Canadian HR Reporter

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK Credit: Leonid Andronov (Shutterstock) Building bridges Putting cutting-edge academic research into practice BY LIZ BERNIER HR is certainly an area that's ripe for research and gathering data, and there are numerous academic studies both in print and in develop- ment that could add significant value for HR professionals on the front lines of the profession. But research is only helpful if it's applied in workplaces that could benefit from it. at was the theme of a recent Strategic Capability Network event in Toronto: How can we create linkages and mitigate dis- connects between HR research and HR practice? e panel event presented re- search from three Canadian aca- demics, with high-level HR pro- fessionals then discussing how three areas of the research applied to the daily challenges and climate within an organization. Organizational cynicism e first research area discussed was that of organizational cyni- cism, according to Kristyn Scott, associate professor of human resource management and orga- nizational behaviour at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. "People who are high in orga- nizational cynicism tend to have negative feelings toward their organization. So when they think about their organization, they might feel irritated, they might feel anxious." Another aspect is behaviour. "Individuals who are high in organizational cynicism tend to exhibit negative behaviour that's directed toward the organization. So, for example, they might spend time criticizing their company's policies and practices with oth- ers," said Scott. A third component is cognition. "ese are the thoughts and beliefs about the organization. Individuals who are high in cyni- cism tend to believe, for example, that their company might say one thing but do another thing. So they really doubt that their com- pany is going to do what it says it will," said Scott. So why is it important to exam- ine the research around organiza- tional cynicism? "Cynicism leads to a host of outcomes that are predominately negative. Individuals who are cyn- ical about their organization tend to have lower job satisfaction. ey tend to be less committed to the organization, they tend to have increased stress, increased turnover intention and lower job performance," she said. And the dynamics of workplace relationships are really impacted when cynicism is involved, said Scott. HR leaders are highly attuned to cynicism and are trying to un- derstand how to mitigate it in or- ganizations, said Cheryl Fullerton, executive vice-president of people and communications at Corus Entertainment in Toronto. "At the heart, cynics are al- ways afraid of being hurt, I think. ey're always scanning the envi- ronment, looking for the faults so they can be out ahead of them so that it's not going to sneak up and harm them. So there's that basic self-preservation thing," she said. It's helpful to have supervisors understand the value of the cynic, she said. Some cynics are needed within the organization because if there are only optimists who just assume everything is going to work out, there won't be a balance of perspectives, said Fullerton. Scott said she tended to agree. "Cynics are questioning, cyn- ics are pointing out the holes, they're picking at the flaws. And that can be a benefit. So that is one thing that we know about people who are negative in general — you want them around because they're going to do that. ey're not going to just blindly agree and say, 'Yes, it's great,'" she said. "ey will push the thinking forward and I think that's a great value." Workplace mistreatment A second area of research that has not received much attention yet is that of workplace mistreatment and forgiveness, said Agnes Zda- niuk, assistant professor of organi- zational behaviour at the College of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Employees who have been on the receiving end of some form of bullying or mistreatment in the workplace have very different experiences, but these can have a deep impact, she said. "Being victimized has lots of negative psychological conse- quences for victims in terms of their psychological well-being. So things like increased stress, lower productivity, sleeplessness, anxiety, depression, anger," said Zdaniuk. "Most of us can recall a time when we were unfairly treated by someone, but we vary quite dras- tically in terms of how we respond to mistreatment. "Probably the most destruc- tive response someone can take is revenge." ere are acts of revenge that can be pretty severe such as acts of sabotage, interpersonal ag- gression, even theft. These are detrimental to an organization both socially and economically, she said. On the flip side, the most posi- tive response someone can take is forgiveness. So what can organi- zations do to better promote for- giveness following mistreatment? "Surprisingly, up until some of my recent research, there's been very little research done on work- place forgiveness," she said. One key way leaders influence followers is they have a strong capacity to inspire them to tran- scend their self-interest, said Zdaniuk. But the biggest challenge is the consequences go on for so long, said Brian Daly, vice-president and CHRO at Star Media Group in Toronto. "(HR professionals) spend a lot of (their) careers fostering and promoting transformational leadership," he said — and this is one more example of why that's important." However, is it possible or prudent to move too quickly to forgiveness? "I worry that sometimes we can go too quickly to forgiveness," he said. "If people just forget about it, that's going to happen again in six to 12 months unless we try to resolve it." But it's important to remem- ber forgiveness is a process, said Zdaniuk. "It's not condoning it, it's not forgetting about it — it's working through it," she said. "If you're really hasty with it… you put yourself at risk of perhaps being taken advantage of by other people within the organization." at's why it's important to cre- ate a climate of forgiveness so it becomes the norm, she said. Technostress "Technostress" is a huge issue to- day, yet research on the subject is relatively nascent. It's basically stress from using all the informa- tion communication technology relied on today, according to Mile- na Head, professor of information systems at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster Univer- sity in Hamilton. "Approximately three-quarters of professionals worry if they're not constantly connected and responding in almost immediate UNDERSTAND > pg. 12 Nive River, France

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