Quality of group decisions by board members:A hidden-profile experiment

Purpose Reaching decisions in a deliberative manner is of utmost importance for boards, as their decision-making impacts entire organisations. The current study aims to investigate (1) the quality of group decisions made by board members, (2) their confidence in, satisfaction with, and reflection on the decision-making, and (3) the effect of two discussion procedures on objective decision quality and subjective evaluations of the decision-making. Design/methodology/approach Board members of various Dutch non-profit organisations (N = 141) participated in a group decision-making task and a brief questionnaire. According to the hidden-profile paradigm, information was asymmetrically distributed among group members and should have been pooled to reach the objectively best decision. Half of the groups received one of two discussion procedures (i.e. advocacy decision or decisional balance sheet), while the other half received none. Findings Only a fifth of the groups successfully chose the best decision alternative. The initial majority preference strongly influenced the decision, which indicates that discussion was irrelevant to the outcome. Nevertheless, board members were satisfied with their decision-making. Using a discussion procedure enhanced participants' perception that they adequately weighed the pros and cons, but did not improve objective decision quality or other aspects of the subjective evaluation. These findings suggest that board members are unaware of their biased decision-making, which might hinder improvement. Originality/value Rather than using student samples, this study was the first to have board members participating in a hidden-profile task

Boundary Management in Action : A Diary Study of Students' School-Home Conflict

Contemporary technologies enable students to be "connected" with friends, family, student peers, and their study materials 24/7. This study aimed to examine how college students' boundary management enactment (BME; ranging from segmentation to integration) related to school-to-home conflict and home-to-school conflict and, subsequently, to school performance, satisfaction with home life, and home-school balance. Moreover, this study aimed to establish whether these relationships depended on students' boundary management preferences for segmenting school from home, and home from school. A diary study was conducted among 122 students from a major university in the Netherlands. Students completed an online questionnaire and online daily surveys over a period of 5 consecutive days of study. Results supported that students experienced more school-home and home-school conflict when they integrated rather than segmented school and home. Also as predicted, integration related to lower school performance, lower home life satisfaction, and lower balance, and these relationships were mediated by increased conflict between home and school life. Students' preferences did not moderate these relationships. This indicates that segmenting school and home life roles seems to be the advisable strategy for students, irrespective of their preference for segmentation. Students would benefit from increased awareness of the advantages of segmentation and 'how to' training sessions that teach them how to set boundaries between school and home. (PsycINFO Database Recor

Boundary Management in Action : A Diary Study of Students' School-Home Conflict

Contemporary technologies enable students to be "connected" with friends, family, student peers, and their study materials 24/7. This study aimed to examine how college students' boundary management enactment (BME; ranging from segmentation to integration) related to school-to-home conflict and home-to-school conflict and, subsequently, to school performance, satisfaction with home life, and home-school balance. Moreover, this study aimed to establish whether these relationships depended on students' boundary management preferences for segmenting school from home, and home from school. A diary study was conducted among 122 students from a major university in the Netherlands. Students completed an online questionnaire and online daily surveys over a period of 5 consecutive days of study. Results supported that students experienced more school-home and home-school conflict when they integrated rather than segmented school and home. Also as predicted, integration related to lower school performance, lower home life satisfaction, and lower balance, and these relationships were mediated by increased conflict between home and school life. Students' preferences did not moderate these relationships. This indicates that segmenting school and home life roles seems to be the advisable strategy for students, irrespective of their preference for segmentation. Students would benefit from increased awareness of the advantages of segmentation and 'how to' training sessions that teach them how to set boundaries between school and home. (PsycINFO Database Recor

Positive Psychological Micro-Interventions to Improve the Work–Family Interface: Use Your Resources and Count Your Blessings

The present study is designed to test the effectiveness of two positive psychological micro-interventions (“use your resources” and “count your blessings”) aimed at improving the combination of work and family roles. Based on the Transactional Model of Stress (TMS), the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory and the Work-Home Resources (WH-R) Model, it was expected that the interventions would result in a more positive cognitive appraisal of combining both roles as well as in less work-to-family and family-to-work conflict and more work-to-family and family-to-work enrichment. The hypotheses were tested in a field experiment with three conditions and three measurement waves. In total, 218 working mothers participated in the study. The “use your resources” intervention appeared effective in sorting positive effects on the work–family outcome variables. Participating in the “count your blessing” micro-intervention did not result in a better (appraisal of the) combination of work and family roles. Moreover, for generating positive effects it was important that the participants performed the exercises on a regular basis: the more days women performed the exercise, the stronger the effects. The implications of our findings for future interventions to improve work–family role combining are discussed

