Management behavior key to worker effort, harmony

In the new global marketplace, managers expect workers to show increased commitment, participation and effort to help their companies succeed.

But a new study finds that the behavior of managers plays the biggest role in whether workers put more effort into their jobs.

The study found that managers who did two things -- respected worker rights and maintained an effective, productive environment for workers -- also had workers who put forth more effort and who got along better with each other and with bosses.

"There's been a big push to have employees work harder and smarter, but not a lot of attention about what managers should contribute to the new workplace," said Randy Hodson, author of the study and professor of sociology at Ohio State. "We found that workers need some things from management in order to have effective, productive workplaces."

Hodson presented his findings recently in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Hodson said many popular business books and academic studies in the past several years have looked at a concept often called "worker citizenship."

"The central aspect of worker citizenship is extra effort on the part of workers. This often involves a willingness to work harder and longer, work as part of a team, help with peer training and identify ways to increase production. This is put forth as a way for American companies to stay competitive," he said.

Hodson said this study was an effort to look at the other side of the equation -- management citizenship -- and see how that affects worker citizenship.

For the study, Hodson and three advanced graduate students conducted a detailed analysis of 83 book-length studies of employees in various workplace settings. They examined the books for instances of worker citizenship behavior, such as pride, extra effort at work and levels of absenteeism. They measured management citizenship behavior, such as leadership, communication, commitment to job security and the presence or absence of management abuse. The researchers also looked at the level of harmony among workers and between workers and management.

Results showed that management citizenship was the single biggest factor influencing worker citizenship, harmony among workers, and harmony between workers and management.

"Workers appear to be keenly interested and motivated by management behavior," Hodson said. "Without consistent management citizenship, worker citizenship and the productivity of the flexible workplace may have a tenuous future."

The study found other factors also played a role in worker citizenship and workplace harmony, although not as large as management citizenship. For example, workers showed higher levels of citizenship when they had more job autonomy -- the freedom to determine how they would perform their jobs on a day-to-day basis.

Citizenship also was higher in workplaces with less bureaucracy. Results showed company size played a role in how well workers got along with each other and with management; larger companies had less harmonious workplace relations.

Hodson said the two parts of management citizenship revealed by the study -- respecting worker rights and maintaining an effective, productive environment for workers -- are not difficult to understand, but are still not as common as one might think.

Respecting workers' rights means not being abusive -- not berating workers, not firing people indiscriminately, and offering support for workers' ideas, for example.

The other part of management citizenship -- providing a good environment for workers -- really means providing competent leadership. For example, managers must clearly communicate to workers what is expected of them, and need to ensure that workers have the supplies and tools to do their job.

"This was somewhat surprising to me," Hodson said. "It shows that what bothers workers more than anything is chaos and mismanagement. Workers want to feel that managers know what they are doing and are providing both the knowledge and the materials to get the job done."

Hodson said these results suggest managers should examine what their role should be in helping their companies compete.

"We talk a lot about what workers should do. We don't talk a lot about what management should do," he said.

Students dance the winter blues away

Inspiration for dance comes from many sources. It can come from the rhythm and emotion of music. It might be an impression formed from viewing an artwork. Or it may spring from the plot found in a story.

Ohio State student choreographers will share their inspirations for the OSUDance Winter Performance at 8 p.m. Feb. 10-12. An informal performance also will take place at 3 p.m. Feb. 13. Both concerts take place in Sullivant Theatre.

Victoria Uris, associate professor of dance and director of the winter performance, said student choreographers often produce strong work. "Some people find student work more exciting than faculty or professional work because it's raw," she said. "It is early in their careers and they're really coming out with heartfelt stuff."

By Jo McCulty

Student dancers Elisha Clark, Ashlee Willaman, Mira Kim and Alexa Chermak, standing left to right, and Sylvana Christopher, on floor, rehearse "Home of the Brave," by graduate student choreographer Kristin Horrigan. The piece will be performed for the OSUDance Winter Performance Feb. 10-12 in Sullivant Theatre. Call 292-7977 for more information.

Uris said it would be difficult to generalize about the 15 works being presented for the February performances, 10 for the evening presentations and five for the informal Sunday afternoon concert.

