The Current Status of Women in Professional Selling

Abstract

This article examines the status of women in professional selling careers. First, reasons women have not made more rapid movement into the selling profession are examined. Second, women's progress into professional sales jobs are explored. Lastly, suggestions are made for sales managers on how to attract and retain capable women in selling positions.     

The job demand-control(-support) model and physical health outcomes: A review of the strain and buffer hypotheses

Abstract

This review of the Job Demand-Control (JDC) model and the expanded Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS) model and employees' physical health, focuses on the two prevalent views on these models. According to their view on the models researchers study different hypotheses: (a) the (iso)strain hypothesis, stating that the highest level of ill health is expected when the job is characterized by high demand and low control (and low social sup port), ot (b) the buffer hypothesis, predicting that control (and social support) can buffer the potential negative effects of high demands on physical health. It is argued that these hypotheses reflect theoretical distinct models, and that the practical implications associated with these models differ.

The review of 51 studies on the JDC(S) model reveals that the “strain” hypothesis predominates in studies of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) related and specific non-CVD related health outcomes. In contrast, the “buffer” hypothesis is most prevalent in research on self-reported (psycho)somatic complaints. For the strain hypothesis as well as the buffer hypothesis the results are equivocal. Working in a high (iso)strain job appears to be associated with an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease and negative pregnancy outcomes, and increased (psycho)somatic complaints. Conclusions on other physical outcomes seem premature, considering the limited number of studies. The buffer hypothesis is supported in the few studies on CVD endpoints and in some studies on (psycho)somatic complaints.

A comparison of the validity of the two hypotheses is problematic, because they are mostly applied to a different set of outcomes. Furthermore, the analyses employed in the testing of the two hypotheses are of a different nature (non-linear versus linear).

The main recommendation for future research is to examine the validity of the strain and the buffer hypothesis concurrently, and to further explore the nature of the relationships.     

Process Evaluation of A Physical Activity Self-Management Program For Children: Spark

Abstract

SPARK is a controlled field study of a multi-component elementary school program to promote physical activity. One component is a weekly classroom-based self-management program, with the goal of increasing physical activity outside of school. The curriculum included goal setting, behavioral skills training, a reward system, and parent involvement. An evaluation of curriculum implementation and association between process and outcome was conducted using direct observation of lessons, subjective ratings by 24 teachers and 391 parents, and participation records of 549 students. Teachers viewed the self-management curriculum less positively than the physical education curriculum. Teachers were observed implementing an average of 65% of curriculum elements, which may have contributed to the limited effects of the self-management program. Student participation in the program, measured by points earned for doing out of school physical activity, was correlated significantly with changes in body mass index and multiple psychosocial variables among boys but not girls. Barriers to full program implementation were identified, and a remaining challenge is to improve self-management curriculum implementation by teachers.     

Emotion work and job stressors and their effects on burnout

Abstract

This article reports research on emotion work, organizational as well as social variables as predictors of job burnout. In burnout research, high emotional demands resulting from interactions with clients are seen as a core characteristic of service jobs. However, these emotional demands were seldom measured in a direct manner. It was only recently that emotional demands were included in studies on burnout referring to the concept of emotion work (emotional labor). Emotion work is defined as the requirement to display organizationally desired emotions. A multi-dimensional concept of emotion work was used to analyze the relations of emotion work variables with organizational and social variables and their joint effect on burnout in five samples including employees working in children's homes, kindergartens, hotels, banks and call centers. Emotion work variables correlated with organizational stressors and resources. However, hierarchical multiple regression showed a unique contribution of emotion work variables in the prediction of burnout. Moreover, the analysis of interaction effects of emotional dissonance and organizational and social stressors showed that for service professionals, the coincidence of these stressors led to exaggerated levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.     

The Design and Evaluation of a Hope Enhancement Programme for Adults

The study evaluated the effectiveness of a hope enhancement programme for a group of adults and its impact on general psychological well-being. The intervention programme focused on participants' abilities to set feasible goals, planning ways to reach those goals (pathways) and increase determination and motivation (agency) to reach these goals. The workshop-format programme, consisted of six two-hour sessions conducted over five days. A pre and post-test design included an experimental group (n = 8), control group (n = 8) and ‘chat group’ (n = 8). Findings indicated that the programme increased hope levels of the experimental group as indicated by the Hope Scale and the Hopefulness Subscale of the Hunter Opinions and Personal Expectations Scale. Well-being also improved as indicated by a significant increase in sense of coherence along with a positive change in satisfaction with life. Recommendations for future research were made.     

