Predicting management career success from assessment center data: A longitudinal study

The authors investigated trends over a 13-year period in the predictive validity of assessment center data for objective career advancement for a sample of 456 academic graduates. Using year of entry and tenure as controls, findings from research into managerial effectiveness and development were confirmed with respect to the importance of interpersonal effectiveness, firmness, and ambition for long-term career success. Within the long-tenured group the validity of the overall assessment rating (OAR) corrected for initial differences in starting salaries and for restriction in range, was 0.35. Substantial long-term validities were obtained for ratings from the assessment center exercises. Computation of validities after three to five years of tenure of the same cohort in addition revealed some dynamic validity patterns. For instance, the OAR was important for early and late career success only for the group that was still present after 12 years, and its validity increased over time.     

D’un restaurant traditionnel à la mise en œuvre d’un restaurant « libéré » : impacts sur les métiers et le collectif de travail

The restaurant sector questions through the tensions and difficulties it encounters in order to retain employees. In order to cope with this, some managers are mobilizing managerial innovation. This action research exposes the effects on the trades and the work group of a reorganization of a traditional restaurant into a “freedom-form” company. Based on co-construction between researchers, employees and owners, and the use of qualitative methods (interviews, observations), the research presents the levers for more innovation and “happiness at work”. The study shows that the predispositions of the company and the attachment of employees to it were the essential motivating engine for imagining a new work organization.     

Organization tenure as a moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship

Organization tenure as a moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship was examined with data from a sample of 116 technical employees in a medium-sized industrial firm. Results provide support for a moderating influence of organization tenure on the relationship between job performance and overall satisfaction, satisfaction with work, and satisfaction with supervision.     

Individual versus organizational predictors of job satisfaction and turnover among professionals

In a constructive replication and extension of previous research, the relative importance of individual (personality and professional attitudes) versus organizational (professional reward system and tenure) variables in predicting job satisfaction and turnover was investigated for the case of professionals. Support among a sample of computer specialists was found for the notion that, among professionals, individual variables are more important than organizational factors in predicting satisfaction with the work itself; but individual variables often played a major role in satisfaction with contextual aspects of the job as well. Organizational factors were found to be significantly predictive of satisfaction with all aspects of the job, but were the only significant predictors of turnover. Thus the importance of organizational factors over individual factors for professionals was supported more clearly for the behavioral outcome, turnover, than for attitudinal outcomes.     

Job change: A study of an acute job stressor

This paper studies the relationship between job entry and job stress. Skill uncertainty, defined as having inadequately developed job skills, was thought to be associated with the stress reaction. In a longitudinal study of 62 transferred employees, skill uncertainty was associated with both negative emotional arousal 1 month after job entry and with positive emotional arousal 3 months after job entry.