"There's a wide range. We advise them, but also encourage them to do what they want -- it's student choreographers expressing themselves. There's a lot of group work, a lot of solos. It will be a showcase of student talent."

Ann Yee, a second-year MFA dance student, is among those whose choreography will be presented. "There's a whole lot of ways to approach a piece," she said. "Sometimes pieces can come very linearly to the brain. There's a storyline and character development. Sometimes it just comes from the music."

For "this" -- a quartet featuring Yee, sophomore dance student Mikhail Kaschok, MFA dance student Vickie Watts and senior English major Jenai Cutcher -- Yee used music by Australian composer Amanda Stewart.

"I started this piece as a music and choreography project. I'm really inspired by the music," Yee said. To describe Stewart's composition, titled after the symbol that is the not equal sign, Yee said it is "like text arranged electronically into music."

The dance set to that composition equally defies classification. "The style is definitely not just modern or just jazz. There's a distanced theatricality about it," Yee said.

Yee's second piece for the winter concert, co-choreographed by Cutcher, also was inspired by music: the blues of B.B. King.

"Last fall we went to a B.B. King concert," Cutcher said. Yee and Cutcher had been looking for music for a tap piece, and felt King's sound was what they were looking for.

"'In the between' is a tap/modern hybrid to a piece of blues music," Cutcher said. "We worked a lot with blending what I can do with tap with some of the conventions of modern dance."

The solo piece, danced by Cutcher, will be performed for the American College Dance Festival Association's northeast regional conference March 15-19 at SUNY College at Brockport. "In the between" could then be selected for performance at the ACDFA's national festival at the Kennedy Center in May.

Romnee Hayes, a senior dance major, was inspired by several factors for "In Dedication," a duet she performs with junior dance major Allison Harmer.

"The dance didn't come from a dance place," Hayes said. "It came from a lot of images and emotions -- visual pictures I had in my head. I tried to translate these visual pictures of specific events and show the movement that came out of that."

Hayes said the dance style for "In Dedication" is unique. "I didn't use a pre-existing dance vocabulary. It wasn't movement that came from the classroom. It's very abstract," she said. It will be performed to a sound collage Hayes created on a computer.

The chance to experiment is an important part of the process for students, said Balinda Craig-Quijada, visiting assistant professor of dance. Craig-Quijada worked with 22 students in a freshman repertory class to choreograph "It Takes Two" for the informal performance Feb. 13.

"We started making movement together in class through the use of structured improvisation. It was definitely a collaboration between me and the other cast members. They had a lot of input," she said. "The collaborative process can be chaotic and messy, but the process of discovery is almost more important than the product."

"It Takes Two" uses modern dance to create variations on duet situations, Craig-Quijada said.

Uris said performing in the winter and spring dance concerts is good practice for undergraduate and graduate students for their capstone and final projects, not to mention for their future careers. "Many of the students hope to be professionals someday," she said.

Yee, Cutcher and Hayes all expressed an interest in pursuing dance after graduation. Yee's emphasis as a graduate student has been on performance, but she said the chance to be a choreographer for several University concerts has been very helpful to her as a dancer.

"To be able to view the rehearsal process and the performance process through the choreographer's perspective makes it easier as a dancer to see the choreographer's vision. It's like having a two-way mirror," she said.

Tickets are $4 at the Sullivant Theatre door at 8 p.m. Feb. 10-12 and are free for the 3 p.m. Feb. 13 informal performance. Call 292-7977 for more information.

Department programs earn high rankings

In a survey conducted by the well-respected dance industry magazine Dance Teacher, the Ohio State Department of Dance received top rankings. The annual survey of 100 dance department leaders in America and Canada ranked the OSU graduate program No. 1 overall, and the undergraduate program No. 2 overall.

In individual categories, the graduate program was ranked No. 1 in academic reputation, quality of faculty, career preparation and employment opportunities during enrollment. The undergraduate program was ranked No. 1 in academic reputation, career preparation and training in teaching skills. Its second-place ranking overall was behind only North Carolina School of the Arts, a conservatory program.

"We have consistently been ranked as one of the top dance programs in the U.S. and Canada, and I'm happy that this year is no exception," said Karen Bell, chair of dance. "In fact, our ranking this year is particularly strong. While we know that surveys do not always provide a true reflection of a program, it is nice to be consistently recognized as excellent."

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