CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

398 TERRY AND AMIOT
it is important to complement this distribution mode by the use of fair
and respectful procedural rules and treatment (Meyer, 2001). Combining
equity with a respectful treatment of organizational members appears
particularly important in the context of a merger, where relationships
between members of different premerger organizations are in the process
of being built (Lind & Tyler, 1988; Tyler & Blader, 2003).
In order to account for how justice concerns and social identification processes
are interrelated, Tyler and Blader (2003) proposed the group engagement
model (GEM). According to this model, procedures and practices
within a group shape group members’ degree of attachment to this group
(e.g., their degree of social identity), which in turn influences their behaviors,
attitudes, and values. Perceived fairness is important because it conveys
identity-relevant information about the quality of one’s relationships
with the rest of the group. Fair procedures and treatment indicate a positive,
respectful position within the group and promote pride in the group membership
(see Lipponen et al., 2004; and Tyler & de Cremer, 2005, for evidence
supporting these propositions during organizational mergers).
SIT and superordinate identification models (Gaertner et al., 1993;
Hornsey & Hogg, 2000) concur with the GEM in considering social identification
as a crucial mediating process linking characteristics of the social
context (such as fairness) to intraindividual and intergroup outcomes.
According to Tajfel and Turner (1979), group cognitions play a central
mediating role in the relationships between group members’ perceptions
of the intergroup situation and different outcomes (e.g., in-group bias).
Self-categorizing as a member of the new, merged organization implies
that group members can relate to this new, superordinate organizational
identity and that it has now become part of who they are. In their common
in-group identity model, Gaertner et al. (1993) further proposed that when
group members recategorize as members of the new, merged group and
perceive that this group represents one rather than two distinct groups,
positive intergroup and affective consequences follow. Various studies
(e.g., Dovidio, Gaertner, & Validzic, 1998; Gaertner, Dovidio, & Bachman,
1996; Gaertner et al., 1993, 2000) found that identifying with a new superordinate
group and perceiving the new group as inclusive of the preexisting
groups mediate the relationships between the intergroup context (e.g.,
intergroup contact), and both in-group bias and adjustment.
a lonGituDinal investiGation of status, fairness,
anD iDentifiCation over the Course of a MerGer
In an effort to capture the longitudinal processes involved throughout
a merger, the adjustment patterns displayed by pilots involved in a merger
between two airline companies were investigated over a two-year period
(Amiot, Terry, & Callan, 2007). The merger involved a higher status organization
(a former international carrier) and one of lower status (a domestic