This study focuses on the relationship of one cognitive ability test on long-term job performance as measured by personnel data. Archival data from over 3,000 employees at an international technology company were used to assess how aptitude test scores relate to both objective and subjective job performance measures. Supervisory performance ratings, level of promotion, and salary increase significantly contributed to variance in test scores; however, these results were inconsistent. Number of training courses did not have a significant relationship with test scores. Additionally, type of turnover did not moderate the relationship between aptitude test scores and job performance. These results indicate that although aptitude test score is related to long term job performance factors, other factors account for the majority of the variance. The implication is that aptitude should not be the sole consideration when predicting long term job success.

Application of multisource feedback (MSF) increased dramatically and became widespread globally in the past two decades, but there was little conceptual work regarding self-other agreement and few empirical studies investigated self-other agreement in other cultural settings. This study developed a new conceptual framework of self-other agreement and used three samples to illustrate how national culture affected self-other agreement. These three samples included 428 participants from China, 818 participants from the US, and 871 participants from globally dispersed teams (GDTs). An EQS procedure and a polynomial regression procedure were used to examine whether the covariance matrices were equal across samples and whether the relationships between self-other agreement and performance would be different across cultures, respectively. The results indicated MSF could be applied to China and GDTs, but the pattern of relationships between self-other agreement and performance was different across samples, suggesting that the results found in the U.S. sample were the exception rather than rule. Demographics also affected self-other agreement disparately across perspectives and cultures, indicating self-concept was susceptible to cultural influences. The proposed framework only received partial support but showed great promise to guide future studies. This study contributed to the literature by: (a) developing a new framework of self-other …

The study utilized the covariance structure comparison methodology - Multigroup Analysis in Structural Equation Modeling - evaluating measurement equivalence of English and Spanish versions of an employee opinion survey. The concept of measurement equivalence was defined as consisting of four components: sample equivalence, semantic equivalence, conceptual equivalence and scalar equivalence. The results revealed that the two language versions of the survey exhibited acceptable measurement equivalence across five survey dimensions Communications, Supervision, Leadership, Job Content & Satisfaction and Company Image & Commitment. Contrary to the study second hypothesis, there was no meaningful difference in opinion scores between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking respondents on the latent construct of Job Content & Satisfaction.

The effects of multiple interventions in organizational development change were studied in a comprehensive meta-analytic review. Thirteen organizational interventions were assessed on five outcome variables based upon previous research of six major meta-analytic reviews. Findings based on 138 studies indicated that there were no significant effects of multiple interventions on positive organizational change as opposed to individually implemented interventions. The findings are not congruent with previous findings of organizational development change, and possible issues surrounding these differences are discussed.

Multi-rater tools also referred to as 360-degree feedback tools, are frequently used in addition to traditional supervisory appraisals due to sources (i.e., supervisor, peer, direct report) unique perspectives and opportunities to view different aspects of job performance. Research has found that the differences among sources are most prevalent between self and other ratings, and the direction of agreement is related to overall job performance. Research has typically focused on one form of agreement, the direction of an individual's self-ratings compared to others' ratings. The current study expanded on past research on rater agreement using a data set (n = 215) consisting of multi-rater data for professionals participating in a leadership development process. The study examined the ability to predict job performance with three different measures of self-other agreement (i.e., difference between overall mean scores (difference), mean absolute difference across items (difference), and mean correlation across items (similarity)). The study also examined how the relationships may differ across performance dimensions. The final purpose was to explore how the importance of the performance dimensions, as rated by the participant, may moderate the relationship between self-other agreement and job performance. Partial support for study's hypotheses was found. The direction and difference measures of …

