Office paper recycling: A function of container proximity

We investigated the effects of proximity of containers on pounds of office paper recycled and not recycled by 25 employees. During a memo and central container condition, one container for recyclable paper was provided; in a memo and local container condition, desktop recycling bins, announced by memo, were successively introduced across administrative, office, and instructional settings using a multiple baseline design. Only 28% of paper was recycled in the central container condition, but when recycling containers were placed in close proximity to participants, 85% to 94% of all recyclable paper was recycled. Follow-up assessments, conducted 1, 2, 3, and 7 months after all settings received local recycling containers, showed that 84% to 98% of paper was recycled. Providing desktop recycling containers was a cost-effective procedure with long-term maintenance and program survival.     

TRAINING RESIDENTIAL SUPERVISORS TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK FOR MAINTAINING STAFF TEACHING SKILLS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE SEVERE DISABILITIES

We evaluated procedures for training supervisors in a residential setting to provide feedback for maintaining direct-service staff members' teaching skills with people who have severe disabilities. Using classroom-based instruction and on-the-job observation and feedback, 10 supervisors were initially trained to implement teaching programs themselves. The training improved supervisors' teaching skills but was insufficient to improve the quality of feedback they provided to direct-service staff regarding the staff members' teaching skills. Subsequently, classroom-based instruction and on-the-job observation and feedback that targeted supervisors' feedback skills were provided. Following training in provision of feedback, all supervisors met criterion for providing feedback to their staff. Results also indicated that maintenance of teaching skills was greater for direct-service staff whose supervisors had received training in providing feedback relative to staff whose supervisors had not received such training. The need for analysis of other variables that affect maintenance of staff performance, as well as variables that affect other important areas of supervisor performance, is discussed.     

Job Stress and Organizational Learning Climate

Job stress may depend on the organizational learning climate, the organizational factors that affect learning how to cope with the rapid external and internal changes in working life. The relationship between individual job stress and the individual perception of learning climate was studied among 383 employees in the Norwegian Postal Service and in various community health care institutions. Mismatch between individual perceptions of learning climate and the averaged evaluation of learning climate in the rest of the working group, was found to be an important source of stress. Individuals who perceived the learning climate as good and who were working in a group that agreed with this position, had a low job-stress level. This may be ascribed to their feeling of control over the work situation and reduced demands due to the social support from the group, producing a low job stress level.     

Empirical Support for the Critical Assumptions of Empowerment Theory

This exploratory case study provides empirical support for three critical assumptions of empowerment theory. Many empowerment theorists have argued that empowerment takes on multiple forms across people, is contextually embedded, and shifts over time (Rappaport, 1984; Zimmerman, 1990, 1995). To better understand the implications of these assumptions for empowerment theory and the research and intervention methods we employ, the empowerment experiences of 49 employees within a large human service delivery organization were explored. A method well suited to investigate empowerment's assumptions of multiplicity and dynamism—a constructivist approach to inquiry—was employed. Content analyses of interview and observational data revealed that the process of empowerment may be more complex than originally conceived. Not only did multiple meanings and desires for empowerment emerge across employees and between employees and leaders, but several shifting ecologies impacted the employees' lives, causing the employees' empowerment experiences to fluctuate. Empowerment emerged as a dynamic, highly individualistic, contextually layered process. Multiple forms, contexts, and dynamics that influenced employee empowerment are described. Implications of these findings for empowerment research and intervention are discussed.     

Of Nobel class: A citation perspective on high impact research authors

The purpose of this paper was to determine if quantitative rankings of highly cited research authors confirm Nobel prize awards. Six studies covering different time periods and author sample sizes were reviewed. The number of Nobel laureates at the time each study was published was tabulated, as was the number of high impact authors who later became laureates. The Nobelists and laureates-to-be were also compared with non-Nobelists to see if they differed in terms of impact and productivity. The results indicate that high rankings by citation frequency identify researchersof Nobel class — that is, a small set of authors that includes a high proportion of actual Nobelists and laureates-to-be. Also, the average impact (citations per author) of Nobelists and laureates-to-be is sufficiently high to distinguish them from non-Nobelists in these rankings. In conclusion, a simple, quantitative, and objective algorithm based on citation data can effectively corroborate —and even forecast — a complex, qualitative, and subjective selection process based on human judgement.     

关系绩效研究

1993年,Borman和Motowidlo在组织公民行为等概念的基础上提出了关系绩效的概念,引起了广泛关注和大量实证研究。近十年的实证研究主要集中在关系绩效的构成及影响方面。概括不同研究的结果归纳为利他人行为、利组织行为、利工作行为。人格和职务特征是影响关系绩效的主要因素。关系绩效对组织的影响主要表现在促进组织绩效、人员选拔、培训以及绩效评定等方面。作者通过研究综述提出几点启示。     

组织不公正及其效果研究述评

从组织公正感的研究出发,比较全面地介绍了国外关于3种组织不公正,即分配不公、程序不公正和互动不公正研究及其效果,特别分析了组织不公正对组织的具体危害,这种危害包括隐蔽的攻击、退缩行为和公开的攻击。文章还介绍了我国学者关于分配不公平方面的研究。最后,作者指出组织不公正研究可能存在的问题,即组织不公正可能本质上不同于组织公正,组织不公正研究存在操作定义狭隘和跨文化障碍,以此为基础描述了未来的研究方向     

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed:
Daniel Chirot and Martin E. P. Seligman (eds.), Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions
David Patrick Houghton, U.S. Foreign Policy and the Iran Hostage Crisis
Yoram Peri (ed.), The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
Peter Suedfeld (ed.), Light from the Ashes: Social Science Careers of Young Holocaust Refugees and Survivors     

Organizational Justice,Change Anxiety,and Acceptance of Downsizing: Preliminary Tests of an AET-Based Model

This study tested an AET-based model that integrates cognitions (justice perceptions) and emotions (change anxiety) to explain the effects of change program characteristics on employees' acceptance of downsizing and other work attitudes. Seventy-one employees from an organization that was undergoing downsizing participated in the study. Path analyses and a Q index of .992 offered preliminary support for the proposed model by showing that procedural justice and change anxiety explained the effects of change management procedures on acceptance of downsizing, while interactional justice and change anxiety explained the effects of the quality of change communications on trust in the change managers. Although distributive justice did not have the predicted direct effect on employee morale, it helped explain the effects of procedures on acceptance of change and morale by helping reduce anxiety about the change. Together, these findings support the utility of an AET-based framework in helping understand employee responses to downsizing.