Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Weiser Carrots And Sticks: Motivation Beyond Money At The Shakedown Café, Julian A. Martinez

CMC Senior Theses

It is generally assumed that monetary incentivization is the most effective means of motivating organizationally-beneficial behaviors. Individuals, under this line of thought, pursue their own objective self-interest above all else. However, evidence is being uncovered that indicates that human motivation may be a much more complicated facet of the human psyche. The purpose of this study is to examine the deeper underpinnings that drive people work that might lie beyond financial rewards. In order to do this, the Shakedown Café, a student-run restaurant on Pitzer College’s campus, will be examined. This specific organization is of particular interest because it does …

Downsized Survivors: Areas Of Loss And Work Behaviors, Cyndi J. Schaeffer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research design used factor analysis to develop subscales related to areas of loss, and subscales related to work behaviors of survivors following a downsizing. Five loss subscales were revealed as a result of factor analysis. They were loss of sense of justice and supervisory support; loss of security and support; loss of positive outlook; loss of territory; and loss of control and identity. There were two work behavior components identified through factor analysis. They were lack of productivity and sabotage; and intention for flight. The loss components, sense of justice and supervisory support; security and competence; and territory, were …

Exploring The Developmental Potential Of Leader-Follower Interactions: A Constructive-Developmental Approach, Sorin Valcea, Maria R. Hamdani, M. R. Buckley, Milorad M. Novicevic

Business Faculty Publications

Researchers in leadership have long recognized the important role of leaders in developing the competencies of followers.More recently, however, scholars have begun to emphasize the pivotal role of followers in the development of leaders.We use constructive developmental theory (e.g., Kegan, 1982; Loevinger & Blasi, 1976) to suggest that both leaders and followers influence the development of the meaningmaking systems of their counterparts in leader–follower dyads. We argue that a combination of challenge – in the formof delegation, participation, and feedback – and support – in the form of positive leader–follower relationships – works to promote the development ofmore complex meaningmaking …

The Creative Coach: Exploring The Synergies Between Creative Problem Solving: Thinking Skills Model And Non-Directive Coaching, Trevor J. Mcalpine

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project looks at the similarities and differences between the most recent version of Creative Problem Solving called Creative Problem Solving: Thinking Skills Model and the approach to coaching known as Non-Directive Coaching. Creativity practitioners are challenged to find opportunities of engaging in formal full-blown, group-based Creative Problem Solving sessions. There is a need to find other, less formal ways of helping people use their creativity. The Thinking Skills Model’s design allows it to mesh with the creative process in other content areas by making the basic concepts of Creative Problem Solving transferable to those other contexts. Non-Directive Coaching …

The Effects Of The Attacks Of 9/11 On Organizational Policies, Employee Attitudes And Workers’ Psychological States, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio, Heidi Carlos, Jessica Harnett, Melanie Jetta, Madeline Mercier

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Problem statement: The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) on the United States have had a profound effect on organizations and their employees. These effects occurred in the days and weeks immediately following the attacks, as well as in the years since the attacks occurred. In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, this study focuses on the impact that the attacks of September 11, 2001 have had on organizational policies, employee attitudes and workers’ psychological states. Approach: Managers were surveyed regarding the effects of 9/11 on these issues. Results: The results of the study indicate that …

A Tale Of Passion: Linking Job Passion And Cognitive Engagement To Employee Work Performance, Violet Ho, Sze-Sze Wong, Chay Hoon Lee

Management Faculty Publications

We propose a model of job passion that links two types of passion, harmonious and obsessive passion, to employees’ work performance, via the mediating mechanism of cognitive engagement (comprising attention and absorption). Results from a survey conducted with 509 employees from an insurance firm indicate that employees with harmonious passion performed better at work, and that this relationship was mediated primarily by cognitive absorption, that is, the intensity of focus and immersion experienced by the employees when working. However, even though obsessive passion was negatively related to cognitive attention (i.e., the amount of cognitive resources spent thinking about work), it …

When A Promotion Is Denied: The Effects Of Decision Stage On Perceptions Of Promotion And Price Fairness, Monika Kukar-Kinney, Lan Xia, Kent B. Monroe

Marketing Faculty Publications

Marketers frequently use promotions to enhance sales and increase consumers' perceptions of value. However, most promotions usually come with restrictions, such as time expiration, quantity or product model restriction, etc. In the present research, the effect of the stage in the purchase process when the consumer finds out about the restriction is investigated. The findings indicate that the later in the purchase process the consumer discovers the restriction, the greater is the perception that the effort invested into the purchase is wasted, consequently resulting in lower promotion and price fairness. This effect is mediated through the feeling of entitlement to …