Replication and Extension of a Hierarchical Model of Social Anxiety and Depression: Fear of Positive Evaluation as a Key Unique Factor in Social Anxiety

Wang, Hsu, Chiu, and Liang (2012, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 215–224) recently proposed a hierarchical model of social interaction anxiety and depression to account for both the commonalities and distinctions between these conditions. In the present paper, this model was extended to more broadly encompass the symptoms of social anxiety disorder, and replicated in a large unselected, undergraduate sample (n = 585). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and hierarchical regression analyses were employed. Negative affect and positive affect were conceptualized as general factors shared by social anxiety and depression; fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and disqualification of positive social outcomes were operationalized as specific factors, and fear of positive evaluation (FPE) was operationalized as a factor unique to social anxiety. This extended hierarchical model explicates structural relationships among these factors, in which the higher-level, general factors (i.e., high negative affect and low positive affect) represent vulnerability markers of both social anxiety and depression, and the lower-level factors (i.e., FNE, disqualification of positive social outcomes, and FPE) are the dimensions of specific cognitive features. Results from SEM and hierarchical regression analyses converged in support of the extended model. FPE is further supported as a key symptom that differentiates social anxiety from depression.     

工作要求-资源模型新视角——基于心理社会安全氛围的分析

心理社会安全氛围(Psychosocial safety climate,简称PSC)指员工对组织是否重视员工工作过程中与心理健康和安全相关的政策、规程和行为实践的共同感知和看法.回顾相关研究,对PSC的理论建构、测量方法、效度验证及PSC在工作要求-资源模型(Job Demand-Resource Model,简称JD-R模型)中的作用机制等进行了系统梳理.在此基础上,总结JD-R模型完善的理论贡献与管理启示,并提出PSC理论与测量工具完善、工作要求与工作资源层次匹配、考虑组织外及个人因素、开展本土化研究等未来研究方向.     

Effects of lifestyle and stress on the employee and organization: Implications for promoting health at work

Abstract

This research was designed to determine the extent to which employee health and performance are predicted by lifestyle and stress. Data were collected from 345 employees working in a variety of organizations in southern California. Additionally, supervisors evaluated the work performance of the participating employees whom they directly supervised, and company records of employee health care costs were obtained. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed (a) that physical lifestyle (i.e., exercise pattern, eating habits, and general health practices) predicted unique variance in vitality and positive well-being; (b) that psychosocial lifestyle (i.e., social relations, intellectual activity, occupational conditions, and spiritual involvement) predicted unique variance in vitality, positive well-being, anxiety, depression, lack of self-control, and somatic complaints; (c) that employee stress predicted unique variance in vitality, positive well-being, anxiety, depression, physician visits, somatic complaints, illness absences, and supervisory ratings of job performance, absenteeism and tardiness; (d) that physical lifestyle buffered the adverse consequences of stress for anxiety, depression, physician visits, and company health care costs; and (e) that there was a Physical x Psychosocial Lifestyle interaction for anxiety, depression, and lack of self-control. However, the employee lifestyle factors were not related to supervisory ratings of performance at work. The findings have direct implications for organizational health programs and policies.     

Consider the Children

Summary

In this article, we consider interventions for children exposed to family violence in light of the research on children's problems associated with witnessing family violence. Next, we review risk and protective factors related to these children's adjustment with the view that all children are not similarly affected by exposure to family violence. Against this background, we then move to consider directions for interventions from a systemic perspective. We take into account not only the exposure to interactions between their mother and father, but also children's relationships with their mother, father, and siblings, as well as within broader systems such as the peer group, the school, and the community. We consider the critical challenges within each of these important systems for children exposed to family violence, and we propose some potential interventions to address the problems. Finally, we summarize an evaluation of an intervention that incorporates some of the elements identified by a systemic perspective. The evaluation revealed a significant improvement in children's self-reports of depression and anxiety over the course of the program. Mothers rated their children as significantly improved in emotional and hyperactive behaviour problems. There was no relation between mothers' involvement in counselling and children's improvement. Overall, the results suggest that the Peer Group Counselling Program effectively provided support to children exposed to family violence. Finally, we discuss the steps necessary to support children and families in moving toward violence-free lives.     

Managers’ selection preferences: The role of prejudice and multicultural personality traits in the assessment of native and immigrant job candidates

PresentationStatistics across European countries show that immigrants have a disproportionate lower employment probability than persons born in the host country (SOPEMI, 2010). Explanations to this phenomenon are complex.ObjectivesAn experiment was conducted to investigate the relationship between multicultural personality traits and managers’ selection preferences in the hiring of native vs. foreign-born job candidates. We proposed that this relationship was mediated by prejudice.MethodsNorwegian managers (n = 222) were presented with one Turkish immigrant job candidate and two Norwegian-born, less qualified job candidates. The managers completed the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Blatant Prejudice Scale (SBPS).ResultsWe found that the threat and rejection blatant prejudice subscale and Emotional stability predicted the managers’ hiring preferences. Specifically, the higher threat and rejection subscale scores and the lower emotional stability scores, the more likely it is that the managers preferred to hire a native, less qualified candidate over the Turkish immigrant candidate. The effect of emotional stability on candidate preference was not mediated by prejudice.ConclusionsThe results suggest that managers’ feelings of threat due to foreign-born immigrants’ participation in the host society (political conservatism), and threat due to intercultural interactions, are significantly related to foreign-born immigrant job candidates’ chances of being hired.