This research evaluates the relationship between various individual differences constructs and performance on a past behavior interview (PBI)-one of the most popular forms of personnel selection interviews used today-within a sample of business unit leader level incumbents and applicants from organizations across the United States. Correlation analysis is conducted on the relationship between overall performance on a PBI and four work-related constructs: Experience, Motivation, Personality, and Cognitive Ability. The existing literature on PBIs and the four independent variables is critically reviewed. As limited research has been conducted on the influence of Experience and Motivation on PBI performance, this study makes unique contributions to the literature regarding impact of these two constructs. The major hypotheses stated that Experience and Motivation would yield significant, positive correlations with PBI performance while Personality and Cognitive Ability would not be significantly correlated with PBIs. Results partially supported the hypotheses-Experience, Motivation, and Personality were significantly related to overall PBI score, while Cognitive Ability was not. Implications for the findings as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study extends research findings directed at a micro-focus of change by assessing individual organizational members' perspectives and psychological constructs influencing change efforts by an organization. The change initiative in question regards the construction of a new facility and subsequent relocation to said facility. Moral commitment to the organization (negative), change initiative's fit with organizational vision, and social influence significantly contributed to variance in members' affective commitment to change. Trust in leadership and normative commitment to the organization (NCO) significantly contributed to variance in members' normative commitment to change. Continuance commitment to the organization and participation (negative) significantly contributed to variance in members' continuance commitment to change. NCO, change initiative's fit with organizational vision, and participation significantly contributed to variance in support of the proposed change initiative. Affective commitment to the organization (negative), NCO (negative), trust in leadership (negative), and disruption of influence significantly contributed to variance in members' intent to leave the organization.

In this study, the relationship between formal training opportunities and internal promotions in organizations was examined in order to support the value of organizations investing in employees through training opportunities, as training is often seen as an expense to be cut in difficult times. Differences between general and specific training topics on the impact of frequency of promotion in an organization were addressed, as well as assessing differences between employees and managers. Training allows for a more capable workforce and pool of employees to pull from when an organization needs to hire. Hiring from within can save time, money, and allow for a proven person-organization fit that hiring from the external workforce cannot provide. The archival data used in the study were from the National Organizations Survey, 1996-1997 which included organizations of all sizes and forms. The analyses produced mixed support for the hypotheses. Significant relationships were found between hours of formal training and frequency of promotions of employees, and between importance of training in promotions and frequency of promotions for managers. Multiple regressions revealed that the hypothesis predicting that increased hours of training focused on general skills would positively contribute to promotion rates was not supported for either employees …

The purpose of this project was to examine team compensation systems and to evaluate the impact of their critical elements--level (what to motivate), compensation mixture (what rewards motivate), and employee perceptions (how to motivate)--on team effectiveness. Twenty-three organizations, 108 teams, and 769 team members participated in this study. Project results found that teams that utilized team level rewards, especially when associated with a complete compensation mixture, had significantly higher team effectiveness scores compared to teams that utilized only individual level rewards. With respect to employee perceptions, results found that: (a) perceptions of system understanding, measure controllability, pay-for-performance, and payout frequency, particularly, were significant components of employee compensation system satisfaction; and (b) employee compensation system satisfaction and perceptions of compensation system effectiveness were significantly related.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the criterion-related validity of an assessment center's competency dimension ratings, exercise ratings, and standardized test scores. Numerous studies have clearly demonstrated assessment centers display substantial evidence of content and criterion-related validity. However, the inability of assessment centers to display construct-related validity has caused a great deal of concern among researchers. The suggestions of these researchers are addressed through a more detailed examination of the criterion-related validity of an assessment center. Despite a number of methodological issues, two competency dimensions and two components stand out as viable predictors of the criteria used in this study. Examination of individual and incremental validity coefficients reveals the Strategic Focus and Attracting and Developing Talent competency dimensions, the In-Basket exercise, and the Watson-Glaser scaled score consistently predict the criteria used in this study. The implications of these results for future research are discussed.