Who Cares? The Role Of Job Involvement In Psychological Contract Violation, Jason S. Stoner, Vickie C. Gallagher

Business Faculty Publications

This study examined survey data from full-time employees employed in a variety of occupations. We empirically examined how psychological involvement with one’s job affects reactions to psychological contract violation. Data for control variables (i.e., age, gender, organizational tenure), the independent variable (i.e., psychological contract violation), and the moderator (i.e., job involvement) were taken at Time 1; and dependent variables (i.e., depressed mood at work, turnover intention) were taken at Time 2. Results illustrated that job involvement was an important construct in understanding individuals’ negative reactions to psychological contract violations. Implications and limitations are discussed, and suggestions for future research are …

Employee, Manage Thyself: The Potentially Negative Implications Of Expecting Employees To Behave Proactively, Mark Bolino, Sorin Valcea, Jaron Harvey

Business Faculty Publications

Previous research investigating proactive behaviour at work has generally focused on the ways in which proactive behaviour enables individuals and organizations to be more effective. Although it has been noted that some proactive behaviours may be undesirable or have potentially negative consequences, researchers have not examined the ‘dark side’ of proactive behaviour in any systematic way. In this conceptual paper, we explore the potentially negative individual and organizational implications of expecting employees to behave proactively. Specifically, at the individual level, we argue that expecting proactive behaviour in organizations may contribute to stress among employees and friction between proactive and less …

An Experimental Study Of The Impact Of Psychological Capital On Performance, Engagement, And The Contagion Effect, Timothy Daniel Hodges

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Psychological Capital, or PsyCap, is a core construct consisting of the positive psychological resources of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience. Previous research has consistently linked PsyCap to workplace outcomes including employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Further research has explored the ways in which PsyCap can be developed through relatively brief workplace interventions. The present study focuses on PsyCap development and the relationship to employee engagement and performance. In an experimental design with random assignment of subjects to control group (n = 52 managers and 152 associates) and treatment group (n = 58 managers and 239 employees), a field sample of …

Reflecting On Experience For Leadership Development, Adrian Chan

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study proposes that being reflective or ruminative about one's leadership experience can have differential effects on one's leadership efficacy, implicit leadership theories and psychological capital. Specifically, through the aid of an event history calendar, conscript military trainees of high and low military experience from a SE Asian military organization were randomly assigned to recall and reflect or ruminate on his past leadership experience. Results show that type of reflection interacts with level of military leadership experience to differentially affect one's leadership efficacy, implicit leadership theories and leadership self-awareness. Reflection triggers produced significantly higher levels of implicit leadership theories under …

The Use Of Personality Test Norms In Work Settings: Effects Of Sample Size And Relevance, Robert P. Tett, Jenna R. (Fitzke) Pieper, Patrick L. Wadlington, Scott A. Davies, Michael G. Anderson, Jeff Foster

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The value of personality test norms for use in work settings depends on norm sample size (N) and relevance, yet research on these criteria is scant and corresponding standards are vague. Using basic statistical principles and Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) data from 5 sales and 4 trucking samples (N range = 394–6,200), we show that (a) N >100 has little practical impact on the reliability of norm-based standard scores (max=±10 percentile points in 99% of samples) and (b) personality profiles vary more from using different norm samples, between as well as within job families. Averaging across scales, T-scores based on …

The Role Of Emotional Labor In Performance Appraisal: Are Supervisors Getting Into The Act?, Samantha A. Ritchie, Allison L. O'Malley

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Researchers have issued a call for research on emotional labor to move beyond service roles to other organizational roles (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993). The present paper proposes that emotional labor plays a pivotal role during performance feedback exchanges between supervisors and subordinates. We suggest that the emotional labor supervisors engage in while providing performance feedback is a vital mechanism by which leaders impact followers' perceptions of the feedback environment (Steelman, Levy, & Snell, 2004) and, subsequently, important outcomes (e.g., employee satisfaction with the feedback, motivation to use feedback, feedback seeking frequency, and LMX quality).

