Are Female Leaders Judged More Harshly than Male Leaders?

Topic: Leadership, Job Performance, Diversity
Publication: Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Article: Is Transformational Leadership Always Perceived as Effective? Male Subordinates’ Devaluation of Female Transformational Leaders.
Authors: Ayman, R., Korabik, K., and Morris, S.
Reviewed By: Samantha Paustian-Underdahl

 Amongst researchers and practitioners, one of the most popular leadership styles today is transformational leadership. Transformational leaders inspire their subordinates through motivational communication and action. They are generally concerned with promoting personal growth and development in their followers by challenging them to learn new skills and abilities.  But how is the perceived effectiveness of transformational leadership different for male and female leaders?

Ayman, Korabik, and Morris (2009) believe that women who use a transformational leadership style will be evaluated as less effective than their male counterparts who adopt the same style. This may be due to the gender stereotypes that are prevalent in our society - that leadership and masculinity go hand-in-hand. According to Eagly and Karau’s (2002) role congruency theory, when raters experience incongruence between the behavior they expect of a leader and what they expect of a woman, they under-value the female leader’s behavior and performance.

In a recent study, Ayman, Korabik, and Morris (2009) examined 109 leader-subordinate dyads in Canada. The relationship between a leader’s transformational leadership and their subordinates’ evaluation of their performance was significantly less positive for female leaders with male subordinates than for female leaders with female subordinates. However, when male leaders were evaluated, male and female subordinates rated their performance as equally effective, regardless of their levels of transformational leadership. 

The results of this study suggest that popular leadership styles like transformational leadership may not be equally effective for men and women. Male subordinates, as compared to female subordinates, were more negative in their evaluations when a female leader considered herself high on transformational leadership behaviors. This highlights the subtle biases female leaders face in diverse work settings. Female leaders should focus on understanding others’ perceptions of their behavior. Organizations can work to reduce these gender biases by promoting diversity training and the use of bias-free personnel feedback systems.

Ayman, R., Korabik, K., and Morris, S. (2009). Is Transformational Leadership Always Perceived as Effective? Male Subordinates’ Devaluation of Female Transformational Leaders. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39 (4), 852-879.

Better Training Outcomes are just a Few Reminders Away

Topic: Training
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Sometimes you need a reminder: The effects of prompting self-regulation on regulatory processes, learning and attrition.
Authors: T. Sitzmann and K. Ely
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

 Have you ever taken a training course and noticed your mind wandering?  Or have you ever found that the decisions you made during training (“I already know this stuff, I think I’ll skip it”) weren’t exactly the best for facilitating your learning?  Don’t feel bad, you’re not alone.  Many adult trainees are guilty of the same bad habits.   

To address these problems, several researchers have begun exploring interventions that are expected to help trainees make better decisions during training, especially when given a great deal of control over their learning (characteristic of e-learning courses).  One intervention that is gaining in popularity is self-regulatory prompting which presents trainees with questions that are intended to focus their attention and behaviors toward learning the training content.  Self-regulatory prompts basically serve as periodic reminders to trainees.  It simply involves periodically presenting trainees with questions such as, “Am I concentrating on learning the training material?” and “Are the studying strategies I am using effective for learning the material?" 

Sitzmann and Ely found that this simple intervention does indeed lead to better learning and attrition as long as it is delivered continuously throughout the entire training course.  Additionally, Sitzmann and Ely found that continuous prompting leads trainees to learn more because trainees who receive continuous prompting spend more time on the training course. 

Overall, Sitzmann and Ely’s findings demonstrate that trainees can use a reminder every now and then, and even the simplest of interventions can have a big impact on training outcomes.

Sitzmann, T., & Ely, K. (2010). Sometimes you need a reminder: The effects of prompting self-regulation on regulatory processes, learning and attrition. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(1), 132-144.

Exploratory Training for Everyone! Yes, Everyone!

Topic: Training
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology: An International Review
Article: Active/Exploratory training promotes transfer even in learners with low motivation and cognitive ability
Authors: N. Keith, T. Richter, and J. Naumann
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

 Exploratory training refers to an instructional strategy that allows trainees to explore their learning environment.  For example, in exploratory training trainees are encouraged to use trial and error (or whatever strategies they prefer) to explore the training material.  In other words, trainees are in the driver’s seat!  

