ATTITUDES AND EFFECTIVENESS: EXAMINING RELATIONS AT AN ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL

Recent evidence has suggested that attitudes-organizational effectiveness relations may exist. Relations between employee attitudes, organizational unit performance, customer satisfaction, and turnover were examined at the branch level for a large automobile finance company. Using data from 142 branches in 2 consecutive years, several significant relations between attitude factors and performance were observed. In addition, causal analyses conducted at the branch level suggested that customer satisfaction led to employee attitudes, rather than the opposite. Additional analyses to explain this result suggested that economic conditions and related factors might be the causal mechanism at the aggregated level. Other potential interpretations of these findings and caveats about generalizing organizational-level findings to the individual level are discussed.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FORMAL MENTORING PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS AND PERCEIVED PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS

Formal mentoring programs continue to gain popularity within organizations despite limited empirical research regarding how these programs should be designed to achieve maximum effectiveness. This study examined design features of formal mentoring programs and perceived program effectiveness from both mentor and protégé perspectives. Mentor commitment and program understanding were examined as mediators. Substantial support for the proposed path analytic model was found. These results help begin to bridge the gap between science and practice concerning the design of formal mentoring programs.     

PERCEIVED JOB CHARACTERISTICS AND JOB SATISFACTION: AN EXAMINATION OF RECIPROCAL CAUSATION

The following four assumptions were tested (a) satisfaction with job/task events and perceptions of job challenge, autonomy, and importance are direct, reciprocal causes of each other; (b) job perceptions are also caused directly by situation attributes, although perceptual distortions resulting for individual dispositions must also be considered; (c) job satisfaction is also cognitively consistent with (i.e., caused by) individual dispositions, although these individual dispositions are generally different from those associated with job perceptions; and (d) individuals reply on job perceptions, and not situational attributes, for information in formulating job satisfaction attitudes. The assumptions are tested on a sample of nonsupervisory subjects ( n = 642) from divergent work environments (e.g., production-lines and a computer software department). A nonrecursive, structural equation analysis, combined with tests of logical consistency, supported the assumptions above. The results were employed to recommend changes in current perspectives regarding perceptual/affective dichotomies and unidirectional causal models and moderator models that link job perceptions to job satisfaction.     

THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING LABORATORIES UPON THE EFFECTIVENESS AND INTERACTION OF ONGOING WORK GROUPS

The impact upon four work groups (N= 31) which participated in organizational training laboratory sessions is evaluated in comparison with eight similar groups (N= 60) which did not participate. Criteria were six-factored dimensions, each composed of items gathered from earlier interviews which group members perceived as problems. Significant changes occurred in training groups in the following three dimensions: group effectiveness, mutual influence, and personal involvement. No significant changes occurred in leader approachability, intragroup trust, or in the evaluation of group meetings. The relevance of a work unit participating in training as a total group, rather than each member participating in a separate session, is discussed.     

AN EXPLORATORY EXAMINATION OF PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT: ORGANIZATIONAL GOAL CONGRUENCE

Relationships between organization members'agreement on organizational goats and their attitudes and intentions regarding the organization were investigated in this study. A constituency approach was used to operationalize the organization into meaningful units as the basis for comparison between organizational members. Specifically, the congruence between hierarchical levels (supervisor-subordinate) and within a level (member-constituency) was examined. Both types of congruence were hypothesized to relate positively to job satisfaction and organizational commitment and negatively to intention to quit. The hypotheses were tested using data from 356 principals and 14,721 teachers, each rating the importance of goals for their school. The results confirmed the hypotheses regarding goal congruence among members of a constituency (teachers) and between hierarchical levels (principals and teachers), with member-constituency congruence having the greater impact on teachers'attitudes and intention to quit.     

EMPLOYEE COPING WITH ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: AN EXAMINATION OF ALTERNATIVE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES AND MODELS

This longitudinal study seeks to determine the appropriate theoretical structure for how employees cope with organizational change. A model based on the appraisal theory of emotion is compared to competing theoretical structures of coping found in the literature: stimulus–response, partial mediation, and moderated. Structural equation model results showed that coping with organizational change is a completely mediated process best represented by the stimulus–response theoretical structure, whereby negative appraisal is associated with reduced control and increased escape coping, which are positively related to positive and negative emotions, respectively. Negative emotions predicted sick time used and intentions to quit, which then predicted voluntary turnover. Implications for coping theory and organizational change management are discussed.     

