Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Electronic Versus Paper Surveys In An Upward Feedback Application: Are The Methods Equivalent?, Michael Yap

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis represents the first known study to investigate the equivalency of paper vs. electronic survey data collection formats in an upward feedback application. Findings are similar to recent research utilizing employee opinion survey data. Format explained less than 1% of variance in managers' total scores over that of ratee and rater demographic variables.

Assessors' Use Of Personality Traits In Descriptions Of Assessment Centre Candidates: A Five-Factor Model Perspective, Filip Lievens, Filip De Fruyt, Karen Van Dam

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In assessment centres assessors are typically taught to note down behavioural observations. However, previous studies have shown that about 20% of assessor notes contain trait descriptors. Instead of regarding these descriptors as errors, this study examines their position in a personality descriptive taxonomy (i.e. the AB5C taxonomy, see Hofstee, De Raad, & Goldberg, 1992) and relates them to employment recommendations. To this end, assessor notes of 403 assessees (214 men, 189 women; mean age 33 years) were scrutinized for personality descriptors. Results show that assessors, as a group, use descriptors referring to all five personality domains with a preference for …

Dimension And Exercise Variance In Assessment Center Scores: A Large-Scale Evaluation Of Multitrait-Multimethod Studies, Filip Lievens, James M. Conway

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study addresses 3 questions regarding assessment center construct validity: (a) Are assessment center ratings best thought of is reflecting dimension constructs (dimension model). exercises (exercise model). or a combination? (b) To what extent do dimensions or exercises account for variance? (c) Which design characteristics increase dimension variance? To this end, a large set of multitrait-multimethod studies (N = 34) were analyzed, showing that assessment center ratings were best represented (i.e., in terms of fit and admissible solutions) by a model with correlated dimensions and exercises specified a correlated uniquenesses. In this model, dimension variance equals exercise variance. Significantly more …

Value For Diversity: An Investigation Of Diversity Climate, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, And Intent To Leave, Quionna Caldwell

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research examined the relationships of diversity climate via organizational fairness and organizational inclusion (Mor Barak et al., 1998) and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to leave. Further, personal value for diversity was investigated as a moderator of those relationships. The participants included 202 African American women affiliated with a national sorority. The mean age and years of experience was 29.62 and 4.33, respectively. Data were collected electronically using an Internet site hosting the survey questions. The present study provides evidence that diversity climate positively affects job satisfaction and affective commitment, and negatively affects intent to leave. In addition, …

An Examination Of Individual Differences In Monitoring For Automation Failures, Holly Devries

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Automation-induced complacency has been documented as a cause or contributing factor in many airplane accidents throughout the last two decades. It is surmised that the condition results when a crew is working in highly reliable automated environments in which they serve as supervisory controllers monitoring system states for occasional automation failures. Although many reports have discussed the dangers of complacency, little empirical research has been produced to substantiate its harmful effects on performance as well as what factors produce complacency. There have been some suggestions, however, that individual characteristics could serve as possible predictors of performance in automated systems.

The …

The Influence Of Affective State And Social Loafing On Teams Over Time, Amy N. Cunningham

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Teams are a growing force in the workplace today. An interesting aspect of team research in recent years involves the maturation of teams over time and the processes teams go through as a novice team to a fully accomplished performing team. One impediment to team maturation and performance is social loafing. There were two goals in the present research and are presented in the following questions. First, do team members' effective states influence social loafing? Second, does team training affect affective state of team members, social loafing, and performance? These variables were investigated, using an interrupted time series design, as …

The Effects Of Cultural Values On Acceptance Of Human Resource Management Decisions, Ying Liu

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined the effects of six culture values, including Hofstede's (1984, 1991) power distance, individualism/collectivism, long-term and short-term orientation, Trompenaars'1994) achievement/ascription, universalism/particularism, and relationship to nature, on reactions to human resource management decisions. Data were collected from 110 Chinese students in China and 82 American students in the U.S. A questionnaire containing vignettes depicting different human resource management practices was used to measure the impact of cultural values. Omnibus multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences between Chinese and Americans on the cultural values of power distance, collectivism/individualism, long-term and short term orientation, ascription/achievement, and the relationship to …

Longitudinal Analysis Of Cohesion In Student Work Teams: The Efficacy Of Teamwork Skills Training, Kari Rachel Strobel

