Showing papers in "Human Relations in 1982"

A Unified Model of Turnover from Organizations

Abstract: A model of the turnover process is developed by synthesizing three turnover models: those of Price and Mobley and the model which has developed around the organizational commitment variable. This model is tested via path analysis and is generally supported. An attempt to cross-validate the new model also provided reasonable support Jor it.

Burnout: Summary and Future Research

Abstract: The burnout literature is reviewed, compared, and summarized. Based on this process a definition of burnout is proposed encompassing three components: emotional and/or physical exhaustion, lowered work productivity, and overdepersonalization. A model to aid researchers is presented accompanied by research questions in need of answer if burnout is to be more fully understood.

Sociotechnical Systems: A North American Reflection on Empirical Studies of the Seventies

Abstract: This paper reviews the development of sociotechnical systems theory and research over the past 30 years, paying particular attention to the evolution of the paradigm in North America during the past decade. Elements of sociotechnical systems theory discussed here include the conceptualization of social systems, technical systems, and open systems, joint optimization, organizational choice, variance control, boundary location, support congruence, quality of work life, and continuous learning. A review of 134 experiments is then summarized, indicating which features of sociotechnical systems design are used most frequently, and which in turn are associated with reported success on a number of critical outcome dimensions such as productivity, costs, quality, and satisfaction. An unexpected finding of this review was that while sociotechnical system experiments have been extremely successful overall, the number of experiments involving technological innovation or change is relatively small; moreover, from the...

Role-Set Configuration and Opportunity as Predictors of Unethical Behavior in Organizations

Abstract: Role-set configuration is examined as a predictor of ethical/unethical behavior among two random samples of advertisers [corporate clients and ad agency account executives]. The specific reported behaviors analyzed are intraorganizational behaviors available to most employees. The conceptual framework is based on differential association theory and role set configuration analysis. The three dimensions of role-set configuration used to predict ethical/unethical behavior are organizational location, relative authority and referent others' beliefs and behaviors as perceived by the focal person. The focal person's opportunity to participate in unethical behavior is also a predictor variable. Eighty-nine corporate clients and 136 agency advertisers responded to a questionnaire [a 33% return rate] consisting of a slightly revised version of Newstrom and Ruch's ethics scale. Seven types of predictors of ethical/unethical behavior, "What I do," are developed through principal component factor analysis. These seve...

The Maturation of Career Theory

Abstract: Career theory, like the phenomena it describes, has grown and developed over the past century. During that time, four main types of theory have emerged. This paper examines the contributions and limitations of each type, starting with the oldest, and identifies the most fundamental trends in the evolution of this theory. The key trend identified is a continuous shift from a relatively static to a relatively dynamic theory. The paper offers a synthesis of this literature, and concludes by suggesting what types of research and theoretical development are now needed if career theory is to continue to mature.

Differences in Job Motivation and Satisfaction Among Female and Male Managers

Abstract: This study examines the influence of sex on satisfaction with job related factors, overall job satisfaction, attitudes toward various motivators, and overall job motivation among managers. Using a statistical analysis of survey data, the study identifies many significant differences between male and female managers'perceptions and attitudes. The article then compares the findings to previous research, presents some questions pertinent to policy formation, and suggests avenues for future research.

Climate: A Reconceptualization and Proposed Model

Abstract: Climate is presented as a perceptual attribute on an organizational, group, and individual level. The climate construct is defined and key issues concerning climate, which have been identified by past research, are addressed. These issues are level of analysis, measurement, validity, redundancy and usefulness. A model which represents the traditional conceptualization of climate is given. This model is later revised by integrating aspects from the discussion of the key issues. The paper concludes with recommendations for future climate research.

Climate Discrepancy: Refining the Concepts of Psychological and Organizational Climate

Abstract: Most climate research has emphasized either psychological or organizational climate without addressing the conceptual and empirical relationships between these concepts. This research e-xamined the performance and satisfaction correlates of discrepancies between individuals' psychological climates and the multiple aggregate organizational climates present in their work settings. Climate discrepancy was found to be the better predictor of work satisfaction, whereas membership in aggregate organization climates was the better predictor of job performance. Organization climates were identified on the basis of similarity of multidimensional psychological climate scores using hierarchical and nonhierarchical clustering methods. The implications of thesefindingsfor refining the concepts of psychological and organizational climate are discussed.

