Free Essay

Abusive Supervision

In:

Submitted By JessMartins
Words 7865
Pages 32
Consultancy Report

Index
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................................1 Organisational Context ...............................................................................................................................................2 Social and Economic Contexts ...................................................................................................................................3 Theoretical Overview .................................................................................................................................................3 Methodology ..............................................................................................................................................................8 Data Sample ...........................................................................................................................................................8 Measures .................................................................................................................................................................9 Control Variables ...............................................................................................................................................9 Abusive Supervision (AS) ................................................................................................................................ 10 Ethical Leadership (EL) .................................................................................................................................. 10 Affective Commitment to the Supervisor (ACTS) ............................................................................................ 10 Job Security (JS) .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Error Management (EM) ................................................................................................................................. 10 Workgroup Conflict (WC) ............................................................................................................................... 11 In-Role Behaviour (IRB).................................................................................................................................. 11 Extra-Role Performance (ERP) ....................................................................................................................... 11 Voice (V) .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Failure-Based Learning (FBL) ........................................................................................................................ 11 Results ......................................................................................................................................................................12 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................14 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................................................17 Limitations................................................................................................................................................................19 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................20 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................................21 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................................25

Organizational Behavior

0

Consultancy Report

Executive Summary
This report has the main objective of analysing the topic of abusive supervision in the call-center department of one of the main gas providers in Portugal. It has also the objective of analysing the relationship between employee and supervisor, in order to understand the company’s internal dynamics, while providing recommendations that can improve the department overall performance and, at some point, the company as a whole. To achieve this goal, our group collected data – in form of surveys - from this department and obtained a sample of four teams, each composed by ten employees and one supervisor. Reliability, correlations and ANOVA analysis were used to breakdown our data, turning it into useful information. This information showed strong and negative correlations between abusive supervision, extrarole performance, in-role behaviour, ethical leadership, and error management. Furthermore, surprisingly high means for job security and ethical leadership were also found, when relating them with the high levels of abusive supervision. A strong theoretical background supported by knowledgeable authors in the different discussion subjects, such as Bennett J. Tepper and Pedro Neves in the topic of abusive supervision, was used to back up our results on means and correlations of the variables included in our study. After getting exclusive inside views of the company’s procedures from a contact who works in the organization, several recommendations were made. The recommendations had the main purpose of decreasing the level of abusive supervision while focusing in boosting overall performance levels. In fact, it is expected, with the knowledge acquired from both theoretical background and information obtained from the data mining, that a decrease in the perceived levels of abusive supervision would enhance performance to higher levels, contributing positively to the organization’s profitability. For example, lower levels of abusive supervision could be achieved by an improvement in the employees’ levels of autonomy connected with an increase in the communication among employees. In this research, there were both statistical and contextual limitations. Statistical, because there is a small sample size, that limits the statistical power of the analysis; contextual, because our group had to deliver the surveys to both employees and supervisors during their lunch break, that resulted in the exclusion of some surveys due to lack of quality in the data.

Organizational Behavior

1

Consultancy Report

Organisational Context
The research was done in a Call-Center, part of a big gas providing company, in Lisbon. This company takes pride in its speed, efficiency and effectiveness when dealing with its customers’ problems, complaints and doubts. This company aims at excellence in the service it provides to its customers. There are four major areas of call-center in this department: one outbound service, two inbound services and one fast service line. Each team has ten employees and one supervisor. A few months ago, there was an increase in the number of team members; from eight to ten due to the end of procedures for new products, redistributing employees to already established teams. Administration and higher boards are on other floors, and they prefer communicate with the supervisors of this department by email. In order to schedule a meeting with higher boards, the employee first needs to communicate this intention to the supervisor. Then, an email is sent to the Human Resources Department by the supervisor requesting a meeting. Only after receiving a positive confirmation, the employee is able to communicate with higher boards. The company acknowledges that the employees are unsatisfied with their work conditions due to the results of previous internal surveys - it is of the company’s policy to do surveys regularly. “It is about the speed, and achieving each day’s goals. They need to log in into the system within ten minutes after arriving to the work room. If they do not do it, I have to deliver them a form for them to fill out about the reason why they were not logged in. If I do not deliver it, the blame is on me, and my superiors will discuss it with me”, said one supervisor. “The dyads can only be done at lunch break, because if my team members do not achieve their goals, they have to fill out a form, reporting the reasons”, she added. Another supervisor mentioned that is was hard to do his job, and supervise a team of ten, “If I do not do my work in the morning, and help them in the afternoon, it is impossible for me, to get my work done - I cannot do everything simultaneously.”

Organizational Behavior

2

Consultancy Report

Social and Economic Contexts
The turnover rate in call-centers was about 26%, in 2009, in all industry, according to Response Design Corporation, meaning that for each 100 employees, 26 employees leave within a year. However, the turnover rate of part-time employees is even higher, reaching 33% in 2009. Regarding Portugal, the unemployment rate has been increasing up to 16.2%, in 2013. In the same year, the unemployment rate between people who had only completed high school and had completed college was 17.4% and 12.6%, respectively - according to Pordata provided by Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos – Graph 1. in appendix. The ratio between the number of new firms and firms that were dissolved was 1.8 at 2013, against 2.9 in 2006 (data is also available in Pordata).

Theoretical Overview
Abusive supervision Abusive supervision can be interpreted as the “subordinates’ perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviours, excluding physical contact” (Tepper, 2000, p. 178). Abusive supervision is subjective, because one individual can think that the supervisor is being abusive in one context and not on other contexts, and different individuals view the behaviour of the supervisor in different ways (Harvey et al., 2007). Manifestations of abusive supervision are: “public criticism, loud and angry tantrums, rudeness, inconsiderate actions and coercion” (Bies & Tripp, 1998; Bies, 2000). The utility of the employee, the conflict between him and the supervisor and the perceived dissimilarity in beliefs and goals can cause mistreatment (Hafer & Olson, 2003). When subordinates are perceived as low performers, they can be subject to abusive supervision, because they fit the victim profile - “annoying, aggravating and difficult to work with” (Olweus, 1978). Abusive supervision has an enduring quality - the employees who suffer from hostility of the supervisor continue the work relationship for four reasons: they are economically dependent of job; they are afraid of what could happen after quitting the job; they feel powerless about the abusive supervision

