Leadership Institute
Date of this Version
2009
Abstract
Today’s leaders face unprecedented challenges in attempting to manage interactions between social identity group members with a history of tension in society at large. Research on faultlines suggests that social identity groups often polarize in response to events that make social identity salient, resulting in negative work outcomes. The current research extends the faultlines literature by examining precipitating events (triggers) that activate a faultline. Qualitative interview data were collected from two samples of employees working in multiple countries to identify events that had resulted in social identity conflicts. In the first study (35 events), an exploratory approach yielded a typology of five types of triggers: differential treatment, different values, assimilation, insult or humiliating action, and simple contact. A second qualitative study (99 events) involved a more geographically varied sample. Research findings are discussed in terms of implications for the faultlines literature and for practicing leaders.
Comments
Published in Human Relations 62:11 (2009), pp. 1763–1794; doi: 10.1177/0018726709346376 Copyright © 2009 Donna Chrobot-Mason, Marian N. Ruderman, Todd J. Weber and Chris Ernst. Published by The Tavistock Institute & Sage Publications. Used by permission. http://hum.sagepub.com