Let Go or Retain? A Comparative Study of the Attitudes of Business Students and Managers About the Retirement of Older Workers

This study's central research question is: “How do managers evaluate the desirability of early retirement of their employees, and under what circumstances and for what types of workers are they in favor of delay?” We sought to compare managers' and business students' decision making regarding older workers. We examined the extent to which student samples are appropriate to study organizational behavior. An identical factorial survey was carried out among 26 managers and 25 business school students. The results revealed that business students concentrate on performance‐related individual characteristics when making selection decisions, whereas managers also recognize contextual factors (need for downsizing, tight labor market) and older workers' attitudes toward retirement.     

COMPARISONS OF MANAGERIAL AND EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION WITH A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM

Questionnaires were administered to managers and employees in a large multinational corporation to assess satisfaction with various aspects of a performance appraisal system. Comparisons of managers' and employees' satisfaction were made by conducting factor analyses for each sample. The results indicate moderate similarity between the two groups. However, two significant differences were revealed by the analysis. First, there is evidence that employees perceive certain aspects of the appraisal system in a global way, whereas managers differentiate among various components and see them as distinct entities. Second, the relative importance of the factors differs between the two groups. The largest portion of variance accounted for in the employee sample pertained to general satisfaction with the system whereas for managers it pertained to the types of ratings made on the appraisal form. The results are discussed in terms of the different perspectives managers and employees have in the appraisal process.     

Additional Evidence of Attitudinal Influences in Performance Appraisal

The attitudes of twenty-nine managers toward performance appraisal and toward their organization were used to predict differences in mean ratings and measures of discrimination among ratees and performance dimensions. Substantial multiple correlations were obtained for all three dependent variables (between 32 and 46% of the variance in each measure was explained), and several individual correlations were statistically significant. Raters who showed low levels of confidence in the appraisal system, high levels of discomfort, or high levels of instrumental commitment were more likely to provide ratings that were unusually high or that did not discriminate well among ratees and/or dimensions. Raters who showed higher levels of attitudinal commitment or who perceived more risks associated with distorting ratings tended to provide lower ratings and to discriminate among ratees and/or dimensions.     

What do People Want from their Jobs? The Big Five,core self‐evaluations and work motivation

If people are differentially motivated on the basis of individual differences, this implies important practical consequences with respect to staffing decisions and the selection of the right motivational techniques for managers. In two different samples (students facing graduation vs full‐time employees), the relationships between personality traits and the preference for job characteristics concerning either extrinsic (job environment) or intrinsic job features (work itself) were investigated. Two personality traits [openness to experience and core self‐evaluations (CSE)] were consistently found to be positively related to the preference concerning work characteristics, and CSE showed incremental validity with regard to intrinsic work motivation factors (e.g., experienced meaningfulness, autonomy). Furthermore, age was differentially linked to those job characteristics. The results are discussed with regards to the optimal Person–Job Fit and the practical utility of the personality constructs.     

Time Is Money: Polychronicity as a Predictor of Performance Across Job Levels

This series of studies examined the construct and criterion-related validity of polychronicity (i.e., preferences and attitudes associated with multitasking) in managerial and nonmanagerial jobs. A person–situation approach was taken to understand the individual differences and job demand characteristics that help explain the relationship between polychronicity and job performance. Hypotheses were tested with two samples of employees in different organizations (N?=?222 and 168, respectively). Results provide support for polychronicity as a predictor of job performance and a correlate of other individual differences measures (e.g., personality, job-relevant skills). In addition, polychronicity accounted for variance in job performance beyond personality, biodata, and ability. Results are discussed in the context of future research and applications for identifying contexts in which polychronicity is a salient predictor.     

Employee Reactions to the Physical Work Environment: The Role of Childhood Residential Attributes1

This study examines the possibility that 2 employee background attributes, childhood residential density and childhood community type, moderate relations between characteristics of the physical work environment and employee responses. Administrative employees (N= 75) from 25 offices of a university participated in the research. Results demonstrate that employees from high-density childhood residences and urban communities exhibited more positive responses as adults (i. e., higher performance and lower crowding) to high-contact work environments (i. e., those characterized by few enclosures, high spatial density, and close interpersonal distance) than employees from other combinations of childhood residential density and community type. Results also suggest that the contributions of residential density and community type were somewhat accounted for by individual differences in social avoidance tendencies and noise sensitivities.     

