Social Interactions at work and Psychological Health: The Role of Leader – Member Exchange and Work Group Integration

July 2008 in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Why should HR take an interest in the social interactions taking place at work?

The study found that stressors at work can be managed effectively by Social Resources in the work place. The availability of these social resources is determined by the quality of the relationships between an individual and their immediate superiors as well as co-workers.There are 2 main social relationships that exist at work. The first is the individual with his or her superior and the second is the individual with his or her co-workers.The first is called Leader Member Exchange (LMX)
The second is called Work Group Integration (WGI): This is the “perceived approval from coworkers and inclusion in their activities which can be a source of social support and assistance.

High WGI results in the following:

• a feeling of emotional support
• a sense of belonging
• a sense that others will help if needed
• a recognition of self-worth and value
• a high degree of stability in one's life situation

The extent to which a leader provides a psychologically secure environment, the resources necessary for workers to complete tasks and the authority for workers to make decisions, regulates how likely subordinates are to think of a situation as being under control and non-threatening. If a leader fails to foster a strong LMX, the result will be a feeling of isolation and a perceived lack of control in the subordinates.

The study proved the following:

• Low LMX = High stress, low organizational commitment, low job satisfaction
• High LMX = Low stress, high organizational commitment, high job satisfaction
• Low WGI = High stress, low organizational commitment, low job satisfaction
• High WGI = Low stress, high organizational commitment, high job satisfaction

Many companies fail to properly account for the social relationships that form in the workplace as well as to account for the fact that these social relationships directly affect the performance and the psychological health of their employees which ultimately affects the performance of the company as a whole.

Does your company take social relationships at work into account?
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Article:
Rousseau ET AL. Social Interactions at Work and Psychological Health: The Role of Leader Member Exchange and Work Group Integration. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. July 2008, Vol. 38., Issue 7, p.1755-1777.

Scientific Research Update: Summer 2008

We found that the following academic research articles prove highly valuable and applicable to Human Resource Management in practice:

Should HR monitor the job satisfaction of various 'teams' on the job?

• Kelly, Allison ET AL. Satisfied Groups and Satisfied Members: Untangling the Between- and Within-Groups Effects of Need Satisfaction. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. July 2008, Vol. 38., Issue 7, p. 1805-1826.

How to identify 'Self-Starters' and why this saves work for HR.

• Lam, Chak Fu ET AL. Self-determined Work Motivation Predicts Job Outcomes, But What Predicts Self-determined Work Motivation?. Journal of Research in Psychology. Aug 2008, Vol. 42., Issue 4, p. 1109-1115.

How has our understanding of Work Motivation changed in the last decade and what does that mean for your company's motivational approach?

• Latham, Gary. Work Motivation Theory and Research at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century. Annual Review of Psychology. 2005, Vol 56., Issue 1, p. 485-516.

Why should HR take an interest in the social interactions taking place at work?

• Rousseau ET AL. Social Interactions at Work and Psychological Health: The Role of Leader Member Exchange and Work Group Integration. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. July 2008, Vol. 38., Issue 7, p.1755-1777.
• Teven, Jason ET AL. Communication Correlates of Perceived Machiavellianism of Supervisors: Communication Orientations and Outcomes. Communication Quarterly. May 2006. Vol. 54., Issue 2, p. 127-142.

What do we mean by 'Justice' in the workplace and how does that affect organizational performance?

• Wen-Chih, Liao ET AL. Organizational Justice, Motivation To Learn, and Training Outcomes. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal. 2006. Vol. 34., Issue 5, p. 545-550.

How can managers correctly identify potential drivers of e-service quality to improve their operations?

• Heim, Gregory ET AL. Process Drivers of E-Service Quality: Analysis of Data from On-Line Rating Sites. Journal of Operations Management. Aug. 2007. Vol. 25., Issue 5, p. 962-984.

How long is too long when dealing with E-complaints?

• Mattila, Anna ET AL. The impact of selected customer characteristics and response time on E-complaint satisfaction and return intent. International Journal of Hospitality Management. June 2003. Vol. 22., Issue 2, p. 135-145.

How E-services make HRM systems effective.

• Ehrhart, Karen ET AL. HRM At Your Service: Developing Effective HRM Systems in the Context of E-Service. Organizational Dynamics. Jan. 2008. Vol. 37., Issue 1, p. 75-85.

You can download the abstracts for the above articles here >>