'But I thought we were friends?' Life cycles and research relationships

This chapter is concerned with a relatively under-explored aspect of ‘engaged research’ – the nature of friendship relations between researchers and practitioners, and the ethical dilemmas that arise in such relationships. Attention has been paid to the relational aspects of research in the methodology literature, but this chapter focuses more closely on friendship in particular. The chapter is framed around two guiding concerns: how do friendships, formed in and around research, change over time; and in view of friendship conceived in this dynamic fashion, what ethical questions and dilemmas arise for the ‘friends’

A Pilot Study on Job Satisfaction and Conflict Resolution of Female Employees Working for Female Employers

Whether in business, volunteering, family life, personal friendships or daily interactions, employers view individuals who manage conflict successfully as competent communicators and capable leaders. “Indeed, those who are unable to manage conflict effectively may have trouble reaching organizational goals (Mathur & Sayeed, 1983; Nicotera, 1995), maintaining positive relationships and cohesiveness (Canary, Cupach & Messman, 1995; Coser, 1956), and solving problems (Hall, 1986). Individuals who have difficulty handling conflict are also more likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs (Infante & Gorden, 1985a, 1985b, 1991; Infante, Anderson, Martin, Herington, & Kim, 1993). Thus, it is imperative that researchers determine how competent various styles of conflict management are perceived to be” (Gross & Guerrero, 2(X)0, p.2(X)). Unresolved conflict within the workplace is among the primary reasons why employees are unsatisfied with their jobs. Therefore, this study seeks to explore the relationship between female employers’ and employees’ conflict management styles and employees’ satisfaction with conflict resolution in the workplace

Creating Sustainable Workplace Environments: An Exploratory Study of Social Energy Expenditure in Cross-Sex, Heterosexual Organizational Friendships

This thesis outlines the reasoning and methods used to investigate the concept of social energy expenditure from Hall and Davis’ (2017) communicate bond belong (CBB) theory as a lens for understanding how individuals invest social energy into forming and maintaining cross-sex, heterosexual friendships in organizations. Informed by previous literature, this study explores the intersect between interpersonal communication and organizational communication. Apart from Hall (2018), no other scholars have tested the 2017 CBB theory. Therefore, the present study’s goal is to provide a foundational inquiry into the usability of the theory by utilizing the core concept of social energy expenditure and by specifically testing theorem 5b from principle 5 (i.e., the principle of human energy investment). The testing of CBB, as a new theory, adds a valuable contribution to the field of communication

A novel alternative. Book groups, women, and workplace networking

Drawing on the results of a small qualitative research project involving four work-based book groups – three in the UK and one in the USA- this article examines the ways in which participation in workplace reading groups facilitates women’s networking within work organizations, in terms of both formal and informal as well as expressive and instrumental networking. It has long been recognized that women’s employment progression is hampered, in part, by their exclusion from male-dominated networks. Taking a gendered approach to the analysis of workplace networking, this study suggests that book groups can function as an alternative to traditional old boys’ networks, in some instances. Within the workplace the collective reading of literature, I suggest, can potentially function as a means to extend the social as well as the more career-focused opportunities of its participants

Caring or not caring for coworkers? An empirical exploration of the dilemma of care allocation in the workplace

Organization and management researchers praise the value of care in the workplace. However, they overlook the conflict between caring for work and for coworkers, which resonates with the dilemma of care allocation highlighted by ethicists of care. Through an in-depth qualitative study of two organizations, we examine how this dilemma is confronted in everyday organizational life. We draw on the concept of boundary work to explain how employees negotiate the boundary of their caring responsibilities in ways that grants or denies care to coworkers. We argue that the possibility of an ethics of care for coworkers requires boundary work that suspends the separation of personal and professional selves and constitutes the worker as a whole person. We contribute to research on care in organizations by showing how care for coworkers may be enabled or undermined by maintaining or suppressing the care allocation dilemma

Can We Be Coworkers and Friends? An Inductive Study of the Experience and Management of Virtual Coworker Friendships

