Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Psychophysically Derived Work Frequencies Associated With Roof Shingling Operations Involving Change In Grade, Sang Dae Choi

Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of roof slope on psychophysical roof shingling frequency. Twelve healthy males (21-30 years old) were used as participants. Experiment one was designed to determine Maximum Acceptable Roof Shingling Frequency (MARSF) for a workday period using psychophysical methodology. Results indicate that 198 shingles/hr is an acceptable roof shingling frequency for a workday. Furthermore, 2 hours is an acceptable testing period (equivalent to the workday). Postural sway and physiological variables support these findings. Experiment two was designed to study the effect of slope (18°, 26°, and 34°) on MARSF. Experiment two indicates …

Because A Better World Is Possible: Women Casino Workers, Union Activism And The Creation Of A Just Workplace, Susan Chandler

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Based on a re-analysis of data from a qualitative study of the work experience of 36 women casino workers, this article examines the contributions and personal characteristics of the 13 women in the sample who described themselves as committed union activists. These women, all leaders in the Hotel Employees, Restaurant Employees Union, were proud that collectively they had improved wages, benefits, and the conditions of work in Nevada casinos, and had created an environment that reinforced pride in a job well-done, provided job security, and promoted strong families and communities. These women's workplace experience serves as a reminder to the …

Organizational Factors Contributing To Worker Frustration: The Precursor To Burnout, Cathleen A. Lewandowski

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examined the organizationalf actors that contribute to workers' frustration with their work situation. The sample included 141 service professionals who attended workshops on burnout in 2001. The purpose of the workshops was to increase awareness regarding the organizational factors that could contribute to burnout. Findings indicate that factors most directly affecting clients were predictive of frustration, rather than factors that may indirectly support service quality or factors impacting workers' professional autonomy. A sense of powerlessness and isolation was also predictive of frustration, suggesting that participants viewed workplace problems as a private rather than an organizational concern. To address …

Shift Work And Negative Work-To-Family Spillover, Blanche Grosswald

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A representative sample of the U.S. workforce from 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce data (Families & Work Institute, 1999) was examined to study the relationship between shift work and negative workto- family spillover. Negative spillover was measured by Likert-scale frequency responses to questions concerning mood, energy, and time for family as functions of one's job. Statistical analyses comprised t-tests, ANOVAs, and multiple regressions. Among wage earners with families (n = 2,429), shift work showed a significant, strong, positive relationship to high negative work-to-family spillover when controlling for standard demographic characteristics as well as education and occupation. Distinctions among …

Review Of The Making Of The Chinese Industrial Workplace: State, Revolution And Labor Management. Mark W. Frazier. Reviewed By M. K. Lee., M. K. Lee

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Mark W. Frazier, The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace: State, Revolution and Labor Management. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. $60.00 hardcover.

Swat Team Composition And Effectiveness, Deanna Marie Putney

Doctoral Dissertations

A field study examined team effectiveness in relation to group composition in thirty-four (34) Specialized Weapons and Tactical (SWAT) Teams. Data collection during a five-day, work-focused, SWAT team competition and included judges’ ratings of team performance, a questionnaire among team members and leaders to assess individual personality traits conscientiousness and agreeableness, and perceptions of team performance, norms, and conflict. Hypotheses derived from current research and theory. Results showed that the team maximum conscientiousness score correlated positively with member-rated team performance, as predicted. Team average and minimum conscientiousness correlated with leader-rated team viability; whereas, only the maximum conscientiousness team score correlated …

Predicting Leadership Activities: The Role Of Flexibility, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper investigated the role of flexibility in predicting adolescent leadership activities among 186 undergraduate students. Two measures of flexibility, behavioral flexibility and cognitive flexibility, were developed and entered in a regression equation, after social skills and academic ability. The results suggest that behavioral and cognitive flexibility are distinct constructs and that both contribute uniquely to the prediction of leadership above and beyond social skills and academic ability.

