Exploring the connection between Work Orientation and Resilience

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Exploring the connection between Work Orientation
and Resilience

• Brianna Barker Caza
• May Meaning Meeting 2008

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Background

• Stemmed from an observation from my dissertation
  work on certified nurse-midwives
• Brewed in my conversations with others doing
  similar work in other contexts
• Hoping to address these issues further in two
  future studies

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Goals of this Presentation

• Present some very preliminary ideas
• Talk about two different contexts in which to
  study them
• Get YOUR feedback
• Interrupt whenever!

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Research Question

• What is the relationship between work orientation
  and resilience at work?
• (and between perceived meaningfulness of work and
  resilience)

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Resilience at Work

• Resilience is dynamic process of positive
  adaptation after experiences of adversity
  (Luthar, Chicchetti, Becker, 2000).
• Resilience at work is an individuals ability to
  continue on a positive developmental trajectory
  in the face of adversity characterized by
  demonstrated competence in the context of
  adversity, professional growth, and the ability
  to handle future challenges

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Resilience at Work

• Resilience involves three abilities
• the ability to absorb strain and preserve (or
  improve) functioning despite the presence of
  adversity (both internal adversity-such as rapid
  change, lousy leadership, performance and
  production pressures-and external adversity--such
  as increasing competition and demands from
  stakeholders)
• an ability to recover or bounce back from
  untoward events. As the system becomes better
  able to absorb a surprise and stretch rather than
  collapse, the 'brutality' of an audit decreases
• an ability to learn and grow from previous
  episodes of resilient action.
• From Weick and Sutcliffe. (2007). Managing the
  Unexpected Resilient Performance in an Age of
  Uncertainty. San Francisco Jossey-Bass. (p. 71)

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Resilience and Meaning

• Survey of 220 CNMs testing a model of
  identity-based resilience at work.
• Predicted perceived meaningfulness of work to be
  key mechanism of resilience
• Controlled for work orientation, but did not
  explore its impact directly
• Expected that individuals with a calling
  orientation would be more likely to show
  resilience at work

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Meaningfulness W.O.

• Perceived Meaningfulness of work individuals
  sense of purpose of their work
• Work Orientation
• Job - individual is primarily concerned with the
  financial rewards of work
• Career - individual is focused on advancing
  within the occupational structure
• Calling - individual works not for financial gain
  or career advancement, but instead for the sense
  of fulfillment that the work brings

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Controlled for Work Orientation (path added to
each of the three dvs)
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Survey Findings

• Perceived meaningfulness was significantly
  associated with reduced burnout but NOT
  associated with resilience at work
• Addition of work orientation as a control did not
  change any of the relationships between model
  variables (whew), but did account for an bit of
  variance in resilience at work
• However, the direction of the relationship was
  different than expected. Specifically,
  individuals with calling orientations reported
  less resilience in the face of critical workplace
  adversities.

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NS
-
Controlled for Work Orientation
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Why?

• Why would perceived meaningfulness of work NOT be
  associated with resilience at work (but is
  associated with reduced burnout)?
• Is there an indirect relationship? Helps you
  avoid dysfunctional behaviors but not necessarily
  promote functional behavior?
• Why would ones orientation toward their work as
  calling lead to lowered functioning in the face
  of adversity?

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Working Assumption
Individual Functioning (Burnout/ Resilience)
Work Orientation (Job vs. Calling)
Perceived Meaningfulness of work
Note I am assuming that reporting a calling
orientation is associated with increased
perceived meaning in ones work.
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Insights from Qualitative Data

• CNMs who talked about going into midwifery as a
  calling, had a harder time adjusting to
  unexpected setbacks.
• If I were not going to retire in a few more
  years, I would leave. In fact, I never would have
  gotten into it. This is not what I thought I
  would be doing when I dreamed of catching
  babies.
• This field is not what it what it when I first
  got into it. It has changed, and it is hard to
  watch something you love disintegrate.

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Insights, cont. (2)

• CNMs who did not talk about going into midwifery
  as a calling seemed more flexible about making
  changes to adapt to their context.
• I think in the beginning I was concerned about
  making concessions and I was gonna change the
  world and then somewhere along the way I realized
  there are some people who dont want that kind of
  experience, they do not want to have a home
  birth, they do not want to have an unmedicated
  birth, and that does not mean they should not be
  advocated and supported as well. Ultimately I
  ended up working in the inner city for a number
  of years and it was pretty far cry from the
  midwifery I was trained for. I was working with
  inner city girls, but at the same time, nobody
  screams needing a midwife than a fifteen year old
  homeless girl. So its a different kind of
  midwifery that I just did not know existed until
  I became one.

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Insights, cont. (3)

• Not ALL the CNMs who talked about their work as a
  calling showed decreased resilience in the face
  of adversity. In fact, some talked about it as a
  reason for their positive functioning in the face
  of hardships
• I do this work because it was what I was made to
  do. And so, even when I have a week full of
  sleepless nights, thankless patients, and hard
  labors, I still look forward to each and every
  birth.

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What is the relationship?

