Okay, I'm back. I went for a walk and did a few other things around here. I have to exercise for my fibromyalgia, and walking is one of the things my physiologist stresses. It sure is muggy out though. My little WeatherBug app says it's currently 89.5F out and the humidity is 59%. It feels more humid than that though. My body temperature gauge hasn't been too good since I got fibromyalgia, and I understand that's common. Sometimes I think I've become a cold blooded animal with FM now. But I am happy to report that I haven't had a fever in several days now, so I'm crossing my fingers that maybe I really am (finally!!) getting over this bug that has been plaguing me since last December - about 9 months now. Hopefully before too long I'll be able to really think about working part-time.
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This next article, actually a book chapter, will be a short one as far as comments go.
Nebeker, Delbert M. (1994) I/O and OB in the military services: past, present, and future. In Greenberg, J. (Ed.) Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, p. 245-273.
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"Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology and organizational behavior (OB), as applied sciences, have many ties to subspecialties in psychology as well as other disciplines. Also, they have many ties to institutions and industries that have provided impetus and opportunity for them to develop. None of these ties, however, are as strong as the tie between I/O psychology and the military..." (p. 245)
I haven't even started on the files that touch on these kinds of subjects yet, but it just figures that the military would predominate in this kind of thing. Once again the military is the provider (or at least the stimulus) of some useful insight into my experiences in Vienna.
Later on in this article the author provides some details on current military research in this field. In 1992 alone there were over 790 research and development projects. That's enough to populate a few with articles, for sure.
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Here's the next article:
Deluga, Ronald J. (1991). The relationship of leader and subordinate influencing activity in naval environments. Military Psychology, 3(1), 25-39.
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"Rooted in social exchange theory, transactional leadership suggests that most leaders engage in a bargaining relationship with subordinates..." (p. 26)
This doesn't fit the Vienna situation. There wasn't really any room for bargaining. I suppose once one got past the socialization state (which I didn't) there might be limited room for this.
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"Transformational leadership moves beyond social exchange theory and amplifies the impact of transactional leadership by propelling subordinates beyond self-interest. The theory suggests that the leader cultivates subordinate awareness and acceptance of the work group mission. The leader-subordinate relationship is one of mutual stimulation. The leader realizes these outcomes by appealing to subordinate higher level needs in three ways. Charisma is the primary factor, describing how the transformational leader develops an almost reverent relationship with the identifying subordinates... The leader inspires subordinates by generating a vision of what the group can accomplish. Second, Individual Consideration is the mechanism by which the leader strives to meet subordinate individual needs. This factor describes the leader's mentoring and developmental orientation with subordinates. Third, Intellectual Stimulation describes how the leader fosters new subordinate thinking patterns, encouraging subordinates to think of old problems in new ways..." (p. 26-27)
I think this is a reasonable facsimile of what I experienced as far as leadership style is concerned. The only thing I would not find fitting, at least in my experience, is the third point, Intellectual Stimulation. I felt like there was more pressure to conform than to be intellectually stimulated. I'm not sure I can think of anything that was particularly intellectually stimulating while I was there - the closest thing was having to read the software manuals, but that's another story.
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There's a section here called "Upward Subordinate Influencing Activity", but none of this really clicks with me. I felt like the only influence I could have is within the very narrow confines of whatever my job description was at the moment (yes, it was a moving target, more on that too), something along the lines of how to set up a file system or the like.
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The rest of the things in this folder are long, so I'm going to take another break for tackling any of them.
Bye for now...
~ Meg
