Matching Items (6)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Organizational Behavior
- All Subjects: Character
- Creators: Hom, Peter
- Creators: Corley, Kevin
Description
After decades of dormancy, character is re-emerging as an important research topic among organizational leadership researchers in response to the need to better explain the source of certain exemplary and ethical leader performance (Hannah & Avolio, 2011; Leonard, 1997; Thompson & Riggio, 2010; Wright & Goodstein, 2007). However, efforts to operationalize character are criticized for their abstract and idealistic trait-based conceptualizations that fail to capture the reality of leadership and situational dynamics (Conger & Hollenbeck, 2010). The purpose of this study is to develop a more robust theoretical approach to character that is empirically grounded in the real life complexities of leadership. Combat provides the context for this study because the adversity of such an extreme context tends to make character a more salient and readily observable phenomenon than in more conventional organizational contexts (Wright & Quick, 2011; Hannah, Uhl-Bien, Avolio, & Cavarretta, 2009). I employed an ethnographic grounded theory design to gain a unique insider's perspective absent in many studies of leader character (Charmaz, 2009; Parry & Meindl, 2002). Data collection involved (1) physically embedding for six months with U.S. Army small unit infantry leaders operating in combat in Afghanistan; (2) participant observation in the full range of combat activities engaged in by these leaders; and (3) in-depth semi-structured interviews with key informants. An important contribution of this study is that the emergent concept of leader character is fully situated in the leader's social and environmental context represented by the leader's inner struggle to resist the adversity of combat and uphold the standards of leadership. In this dialectical framework, certain agentic resources important to resolving this inner struggle emerge as the locus of leader character. This agency-based concept of character is rooted in the internalization of the standards of leadership through identity-conferring normative commitments and entails particular motivational and volitional capacities. These produce a distinct mode of functioning--a strong form of personal moral agency--characterized by the leader's willingness to sacrifice in upholding standards in the face of adversity. This primacy of leader agency over adversity is the hallmark of leader character--what I call the character to lead.
ContributorsJennings, Peter L. (Author) / Corley, Kevin (Thesis advisor) / Waldman, David (Thesis advisor) / Hannah, Sean T (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Recently, philosophers have charged that Aristotelian-based virtue theories are empirically inadequate because the conception of character in which they are grounded is largely unfounded by findings in psychology. These philosophers argue in favor of situationism, the theory from social psychology that situational rather than dispositional differences among individuals are in large part responsible for human behavior. Situationists dispute the existence of traits that remain consistent across time and diverse situations and argue that features of situations can better explain and predict human behavior. After analyzing the psychological literature and historical cases put forth as evidence for situationism as well as the basic premises grounding arguments against situationism, I make some conclusions about the best responses to situationism. I agree with situationists that Aristotelian-based virtue and character are not quite empirically adequate but disagree that human behavior owes more to situational rather than dispositional determinants. Basing my theory on literature from social psychology, I argue instead that a concept of character grounded in social-cognitive theory is more psychologically realistic and can explain and predict human behavior and ground a character-based virtue theory. A social-cognitive conception of character would highlight the dynamic role between situations and individual psychological factors like beliefs, values, desires and the way that an individual perceives a situation. I sketch out a non-ideal theory of virtue based in a social-cognitive conception of character that is partially dependent on social networks for its maintenance and is fragmented, or contextualized to particular types of psychological situations. However, fragmented and socially dependent virtue is not an optimal type of virtue because it is vulnerable to situational features that place strong psychological pressures on agents to behave in various ways, including ways they would not have normally endorsed. I agree with Aristotelian virtue ethicists that argue that a type of practical wisdom can help to counter the often unwanted and dangerous influence of these strong situations but also maintain that some measure of moral luck is inevitably involved, even in the development of practical wisdom.
ContributorsValadez, Mayra (Author) / Calhoun, Cheshire (Thesis advisor) / Walker, Margaret U (Committee member) / French, Peter A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation explores when and how the social comparisons that employees make with respect to their LMX (leader-member exchange) relationships affect their work performance and behaviors. The study introduces the concept of LMX social comparison across dyads (LMXAD) in which a follower compares the quality of his/her supervisory relationship to other leader-member dyads outside of the workgroup (e.g., my leader-myself vs. other leaders-other colleagues). Thus, the study sheds light on LMX social comparison processes at a dyadic level (e.g., our relationship vs. their relationships) as opposed to the individual level (e.g., my relationship vs their relationships, when followers share a same leader) to highlight the importance and saliency of leader-member dyadic comparisons. Drawing upon Thibaut & Kelley (1959)’s social exchange theory, the study, which collected data from 318 employees in Korean companies, empirically supported the positive effects of LMXAD on work performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and the negative effects of LMXAD on counterproductive work behavior (CWB), beyond LMX and LMX social comparison within group (e.g., my leader-myself vs. my leader-coworkers). Furthermore, results suggest upward counterfactual thoughts with regards to the current LMX relationship, mediates the relationship between LMXAD and work performance and CWB. Individual LMX and causal attributions also have a moderating effect by weakening the negative effects of LMXAD on upward counterfactual thoughts.
