between superior and subordinate (i.e., status incongruence caused when the supervisor is older or younger than his/her subordinate) and non-directional age differences were used as predictors of supervisor ratings of occupational expertise. The quality of the supervisor-subordinate relationship and the existence of positive age-related supervisory practices were examined as moderators of this relationship. The results provide no support for a relationship between directional age differences and age-related stereotyping by supervisors in ratings of performance, neither for the effects of age-related supervisory practices. However, high quality supervisor-subordinate relationships did moderate the effects of age dissimilarity on supervisory ratings. The implications of these findings for performance appraisal methodologies and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Nothing succeeds like moderation:a social self-regulation perspective on cultural dissimilarity and individual performance.

Addressing inconsistencies in relational demography research, we examine the relationship between cultural dissimilarity and individual performance through the lens of social self-regulation theory, which extends the social identity perspective in relational demography with the analysis of social self-regulation. We propose that social self-regulation in culturally diverse teams manifests itself as performance monitoring (i.e., individuals' actions to meet team performance standards and peer expectations). Contingent on the status associated with individuals' cultural background, performance monitoring is proposed to have a curvilinear relationship with individual performance and to mediate between cultural dissimilarity and performance. Multilevel moderated mediation analyses of time-lagged data from 316 members of 69 teams confirmed these hypotheses. Cultural dissimilarity had a negative relationship with performance monitoring for high cultural-status members, and a positive relationship for low cultural-status members. Performance monitoring had a curvilinear relationship with individual performance that became decreasingly positive. Cultural dissimilarity thus was increasingly negatively associated with performance for high culturalstatus members, and decreasingly positively for low cultural-status members. These findings suggest that cultural dissimilarity to the team is not unconditionally negative for the individual but, in moderation, may in fact have positive motivational effects.

Harnessing demographic differences in organizations:what moderates the effects of workplace diversity?

To account for the double-edged nature of demographic workplace diversity (i.e,. relational demography, work group diversity, and organizational diversity) effects on social integration, performance, and well-being related variables, research has moved away from simple main effect approaches and started examining variables that moderate these effects. While there is no shortage of primary studies of the conditions under which diversity leads to positive or negative outcomes, it remains unclear which contingency factors make it work. Using the Categorization-Elaboration Model as our theoretical lens, we review variables moderating the effects of workplace diversity on social integration, performance, and well-being outcomes, focusing on factors that organizations and managers have control over (i.e., strategy, unit design, human resource, leadership, climate/culture, and individual differences). We point out avenues for future research and conclude with practical implications.

The effects of habitat fragmentation on the demography and population genetic structure of Uromys Caudimaculatus

Habitat fragmentation can have an impact on a wide variety of biological processes including abundance, life history strategies, mating system, inbreeding and genetic diversity levels of individual species. Although fragmented populations have received much attention, ecological and genetic responses of species to fragmentation have still not been fully resolved. The current study investigated the ecological factors that may influence the demographic and genetic structure of the giant white-tailed rat (Uromys caudimaculatus) within fragmented tropical rainforests. It is the first study to examine relationships between food resources, vegetation attributes and Uromys demography in a quantitative manner. Giant white-tailed rat densities were strongly correlated with specific suites of food resources rather than forest structure or other factors linked to fragmentation (i.e. fragment size). Several demographic parameters including the density of resident adults and juvenile recruitment showed similar patterns. Although data were limited, high quality food resources appear to initiate breeding in female Uromys. Where data were sufficient, influx of juveniles was significantly related to the density of high quality food resources that had fallen in the previous three months. Thus, availability of high quality food resources appear to be more important than either vegetation structure or fragment size in influencing giant white-tailed rat demography. These results support the suggestion that a species’ response to fragmentation can be related to their specific habitat requirements and can vary in response to local ecological conditions. In contrast to demographic data, genetic data revealed a significant negative effect of habitat fragmentation on genetic diversity and effective population size in U. caudimaculatus. All three fragments showed lower levels of allelic richness, number of private alleles and expected heterozygosity compared with the unfragmented continuous rainforest site. Populations at all sites were significantly differentiated, suggesting restricted among population gene flow. The combined effects of reduced genetic diversity, lower effective population size and restricted gene flow suggest that long-term viability of small fragmented populations may be at risk, unless effective management is employed in the future. A diverse range of genetic reproductive behaviours and sex-biased dispersal patterns were evident within U. caudimaculatus populations. Genetic paternity analyses revealed that the major mating system in U. caudimaculatus appeared to be polygyny at sites P1, P3 and C1. Evidence of genetic monogamy, however, was also found in the three fragmented sites, and was the dominant mating system in the remaining low density, small fragment (P2). High variability in reproductive skew and reproductive success was also found but was less pronounced when only resident Uromys were considered. Male body condition predicted which males sired offspring, however, neither body condition nor heterozygosity levels were accurate predictors of the number of offspring assigned to individual males or females. Genetic spatial autocorrelation analyses provided evidence for increased philopatry among females at site P1, but increased philopatry among males at site P3. This suggests that male-biased dispersal occurs at site P1 and female-biased dispersal at site P3, implying that in addition to mating systems, Uromys may also be able to adjust their dispersal behaviour to suit local ecological conditions. This study highlights the importance of examining the mechanisms that underlie population-level responses to habitat fragmentation using a combined ecological and genetic approach. The ecological data suggested that habitat quality (i.e. high quality food resources) rather than habitat quantity (i.e. fragment size) was relatively more important in influencing giant white-tailed rat demographics, at least for the populations studied here . Conversely, genetic data showed strong evidence that Uromys populations were affected adversely by habitat fragmentation and that management of isolated populations may be required for long-term viability of populations within isolated rainforest fragments.

