Entwicklung einer auf Resilienz ausgerichteten OrganisationskulturDevelopment of an organizational culture aiming resilience

This article examines how resilience of organizations can be enhanced by promoting their capability for adaptation. In a first step, the current understanding of the conceptualization of organizational resilience is compared to the resilience of individuals and teams. In a second step, the article also aims to illustrate the relationship between organizational resilience and organizational culture. Based on this, the applied research and development project “TeamSafe” in collaboration with a nuclear power plant is described as an example of a resilience-oriented training concept and a method for coping with unknown situations. In this project a multi-methodological approach (observational methods, video analysis and workshops) was chosen in order to identify relevant competencies and combine them with scientific findings. By involving simulator instructors and operating teams during the development process of the training concept, crucial action knowledge of operating teams in a nuclear power plant was gained by observations in the simulator and shared between different teams. This enabled the resilience-oriented development of the organization’s culture.     

People Analytics: Datengestützte Mitarbeiterführung als Chance für die OrganisationspsychologiePeople Analytics: an organizational psychology perspective on data-oriented leadership

In times where change is a natural part of our daily corporate reality, global markets push international competition and demographic changes make it difficult to find qualified employees, the “human” as a major factor for organizational success receives raised attention. Companies have a great interest to know and to leverage the causal impact of emotions, needs and behaviors on strategic business areas (e.?g. employee recruiting, employee commitment, customer satisfaction, competitive advantage). With a growing volume and variety of data made available by IT-supported processes and new data sources such as mobile data or corporate social media data, a new field of practice emerges: people analytics. This growing area of data analyses on all kinds of different questions relating to employee issues and leadership in organizations overlaps in many ways with the empirical psychological research of the last decades. People analytics yields a unique chance for organizational psychologists to delve into corporate waters and contribute their expertise to corporate research projects.     

Mitarbeiterintegration und Mitarbeiterbindung von Organisationen – Wie integrieren und binden Organisationen ihr Personal?

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO)” provides a brief overview of a semantic integration mechanism how organizations can succeed in integrating and attach their employees. Every organization has basic assumptions about human behavior. These assumptions or images about people, whether implicitly present or explicitly reflected, essentially determine the behavior of the organization and its personnel management. In terms of research theory, the work is based on the system theoretical considerations of Niklas Luhmann. Organizations are fictitious units that are constructed in communication. The employees of organizations belong to the environment of the organization and are structurally linked to it through their employee role. Structurally coupled means the members of an organization are able to influence the structure of the organization. The central result of this article is the identification of a semantic integration mechanism that functions as a membrane that generates resonance both in the social system of organizations and in the psychological system of structurally coupled employees. In the current changing world of work, this mechanism can help organizations to attach their employees to the organization. The empirical data come from a research project on the identity and functional logic of training organizations.     

Wer ist in Deutschland willkommen?Who is welcome in Germany?

Germany is currently experiencing a huge inflow of migrants. In this vignette study, we analyze how much different kinds of migrants are accepted in Germany. We investigate three different rights for migrants: the right to stay in Germany, the right to work in Germany and the right to receive social benefits. Our results show that people who flee from political persecution are much more accepted compared to migrants who come because of economic reasons. This is particularly true for the right to receive social benefits. On the other hand, our results suggest that there is a strong preference for high-skilled and culturally non-distant migrants. Concerns regarding individual competition on the job market seem to play only a minor role.     

Change the Change Management! Die Kunst der kontinuierlichen Selbsterneuerung von Unternehmen

Given the increasing dynamics in the markets, the possibility to adapt quickly to the changing environmental requirements is regarded as the key competence of corporations. Following the latest empirical findings of strategic and organizational research, those corporations will be successful in the long run that have the ability to continually reinvent themselves. We call this type of change “continuous self-renewal”. Continuous self-renewal is a profound change that proceeds with foresight and is not triggered by an external acute pressure to act. This approach is opposed to the established concepts of Change Management which state that processes of profound change can only be successful if exactly this pressure to act exists. Hence, the question arises whether “continuous self-renewal” is merely a theoretical concept? Based on a case study, the author comes to the conclusion that “continuous self-renewal” is an empirically verifiable type of change. The research results show furthermore that this type of change operates on completely different principles than previously known processes of change. Continuous self-renewal challenges therefore our established thinking about organizational change in a fundamental way, so the central conclusion of the author.     

