| The Cognitive Processes of Enactment: Evidence from Alexander the Great |
| | Kurke, Lance B. | Duquesne U. | kurke@duq2.cc.duq.edu | 412-396-6248 |
| | Brindle, Margaret | Duquesne U. | mb4y@andrew.cmu.edu | (412)-681-8976 |
| | Using ancient history as case, this paper reports evidence of the cognitive processes involved in enactment. We engage the case of Alexander the Great, an admirable great leader, to provide demonstrable evidence that enactment is both an action and cognitive model. We argue that enactment involves the cognitive processes of construction and framing of problems, the use of symbolism, alliance building, and identity formation. We demonstrate via a much needed historical perspective how a leader can manipulate the environment, enact a new reality and thereby change the environment and reality to which the leader then responds. The dramatic example of Alexander provides verifiable evidence that enactment has more to do with cognitive process than with mere resource, or military prowess. Building on Weick's theoretical work, we seek to address the lack of macro studies and add further substance and prescriptive value to the theory of enactment. |
| | Keywords: Enactment; Historical Perspective; Cognition |
| From "Prophets" to "Mercenaries": A Comparison of 1978 Portrayals of Leaders in the American Business Press with 1998 Portrayals |
| | Hannah, David R. | U. of Texas, Austin | dhannah@mail.utexas.edu | 512-471-3676 |
| | Beyer, Janice M. | U. of Texas, Austin | [jbeyer@mail.utexas.edu] | [(512)-471-8825] |
| | This study compares portrayals of leaders in the 1978 American business press to portrayals of leaders in the 1997-8 business press. Theory and research on the mass media suggests that the business press's portrayals of effective leaders can influence individuals' perceptions of effective leaders and leadership. We set out to uncover how leaders were portrayed in the present-day business press, and how the portrayals today differ from those presented in 1978. We analyzed 20 articles from Fortune magazine in each time period to uncover these portrayals. Our results show that in 1978, effective leaders are described as strategists, innovators, as having admirable personal qualities, and as knowledgeable in management theories and techniques. In contrast, leaders in the 1997-1998 articles were portrayed with metaphors of interorganizational competition as sporting competition or as war. According to these metaphors, effective organizational leaders were those who were most successful as measured by a variety of financial indicators. We discuss how these portrayals legitimate certain types of competitive actions, and how they may shape the kinds of leaders that we see in organizations. We also suggest some directions for future research.
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| | Keywords: leaders; business press; metaphors |
| How to Get Heard: Effects of Target Openness and Malleability on Expectancy Confirmation Processes |
| | Kahwajy, Jean L. | Stanford U. | jlk@leland.stanford.edu | (650) 325-6288 |
| | This research investigates how ideas initially get heard, attract attention, and gain consideration. Much research explores how ideas that
have already been accepted come to fruition. However, little is known about what makes ideas get accepted in the first place. I extend the
self-fulfilling prophecy literature to address the challenge of how innovative, nascent, undeveloped, unpopular or otherwise unsupported ideas
get generated and received, and I show how this can be likened to interrupting and reversing a negative expectancy spiral.
Traditional self-fulfilling prophecy research has focused on how a higher-status perceiver's expectations about a lower-status target
determine the target's contribution. I contend that, surprisingly, the target may also be unwittingly perpetuating the perceiver's expectations
and may play a key role in updating erroneous beliefs. I propose a theory of social receiving that may alter perceiver expectations and consequent
interaction results. The objective is to test whether a hypothesized target intervention can initiate the reception of contributions that
otherwise would go unrealized.
In addition to extending the self-fulfilling prophecy model to include behavioral interventions of lower-status targets, this investigation may
have significant practical implications. In particular, it may help organizations realize the full contribution of its members, explain
unfulfilled expectations, and curb negative performance spirals. Target receptiveness (i.e., openness and malleability) as a mediator to
performance outcomes creates a powerful mechanism to study negative self-fulfilling prophecies and potential ways to reverse them.
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| | Keywords: self-fulfilling prophecy; interpersonal expectancies; initiation |
| A Diamond in the Rough: Managerial Listening as a Symbolic Act |
| | Durant, Rita | U. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa | rdurant1@bcc.cba.ua.edu | (205) 556-8088 |
| | Issues of equity in the workplace have continued to be of interest to organizational researchers. Equity theory (Adams, 1965)
posits that workers' perceptions of relative dissimilarity of reward to others performing similar jobs influences their subsequent
behavior, toward reducing the differences. In a recent study, Greenberg (1990) found employee theft to be a predictable
response to underpayment inequity, adding to the long line of research supporting the underpayment condition of equity theory
(Miner, 1977). Of note is Greenberg's report that theft reactions "can be substantially reduced by the inexpensive tactic of
explaining the basis for the inequity in clear, honest, and sensitive terms" (Greenberg, p. 567). A re-examination of the study,
with attention to the details of the adequate explanation condition reveals another possible reason for the theft reduction. That is,
a significant difference between experimental conditions was the amount of listening behavior exhibited by the company's
management. Additionally, listening can be construed as a symbolic act. The symbolic aspect of the listening component of
managerial may account for a significant amount of the variation in theft found. A model of symbolic representation is proposed.
Placing symbolic listening central to theft reactions illustrates that it is not "totally free" as Greenberg asserts; rather, there are
potential costs of entering into the cooperative relationship that listening symbolizes, as well as costs of not doing so. Listening,
and its symbolic importance, is key to both process and cooperation research in our journey into a pluralistic world. |
| | Keywords: Symbolism; Listening; Justice |