Top-Management Agreement and Organizational Performance

Abstract: This paper relates top-management agreement on an organization's strengths and weaknesses with organizational performance. The findings are interesting and provocative, for the data show that agreement among managers is positively related to economic performance, even when controlling for other variables potentially related to organizational performance. The importance of top management agreement and its impact on organization performance are discussed.

The Potential for "Groupthink" in Autonomous Work Groups

Abstract: As a result of current problems facing modern organizations a number of strategies have been implemented. The introduction of a work system based on autonomous work groups is one such strategy. A danger to the effectiveness of autonomous work groups is the potential for "groupthink." "Groupthink" is described and suggested to provide a useful observational behavioral category system for studying autonomous work group decision processes. Actual autonomous work group cases are presented to illustrate the relevance and the usefulness of the groupthink framework.

The Relationships Between Goals, Influence Tactics, and Personal and Organizational Variables

Abstract: The present study is focused on the relationships between personal and contextual characteristics of the employer organization and the goals and tactics of influence used by the respondents. Participants were 125 middle-level managers and assistant managers. Kipnis, Schmidt, and Wilkinson's questionnaire for measuring goals and tactics of influence was used in addition to background data such as: ownership of the organization, size, and position. Results indicate that goals and tactics of influence were significantly related to four contextual variables: ownership, size, number of subordinates, and the professional discipline.

Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: An Empirical Evaluation of Their Interrelationship

Abstract: A survey of job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and work related attitudes was administered to 129 employees of an auto parts manufacturer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between job and life satisfaction. Using three-stage least squares, the results suggest that the two variables are jointly determined.

Background, Personality, Job Characteristics, and Satisfaction with Work in a National Sample

Abstract: The impact on job satisfaction of job attributes, biographic characteristics, and personality is examined. Data from a 1977 national survey of 3288 adult Canadians revealed that personality and job characteristics have strong, independent associations with a multidimensional job satisfaction index. Personal alienation and internal-external control had sizable correlations with the index when job characteristics and personal background were controlled. All variables considered together account for 30% of the variance in job satisfaction. The reciprocal nature of cause and effect in the association between personality and job satisfaction is discussed in light of other recent analyses of panel data on response to work.

The Relative Contribution of Perceived Skill-Utilization and Other Perceived Job Attributes to the Prediction of Job Satisfaction: A Cross-Validation Study:

Abstract: With a representative sample of 1383 Adelaide employees it was found, using simple multiple regression, that job satisfaction was significantly predicted by the perceived job attributes of skill-utilization, influence, variety, pressure, and interaction. For the total sample, skill-utilization was the strongest predictor of job satisfaction. In order to measure the degree of over-estimation of R2, a double cross-validation of the data was conducted. The R2 varied from .47 to .51 and the beta coefficient for skill-utilization remained the highest and varied from .48 to .50. The effects of multi-collinearity were measured using principle components analysis and measures of the variance inflation factor for each beta coefficient. It was concluded that multicollinearity was not a significant problem for these data. The degree to which the observed association between job satisfaction and skill-utilization was due to content similarity of the scale was assessed by deleting ability items from the job-satisfacti...

Attitudes Toward Punishment in Relation to Beliefs in Free Will and Determinism

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to investigate attitudes toward punishment in relation to beliefs in free will and determinism. College students responded to two questionnaires; one designed to assess attitudes toward punishment and one designed to assess strength of belief in free will or determinism. It was found that subjects who scored higher in belief in determinism recommended more punitive measures for behavioral deviations than those who scored higher in belief in free will. A possible explanation for these results emphasized the burdensome moral responsibility which punishment may represent to those who believe in free will. Such responsibility would demand that punishment be administered with scrupulous attention to fairness and justice.

Personality and the Preference for Modes of Conflict Resolution

Abstract: This article reports the research findings of the relationships of personality variables and preferences for modes of conflict resolution. Eleven hypotheses were developed relating nine personality variables-achievement, dominance, aggression, affiliation, deference, succorance, nurturance, dogmatism, and Machiavellianism-to the preference for smoothing, forcing and confronting. These hypotheses were tested using a sample of 136 MBA students and support was found for eight hypotheses. As hypothesized positive correlations were found between the following variables: affiliation-smoothing, deference-forcing, succorance-smoothing, nurturance-smoothing, dogmatism-confronting, and Machiavellianism-confronting. Support was also found for two hypothesized negative correlations: affiliation-forcing and Machiavellianism-smoothing. No support was found for the hypotheses relating achievement to confronting, dominance to forcing, and aggression to forcing.