Bindung(en) in der Arbeitswelt

Vanishing or decreasing attachment is an indicator for changes within a work-oriented society. This particularly affects employment and our organizational commitment as well as bonds that are established in the context of professional relationships. This text provides a comparative analysis of two attachment-theoretical approaches that have developed simultaneously but independently from one another: commitment research into organizational psychology on the one hand and attachment theory based on developmental psychology on the other. Both are to be examined for their potential, their theoretical and empirical response to current dynamics in the world of work.     

Achtsamkeit im organisationalen Kontext: Der Einfluss individueller und organisationaler Achtsamkeit auf resilientes Verhalten,psychische Gesundheit und Arbeitsengagement

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) presents mindfulness as a starting point for coping with the increasing and changing demands of today’s workplaces. Based on a differentiated analysis of mindfulness on the individual and organizational level, we discuss their separate contribution to resilient behavior in the workplace as well as on psychological well-being and work engagement. These assumptions were empirically verified. Overall, 172 persons participated in the study, which was implemented as a web-based questionnaire. The results showed that individual and organizational mindfulness independently contributed to resilient behavior in the workplace. Furthermore, individual mindfulness and resilient behavior promoted psychological well-being. Both individual and organizational mindfulness were significantly associated with work engagement. Additional analyses revealed that these effects were mediated by resilient behavior. In summary, the results demonstrated that individual and organizational mindfulness are distinct constructs whose influence on psychological well-being and work engagement could be partly explained by resilient behavior in the workplace.     

Karriereerfolg als Ergebnis des Personalmanagements

Strategic human resource management has avoided to evaluate its efforts in relation to employees’ careers. Recent research has investigated a selection of individual human resource management (HRM) practices (e.?g., training and development, mentoring, career development, talent management, performance appraisal) in relation to objective and subjective career success, but failed to study HRM systems or bundles. This paper argues that HRM systems and career success can be connected via human capital theory because human capital is understood as an organizational resource and as an individual antecedent to careers. Based on extant research that relates individual HRM practices to objective or subjective career success, this paper reviews and discusses the relationship between bundles of HRM practices and the individual practices contained therein and career success. The final conclusion suggests that evaluations of HRM systems should take careers into account because organizations rely on employees’ human capital. Future research should focus more intensely on the role of HRM for the development of careers also across organizations.     

Blurred Lines

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Organisation. Interaktion. (GIO)” is a case study exploring the interpersonal dynamics and cultural phenomena in a highly successful private practice which provides court-mandated counseling services for clients from mostly low socioeconomic backgrounds. The purpose of the study and the related consulting project was to identify the success factors of the practice. In the course of the research, the generational transition and future of the business emerged as the core issues facing the practice members. The results and subsequent discussion explore the spillover of home and family dynamics into the workplace and include assessments regarding organizational sustainability.     

Manager-Derailment

The topic of this article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO)”, failure of managers, used to be a taboo issue that currently receives more and more attention in the daily press as well as in research. In times of globalization and the resulting world-wide competition, organizations bear the responsibility of counteracting failures of their top managers as they encompass not only financial damage for the company but also personal consequences for the respective individual. The derailment of a manager describes the sudden break-down of a so far successful executive. But how does a derailment occur and are there possibilities to prevent it? The following contribution reports empirical evidence for both risk and resilience factors and gives advice for personnel selection and development.     