With A Little Help From My Friends (And Substitutes): Social Referents And Influence In Psychological Contract Fulfillment, Violet Ho

Management Faculty Publications

This study investigated employees’ choice of social referents and the impact of social influence on their beliefs of psychological contract fulfillment. Using data from a field study conducted with 99 employees in a research organization, we found that one’s referent choice varied with the domain of promise evaluated. When evaluating the organization’s fulfillment of organization-wide promises, employees’ referents were primarily coworkers with whom they had close direct ties, namely, friends and advice givers. On the other hand, when evaluating the fulfillment of job-related promises, employees’ referents were mainly fellow workers who could substitute for them and people with whom they …

The Role Of Inferential Accuracy In Performance Rating Accuracy: A Field Study Of Teacher Performance Appraisal, Cynthia L. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study first assessed the accuracy of performance appraisal ratings of high school teachers in comparison to the achievement of their students as measured by Virginia's Standard of Learning (SOL) tests. The overall performance rating scores of 145 teachers were compared to the pass rates of their students on SOL end-of-course tests. The rating sub-scores in each of four domains of performance were also compared to the SOL pass rates.

The study then tested the influence of Inferential Accuracy, a model proposed by Jackson (1972), on rating accuracy overall and of individual raters in the study. Inferential Accuracy is comprised …

Adaptation To Changing Marketplace Conditions By Psychologists In Independent Practice, Keith James Monroe

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent surveys have provided support to the frequently asserted opinion that managed care has negatively impacted psychologists in independent practice. Many recommendations have been made by professional organizations to address the negative impact and most have been directed at guiding practitioners to adapt to changes in health care delivery. However, there is little data on how private practitioners evaluate these recommendations or if they are using these strategies to adapt to the changing practice environment. The focus of this dissertation was to assess the extent that psychologists in independent practice have adopted the recommended strategies. By establishing a representative sample …

Qualitative Inquiry Of Biased And Exemplary Practices Of White Supervisors In Multicultural Supervision, Brian D. Paul

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

How Does The Retail Clerk Make Sense Of His Environment, Tyler L. Watson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The retail clerk is a common feature of today's society. However, the role of the retail clerk has been largely overlooked from the sociological perspective. More precisely from the ethnomethodological perspective. Currently most of the body of research on the retail clerk is from the business perspective and sheds little light on what it is like to be a retail clerk. This study was designed to gain access to the other side of the retail scene, that is, the side of the retail clerk. Most Americans are already familiar with the store but do not know how things are experienced …

The Influence Of Foreign Culture On Air Force Contingency Contracting Operations, Christian M. Ruefer

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Contingency Contracting Officers (CCOs) are increasingly finding themselves an integral part of overseas deployments, purchasing in theater whatever the combat forces cannot bring with them. As a result, CCOs must deal directly with businesses and the individuals who operate them in the deployed location. Cultural differences between the CCO and suppliers can become an issue not encountered in stateside operations. This thesis was designed to explore the possible impact of culture on the deployed CCO's ability to do their job. There were four objectives of this study. First, those tasks CCOs must accomplish in order to perform their job …

The Effects Of Individual, Contextual, And Moral Intensity Factors On Environmental Ethical Decision Making, Brenda L. Flannery

Management and Entrepreneurship Department Publications

Most extant studies of organizational ethical decision making have been remiss in doing one or more of the following: (a) building theoretical foundations; (b) encompassing the individual, contextual, and issue-specific determinants impacting ethical judgments; (c) offering testable hypotheses; and/or (d) establishing methodological rigor. This study confronted those challenges aiming to understand the decision intentions of top managers in the metal finishing industry concerning the treatment of hazardous wastewater. This study employed an extended version of Ajzen's (1988) theory of planned behavior. The theory accommodatingly modeled the individual (i.e., attitudes, self-efficacy, personal moral obligation), contextual (subjective norms, organizational climate, and financial …

Towards Understanding Why Assessment Centers Work: An Evaluation Of The Subtle Criterion Contamination Hypothesis, Christopher T. Rotolo

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The success of the assessment center method in predicting job performance has been one of the most researched efforts in personnel psychology (Thornton, 1992). However, there is little reported evidence showing that assessment center procedures produce scores that serve as valid representations of separate constructs (Klimoski & Brickner, 1987). It is perhaps ironic, then, that despite the success stories, we still do not understand why assessment centers "work," (i.e., predict performance).