The Relationships of Observer Characteristics to Beliefs in the Causal Responsibility of Victims of Sexual Assault

Abstract: Whereas much of the previous research has focused on the influence of victim characteristics on attributions of responsibility to a rape victim, the present study sought to assess the relative effectiveness of individual differences among observers in predicting perceptions of a rape victim's responsibility in her own victimization. Specifically, observers' sex, their attitudes toward women, and their degree of dogmatism significantly contributed to the prediction of victim responsibility in a multiple regression analysis. Observers' locus of control orientation, personal-environmental attributional tendency, and belief in a just world, however, failed to be of predictive utility.

Cybernetics and Organization Theory: Epistemology or Technique?:

Abstract: Based on the view that theorizing is metaphorical, this paper examines the impact of cybernetic imagery on the study of organizations. Imagery treating organizations as "black boxes," "thermostats," "decision-makers," "morphogenic systems," "learning systems," and the concept of "organizational ecology" is explored. Developing the distinction between "cybernetics as technique" and "cybernetics as epistemology, " it is suggested that organization theory has for the most part used cybernetics in the former sense. The paper develops the view that the major challenge cybernetics poses conventional organization theory rests in its epistemological implications. Systematically developed, these have fundamental consequences for the way we view organizations and their mode of operation.

The Application of Team Building

Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on the organization development strategy known as team building. Included are a definition and conceptualization of team building, a comparison of team building with laboratory training, a series of assumptions underlying the strategy, the major purposes of team building, and a description of several models of team building. In addition, the process of team building is presented; the steps in the team building process are outlined, a variety of techniques for problem diagnosis and solution generation are listed, and the roles played by the team building consultant are reviewed. Further, several important prerequisites to enhance the probability of success of team building interventions are considered. Finally, the utility of team building is discussed.

An Empirical Study Measuring Conflict in Problem-Solving Groups Which are Assigned Different Decision Rules

Abstract: The paper has two goals. First, to find out whether majority rule or a unanimous decision rule would facilitate more task conflict. Second, to develop several operational measures of task conflict. The study used an experimental design using 18 groups. The group discussions were tape recorded and coded using the valence coding system (Hoffman & Maier, 1964, 1967). Eight operational measures of task conflict are presented and used to test the main hypothesis. The results indicate that in unequal power groups an assigned majority rule facilitates more task conflict than an assigned unanimous rule or no assigned decision rule. The eight measures of task conflict are shown to be useful but require additional refinement.

Participation in Organizational Change: A Longitudinal Field Study

Abstract: This study was carried out as part of a long-term Quality of Work Life experiment in one division of a utility. The experiment is part of a national effort to examine collaborative union-management problem-solving and change implementation. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of a formal participative process of implementing change established as part of the experiment. Participation occurred in two levels or intensities: (1) direct via membership on either a joint committee or on one of several task forces, and (2) indirect or nonmembership. Subjects were measured at three points in time on a variety of perceptual and attitudinal measures. An analysis of covariance revealed that when job level and pretest scores were held constant, direct participants increased in their perceptions of influence in decision-making and in organizational attitudes in comparison to indirect participants. A second analysis indicated that the changes persisted during an additional time interval. It was conclud...

The Personal Orientation-Organizational Climate Fit and Managerial Success

Abstract: Traditional research on factors predicting to managerial success has typically employed correlational methods designed to assess how individual characteristics of one kind or another or in combination influence success. This study is based on a social psychological contingency perspective and was designed to test the hypothesis that the interaction or fit between personal work orientations and organizational climate makes a significant contribution to the variance in career success among managers. Questionnaire survey data collected from a population of 310 middle managers and 101 top managers in 28 different company environments in British and American firms were used for the study. Four paired orientation-climate variables were investigated: achievement, risk-taking, relationships, and conventionality-structure. Success was measured by a salary progression-age ratio. The findings support the fit hypothesis in the particular case of the achievement pair for middle managers with meaningful support in the ...