Organizational Behavior

3

Consultancy Report

or the supervision only mistreats her/him from time to time, and the employee has hope that the abusive behaviour of the supervisor will not happen again (Walker, 1979). In 1995, Opotow created the moral exclusion theory, in which perceived-deep dissimilarity increases the supervisor perception of conflict with the employee. Perceived-deep dissimilarity is negatively correlated with the performance evaluation of the employee perceived by the supervisor. When the supervisor engages in abusive behaviour, the employee will try to reciprocate, not openly, but in a way that will harm the organization, the supervisor and co-workers (Mitchell, & Ambrose, 2007; Tepper, Henlle, Lamber, Giacalone, & Duffy, 2008). The retaliation done by the employee will increase into a more open and direct way, increasing the hostility (Tepper et al., 2001). Most of the times, there is displaced aggression, in which the employee target someone who is innocent, when she/he cannot use aggression towards the agent of abusive supervision (Marcus-Newhall et al., 2000). As individuals perceive the wrong-doing of their supervisor, they will decrease the extra-role performance, diminishing discretionary actions such as, suggesting ideas or helping co-workers (Rafferty, & Restubog, 2011; Zellars, Tepper, & Duffy, 2002). According to Tepper (2000), “subordinates whose supervisors were more abusive reported higher turnover, less favourable attitudes towards job, life, and organization, greater conflict between work and family life, and greater psychological distress”. Abusive supervision is negatively correlated with affective organizational commitment (Tepper, Henle, Giacolone, & Duffy, 2008). In 1965, Levinson stated that the organization is represented by the supervisors, and that any type of treatment done by them is assumed to be from part of the organization. When employees perceive the supervisor as part of the organization, and when abusive supervision occurs, they assume that they are being mistreated by the organization (Shoss, 2013). Perceived organisational support, POS, are the set of “employees´ perception that their employing organisation cares about their well-being, values their contributions towards the organization's success, and in the future is likely to assist them if needed to continue their employment and to effectively manage their stress-related issues” (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson & Sowa, 1986; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). Thus, the implementation of perceived organisational support can lead to the increase of the “perception of procedural fairness, interactional justice and remuneration” (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). Studies reveal that perceived organisational support is positively correlated with “organisational commitment, job satisfaction, positive mood at work, job involvement,
Organizational Behavior 4

Consultancy Report

in-role performance, extra-role performance towards the organisation, and desire to remain with the organisation” (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002).

Affective Commitment to the Supervisor Affective commitment to the supervisor can be defined as “an individual's identification with, involvement in the organization, and emotional attachment to, an organization” (Allen & Meyer, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1991, 1997). If the employee perceives that the organisation cares about her/him, she/he will feel an obligation to contribute to in the organization´s goals, based on the reciprocity norm (Gouldner, 1969).

Workgroup Conflict Workgroup conflict is defined as “perceived incompatibilities by the parties involved, and it will always be present in organizational life, between co-workers or workgroup members and between employee and supervisor” (Boulding, 1962). Between co-worker, task conflicts may be good because they can lead to an increase in performance (Jehn, 1995) or decision making quality (Amason, 1996). But in conflicts between employee and supervisor, the supervisor will probably perceive the conflict as a relationship conflict. He may think that the employee is criticizing or challenging him, and this is difficult to accept for the supervisor, as he thinks that he is expected to have more knowledge and experience (Tsui, Xin & Egan, 1995). Supervisors will see any conflict with an employee as a personal attack, an insult to their position (Xin & Pelled, 2003).

Error Management According to Fresse (1995), “human errors per se can never be completely prevented, and, therefore, it is necessary to ask the question of what can be done after an error has occurred”. While error aversion is the action of preventing doing errors in order to avoid dealing with negative consequences, error management consists in dealing with the consequences, either positive or negative, and learning from them.

Organizational Behavior

5

Consultancy Report

With communication, individuals not only “learn by doing”, but are also able to learn from other people’s experiences. Thus, there is a reduction on negative consequences involving the action of making errors (Mathieu, Goodwin, Heffner, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 2000). Through open communication, it is possible to detect errors faster, decreasing their negative consequences (Reason, 1990). An error management culture can greatly improve overall product quality, service quality, and work procedures. Studies conducted by van Dyck, Frese et al. (2005), revealed that the performance of firms is positively correlated with an error management culture, and that an error management culture increases the profitability of firms - decreasing the cost of errors.

Ethical Leadership Brown et al. (2005) stated that ethical leadership was “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making”. The “unethical” behaviours are the ones that individuals notice. When supervisors are being ethical, no employees notice, because it is expected that the supervisor has an ethical behaviour (Rousseau, 1995). An instance of abusive supervision will overshadow consistent and long-duration ethical leadership (Palanski, 2014). Ethical leadership is positively correlated with “leader consideration, interactional fairness, leader honesty and idealized influence” and negatively correlated with abusive supervision (Brown et al., 2005).

Job security Job security can be defined as an employee’s “expectations about continuity in a job situation” (Davy et al., 1997, cit. by Sverke et al, 2002). Studies conducted by Moss, Salzman, and Tilly (2008) stated that the high turnover rate of callcenters does not interfere in the choice of offering job to the most skilled workers - they choose the higher-performers candidates. As the call-centers are mainly focus on results, the employees who are high-performers feel secure about their job position.
Organizational Behavior 6

Consultancy Report

Individuals start to develop feeling and attachment to the organization where they work. According to Steers (1977), “individuals who perceived their organizations to be undependable in carrying out their commitments to employees were, in turn, less committed to their organizations”. Moreover, when workers feel job insecurity, they assume that they cannot do anything to alter the situation. Therefore, their performance will decrease (Greenhalgh, & Rosenblatt, 1984).

Behaviours Abusive supervision has a negative correlation with both employee´s task performance and extra-role performance, because workers who experience abusive supervision have “a low level of interactional and procedural justice (Aryee et al., 2007; Zellars, Tepper, & Duffy, 2002) and are motivated to restore their sense of control (Harris, Kacmar, & Zivnuska, 2007) by reducing their efforts at work” (Xu, Erica, Xu Huang, Catherine K. Lam, and Qing Miao, 2012).

Extra-role Performance When employees perceive the abusive supervision as a negative form of reciprocity, they will decrease the activities that are not directly related to their specific work - extra-role activities - (Zellars et al., 2002). Organ (1997) defended that “employees’ attitudes are more likely to be expressed in extra-role performance and actions over which employees have greater discretion”. Several researches lead to expect a negative correlation between abusive supervision and subordinates’ extra-role performance (Stefan Thau, Rebecca J. Bennett, Marie S. Mitchell, Mary Beth Marrs, 2009).

In-role Behaviour In the only study that has investigated the relationship between abusive supervision and job performance, Harris, Kacmar, and Zivnuska (2007) found that abusive supervision was negatively related to self-rated and leader-rated job performance.

Organizational Behavior

7

Consultancy Report

Voice The prosocial voice behaviour consists on “the expression of change-oriented comments with a motive to improve rather than just criticize a situation” (LePine and Van Dyne, 2001; Van Dyne, Ang and Botero, 2003). This type of behaviour is critical to the organization’s performance (Detert and Burris, 2007), because decision-making should not depend only on top management. However, when subordinates express their change-oriented comments, they are taking personal risk for the firm (Van Dyne, Ang and Botero, 2003). Empirical studies also found that there is a negative relationship between abusive supervision and interactional justice, as employees who work with an abusive supervisor feel low levels of interactional levels, because the treatment they receive violates moral and social principles/rules - for example when the supervisor humiliates an individual in front of the team. This negative relationship translates into an indirect negative relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-reported prosocial voice (Rafferty & Restubog 2011).

Methodology

Data Sample In this study, we targeted the employees’ feedback about their job and supervisor’s characteristics and the supervisors’ evaluation of their subordinate employees and own performance. As explained before in the organisational context, we have contacted 4 groups that were responsible for supplying sales services - where 1 supervisor managed 10 employees. With the support of one supervisor, that made this research possible, we asked for 40 pairs of employee-supervisor dyads and we were able to collect the 40 dyads of both employees and their supervisors (100% response rate), plus 4 surveys on the supervisor self-assessment with no refusals.