Justice distributive et critères de distributions financières : entre performance,allégeance et besoin des salariés

We examine the respective importance given to the five criteria of financial distributions: performance (individual and team work), individual needs, degree of allegiance/rebellion to hierarchical orders and the reason for this allegiance/rebellion (legalism vs opportunism). In total, 1315 participants were confronted with a specific case in which they had to advise a manager on the distribution of bonus among his employees. These employees were characterized by their respective individual performance, the performance of their team, one of the employees being also defined as being (or not) in financial need and to use to obey (or not) hierarchical orders. It is observed that the best performing employees are more rewarded, but each of the other criteria also have influence, both separately and with interactions.     

Employee self-enhancement motives and job performance behaviors: investigating the moderating effects of employee role ambiguity and managerial perceptions of employee commitment

This study examined the effects of employee self-enhancement motives on job performance behaviors (organizational citizenship behaviors and task performance) and the value of these behaviors to them. The authors propose that employees display job performance behaviors in part to enhance their self-image, especially when their role is not clearly defined. They further argue that the effects of these behaviors on managerial reward recommendation decisions should be stronger when managers believe the employees to be more committed. The results from a sample of 84 working students indicate that role ambiguity moderated the effects of self-enhancement motives on job performance behaviors and that managerial perceptions of an employee's commitment moderated the effects of those organizational citizenship behaviors that are aimed at other individuals on managers' reward allocation decisions.     

FUNCTIONS OF LIFE INSURANCE AGENCY MANAGERS and RELATIONSHIPS WITH AGENCY CHARACTERISTICS and MANAGERIAL TENURE

A questionnaire completed by 1282 male life insurance agency managers from 50 companies was used to develop (via factor analysis) six behavorial functions of agency managers. The relationship between the frequency of activity in each function and five variables–number of agents, number of supervisors, tenure, type of agency and origin of agency–was examined using zero order and multiple correlation procedures. The two measures of size, number of agents and number of supervisors, were the most consistent correlates of behavior. The degree of shared variance among management functions and the five variables, though significant statistically, did not exceed 9%. Reasons cited for these results included: (1) policies and practices particular to individual companies; (2) the discretion managers have in choosing task activities; (3) the limited number of variables examined as correlates of managerial functions; and, (4) individual differences among agency managers. It was concluded, for practical reasons, that management research should include efforts to develop taxonomies that cut across technological categories of managers as well as defining the specific behavior functions of managers in particular technological categories. Such specific taxonomies are required for effective human resource management practices at managerial levels in organizations.     

员工及其管理者的情绪智力对员工工作绩效的影响

研究员工及其管理者的情绪智力对员工工作绩效的影响,并探索了管理者的情绪智力对其下属员工工作绩效发生影响的内在机制。采用配对取样的方法对30家企业进行了管理者与其下属员工的配对调查。结果发现,员工及其管理者的情绪智力对员工的工作绩效都有显著的正向影响,领导－部属交换在管理者情绪智力对员工情境绩效的影响中起部分中介作用,领导－部属交换在管理者情绪智力对员工任务绩效的影响中起着微弱的部分中介作用     

Gender differences in the family-relatedness of relocation decisions

Using a dyadic study design, the present study draws on research into the family-relatedness of work decisions to examine the impact of the spouse's characteristics on an employee's willingness to engage in job-related relocation. With a sample of 1234 employees, the results show that spousal willingness to relocate mediates (a) the negative effect of the spouse's community ties and (b) the positive effect of the spouse's job alternatives on an employee's willingness to relocate. The indirect effect of the spouse's job alternatives was stronger among female than among male employees. To validate employees' perceptions, this study uses matched data from a subsample of 207 employees and their spouses to test a multi-source model, which revealed several notable inconsistencies. Our exploration of discrepancies between employee and spousal ratings helps explain these differences between single-source and multi-source models. Overall, findings suggest that employees consider various spousal factors in their career decision-making, and the family-relatedness of relocation decisions is particularly strong among female employees.     

