Team change climate: A group-level analysis of the relationships among change information and change participation,role stressors,and well-being

We explored whether teams develop shared perceptions regarding the quantity and quality of information and the extent of participation in decision making provided in an environment of continuous change. In addition, we examined whether change climate strength moderated relationships between change climate level and team outcomes. We examined relationships among aggregated change information and change participation and aggregated team outcomes, including two role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity and role overload) and two indicators of well-being (i.e., quality of worklife and distress). Questionnaires were distributed in an Australian law enforcement agency and data were used from 178 teams. Structural equation modelling analyses, controlling for a marker variable, were conducted to examine the main effects of aggregated change information and aggregated change participation on aggregated team outcomes. Results provided support for a model that included method effects due to a marker variable. In this model, change information climate was significantly negatively associated with role ambiguity, role overload, and distress, and significantly positively associated with quality of worklife. Change participation climate was significantly positively associated with quality of worklife. Change climate strength did not moderate relationships among change climate level and team outcomes.     

Maternal depression and parental distress among families in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project: Risk factors within the family setting

This study examined the influence of risk factors within the family environment (inadequate resources, insufficient caregiving support from child's father, higher family conflict) on maternal well being (depression and parental distress) using a longitudinal panel research design. Participants consisted of 2,040 low‐income mothers of young children enrolled in the Early Head Start (EHS) Research and Evaluation Project. Findings indicated that greater family resources at 14 months had a protective effect on maternal well‐being at 36 months, controlling for demographic variables and maternal well‐being at 14 months. Furthermore, the effect of family resources on maternal well‐being was moderated by father caregiving support, such that family resources were protective, particularly when father caregiving support was lower. Family conflict at 14 months was associated with lower maternal well‐being at 36 months, controlling for demographic variables and maternal well‐being at 14 months. Our findings suggest that low‐income mothers need the support and resources of programs such as EHS to overcome the hurdles and challenges of parenting in high‐risk settings. Implications for clinical practice and EHS are discussed.     

The Role of Verbal Behavior,Stimulus Nameability,and Familiarity on the Equivalence Performances of Autistic and Normally Developing Children

The Psychological Record - The emergence of equivalence relations and the role of overall verbal competence and stimulus nameability and familiarity in this regard were investigated across 3...     

“I Hate Everything About You”: A Qualitative Examination of Cyberbullying and On-Line Aggression in a College Sample

Due to highly innovative technologies such as the smart phone, cyberbullying and on-line aggression have increasingly affected individuals across the world. In this study, a broad symbolic interactionist approach is used to study both cyberbullying and on-line aggression. Cyberbullying is defined as repeated unwanted, hurtful, harassing, and/or threatening interaction through electronic communication media. On-line aggression is defined as hurtful, harassing, and/or threatening behavior that is not repeated. Undergraduate students at a Midwestern university (N = 221) were surveyed to determine the extent and nature of their cyberbullying and on-line aggression experiences. By using open ended questions to inquire about respondents' personal experiences with cyberbullying and on-line aggression, we identified three motivations for these acts, which included cyber sanctioning, power struggles, and entertainment.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ANTECEDENTS OF READINESS FOR FINE-TUNING AND CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION CHANGES

This study examined employee readiness for fine-tuning changes and for corporate transformation changes. It was proposed that employees would report different degrees of readiness for these two types of change and that different variables would be associated with readiness for the two types of change. Results of regression analyses indicated that trust in peers and logistics and system support displayed strong positive relationships with readiness for fine-tuning changes, while trust in senior leaders and self-efficacy displayed strong positive relationships with readiness for corporate transformation changes. The implications of this study focus on the appropriateness of traditional change management strategies in light of findings that multiple change readiness attitudes exist within an organization.     

Age and ability effects on test scores reflecting M-capacity, learning and cognitive style

Eight- and ten-year-old children of low and average ability were given four tests, one of which was developed by Pascual-Leone (1970) as a relatively pure measure of mental capacity (M-capacity) as conceived in his neo-Piagetian model. The remaining tests confounded knowledge base and cognitive style (field dependence/independence) with M-capacity to varying degrees. Age and ability effects were found, but were invariant over tests. This contradicts Globerson’s (1983) predictions for the hierarchy of tests used. Possible reasons for an apparent discrepancy between Globerson’s results and those of the present study are discussed.     

Perceptions of organizational change: a stress and coping perspective

Few organizational change studies identify the aspects of change that are salient to individuals and that influence well-being. The authors identified three distinct change characteristics: the frequency, impact and planning of change. R. S. Lazarus and S. Folkman's (1984) cognitive phenomenological model of stress and coping was used to propose ways that these change characteristics influence individuals' appraisal of the uncertainty associated with change, and, ultimately, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Results of a repeated cross-sectional study that collected individuals' perceptions of change one month prior to employee attitudes in consecutive years indicated that while the three change perceptions were moderately to strongly intercorrelated, the change perceptions displayed differential relationships with outcomes. Discussion focuses on the importance of systematically considering individuals' subjective experience of change.     

A puzzling misinterpretation of the Asch ‘conformity’ study

In this article, we examine the interpretations by social psychologists of Asch's widely cited study of independence and conformity. Though it has become known as the ‘Asch Conformity Study’, Asch equally, if not more, intended and interpreted it as demonstrating the powers of independence. The evidence for this analysis consists of 99 accounts in social psychology textbooks published between 1953, following the appearance of his study, and 1984. We asked whether these accounts were accurate, or whether, as we suspected, they minimized the role of independence and exaggerated that of conformity. We found that authors have often distorted Asch's findings, and that this trend has increased substantially with time: they have increasingly accentuated the role of conformity and underestimated that of independence. We suggest several reasons for this distortion. For one, there has been insufficient care in reading the findings and drawing conclusions. Second, authors have generally limited themselves to reports of quantitative results. Although these were strong and beyond question, authors have usually neglected the intimately connected qualitative findings, which would have discouraged the misinterpretations. Third, the study of Asch was an integral part of his perspective on social psychology, which authors again ignored, thus encouraging a limited and out-of-context view of his study. We conclude with a thematic presentation of Asch's general theoretical framework, showing how it bears on independence and conformity.