Organizational Behavior

8

Consultancy Report

Despite the response rate, some employee evaluation surveys got excluded due to lack of reliability in their answers (20%), reducing the final sample to 32 valid dyads. Inside the final valid dyads, some answers were left empty - about 2% of all valid answers. In fact, question 4. was ignored by all employees. This question was related to the possible existence of conflicts of ideas inside their group. After analysing the physical survey structure, we realized that the question was not that visible and perceptible, which explains why nobody asked if it was a question to answer or not - the subdivision of the question 4. into 4.1. and 4.2. lead to the misunderstanding that it was not necessary to answer to question 4. Employee demographics had the following results: the majority was female (67%) – Graph 2. in appendix - having completed high school (40%) – Graph 3. in appendix ; average age is 32 years old (SD = 9) - the youngest employee has 18 years old. The majority is working for the organization for 1 to 3 years (48%); while working for the same supervisor mainly in the same period of time, 1 to 3 years (61%) – Graph 4. in appendix. In fact, only 19% is working for the same company and supervisor for less than 1 year.

Measures Independent variables used in this study were evaluated using several questions that accessed employees or supervisors true thoughts about a specific topic, like abusive supervision or ethical leadership for example, in a 7-item range from 1 “Strongly Disagree” to 7 “Strongly Agree” - except for control variables. These questions were later evaluated in terms of reliability, with the main purpose of identifying if they measured the respective topic with precision. The Cronbach’s Alpha was used to verify the reliability value, and variables were only accepted if they had a minimum Alpha ( ) of (.70).

Control Variables The variables of gender, age and education level were also examined due to Becker’s (2002) recommended use of legitimate suppressors for statistical power reasons - control variables. Education level was measured with a 1-6 scale : 1 - ”4th Grade”; “9th Grade”; “12th Grade”; “Some College”; “Completed College”; 6 - “Master/MBA”.

Organizational Behavior

9

Consultancy Report

Abusive Supervision (AS) In order to measure abusive supervision, we used Tepper’s (2000) 15-item scale, with questions like “My supervisor tells me I am incompetent” or “My supervisor breaks promises he/she makes” ( = .86).

Ethical Leadership (EL) Ethical leadership was accessed using the 10-item scale developed by Brown et al (2005), with sample questions such as “My supervisor defines success not just by results but also the way they are obtained” and “My supervisor makes fair and balanced decisions” ( = .88).

Affective Commitment to the Supervisor (ACTS) An 6-item scale, was taken from Stinglhamber et al.’s (2002) study to better approach affective commitment to the supervisor, with questions like “I feel a sense of respect for my supervisor”, “I feel proud to work with my supervisor” and, as a reversed item, “I do not admire my supervisor” ( = .90). It included two reversed questions,

Job Security (JS) An 6-item scale with questions such as “My job will be there as long as I want it” and “Regardless of economic conditions, I will have a job at my current organization” was used ( = .76; only 5 items consistent).

Error Management (EM) To access error management in this organization, an 8-item scale was used with questions like “I think a lot about how an error could have been avoided” and “After an error has occurred, I analyse it thoroughly” ( = .72).

Organizational Behavior

10

Consultancy Report

Workgroup Conflict (WC) To evaluate workgroup conflict, a 9-item scale, developed by Mannix (2001), was used with questions like “How much emotional conflict is there in your workgroup?” and “How often do people get angry while working in your work group?” ( = .94, excluding 1 item).

In-Role Behaviour (IRB) To analyse supervisor’s report about their employees in-role behaviour, a 5-item developed by Williams and Anderson (1991), with questions like “This employee adequately completes assigned duties” and “This employee performs tasks that are expected of him/her”, as for the reversed question “This employee neglects aspects of the job he/she is obligated to perform” ( = .90).

Extra-Role Performance (ERP) An 8-item scale, developed by Eisenberger et al. (2010), was used to access extra-role performance. It included questions like “This employee takes action to protect this organization from potential problems” and “This employee gains knowledge, skills, and abilities that will be of benefit to this organization” ( = .98).

Voice (V) In order to evaluate perceived employees voice by the supervisor, the 6-item scale developed by Van Dyne and LePine’s (1998) was used. It contained questions like “This particular co-worker develops and makes recommendations concerning issues that affect this work group” and “This particular co-worker gets involved in issues that affect the quality of work life here in this group” ( = .95).

Failure-Based Learning (FBL) Supervisors evaluated their employees’ capacity to learn from their failures based on Carmeli’s (2007) 7-item scale. This scale had questions like “ This employee always makes sure that we stop to reflect on the organisation’s work process” and “When a problem is raised concerning a lack of required resources for completing a task, our employees provide an immediate solution, but also inform the management and the relevant department about the problem” ( = .94).
Organizational Behavior 11

Consultancy Report

Results
The descriptive statistics, reliabilities, measured with the Cronbach’s Alpha, and the correlations between the studied variables are presented in Table 1 – see also appendix. Abusive supervision is negatively correlated with all the other analysed variables, with the exception of the control variables and workgroup conflict - due to lack of significance (p) in the values. Highlighted correlations would be the negative correlation between abusive supervision and ethical leadership (r = - .80, p < .01); the negative correlation between abusive supervision and error management (r = - .62, p < .01) and, most importantly, the negative correlation between abusive supervision and in-role behaviour (r = - .70, p < .01) – Graph 5. in appendix. Table 1. (Also in appendix)

Organizational Behavior

12

Consultancy Report

Since low levels of abusive supervision result in higher levels of performance, it was interesting to divide employees into 2 different groups, “Group 1 - Employees with Lower Than Average Performance Levels” - these are the employees that were rated with in-role behaviour values lower than 4 in the 1-7 scale explained before - and “Group 2 - Employees with Higher Than Average Performance Levels” - rated, by opposition with Group 1, with in-role behaviour values equal or above 4. This analysis was done in order to check if they would in fact register higher levels of abusive supervision. Other relations between these two groups with variables like affective commitment to the supervisor, job security, extra-role performance, failure-based learning and voice were also analysed to further our study on this organization context and current situation - while backing up this data analysis with theoretical background. According to Table 2 – see also appendix - the difference between Group 1 and Group 2 means, (Group 1 - Group 2), showed values of, for example, 1.42 in abusive supervision; -2.95 in extra-role performance; -2.67 in failure-based learning; and -2.62 in voice while being significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Table 2. (Also in appendix)