Although exploratory training is often thought to improve learning and transfer of training, it is unclear whether it works for all trainees.   Past research has shown that some trainees (particularly those low in cognitive ability and motivation) may not benefit from learner-controlled training environments (e.g., exploratory training).   

Recently, Keith et. al, (2010) compared the efficacy of guided versus exploratory training for trainees differing in cognitive ability and motivation.  Moreover, they investigated two distinct training outcomes: analogical transfer (transferring learning to tasks on the job that are similar to those tasks learned in training) and adaptive transfer (transferring learning to job tasks that differ from those in training). 

Organizational Citizenship: Lend a Hand and Look Good Doing It

Topic: Citizenship Behavior
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Good soldiers and good actors: Prosocial and impression management motives as interactive predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors
Authors: A. M. Grant, D. M. Mayer
Reviewed By: Sarah Teague

 In recent years, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have received considerable attention in the workplace. OCBs refer to actions taken by an employee that further group and organizational goals but are not explicitly required by the job (e.g. taking on extra work to help a coworker meet their deadline). Research has consistently shown that these behaviors can benefit both the individual employee and the organization. But why do employees engage in these voluntary (and often unrewarded) behaviors at all? 

The general assumption has been that people perform OCBs either because they genuinely want to “do good” or because they just want to “look good;” acting on (selfless) prosocial motives or (selfish) impression management motives, respectively. The current article suggests that those with strong prosocial motives are likely to engage in OCBs when they perceive a potential benefit to others, while those with strong impression management motives will engage in OCBs when they expect it to improve their image.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Stress at Work

Topic: Citizenship Behavior, Counterproductive Work Behaviors
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Can “good” stressors spark “bad” behaviors? The mediating role of emotions in links of challenge and hindrance stressors with citizenship and counterproductive behaviors
Authors: J.B. Rodell, T.A. Judge
Reviewed By: Katie Bachman

 Research suggests that stress can come from good or bad sources (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Boudreau, 2000).

Challenge Stressors can serve as opportunities for growth, for example:  you can be stressed because of job complexity (“now, WHAT am I supposed to do?”), workload (“I’ve got too much to do!”), and deadlines (Yikes!  It’s due tomorrow!”), which are termed

Hindrance Stressors, on the other hand, can be caused by stress because of bureaucracy (“Just let me do my job”), role ambiguity (“Whose job is this, anyway”), and hassles (“Like I said, just let me do my job!).

While both can lead to negative outcomes like emotional exhaustion, challenge stressors have been linked to positive outcomes such as job satisfaction. Hindrance stressors, on the other hand, are pretty much all bad, being linked to withdrawal behaviors and turnover. 

Knowing that stress exists in these different forms is well and good, but what’s more interesting is looking at how those stressors affect voluntary behavior on the job.

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Invigorating Leadership/Job Performance Chain

Topic: Leadership, Job Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: How leaders cultivate social capital and nurture employee vigor: Implications for job performance
Authors: A. Carmeli, B. Ben-Hador, D.A., Waldman, and D.E. Rupp
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

 One important characteristic of effective leaders is the ability to build relationships and encourage communication and collaboration among their employees (i.e., leader relational behaviors).  Although we can probably all agree that leader relational behaviors should have a positive impact on employee and organizational performance, Carmeli and colleagues recently showed that the relationship between leader relational behaviors and job performance is a complex process.

Importantly, Carmeli et al. placed a heavy focus on the role of employee vigor (energetic feeling about work) in this process linking leader relational behaviors to employee job performance.  The authors collected data from 209 employees and 15 managers of several Israeli community centers. 

Not surprisingly, employees with managers who exhibit more leader relational behaviors tend to have more high-quality relationships with others in the workplace.

After the Honeymoon: Supervisor support is still important

Topic: Job Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Change in newcomers’ supervisor support and socialization outcomes after organizational entry
Authors: M. Jokisaari, J. Nurmi
Reviewed by: Larry Martinez

 Most organizational researchers know about the “Honeymoon Effect” – the notion that employees are on their best behavior in the months directly following their hire.  However, previous research has been limited to the first year after hire and has not investigated specific aspects of employee socialization that might contribute to this initial good behavior.  Recently, Jokisaari and Nurmi looked into supervisor support as a predictor of important work outcomes over the first two years of employment. 

