조직내 활력관계(Energizing Relationships)의 결정요인에 관한 탐색적 연구

What Facilitates Energizing Relationships in Organizations? : Perspectives from Multiple Levels

  본 연구는 기존의 감정의 공유(shared affect) 문헌에서 제시하는 개인간 유사한 감정의 공유 단계에서 한 단계 더 나아가, 개인간 상호작용을 통해 긍정적인 감정이 증폭, 강화되어 행동의 준비상태 및 동기부여된 상태에 도달된 관계를 ‘조직내 활력관계(energizing relationships)’ 개념(Baker, Cross & Wooten, 2003)을 이용하여 설명하였다. 본 연구는 조직내 활력 관계의 개념적 틀을 마련하고, 조직내 활력관계의 형성 과정을 세 가지 인지적 요인？자율성, 역량, 소속감에 대한 인식 ？ 을 이용하여 제시하였다. 더 나아가, 세 가지 인지적 요인을 강화시킬 수 있는 관계적 속성들을 두 개인간 관계의 강도, 짐멜 관계의 존재여부, 그리고 조직내 감정규범의 존재여부의 관점에서 탐색하였다. 끝으로 조직내 활력관계에 관한 연구가 감정의 공유 연구, 동기부여 연구, 그리고 사회연결망 연구에 주는 이론적 시사점과 향후 연구방향, 그리고 조직에 주는 시사점을 논의하였다.

&nbsp;&nbsp;Why do certain interpersonal relationships energize and inspire people involved in the relationships while some other relationships de?energize and dishearten those involved in the relationships? Building on the concept of energizing relationships(Baker, Cross, &amp; Wooten, 2003), we develop a conceptual framework that defines energizing relationships in organizations. We distinguish between shared positive affect and energizing relationships in the following two ways. First, shared positive affect results from unconscious emotional contagion among unspecified individuals, whereas energizing relationships arise from cognitive interpretation of shared positive affect, especially with respect to autonomy, competence, and belongingness. Second, energizing relationships develop from shared positive affect when emotional contagion occurs through individually meaningful social relationships. We then explore the mediating role of cognitive mechanisms between shared positive affect and energizing relationships and suggest the sense of autonomy, competence, and belongingness as three key cognitive mechanisms. Moreover, we further the moderating effects of individual social relationships on the interplay of shared positive affect and three cognitive mechanisms. In particular, we examine these effects by paying attention to the following three aspects of social relations: tie strength, Simmelian tie, and emotional norm. Finally, we discuss the theoretical contributions of this research to group emotion, motivation, and network literatures, as well as the future research directions and practical implications.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Energizing relationships<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Organizational and psychological researchers have recently begun to explore emotion as a collective property of groups. They have mainly focused on how group members come to share similar emotions or moods and on the consequences of the shared emotions and moods. However, sometimes individuals may experience their emotions strengthened and amplified during interpersonal interactions above and beyond the level of sharing similar emotions with the interaction partner. For example, a team leader who is sharing a calm emotion with a team member, makes an enthusiastic comment or suggestion to the team member. When this happens, we may expect that the team member would feel excited and perhaps even more enthusiastic than the team leader, and that the member would be motivated to act in ways that fulfill the emotions of excitement and enthusiasm. As such, (a) when individuals experience their positive emotions strengthened and amplified through an individually meaningful interpersonal interaction, and (b) when they feel that they are ready to act in the direction motivated by the positive emotions experienced through the interpersonal interaction, we define this specific type of interpersonal relationship as an energizing relationship in organizations.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Energizing relationships have the following important characteristics. The first is that compared with ‘shared positive affect’, energizing relationships involve shared positive emotions being strengthened and amplified through interpersonal interactions. The strengthening and amplification of originally shared positive emotions can happen either to one or to both interacting partners. Second, energizing relationships consist of individuals behaviorally activated or ready to take certain actions. Specific emotions entail specific action tendencies, and motivation to act becomes stronger as individuals experience strong and high arousal emotions (Frijda, 1986). Thus, strong positive emotions experienced through energizing relationships can facilitate motivation to act in ways that correspond to emotions and their associated action tendencies. Furthermore, energizing relationships differ from shared positive affect in the following two ways. First, shared positive affect results from unconscious emoti