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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to challenge the assumption that process losses of individuals working in teams are unavoidable. The paper aims to challenge this assumption on the basis of social identity theory and recent research.Design/methodology/approachThe approach adopted in this paper is to review the mainstream literature providing strong evidence for motivation problems of individuals working in groups. Based on more recent literature, innovative ways to overcome these problems are discussed.FindingsA social identity‐based analysis and recent findings summarized in this paper show that social loafing can be overcome and that even motivation gains in group work can be expected when groups are important for the individual group members' self‐concepts.Practical implicationsThe paper provides human resource professionals and front‐line managers with suggestions as to how individual motivation and performance might be increased when working in teams.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature by challenging the existing approach to reducing social loafing, i.e. individualizing workers as much as possible, and proposes a team‐based approach instead to overcome motivation problems.

Abstract: One hundred and twenty-six expatriate managers of a large global-operating German company participated in a cross-sectional questionnaire study. Traditionally, personality traits and socio-demographic data have been used as predictors for intercultural success. In addition to these concepts the present study puts an emphasis on classical social psychological concepts, such as attitudes toward acculturation and contact to members of the host society, to explain intercultural effectiveness. Different factors of intercultural success are used as criteria: Self-reported performance, intercultural adjustment, job satisfaction, and identification with the work team abroad. Correlation analyses reveal connections between the personality traits, acculturation-strategies, and interethnic contact on the one hand and the different criteria on the other. Possible implications for international human resource management are discussed.

Presents findings of a report ordered by the city of Dusseldorf to estimate the preventive effectiveness of practical programs against prejudice & anti-Semitism. Three types of interventions can be distinguished: interventions to increase individual competencies, programs to expand knowledge about ethnic outgroup members, & measures to foster individual contact between members of different ethnic groups. The evaluation was based on two criteria: The relatedness of the programs to empirically proven theories & the actual empirical evaluation. Findings indicate that most of the intervention programs are theory based. However, results also clearly show that only few of the programs are empirically checked. For further summarizing empirical evaluation results, a metaanalytic method is suggested. 3 Tables, 59 References. Adapted from the source document.

Zusammenfassung: Dargestellt werden empirische Untersuchungen, vornehmlich aus der Sozialpsychologie, zu Fremdenfeindlichkeit in Deutschland. Die Einstellungen zu ethnischen Minderheiten sind im europäischen Vergleich nicht sehr positiv, es gibt systematische alltägliche Diskriminierung. Außerdem finden sich Unterschiede zwischen demographischen Gruppen, wie z.B. die stärkere Ablehnung von Fremden im Osten Deutschlands oder stärkere Vorurteile unter Personen mit niedriger Bildung. Diskutiert werden empirische Untersuchungen zur Erklärung von Fremdenfeindlichkeit: Dazu gehören direkte Kontakte mit Fremden und vermittelte Informationen, beispielsweise durch die Eltern oder durch Medien, außerdem das Ausmaß wahrgenommener Konkurrenz oder relativer Deprivation, Intergruppenangst, Autoritarismusneigung und Dominanzorientierung sowie nationale Identifikation. Auch Vorurteilsäußerungen werden durch situative Einflüsse wie Hinweisreize zu sozial erwünschten Antworten verändert. Über die proximalen situativen Einflüsse für konkrete Gewalthandlungen gibt es wenig sozialpsychologische Erkenntnisse. Der Beitrag schließt mit einer Diskussion möglicher Maßnahmen zur Gegensteuerung. Dazu gehören Interventionen im Bereich von Polizei und Justiz, die Darstellung des Themas durch Politik und Medien, und Interventionen von Jugendarbeit und insbesondere der Schule.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate new hypotheses regarding potential correlates and underpinnings of emotional dissonance experienced in call centre work. It is argued that prior attempts to measure emotional dissonance are incomplete because such measures often do not specify which emotions are actually not shown (e.g. faked, suppressed, veiled) during work.Design/methodology/approachA field study with 161 call centre agents was conducted. Positive affectivity (PA), negative affectivity (NA) of agents and customer verbal aggression were conceptualized as correlates of emotional dissonance, whereas job satisfaction, health disorders and burnout were assessed as indicators of agents' work motivation and well‐being. To investigate the emotional underpinnings of emotional dissonance the Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales (FEWS) was used and, in addition, agents were asked to report frequency, intensity and "not showing" of 15 separate emotions.FindingsThe results show that emotional dissonance was associated with lower work motivation and well‐being. Moreover, NA and customer aggression correlated positively whereas PA correlated negatively with emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance measured with the FEWS was significantly related to the frequency of longing, the intensity of anger and the not showing of boredom, affection and anger.Originality/valueThe findings support the construct validity of the FEWS. However, based on correlations with agents' self‐rated ability to perform on a high level and interactions between NA and customer aggression that emerged only when emotion‐specific dissonance measures were analyzed, this paper suggests combining emotion‐specific dissonance measures with the FEWS in future research.

Recent research into organizational commitment has advocated a profiles-based approach. However, with the exception of Wasti, published findings are confined to North American samples. This article examines the relationships between organizational commitment profiles and job satisfaction in Greece. Greek organizations have rarely been the subject of detailed examination, so the study provides baseline information regarding levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction in Greece. Both private sector ( N = 1119) and public sector ( N = 476) employees in Greece were surveyed, as this sectoral distinction is regularly associated with different patterns of job-related attitudes. The contrasts between Greek and Anglo-American values present a new challenge to the profiles approach. The results confirm the utility of the profiles approach to the study of organizational commitment. Affective organizational commitment was found to be most influential with respect to levels of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. This concurs with other studies of the behavioural outcomes of commitment.