They found that as time goes on, supervisor support seems to go down…and the faster this support goes down, the faster role clarity, job satisfaction, and salary increases go down as well (not only mean levels decrease, but rates of change slow proportionately).  So, newcomers could probably benefit from this knowledge by capitalizing on the initial quality time they get with their supervisor before the attention starts to wane.  They can prepare themselves so they are not disenchanted when their supervisor starts paying less attention to them.  Looks like romantic relationships aren’t the only ones that might benefit from “keeping the fires burning.”

 

Jokisaari, M., & Nurmi, J. (2009).  Change in newcomers’ supervisor support and socialization outcomes 

after organizational entry.  Academy of Management Journal, 52, 527-544.

Employee Testimonials on Recruitment Websites: Yea or Nay?

Topic: Diversity, Recruiting
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Displaying employee testimonials on recruitment websites: Effects of communication media, employee race, and job seeker race on organizational attraction and information credibility
Authors: H.J. Walker, H.S. Field, W.F. Giles, A.A. Armenakis, & J.B. Bernerth
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger 

Employee testimonials can be found on many organizations’ recruitment websites.  Unfortunately, there is relatively little research on how testimonials actually affect job seeker perceptions of the organization.  It is assumed that employee testimonials are effective because job applicants prefer the input of other people (who are similar to them) and gives the organization a human persona.  But many questions remain to be answered. 

In a recent study, Walker and colleagues uncovered several important factors that influence the effectiveness of employee testimonials.  The researchers used a sample of 546 management students (with roughly equal numbers of males and females as well as blacks and whites) preparing to look for employment.

First, Walker et al. found that in general, employee testimonials are effective at increasing job seekers’ attraction to the company and credibility ratings of the information presented on the company website.  However, testimonials were more effective when they were presented orally (via video along with audio) on the website as opposed to text-based testimonials with pictures.  In other words, job seekers appear to prefer richer media (i.e., video and audio).

Keeping it Safe for Daylight Saving Time

Topic: Health & Safety
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Changing to Daylight Saving Time cuts into sleep and increases workplace injuries
Authors: C.M. Barnes & D.T. Wagner
Featured By: Benjamin Granger

Although Daylight Saving Time was originally proposed to align the human sleep/wake cycle with the Earth’s rotation cycle (and to give us more day light to BBQ on those warm summer afternoons!), Barnes and Wagner wondered if these time changes have detrimental effects on human sleep patterns and workplace injuries.

Using archival data, Barnes and Wagner discovered that the change from standard to Daylight Saving Time leads employees to get an average of 40 minutes less sleep on the night of the switch.  They also found that the frequency and severity of workplace injuries increases on the Monday immediately following the switch to Daylight Saving Time.  These trends provide evidence that reduced sleep is a likely explanation for the increased frequency and severity of workplace injuries following the time change in the spring.  On the other hand, no substantial effects on sleep and injury frequency or severity were found for the change back to standard time in the fall.

Is this your first time, Doctor?

Topic: Training
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Active learning: When is more better? The case of resident physicians’ medical errors.
Authors: T. Katz-Navon, E. Nevah, and Z. Stern
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

Active learning refers to a broad spectrum of training strategies in which individual trainees are encouraged to explore the learning environment, experiment with strategies, ask questions, and make many of the administrative decisions usually made by instructors in passive learning approaches (i.e., traditional classroom instruction).  Active learning places trainees in the driver’s seat of their own learning.  Sounds great, right?  But what if I told you that active learning strategies usually facilitate trainee errors?

Now, errors are not inherently “bad”.  In fact, encouraging trainees to make errors during training actually leads to improved learning and transfer of training.  Errors are considered “bad” when their consequences are bad (e.g., injury, death).  Should we then even consider active learning when such consequences are likely?

Katz-Navon, Nevah and Stern’s (2009) study of resident physicians suggests that even though healthcare errors can be disastrous, resident physicians often use active learning approaches.  Much of their training occurs on-the-job and in “high-stakes” situations (i.e., surgeries).  Thus, we arrive at a very serious dilemma: effective learning via active learning vs. safety.