Affirmative action programs (AAPs) are controversial employment policies in the United States and elsewhere. A large body of evidence about attitudinal reactions to AAPs in employment has accumulated over 35 years: at least 126 independent samples involving 29,000 people. However, findings are not firmly established or integrated. In the current article, the authors summarize and meta-analytically estimate relationships of AAP attitudes with (a) structural features of such programs, (b) perceiver demographic and psychological characteristics, (c) interactions of structural features with perceiver characteristics, and (d) presentation of AAP details to perceivers, including justification of the AAP. Results are generally consistent with predictions derived from self-interest considerations, organizational justice theory, and racism theories. They also suggest practical ways in which AAPs might be designed and communicated to employees to reduce attitudinal resistance.

The present research builds theory regarding how use of flexible work practices (FWPs) affects employees' career success. We integrate theory on signaling and attributions and propose that managers interpret employees' use of FWPs as a signal of high or low organizational commitment, depending on whether managers make productivity or personal life attributions, respectively, for employees' FWP use. Managers' perceptions of employees' commitment, in turn, shape employees' career success. Field-and laboratory-based studies provide strong support for the hypothesis that FWP use results in career premiums when managers make productivity attributions and some support for the hypothesis that FWP use results in career penalties when managers make personal life attributions. Employees with flexibility are more engaged in their jobs and committed to helping their company succeed. .. workplace flexibility has a real impact on productivity. Carlson (2005: 48) Don't telecommute. Working from home or parttime makes it harder for your boss to know you. Do arrive early and stay late. .. make your commitment visible by pulling long hours. Yang (2009: 65

The purpose of diversity initiatives is to help groups that face disadvantage in society achieve better outcomes in organizations, but they do not necessarily work as intended. To advance understanding of the effects of diversity initiatives, I develop a typological theory of their unintended consequences. I propose that diversity initiatives produce four unintended consequence types: backfire (negative diversity goal progress), negative spillover (undesirable effects on outcomes other than diversity goal progress), positive spillover (desirable effects on outcomes other than diversity goal progress), and false progress (improved diversity metrics without true diversity goal progress). I then adopt a signaling perspective to identify mechanisms underlying the four types and the diversity practices most likely to produce them. The resulting typological theory not only provides an organizing framework for prior work on the unintended consequences of diversity initiatives but also specifies new unintended consequence types, identifies signals that serve as their root causes, and suggests that the unintended consequences of diversity initiatives are interrelated and multidetermined. Collectively, these contributions advance a broader conceptualization of diversity initiative effectiveness, in which a wider range of mechanisms and outcomes, as well as the relationships among them, must be considered. More comprehensive theory regarding their unintended consequences provides a foundation for increasing diversity initiative effectiveness.

Anecdotal evidence abounds that organizations have distinct conflict cultures, or socially shared norms for how conflict should be managed. However, research to date has largely focused on conflict management styles at the individual and small group level, and has yet to examine whether organizations create socially shared and normative ways to manage conflict. In a sample of leaders and members from 92 branches of a large bank, factor analysis and aggregation analyses show that 3 conflict cultures-collaborative, dominating, and avoidant-operate at the unit level of analysis. Building on Lewin, Lippitt, and White's (1939) classic work, we find that leaders' own conflict management behaviors are associated with distinct unit conflict cultures. The results also demonstrate that conflict cultures have implications for macro branch-level outcomes, including branch viability (i.e., cohesion, potency, and burnout) and branch performance (i.e., creativity and customer service). A conflict culture perspective moves beyond the individual level and provides new insight into the dynamics of conflict management in organizational contexts.