Center for Organizational Research (COR)

COR Faculty Workshop: Prof. Chris Bauman Dec 5th

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COR Faculty Workshop

Friday, December 5
12:00-1:30pm
Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway SBSG 1321

Prof. Chris Bauman
Merage School of Business

Blame the Shepherd not the Sheep: Subordinates who Imitate Authorities are Absolved of Moral Responsibility”

Discussants: Prof. Joey Cheng (Social Ecology) and Prof. Lyman Porter (Merage)

Leaders often leverage social learning processes to influence group norms and promote desirable behavior. When authorities misbehave, however, the bad examples they set can endorse and even exonerate unethical behavior. Yet, current models of blame and punishment focus on characteristics of acts, transgressors, and punishers and fail to consider the organizational context in which transgressions occur. We propose that organizational precedence for specific misdeeds can influence punishment recommendations, even when the acts themselves are obviously against company rules. Five studies supported our claim. Specifically, Study 1 revealed that employees who observed unethical behavior at work felt more entitled to act similarly if the unethical actor was high but not low status in their organization. Study 2 found that people generally recommended harsher punishment for employee thefts of greater than lesser amounts, but punishment recommendations were low, irrespective of the amount taken, when higher status employees first modeled the behavior. Studies 3 and 4 showed that differences in attributed levels of personal responsibility explained why people recommended less punishment for low status individuals who imitated theft by high (vs. low) status others. Finally, Study 5 indicated that punishment recommendations were lower when the high and low status transgressors were from the same organization, but not when the high status transgressor was from a different organization within the same industry. Taken together, results indicate that transgressions modeled by high status, in-group members license imitators’ unethical behavior by releasing them from moral accountability.

Please RSVP to cor@uci.edu by Monday, December 1. Lunch will be provided.

COR Colloquium: Prof. Daniel Geiger Oct 24, 2014

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Prof. Daniel Geiger
Chair for Organization Studies
University of Hamburg,Germany
COR Visiting Fellow

“Break the Rule?! A Practice-Perspective on Organizational Rule-Following and Rule-Breaking in Extreme Contexts”

Friday, October 24 2014
12:00-1:30pm
SBSG 1321

Light lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to cor@uci.edu by October 21.

“Break the Rule?! A Practice-Perspective on Organizational Rule-Following and Rule-Breaking in Extreme Contexts”

Abstract

This paper explores the practices and dynamics of organizational rule-following and rule-breaking in the context of a high reliability organization which is confronted with highly uncertain and dynamic settings. High-reliability organizations have to balance the need for reliability with the ability to flexibly respond to the Unexpected. Practices such as role shifting, reorganizing routines or improvisation have been identified as critical in this regard. The question, however, how these practices related to the bureaucratic rules has not deserved much attention yet. Building on an ethnographic study of a firefighting unit in an urban environment, this paper contributes to our understanding of the practices of organizational rule-following and rule breaking. Whilst rule-breaking was critical and rather the normality than the exception, the study identified four distinct yet interrelated practices: Tolerating, leading to small breaches of rules which are noticed but accepted. Normalizing, resulting in an unnoticed drift in rule-following which may be practical but eventually leads into dangerous, irreversible states. Practicing useable illegality points to the need to break rules in order to achieve intended outcomes. Base-lining refers to the flexible use of rules without breaking This contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of rule-following and rule-breaking; it suggests possibilities to inject flexibility and constrains in bureaucratic organizations and offers a corrective to the overreliance on formal rules in high-reliability organizations. Finally, it points to the paradoxical nature of organizational rules, thereby contributing to our understanding of the relationship between organizational practices and organizational rules.

Academic Speed-Dating

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Friday, October 3 2014, 12:00-1:30pm
Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway SBSG 1321

Our 2014-15 COR Kick-Off Event is an academic version of speed dating. As in the past years, we expect it to be both fun and generative. This is an opportunity to learn more about the interests of other COR members, to explore possible synergies and to receive some very quick feedback on your research. Here’s how it works:

  • You come prepared to describe your research in 3 minutes or less.
  • We form pairs of people (preferably those who have not met before, or haven’t talked in a while)
  • The first person in a pair describes his/her research in 3 minutes and then we allow 2 minutes for a Q&A. After 5 minutes, it is the second person’s turn to do the same.
  • After 10 minutes, we form new pairs and start again.
  • We continue for about 5 rotations.
  • The remaining time can be used to continue the conversations that you wish to be longer.

We will also have a few announcements, including about COR small grants program for 2014-15.

A light lunch will be provided. Please don’t forget to RSVP to cor@uci.edu by Tuesday, September 30th, so that we don’t have too much or too little food.