Final report implementation of relational management

Construction teams and construction organisations have their own distinctive cultures. There also exists an infrastructure, both social and contractual, which ensures that these projects within which the teams operate are completed successfully. It is these issues which this research has addressed. The project was instigated by Queensland Department of Main Roads, Public Works and John Holland Group in order to address how they might better implement relationship management (RM) on their construction projects. The project was devised initially in order to facilitate a change in culture which would allow the project to be run in a relational manner and would lead to effective performance in terms of the KPIs that the organisations set for themselves, described as business better than usual. This report describes the project, its outcomes and deliverable and indicates the changes that were made to the project during the research process. Hence, the initial premise of the project and the problem to investigate was the implementation of relational contracting: • throughout a range of projects; • with a focus on client body staff. The additions that were made to the project, and documented in the variations to the project, included two major additional areas of study: • client management and stakeholder management; • a live case study of an alliancing project. The context within which the research was undertaken is important. The research was driven by main roads with their desire to improve their operations by focusing on the relationship between the major project participants (however, stakeholder and client organisation management became an obvious issue as the research progressed, hence the variations). The context was initially focussed on main roads, public works and John Holland group organisations but it became clear very quickly that this was in fact an industry-wide issue and not an issue specific solely to the project participants. Hence, the context within which this research took place can be described as below: The deliverables from the project are a toolkit for determining RM needs in an organisation, a monograph describing the practical implementation of RM and the outline for a RM CPD and Masters course

Report a review of the concepts and definitions of the various forms of relational contracting

Partnering has been defined in many ways. It can be considered as an individual project mechanism or can be considered as a long term strategy. Alliancing is normally assumed to be a long term business strategy linking together client, contractor and supply chain. Relational contracting goes further than this and brings in the whole philosophy of the value chain and the linking of the interdependent parts within the construction project as a key business objective. This document aims to review existing definitions of these three concepts and present and overview of the current state of-the-art in terms of their use and implementation. The document should be useful for all of those project team members looking to sharpen their understanding of the various concepts and will also provide a platform for debating the current state of the definitions and implementations being used in Main Roads and Public Works Departments.

The role of relational capabilities in developing the capacity for supply chain innovation

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the types of relational capabilities supply chain participants develop to enable ongoing supply chain innovation capacity building that produces improved business outcomes. This is exploratory research using qualitative data gathered by using five interviews, with the Australian road freight industry as the context. Two key relational capabilities and the improvement of four key business outcomes were identified as being present in the interaction of freight transport service providers with members of their supply chain. The data also demonstrates that by entering into competence building relationships with customers and suppliers firms can build capabilities that will increase their capacity for supply chain innovation. Even in short term arm’s length relationships firms can acquire improved skills behaviours and practices that enhance their operation effectiveness and the efficiency of the supply chain relationships.

What’s in a handshake? Exploring business-to-business relational exchange

Despite its importance in the development of competitive advantage, attempts to unify diverse classifications of business-to-business relational exchange have been largely unsuccessful. We used 18 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with managers from a wide range of industries to explain the business-to-business relational exchange construct. Analysis of the data revealed that business-to-business relational exchange comprises five key dimensions. These are communication, compatibility, commitment, trust and power symmetry. The research highlights the importance of personal interaction in business relationships and provided additional insights into the importance of affective commitment. In addition we reveal a number of negative consequences of affective commitment, which have been previously unexplored. A new conceptual model of business-to-business relational exchange is presented, which synthesises these findings and directs future research.