Past work experience and organizational assimilation in nonprofit organizations

This study compares seven dimensions of organizational assimilation (OA)—familiarity with coworkers, familiarity with supervisors, recognition, acculturation, involvement, job competency, and role negotiation—into nonprofit, for‐profit, and governmental organizations incorporating the role of similarity of past work experience (magnitude of transition [MoT]). An online survey of 294 employee newcomers (tenures of 3 months or less) revealed differences in OA between those entering nonprofits and those entering for‐profit, and governmental organizations. Compared to newcomers entering for‐profit and governmental organizations, nonprofit newcomers reported higher levels of job competency, involvement, acculturation, and role negotiation. Interactions between organization type and MoT from past work to current roles were examined for effects on OA. When MoT was low, nonprofit newcomers were higher on acculturation and involvement than for‐profit newcomers; governmental newcomers with high MoT were significantly higher on role negotiation than for‐profit newcomers. Theoretical and practical implications for nonprofit organizational management, trainers, and nonprofit newcomers are discussed.     

Ärztliche Resilienz durch Achtsamkeit

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) examines the reforms in the German public health care system, which lead to increased pressure on physicians due to the new economic incentive structures. Therefore burnout and depression was explored as a serious problem among this profession. In research mindfulness is seen as an important factor to enhance the medical resilience and thus increase the quality of care. The available empirical evidence suggests that individual mindfulness training should be combined with organizational interventions in order to achieve the greatest impact. The integration of the spiritual, social, juridical and ethical dimensions within an interdisciplinary research area “Medical Spirituality” may take into account transpersonal experiences which have a healing transforming influence on the physicians as well as the whole health care system.     

Korean immigrant older adults residing in Non-Korean ethnic enclaves: Acculturation strategies and psychosocial adaptation

ABSTRACT

Based on Berry’s bi-dimensional model of acculturation, this study examined acculturation strategies among first-generation Korean immigrant older adults residing in areas without a well-established Korean ethnic enclave and how their acculturation strategies are associated with psychosocial adaptation and acculturative stressors. Cluster analysis (N = 108) identified three acculturation strategies such as separated, moderately bicultural, and fully bicultural, indicating that the sample did not exhibit all four acculturation strategies of Berry’s model. The moderately bicultural group of the sample was the most dominant in size, which indicated strong adherence to Korean culture. The fully bicultural group reported less acculturative stress and depressive symptoms than the separated group, which indicated that biculturalism is strongly associated with a better psychosocial adaptation. A factor analysis showed that the separated group perceived stressors such as limited English proficiency and social isolation as more stressful than the other groups. The findings suggest that even though a strong adherence to ethnic culture might be a first-generation Korean immigrant older adults’ dominant acculturation strategy, it may make them more vulnerable to lingual and cultural barriers in a mono-cultural community without Korean ethnic enclaves. Implications for social work practice are explored.     

Immigrants’ Attitudes toward Homosexuality: Socialization,Religion, and Acculturation in European Host Societies

With increasing diversity of migrants in Europe, questions around cultural integration are gaining importance. This study focuses on attitudes towards homosexuality amongst first and second generation immigrants from 186 origin countries to examine the role of religion, origin country socialization and acculturation. There is clear evidence for intra‐ and intergenerational acculturation of attitudes with declining importance of origin country context. While individual characteristics of migrants and origin country context can explain a substantial part of religious group differences particularly amongst the first generation, Muslims and to a lesser extent other non‐Christian and Eastern Orthodox migrants hold overall more negative attitudes.     

Die Wirkung organisationaler Rituale – Eine qualitative Interviewstudie

Organizational rituals pose a paradox. They are ubiquitous in business and other organizations; however, they do not fulfill an obvious organizational purpose. Psychological research on ritual suggests that group rituals fulfill important social functions and thereby solve the adaptive problems associated with living in large groups. Prior research on organizational ritual is dominated by case studies that often neglect the ritual participants’ perspective. Thus, in this article we aim at investigating which effects organizational members attribute to organizational rituals and at tapping into the implicit theories concerning the evolution of these effects. Based on qualitative interviews conducted with employees of different organizations from different sectors, holding different positions and employment contracts, the effects of organizational rituals on the individual as well as on the group level will be presented. Results suggest that organizational group rituals are linked above all with positive effects, whereby fostering and establishing group cohesion is the most frequently mentioned effect. The article will conclude with practical implications derived from the study results.     