Unpackaging Manager Mistrust in Allowing Telework: Comparing and Integrating Theoretical Perspectives

Purpose

We developed and tested an integrative model centering on the significance of trust as a basis for managers’ decisions about allowing versus prohibiting their employees to telework. We examined the importance of trust in relation to several other factors managers may consider in making telework decisions including coordination and communication, equity, and a desire to accommodate employees.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Study 1 was a policy capturing investigation of 71 respondents intended to document the relative importance and interactions among trust and these other theoretically based factors. Study 2 was a test of the full theoretical model based on the responses of 85 managers who reported on these considerations for the 191 employees about whom they make telework decisions.

Findings

Results from the two studies were largely consistent. Managers’ assessments of employees’ conscientiousness and trustworthiness were paramount in predicting telework allowance, with the other theoretically based considerations generally failing to attenuate the importance of those personal assessments.

Implications

Organizations wishing to increase the use of telework (e.g., by implementing manager telework training) must directly address managers’ mistrust as a factor underlying this resistance. Job-related and technological changes may not dampen the effects of mistrust.

Originality

To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive and theoretically grounded assessment of the various considerations factoring into managers’ telework decisions.

     

Age differences in financial decision making: The benefits of more experience and less negative emotions

The emerging literature on aging and decision making posits that decision‐making competence changes with age, as a result of age differences in various cognitive and noncognitive individual‐differences characteristics. In a national life‐span sample from the United Kingdom (N = 926), we examined age differences in financial decisions, including performance measures of sunk cost and credit card repayment decisions, and self‐report measures of money management and financial decision outcomes. Participants also completed four individual‐differences characteristics that have been proposed as relevant to financial decision making, including two cognitive ones (numeracy and experience‐based knowledge) and two noncognitive ones (negative emotions about financial decisions). First, we examined how age was related to the four financial decision‐making measures and the four individual‐differences characteristics. Older age was correlated to better scores on each of the four financial decision‐making measures, more experience‐based knowledge, less negative emotions about financial decisions, whereas numeracy and motivation were not significantly correlated with age. Second, we found that considering both the two cognitive and the two noncognitive individual‐differences characteristics increased predictions of financial decision making, as compared with considering either alone. Third, we examined how these four individual‐differences characteristics contributed to age differences in financial decision making. Older adults' higher levels of experience‐based knowledge and lower levels of negative emotions seemed to especially benefit their financial decision making. We discuss implications for theories on aging and decision making, as well as for interventions targeting financial decisions.     

Boundaryless LMX: Examining LMX's Impact on External Career Outcomes and Alumni Goodwill

Research has convincingly shown that leader–member exchange (LMX) is associated with a range of beneficial outcomes for employees within organizations. As employees increasingly pursue boundaryless careers that straddle multiple organizations, it is important to ask: Do advantages from LMX extend beyond the current organization and persist even after employees have left it? We propose that employees in higher quality LMX relationships with their managers benefit from stronger professional development, which can pay off in the form of better career outcomes on the external job market. Further, after leaving, whether or not ex‐employees (i.e., alumni) harbor goodwill toward their former organizations is likely to depend on their LMX quality prior to leaving. Alumni goodwill matters because organizations can potentially reap important strategic benefits from their alumni. Using time separated data including alumni interviews conducted by third‐party consultants, we find that, among employees who quit, pre‐turnover LMX is positively related to higher salaries and greater responsibility in their next jobs and is also positively related to alumni goodwill. Moreover, the strength of the LMX–alumni goodwill relationship depends on whether managers made robust retention efforts after employees communicated their decisions to quit.     

Coping With a Career Plateau: An Empirical Examination of What Works and What Doesn't1

This study examines the relationships between coping responses and organizational outcomes for career‐plateaued and nonplateaued employees. The objective was to determine the efficacy of common coping responses suggested for plateaued employees. Positive activities, such as expanding job assignments, mentoring, functional or technical career paths, and projects or teams, were associated with more positive attitudes and higher perceived performance among plateaued employees. Among nonplateaued employees, there were no significant relationships found. Negative denial responses, such as blaming the supervisor or organization for the plateau, reporting intentions to leave, and use of alcohol or drugs, were associated with lower attitudes and higher career‐related strain among both plateaued and nonplateaued employees. Negative behavioral responses, such as lowering quality or quantity of work, psychological withdrawal, and lateral transfers, were associated with lower attitudes among both groups of employees and lower perceived performance among plateaued employees. Implications for managers and human resource professionals are discussed.     

