RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL CLIMATE AND A VIE MODEL FOR WORK MOTIVATION1

The present study examined relationships between psychological climate and components of a valence-instrumentality-expectancy model. Data were obtained from 504 managerial employees of a large health care company. A principal component analysis of responses to 35 composites representing perceptions of the job, leadership, workgroup, and organization yielded six psychological climate components. Similar analyses were conducted separately for 20 valence items and 20 instrumentality items. Considerable similarity was found among the instrumentality and valence components, with one component in each area representing intrinsic outcomes, one component representing organizationally-mediated extrinsic outcomes, one representing negative or neutral outcomes, and one representing leader and workgroup-mediated extrinsic outcomes. Relationships among psychological climate and valence-instrumentality-expectancy components were significant and supported several hypotheses proposed in the literature.     

PROPOSITIONS ABOUT GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENTS: FINALLY, CONSULTATION WITH GRIEVANTS

In the past, research on grievances generally has excluded the views of grievants about the process and its consequences. This study is an analysis of self-reports of 324 grievants concerning the characteristics of a grievance-filing incident and its perceived outcomes. The results raise questions about the veracity of the industrial relations dictum that grievances should be settled at the lowest step in the process. Instead, the nature of the settlement and the type of grievance were perceived to have significant effects on outcome and attitude measures.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF SELF-SUPERVISOR, SELF-PEER, AND PEER-SUPERVISOR RATINGS

Reviews of self–supervisor, self–peer, and peer–supervisor ratings have generally concluded that there is at best a modest correlation between different rating sources. Nevertheless, there has been much inconsistency across studies. Accordingly, a meta-analysis was conducted. The results indicated a relatively high correlation between peer and supervisor ratings (ρ= .62) but only a moderate correlation between self-supervisor (ρ= .35) and self-peer ratings (ρ= .36). While rating format (dimensional versus global) and rating scale (trait versus behavioral) had little impact as moderators, job type (managerial/professional versus blue-collar/service) did seem to moderate self-peer and self-supervisor ratings.     

Researching Ethnic Family Stereotypes

Ethnic stereotypes in the family therapy literature make intuitive sense, but are based on surprisingly little empirical data. In a questionnaire survey of the family experiences of 220 mental health professionals representing eight American ethnic groups, most items differentiated the groups as predicted. A smaller, partial replication study comparing samples from Holland, Ireland, and North America found fewer discriminating items, but the differences that did appear were again as predicted. Implications for therapy and research with ethnic families are discussed.     

INVESTIGATION OF BIAS IN JOB EVALUATION RATINGS OF COMPARABLE WORTH STUDY PARTICIPANTS

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of knowledge of current pay levels and perceived job gender on subsequent job evaluations. The sample consisted of 53 job evaluators in professional and scientific positions at the University of Iowa who had previously received 20 hours of training in job evaluation and participated in over 100 hours of job evaluations during the implementation of a comparable worth pay system. The hypothesis that jobs with high (manipulated) pay levels would receive higher evaluations than jobs with low (manipulated) pay levels was confirmed, although the effects were smaller than those reported in other studies. In addition, evidence of a pro-female bias was found ( p < .08) in the job evaluation ratings. Implications of these findings for job evaluation research and practice are discussed.     

Laughter: an empirical test of some reversal theory hypotheses

Hypotheses derived from reversal theory on state-specific responses to humorous material were tested by recruitment of 10 telic (serious minded) and 10 paratelic (playful) state-dominant individuals from a larger sample of university students completing the Telic Dominance Scale. They were individually exposed to a comedy programme displayed on television in a psychophysiological laboratory. Polygraph record of respiration provided operational measurement of laughter. Subjects ratings were derived for felt and preferred level of arousal and for telidparatelic state in the laboratory situation. Results confirmed (1) that humorous material tends to induce the paratelic state, even in telic state-dominant individuals, and (2) that frequency of laughter in the paratelic state is positively correlated with degree of felt arousal and with arousal preference, thus indicating a linear , rather than ditonic, relation of hedonic tone to felt arousal in this state.