工作压力理论及其在研究中的重要性

有关工作压力的研究是在西方心理学和管理学界都发展较快的一个领域。然而,这一领域中具有广泛和概括意义的理论还不多。该文介绍了工作压力研究中影响较大的4种理论,特别是对Lazarus提出的交互理论做了较详细的介绍。还分析了它们的局限性并讨论了理论在研究工作中的重要性的问题。     

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND PERCEIVED WRONGDOING ASSOCIATED WITH WHISTLE-BLOWING DECISIONS

The potential explanations of why some observers report organizational wrongdoing, whereas others do not, are considered in this study. Nearly 8,600 randomly selected employees of 15 organizations completed questionnaires concerning whistle-blowing. Archival data and aggregate measures of organizational climate were also used. Discriminant analysis revealed that organization members who had observed alleged wrongdoing were more likely to blow the whistle if they had convincing evidence of wrongdoing, if the wrongdoing was serious, and if it directly affected them. Further, where the organization appeared to be dependent on the wrongdoing and threatened retaliation, whistle-blowers were more likely to report it to someone outside the organization. Implications for management practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

RESEARCH ON OCCUPATIONAL STRESS: AN UNFINISHED ENTERPRISE

Job stress (and more generally, employee health) has been a relatively neglected area of research among industrial-organizational psychologists. The empirical research that has been done is reviewed within the context of six facets (i.e., environmental, personal, process, human consequences, organizational consequences, and time) of a seven facet conceptualization of the job stress–employee health research domain. (The seventh facet, adaptive responses, is reviewed in the forthcoming second article of this series.) A general and a sequential model are proposed for tying the facets together. It is concluded that some of the major problems of the research in this area are: confusion in the use of terminology regarding the elements of job stress, relatively weak methodology within specific studies, the lack of systematic approaches in the research, the lack of interdisciplinary approaches, and the lack of attention to many elements of the specific facets.     

AN EXAMINATION OF IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT USE AND EFFECTIVENESS ACROSS ASSESSMENT CENTER EXERCISES: THE ROLE OF COMPETENCY DEMANDS

We report 2 studies that examine how promotional candidates use verbal and nonverbal impression management (IM) tactics across several structured assessment center exercises that differ in the competency demands they place on candidates. Based on the competency-demand hypothesis ( Shoda, Mischel, & Wright, 1993a, 1993b ), it was predicted that IM use would occur most frequently and have the strongest effects on assessor evaluations in exercises that place greater demands on candidates' interpersonal skills than in exercises that depend primarily on technical skills. In both studies, IM tactics were generally used more frequently and there was more variability in IM use for those exercises requiring candidates to display interpersonal competencies (i.e., the role-plays and mock presentation) relative to the exercise that did not (i.e., the tactical exercise). The relationship between IM use and assessor evaluations was also influenced by the competencies assessed by the exercises, and IM use related to both interpersonal and noninterpersonal ratings of performance.     

CONTINGENCIES IN THE EFFECTS OF PAY RANGE ON ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

The degree of pay spread can influence many organizational level outcomes (e.g., workforce productivity and organizational performance), but empirical studies are inconsistent about the directionality of the effect. We argue that it is not simply the width of the pay range but also the factors responsible for the width that explain the effects of the pay range on employee and organizational outcomes. We expect that when wider pay ranges are attributable to the use of performance-based pay, the effects of the pay range on performance are positive, but narrower pay ranges attributable to performance-based pay reduce this effect substantially. By contrast, wider pay ranges attributable to politically based pay should have negative effects on performance, and this effect should be weakened when the pay ranges are narrower. Data from a sample of motor carriers generally support our predictions. Although wider pay ranges have positive effects, the results reveal a complex pattern of relationships among the basis of pay allocations and pay range width on the one hand and workforce productivity and organizational performance on the other. Implications for future compensation and strategic human resource management research are discussed.     

