O rganizations are occasionally faced with technology-based and accident-triggered crises that may cause costly disasters if not handled properly. Questions arise: How should organizations, with their complex processes and human involvement, be designed if they are to perform well in such crises? Would organizations benefit from structural changes during crises? From a neo-information processing perspective that views organizations as composed of cognitively restricted, socially situated, and task-oriented actors, we argue that the causes and consequences of crises may be better understood through the systematic examination of both environmental and organizational factors. We address our research questions using a rather unique approach: a matched analysis of 80 real organizational cases and 80 computer-simulated organizations. The findings show that a crisis can present critical challenges to organizational performance both externally and internally, and that there is no design guarantee that a high-performing organization will continue to perform well during a crisis situation. In addition, when organizations restructure to adapt to crisis situations, they often face the serious challenges of having to understand not only the external environment, but also organizational design traps.
Purpose -This paper aims to offer insights regarding antecedents and consequences of relationship conflict in supervisor-subordinate dyads, regardless of the demographic characteristics of the dyads. The authors explain the causes and outcomes of relationship conflict utilizing an affective approach, and suggest that factors such as moods, values, and situational context play an important role in influencing relationship conflict and its outcomes -intention to quit and trust in supervisor. Design/methodology/approach -The authors surveyed 200 employees of multiple companies in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area. They utilized hierarchical regression, (with the inclusion of two-and three-way interaction terms) to test their hypotheses and interaction effects. Findings -Negative mood and positive mood interacted to impact the level of relationship conflict experienced by subordinates. Subordinates' collectivism values strengthened the impact of the positive mood-negative mood interaction on relationship conflict. Mentoring and supervisor-subordinate dyad tenure moderated the relationship conflict to outcomes associations. Originality/value -The study goes beyond traditional relational demography research in order to offer new insights and perspectives on the causes and outcomes of relationship conflict at different hierarchical levels from an affective approach, specifically, moods theory. Since relationship conflict is an inevitable process, an understanding of antecedents and consequences of the conflict can allow managers to be better equipped to create a healthy work environment.
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