Social Choice in the Development of Advanced Information Technology

Abstract: Application of advanced information technology willprofoundly effect the nature of clerical, professional and managerial work. When these consequences are unplanned, they sometimes are positive and sometimes negative, in human and organizational terms. Referring to the range and importance of these impacts, the author argues why social criteria should be employed in the design and implementation of this new technology. Then, based on the increasingly flexible nature of the technology and its cost profile, he argues why social criteria can be applied without economic sacrifice. Turning to trends in social values, theories of management, and interests of trade unions, the author concludes that social criteria probably will be applied increasingly in the development of information technology in the United States. Finally, the paper reviews some of the methodological issues which will arise in the process.

Conflicts Between Student/Professional, Parental, and Self-Development Roles: A Comparison of High and Low Effective Copers

Abstract: This study investigated the coping strategies used by returning university students in dealing with conflicts between the demands of their students/professional role and their parental role or their student/professional role and their "self" as a self-actualized person. The 57 female and 28 male subjects used nine scales developed by the authors to describe their typical strategies for coping with their role conflict in one of these two areas. Subjects also rated the degree of role conflict experienced and the effectiveness of their coping strategies. As predicted, subjects rating their characteristic ways of coping as highly effective [High Effective Copers] reported less conflict and endorsed different coping strategies than subjects rating their characteristic strategies as less effective [Low Effective Copers]. High Effective Copers of both genders used Perspective Taking to a greater extent, and Depression and Calling Time Out to a lesser extent, than did Low Effective Copers. Recognition of Societal...

Image Congruence and the Treatment of Difference Scores in Organizational Choice Research

Abstract: This study examined how the perceived congruence between self-and organizational images affects one's choice of a graduate school of business. Applicants with a positive self-image (N = 64) select schools most like their self-image, whereas applicants with a negative self-image (N = 18) select schools least like their self-image. The retention of directionality in difference scores is shown to be a useful data analysis technique when testing congruence hypotheses.

The Action Learning Model of Experiential Learning for Developing Managers

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to collate a theoretical background for the action learning model of management education. The paper relates the learning processes that occur in the action learning model to the basic concepts of group dynamics proposed by Bion. Many writers consider that management education should be active and experienced-based, problemoriented, continuous, supportive, and modified by feedback. Students should have a high level of motivation. The action learning model meets all these criteria. In addition, it has the ability to harness unconscious forces that can be generated in group work if the group is properlyformed and led. Bion identified these forces as the proto-mental system, which derives from the potential valency of each member of the group. The interchange of new learning experiences between the members of the group has been likened to symbiosis by Revans. The potential valency of each member of the group-and hence the symbiotic effect-can be reinforced by the group leader or ...

Top Managers' Beliefs and Rationales for Participation

Abstract: Top managers' beliefs about work were found to vary with rationales for the use of and the outcomes from participation. Endorsers of humanistic beliefs saw participation principally as a means of communication. Endorsers of the organization belief (value of group working) saw decision acceptance as a primary use. Individuals who considered their employees subject to some alienation and exploitation (Marxist-related belief), emphasized participation as a moral right of employees and as a means of increasing employee morale. Endorsers of the work ethic generally attributed less value to participation. As an overall group, the top managers saw decision acceptance, decision quality, and communication between themselves and their employees as prime rationales for participation.

Human Migration and the Acculturation of Minorities

Abstract: Majority-minority relations have historically taken the forms of elimination, segregation, fusion, assimilation, or pluralism. Cultural pluralism, which is the dominant ideology in the world today, is based upon the assumptions of tolerance on the part of the majority and a willingness to learn on the part of the minority. This process of learning is called acculturation. Modern theories of acculturation have tended to neglect the importance of individual differences in the process of adaptation. The socioanalytic model, based upon psychological role theory and studies of natural language, offers a model of acculturation which accounts for individual differences as well as situational factors which affect acculturation.

Social Identity and the Readiness for Social Relations Between Jews and Arabs in Israel

Abstract: This paper examines the social identity of Arabs and Jews in Israel and its relationship to the readiness for establishing and maintaining intergroup contact. Social identity is defined in terms of self-esteem and the national, civic, religious, familial, residential, and vocational subidentities. The structural coherence of the indentity system was demonstrated for both Jews and Arabs, but while subidentities among Jewish subjects tend to be positively interrelated, there is strain within the Arab system, revealed by a negative correlation between the national and civic subidentities, among others. Readiness for relations with members of the other group is higher for Arabs than for Jews and also more clearly related to several subidentities. Jewish readiness for social relations with Arabs is weakly related to the identity system. Identity variables may be promising mediators between situational antecedents and intergroup attitudes, but mainly for members of the minority.