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Colleagues,

I was wondering if any of you could steer me towards some of the essential references on the use and effects of fear in the workplace.

Many thanks in advance,

Tom Catlaw

------------------------------------------------
Thomas Catlaw
Assistant Professor
School of Public Affairs
Arizona State University
411 North Central Avenue, Suite 450
Mail Code 3720
Phoenix, AZ 85004-0687
Phone: (602) 496-0459
Fax: (602) 496-0950
Email: Thomas.Catlaw@asu.edu <mailto:Thomas.Catlaw@asu.edu>
Web: http://spa.asu.edu <http://spa.asu.edu/>

"Advancing Urban Governance in a Global Context"

Tom:

You may be interested in something that I've worked on which is an
effect of fear. It is "feedback avoiding behavior," and refers to the
various tactics used by employees to avoid their supervisors following
poor performance. You can find the original ms. and instrument in
Journal of Management:

Are You Hiding from Your Boss? The Development of a Taxonomy and
Instrument to Assess the Feedback Management Behaviors of Good and Bad
Performers
Sherry E. Moss, Enzo R. Valenzi, and William Taggart
Journal of Management, 8 2003; vol. 29: pp. 487 - 510.

Let me know if you are interested in reading other articles (currently
under review) which incorporate this construct.

Sherry


-----Original Message-----
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv
[mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Thomas Catlaw
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 3:52 PM
To: OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: Fear in the Workplace

Colleagues,

I was wondering if any of you could steer me towards some of the
essential references on the use and effects of fear in the workplace.

Many thanks in advance,

Tom Catlaw

------------------------------------------------
Thomas Catlaw
Assistant Professor
School of Public Affairs
Arizona State University
411 North Central Avenue, Suite 450
Mail Code 3720
Phoenix, AZ 85004-0687
Phone: (602) 496-0459
Fax: (602) 496-0950
Email: Thomas.Catlaw@asu.edu <mailto:Thomas.Catlaw@asu.edu>
Web: http://spa.asu.edu <http://spa.asu.edu/>

"Advancing Urban Governance in a Global Context"

Tom, this may be relevant ...

Ashkanasy, N. M., & Nicholson, G. J. 2003. Climate of fear in
organizational settings: Construct definition, measurement, and a test
of theory. Australian Journal of Psychology, 55: 24-29.

Cheers
Neal M. Ashkanasy, PhD

Director of Research, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
Professor of Management, UQ Business School
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Organizational Behavior
Associate Editor, Academy of Management Learning & Education

Faculty of Business, Economics and law
The University of Queensland Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
Phone: +617 3365-7499
Fax: +617 3346-9254
e-mail: n.ashkanasy@uq.edu.au
http://www.business.uq.edu.au/staff/academic/nashkanasy.phtml

-----Original Message-----
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv
[mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Thomas Catlaw
Sent: Tuesday, 1 May 2007 3:52 PM
To: OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: Fear in the Workplace

Colleagues,

I was wondering if any of you could steer me towards some of the
essential references on the use and effects of fear in the workplace.

Many thanks in advance,

Tom Catlaw

------------------------------------------------
Thomas Catlaw
Assistant Professor
School of Public Affairs
Arizona State University
411 North Central Avenue, Suite 450
Mail Code 3720
Phoenix, AZ 85004-0687
Phone: (602) 496-0459
Fax: (602) 496-0950
Email: Thomas.Catlaw@asu.edu <mailto:Thomas.Catlaw@asu.edu>
Web: http://spa.asu.edu <http://spa.asu.edu/>

"Advancing Urban Governance in a Global Context"

Some of the best work I know of about the sources and effects of fear is Amy Edmondson's stuff on psychological safety. See below references.

Edmondson, A. "Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams." Administrative Science Quarterly 44, no. 4 (December 1999): 350-383. (Winner of the 2000 Academy of Management Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior.)

Title: The mixed effects of inconsistency on experimentation in organizations
Author(s): Lee F, Edmondson AC, Thomke S, Worline M
Source: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE 15 (3): 310-326 MAY-JUN 2004
Cited References: 63 Times Cited: 0
Abstract: This paper examines how the inconsistency of organizational conditions affects people's willingness to engage in experimentation, a behavior integral to innovation. Because failures are inevitable in the experimentation process, we argue that conditions giving rise to psychological safety reduce fear of failure and promote experimentation. Based on this reasoning, we suggest that inconsistent organizational conditions-when some support experimentation and others do not-inhibit experimentation behaviors. An exploratory study in the field, followed by a laboratory experiment, found that individuals under high evaluative pressure were less likely to experiment when normative values and instrumental rewards were inconsistent in supporting experimentation. In contrast, individuals under low evaluative pressure responded to inconsistent conditions with increased experimentation. Our results
suggest that evaluative pressure fundamentally alters an individual's experience of and response to uncertainty and that understanding experimentation behavior requires examining effects of multiple organizational conditions in combination.

Nembhard, Ingrid Marie, and A. Edmondson. "Making It Safe: The Effects of Leader Inclusiveness and Professional Status on Psychological Safety and Improvement Efforts in Health Care Teams." Special Issue on Healthcare: The problems are organizational not clinical. Journal of Organizational Behavior 27, no. 7 (November 2006): 941-966.

Cheers,
Will Felps
University of Washington
willf@u.washington.edu