abstract: Scholars and practitioners increasingly recognize that coworker friendships are integral to both individual- and organizational-level outcomes. At the same time, though, the rapid increase in virtual work has taken a principal source of adult friendships – workplaces – and drastically changed the way that individuals interact within them. No longer are proximity and extra-organizational socializing, two of the strongest predictors of coworker friendships in a co-located workplace, easily accessible. How, then, do employees become friends with each other when interacting mostly online? Once these virtual coworker friendships are forged, individuals must balance the often-conflicting norms of the friendship relationship with the coworker relationship. How, if at all, are these tensions experienced and managed when co-worker friendships are virtual? My dissertation seeks to answer these questions through a longitudinal, grounded theory study of virtual coworker friendship in a global IT firm. The emerging theory articulates the “barrier of virtuality” that challenges virtual coworker friendship formation, necessitating that individuals employ two sets of activities and one set of competencies to form friendships with one another: presence bridgers, relational informalizers, and relational digital fluency. The data also suggest that the coworker friendship tension process itself is largely similar to the previously articulated process in co-located contexts. However, the virtual context changed the frequency, types of shocks that elicited the tensions, and management of these tensions. My findings have numerous implications for the literatures on relationships at work, virtual work, and organizational tensions. They also suggest significant ways in which individuals and organizations can more effectively foster virtual coworker friendships while minimizing the potential harm of virtual coworker friendship tensions.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Business Administration 201

Places of everyday cosmopolitanisms: East-European construction workers in London

This paper illustrates how cosmopolitanisms among East-European construction workers in London are shaped by the localised spatial contexts in which encounters with difference take place. Their cosmopolitan attitudes and behaviours arise from both survival strategies and from a taste for cultural goods, thus challenging the elite/working-class divide in current cosmopolitanism literature. Through semi-structured interviews and participant photographs of 24 East-European construction workers who have arrived in London since the European Union expansion in May 2004, this paper illustrates how these ‘new’ European citizens, develop varying degrees and multitudes of cosmopolitanisms in everyday places such as building sites and shared houses. These cosmopolitanisms are shaped by their transnational histories, nationalistic sentiments, and access to social and cultural capital in specific localised contexts. Thus subjective perceptions of gendered, ethnic, and racial notions of ‘others’ that are carried across national boundaries are reinforced or challenged as their encounters with ‘others’ produce perceptions of marginalisation or empowerment in these places. This paper finally suggests that cosmopolitanism should be understood not simply through class but rather through access to power and capital in everyday localised contexts

Promoting Social Interaction Skills to Influence the Transition to Employment for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) affect one in 68 children in the United States and are characterized by deficits in social interaction. Decreased social interaction skills limit youth with ASDs’ ability to obtain and maintain a job. Acquisition of needed social interaction skills must occur during high school years as part of youths’ transition program. The Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to consider ways to facilitate social interaction to influence the transition to employment. The specific aims of the study were to explore strategies currently used to facilitate social skills, identify social skills currently targeted, and identify other supports needed to enhance youths’ social interaction skills. This study contributes data from the perspective s of parents, special education teachers, teachers, vocational transition counselors, and paraprofessionals. Through a phenomenological approach and data analysis, my data yielded four main themes. Adult supports have a common vision for the youth with ASDs’ transition, and use attempted strategies of cueing, matching the person and the context, and reflecting. However, there are definitely still deficits of social interaction that affect employment. Therefore, additional needed interventions of increasing supports and training and providing natural contexts for the youth were suggested. Interestingly, specific social interaction skills targeted could not be identified by the adult supports. This research provides the information needed for occupational therapists to create a more effective transition plan, so that youth with ASD can have meaning and success as they move into adulthood and seek employment

GENDER AND NETWORKING: BUILDING AND BENEFITING FROM HIGH STATUS TIES IN THE WORKPLACE

While organizations have significantly reduced the overt and intentional forms of sex discrimination that impeded women’s careers in the past, a great deal of research suggests women continue to face informal barriers in the workplace. One such arena in which women tend to be disadvantaged is in their workplace networks. In many ways, men and women have similar networks, yet women are less likely than their male counterparts to have personal relationships with high status coworkers. Scholars have long suggested that these strategic connections are valuable and may be especially beneficial to or necessary for women. Networking has long been touted as one way women can overcome workplace disadvantage by strategically developing and/or capitalizing on such networks, which can enable their success and satisfaction at work. However, networking is a considerable investment. Indeed, networking has been called women’s third shift, after work and family responsibilities. As such, it is vital that we understand how women and men can best capitalize on their investments in networking. This research seeks to add to our scholarly understanding by examining the extent to which men and women can translate their networking behaviors into high status connections and capitalize on those connections to enhance their performance and job satisfaction. Results suggest networking behaviors enable men and women to have friends with higher informal status. However, while men’s networking behaviors are related to having higher ranking (formal status) friends, women’s networking behaviors are related to having lower ranking friends. Post-hoc analyses begin to explore the possibility that these gender differences are due to choices made by or others’ reactions to male and female networkers. Results also distinguish between employees’ gender and legitimacy to shed light on how and why men and women can develop and capitalize on high status connections, providing practical implications for employees and organizations seeking to intervene to enable women and men to develop high status connections. This research uses multimethod data to illuminate ways in which both women and men can translate their networking behaviors into high status connections, workplace performance, and job satisfaction