The Development and Validation of the Workplace Acceptance Scale:Evidence from a Sample of Workers with Disabilities

BACKGROUND: Recent trends in demographics and the labor market, such as an aging workforce, bring forth a significant societal transformation and force organizations to conform to new circumstances. Diversity management strategies may help to counteract negative outcomes of these developments. However, organizational diversity triggers various reactions among the established workforce, evoking positive as well as negative social dynamics. OBJECTIVE: In order to better understand the dynamics that arise from workplace diversity, specifically from workplace disability, the present paper outlines the development of an eleven-item measure of perceived workplace acceptance. METHODS: Three independent samples of employees with disabilities (including multisource data) were used to demonstrate the reliability and validity of the scale. RESULTS: The scale shows good psychometric properties and exploratory as well as confirmatory factor analyses indicate that workplace acceptance is a unidimensional construct. The study shows that the scale is significantly related to constructs such as health and productivity, self-esteem, intent to leave, motivation, organizational commitment, and attitudes of colleagues, providing evidence for criterion-related validity. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the present study provides evidence for the validity of the Workplace Acceptance Scale and suggests that the workplace acceptance construct has important implications for both individuals with disabilities and groups of colleagues

When shared cognition leads to closed minds: Temporal mental models, team learning, adaptation and performance

In this study we examined the moderating effect of temporal mental model accuracy on the relationship between temporal mental model similarity and team learning. Further, we investigated the mediating mechanism of team adaptation in the relationship between team learning and performance. The study was conducted in a management simulation involving 68 teams (319 individuals). We collected data at three time points. The results showed that when accuracy is high, temporal mental model similarity is not significantly related to team learning; whereas, when accuracy is low, the more similar the team members’ mental models are, the less they engage in learning behaviors. This suggests that sharing an inaccurate mental model leads to closed minds. In addition, we found team adaptation to mediate the relationship between team learning and performance. These findings emphasize the importance of temporal mental models in predicting team learning, and the importance of team learning for team adaptation and performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Shared temporal cognitions as substitute for temporal leadership: An analysis of their effects on temporal conflict and team performance

Due to changing organizational demands, team leaders increasingly need to engage in temporal leadership behaviors in order to coordinate team members’ efforts, avoid time related conflicts and ensure that teams perform well. Simultaneously, temporal conflicts and team performance are impacted by team members’ shared temporal cognitions. In this study, we investigate the effect of temporal leadership and shared temporal cognitions on team performance via temporal conflict and test whether the impact of temporal leadership on temporal conflict may be substituted by shared temporal cognitions. Our study was conducted in a management simulation involving 142 teams working on a task over 5 weeks. Results suggest that temporal conflict mediates the relationship between temporal leadership and team performance as well as between shared temporal cognitions and team performance. Further, we found support for the idea that shared temporal cognitions function as a substitute of temporal leadership for reducing temporal conflict in teams.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The effect of a concept mapping Intervention on shared cognition and adaptive team performance over time

Research has demonstrated the value of team adaptation for organizational teams. However, empirical work on interventions that teams can take to increase adaptive team performance is scarce. In response, this study proposes a concept mapping intervention as a way to increase teams’ ability to adapt following a task change. Particularly, this study examines the effect of a concept mapping intervention on team transition adaptation (the drop in performance after a change) and reacquisition adaptation (the slope of performance after the change) via its effect on task mental models and transactive memory systems. We conducted a longitudinal experimental study of 44 three-person teams working on an emergency management simulation. Findings suggest that the concept mapping intervention promotes reacquisition adaptation, task mental models, and transactive memory systems. Results also suggest that task mental models mediate the effect of the concept mapping intervention on reacquisition adaptation. A post hoc analysis suggests that the concept mapping intervention is only effective if it leads to high task mental model accuracy. Our study presents concept mapping as a practical intervention to promote shared cognition and reacquisition adaptation.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio