“Toxin handling” and well-being: The case of the human resources manager

This study uses the job demands–resources model and multiple role theory to gain an understanding of the “toxin handling–well-being” relationship. “Toxin handlers” are empathetic managers willing to try to address pain and suffering in organizations (Frost, 2007). We use data from semistructured, in-depth interviews with HR managers to investigate the impact of the toxin handling role on well-being. The interviews indicate that toxin handling does not necessarily lead to the toxin handler’s ill health, because factors such as organizational and personal resources can influence that relationship. Further, toxin handlers can face very different toxin handling demands. These differences in the toxin handler’s resources and demands can lead to the full spectrum of possible health consequences of toxin handling (from decreased to enhanced health) for different toxin handlers.     

Work Values and Their Effect on Work Behavior and Work Outcomes in Female and Male Managers

A longitudinal sample of over 800 MBA graduates surveyed across a 16-year period was recruited to investigate the relationship of work values to work effort, salary levels, and other work outcomes. As predicted, certain work values were related to higher salary levels and to the number of hours worked. Changing companies more often and receiving more promotions were also significantly related to work values. Work values did not differ for women and men in the sample, except that women were higher in the value of wanting to do an excellent job. Controlling for work values did not explain significantly higher salaries for men as compared to women. Implications of these data are discussed.     

Biological correlates of social support and pressure at work in managers

The aim was to explore the patterns of correlations between psychosocial stress indices and neuroendocrinological factors in managers. Fifty-eight male managers in three Swedish companies constituted the sample. They answered two questionnaires with 17 selected stress indices and also an organizational test. The indices have been analyzed by means of computations of age adjusted partial correlations with nine different variables analyzed in fasting blood samples. The serum concentrations of lipids were the variables most strongly correlated with psychosocial factors. Neither smoking nor physical activity changed the correlations significantly. Good social support at work and in private life was consistently associated with low adverse serum lipids and corresponding lipoproteins. On the other hand, some indices of social support were associated with indices of high arousal levels. This may indicate a possible psychophysiological “load effect” of some aspects of social support in managers. The analyses of corporate culture measured as “Rules of the Game” indicated that “bureaucracy” was significantly associated with high LDL-cholesterol and low HDL-cholesterol. Managers have special conditions and therefore the patterns of associations between psychosocial conditions and coping strategies on one hand and endocrine-biochemical state on the other hand may be different, from those of other groups. To what extent such differences are due to individual characteristics or environmental factors needs to be further investigated. According to the results, however, good social support is in general health promoting also to managers, at least with regard to serum lipids. Bureaucracy, on the other hand, seems to be dangerous to the health of managers.     

Values in the bank: Value preferences of bank frontline workers and branch managers

The present study investigated the value preferences of frontline workers and branch managers working in a large bank in Israel. Value preferences of bank workers (n = 98) were compared with those of a matching sample drawn from the Israeli general population (n = 152). In addition, value preferences of bank frontline workers were compared with those of bank branch managers and deputy managers. Finally, the relationships between personal value preferences and the workers’ career motivation were examined. The results indicate that compared to the general population, bank workers have a higher preference for conformity, hedonism, and power values and a lower preference for benevolence, universalism, and self-direction values. Compared to the frontline workers, the bank branch managers and deputy managers reported a higher preference for achievement values and a lower preference for tradition values. Higher career motivation was associated with a higher preference for achievement and power values and a lower preference for benevolence values.     

管理人员时间管理倾向与自我价值感关系的调查研究

对252名管理人员的调查显示:(1)私企管理人员在时间监控观和时间效能感上显著高于国企管理人员,受教育水平影响时间监控观和时间效能感的高低。(2)私企管理人员的一般自我价值感和特殊自我价值感显著高于国企管理人员,但在总体自我价值感上不存在差异,也不存在性别差异。自我价值感的各个层面都受到受教育水平的影响。(3)管理人员时间管理倾向各维度与总体、一般和特殊自我价值感之间存在显著的正相关。特别是时间效能感是自我价值感各层面的一个显著的预测变量。     

The role of leadership perception as a mediator between managers’ self-monitoring and subordinate attitudes

Although the role of social cognition in leadership perception has been emphasized frequently in recent years, research using this approach in an organizational context is rare. This study investigated subordinates’ perceptions of their managers as leaders (that is, to what extent they perceive their manager as a leader) as a potential mediating factor explaining the relationship between managers’ self-monitoring and their subordinates’ attitudes toward their organizations. The study was carried out with middle-level managers (N = 64) and their subordinates (N = 210) from various business organizations in Turkey. Results indicate that subordinates’ leadership perceptions of their managers mediate the relationship between managers’ self-monitoring and their subordinates’ affective and normative organizational commitment. These results provide insight into some of the antecedents and outcomes of leadership perception.     

Predicting well-being in managers: Test of a positive psychology model

Contemporary scholars in vocational, applied, and organizational psychology have emphasized that working must be understood as a relational act with important implications for worker well-being. Drawing upon emergent research extending the constructs of adult attachment security and authenticity to the workplace, this study tested a positive psychological model linking adult attachment orientations, and both experienced and expressed features of work authenticity, to the prediction of well-being within a sample of business managers. Findings indicated that, controlling for their gender and length of managerial experience, managers’ levels of adult attachment security and work authenticity accounted for significant and incremental variance in their reported levels of work stress and job satisfaction. In general, managers with high levels of adult attachment security and work authenticity reported lower work stress and higher job satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the counseling of distressed managers are briefly discussed.     

高校中层管理干部胜任力模型的初步建构

通过对57名高校中层管理干部的关键事件访谈,初步建立了高校中层管理干部胜任力模型,结果发现:(1)高校中层管理干部的胜任力模型包括授权激励、组织协调、创新开拓、目标监控、决策判断、沟通表达、成就驱动、团结协作、教育视野、教育信念、民主责任、尊重理解、学术(业务)素养等13项胜任特征。(2)高校中层管理干部的胜任力模型跟中小学教师胜任力模型有一定的相似之处,但跟企业家的胜任力模型差异较大。     

Attitudes towards women managers: Development and validation of a new measure with Turkish samples

This study reports the development of a new instrument measuring attitudes towards women managers (ATWoM). To test its reliability and validity data were collected from 456 Turkish employees from 23 organizations. Reliability and validitiy of ATWoM's final version were also tested with a separate sample comprised 312 students enrolled in junior–senior undergraduate and MBA programmes. ATWoM's psychometric properties were superior to one of the most widely used instruments measuring the same construct, Women as Managers Scale (WAMS). ATWoM was negatively correlated with traditional attitudes towards gender roles and positively correlated with respondents' report of quality in their interaction with women managers and general preference to work with women managers.