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Fred Dansereau is a Professor of Organization and Human Resources in the School of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his Ph.D. from the Labor and Industrial Relations Institute at the University of Illinois with a specialization in Organizational Behavior. Dr. Dansereau has extensive research experience in the areas of leadership and managing at the individual, dyad, group, and collective levels of analysis. Along with others, he has developed a theoretical and empirical approach to theorizing and testing at multiple levels of analysis. He has served on the editorial review boards of the Academy of Management Review, Group and Organization Management, and Leadership Quarterly. Dr. Dansereau is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. He has authored eight books and over 70 articles and is a consultant to numerous organizations, including the Bank of Chicago, Occidental, St. Joe Corp., Sears, TRW, the United States Army and Navy, Worthington Industries, and various educational institutions.

Fred Dansereau, Ph.D., is a Professor of Organization and Human Resources in the School of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his Ph.D. from the Labor and Industrial Relations Institute at the University of Illinois with a specialization in organizational behavior. Dr. Dansereau has extensive research experience in the areas of leadership and managing at the individual, dyad, group, and collective levels of analysis. Along with others, he has developed a theoretical and empirical approach to theorizing about and testing theories at multiple levels of analysis. He has served on the editorial review boards of the Academy of Management Review, Group and Organization Management, and Leadership Quarterly. Dr. Dansereau is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. He has authored six books and over 70 articles and is a consultant to numerous organizations, including the Bank of Chicago, Occidental, St. Joe Corp., Sears, TRW, the United States Army and Navy, Worthington Industries, and various educational institutions.Francis J. Yammarino, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Management and Director and Fellow of the Center for Leadership Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior (Management) from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Yammarino has extensive research experience in the areas of superior-subordinate relationships, leadership, self-other agreement processes, and multiple levels of analysis issues. He serves on the editorial review boards of seven scholarly journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and the Leadership Quarterly. Dr. Yammarino is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He is the author of seven books and has published over 80 articles. Dr. Yammarino has served as a consultant to numerous organizations, including IBM, Textron, TRW, Lockheed Martin, Medtronic, United Way, and the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Education.

Francis J. Yammarino, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Management and Director and Fellow of the Center for Leadership Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior (Management) from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Yammarino has extensive research experience in the areas of superior-subordinate relationships, leadership, self-other agreement processes, and multiple levels of analysis issues. He serves on the editorial review boards of seven scholarly journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and the Leadership Quarterly. Dr. Yammarino is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He is the author of seven books and has published over 80 articles. Dr. Yammarino has served as a consultant to numerous organizations, including IBM, Textron, TRW, Lockheed Martin, Medtronic, United Way, and the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Education.Fred Dansereau, Ph.D., is a Professor of Organization and Human Resources in the School of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his Ph.D. from the Labor and Industrial Relations Institute at the University of Illinois with a specialization in Organizational Behavior. Dr. Dansereau has extensive research experience in the areas of leadership and managing at the individual, dyad, group, and collective levels of analysis. Along with others, he has developed a theoretical and empirical approach to theorizing about and testing theories at multiple levels of analysis. He has served on the editorial review boards of the Academy of Management Review, Group and Organization Management, and Leadership Quarterly. Dr. Dansereau is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. He has authored seven books and over 70 articles and is a consultant to numerous organizations, including the Bank of Chicago, Occidental, St. Joe Corp., Sears, TRW, the United States Army and Navy, Worthington Industries, and various educational institutions.

Following from the cutting-edge work of Stephen Wolfram in A New Kind of Science (2002), in this chapter we propose “a new kind of OB” (organizational behavior) based on the varient approach to theory building and testing. In particular, we offer four simple, yet comprehensive theories to account for individual behavior, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and collectivized processes in organizations. In each case, two constructs, their association, and the levels of analysis of their operation are proposed. While the four theories proposed here are simple notions, they can explain a variety of complex phenomena and behavior in organizations.

Fred Dansereau, PhD, is professor of Organization and Human Resources and associate dean for Research in the School of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his PhD from the Labor and Industrial Relations Institute at the University of Illinois with a specialization in Organizational Behavior. Dr. Dansereau has extensive research experience in the areas of leadership and managing at the individual, dyad, group, and collective levels of analysis. Along with others, he has developed a theoretical and empirical approach to theorizing and testing at multiple levels of analysis. He has served on the editorial review boards of the Academy of Management Review, Group and Organization Management, and Leadership Quarterly. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. He has authored 10 books and over 80 articles and is a consultant to numerous organizations, including the Bank of Chicago, Occidental, St. Joe Corp., Sears, TRW, the United States Army and Navy, Worthington Industries, and various educational institutions.

This reply to Ashkanasy's commentary (2009) on our chapter “A New Kind of OB” (Yammarino & Dansereau, 2009) offers some additional thoughts on theory building and theory testing in terms of our four simple theories about individual behavior, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and collectivized processes in organizations. We reiterate the key point that these simple notions can explain a variety of complex phenomena and behavior in organizations.

This article presents a comprehensive and qualitative review of how levels of analysis issues have been addressed in the diversity and demography literature. More than 180 conceptual and empirical publications (i.e. book chapters and journal articles) in this field are reviewed and coded regarding the specific incorporation of levels of analysis in theory and hypothesis formulation, representation of levels of analysis in measurement of constructs and variables, appropriateness of data-analytic techniques given the explicit or implied levels of analysis, and alignment between levels of analysis in theory and data in regard to drawing inferences and conclusions. Although the body of diversity and demography literature continues to grow, levels of analysis issues are rarely considered. Only a few reviewed studies address levels of analysis issues in theory development, and no reviewed studies employ appropriate multi-level data analytic techniques. Implications for future research are discussed, and recommendations for incorporating levels of analysis into diversity and demography research are provided.

Chen, Mathieu and Bliese (this volume) propose a useful framework for conceptualizing, testing, and validating multi-level constructs. Their framework focuses on the differences in constructs that occur between individuals and groups. One key question arises with their approach: What happens if the validity of constructs is viewed as potentially varying not only between individuals and between groups but also within individuals and within groups? The focus on within-individuals and within-groups variations is called “frog-pond effects.” Based on such frog-pond effects, this chapter reconsiders the approach of Chen et al. and discusses some of the implications of adding this perspective to multi-level research.