This study examined the subtle criterion contamination hypothesis as an explanation to assessment center validity. The subtle criterion contamination hypothesis states that assessment centers predict managerial performance because assessors …

Cross-Cultural Differences And Intercultural Cooperation In The Context Of Change And Uncertainty: Americans And Finns In The Workplace, Maija Llisa Herweg

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

American and Finnish workers in financial institutions in the United States and in Finland were interviewed in their respective languages to explore cross-cultural differences in response to change and uncertainty in the work place. Changes were explored in the domains of organizational, process, procedure and work content, and technological changes in the work place. As a point of departure for this study, Hofstede's IBM study, as it pertains to Uncertainty Avoidance--a measure he used to evaluate culture-based resistance to change--was used for this study.

Differences in the kinds of change considered difficult to adjust to were found in the cross-cultural …

Computer Simulation Study Of The Joint Deployment Of The 23rd Wing And 82nd Airborne Division From Pope Air Force Base, John B. Prechtel, Mark S. Wingreen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis produced a model of the Army airdrop segment of the Pope AFB deployment system. The original intent was to model the entire system and simulate the simultaneous deployment of the 23rd Wing and 82nd Airborne Division; however, time constraints and incomplete data forced a reduction in scope. The study provides an excellent foundation for further research into the use of simulation to develop a generalized deployment sizing model. The airdrop segment of the system was modeled using the researcher's personal observations of the system, the expertise of personnel who work within the system, and documentation of the problems …

The Impact Of Goal Setting And Empowerment On Governmental Matrix Organizations, Stephen R. Corey, Patricea W. Hogan

Theses and Dissertations

The matrix management concept is currently in use by many DoD organizations. Theories of goal setting and empowerment seem to align with some of the responsibilities assumed by matrix project managers. The research problem was to determine whether will-functioning government matrix organizations owe their effectiveness to a project-oriented matrix organization structure, or to good goal setting and empowerment practices by managers. Interviews were conducted at three SPOs at WPAFB and at DLA's DESC and DCSC. Qualitative analysis, including dendrograms and matrix displays were utilized. Conclusions include the following points: Goal Setting is not prominent, but may not be critical in …

A Preliminary Study Of A Job Analytic Inventory Derived From A Behavioral Consistency Method For Assessing Intrinsic Motivation, William John Banis

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The research question for this study asked if the Job Specifications Inventory (JSI) had acceptable internal reliability and an ability to differentiate among occupational groups. The JSI was designed to have subject matter experts rate the importance of skill, content, context, relationship and work focus requirements of jobs or occupations. The JSI used a taxonomy of 268 behavioral elements derived from the content analyses of satisfying achievements reported by a large, diverse clientele. A clinical-type behavioral consistency method was used to extract performance dimensions from clients' achievements to build the taxonomy. The achievement-based taxonomy was seen as potentially enhancing productivity …

Diffusion Of Total Quality Management: An Organizational Self-Production Perspective, Baizhong Zhao

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

American industries are in the process of a quality revolution. Most companies are busy implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. However, the experience of both Japanese and American companies indicates that successful TQM implementation depends on an understanding of implementation processes, which itself relies on an understanding of organizational self-organizing, for it is through this process that TQM gets diffused and becomes a core component of an organization's culture. Self-organizing is a so-called process-oriented approach, based on theory from cybernetics (Ashby, 1962; Steier & Smith, 1985; von Foerster, 1960), dissipative structure theory (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984), and chaos theory (Gleick, …

The Effect Of Different Approaches To Goal Setting On Goal Commitment, Eileen Mary Piersa

All Master's Theses

This study assesses the goal commitment generated by different approaches to goal setting. The participants were the directors, board presidents, staff, board members and volunteers of two non-profit organizations. One group explored their history as an organization, significant events and the impact of those events before carrying out the same goal setting process as the other group. Self-efficacy was measured before the exercise began. Goal commitment was measured after participants prioritized goals and selected subgoals on which to take action. The hypothesis that cognitively reviewing past history would lead to greater commitment was rejected. A second hypothesis that the self-efficacy …

The Structure Of Opportunity: Network Configuration And Career Mobility, Terri A. Scandura Phd

Management Faculty Articles and Papers

Within organizations, managers are constantly choosing with whom they will begin, continue or cease to interact (Fischer, 1977; Kaplan, 1984). Organizations have been defined as "fish nets" of interrelated offices, and can be viewed as social groupings with relatively stable patterns of interaction over time (Katz and Kahn, 1978; Weick, 1969). If such a model of organizing is to move beyond this metaphor, coherent frameworks, and accompanying methods of analysis capable of capturing these emergent processes are necessary. The social network perspective was proposed by Tichy, Tushman and Fombrun (1979) and has guided data collection and analysis on emergent network …