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study was a longitudinal examination of the effects of teamwork skills training on team cohesion and team performance. Participants were 11 teams, made up of three-to-five undergraduate students who enrolled in a team-based Industrial/Organizational psychology course. For 16 weeks, each team completed three graded assignments per week and was tracked with regard to levels of task and social cohesion. During the seventh week, teams received theory-based training on basic teamwork processes. Results indicate that the training intervention had a significant positive impact on team cohesion. However, training did not affect team performance levels as expected. Discussion centered on the …

Implementation Of Downsizing: Issues And Consequences, Leena Chatterjee, Sanghamitra Bhattacharyya

IIMB Management Review

world over, as companies struggle to survive in an increasingly volatile and competitive marketplace. The US and Europe were the forerunners in this activity but from the early 90s onwards, a large number of Indian organizations including banks, MNCs, public sector units, and private undertakings, have taken recourse to similar actions.

Executive Coaching As An Individually Tailored Consultation Intervention: Does It Increase Leadership?, Sheila Kampa-Kokesch

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to: (a) consolidate/critique the executive coaching practice literature and empirical research to determine what is known about executive coaching as an individual consultation intervention, and (b) provide additional knowledge about outcomes by testing whether executive coaching affects leadership as measured by the MLQ 5x (Short Form) (Bass & Avolio, 1995).

Twenty-seven coaches, 50 clients (pre/early- or post/later coaching), and 62 direct-report/peers participated. Coaches provided demographic information, invited client participation, and distributed surveys to clients. Clients provided demographic information, rated themselves on a leadership instrument, and invited direct-report/ peer participation. Direct-report/peers rated clients’ leadership using …

Self-Reported Leadership Experiences In Relation To Inventoried Social And Emotional Intelligence, Lisa M. Kobe, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Jon D. Rickers

Psychology Faculty Publications

Leadership has both social and emotional components. Social intelligence appears to tap the social component found in leadership. Recently, emotional intelligence has surfaced as a stable individual difference variable and appears to tap the emotional component of leadership. Mayer and Salovey (1993) suggested that the emotional intelligence and social intelligence constructs overlap. This study examined the power of both emotional and social intelligence to account for variance in self-reported leadership experiences. One hundred ninety-two university students completed measures of social and emotional intelligence and a measure of leadership experiences. Regression analyses showed that both social intelligence and emotional intelligence accounted …

The Effects Of A Management System In A Non-Profit Association, Lori H. Miller

Masters Theses

The primary challenge for non-profit associations is carrying out the functions that meet the various needs of their members or Board of Directors with restricted income. In many non-profits there are numerous tasks to complete with few personnel. Existing literature on the topic of non-profit management has limited applicability regarding managing staff performance. The current study examined the effects of a management system that included weekly meetings, goals and feedback on the performance of four employees in a non-profit association.

This study was an ABC group design where Condition 'A' consisted of weekly meetings and goal setting, Condition 'B' consisted …

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

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Organizational Demonization: The Fbi As Sinner, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes several descriptive attributions that might "explain" the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) not providing all available information relevant to criminal cases to parties legally authorized to receive such information.

Psychology And Missile Defense: Again Rising Like A Phoenix, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article identifies several psychological Issues bearing on the latest ballistic missile defense policies of the United States Government.

Orientation Programs And Realistic Job Previews: Tactics To Reduce Dysfunctional Turnover, Andrea Glaze

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Two approaches were utilized to reduce turnover in a printing company. First, the orientation program was revised to incorporate tactics from the organizational socialization literature, which indicates that the more socialized employee will report greater levels of satisfaction and commitment, lower intentions to quit, less role ambiguity, and less role conflict. Second, realistic job previews (RJPs) in the form of temporary employment, department tours, and job descriptions were utilized. It was hypothesized that new hires attending the revised orientation program that incorporated socialization tactics and new hires that received a RJP would remain on the job longer than new hires …

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 …

Assessors And Use Of Assessment Centre Dimensions: A Fresh Look At A Troubling Issue, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Previous studies on the construct validity of assessment centres have generally produced puzzling results. The premise of this study is that these prior studies were relatively one-sided. Actually, most previous studies were field studies, which typically used the multitrait-multimethod approach to distinguish between two sources of variance (i.e., exercises and dimensions). Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the issue of assessment centre construct validity by addressing substantive and methodological concerns inherent in previous research. In this study, 85 industrial and organizational psychology students and 39 managers rated videotaped assessment centre candidates in three exercises on six dimensions. Results …

Trends. Banning Espionage, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the psychological aspects of the idea of banning espionage as presented in an article in SECRECY NEWS from the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy.