Implementing An Employee Survey That Is Linked To Business Strategy, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Identifying The Dimensions Of Integrity: A Confirmatory And Discriminant Validity Analysis, Arlene Pace Green

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

While Integrity tests have demonstrated significant predictive and concurrent validity, the meaning and structure of integrity test scores are not well understood. The purpose of the present investigation was to empirically verify the results of a previous study that used an inductive method to define integrity and identify its constituent dimensions (Green, 1999). Specifically, the present investigation used item analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, discriminant validity analysis, and an analysis of social desirability to test the validity of the five integrity dimensions identified by Green (1999): Concern for Others, Conscientiousness, Emotional Control, Fairness, and Honesty. Results confirmed that Integrity acts as …

Using Protocol Analysis To Help Determine The Behavioral Function Of Conducting Safety Observations, Alicia M. Alvero

Dissertations

Recent research endeavors have demonstrated the existence of an observer effect . In other words, conducting safety observations increases the safetyperformance of the observer, and may result in safety-related verbalizations. The purpose of this study was to help determine whether observers make self-verbalizations regarding their safety performance and whether these reports are functionally related to safety performance. In order to answer these questions two experiments were conducted using both protocol analysis and the silent dog method. Protocol analysis is used by cognitive scientists to analyze thethoughts of a person as they perform a task, and the silent dog method allows …

The Influence Of Job Satisfaction And Life Satisfaction On Immediate Mood States, Withdrawal Intentions, And Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, Lynne Battista

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Affective states influence an individual's level of job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Affective states also influence behavior (e.g., withdrawal intentions and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors). The present study investigated the inverse relationship—that is, whether job and life satisfaction influence immediate mood state, and consequently withdrawal intentions and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors. Participants, who role played a restaurant server, were given a scenario that induced either positive job or life satisfaction, negative job or life satisfaction, or no information was given regarding their level of job or life satisfaction. Participants then responded to instruments measuring immediate mood state and behavioral consequences. Results indicated …

Modeling The Decision Process Of A Joint Task Force Commander, John Anthony Sokolowski

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The U.S. military uses modeling and simulation as a tool to help meet its warfighting needs. A key element within military simulations is the ability to accurately represent human behavior. This is especially true in a simulation's ability to emulate realistic military decisions. However, current decision models fail to provide the variability and flexibility that human decision makers exhibit. Further, most decision models are focused on tactical decisions and ignore the decision process of senior military commanders at the operational level of warfare. In an effort to develop a better decision model that would mimic the decision process of a …

Trends. Group Psychology And War Planning, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the importance of group dynamics and mood in a war setting.

Applicant Perceptions Of Selection Procedures: The Role Of Selection Information, Belief In Tests, And Comparative Anxiety, Filip Lievens, Wilfried De Corte, Katrien Brysse

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study addresses the effects of the provision of information on the reliability and validity of selection procedures and the effects of test-taker attitudes (i.e., belief in tests and comparative anxiety) on fairness perceptions. Prior to an actual selection process, applicants (N = 118) were given either information about the reliability and validity of various selection procedures or no information. Next, they evaluated the fairness of eight selection procedures. No significant effect of selection information was found. Belief in tests had significant effects, with applicants high on test belief giving higher fairness ratings than applicants low on test belief. In …

Employee Surveys And Hrm Strategy, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This article demonstrates that employee surveys can be an important strategic tool but poor implementation can diminish their value. Specifically surveys should be linked to Business Strategy and have actionable outcomes.

When Success Breeds Failure: History, Hysteresis, And Delayed Exit Decisions, Jennifer Bragger, Donald Bragger, Donald A. Hantula, Jean Kirnan, Eugene Kutcher

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The effects of feedback equivocality, information availability, and prior decision-making history on escalation and persistence were investigated. Replicating the findings of J.L. Bragger, D.H. Bragger, D.A. Hantula, and J.P. Kirnan (1998), this study found that participants receiving equivocal feedback on their decisions invested more money and invested across more opportunities; those who could purchase information invested fewer resources than did participants who did not have the opportunity to purchase information. There was an inverse linear relationship between the percentage of opportunities in which participants purchased information and the delay to exit decisions and total resources invested. Six weeks earlier, some …

Social Skill As Moderator Of The Conscientiousness-Performance Relationship: Convergent Results Across Four Studies

L. A. Witt

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Leader-Member Exchange On Communication Type, Frequency, And Performance Ratings

