Personality and the prediction of team performance

Although much is known about personality and individuals' job performance, only a few studies have considered the effects of team‐level personality on team performance. Existing research examining the effects of personality on team performance has found that, of the Big Five factors of personality, Conscientiousness is often the most important predictor. Accordingly, we investigated the criterion validity of lower‐level Conscientiousness traits to determine whether any one trait is particularly predictive of team performance. In addition to Conscientiousness, we examined the criterion validity of the other Big Five personality factors. We found that Conscientiousness and its facets predicted team performance. Agreeableness, Extraversion and Neuroticism were not predictive of team performance, whereas Openness had a modest negative relation with team performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Role of face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication time in the cohesion and performance of mixed‐mode groups

Although the rapid development of information technology has led to the increasing use of computer‐mediated communication (CMC), few studies have examined the relational aspect of mixed‐mode groups that use both face‐to‐face (FTF) communication and CMC. A field study comprising 42 student groups was conducted to assess the relationships among communication time, cohesion, and performance in mixed‐mode groups. The findings suggest that time spent in FTF communication significantly predicted group social cohesion, but time spent in CMC did not. In contrast, group task cohesion was predicted by time spent in CMC but not by time spent in FTF communication. Time spent in CMC was also a strong predictor of group task performance. These results suggest that FTF communication contributes to the social aspect of mixed‐mode groups and that CMC is beneficial to their task‐related aspect. The findings of mediation analyses showed a significant indirect effect among time spent in FTF communication, group social cohesion, and group contextual performance. In other words, time spent in FTF communication had a positive effect on group social cohesion, which in turn positively affected group contextual performance. However, no mediating effect was found among time spent in CMC, group task cohesion, and group task performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

我国中等职业学校青少年学生情感素质的现状

本研究采用自编的《青少年情感素质调查问卷》对全国3类地区9大城市1767名中等职业学校青少年学生进行了问卷调查。结果表明：我国中职生情感素质总体处于积极正向、亟待提高的状况;女生的情感素质稍优于男生,但存在结构性差异;情感素质与中职生学业自评呈正相关;居住情况和父母学历对中职生情感素质影响不大;与同龄高中生在情感总体上没有显著差异,仅理智情感发展低于高中生,并主要表现在自信感和好奇心方面;师生关系良好、教师有情施教对中职生各方面情感素质发展具有极为重要的促进作用,应引起教育部门的高度关注。     

极端环境下个体绩效的负性表现

极端环境是指太空、深海、南北极、大型竞技比赛等对人的心理、生理功能提出较高要求的复杂恶劣环境条件。个体与环境之间的相互作用会对绩效表现产生一定影响。本文通过系统回顾国内外研究,并结合最新的认知神经科学研究结果,将极端环境下负性绩效表现的相关研究进展进行梳理与探讨。     

中国企业中员工创新能力与创新绩效的关系:以组织创新气氛为调节变量

运用结构方程建模技术中的无约束估价法,对来自10家企业413名员工的数据进行调节效应模型的检验。探讨了中国企业中员工创新能力对创新绩效的影响,以及组织创新气氛在其中的调节作用。结果发现:员工的创新能力对其创新意愿和创新结果具有显著的正向影响;在创新能力水平一定的情况下,创新意愿、行动和结果的水平随着组织创新气氛的提升而有所增强。该结果表明组织创新气氛显著调节着员工创新能力对创新绩效的影响。     

Toward a better understanding of the effects of hindrance and challenge stressors on work behavior

This study investigated the processes whereby hindrance and challenge stressors may affect work behavior. Three mechanisms were examined to explain the differential effects these stressors have demonstrated: job satisfaction, strains, and work self-efficacy. A model is proposed in which both types of stressors will result in increases in strains, but that job satisfaction is primarily involved in the relationship between hindrance stressors and citizenship behavior, and efficacy is involved in the relationship between challenge stressors and job performance. Although the results generally supported the dual-stressor framework showing meaningful relationships to the work outcomes through the proposed processes, the link between work self-efficacy and job performance was not significant. This model was analyzed using multi-source data collected from 143 employees from a variety of organizational settings. Implications for the conceptualization of stressors and the development of interventions are discussed.     

Commitment to nonwork roles and job performance: Enrichment and conflict perspectives

An extensive commitment to nonwork roles was negatively associated with the job performance of 182 women legal secretaries. In addition to its direct negative effect on job performance, nonwork role commitment had both a negative indirect effect (through emotional energy expended on nonwork roles) and a positive indirect effect (through resources acquired from nonwork roles) on job performance. Consistent with a family-to-work conflict perspective, the negative effect was stronger than the positive effect. We suggest that the level and type of job occupied by the respondents in the study may have been responsible for the dominance of the negative effect and encourage researchers to examine the contextual influences that might explain the conditions under which commitment to life outside of work dampens or promotes performance in the work domain.