Portland State Magazine Fall 2011

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • faculty colleague Talya Bauer, tested the conventional wisdom in a chain of Turkish retail stores. The results, which earned mention in The New York Times, provide companies new incentive to hire applicants they consider overqualified. If they are made to feel valued and given autonomy– "not treated like a cog in a machine"– overqualified workers will perform well and stick around, says Erdogan. "They only left sooner if they were not empowered," she says. The lesson: "Overqualified individuals should not be automatically disqualified." "People lead by the relationships they have with people," explains Erdogan, an associate professor of management, who is interested in the day-to-day management of people and how those relationships affect employee well-being, customer service and organizational effectiveness. Challenging "common sense" assump– tions is the most fun part of her work, she says. Her recent research, also with Bauer, focused on employees' perception of justice. They found that it's not critical for a supervisor to have similar relationships with all subordinates, a long-held management mantra. What's important is that employees who aren't part of a leader's inner circle believe that the organization nonetheless will treat them fairly. In another project, with Jeanne Enders, an assistant professor of manage– ment in the Business School, Erdogan showed that supervisors' perceptions 10 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2011 ofwhether they are supported by their bosses "trickle down" co influence the work attitudes of those who report to that supervisor. In the workplace, so much depends on a manager and employee "click- ing," says Erdogan, who with Bauer has co-authored rwo textbooks used in more than 100 universities worldwide. She is motivated co identify structural approaches companies can use co encour– age positive day-to-day relationships between managers and employees– instead of simply hoping for that "click." 0 NE WAY co ensure that employees fit in is to give chem a good start. Anybody who's had a job remembers at least one bad First Day: the cubicle with no work– ing telephone, the lonely lunch break, the boring safety video that served as "orientation." And yet, "the research definitely shows chat those first few days really matter," says Bauer, a professor of management in the School of Business Administra– tion. She has published and consulted on the topic of how ro acclimate new employees so that they quickly add value to an organization. Bauer's PSU students, most of whom hold down jobs while in school, don't need to be persuaded that how co– workers treat a new hire, or whether employees perceive their bosses as fair, helps determine if a company succeeds or fails. "That relationships at work matter makes total sense to them. I don't have co convince them about justice at work or group dynamics," Bauer says. "They're living them everyday." Bauer' research agenda is as crowded as her office. Research in progress includes an examination of work as a calling; a look at how newcomers fare in apprentice trades in France; and helping a large high-tech company avoid squelching the creative impulses of new employees. In July, she headed to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., for a three-month stint as the first non– engineering professor in the company's visiting faculty program. With her PSU colleagues, Bauer shares the belief that workplace relation– ships are coo important co be left co chance. Employers who want co run effective organizations must take action co help create the relationships that keep employees happy, healthy, and satisfied. It can be as simple as making sure someone takes the newbie to lunch. Especially in retail and other entry-level jobs, "if someone has a bad first day, they don't come back," says Bauer. But make a new employee feel accepted, confident, and clear about his or her role-in chat order-and "all sorts of good outcomes follow." "I chink people believe that relation– ships aren't happening all the time-but they are," Bauer says. "You might as well make it a positive thing." ■ Shelby Oppel Wood a freelance writer, contributed the story "Plugging into the Future" in the Winter 2011 Portland Scace Magazine.