Organizational Behavior

13

Consultancy Report

Discussion
The organisation accepts potential employees for a 2-weeks training. Then, the number of actual employees is just a fraction of the number that enters into the training program. Their performance is measured by goals. This means that they have to reach a certain number of answered calls that end up in a successful sale. If this goal is not reached in a certain month, the employee in question will have a meeting with her/his superiors, where they discuss about the employee’s latest performance. If she/he does not improve performance, she/he will get fired. In this call-center, employees are offered temporary and non-vinculative contracts - being officially considered independent workers according to the Portuguese Labour System. Regarding our main topic, abusive supervision, the mean of the variable can be considered high (3.06). Thus, according to the studies conducted by Aryee et al. (2007); Zellars, Tepper, & Duffy (2002), the performance of employees and their extra-role activities should have a lower mean, because employees would try to restore a sense of justice and be counter-productive. Thus, the employees who answered this survey are high-performers - the in-role behaviour has a mean of 5.01 and the extra-role performance has a mean of 4.8 – they will have to work according to the organization‘s expectations, because if they do not, they will not be, in this organization, for long - most of them are in the company from one up to three years. We decided to compare workers who were above and below the mean of in-role behaviour. Using in-role behaviour to measure employees’ performance in the workplace, it was important to check how employees with lower than average levels of performance – values lower than 4 in the 1-7 scale, explained before – would perceive levels of abusive supervision and affective commitment to the supervisor and how they would be evaluated, by their supervisor, in extra-role performance, voice and failure-based learning. The employees who were rated by their supervisor with lower than average levels of performance are, in fact, the ones that are less affective committed to their supervisors and report higher levels of abusive supervision. On the supervisor’s perspective, these employees have lower levels of extra-role performance, voice and failure-based learning. The theoretical overview strengthens the fact that lower-performers suffer more from abusive supervision, because employees who are less productive fit the victim profile - “annoying, aggravating and difficult to work with” (Olweus, 1978). Any type of conflict (task, process, or relationship conflict) raised by the subordinate may trigger hostile actions from the supervisor (Rispens, Giebels & Jehn, 2010).
Organizational Behavior 14

Consultancy Report

These employees also express lower levels of job security, in comparison with their co-workers with above than average levels of performance. Moreover, according to Greenhalgh, & Rosenblatt (1984), as the employees feel job insecurity, their performance will decrease. As the performance decreases, the lower-performers will likely feel more abusive supervision, because a relationship conflict may emerge when the supervisor does not like an employee, what may happen when the employee has a low performance. Consequently, the affective commitment to the supervisor will decrease even more, and logically to the organization as a whole (Levinson, 1965). This extrapolation will most likely end when the employee gets fired – our study reveals that lower-performers have low prosocial voice behaviour; “the expression of change-oriented comments with a motive to improve rather than just criticize a situation” (LePine and Van Dyne, 2001; Van Dyne, Ang and Botero, 2003). We could argue that unsatisfied and lower-performers would have incentives to leave the organization as soon as possible, according to Tepper (2000). However, since the majority of the workers has only concluded high school, and the unemployment rate is higher between this education level than in comparison to college education, they are economically dependent of the organisation and afraid of what would be if they left the organization (reasons reported by Walker (1979). Although, the employees are paid as independent workers (through “recibos verdes”), they have a mean of job security of 4.96, which is related with the employees’ knowledge that if they perform well and respect the company‘s policy, they will not be unemployed – employees are extremely well-selected regardless of the turnover rate (Philip, Salzman, and Tilly, 2008). The call-center belongs to a big company in the gas sector – which can lead to fewer expectations of the firm going bankrupt. We were expecting a lower mean of job security, due to the high turnover of the call-center industry (33%, in 2009) and to the job conditions that were mentioned to us while collecting the data. Error management has a mean of 5.18, but there is still space for improvement. Although error management is negatively correlated with abusive supervision, error has to be managed even when dealing with high levels of abusive supervision, because employees need to improve their performance (van Dyck, Frese et al., 2005) to achieve their monthly goals in order to be able to keep their jobs. They have to learn from their mistakes – failure-based learning is positively correlated with error management. Prosocial voice behaviour is negatively correlated with abusive supervision, because the treatment they receive violates moral and social principles (LePine and Van Dyne, 2001; Van Dyne, Ang and Botero, 2003). Therefore, people do not want to express their opinion (Rafferty & Restubog,
Organizational Behavior 15

Consultancy Report

2011). Supervisors also reinforce the need for “rules to be followed”, which does not help new ideas to emerge. The organisation may be facing the paradox of success, because they are being successful and profitable by practising already established routines. Therefore, they are resistant to change these routines even when receiving negative feedback (Audia et al, 2006). For example, the company knows some struggles of the employees through the surveys that are regularly done, but they are not eager to change them. The workers can also notice that their opinion is not being heard – this can explain the reason why we had eight dyads ranking four in every question. They can think there is no point in expressing their opinion. Prosocial voice behaviour is positively correlated with group conflict. As the affective commitment to the supervisor has a mean of 5.14, the main conflict is between employees. The supervisor complained about the lack of equal attention that they can give to their team members, the conflict is about the amount of attention that the supervisor gives to each worker, being given more attention to the higher-performers, which increases the affective commitment to the supervisor. Thus, the lower-performers feel that they need closer attention from the supervisor, which it is not being given to them. Thus, they lack affective commitment to their supervisor. Abusive leadership is negatively correlated with ethical leadership, because the supervisors are seen as part of the organisation, and it is expected an “ethical” behaviour from their part (Rousseau, 1995). For example, when the supervisor controls the “bathroom break”, only letting one person at a time, he/she is having a behaviour that is seen as “unethical”, which will overshadow all the “ethical” behaviours the supervisors have (Palanski, 2014). This fact, explains the high mean of abusive supervision (3.06). In this call-center, abusive supervision is done by the imposition of strict rules as it was mentioned before, and the on-and-off reminder that subordinates can be replaced if they do not perform according to expectations, i.e., from a group of potential employees, only the best stay in the company after training - about 98% of the workers mentioned that they saw the workforce being reduced, in the last two years.

Organizational Behavior

16

Consultancy Report

Recommendations
It is part of the company`s policy to do surveys in a regular basis, so they are aware of the employees’ feedback. However, the organization does not have a proactive behaviour and lacks the ability to tackle problematic issues about complaints and suggestions done by the employees. Abusive supervision has a strong and negative correlation with ethical leadership, voice, extrarole performance, in-role behaviour and error management. Therefore, if there is a decrease of abusive supervision, the other variables will increase. Thus, a decrease in abusive supervision boosts the overall performance, and profitability of the organization. Our first recommendation is the implementation of a continuous training program for the supervisors, in order to assure they behave “ethically” without mistreating employees, since mistreated employees are more likely to later engage in abusive supervision (Jeanquart & Mangold, 2002). Therefore, the company should focus on training programs regarding “the areas of emotional intelligence, anger management and other behavioural tools” (Harris, Kacmar, & Zivnuska, 2007). In addition to the supervisors training, we suggest a subordinate training program that will teach and help employees to cope with abusive behaviours, in order to avoid the negative effects of this type of behaviour on their performance (Boswell, & Olson-Buchanan, 2004). Furthermore, effective training programs will contribute to interpersonal and team-based communication skills. Thus, training programs contribute for improvements in team member satisfaction. (Jeanquart & Mangold , 2002). Close affective relationships between co-workers will help the coping process, due to the importance of the social support in the working environment (Wayne, Liden, & Sparrowe, 1994). Thus, we suggest the adoption of actions that increase the affective commitment amongst co-workers. This improvement could be achieved by reducing the teams’ dimension and by improving communications between employees through platforms as skype and dropbox - possible software that allows the share of thoughts and documents, respectively - stimulating the employees to develop closer relations. The physical proximity of the team can help to increase the communication among the team (Kraut, Fussell, Brennan, and Siegel, 2002). However, the psychological distance is also important, because sharing information cannot only be resolved with physical proximity. Thus, we suggest the development of a team identity, “common perspective of cohesiveness and mutual acceptance among team members” (Earley and Mosakowski, 2000), that facilitates conversations between team members

