Gretchen Spreitzer (University of Michigan) argues that to be successful in today’s global business environment, companies need the knowledge, ideas, energy, and creativity of every employee, from front line workers to the top level managers in the executive suite.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Helping Transnational Team Members to Sense Trust: A Counterintuitive Approach to Leadership
Gretchen M. Spreitzer, Debra L. Shapiro, and Mary Ann Von Glinow state that despite their assignment to work together, members of transnational teams (TNTs)— teams whose members are geographically spread across at least two countries— are in many ways apart.
To Stay or to Go: Voluntary Survivor Turnover Following an Organizational Downsizing
This paper by Gretchen M. Spreitzer and Aneil K. Mishra examines how survivor reactions to a downsizing influence their retention with a firm two years following a downsizing.
Preserving Commitment During Downsizing: Examining the Mitigating Effects of Trust and Empowerment
Drawing on Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) stress theory, Gretchen Spreitzer and Aneil K. Mishra hypothesize that the negative effects of downsizing on commitment can be mitigated when trust and empowerment are high.
The Road to Empowerment: Seven Questions Every Leader Should Consider
Robert Quinn and Gretchen Spreitzer argue that while many contemporary organizations recognize the need for empowered employees, they frequently run into problems attempting to implement empowerment programs.
Factors Affecting the Organizational Commitment of Technical Knowledge Workers: Generation X, Baby Boomers, and Beyond
D. Finegold, S. Mohrman, and G. Spreitzer discuss how gaining the commitment of knowledge workers will be one of the central management challenges in the new millennium.
Preserving Commitment During Downsizing: An Empirical Test of the Mitigating Effect of Trust and Empowerment
Gretchen M. Spritzer and Aneil K. Mishra explore whether the commitment of downsizing survivors can be preserved at a level comparable to employees who have not been subjected to a downsizing.
Beyond Competencies: Using the Ability to Learn from Experience for the Early Identification of International Executives
Morgan W. McCall, Gretchen M. Spreitzer, and Joan D. Mahoney discuss the development of an instrument which measures both traditional competencies for international executive success and the ability to learn from experience.
Explaining How Survivors Respond to Downsizing: The Roles of Trust, Empowerment, Justice and Work Redesign
In this paper, Aneil K. Mishra and Gretchen M. Spreitzer develop a stress-based framework of survivors’ responses to downsizing.
Running on Empty: Overworked People in Demanding Work Environments
Julia Welch, Rachel Ebert, and Gretchen Spreitzer discuss how in contemporary organizations, overwork is often viewed as a key problem inherent in today’s demanding working environment.
Empowered to Lead: The Role of Psychological Empowerment in Leadership
This study by Gretchen M. Spreitzer, Suzanne C. DeJanasz, and Robert E. Quinn examines the relationship between psychological empowerment and leadership.
Mitigating the Damage to Trust and Empowerment During Downsizing
This paper by Karen Mishra, Gretchen M. Spreitzer, and Aneil Mishra draws from the literature as well as from interviews of managers who have managed downsizings to identify strategies which mitigate the damage to trust and empowerment typically incurred during downsizing activities.