Podiatrists in a Weberian Spirit: Medical Care Specialists Seeking Full Professional Status and Recognition

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which teaching strategies provide socialization experiences to young women that foster the skills needed to promote their early careers. The study is guided by literature on formal social relations in schools and workplaces. Data from three methods are examined: classroom observations of female students preparing for work, personal interviews with the students and discussions with their teachers, and a mail survey of their employers. Noncollege women who can demonstrate to employers that they can successfully manage workplace rules and regulations are more likely to be rated as successful at work and obtain available promotions than are their peers without these skills. However, the work organizations they enter provide little formal access to power, and teachers do not socialize all female students for work in ways that will help them be successful in situations involving employers and clients. Further research clearly is needed on how success in work settings is influenced by the type of organizational skills acquired in formal settings such as schools. Particular attention should be paid to the preparation of women and other socially disadvantaged groups.     

Die Entwicklung von Organisations- und Teamstrukturen zur Integration von Flüchtlingen: Zwei Fallbeispiele aus der SchweizThe development of organization and team structures in institutions for refugee integration: Two examples from Switzerland

The article is concerned with the organizational and team-related challenges of integration of refugees in Switzerland from the perspective of the actors in organizations who assume this task in their daily work. Based on interviews with employees of the Zürcher Fachorganisation AOZ and the Fachstelle Integration Graubünden the development and functionality of different organizational structures will be discussed and analyzed with regard to their adaptation to structural conditions of the region as well as specific requirements of the arriving refugees. Particular consideration is given to measures of social and professional integration. The two organizations were chosen because the former is well established in Switzerland and has been active in the integration of refugees for more than 30 years and the latter has been particularly successful in assisting refugees to get a placement in the primary labor market. Numerous challenges of newly arriving refugees in Switzerland require different targeted services (language training, cultural integration, psychological support, etc.). In order to meet these requirements coordinated, balanced team structures are required. The results show that the two organizations differ considerably in their structure, distribution of tasks and integration into networks despite almost identical remits.     

Impact of the Group of Co‐migrants on Strategies of Acculturation: Towards an Expansion of the Berry Model

This article proposes expanding Berry’s theory of acculturation strategies into a three‐fold model to be applied to the case of acculturation among migrants. The expanded model includes the community of co‐migrants as a distinct referent. It addresses the dynamic and multi‐directional relationship between the three referents and the individual migrant, which all interact to create the experience of acculturation among migrants. An expanded typology is presented representing positive or negative attitudes toward each referent. The typology delineates eight possible strategies of acculturation among migrants, namely positive attitudes towards all three referents, negative attitudes towards all three, and the six possible variations between these extremes. Though not previously conceptualized and formalized, examples of all eight strategies were found in the existing literature. Some examples are cited, supporting the assertion that in the socio‐psychological phenomenon of acculturation among migrants, the community of co‐migrants plays a role which may be differentiated from the home culture and the host culture referents of the Berry model. The model provides a structure for exploring expression of these acculturation strategies among various sub‐groups within a community of co‐migrants. The current article is essentially a hypothesis paper, citing support for each of the proposed strategies of acculturation from published empirical studies carried out among a wide variety of migrant populations. A preliminary testing of the typology ( Taieb, 2008 ) found that the cultures of the home, host and co‐migrant communities do play distinct roles in the acculturation process, and verified that the eight profiles may be recognized in an empirical study. Directions for further empirical verification and refining the preliminary model are suggested.     

The Impact of Voluntary Association Characteristics on Selective Attraction and Socialization*

The voluntary organization literature has viewed the processes of selective attraction and socialization almost exclusively as a function of individual characteristics rather than organizational characteristics. Using data from two voluntary associations. we found that organizational characteristics (goal specificity, change orientation, and restrictiveness) were associated with the degree of selective attraction and socialization of attitudes. After controlling for the compositional characteristics of the membership, these data suggest both an organizational and an individual effect on socialization and selectivity. We concluded that the organizations studied here were more of a means for the support of attitudes held prior to joining than a means for developing or changing attitudes through membership. Further research might examine what role different voluntary associations play in the structuring of attitudes, providing a greater understanding of both individual and organizations.