| Abstract Organizations employ individuals who are not treated well by their boss. Employees, who would otherwise be productive assets to any given workgroup are being relegated to an outgroup status. The literature is missing research that highlights the emotional toil and employee strife that occurs in a low-quality leader-member exchange domain. This realist qualitative study contributes to the literature based on a realist paradigm outlined by Maxwell (2012). Eight adult employees in US organizations were selected as participants that revealed experiential themes resulting in a collective description of the outgroup experience.;Themes, rooted in critical realism, are categorized as thinking, feeling, and behaving constructions. Thinking constructions serve as compensatory cognitive adaptations to the plight of outgroup status. Feeling constructions represent aggressive emotional coping mechanisms in place to manage structural influences. Behavioral constructions function as manifestations motivational and perceptual cognitions. Recommended applications for the organizational leadership community and ideas for further research are included. |