The training needs of managers in the public and private sectors were investigated and compared. Future trends in training that are foreseen by these managers were also researched. Forty-four public sector managers and 34 private sector managers completed a questionnaire covering such topics as: current training needs, current training efficiency, and future trends in training. Topics covered included an overview of the problem, identification and explanation of current trends in topical literature, results of the research, and conclusions drawn from the findings. The results indicated a small difference in current training needs of the two sectors. Recommendations for future studies included a larger sample population and a follow-up study of the private sector managers.

A stress management intervention was developed and integrated into the services provided by one of the nation's largest outplacement consultants. The purpose of the intervention was to aid outplacement clients in the management and resolution of stress associated with job loss and career transition. Based on the results of this study, the intervention had the effect of helping treatment participants maintain their levels of effective coping when compared to nonparticipants. This study supports the hypothesis that stress management training can be helpful for unemployed individuals and may impact their emotional well-being as they go through the job search process.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is an established psychological construct that represents work behavior that is not required but contributes to improved organizational performance. This study examined the relationship of cognitive job satisfaction and OCB in a military organization. Several demographic variables previous identified to be related to OCB were also measured. Cognitive Job Satisfaction was significantly related to both self and supervisor ratings of OCB. The magnitude of correlations of pay and job cognitions with altruism and conscientiousness dovetailed with previous research results in field studies with much larger sample sizes. Government service civilians had significantly higher mean self-rated OCB than military personnel. Age and tenure were significant moderator variables in this relationship, but did not have significant main effects. Tenure was significantly correlated with self-rated OCB and both its factors, altruism and conscientiousness. Insufficient statistical power due to few respondents and range restriction due to pre-selection limited the ability to find significant group differences.

Organizational commitment is most commonly defined as a measure of an employee's commitment to the company or larger organization. In a longitudinal study, the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire was administered to 123 first line manufacturing supervisors in a defense contracting firm. After a one year check, subjects were grouped into categories of voluntary and involuntary turnover. The results suggest that significant relationships exist among the variables of departmental commitment, turnover and tenure. However, the study failed to show any relationship between organizational commitment and turnover.

Subjects in this study were 5,523 respondents from a survey which was sent to households throughout the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine two basic components of career orientation: career indecision and career insight. Correlational analyses found relationships between career indecision and average job tenure, industry leaving intentions, industry staying intentions, and job satisfaction. Correlational analyses found relationships between career insight, industry staying intentions and job satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses were run using both career indecision and career insight as independent variables found that they had useful levels of incremental validity in predicting industry leaving intentions and job satisfaction. Potential uses of the two-dimensional career indecision - career insight model are discussed.

An abundance of theories exists on what constitutes appropriate team leadership; What seems to be lacking is how the "followers" react when exposed to their tenets. This particular study involves testing a contemporary model (Stewart & Manz, 1995) via interview statements that seem to indicate that a certain form of team leadership is taking place. Once determined, the effectiveness of the leadership "style" that is in effect is assessed using ten different performance dimensions to determine if that style is successful (or detrimental) in any of those areas. Leadership "tools" from other theories and models are examined as well.

The present study analyzed the health benefits data of employees in a southwestern United States manufacturing plant. The data consisted of the prevalence rates of headaches, muscle injuries, upper respiratory complaints, and colds/flu for baseline (1985) and intervention levels (1986-1988) for five high-risk jobs. The prevalence rates of headaches and muscle injuries decreased significantly (p < .001) from baseline levels for all five job groups. Comparisons with a nontreatment group revealed significant decreases (p < .05) for three of the five job groups. The findings support the efficacy of the ergonomic interventions. A health surveillance system is recommended for early detection and prevention of cumulative trauma disorders.

