There is a compelling need for innovative approaches to the solution of many pressing problems involving human relationships in today's society. Such approaches are more likely to be successful when they are based on sound research and applications. Our Series in Applied Psychology offers publications that emphasize state-of-the-art research and its application to important issues of human behavior in a variety of social settings. The objective is to bridge both academic and applied interests.
Understanding the relationships between employees and organizations has emerged as one of the most important issues in the study of behavior in organizations. Shore, Coyle-Shapiro, and Tetrick, in The Employee-Organization Relationship: Applications for the 21st Century, bring together leading edge scholarship and a keen appreciation for the interplay between science and practice in this vital area. We are very glad to welcome this book to the Applied Psychology Series.
There are four overriding themes to this volume. The first seven chapters deal with expanding our understanding of employee–organization relationships (EORs). Shore, Coyle-Shapiro, and Tetrick lay out the challenges inherent in building coherent theories and models of the EOR and relating those theories and models to the large literature dealing with related concepts. Ashforth and Rogers ask the critical question of whether employees have meaningful relationships with organizations and conclude that it is the “tribe” (i.e., small, cohesive groups who interact regularly and who share common identity, values, and assumptions) and not the organization that is the center of employee–organizational linkages. Schminke extends the notion that there are multiple loci to the EOR and examines in particular links with supervisors that might have implications for ethical behavior. In the chapter that follows, van Knippenberg examines two theories that attempt to explain the ways leaders influence the EOR. He concludes that social identity theories provide more explanatory power than social exchange theories, and he shows how successful leaders can represent prototypes of the organization to their subordinates. McLean Parks and smith take a somewhat different tack, examining how ideological resources can be a critical part of the leader–member exchange. They note that ideological similarities and differences are likely to be an increasingly critical element in multinational organizations. Shore and Coyle-Shapiro explore the dark side of the EOR, focussing specifically on perceptions of organizational cruelty. The distinguishing feature of organizational cruelty is its perceived intentionality; as Shore and Coyle-Shapiro show, perceptions of cruelty on the part of an organization are particularly damaging to the EOR. Finally, Pearce examines a unique EOR, the relationship between organizations and volunteers. Substantial differences in the exchange relationship with organizations exist for voulnteers and regular employees, and Pearce shows how these differences help to establish quite different EORs.
The next five chapters ask readers to take the “relationship” component of the EOR seriously. Guest and Rodrigues challenge the current assumption that careers are becoming more individually focused, but they note the challenges to the continuation of the long-term EOR that served to define the traditional one-organization career. Kossek and Ruderman note that most workers have important relationships, in particular with family, which can compete with the EOR. They show that even organizations that attempt to implement family-friendly policies sometimes fail because they fail to fully appreciate the sometimes competing interests of employers and employees. Gallagher and Connelly explore the nature of the relationship between organizations and their temporary employees. They note that current theories of the EOR are not fully appropriate for contingent workers and argue convincingly that it is important and useful to understand how temporary workers and organizations view their relationships. Bartol and Dong examine EOR in virtual organizations. They note that virtual organizations require human resource policies and networks that can be quite different from those of more traditional organizations, and that these virtual HR policies are an important part of the link between individuals and virtual organizations. Takeuchi notes that there is a great deal to be gained by taking the “social” aspect of social relationships seriously. In particular, he illustrates the importance of understanding the perspectives of both parties in the social relationship that EOR theory attempts to explore.
The four chapters that follow ask how the EOR is built, maintained, and repaired. Shapiro and Fugate draw attention to the role of future-oriented assessments of organizations in building and maintaining the EOR. They introduce the concept of anticipatory justice to help organize relevant theory and research. Ryan considers the perceived relationships between applicants and organizations and argues that at least part of the EOR is defined well before employees ever enter the organization. Hom shows how the EOR influences employees’ decision to stay in or to leave jobs and organizations. Wang and Zhan note that the nature and the content of the EOR is likely to change as individuals and careers mature, and that the perspectives of older workers are inadequately considered in current EOR research.
The final six chapters examine the organizational and strategic implications of the EOR. Lepak and Boswell argue that strategic human resources theory has not yet taken the relationship between employees and organizations seriously. They suggest that a more balanced approach that considers both parties in the EOR would help expand the utility of strategic human relationship approaches. Tetrick argues that the EOR has a significant emotional component that has been ignored in most research and that can critically affect the strength, direction, and outcomes of relationships between individuals and organizations. Avery, McKay, and Roberson argue that research on the EOR has largely ignored issues of race and ethnicity and that perceptions of the degree to which an organization is providing support are often viewed through the lenses of race and ethnicity. Salas and Fiore show how the relationship between individuals and organizations both shapes and is shaped by team relationships. They argue that teams are increasingly important in organizations and (like Ashforth and Rogers) that teams are likely to be critical mediators between the individual and the organization. Cascio and Greene show how perceptions that managers are making fair and sound decisions influence the EOR, and they provide sound advice for increasing the likelihood that managers will make such decisions and that employees will perceive them to be good decisions. In their summary chapter, Shore, Coyle-Shapiro, and Tetrick identify particularly promising avenues for future research.
The Employee-Organization Relationship: Applications for the 21st Century will be invaluable to students, researchers, and managers. It pushes organizational researchers to do work that is more inclusive and more likely to be relevant to the problems faced by both employees and organizations. It provides a set of frameworks for students and managers to understand the critical issues in EOR research and their relevance for understanding behavior in organizations. Finally, it shows how psychology and psychological research can be used to better understand organizations and the experience of work. The Employee-Organization Relationship fills an extremely valuable role in the Applied Psychology Series.