Organizational Behavior

17

Consultancy Report

(Hinds and Mortensen, 2005), or even a clear communication of the company´s values that would discriminate “unethical” behaviours. Since some supervisors reported that they were not able to comply with all their work while answering to subordinates’ individual questions, we suggest the practice of a pitch, once every two weeks, where the supervisor makes an evaluation of the team’s overall and individual performance, while receiving feedback and answering to common questions about working procedures, that may be common to several employees. Each supervisor will do a report about the subordinates’ concerns, and sent it to the Human Resources Department. Thus, the level of communication and pro-social behaviour will increase. Thereby, the organization will achieve a higher level of team member satisfaction. In fact, openness in communication is linked to job satisfaction, which leads to a well-functioning organization (Jeanquart & Mangold, 2002). To cope with the negative outcomes of abusive supervision, the organization should adopt actions to diminish effects, like stress, that negatively affects performance. To decrease overall levels of stress, the managers should “design realistic objectives and schedules while planning reasonable downtimes that would allow the team to recover from the project’s high strains” (Jeffery LePine, Nathan Podsakoff, & Marcie LePine, 2005). Another recommendation is to prioritise different tasks that the supervisors have to perform, since high stress levels can increase abusive supervision (Spector, 1997, cit. by Zellars et al., 2002). Thus, a reduction of stress will result in lower abusive behaviours towards the subordinates. In addition, they should provide team members with some higher levels of autonomy for their decision-making, since according to Chong et al. (2012) this will “help teams to feel that they are trusted”, and will decrease the levels of abusive supervision while enhancing individual performance. When employees express their constructive comments, they have to take a risk for the firm (Van Dyne, Ang and Botero, 2003), and if the employee is poorly treated by the supervisor, he will not be willing to take any personal risk (Rafferty, and Restubog, 2011). Moreover, in this organization, when an employee wants to go to the Human Resources Department and make some suggestions, he has to ask to the supervisor to schedule a meeting with the HR Department, which is another obstacle for them to have a prosocial voice. Thus, we suggest that the firm gives some autonomy to the employees, i.e., being able to schedule the meetings with the HR department by email (without asking for the permission of the supervisor).

Organizational Behavior

18

Consultancy Report

Perceived Organisational Support, POS, is important, because employees perceive that the organisation cares about their well-being and supports them. Thus, it will create in them some kind of obligation to care about the organisation’s well-being and to support the organisation in achieving its objectives (Eisenberg, Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch & Rhoades, 2001). Furthermore, POS will also increase “satisfaction, job involvement, positive mood at work, extra-role performance and desire to remain in the organisation” (Rhoades, and Eisenberger, 2002). In the light of these advantages, it is in the best interest of the organization to invest in POS implementation. As a suggestion, the organisation can make partnerships with companies, i.e., a gym, to offer promotions and better conditions to the employees when they use other companies’ services. The example of a partnership with a gym is given, because it is crucial that employees manage their stress level, because stress diminishes the capacity of coping with demanding situations (Jeffery LePine, Nathan, & Marcie LePine, 2005).

Limitations
The biggest limitation is the small dimension of the sample: it does not permit general conclusions, because “small samples reduce statistical power” (Aguinis & Harden, 2009, cit. by Neves, 2014). Another limitation is a direct consequence of the conditions under which the surveys were delivered. We were only allowed to deliver the surveys during the employees and supervisors lunch time so, it is assumed that they have lower willingness to spend the required time to fill correctly the surveys, resulting in possible biased results. The lack of time available plus the lack of proactive behaviour from the organisation to deal with the employees´ problems and suggestions explains the eight employees that filled the survey using a “4 rage” method. To assure that our results would not get biased, these surveys, and possible meaningless answers were not considered into the data analysis. A third limitation concerns the lack of reliability of some variables. For example, followership was not reliable (max = .62) and error aversion would only be reliable if we excluded 6 items from a total of 8 items, these variables were not included in data analysis. There is a lack of data concerning Portuguese call-centers. It would be interesting to compare data about the levels of abusive supervision between the industry and this particular department. Despite of the existing limitations, we were able to get exclusive information from a supervisor, our contact
Organizational Behavior 19

Consultancy Report

inside the organization. This contact provided important information regarding the contract structure, the internal environment and the role of employees inside the company. These information were used to create more feasible and “organization aligned” recommendations regarding the overall performance of the organization.

Conclusion
Regarding the data analysis, it was surprising the high mean of abusive supervision when in comparison with the mean of ethical leadership, and job security. The results for job security can be explained, because they are high-performers (most of them are in the company for about 1 to 3 years), and they know that, if they respect the company’s policy and achieve goals in terms of sales and answered calls, they will be able to maintain their job position. In the case of ethical leadership, the value is high because the supervisors do not mistreat the employees in a regular daily basis. This is explained by the fact that abusive supervision is mostly, in this organization, in the form of strict rules that the employees must respect and follow. The correlation between abusive supervision, and in-role behaviour, extra-role performance, voice, error management, ethical leadership are all negative and strong. Therefore, if the organization decides to reduce abusive supervision, the other variables will increase, and they will be able to achieve a better work environment and by that, a better performance, which results in a higher profit. We believe that with our recommendations, the company could improve in some aspects that affect positively the levels of extra-role performance while enhancing overall performance levels.

Organizational Behavior

20

Consultancy Report

Bibliography


Ahmed, E. & Muchiri, M. (2014). Linking Abusive Supervision to Employees’ OCBs and

Turnover Intentions: The role of a Psychological Contract Breach and Perceived Organisational Support. Contemporary Management Research, 10(2), 147-164. doi:10.7903/cmr.11518


Ashford, S.J., Lee, C., & Bobko, P. (1989). Content, Causes, and Consequences of Job

Insecurity: a Theory-based Measure and Substantive Test. Academy of Management Journal, 32(4), 803-829.


Brees, J., Mackey, J., Martinko, M., & Harvey, P. (2014). The Mediating Role of Perceptions of

Abusive Supervision in the Relationship Between Personality and Aggression. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(4), 403–413.


Brown, M.E, Treviño, L.K., & Harrison, D.A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning

perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97, 117–134. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002


Carmeli, A. (2007). Social Capital, Psychological Safety and Learning Behaviours from Failure

in Organisations. Long Range Planning, 40, 30-44.


Chong, D.S.F., Van Eerde, W., Rutte, C.G., & Chai, K.H. (2012). Bringing Employees Closer:

The Effect of Proximity on Communication When Teams Function under Time Pressure. J Prod Innov Manag, 29(2), 205–215.


Harris, K.J., Kacmar, K.M., & Zivnuska, S. (2007). An investigation of abusive supervision as a

predictor of performance and the meaning of work as a moderator of the relationship. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(3), 252–263.


Harvey, P., Stoner, J., Hochwarter, W., & Kacmar, C. (2007). Coping with abusive supervision:

The neutralizing effects of ingratiation and positive affect on negative employee outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 18, 264–280.


Huebsch,R. Standard Employee Turnover in the Call Center Industry. Retrieved November 24, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/standard-employee-turnover-call-center-industry-

2014,


36185.html. Kaur, J. (2014). Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: Managing Interpersonal Conflict at

Workplace." IUP Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 13(4), 19-37.

Organizational Behavior

21

Consultancy Report 

Klaussner, S. (2014). Engulfed in the abyss: The emergence of abusive supervision as an

escalating process of supervisor−subordinate interaction. Human Relations, 67(3), 311–332.


