Organizational Psychology

The approaches to studying the future attitudes in organization are analyzed (studies in leadership vision, strategic decision making, strategic management, disruptive innovations and corporate foresight). The social psychological, organizational and institutional factors of future attitudes in organizations are determined. The results of empirical research among employees and top managers of Russian companies (N = 169, N = 98, N = 803) show that the processes of social integration (organizational identification and trust) are the most important antecedents of a positive image of the future in organizations. Three social-psychological mechanisms that influence the future attitudes in organization are determined: 1) group reflection on the collective future; 2) group identification based on the positive image of the organizational future that is formed by leaders; 3) collective emotional states (anxiety about the future that is triggered by perceived threat to the group existence).
The prospective group reflexivity, i.e. group orientation toward dialog about future risks and possibilities, enhances the group ability to adapt to changes (strategic flexibility), and the group identification based on the positive image of the future motivates toward attaining the fixed collective objectives. The collective panic and anxious emotional states are also capable to enhance the employees’ future orientation, but in this case the past is opposed to the future and supports positive self-esteem and it isn’t used to improve group effectiveness. The anxious states are related to low organizational identity and low trust. In contrary, the group reflexivity is related to the positive group identity, high trust and commitment.