Nuanced Aggression in Group Decision Making

Abstract

Group decision making in organizations represents an opportunity for group members to seek to exert social influence. Whining and bullying are examined as nonrational influence tactics used by individuals in groups. Both tactics are envisioned as forms of aggression, differing across a dominance—submissiveness continuum. The impact of whining and bullying as compliance gaining tactics for organizational group decision making is examined using 234 individuals whose jobs include group decision making in organizations. The use of bullying and whining tactics are positively correlated indicating dominance complementarity, with increases in one tactic being associated with increases in the other. In addition, bullying and whining are found to have negative effects on cohesiveness and group decision-making effectiveness.

Participation Styles, Turn-Taking Strategies, and Marginalization in Intercultural Decision-Making Discourse

“…Another indicator may be national culture. For example, a higher tolerance for intrusive interruptions has been observed in decision-making discourse in American (Maznevski, 1994; Yamada, 1997), British (Baraldi, 2013), and some northern European contexts (Henningsen & Henningsen, 2020; Noorderhaven et al, 2007) in contrast to Japanese (Noorderhaven et al, 2007) and Chinese contexts (Ding, 2006; Morita et al, 2011).…”

Coping With Workplace Bullying Through NAVER: Effects of LMX Relational Concerns and Cultural Differences

“…Workplace bullying behaviors are specifically manifested in “physical, verbal, and nonverbal attacks directed toward the victim or victims, as well as the direct and indirect forms of hurting, abusing, or socially excluding a peer or peers, a supervisor, or subordinates” (Porhola et al, 2006, p. 250). Bullying communication behaviors take on “a loud, aggressive, or critical tone” (Henningsen & Henningsen, 2017) and are coercive, destructive, and unethical, revolving around the abuse of power or authority to intimidate or threat the victim to get one’s own way at work (Valde & Henningsen, 2015). They take place “repeatedly and regularly (e.g., weekly) and over a period of time (e.g., about six months)” (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2011, p. 22), building a hostile work environment (Salin, 2003, p. 1215).…”