L. A. Witt

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Relationships Between The Perceived Organizational Climate And Professional Burnout In Libraries And Computing Centers In West Virginia Public Higher Education Institutions, Arnold R. Miller

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between the perceived organizational climate and professional burnout in libraries and computing services units in West Virginia higher education. Research questions were defined to investigate the differences between libraries and computing services units in the perceived organizational climate, professional burnout, organizational climate vs. burnout, demographics vs. organizational climate, demographics vs. burnout, and the combined effects of demographics and organizational climate upon burnout. The Work Environment Scale (WES) Form R, third edition, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) HSS, third edition, and a demographic questionnaire measured the organizational climate, burnout, and demographics. …

Persuasive Behavior As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Strategic Behavior And Leadership Effectiveness, Daniel Rojas Vieira

Theses Digitization Project

Based on the notion that leader behaviors are mutually facilitative on their effects on leader effectiveness, this study tested the hypothesis that Persuasive behaviors enhance the predictive relationship between Strategic behaviors and Leadership Effectiveness. Persuasive was hypothesized to act as an enhancer based on the notion that the leader's ability to influence others and develop followership can enhance the impact of a leader's ability to set strategy, provide direction, make decisions and plan on perceived effectiveness.

An Examination Of The Perceptions Held Towards Older Workers: A Comparison Of Information Technology And Non Information Technology Companies, Robin Liane Tuck

Theses Digitization Project

The focus of this thesis is to examine perceptions held towards older workers across industries. The perceptions of Human Resource personnel and hiring managers recruiting for Information Technologist were compared to the perceptions of Human Resource personnel and hiring managers recruiting for various other positions.

The Relationship Between Person-Organization Fit, Attribution Theory, And Psychological Contract Violations Within Organizational Settings, Sarah Elizabeth Phillips

Theses Digitization Project

This study makes an attempt at bridging the theory between the constructs of person-organization (P-O) fit and psychological contract violations, through attribution theory.

Construct Validation Of Common Format Biodata Within The Public Sector, James Foster Baxter

Theses Digitization Project

Biographical data inventories (biodata) have one of the best predictors of job performance criteria for over 100 hundred years. Similarly, CommonFormat Biodata (CFB) inventories have also demonstrated their ability to predict certain performance criteria. There are two common themes and tow common sub-themes typically associated with CFB intruments, Education, experience, time, and specificity respectively. The major purpose of this paper was to employ a confirmatory factor analysis strategy to construct and validate a CFB inventory.

Examining The Equivalence Of Rater Groups In 360-Degree Feedback For Use In Leadership Development, Amy Fitzgibbons

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study assessed the seldom-considered aspect of measurement equivalence across the three most common rater groups in 360-degree feedback systems. The graded response model for polytomous items was used to assess differential functioning of items and tests and applied to an archival data set of 664 ratees to determine the equivalence of peer, subordinate, and supervisor ratings of four leadership competencies. The results indicate that the leadership competencies were invariant across the three rater groups. The results and conclusions produced are discussed with practical implications in mind.

Proactive Personality And The Big Five As Predictors Of Motivation To Learn, Jonathan E. Turner

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In an environment of changing psychological contracts, corporate downsizing, and increases in alternative self-paced training delivery channels, motivation to learn is believed to represent a key variable in employee self-development that distinguishes employees who will thrive from those who will not. Predicting this variable, then, becomes an important step in managing workforce development and helping employees help themselves. Therefore, the efficacy of relevant personality characteristics as predictors of motivation to learn was investigated. Proactive personality and the Big Five factors of personality were hypothesized to be predictive of motivation to learn. These personality variables are relevant because they have been …

An Examination Of Personality As A Predictor Of Guard Behavior In A Virtual Environment, Jean M. Catanzaro

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Military personnel need access to realistic training tools that can provide a safe environment in which to acquire skills that will generalize to real world tasks. A virtual environment (VE) is one such tool. The focus of the present study was to evaluate a VE as a training tool for military guards. The first goal was to examine the potential of VE technology to provide effective training for standing watch at a military checkpoint. The second goal was to study a set of personality traits that might predict performance. Participants completed the NEO Personality Inventory and were trained to perform …