LePine, VanDyne. (1998). Predicting Voice Behavior in Work Groups. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 83(6), 853-868.


LePine, J.A., Podaskoff, N.P., & LePine, M.A (2005). A Meta-Analytic Test of The Challenge

Stressor-Hindrance Stressor Framework: An Explanation For Inconsistent Relationships Among Stressors And Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 48(5), 764-775.


Mayer, D. M., Thau, S., Workman, K.M., Van Dijke, M., & De Cremer, D. (2012). Leader

mistreatment, employee hostility, and deviant behaviors: Integrating self-uncertainty and thwarted needs perspectives on deviance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 117, 24– 40.


Moss, P., Salzan, H., & Tilly, C. (2008). Under Construction: The Continuing Evolution of Job

Structures in Call Centers. Industrial Relations, 47(2): 173-208.


Miles, S.J., Glynn, M. (2002). The impact of team leader performance on team member

satisfaction: the subordinate’s perspective. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 8, 113 – 121.


Neves, P. (2014). Taking it out on survivors: Submissive employees, downsizing, and abusive

supervision. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87, 507-534.


Número de sociedades constituídas por número de sociedades dissolvidas: total e por sector de económica principal. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from

actividade

http://www.pordata.pt/Portugal/Numero+de+sociedades+constituidas+por+numero+de+sociedades+ dissolvidas+total+e+por+sector+de+actividade+economica+principal-697


Palanski, M., Avey, J.B. & Jiraporn, N. (2014). The Effects of Ethical Leadership and Abusive

Supervision on Job Search Behaviors in the Turnover Process. J Bus Ethics, 121, 135-146. DOI 10.1007/s10551-013-1690-6


Priesemuth, M. (2013). Stand Up and Speak Up: Employees’ Prosocial Reactions to Observed Rafferty, A.E. & Restubog, S.L.D. (2011). The Influence of Abusive Supervisors on Followers’

Abusive Supervision. Business & Society, 52(4), 649–665.


Organizational Citizenship Behaviours: The Hidden Costs of Abusive Supervision. British Journal of Management , 22, 270-285. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2010.00732.x

Organizational Behavior

22

Consultancy Report 

Rispens, S., Giebels, E. & Jehn, K.A. (2010). When Leadership goes wrong: Destructive

Leadership, Mistakes and Ethical Failures. United States of America: IAP- Information Age Publishing, Inc.


Shoss, M. K., Eisenberger, R., Restubog, S.L.D. & Zagenczyk, T.J. (2013). Blaming the

Organization for Abusive Supervision: The Roles of Perceived Organizational Support and Supervisor’s Organizational Embodiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(1), 158-16.
 

Stinglhamber, F. & Vandenberghe, C. (2003). Organizations and supervisors as sources of support and targets of commitment: a longitudinal study. Journal of Organizational Behavior,

24, 251–270.


Sverke, M.; Hellgren, J.; Näswall, K.(2002). No security: A meta-analysis and review of job

insecurity and its consequences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7(3), 242-264.


Thau, S,Bennett, R.J. ,Mitchell, M.S. & Marrs, M.B. (2009). How management style moderates

the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance: An uncertainty management theory perspective. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108, 79–92.


Tepper, B. J. (2000). Consequences of Abusive Supervision. Academy of Management Journal,

43(2), 178-190.


Tepper, B.J. (2007). Abusive Supervision in Work Organizations: Review, Synthesis, and

Research Agenda. Journal of Management, 33, 261-290. DOI: 10.1177/0149206307300812


Tepper, B.J., Moss, S.E. & Duffy, M.K. (2011). Predictors of Abusive Supervision: Supervisor

Perceptions of Deep-level Dissimilarity, Relationship Conflict, And Subordinate Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 54(2), 279–294.


Tepper, B.J., Carr, J.C., Breaux, D.M., Geider, S., Hu, C., & Hua, W. (2009). Abusive

supervision, intentions to quit, and employees’ workplace deviance: A power/dependence analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109, 156–167.


Unal, A.F., Warren, D.E., Chen, C.C. (2012). The Normative Foundations of Unethical

Supervision in Organizations. J Bus Ethics, 107, 5–19. DOI 10.1007/s10551-012-1300-z


Van Dyck, C., Bae, M., Frese, M., & Sonnentag, S. (2005). Journal of Applied Psychology,

90(6), 1228 –1240.


Xu, E., Xu, H., Catherine, K. L, & Qing, M. (2012). Abusive supervision and work behaviors:

The mediating role of LMX. Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 33(4): 531-543.

Organizational Behavior

23

Consultancy Report 

Zellars, K.L., Tepper, B.J. & Duffy, M.K. (2002). Abusive Supervision and Subordinates'

Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(6), 1068-1076.


Zhu, Y. (2013). Individual Behavior: In-role and Extra-role. International Journal of Business

Administration, 4(1). doi:10.5430/ijba.v4n1p23

Organizational Behavior

24

Consultancy Report

Appendix

Graph 1.

Unemployement Rate
18 16
PERCENTAGE

14 12 10 8 6 4 2006 2007 Total 2008 Superior 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Secundário e pós secundário

Graph 2.

Gender Distribution

Male 33% Female 67%

Organizational Behavior

25

Consultancy Report

Graph 3.

Educational Level
0,45 0,40 0,35
PERCENTAGE

0,30 0,25 0,20 0,15 0,10 0,05 0,00 9th Grade 12th Grade Some College Completed College Master / MBA

Graph 4.

Organizational Behavior

26

Consultancy Report

Graph 5.

Organizational Behavior

27

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Abusive Supervision

...colleagues, and client interactions is a form of stress commonly found at work (Kuhns, 2008). Recently, increasing interest has sparked research towards abusive supervision and its negative consequences. Empirical research has found that abusive supervision leads to increased turnover, less favorable attitudes, increased conflict between relationships, and lower in-role and extra-role behaviors (Tepper, 2000). Abusive supervision is a “subordinate’s perception of the extent to which their supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors, excluding physical contact” (Tepper, 2000, p. 178).  It is considered a form of counterproductive workplace behavior which is opposite to the organization’s interests (Hoobler & Brass, 2006). Abusive supervision is perceptual in nature and based on an individual’s subjective assessment (Tepper, 2001). That is, some individuals may view their supervisor’s behavior as abusive in one situation and non abusive in another. Furthermore, two subordinates may differ in their assessment of a common supervisor’s actions. When confronted with abusive supervisory behaviors, subordinates may be unwilling to admit that they have experienced abusive supervision by their supervisors, while others may exaggerate their supervisor’s hostility. Abusive supervision has a downward influence effect (Tepper, Duffy, & Shaw, 2001). A supervisor’s negative actions tend to “flow downhill” (Hoobler & Brass, 2006, p. 1125)...