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS ON INDIVIDUALS' TURNOVER DECISIONS: A META-ANALYTIC PATH MODEL

Historically, researchers have sought to identify environmental causes of employee turnover. This paradigm has led to the underemphasis of individual differences as being an important cause of individuals' turnover decisions. The results of the meta-analysis show that personality traits do have an impact on individuals' turnover intentions and behaviors. The trait of Emotional Stability best predicted (negatively) employees' intentions to quit, whereas the traits of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness best predicted (negatively) actual turnover decisions. A theoretically developed path model showed important direct effects from personality to intentions to quit and turnover behaviors that were not captured through job satisfaction or job performance. These direct effects indicate that employees who are low on Emotional Stability may intend to quit for reasons other than dissatisfaction with their jobs or not being able to perform their jobs well. The direct effects on turnover suggest that individuals who are low on Agreeableness or high on Openness may engage in unplanned quitting. Personality traits had stronger relationships with outcomes than did non-self-report measures of job complexity/job characteristics.     

Racial differences in sensitivity to behavioral integrity: attitudinal consequences, in-group effects, and "trickle down" among Black and non-Black employees

Recent research has suggested that employees are highly affected by perceptions of their managers' pattern of word-action consistency, which T. Simons (2002) called behavioral integrity (BI). The authors of the present study suggest that some employee racial groups may be more attentive to BI than others. They tested this notion using data from 1,944 employees working at 107 different hotels and found that Black employees rated their managers as demonstrating lower BI than did non-Black employees. Mediation analyses were consistent with the notion that these differences in perceived BI in turn account for cross-race differences in trust in management, interpersonal justice, commitment, satisfaction, and intent to stay. Results of hierarchical linear modeling were consistent with the idea that middle managers' perceptions of their senior managers' BI "trickle down" to affect line employee perceptions of the middle managers and that this trickle-down effect is stronger for Black employees. The authors interpret these results as indicative of heightened sensitivity to managers' BI on the part of Black employees. They also found a reverse in-group effect, in that Black employees were substantially more critical of Black managers than were non-Black employees.     

EFFECTIVENESS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL TRAINING USING COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION AND BEHAVIOR MODELING

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of performance appraisal training in an organizational setting. Four hundred and two middle level managers were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: no training, computer assisted instruction only (CAI), or CAI training plus a behavior modeling workshop (CAIW). Training effectiveness was assessed on two categories of dependent variables, managerial learning and managerial job performance. As predicted trained managers were found to be more knowledgeable of performance appraisal than untrained managers. Also as predicted, managers in the CAIW group conducted appraisal discussions which were perceived by employees as more satisfying than employees of managers in the no training group. Only partial support was obtained for the hypothesis that trained managers would be more effective in completing performance appraisal forms.     

A Policy-Capturing Approach to Individuals′ Decisions to Be Absent

This study provided a within-subjects assessment of the factors associated with an individual′s decision to be absent and examined whether there were differences between individuals in their decisions. A sample of maintenance and clerical employees at a large Midwest university responded to hypothetical scenarios describing factors that might contribute to their decisions to be absent on a particular day. Illness explained mare variance than any other factor in individual′s absence decisions. Several other within-subject and between-subject influences were identified. Results from a cluster analysis suggested that the importance of these factors differed between subgroups of individuals, lending support to Johns and Nicholson′s (1982) argument that the meaning of absence is not the same for all individuals.     

The persistence of pro-male bias despite identical information regarding causes of success

The present study controlled performance attributions in situations which required direct male-female comparison, and found that even with such control the pro-male bias in evaluation and treatment persisted. Forty eight middle-level managers from a variety of organizations in Israel reviewed performance appraisal material of fictitious male and female employees whose work success was attributed to the same causes. Although attribution influenced decisions, the pro-male bias did not disappear. Despite identical causes provided, males were consistently ranked higher than females. It is argued that the methodology in the sex-linked bias research should use (1) direct male-female comparison, (2) mixed-sex sets of stimulus persons, and (3) ranking formats rather than rating formats.