This study explored the relationship of Type A/B personality and leadership style to absenteeism. Absenteeism data were gathered for 243 male fire fighters and fire engineers. Each subject was administered the Jenkins Activity Scale to measure his Type A characteristics and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire to measure his perception of his supervisor's leadership style. The results, though non-significant, revealed that: a) Type A's had less absenteeism than type B's; b) Subjects who perceived their supervisors as being low on consideration had less absenteeism than those who perceived their supervisors as being high on this dimension; c) Type A's absenteeism was low and Type B's was high when working under a leader perceived as low on structure. Finally, a weak but significant three-way interaction effect revealed that the highest amount of absenteeism occurred when Type B' s worked under supervisors who were high in consideration and low in structure. The least amount of absenteeism occurred when Type A's worked under supervisors who were high in structure and low in consideration.

This study investigated the relationship between turnover and personality measures through the application of discriminant analysis in a split sample cross validation design. Four personality tests measuring 34 dimensions of personality were administered to 300 Caucasian male job applicants. The tests were the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior, the Vocational Preference Inventory, a shortened version of the DF-Opinion Survey, and the Guilford Zimmerman Temperament Survey. Ten of the dimensions were initially found to be significantly related to turnover. The shrinkage of the coefficient after cross validation was enough for the loss of statistical significance. It is suggested that personality measures are moderately associated with turnover and that investigations examining methods to reduce turnover should focus on other variables.

The correlation between employee theft and various employee attitudes is investigated with 489 subjects from a large discount store chain located in the southeastern United States. Subjects completed two tests: Personnel Decisions, Inc. 's Employment Inventory/Customer Service Inventory which measures employee reliability and orientation toward providing customer service; and the Organization Responsiveness Questionnaire which measures satisfaction and perceived store security. Individual scores on the tests were correlated with a performance rating form completed by the subject's supervisor. Scores were computed for each store and correlated with inventory shrinkage rates. Results revealed relatively weak correlations for some variables. The multiple regression analysis was unable to significantly predict any of the criterion variables.

Successful implementation of organizational redesign depends on the support of employees at all levels of the organization. This study looked at some of the factors that are related to employee support for organizational redesign. Subjects (82 support staff members of a small manufacturing plant undergoing organizational change) were administered a survey which measured employee perceptions about the change management process and the disruption the change caused to their daily routine. Eleven variables were assessed as independent variables in terms of their relationship to the dependent variable which was employee support of the organizational change. All eleven variables were significantly related to the dependent variable. The implications of these results and issues for further research was discussed.

Derived from sociotechnical systems theory, autonomous or self-managed work groups are a form of work design in which employees are multi-skilled, take responsibility for the group's tasks, and have discretion over the decisions which impact group performance. Previously collected survey data from 602 employees of a southwestern manufacturing firm were examined via factor analyses and multivariate analysis of variance. Significant differences were found for self-managed work group members versus traditional job holders regarding enhanced organizational involvement and enhanced work responsibility. However, there was no evidence of an age effect nor interaction regarding age. This study provides evidence to other action researchers and organizational decision makers that an "older" work force should not be considered a barrier to implementing this type of work design

Service orientation has been suggested to be a work-related behavioral trait that contributes toward overall job performance in certain occupations. Therefore, the Batrus Hollweg Service Questionnaire (SQ), a personality inventory, was hypothesized to predict performance in a sample (N=55) of fast-food restaurant workers whose jobs were primarily composed of service-related elements. A performance evaluation form was created for use as the criterion measure. An alternative scoring system for the SQ was developed, and showed it to be significantly correlated with the criterion. The potential for use of the alternative scoring procedure is discussed.

The present study empirically examined working behaviors of men and women within a self-managed working environment. Three models of women and work were studied. Results indicated women exhibited higher levels of job meaning and continuance commitment. The more self-managed production team exhibited higher levels of growth need strength, support from co-workers, continuance commitment, task significance and lower levels of role conflicts. Support teams exhibited higher levels of autonomy and satisfaction with pay. Path analysis, testing a model based on Astin's sociopsychological model indicated direct effects from expectancy to general satisfaction, from gender to expectancy, and task significance to gender. An alternative model showed direct effects between general satisfaction and expectancy, satisfaction with pay, task significance and expectancies, and between satisfaction with pay and teams.