Organizations, like sponges, must have the capacity to absorb inputs in order to generate outputs. Researchers have developed theories of organizational absorptive capacity; researchers have also developed models of the effective generation of new products. The challenge lies in integrating the two research streams.

Royston Greenwood, C. R. Hinings, Understanding Radical Organizational Change: Bringing together the Old and the New Institutionalism, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Oct., 1996), pp. 1022-1054

Royston Greenwood, C. R. Hinings, Understanding Radical Organizational Change: Bringing together the Old and the New Institutionalism, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Oct., 1996), pp. 1022-1054

This article conceptualizes the emotional labor construct in terms of four dimensions: frequency of appropriate emotional display, attentiveness to required display rules, variety of emotions to be displayed, and emotional dissonance generated by having to express organizationally desired emotions not genuinely felt. Through this framework, the article then presents a series of propositions about the organizational-, job-, and individual-level characteristics that are antecedents of each of these four dimensions. Frequency of emotional display, attentiveness to display rules, variety of emotions to be displayed, and emotional dissonance are hypothesized to lead to greater emotional exhaustion, but only emotional dissonance is hypothesized to lead to lower job satisfaction. Implications for future theory development and empirical research on emotional labor are discussed as well.

Richard C. Thompson, James G. (Jerry) Hunt, Inside the Black Box of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Change: Using a Cognitive-Processing Model to Assess Attitude Structure, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 655-690

Authors of the literature on total quality management (TQM) have been much more concerned with process than content. This article considers TQM in relation to firm orientation and identifies market advantage, product design efficiency, process efficiency, and product reliability as the key feature of its content. Performance expectations for TQM. In the form of Increased revenues, reduced costs, and their time lags, are addressed in the context of environmental uncertainty.

This article presents a series of editorials in response to articles published in the issue as well as in previous issues, including the article “Negative affectivity and coping with job loss,” by J. M. George and A. P. Brief and “An integrative model of organizational trust,” by R. C. Mayer, J. H. Davis, and F. D. Schoorman. Topics of discussion include organizational behavior, industrial management, executive ability, and professional ethics.