A serendipitous field experiment in job design

A longitudinal study over a 5-month period of changes in several jobs was conducted among 244 employees of a federal agency. Seventy-one employees at a single location constituted an experimental group in which the changes were made. An additional 173 employees at scattered field locations formed a comparison group. Data were obtained on perceptions of job content and a number of job attitudes. The data indicated a temporary positive influence of the changes in one set of jobs. People in a group of clerical jobs, however, experienced a “deenrichment” of their jobs as a result of the changes with an accompanying negative effect on their job attitudes and motivation.     

Job seeking, reemployment, and mental health: a randomized field experiment in coping with job loss

Cognitive theories of adherence to difficult courses of action and findings from previous survey research on coping with a major life event--job loss--were used to generate a preventive intervention, tested by a randomized field experiment. The aim was to prevent poor mental health and loss of motivation to seek reemployment among those who continued to be unemployed and to promote high-quality reemployment. Ss were 928 recently unemployed adults from southeastern Michigan, representing a broad range of demographic characteristics; they were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control condition. The experimental intervention included training in job seeking with a problem-solving process emphasizing inoculation against setbacks and positive social reinforcement. A pretest was administered, followed by posttests 1 and 4 months after the experiment. The experimental condition yielded higher quality reemployment in terms of earnings and job satisfaction, and higher motivation among those who continued to be unemployed.     

Self-management training for improving job performance: a field experiment involving salespeople

In a control-group field experiment using a reversal design, 30 insurance salespeople were randomly assigned to an experimental group that received self-management training. A multivariate analysis of variance and subsequent repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed that, compared with a control condition (n = 30), training in self-management skills significantly improved job performance as assessed through both objective and subjective measures. Performance improvement continued with time, and increases were sustained across a 12-month period posttraining. Subsequent training of the control group produced similar increases in self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and job performance. Potential mediating effects of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies on the self-management-performance relationship were explored and partially supported.     

Motor processes in simple, go/no-go, and choice reaction time tasks: a psychophysiological analysis

Psychophysiological measures were used to compare the response preparation and response execution processes of modified versions of F. C. Donders's (1868/1969) classic simple, go/no-go, and choice reaction time tasks. On all measures, differences between tasks were minimal prior to test stimulus onset, supporting the idea of equivalent motor preparation for the 3 tasks. In addition, the psychophysiological measures indicated that the time from the onset of motor processing to the keypress response was also approximately constant across tasks. These results support the assumption that the mean duration of motor processes can be invariant across simple, go/no-go, and choice tasks, at least for the present modified versions of these tasks. The findings emphasize the utility of psychophysiological measures for both examining preparatory processes preceding stimulus onset and for localizing effects on reaction time.     

Complex span tasks, simple span tasks, and cognitive abilities: A reanalysis of key studies

There is great interest in the relationships between memory span tasks and cognitive abilities. However, the causes underlying their correlation remain unknown. In the present article, five key data sets were reanalyzed according to two criteria: They must consider complex span tasks (so-called working memory [WM] tasks) and simple span tasks (so-called short-term memory [STM] tasks), and they must comprise cognitive ability measures. The obtained results offer several points of interest. First, memory span tasks should be conceived from a hierarchical perspective: They comprise both general and specific components. Second, the general component explains about four times the variance explained by the specific components. Third, STM and WM measures are closely related. Fourth, STM and WM measures share the same common variance with cognitive abilities. Finally, the strong relationship usually found between memory span tasks and cognitive abilities could be tentatively interpreted by the component shared by STM and WM--namely, the capacity for temporarily preserving a reliable memory representation of any given information.     