The Social and Organizational Psychology of Compliance: How Organizational Culture Impacts on (Un)ethical Behavior

In psychological theory and research, compliance is generally seen as the most superficial and weakest form of behavioral adaptation. The current contribution examines how the social context of work – the organizational culture – can be organized to stimulate ethical business conduct. By reviewing social psychological theory and research, we illustrate how an ethical culture can be developed and maintained through ethical leadership and by mainstreaming ethics into existing business models. This is markedly different from more common legal approaches. It requires that a commitment to ethical business conduct is visible from the tone at the top, that organizational leaders “walk the talk” on the work floor, and that this matches the implicit messages that organizational members receive on a day-to-day basis about what really matters and what should be prioritized. Attempts to increase rule compliance are bound to fail when organizational incentives and rewards focus on individual bottom-line achievement regardless of how this is done. Empirical evidence supports the claim that organizational culture is an important factor in stimulating ethical conduct. By creating an ethical culture, organizations develop an “ethical mindset” in organizational members, which helps them not only to understand and internalize existing guidelines in their current work but also to apply the “spirit” of these guidelines to new dilemmas and emerging situations. This makes investing in an ethical culture a sustainable business solution

The Social and Organizational Psychology of Compliance: How Organizational Culture Impacts on (Un)ethical Behavior

In psychological theory and research, compliance is generally seen as the most superficial and weakest form of behavioral adaptation. The current contribution examines how the social context of work – the organizational culture – can be organized to stimulate ethical business conduct. By reviewing social psychological theory and research, we illustrate how an ethical culture can be developed and maintained through ethical leadership and by mainstreaming ethics into existing business models. This is markedly different from more common legal approaches. It requires that a commitment to ethical business conduct is visible from the tone at the top, that organizational leaders “walk the talk” on the work floor, and that this matches the implicit messages that organizational members receive on a day-to-day basis about what really matters and what should be prioritized. Attempts to increase rule compliance are bound to fail when organizational incentives and rewards focus on individual bottom-line achievement regardless of how this is done. Empirical evidence supports the claim that organizational culture is an important factor in stimulating ethical conduct. By creating an ethical culture, organizations develop an “ethical mindset” in organizational members, which helps them not only to understand and internalize existing guidelines in their current work but also to apply the “spirit” of these guidelines to new dilemmas and emerging situations. This makes investing in an ethical culture a sustainable business solution

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so: Informational support and cognitive appraisal of the work-family interface

This paper examines whether cognitive appraisals regarding work-family role combination can be influenced by providing informational support. We conducted an experiment among female employees with young children working in a financial services organization (N=149). Participants received information communicating either a scarcity or an expansion perspective on human energy, prior to completing a survey. In support of our predictions, results showed that employees appraised the task of combining their work and family roles more positively after exposure to an expansion rather than a scarcity message. This research offers new theoretical insights into the role of cognitive appraisal in work-family research and offers scope for designing intervention programs that help employees to view role-combining more positively

How work spills over into the relationship: Self-control matters

This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual-earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temporary self-regulatory resources and subsequently a decrease in psychological availability for the partner. Whether work demands spill over into relationship behavior was dependent on dispositional self-control in that evidence for negative spillover was only found for individuals low in dispositional self-control. The experimental study showed that the induction of gratitude for the partner after the workday helped individuals low in dispositional control to prevent negative spillover into the partner relationship

How work spills over into the relationship: Self-control matters

This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual-earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temporary self-regulatory resources and subsequently a decrease in psychological availability for the partner. Whether work demands spill over into relationship behavior was dependent on dispositional self-control in that evidence for negative spillover was only found for individuals low in dispositional self-control. The experimental study showed that the induction of gratitude for the partner after the workday helped individuals low in dispositional control to prevent negative spillover into the partner relationship