Elizabeth George

ABSTRACT This study attempts to reconcile previous findings that show both positive and negative outcomes associated with blended workgroups (i.e., workgroups consisting of both temporary and standard workers). Specifically, we conceptualize temporary and standard work as part of a naturally occurring status hierarchy in organizations and propose that blended workgroups have opposing effects on employees depending on employees' perceptions of their potential for upward mobility in that organization. We combine research on the blended workforce with theorizing from social identity and self-categorization theories to propose that when employees perceive the potential for upward mobility to be high, the proportion of temporary workers in the group will be negatively related to employee attitudes and behaviors, and the relationship will be positive when perceived mobility is low. Furthermore, we hypothesize that this relationship will be mediated by the valence of employees' perceptions of their workgroup's prototype. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 124 temporary and standard research scientists in an Australian organization. The results show that workgroup composition and perceived mobility jointly influence workgroup identification and organization-based self-esteem, mediated by the valence of workgroup prototype; however, workgroup composition and perceived mobility directly influence organizational citizenship behavior unmediated by prototype valence.

ABSTRACT Does the graying of scientific research teams matter? This study addresses how workgroup processes and external environmental factors contribute and inhibit the effect of age diversity in R&D project groups on the production of innovative publicly usable knowledge outcomes in the form of publication outputs. We examined the relationships between group age diversity (age cohort diversity, mean age, age dispersion), R&D workgroup member self-ratings of workgroup processes, their supervisor�s assessment of the external environmental factors the project groups faced, and their supervisor�s ratings of group performance, the number of scientific publicly available publications produced by the group and the use of multiple authorships on publications. Usable data was obtained from 32 R&D workgroups of a large Government Agricultural Research and Development Agency. Consistent with the literature, workgroup processes and external environmental factors were found to directly effect innovation outcomes. Contrary to expectation, but consistent with Social Identity theory, workgroup age diversity generally negatively impacted upon innovation outcomes. An exception was where multiple authorship on publications for project groups increased as the dispersion of age within groups increased. Importantly, workgroups that were both more age homogeneous and perceived to have optimally functioning work processes produced more R&D innovation outcomes than other groups. Generally, these differences appear to be related to the greater division of labor practices (and less multi-tasking) employed by the older and more homogeneous workgroups. Implications for R&D workgroup resource theory and practices are discussed.

This study examines perception of various business practices of Russian and American managers. Using data collected from 136 Russian managers and 252 American managers we found that cross-national differences account for many differences between perceptions of business practices. Implications for managerial practice are discussed.

We review the literature on nonstandard work with three aims: to portray the breadth and nature of the research and theorizing to date, to document the challenges and opportunities this domain poses to both practice and theory, and to bring the study of nonstandard work more to the center stage of micro-OB. After defining nonstandard work and documenting scholarly interest

This study examines whether employment extemalization, or the use of temporary and contract workers in organizations, is associated with weak psychological bonds between the internal workforce and organization. Specifically, the extent and length of such ...

Managers face a wide variety of problems as part of their day-to-day organizational experience. To cognitively process and simplify such variety, managers often categorize and label the problems they encounter (Cowan, 1988, 1990). For example, in a study of 400 ...

We examine the organizational identification of contract workers who are associated with two organizations, their primary employer and their client. We conducted a study of contract workers in the information technology industry to address three questions ...

Comparative management literature has paid considerable attention to the similarities and dif-ferences in management practices across coun-tries (Rodrigues, 1996). But it is only recently that scholars have expanded their research to ethical decision making in countries other ...

Results of a systematic replication of studies by Dearborn and Simon and by Walsh suggest that differences in their conclusions resulted from differences in their experimental procedures. Managers are broader perceivers when they are encouraged to identify more ...