Initial job analysis of military embedded behavioral health services: Tasks and essential competencies

Utilization of mental health personnel assigned to operational military units is an area of growth for the US military. What activities they perform, how requirements may differ from working in clinical settings, and how to select and train for these types of positions is still poorly understood. A job analysis was conducted of Air Force mental health providers and enlisted technicians embedded in special operations, intelligence, and high-risk training units. Participants rated 27 tasks on frequency, importance, difficulty, and risks, as well as the importance of 37 knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), with differentiation between KSAs that may be trained versus those that must be present to be assigned to the embedded position. Tasks reflected 4 areas of activity: unit embedding/engagement, behavioral health consultation and support, performance optimization activities, and operational mission tasks. Tasks varied by professional training (psychologist, social worker, enlisted technician) and unit type. The KSAs rated as most important were ethical judgment and ability to manage complex relationships and boundaries while working outside of a clinic, strong interpersonal skills with appropriate assertiveness to advocate for safe, effective courses of action, and understanding of unit missions and organizational dynamics. Results have implications for job design, selection criteria, professional disciplines with KSAs necessary to unit-specific tasks, and training of personnel for integrated operational support positions.     

Verbal fluency and verbal comprehension abilities in synonym tasks

Generating different synonym candidates and evaluating these candidates with respect to their synonymy with the stimulus word are two components of solving an open synonym task, which requires giving synonyms for a given word (cf. Janssen, Hoskens, & De Boeck, 1993). Separate subtasks were designed to identify these components. It is shown in this study that the generation component ability is primarily related to verbal fluency abilities, whereas the evaluation component ability is primarily related to verbal comprehension abilities. Moreover, evidence is given that these two component abilities can account for the correlations of the open synonym task with other ability measures.     

Mindreading abilities in sexual offenders: an analysis of theory of mind processes

The paper aims to assess the theory of mind (ToM) of sexual offenders. We administered to 21 sexual offenders and to 21 nonoffenders two classical first- and second-order ToM tasks, a selection of six Strange Stories, and a semi-structured interview, the Theory of Mind Assessment Scale (Th.o.m.a.s), which provides a multi-dimensional evaluation of ToM, investigating first- vs. third-person and egocentric vs. allocentric perspectives. Results show that sexual offenders performed worse than controls on second-order ToM tasks, on Strange Stories and on each of the Th.o.m.a.s dimensions, whereas they did as well as the control group on first-order ToM tasks. A detailed analysis of participants’ performance on Th.o.m.a.s. showed that sex offenders performed worse on the third-person than on the first-person ToM scale, and worse on the allocentric than on the egocentric perspective; these findings did not apply to the controls. Implications for future research and treatment are discussed.     

Moderation of the effects of job enrichment by participation: A longitudinal field experiment

In a 2 × 2 field experimental test of L. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham's (1980, Work redesign, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley) task characteristic model, the moderating effects of a contextual variable, participation, on job redesign were examined. Seventy-six desk receptionists participated in the redesign of their jobs or did not, and/or their jobs were actually redesigned or not. The results found significant main effects of job redesign on several measures of satisfaction. Participation was more limited in its effects, only affecting one of the satisfaction measures. However, both factors significantly affected turnover. In addition, contrary to predictions from the model, employee participation did not enhance the effects of enriched work. The results are discussed in terms of revisions to the theory and the practice of job redesign.     

Children's working memory: investigating performance limitations in complex span tasks

Three experiments investigated the roles of resource-sharing and intrinsic memory demands in complex working memory span performance in 7- and 9-year-olds. In Experiment 1, the processing complexity of arithmetic operations was varied under conditions in which processing times were equivalent. Memory span did not differ as a function of processing complexity. In Experiment 2, complex memory span was assessed under three conditions designed to vary both processing and intrinsic storage demands: mental arithmetic (significant attentional demands-requires storage), odd/even judgments (significant attentional demands-no storage required), and articulatory suppression (minimal attentional demands--no storage required). The highest memory spans were found in the articulatory suppression task. Span was at an intermediate level with arithmetic processing and was lowest for processing involving odd/even judgments. This difference in memory span for processing tasks involving arithmetic processing and odd/even judgments was eliminated in Experiment 3 when the pacing requirements of the arithmetic and odd/even processing tasks were equated. The results are consistent with the view that complex memory span performance is disrupted by processing activities that divert attentional resources from storage.     