Methods Of Detecting Differential Item Functioning: A Comparison Of Item Response Theory And Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Ratchaneewan Wanichtanom

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Differential item functioning (DIF) occurs when an item performs statistically differently for a reference group than for a focal group. DIF is a threat to the validity of a test, and it can lead to illegal usage of a test in situations such as employee selection. Thus, DIF has important implications for test construction and practice. This research is a Monte Carlo study that compares Item Response Theory (IRT) and three Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) methods for detecting DIF. The three CFA methods were Model Comparison (MC), Modification Indexes (MI), and Modification Indexes-Divided sample (MI-Divided).

The research compared the detection …

Who Moved My Cheese? (Book Review), Matthew H. Roy

WCBT Faculty Publications

A book review by Matthew H. Roy.

Johnson, Spencer. Who Moved My Cheese? New York: Penguin Putnam, 1998. ISBN 9780399144462

The Effects Of Equal Opportunity Fairness And Diversity On Work Group Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, And Organizational Commitment In The Military: A Test Of Structural Invariance, Nancy P. Emery

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to test the invariance of a structural equation model of equal opportunity fairness (EOF) in the U.S. military across ethnic and gender groups. Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (MEOCS) data drawn from four distinct sociocultural groups in the military were tested on a model that fit the MEOCS data drawn from a sample of White men. A series of multi-group analyses was conducted on the established structural model using LISREL 8 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1996) to determine whether data from sociocultural groups other than White males would fit a White male model. Further …

More Spy Games: A Problem With Credibility Of Sources For Counterintelligence And Personnel Security, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article identifies implications of recent meta-evaluations of psychological assessment methods for attempts at identifying individuals who are committing treason or otherwise violating security policies.

Selling With A Visual Aid, Michelle Fields

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many have pondered the key to delivering an effective speech. Speculation ranges from what one wears to the tone of voice used to how the speech is outlined. No matter the opinion, most agree that visual aids are key to getting and keeping the attention of your audience. Visual aids can add interest, clarity, and drama to a presentation (Pollock, 2000). Clearly, all advertising seeks to influence behavior (Berger, 1999).

In the case of Boise Cascade Office Products, a visual aid helped to differentiate it from Office Max and Staples, while also driving the business 44% over the previous year …

Performance Of Older People At Different Levels Of Task Complexity, Deepanwita Mohanty

Theses Digitization Project

Technological innovations and career changes have made the workers need for training/retraining an important issue in organizations. However, due to presumed age differences in the ability to benefit from training, employers are sometimes concerned about spending money on training for older workers. This study investigated the relationship of age with attitude about computer training (self-efficacy and anxiety) and training performance at different levels of task complexity.

Communications Effect On Employee Anxiety And Loyalty During A Merger, Howard Edward La Beur

Theses Digitization Project

Only in about 35 percent of mergers do companies meet their pre-merger goals. One cause of these failures is attributed to the unstable work environment created by a pending merger. Previous research has focused on post-merger attitudes of employees. The purpose of the current study was to explore communication processes in announcing a merger. Scenarios were used to simulate merger announcements.

Effects Of Supervisor-Subordinate Exchange Relationship Quality On Subordinate Self-Efficacy Mediated By Performance Feedback, Kimberly Anne Koller

Theses Digitization Project

The quality of the relationship between supervisors and subordinates strongly influences a variety of important work-related attitudes and behaviors, which consequently impact organizational effectiveness.

Influences On The Perceived Reasonableness Of Employment Testing Accommodations For Persons With Disabilities, Bridget Ann Styers

Theses Digitization Project

The present study examined how the origin of an applicant's disability, the status of the job he/she was applying for and the level of test accommodation provided, influenced a participant's perception of what was a reasonable pre-employment testing accommodation. Additionally, how attributes of organizationsal members, such as age, education level and knowledge of ADA law influenced reasonableness of accommodation were examined.

Factors Influencing Managers' Satisfaction In A Working-Relationship With An External Consultant, Stefanie Ann Pressl

Theses Digitization Project

This study proposed a model to specify the influence of negative expectations of the manager in regard to working with a consultant, the level of cynicism of the manager, the client-consultant relationship and the level of management change skills on a manager's client satisfaction.

The Influence Of Job Type, Information Provided, Test Type, And Test Performance On Applicant Reactions To Personnel Selection Tests, Michelle Renae Schulz

Theses Digitization Project

The evolution of the Systems Model approach to personnel selection marks the emergence of the relationship between the organization and the applicant. It has made organizations become increasingly aware of the potential influence of applicant reactions to selection procedures.