An Experiential Learning Approach To Teaching Social Entrepreneurship, Triple Bottom Line, And Sustainability: Modifying And Extending Practical Organizational Behavior Education (PROBE)

When teaching social entrepreneurship and sustainability, using an experiential learning approach can be more effective than a traditional lecture approach.  Social and environmental entrepreneurs often have a deep passion for their work that is important for students to develop early in their careers.  Experiential learning enables students to create and experience this passion for themselves, thereby preparing them with the motivational and emotional resources they may need to be successful in the future.  We introduce Practical Organizational Behavior Education (PROBE) as one way of helping students develop this passion.  PROBE was originally developed as a service-learning project for an undergraduate course in organizational behavior at a very small, private university.  However, in this manuscript, we show how PROBE can be modified and extended to effectively teach business students about triple bottom line concepts, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship at the undergraduate and MBA levels within a large, public university system.  We provide practical suggestions for instructors interested in implementing this approach in a broad variety of settings

Do the Benefits of Family-to-Work Transitions Come at Too Great a Cost?

This research examines the impact of role boundary management on the work-family interface, as well as on organizational (job embeddedness) and family (relationship tension) outcomes. First, we integrate conservation of resources theory with crossover theory, to build a theoretical model of work-family boundary management. Second, we extend prior work by exploring positive and negative paths through which boundary management affects work and family outcomes. Third, we incorporate spouse perceptions to create a dynamic, systems-perspective explanation of the work-family interface. Using a matched sample of 639 job incumbents and their spouses, we found that family-to-work boundary transitions was related to the job incumbents\u27 work-to-family conflict, work-to-family enrichment, and job embeddedness as well as the boundary management strain transmitted to the spouse. We also found that the boundary management strain transmitted to the spouse mediated the relationship between family-to-work boundary transitions and both work-to-family conflict and work-to-family enrichment. Finally, we found significant indirect effects between family-to-work boundary transitions and job embeddedness and relationship tension through both the boundary management strain transmitted to the spouse and the incumbent\u27s work-family conflict, but not through work-family enrichment. Thus, family-to-work boundary transitions offer some benefits to the organization by contributing to job embeddedness, but they also come at a cost in that they are associated with work-family conflict and relationship tension. We discuss the study\u27s implications for theory, research, and practice while suggesting new research directions

Is it Better to Receive than to Give? Empathy in the Conflict-Distress Relationship

The article discusses the role of empathy as a particular dimension of emotional social support that has the potential to buffer or alleviate the negative spillover effect of family-work conflict on the psychological distress of job incumbents. The potential of empathy to worsen the negative crossover effects of family-work conflict on partner psychological distress is also investigated. Empathy is considered as the tendency to observe, know and be sensitive to another individual\u27s feelings and emotions. Findings show that it was not better to give than to receive empathy but that giving and receiving it buffered the effects of work-to-family conflict on the experience of distress

Is it Better to Receive than to Give? Empathy in the Conflict-Distress Relationship

The article discusses the role of empathy as a particular dimension of emotional social support that has the potential to buffer or alleviate the negative spillover effect of family-work conflict on the psychological distress of job incumbents. The potential of empathy to worsen the negative crossover effects of family-work conflict on partner psychological distress is also investigated. Empathy is considered as the tendency to observe, know and be sensitive to another individual\u27s feelings and emotions. Findings show that it was not better to give than to receive empathy but that giving and receiving it buffered the effects of work-to-family conflict on the experience of distress

The impact of political skill on impression management effectiveness

In this study, the authors investigated the effect of an individual’s political skill on the relationships between 5 different impression management tactics (intimidation, exemplification, ingratiation, self-promotion, and supplication) and supervisor evaluations of performance. To test these relationships, the authors used a matched sample of 173 supervisor–subordinate dyads who worked full time in a state agency. Findings showed that individuals who used high levels of any of the tactics and who were politically skilled achieved more desirable supervisor ratings than did those who used the tactics but were not politically skilled. Opposite results were found when impression management usage was low. That is, individuals who were not politically skilled created a more desirable image in their supervisors ’ eyes than did their politically skilled counterparts when they did not use these tactics. Practical and research implications for the findings as well as directions for future research are offered

Support at Work and Home: The Path to Satisfaction Through Balance

This study examines social support (from both coworkers and partners) and its path to satisfaction through work–family balance. This study fills a gap by explaining how support impacts satisfaction in the same domain, across domains, and how it crosses over to impact the partner\u27s domain. Using a matched dataset of 270 job incumbents and their partners, the findings reveal that work–family balance plays a mediating role in assisting social support\u27s contribution to both job and family satisfaction. Evidence indicates that employees experience heightened work–family balance due to social support from partners and coworkers and that support and balance impact satisfaction in both the work and family domains. Implications of these findings and avenues for future research are discussed

Mindfulness at Work: Resource Accumulation, Well-Being, and Attitudes

Purpose Mindfulness is a well-studied phenomenon in many disciplines. Little is known about its impacts on employees at work. The purpose of this paper is to focus on mindfulness at work, defined as a psychological state in which employees intentionally pay full attention to the present moment while executing job tasks. The research model, grounded in conservation of resources theory, depicts how mindfulness at work may help employees develop resources (work-family balance and job engagement) which may be associated with greater well-being (less psychological distress and more job satisfaction) and organizational attitudes (intent to turnover and affective commitment). Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 503 full time employees, the authors test the model with structural equation modeling. Findings Results supported the full research model, suggesting that mindfulness at work is an important antecedent to resource accrual, well-being, and organizational attitudes. Mindfulness at work exerted direct and indirect effects on turnover intentions and affective commitment. Research limitations/implications The inclusion of job engagement as a mediator provides an interesting counterpoint and extension of prior studies suggesting that job engagement negates the effects of mindfulness on turnover intentions (Dane, 2014). Practical implications The research suggests that mindfulness at work is highly trainable and may enhance a variety of career outcomes. Originality/value This study extends emerging literature on mindfulness at work by offering a new scale grounded in established theory and the practice of mindfulness