AN EXPLORATION OF COMMUNICATION AND PRODUCTIVITY IN REAL BRAINSTORMING GROUPS

This study analyzed the performance of individuals in real brainstorming groups in an attempt to determine the relationship between individual ideational output, perceptions of status within the group, and communication apprehension. Results of a multiple discriminant analysis suggest that persons who are high producers of ideas perceive fewer status differences among group members, perceive themselves as high status group members and are less apprehensive as communicators than those persons low in productivity. The linear combination of discriminating variables was able to successfully classify over 75% of the subjects into their actual output group.     

JOB STRESS,EMPLOYEE HEALTH,AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: A FACET ANALYSIS,MODEL, AND LITERATURE REVIEW1

Job stress (and more generally, employee health) has been a relatively neglected area of research among industrial/organizational psychologists. The empirical research that has been done is reviewed within the context of six facets (i.e., environmental, personal, process, human consequences, organizational consequences, and time) of a seven facet conceptualization of the job stress–employee health research domain. (The seventh facet, adaptive responses, is reviewed in the forthcoming second article of this series.) A general and a sequential model are proposed for tying the facets together. It is concluded that some of the major problems of the research in this area are: confusion in the use of terminology regarding the elements of job stress, relatively weak methodology within specific studies, the lack of systematic approaches in the research, the lack of interdisciplinary approaches, and the lack of attention to many elements of the specific facets.     

THE ICA COMMUNICATION AUDIT AND PERCEIVED COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS CHANGES IN 16 AUDITED ORGANIZATIONS

This study brings to light evidence on the benefits of a methodology for evaluation of organizational communication processes and outcomes—the ICA Communication Audit. The audit procedure was developed and tested by ICA (International Communication Association) Division IV, between 1974–1974. Sixteen field tests of the audit have been conducted from 1974–1977. This study undertook an “after” survey of the 16 audited organizations to determine the degree to which the audit was perceived to improve organizational communication effectiveness as well as overall organizational effectiveness. The findings confirmed the ICA Communication Audit as a valid diagnostic methodology and organization development intervention technique which improved both communication awareness and processes in a majority of audited organizations.     

SIGNIFICANCE AND SUBSTANCE: AN EXAMINATION OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFECTS

The dimension of obtained effect size (OES) was examined in this report. The 1977 volumes of Communication Monographs, Human Communication Research, and the Journal of Communication were reviewed, and a comparison of OES magnitude, reporting, and interpretation was conducted. Additional data gleaned from the 1975, 1976, and 1978 volumes of Human Communication Research were also included. The magnitude of experimental effects was relatively high in Communication Monographs and Human Communication Research. The number of authors reporting OES was most pronounced in Human Communication Research. The role of OES in relation to significance was discussed, and some recommendations for the reporting of data were advanced.     

WORK VALUE CONGRUENCE AND INTRINSIC CAREER SUCCESS: THE COMPENSATORY ROLES OF LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE AND PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

We hypothesized that leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) would each interact with work value congruence in relation to intrinsic career success. In a sample of 520 teachers from 30 high schools in Turkey, we found that work value congruence was positively related to job and career satisfaction when POS was low but not related to job and career satisfaction when POS was high. Similarly, work value congruence was positively related to career satisfaction when LMX was low but not related when LMX was high. The results contribute to the POS, LMX, and person-organization fit literatures by demonstrating the compensatory nature of LMX and POS for low value congruence in its relation to job and career satisfaction.     

AN EVALUATION OF ORIENTATION AND ASSESSMENT EFFECTIVENESS IN THE WORK INCENTIVE PROGRAM

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Work Incentive (WIN) Orientation and Assessment Program which was designed to (a) assess enrollee attitudes and abilities, and (b) provide enrollee pre-employment test orientation. A sample of 155 WIN enrollees was divided into two groups; the experimental group received two weeks of orientation and assessment. Results were obtained by using two criteria: First, the number of terminations prior to completing the EDP was examined for each group, and second, the total number of referrals to each of three major components was examined. Findings revealed a significantly lower number of terminations among the experimental group, but did not yield any difference in the number of referrals per component. It is suggested that further studies of this type include a more refined measure of enrollee success and satisfaction in various WIN components.