1. Power, Ambiguity, and Trust: Occupational and Organizational Culture in Wolf Recovery in Washington State Catherine H. Gowan Carol Bogezi Stanley T. Asah John Marzluff School of Environmental and Forest Sciences University of Washington

2. Context Umbrella Project Exploring stakeholder perspectives on economic options to facilitate wolf re- colonization in WA

3. Purpose Emerged from interviews Examine occupational and organizational issues within the WDFW that may affect wolf recovery efforts What is the nature of the relationship between livestock owners and WDFW? What is the nature of employee relationships within WDFW? How might these impact the effectiveness and efficiency of the WDFW-led effort to facilitate wolf recovery?

4. Why Occupational and Organizational Psychology? “Facilitate change towards improved work and working conditions…based on a thoroughgoing analysis of the psychological factors of work in its many forms” (Millward, 2005) Most studies of the human dimensions of wildlife pay attention to other stakeholders rather than management institutions Institutions play significant roles in natural resource/wildlife management Little known of their effectiveness and efficiency Surveys show unfavorable employee work-related attitudes

5. Methods Non-directive interview techniques Recorded Transcribed verbatim Coded using a grounded theory approach

6. Trust: what livestock owners had to say about WDFW

7. Why Trust Matters “Once the trust relationship has broken down, public employees find it more difficult to perform their tasks” (Yates, 1982) Affects job performance and consequent effectiveness and efficiency

8. Commission Director Conflict Specialist Regional Director Wolf Biologist Carnivore Section Conflict Program Regional Wildlife Program Manager District Biologist Assistant District Biologist Game Program Manager Wildlife Program Manager Communication within WDFW

9. Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

10. What WDFW had to say about it

11. Role Ambiguity: Conflict Specialist Confusion

12. Why Role Ambiguity Matters Linked to: job performance, self- efficacy, self-esteem, turnover, job satisfaction, organizational commitment

13. Factions New people with wolf experience elsewhere and long time employees in WDFW Conflict specialists and wolf biologists

14. Long Term versus New Employees

15. Conflict Specialists versus Wolf Biologists

16. So What? Occupational stressors make it difficult for field staff to relay information to livestock operators reliably Strain relationships with partners Prevent team building and alienate staff But- knowing is half the battle! Clear understanding of problems within WDFW can be used: To design interventions and improve management Target institutional obstructions to inducing and maintaining trust, effectiveness and efficiency

17. Thank you to all interviewees for many hours of gossip & Colin Noteboom, Malia Prescott, Anqi Chen, and Cecilia Henderson for many hours of transcribing

18. Questions? Contact me at: Questions? Contact me at: cgowan13@uw.edu