Aging, practice, and perceptual tasks: a diffusion model analysis

Practice effects were examined in a masked letter discrimination task and a masked brightness discrimination task for college-age and 60- to 75-year-old subjects. The diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978) was fit to the response time and accuracy data and used to extract estimates of components of processing from the data. Relative to young subjects, the older subjects began the experiments with slower and less accurate performance; however, across sessions their accuracy improved because the quality of the information on which their decisions were based improved, and this, along with reduced decision criteria, led to shorter response times. For the brightness, but not the letter, discrimination task, the older subjects' performance matched that of the younger group by the end of 4 sessions, except that their nondecision components of processing were slightly slower. These analyses illustrate how a well-specified model can provide a unified view of multiple aspects of data that are often interpreted separately.     

Unemployed individuals: motives, job-search competencies, and job-search constraints as predictors of job seeking and reemployment

This study investigated 3 broad classes of individual-differences variables (job-search motives, competencies, and constraints) as predictors of job-search intensity among unemployed job seekers. Also assessed was the relationship between job-search intensity and reemployment success in a longitudinal context. Results show significant relationships between the predictors employment commitment, financial hardship, job-search self-efficacy, and motivation control and the outcome job-search intensity. Support was not found for a relationship between perceived job-search constraints and job-search intensity. Motivation control was highlighted as the only lagged predictor of job-search intensity over time for those who were continuously unemployed. Job-search intensity predicted Time 2 reemployment status for the sample as a whole, but not reemployment quality for those who found jobs over the study's duration.     

Relationships between ability requirements and human errors in job tasks

This article describes a program of research investigating the relations between abilities required to perform job tasks and human error probabilities while performing these tasks. Study 1, using objectively derived human errors made in performing Air Force job tasks, evaluated an ability-requirements classification methodology and found that error rates were related to the numbers, types, and levels of different abilities required. In Study 2, subject matter expert panels used the methodology to identify the ability requirements of tasks in 2 different jobs found in each of 2 types of nuclear power plants. This study, using a task-anchored scale of human error probability, replicated the findings of Study 1, identified 2 ability requirements that cross-validated in predicting task-error probabilities across both jobs and plants, and identified other abilities specific to error probabilities in each job.     

Preliminary analysis of effects of normal aging on different memory processes and abilities

Visual recognition-memory span, name-face association, and verbal memory with selective reminding were tested in two groups of 24 normal healthy volunteers (above and below age 50 yr.). The preliminary study suggests differential effects of aging on specific memory components and warrants careful exploration.     

Event-mapping tasks: investigating the effects of prior information and event complexity on performance

Infants younger than 11.5 months typically fail in event-mapping tasks with complex event sequences, yet succeed when the event sequences are made very simple and brief. The present research explored whether younger infants might succeed at mapping complex event sequences if infants were given information to help them organize and structure the event. Three experiments were conducted with 7.5-month-olds. In all of the experiments, the infants were shown a two-phase test event. In the first phase, infants saw a box–ball occlusion sequence in which the objects emerged at least once to each side of the screen, reversing direction each time to return behind the screen. In the second phase, infants saw a one-ball display. Prior to the test trials, infants were shown an “outline” of the test event that contained the basic components of the event. The experiments varied in (a) the kind of information included in the event outline and (b) the complexity of the box–ball test sequence (i.e., the number of object reversals). The results revealed that the 7.5-month-olds benefitted from viewing an event outline, although the performance of the males was more robust than the females. These results add to a growing body of research indicating that young infants can succeed on event-mapping tasks under more supportive conditions and provide insight into why event mapping is such a difficult task for young infants.     

Sociotechnical systems in health care: a field experiment.

This article describes an intervention that employed sociotechnical systems (STS) analysis in the laboratory of a major health care institution in the Midwest. The analysis was performed on two departments of the laboratory to determine opportunities for improving effectiveness, facilitating the introduction of new technology, and enhancing the work experience of technologists. The authors measured the results of the intervention by conducting a survey of technologists before and after the change effort and through follow-up interviews with a sample of physicians, supervisors, and technologists. The intervention did not achieve the results intended, and the authors present their explanation for why this occurred and suggest implications and recommendations for future STS applications to health care settings.