Words: 7912 - Pages: 32

Premium Essay

Abusive Supervision

...Article Critique BBA 3361 Summer, 2012 Sterling Grove Bennett, J.T., Moss, S.E., & Duffy, M.K. (2011). Predictors of abusive supervision: Supervisor perceptions of deep-level dissimilarity, relationship conflict and subordinate performance. Academy of Management Journal, 54, 279-294. I. Statement of the Problem a. Research Topic The topic is how to predict if and when abusive supervision will occur within a work environment. The topic explains how abusive supervision can cost up to $23 billion in extra health car, workplace withdrawal, and lost productivity. b. Research Problem As the title of the article suggests, supervisor perceptions of deep-level dissimilarity, relationship conflicts, and subordinate performance, are usually good indicators of when a supervisor is going to be abusive to a subordinate. The authors refer to the only three published studies that have investigated the possible seeds of abusive supervision. In all of them they have found that abusive supervision is a response to that supervisor’s perception of mistreatment done to them at their employment. This helped explain why some supervisors might be more inclined to use hostile management then others, but none of them really answer why supervisor seem to target certain individuals. c. Research Questions Certain questions asked were like “How much relationship tension is there between you and this employee?” or “What is your personal view of your subordinate in terms of his or her...

Words: 717 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Predictors of Abusive Supervision

...topic is how to predict if and when abusive supervision will occur within a work environment. The topic explains how abusive supervision can cost up to $23 billion in extra health car, workplace withdrawal, and lost productivity. b. Research Problem As the title of the article suggests, supervisor perceptions of deep-level dissimilarity, relationship conflicts, and subordinate performance, are usually good indicators of when a supervisor is going to be abusive to a subordinate. The authors refer to the only three published studies that have investigated the possible seeds of abusive supervision. In all of them they have found that abusive supervision is a response to that supervisor’s perception of mistreatment done to them at their employment. This helped explain why some supervisors might be more inclined to use hostile management then others, but none of them really answer why supervisor seem to target certain individuals. c. Research Questions Certain questions asked were like “How much relationship tension is there between you and this employee?” or “What is your personal view of your subordinate in terms of his or her overall effectiveness?” questions were asked like this to try and get a complete overview of particular supervisor and their subordinate. II. Review of the Literature The authors begin with the reasoning behind the research that they conducted and why it is important to stop abusive supervision before it even starts. They talk about...

Words: 260 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Predictors of Abusive Supervision

...Running header: Predictors of Abusive Supervision 1 Predictors of Abusive Supervision Article Critique - Unit 3 Columbia Southern University Predictors of Abusive Supervision 2 In Predictors of Abusive Supervision: Supervisor Perceptions of Deep-Level Dissimilarity, Relationship Conflict, and Subordinate Performance, authors Tepper, Moss, and Duffy conduct a study on their hypothesis of predictors for supervisor abuse toward subordinates. Abusive supervision costs companies and the victims as much as 23.8 billion dollars a year in increased health care, employee turnover, and production loss. (Tepper, Moss, & Duffy, 2011) Using the moral exclusion theories of perceived dissimilarity of employees, conflicts with employees, and the usefulness of employees, as their base ideas, they also bring into their study the performance evaluations given to subordinates by their supervisors and how they relate to the other predictors. Although the authors focus on relationship conflict and low performance evaluations as the predictors of abuse, I propose that it is actually usefulness to the supervisor and perceived dissimilarity that leads relationship conflicts and low evaluations to occur. Tepper, Moss, & Duffy (2011) propose that perceived dissimilarity is not the cause of abusive behavior, but instead it is perceived relationship conflict and low performance evaluations that lead to perceived dissimilarity. The low performance evaluations are what cause ...

Words: 671 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Latchkey Home Alone

...Kristie Tolle Mr. Burton July 23, 2014 WR121 Generation Home Alone I remembered the rules –go straight home, have a snack, if somebody comes to the door, tell them we are busy; never tell them we are not home, do not go outside, do your homework, and do not call me at work. Besides chasing my sister back into the house when she escaped, we followed the rules and waited until our parents to get home. Merriam-Webster defines a Latchkey child as a school-aged child of working parents who must spend part of the day unsupervised (as at home) —called also latchkey kid Generation X,—born between 1965 and 1980— became a generation that was pushed into adulthood at an early age. It was an era of new technology. We watched the evolution of computers the size of a room become the norm as a desktop appliance. By interacting with computers at an early age, Gen Xers have a greater understanding of its concept. We spent less time with our parents then earlier generations. It was common for Boomer mothers to stay at home and raise their children, while the fathers went off to work. Unlike Boomers, Gen Xers were the first generation to be recognized as latchkey kids. Our generation found ourselves at home taking care of our younger siblings and ourselves while our parents worked. I never considered myself a Latchkey kid. I was like all the other fifth graders with working parents and younger siblings. I babysat all the time when my parents ran to the...

Words: 997 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Latchkey Children

...Characteristics of At-Risk Students: Latchkey Children Tiffany Tham AED 201 Linda Rosiak Axia College, University of Phoenix June 13, 2010 Children who go home to an empty house without parental supervision are called Latchkey Children. These children are usually left alone until one or both parents arrive home from work. Latchkey children are often told by parents not to open doors for strangers or step outside. A list of emergency contacts is usually left in a place where the children can see in case of an emergency. Parents usually provide a snack for the children to come home to while they wait for their parents’ to come home and make dinner. Some parents even cook dinner the night before so the child can just reheat and eat. I was not a Latchkey child, but many of my friends were. Many of them would walk home to an empty house every day; some of them would have food prepared for them; and some would have to do it themselves. At our age I never realized that my friends would be categorized as at risk students because they went home to no one. The programmed I researched is called the START program. The Start program helps children with anything from homework to tutoring, as well as reading, literacy, math and recreational activities. START also provides extended daycare needs to those students who need them. Each school’s extended program varies but all provides similar activities for students. Start also offers programs through community partners. The START program...

Words: 819 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Us Treasury Bills Auction Pricing

...2013       MANAGERIAL  ECONOMICS   GROUP  PROJECT:   “US  TREASURY  BILLS  AUCTION  PRICING:  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  STRUCTURE  AND  PROCESSES”   Professor:                     Done  by:   The goal of this paper was to analyze and explain the auction system process held by US Treasury and the possible alternatives for it (multiple-pricing auction). Introduction. The U.S. Treasury Department regularly borrows to finance the Federal Government's debt. From 1980 to 2006, the public debt of the United States grew from $930 billion to $8.68 trillion. Approximately one-half of that debt is held in Treasury bills, notes, and bonds, or "treasuries." The Treasury Department sells these securities at auctions held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Bureau of Public Debt (BPD) in Washington, D.C. The rest of the debt is held mostly in federal and federally sponsored agency securities and U.S. Savings Bonds, and is not sold through the auction process.1 The modern auction process for bills, notes, and bonds begins with a public announcement by the Treasury. A typical announcement might read, "The Treasury will auction $11,000 million of 91-day bills to refund $9,000 million of maturing securities and to raise about $2,000 million new cash." This statement clearly describes the 2 goals of Treasury: to refund old debt and to raise new funds. Such announcement is carried by...

Words: 4454 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Persuasive Essay

...Article Rebuttal “Three banks singled out for not helping homeowners” BCOM/275 Article Rebuttal Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase are all banks that have been bailed out by the American taxpayer in order to make home affordability a reality. In an effort to assist homeowners, the Obama administration rolled out several Programs that would enable homeowners to modify their existing loans. The Department of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development created a program that would assist troubled homeowner during these challenging economic times. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) were created to help modify and refinance loans that became unbearable to manage. The big three claim to have helped countless homeowners modify and refinance their current loans, yet homeowners have openly stated that they have been given the runaround. What is happening to the federal bailout money? Is it really being used for its initial intent? Claim 1 Bank of America claims to have helped tens of thousands of homeowners into mortgage modifications and refinances every month. The three lenders received $24 million in incentives from the government and get $1000 for each completed modification. . Rebuttal The Obama administration singled out three of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers for impeding its foreclosure efforts by failing to help homeowners modify their loans. The administration will withhold...

