The promise and perversity of perspective-taking in organizations. (2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ku, Gillian; Wang, Cynthia S.; Galinsky, Adam D.
• Is Part Of: Research in organizational behavior. Volume 35(2015)
• Page Start: 79
• Page End: 102
• Publication Date: 2015
• Subjects: Perspective-taking -- Mixed-motive-interactions -- Interpersonal and intergroup relations -- Groups -- Negotiations -- Ethics; Organization -- Periodicals; Organizational behavior -- Periodicals; 302.3505
• DOI: 10.1016/j.riob.2015.07.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-3085

Abstract

Abstract: Successful managers and leaders need to effectively navigate their organizational worlds, from motivating customers and employees to managing diversity to preventing and resolving conflicts. Perspective-taking is a psychological process that is particularly relevant to each of these activities. The current review critically examines perspective-taking research conducted by both management scholars and social psychologists and specifies perspective-taking's antecedents, consequences, mechanisms, and moderators, as well as identifies theoretical and/or empirical shortfalls. Our summary of the current state of perspective-taking research offers three important contributions. First, we offer a new definition of perspective-taking: the active cognitive process of imagining the world from another's vantage point or imagining oneself in another's shoes to understand their visual viewpoint, thoughts, motivations, intentions, and/or emotions. Second, we highlight that although perspective-taking has many positive benefits for managers and leaders, it also carries with it the potential for perverse effects. Third, we argue that previous theoretical lenses to understand perspective-taking's goal are insufficient in light of all the available evidence. Instead, we offer a new theoretical proposition to capture the full range of perspective-taking's positive and negative effects: perspective-taking helps individuals effectively navigate a world filled with mixed-motive social interactions. Our mixed-motive model of perspective-taking not only captures the current findings but also offers new directions for future research.