Development of an Organizational Diversity Needs Analysis (ODNA) Instrument

Researchers have suggested that diversity is beneficial in organizational settings under conditions in which managers can manage it effectively. The goal of the current paper was to develop a general, theoretically anchored measure of diversity needs. Such an instrument could be used to evaluate the existing diversity climate in an organization. Once the climate is assessed, managers can, if necessary, develop, implement, and assess a customized training program to improve their institution's diversity-management practices. A two-study approach is used to examine, determine, and test an eight-dimension instrument, designated the Organizational Diversity Needs Analysis survey.     

Hippocampal involvement in spatial and working memory: a structural MRI analysis of patients with unilateral mesial temporal lobe sclerosis.

Forty-seven patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) were investigated on the Nine-Box Maze. The task was designed to compare working memory and spatial mapping theories of the functions of the hippocampus and provide measures of spatial, object, working, and reference memory. The results extended our previous findings in a larger group of patients. Spatial memory deficits across both working and reference memory conditions were found in patients with a right epileptogenic focus. There was no evidence of an object working memory deficit, but a nonlateralized impairment in object reference memory was revealed, which is consistent with our previous findings. The pattern of results was confirmed in a subgroup of 33 patients with unilateral atrophy localized to the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, as verified by volumetric analysis of magnetic resonance images. In addition spatial memory errors significantly correlated with volumetric measures of mesial temporal lobe structures and not with measures of the remaining temporal cortex. In contrast, object reference memory errors correlated with volumetric measures of the temporal cortex and not with mesial temporal lobe structures. These findings support a specialized role for the right hippocampal region in spatial memory.     

Managerial motivational profiles: Composition,antecedents, and consequences

Using a person-centered approach, we identified managers' (N = 321) motivational profiles and tested a model of the antecedents and consequences of these profiles. The profiles were based on four motivational types delineated by self-determination theory (i.e., external, introjected, identified, intrinsic). Latent profile analysis revealed six distinct motivational profiles. One of these was a self-determined profile (high identified and intrinsic motivation, moderately low introjected motivation, and low external motivation). Four other profiles combined average levels of external motivation with either very low, low, moderately low, or high internal (i.e., introjected, identified, and intrinsic) motivation. The final profile involved moderately high levels of all four motives. The antecedents of profile membership examined were perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational politics. The career-related outcomes of profile membership were work attitudes and promotability. The self-determined and high internal motivation profiles were associated with the most favorable work attitudes, followed by the moderately high motivation profile. The low internal motivation profiles were associated with the least favorable attitudes. Promotability did not differ across the profiles. With respect to the antecedents, low levels of supervisor support and high levels of politics increased the odds that a manager would exhibit profiles that were less desirable than the self-determined profile. Our findings provide initial information about managers' motivational profiles, as well as the antecedents and consequences of these profiles. Further, these results demonstrate the promise of a person-centered approach for advancing motivation research and management development.     

Self-determination at work: Understanding the role of leader-member exchange

Integrating self-determination theory (SDT) and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, we explore the role of the leader in facilitating employee self-determination. We test a model of the linkages between employees’ leader-member exchanges, psychological need satisfaction (i.e., satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs), autonomous motivation, and attitudinal outcomes. We posit that high-quality leader-member exchanges facilitate satisfaction of employees’ fundamental psychological needs, which, in turn, enhance autonomous motivation and outcomes. Results for 283 working professionals supported this notion. Structural equation modeling indicated that the employee’s perception of the quality of the LMX was positively related to satisfaction of the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Satisfaction of competence and autonomy needs was positively related to autonomous motivation, which, in turn, was associated with higher levels of job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and subjective vitality. Our findings accentuate the role of leader-employee relationships in creating self-determination at work, and reinforce the importance of self-determination for employee attitudes and well-being. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Association Between Health and Cognitive Performance in a Population-Based Study of Older Adults: The Charlotte County Healthy Aging Study (CCHAS)

In the present study, the relationship between self-reports and objective measures of health status and measures of cognitive performance was examined. Participants consisted of 437 persons (M =72.91 years) from the Charlotte County Healthy Aging Study, a population-based sample of older adults. Cognitive performance was assessed by tests of episodic memory, perceptual speed, and attention. Health status was indexed by subjective ratings, self-reports, and objective measures. The health measures accounted for significant variance on both the Trailmaking A and B tests, accounting for a modest amount of variance (4.4% and 1.1%, respectively). The health measures were not significantly associated with performance on the measures of attention or episodic memory. The results suggest that health status is associated with processing speed to a greater degree than higher order cognitive processes.     

Executive functioning as a mediator of the relationship between age and episodic memory in healthy aging

The extent to which age-related differences in executive functioning account for age-related differences in recall from episodic memory was examined in a group of healthy older adults. Fifty-one subjects between the ages of 60 and 91 years were given tests of general cognitive abilities, episodic memory, and executive functioning. A mediational model was proposed with executive functioning as the mediator of the relationship between age and delayed recall. Consistent with this model, regression analyses indicated that, when considered alone, age was a significant predictor of recall (p <.001); however, age was not a significant predictor of recall when the effect of executive functioning was partialled out of the equation (p=.37). Furthermore, the unique contribution of executive functioning accounted for 36% of the variance in recall performance. A significant portion of age-related differences in episodic memory recall, therefore, may be due to age-related differences in the executive skills required for optimal performance on such tests.     

Reliability of children's reports of depressive symptomatology

The use of self-report measures for the assessment of depression in children has gained wide popularity as a component in the evaluation of children's mental health and wellbeing. However, the extent to which children are reliable and consistent reporters of their depressive symptoms is sometimes called into question. This study examined the test-retest reliability of children's reports of depressive symptomatology on the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS;Reynolds, 1989a). The sample consisted of 220 children, in grades 3 through 6, representing a crosssection of ethnic groups. Children were tested twice, with a 4-week interval between testings. Results showed a high degree of stability in children's responses to the RCDS, with a test-retest reliability coefficient of 85 for the total sample, and a mean difference between testings of less than 2 points. Test-retest reliability coefficients were also computed for males and females, for each grade, and for white, black, Hispanic, and Asian children. Overall, the results lend strong support for the reliability and stability of children's self-reported depressive symptomatology as assessed by the RCDS.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dr. Eleanor Chiang and Rovida Mott of the Sacramento Public Schools for their assistance in obtaining school and subject participation.     

ASYMMETRY IN MOUTH OPENING DURING DIFFERENT SPEECH TASKS

When a normal subject is speaking, the right side of the mouth typically opens more widely or moves over a greater total distance. This asymmetry is most consistent during purely verbal word list generation and verbal recall tasks, less consistent when emotional expression and/or visual imagery is involved, and reversed during smiling. Aphasic patients also show the right bias during word lists, repetition, and conversation, but not during serial speech, singing and smiling. Since observable mouth asymmetry is presumed to result from hemispheric asymmetry in motor control, these observations confirm the major role of a left hemisphere control system for pure verbal expression and provide evidence for involvement of the right hemisphere in mouth motor control during emotional and prosodic expression or visual imagery. Therapeutic possibilities are also suggested.