Words: 519 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Business 415 Final Team Assignment

...Washington Federal Savings University of Phoenix Business Law BUS 415 Deborah Gronet October 20, 2007 Washington Federal Savings Washington Federal Savings is a financial institution that has served communities statewide since 1917. As a savings and loan institution, Washington Federal offers checking and savings accounts and mortgage loans. Defining itself amongst competitors, Washington Federal provides customers with the “human touch” in its simplest form - quality customer service. Operating in eight states, Washington Federal maintains a relatively small staff of 885 employees. As a financial institution, Washington Federal is highly regulated by certain federal agency regulations. This paper will explore the regulations currently in effect for financial institutions, as well as the origin, evolution, and efficacy of these regulations within Washington Federal Savings. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC] is an independent agency of the United States government. The FDIC protects depositors against the loss of deposits if an FDIC-insured bank or savings association fails. FDIC insurance is backed by the credit of the United States government. An insured bank is any bank or savings association with FDIC insurance (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC], 2007). The FDIC was created in 1933 by the Glass-Steagall Act. This was a merging of two separate acts which were created by the U.S. government...

Words: 3320 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Washington Mutual

...them. Starting in 2004 they started using a strategy in lending to make more money by taking high risk loans. In 2006 they started experienced high rates of failure and defaulting loans. By 2007 the bank was losing money that had to do with poor quality and fraudulent loans and securities. The bank internal control systems fail because no one took the evidence that was provided by employees in email, audit reports, and reviews seriously. The bank CEO and president was told of the extensive fraud by Long Beach Mortgage Company. After looking over the review the bank tried to stop the fraud, but it was ineffective. The senior management also helped in sells the delinquency loans to investors. Regulatory failure of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) did not try to stop what they knew was unsafe and unsound practices at WaMu that help with their down fall. This bank had over 500 grave defects. The records of OTS has shown that during the last five years the bank had many problems dealing with lending, risk management, asset quality, and appraisal practices, but WaMu told OTS that the problems would be fixed, it never happen. OTS did not follow through with enforcement acted. 1999 WaMu bought Long Beach Mortgage Company and they started doing shoddy lending procedures. WaMu knew the loans were fraudulent...

Words: 1431 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Financial Crisis Paper

...What caused the financial crisis of 2008 and who is responsible for it? My original intent for this paper was to argue that market failure, particularly in the housing sector, was the primary cause for the crash. Unfortunately my research has lead me in a different direction. According to the discussions we had in class that means I should be arguing from the perspective that the crisis was caused by government intervention then, right? I’m not so sure that’s the case either. Instead I’ll argue that the financial crisis of 2007-08 and the following “Great Recession” were the result of a perfect storm of both regulatory and market failure. Senators Carl Levin and Tom Coburn lead a 2-year long Senate subcommittee investigation into the crash. In April 2011 they released a 635 page report on their findings where they concluded that there was indeed no singular cause of the crash. The bipartisan subcommittee implicates several primary causes. Inflated credit ratings on mortgage related securities are cited as being “…the most immediate cause of the financial crisis…” The two primary rating firms, Standard & Poors and Moody’s had been assigning risk profiles to mortgage related securities similar to that of Treasury Bills – widely regarded as the most secure investment you can make since the government can just print money to pay you. In July of 2007 both firms did massive downgrades that exposed how risky these investments actually were. The downgrades resulted in a...

Words: 801 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

London Whale Article

...The Logic of JPMorgan Chase Whale Trades The main purpose of this report is to expose the findings and misconduct of disclosing important information of the JPMorgan Chase Whale Trades. This report explicitly details the negligence by the Chief Investment Office in misleading the Office of the Comptroller of Currency of their Synthetic Credit Portfolio. The author’s intention is to inform what went wrong with the trading in the derivatives market by JPMorgan Chase. The key question the author is addressing is why the CIO deviated from their standard midpoint markings to later assigning more favorable prices. Also, the author is addressing why the OCC was unaware of the losses and the risk associated with the SCP. The most important information in this article is the deceptive actions committed by the CIO in the London Whale Trades. It became apparent that senior managers downplayed the problems of the SCP and kept describing the portfolio as a risk-reducing hedge, when in actuality it was a massive portfolio losing billions of dollars and had stopped providing credit loss protection to the bank. The whale trades shows how financial institutions engage in high risk trading activities with federally insure deposits and attempted to divert attention from these synthetic derivatives. The main conclusion s in this article is a combination of poorly executed hedging decisions by the CIO of JPMorgan Chase in their SCP. The CIO failed to alert its regulators of their actions...

Words: 858 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Fines Imposed on Banks for Money Laundering

...Economic Impact of Fines Imposed on Banks Ebony Miller-Pugh Wilmington University Abstract This paper will discuss the fines imposed on banks. Furthermore, this paper will determine if these fines have an effect on the economy – both from a national and global scale. I believe that fines imposed on banks will have a detrimental effect on the economy. In my opinion, the top three potential impacts of these fines are: Lower profits Potential lending issues Consumer and employee impact Introduction The financial institution of today is vastly different from those of yesteryear. Those that have survived the test of time and have been in business for many years have seen many changes over the years. Those changes in which financial institutions face differ greatly within a global, and national and a regional one. Regulators today are no loner letting things “slide” and are imposing steep fines and/or penalties to financial institutions in an effort to enable a business environment where the “right way of doing business” supersedes that of pure profit. Global financial institutions are on an uphill battle as well. They have to do right by their stakeholders – they have a fiduciary responsibility – while also maintaining the laws and regulations within the company as a whole and also within each jurisdiction they are located. Financial institutions today are faced with increasing regulations from a regional...

Words: 768 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Case Study

...Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp Abusive supervision, intentions to quit, and employees’ workplace deviance: A power/dependence analysis Bennett J. Tepper a,*, Jon C. Carr b, Denise M. Breaux c, Sharon Geider d, Changya Hu e, Wei Hua f a Department of Managerial Sciences, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302-4014, United States Department of Management, Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas 76129, United States c Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States d Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, & Anthropology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas 76129, United States e Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University, Taipei 116, Taiwan f Department of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore b a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t We conducted a two-study examination of relationships between abusive supervision and subordinates’ workplace deviance. Consistent with predictions derived from power/dependence theory, the results of a cross-sectional study with employees from three organizations suggest that abusive supervision is more strongly associated with subordinates’ organization deviance and supervisor-directed deviance...

Words: 12810 - Pages: 52

Premium Essay

Patterns Of Abusive Behavior: A Case Study

...interventions are common for most youths who sexually offend, there are many interventions that apply to only some youths. If the cycle is not personalised, it will not be able to inform treatment plans or guide intervention methods (Ryan, Lane and Leversee. 2010). The model can also help the families of JSO to understand and recognise patterns of abusive behaviour, which in turn can help them in the supervision of their youths. The family and especially the parents have a duty to supervise...

Words: 792 - Pages: 4