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While male leaders are rewarded for expressing anger in the workplace, female leaders are punished through negative characterizations and employee-manager relationship outcomes. Research has demonstrated that one mechanism that accounts for this differential treatment of male and female leaders who express anger is the attribution made about their anger (Brescoll & Uhlmann, 2008). As compared to male leaders, female leaders anger expression is attributed more to internal factors (e.g., personality) and less to external factors (e.g., situation with colleague). The purpose of the current study is to examine whether a pre-existing relationship between a leader and an employee can buffer female leaders who express anger from employees' negative characterizations and backlash through changing the attribution of the anger expression so that it is attributed more to external factors and less to internal factors. Participants were given scenarios in which they were depicted as employees and their manager (either a male or a female) had expressed anger at them. In addition, half of the participants were told they had a pre-existing relationship with their manager while half were told they did not know their manager well. As hypothesized, a pre- existing relationship buffered female managers who expressed anger from employees' negative characterizations (competence, communality and interpersonal hostility, advancement potential and boss desirability) and employee-manager relationship outcomes (trust toward the manager, intention to quit the manager, and retaliation toward the manager) through attributing the anger more to external factors and less to internal factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, researchers have paid increasing attention to relationships across difference (RADs), or interpersonal relationships between coworkers who have different cultural identities (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual identity). Much of the research has emphasized that RADs, such as cross-race relationships, involve significant challenges such as prejudicial interactions, intergroup anxiety, and identity threat. The papers in this symposium complement previous research on challenges associated with RADs by also investigating key variables involved in positive relational dynamics in RADs. Although previous research has suggested that a learning approach is critical for positive relationships (Davidson & James, 2007), more research is needed to understand variables involved in relational dynamics that foster learning, especially in RADs. The papers in this symposium identify important factors that may affect learning in RADs, such as mindful correcting, sharing struggles, generative emotions and diversity cultures, and role models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]