A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO JOB CLASSIFICATION FOR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PURPOSES

This paper illustrates a methodological approach to classifying jobs for the purpose of developing performance evaluation instruments. The approach was to administer a worker-oriented job inventory to 2,023 incumbents across several jobs and several levels of responsibility (rank) in the U. S. Coast Guard. The data from the job inventory were then analyzed using Tucker's Three-Mode Factor Analysis. Output from the three-mode factor analysis was used to identify combinations of jobs and ranks for which separate appraisal instruments could be developed. In addition, output from the three-mode factor analysis was used to suggest the content of the various appraisal instruments. Advantages, applications, and limitations of this approach are discussed.     

A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO EVALUATING TRAINING CURRICULUM CONTENT SAMPLING ADEQUACY

A technique was developed which provided a quantitative index of the fit between training curriculum content and job task performance requirements. The procedure also generates a listing of tasks which receive undue emphasis in the training curriculum, those which are not being trained, and those which instructors intend to train, but which course graduates report being unable to perform. The procedure is illustrated for three training programs in the U.S. Coast Guard Class 'A' schools.     

A QUANTIFIED APPROACH TO MEASUREMENT OF JOB CONTENT: PROCEDURES AND PAYOFFS1

Procedures used for developing a quantified job analysis system for 1710 exempt employees in a power utility firm are described. Factor analysis of these data yielded 60 job dimensions which were used to describe position and job profiles. These job profiles then served as the basic input into the development of job clusters, defined as jobs at the same organizational level which have similar job content. The usefulness of information in this format for selection, promotion, transfer, compensation and training decisions is discussed.     

A COGNITIVE-STYLE APPROACH TO CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH1

Styles cognitifs et recherches ‘interculturelles. — L'utilisation, dans les recherches interculturelles, des données, concepts et méthodes relevant du “style cognitif” (mode de fonctionnement caractérisant un individu dans ses activités perceptives et intellectuelles) présente un grand nombre d'avantages méthodologiques. Comme le démontrent les nombreuses études qui ont été consacrées à un style cognitif privilégié qui correspond à la dimension “global-articulé”, les styles cognitifs sont fondamentaux dans L'étude du développement; ils peuvent être mesurés par des techniques objectives; les tests utilisables peuvent être appliqués avec validité et ils ont un sens pour des populations qui sont de niveau mental tout à fait différent; ils ont été conçus en relation avec des manières particulières d'élever les enfants, de telle sorte qu'ils peuvent servir à identifier les résultats de ces méthodes dans L'étude comparative des schèmes de socialisation. Les mêmes relations entre les premières expériences familiales et les différences inter-individuelles au long du continuum “global-articulé” qui avaient été originellement observées dans des milieux occidentaux, L'ont été également dans des milieux non occidentaux. De plus, on a trouvé dans le style cognitif modal de certains groupes non occidentaux, les différences qu'on avait pu prédire sur la base des différences observées dans la manière d'élever les enfants. La fréquence des différences dues au sexe en matière de style “articulé” ou “global” dans un grand nombre de cultures, amène à penser que L'étude du rôle que joue le sexe dans le développement cognitif pourrait être une voie féconde pour la recherche interculturelle.     

EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE WEIGHTING METHODS IN A POLICY- CAPTURING APPROACH TO JOB EVALUATION: A REVIEW AND EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

This research was designed to examine differences in the predictive power of alternative scale weighting methods in the context of job evaluation. Two different point-factor job evaluation instruments were used to evaluate 71 managerial and service jobs in a metropolitan university, and five different weighting models were compared in terms of predictive validity and salary classification. For the job evaluation system having high multicollinearity and validity concentration, no significant differences in accuracy were found among the weighting methods. However, in the more heterogeneous system, prediction models based upon unit weights, correlational weights, and multiple regression had significantly higher predictive validity than models based upon equal raw score weights or rational weights developed by a job evaluation committee. In addition, the weighting models differed substantially in terms of the predicted policy wages and classification structures.     

