Organizational behavior and human performance最新文献

A model of job stress that focuses on organizational and job-related stress is presented. Job stress is conceived of as a first-level outcome of the organization and job; it is a feeling of discomfort that is separate and distinct from second-level outcomes or consequences of job stress. The second-level outcomes may include varying levels of satisfaction, organizational commitment, motivation, and performance. A partial test of the model examines relationships between hypothesized stressors and experienced job stress. Survey data obtained from 367 managers of a large restaurant chain were used with the results generally supporting the model. Factor analysis supported the concept that job stress is multidimensional. Two distinct dimensions of job stress were identified: time stress and anxiety. Both job stress dimensions were significantly related to each of the model's five organizational stressor categories, but not all of the independent variables within the categories were significantly related to job stress. Moreover, the specific stressors associated with each dimension of job stress proved to be substantially different.

This study examined the performance of subjects in a cascaded inference task where two subjects worked together, one subject having diagnosticity information and the other having reliability information. This was compared to a condition in which a single subject received both types of information. Additionally, the effect of different “experts” having the power to make the final decision in the two-person conditions was explored. Seventy-two subjects made inferences about the probability of success vs failure of hypothetical job applicants presented in a personnel manager scenario. Subjects were paid bonuses according to their performance on the task. Contrary to hypotheses, there were no between conditions differences. Single subjects performed just as well as subjects working together. This study replicates previous work using single subjects in the general pattern of responses: subjects were somewhat radical in comparison to the normative model.

Increasingly it has become clear that work should not be studied in isolation from family and personal concerns. Accordingly, the present research examines the construct validity of three scales that purport to measure work conflict, family conflict, and interrole conflict. Conceptual definitions are provided, a nomological network identified, and empirical results examined from two studies. Distinct unidimensional factors emerged; adequate levels of reliability were found; and correlational and path analytic associations offered some support for the theorized model.

This study examines the relationship between perceived degree of bureaucracy and level of job satisfaction utilizing longitudinal data. These data were obtained over a 5-year period from 92 government employees. The results indicate a significant decline in job satisfaction over the 5-year period. Of the components of perceived bureaucracy examined, changes in division of labor, hierarchy of authority, and standardized work procedures were shown to be significantly related to changes in job satisfaction. These data indicate that individuals who perceive an increase in division of labor and hierarchy of authority in their organizations undergo diminished job satisfaction; while those that perceive an increase in standardized work procedures experience enhanced job satisfaction.

A nonlinear least squares procedure for simultaneous estimation of the parameters of the multiplicative utility functions (R. L. Kenney & H. Raiffa, Decisions with Multiple Objectives: Preferences and Value Trade-offs, New York: Wiley, 1976) is developed. The procedure, SEE, improves on Barron and Person, 1979, Keeney, 1974 in that it allows one to treat the measurement error consistently and to test a variety of hypotheses by standard methods of statistical inference. Numerical examples are studied to test the performance of SEE. It is concluded that SEE is feasible and that it leads to correct conclusions about a number of interesting hypotheses, when certain conditions on the error term are satisfied.

This study examines the effect of member task skills and social decision schemes on the performance-size relationship for both simulated and interacting groups. Group performance is found to be a linear function of log size, with returns to scale a positive function of group member ability and the use of nonunit rather than unit weight social decision schemes. Reexamination of data from previous studies shows that the direction and magnitude of these effects are similar across tasks. The subjects are 555 managers and graduate students, 382 of whom worked in 87 groups of size two to six members. The task was the NASA moon exercise.

The group polarization hypothesis states that individual attitudes tend to become more extreme, “more polarized,” as a result of group discussion. The hypothesis was developed as a generalization of the well-known risky shift effect: the fact that individuals tend to make riskier decisions after group discussion than before group discussion. The group polarization hypothesis is supported by much experimental evidence. The principles of Bayesian decision theory are used to model how individual attitudes will change after group discussion. The model predicts the group polarization effect. Thus (1) it is shown that the group polarization effect can be viewed as arising from individual rationality, (2) a model of how much individual attitudes change after group discussion is derived.

The cognitive conflict paradigm, developed within the framework of Social Judgment Theory, was used to determine effects of intervention in interpersonal conflict. Task predictability and the third party's knowledge of task characteristics were manipulated as independent variables. After being trained to have different policies, judges were brought together to work on a common set of judgment problems. During the conflict session, a third party (mediator) intervened to assist judges in making joint predictive judgments. Task predictability was found to have more effect on conflict reduction than did intervention. Overall, intervention did not appear to effect conflict reduction; however, mediator characteristics were significantly correlated with an objective measure of a mediator's relative usefulness. Results are discussed in terms of Social Judgment Theory, T. A. Kochan and T. Jick's (Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1978, 22, 209–240) model of mediation effectiveness, and I. D. Steiner's (Group processes and productivity, New York: Academic Press, 1972) analysis of group productivity.

In a series of four experiments, low-LPC (Least Preferred Co-worker) and high-LPC subjects received information about job performance, a task variable, and attitude toward management, an interpersonal relation variable, of two members of work groups and distributed a fixed sum of money between them. Two interrelated analyses were performed, one concerning equity theory and the other concerning the meaning of the LPC scale. The assumption of input summation, which has been customary in equity theory, disagreed severely with the data. However, an alternative model based on an assumption of equity integration did remarkably well. The second analysis tested the prediction that low-LPC subjects place greater importance on performance but high-LPC subjects place greater importance on attitude in distribution of rewards. This prediction did not receive any support at all. Findings questioned Fiedler's claim that the LPC scale measures value for task or interpersonal success in group situations. Post hoc analyses disclosed that the high-LPC as compared to low-LPC subjects did better in obeying the precise prescriptions of the equity integration model. It was suggested, therefore, that the LPC scale may possibly be treated as a measure of cognitive complexity.