ContributorsSeo, Jungmin (Jungmin Jaime) (Author) / Nahrgang, Jennifer D (Thesis advisor) / LePine, Jeffery A. (Thesis advisor) / Hom, Peter (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Effects of Transformational Leadership and Employability on Employee Retention: An Agent-Based Model
Description
Employee retention is a major problem for organizations, especially for small and medium-sized organizations, which make up 99.7 percent of U.S. Organizations. Research reveals how leadership style affects employee retention, showing that supervisors who are transformational help to reduce employee turnover. However, little research has assessed the interdependent dynamics of transformational leadership, employability, and employee retention. Furthermore, employability is a sparsely discussed concept in the literature, making it a novel inquiry to consider in the dynamics of employee retention. This research employs agent-based modeling (ABM) to examine the dynamics of employee retention while considering the interdependent nature of modern organizations and workforce. The goal is to look at the relationships between the degree of transformational leadership of leader, the employability factors of individual employees, and employee turnover. The model will input data from previous empirical research to define parameters for these variables in NetLogo. This simulation model shows how workers and leaders interact and how these interactions affect the employability and retention of each employee over time, as well as how employability affects the individual’s turnover behavior once they become dissatisfied with their leader. Results demonstrate that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employability, and transformational leadership and employee retention, in some organizations from the model. This study contributes to organizational research on retention by looking at the dynamic impacts of both transformational leadership and employability in an employee’s decision to leave their organization. Additionally, changes in this study can look at other factors affecting employee retention. The resulting research will impact practice by clarifying the interdependence of leadership and employability on employee retention, leading to new innovations to decrease the turnover in organizations. This model will be replicable and adjustable to look at other factors impacting employee retention that are worth studying.
ContributorsThomas, Sophia Rose (Author) / Trinh, Mai P (Thesis advisor) / Hom, Peter (Committee member) / Thomas, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Individuals have multiple identities, and several of them may be simultaneously driving enacted behavior in a given context. Scholars have suggested that intrapersonal identity networks – the combination of identities, relationships between identities, and identity characteristics – influence enactment. However, very little is known about the process by which several components of one’s identity network result in a single stream of enactment. This is important because different factors (e.g., leader actions) may impact this process and, in turn, change the way people act in organizations and interpret the actions of others. I examined a healthcare system designed to surgically treat cancer patients. Taking an inductive interpretivist approach, and using grounded theory methodology, I developed a process model of intrapersonal identity network enactment that also takes into account interpretations of other system members’ enactment. My findings contribute to the social identity literature by suggesting that a common, highly central identity is not enough to align behavior in organizations. Instead individuals may enact a common “higher-order” identity in combination with the rest of their identity network in ways that actually work against each other, even as they genuinely work toward the same purpose. I also extend the literature on multiple identities by explicating a process by which four different identities, and four characteristics of each identity, foster enactment toward the surgical system. Finally, I show how one’s intrapersonal identity network influences how they interpret the enacted behavior of others. In doing so, I extend the identity threat and opportunity literature by showing how one person’s identity threat is another’s identity opportunity, even when they share a common higher-order identity. In short, my study shows how individuals can work against each other, even when they are genuinely working toward the same purpose.
ContributorsFenters, Virgil (Author) / Ashforth, Blake (Thesis advisor) / Corley, Kevin (Committee member) / Luciano, Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
The Community Assistant position at Arizona State University is dealing with an issue of poor year-to-year retention. Currently, a large number of Community Assistants who could return for another year are choosing not to, which is further exacerbated by the fact that graduating Community Assistants cannot stay even if they wanted to because the position must be held by active students. Through research, interviews, and testimony, this paper constructs what the Community Assistant role entails and the priorities that the role instills in current Community Assistants at ASU. It then seeks to answer the question of why low levels of year-to-year retention matter and why so many are choosing to move to different positions after their first year has ended. By building from the information provided by current Community Assistants and various management theories from a variety of sources, this paper offers actionable recommendations for Arizona State University Housing to increase retention and motivation within the Community Assistant position.
ContributorsKnauer, Remington (Author) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Thesis director) / Hom, Peter (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05