USING SIGNAL-CONTINGENT EXPERIENCE SAMPLING METHODOLOGY TO STUDY WORK IN THE FIELD: A DISCUSSION AND ILLUSTRATION EXAMINING TASK PERCEPTIONS AND MOOD

In this article, the advantages and drawbacks of using Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM), especially signal-contingent ESM, to study psychological variables in the workplace are described. It is argued that ESM can be a valuable tool in the field study of work, with the potential to answer different research questions than can be answered by traditional cross-sectional research. To illustrate ESM, an application of signal-contingent ESM to the examination of mood and concurrent task perceptions at work is presented. Study results indicate that both perceived goal progress and skill on task influence task enjoyment and mood. Also described and illustrated is an adaptation of pooled time-series hierarchical regression for analyzing immediate, short-term retrospective (end-of-day), and individual difference variables in a single framework. In conjunction, ESM data collection and hierarchical regression analysis provide a useful approach for studies that examine immediate work experiences.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF WORK DEMAND STRESSORS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: EXAMINING MAIN AND MODERATING EFFECTS

We quantitatively integrated 169 samples ( N = 35,265 employees) that have been used to investigate the relationships of the following 7 work-related stressors with job performance: role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, job insecurity, work–family conflict, environmental uncertainty, and situational constraints. Overall, we obtained a negative mean correlation between each job performance measure and each stressor included in our analyses. As hypothesized, role ambiguity and situational constraints were most strongly negatively related to performance, relative to the other work-related stressors. Analysis of moderators revealed that (a) the negative correlation of role overload and performance was higher among managers relative to nonmanagers; (b) publication year moderated the relation of role ambiguity and role overload with performance, although in opposite directions; (c) the correlations obtained for published versus unpublished studies were not significantly different; and (d) using the Rizzo et al. scale of role ambiguity and role conflict decreased the magnitude of the correlations of these stressors with performance, relative to other scales. Theoretical contributions, future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.     

TARGET PRACTICE: AN ORGANIZATIONAL IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO ATTRACTING MINORITY AND FEMALE JOB APPLICANTS

On account of a number of factors, many companies have increased recruitment targeting female and ethnic or racial minority job applicants. Despite evidence suggesting that these applicants are attracted by different factors than traditional applicants and an abundance of recruitment tactics suggested in the popular press, no empirically based approach to recruiting these populations has emerged. This article reviews and integrates literature on organizational impression management, recruitment, marketing, and social psychology and provides a framework to assist practitioners in attracting minority and female job applicants. In addition, several avenues for future research are discussed.     

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO AUTOKINESIS

Analysis has shown that autokinesis constitutes a complex group of phenomena. Certain autokinetic movements ('paradoxical', i.e. experienced displacement without movement or vice versa) could not be adequately recorded by the 'tracing method', very often employed, or by other forms of purely physical registration. Autokinesis ought to be divided into a 'free' type (which may be 'paradoxical') and a 'restricted' type (always 'non-paradoxical'). 'Free' movements were experienced either in a plane perpendicular to the line of vision or as 'ad-ab' movements. 'Restricted' movements were described as either 'swinging' or 'undulating'.     

USING A META-ANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE TO ENHANCE JOB COMPONENT VALIDATION

This paper develops synthetic validity estimates based on a meta-analytic-weighted least squares (WLS) approach to job component validity (JCV), using position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) estimates of job characteristics, and the Data, People, & Things ratings from the  Dictionary of Occupational Titles  as indices of job complexity. For the general aptitude test battery database of 40,487 employees, nine validity coefficients were estimated for 192 positions. The predicted validities from the WLS approach had lower estimated variability than would be obtained from either the classic JCV approach or local criterion-related validity studies. Data, People, & Things summary ratings did not consistently moderate validity coefficients, whereas the PAQ data did moderate validity coefficients. In sum, these results suggest that synthetic validity procedures should incorporate a WLS regression approach. Moreover, researchers should consider a comprehensive set of job characteristics when considering job complexity rather than a single aggregated index.     

A STRUCTURE-MAPPING APPROACH TO COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Several contemporary theories of cognitive development appear to agree that children progress through a hierarchy of increasingly powerful cognitive organizations, and that higher-level organizations impose greater information-processing loads. Although theories differ in their method of defining both the levels and the information-processing loads they impose, it is possible to find considerable common ground. In this paper it is argued that the different levels of cognitive organization can be attributed to a hierarchy of structure-mapping rules. Structure mapping is part of the process by which children represent and understand concepts. Four levels of structure mapping are defined. The levels, from lowest to highest, are based on element mappings, relational mappings, system mappings and multiple-system mappings. The higher-level rules are more ‘abstract’ in the sense of being less dependent on specific properties of each task, and are more transferable. However, they also impose higher information-processing demands. Children who lack the information-processing capacity for a particular level of structure mapping will be able to attain concepts that belong to that level. The theory is used to predict the characteristic age of attainment of cognitive tasks including transitivity, classification, interpretation of algebraic expressions, analogies, logical reasoning, and hypothesis testing. It is argued that the four-structure mapping levels can subsume the four main stages of cognitive development.