• Complicated relationship not a clear cut direct
  relationship
• Calling orientations seem to both exacerbate and
  ameliorate individuals reactions to adversity
• MAYBE there is an indirect relationship
• Individuals with different work orientations use
  different tactics in reacting) to adversities
• Interaction different tactics work differently
  for people with different work orientations

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Work Orientation
Negative Event
Coping Tactics
Individual Functioning (Resilience)
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Tactics

• Cognitive, affective or behavioral actions
  individuals take in response to a stressor
• To demonstrate resilience, these tactics should
• allow individuals to absorb strain and preserve
  (or improve) functioning despite the presence of
  adversity)
• Lead individuals to bounce back from untoward
  events quickly and easily.
• Allow individuals to learn and grow from previous
  episodes of resilient action, so that they can
  better respond in the future

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Context 1 Interprofessional Relationships

• General purpose Study of conflict management
  between nurses and physicians in a Midwestern
  hospital system (design and test intervention)
• My part Want to understand how individuals react
  (cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally) to
  these instances of conflict, and the impact of
  various individual factors (e.g., work
  orientation)
• Methods Context very open to access (as of now).
  Plan to use diary/journaling, interviews, and
  surveys
• with A. Avgar L. Wang

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Tactics for Resilience in the Face of Conflict

• Cognitive Cognitive reframing, attributions
• Behavioral Utilizing social support networks,
  confronting individual, avoidance, filing a
  complaint
• Affective effective management of emotions
  (having a mix of positive and negative emotions)

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Context 2 PGA Q-School

• General purpose To understand how golfers
  demonstrate resilience during the PGA tour
  qualifying tournament, and the tactics they use
  in each of these situations
• Short-term (bad shot/round)
• Long-term (between tournaments)
• This study Understand the specific tactics
  (cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral)
  individuals use for both short and long-term
  resilience, and how work orientation impacts the
  use of these tactics.
• Methods Pre/Post Survey Interviews
  Observation. (Access unknown)
• with G. Northcraft

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Q-School

• One of the most intense and important events in a
  golfers life
• It launches the careers of future legends and
  serves crushing blows to past stars looking for
  one more chance. Every fall, more than a thousand
  veterans and talented hopefuls sweat through
  three phases of hell in the Q school, as the
  tournament is universally known, vying for the 30
  slots available on the PGA Tour.  It is a test
  all but a handful of the most brilliant players
  have to endure, and it's not just another
  tournament in which a player can try again next
  week if he misses the cut. At Q school, a bad
  round or the wrong mind-set means you're out for
  the year.

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Context 2 PGA Q-School

• General purpose To understand how golfers
  demonstrate resilience during the PGA tour
  qualifying tournament, and the tactics they use
  in each of these situations
• Short-term (bad shot/round)
• Long-term (between tournaments)
• This study Understand the specific tactics
  (cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral)
  individuals use for both short and long-term
  resilience, and how work orientation impacts the
  use of these tactics.
• Methods Pre/Post Survey Interviews
  Observation. (Access unknown)
• with G. Northcraft

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Tactics used in PGA

• Short-term (in tournament)
• Focus on their strengths
• Attribute their mistakes to situational variables
• Surround themselves with individuals who will
  provide encouraging and optimistic comments.
• Maintain positive affective state
• This leads to increased self-efficacy and
  psychological hardiness, which will be key in
  cultivating resilience short-term

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Tactics used in PGA

• Long-term (between tournaments)
• Adopt a learning orientation focus on improving
  weaknesses
• Internal attributions of mistakes/errors
• Surround self with individuals who will provide
  critical feedback (instrumental social support)
• Indulge both positive and negative affective
  states
• This leads to a period of learning and growth,
  which will allow individuals to better
  demonstrate resilience long-term

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Context 2 PGA Q-School

• General purpose To understand how golfers
  demonstrate resilience during the PGA tour
  qualifying tournament, and the tactics they use
  in each of these situations
• Short-term (bad shot/round)
• Long-term (between tournaments)
• This study Understand the specific tactics
  (cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral)
  individuals use for both short and long-term
  resilience, and how work orientation impacts the
  use of these tactics.
• Methods Pre/Post Survey Interviews
  Observation. (Access unknown)
• with G. Northcraft

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Summary of Projects
Interprofessional Relationships Resilience in the PGA
Insight gained (hopefully) - Understand the relationship between individuals orientation towards their work and how they respond to interpersonal conflict at work - Understand the relationship between individuals orientation toward golf and how they respond to both small and large scale stressors
Advantages Important issue Very flexible in access (lots of data, hopefully) There is a wide range of orientations toward golf and the tournament look at differences between short and long term resilience
Disadvantages - W.O. may not have a large influence in shaping response to high incidence, low impact stressors - Relevance to OB theory?
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Questions for You

• What do YOU think the relationship is between
  work orientation and/or perceived meaningfulness
  of work and individual functioning in the face
  of adversity?
• Will these things impact preference for or
  effectiveness of certain tactics?
• Are these useful questions to be asking?
• Which context do you like? Which do you not like?
• Any recommendations on how to study this?