Some relationships between job satisfaction and organization climate.

Relationships among 2 measures of job satisfaction, 1 measure of organizational climate, and 7 production and turnover indexes of organizational effectiveness were investigated in 50 life insurance agencies (N = 522). It was shown that (a) climate and satisfaction measures were correlated for people in some positions in the agencies but not for others; (b) people agreed more on the climate of their agency than they did on their satisfaction; (c) neither satisfaction nor climate were strongly correlated with production data; and (d) satisfaction but not climate, was correlated with turnover data. Implications of these data for research on climate and satisfaction as well as organizational change are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational climate: Individual preferences and organizational realities revisited.

Found that the fit of new agents' (N = 914) life-insurance agency climate expectations and preferences to the realities of the climate of the agency they joined was correlated with new agents' success (tenure and sales) 1 year after hire. The correlations were essentially zero. Further analyses suggested, however, that higher probability of new-agent success was related for one cluster of agencies (a "positive" type of agency) to a better fit between expectations and realities, and in another cluster (a "negative" type of agency) to a poorer fit of preferences to realities. Although even these latter results are weak, it is suggested that previous findings indicating positive outcomes for new employees with realistic expectations may be an artifact resulting from basically "positive" organizations permitting researchers to tell new employees what it is "really" like in the organization. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparisons among quality assurance systems: From outcome assessment to clinical utility.

This special section describes contemporary systems for assessing the quality and effectiveness of service delivery. These systems have in common their commitment to the belief that by continuously monitoring treatment-related change, identifying problem cases, and providing feedback to clinicians or agencies regarding patient progress the benefits of treatment may be increased. Aside from their commonalities, much is to be learned from the varying ways with which these systems gather information and provide feedback to clinicians or health care managers. The methods vary both as a function of the sociopolitical climate of the country in which they were developed and of the personal preferences and assumptions of the developers. An articulation of these differences can be of interest to health care managers and to psychotherapy researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors in sales success.

For the job of combination agent, an objective measure of job performance was correlated with each of 17 other variables in a sample of 346 agents, on whom were also obtained scores on a test of life insurance knowledge and data on life insurance ownership. "The data presented are consistent with the conclusion that the salesman's belief in his product (as measured by his own buying behavior) and his motivation are more important in determining how well he does his job than is product knowledge. Length of service shows no significant relation to job performance." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When managers and their teams disagree: A longitudinal look at the consequences of differences in perceptions of organizational support.

The authors argue that over time the difference between team members' perception of the organizational support received by the team (or team climate for organizational support) and their manager's perception of the organizational support received by the team has an effect on important outcomes and emergent states, such as team performance and team positive and negative affect above and beyond the main effects of climate perceptions themselves. With a longitudinal sample of 179 teams at Time 1 and 154 teams at Time 2, the authors tested their predictions using a combined polynomial regression and response surface analyses approach. The results supported the authors' predictions. When team managers and team members' perceptions of organizational support were high and in agreement, outcomes were maximized. When team managers and team members disagreed, team negative affect increased and team performance and team positive affect decreased. The negative effects of disagreement were most amplified when managers perceived that the team received higher levels of support than did the team itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safety climate and injuries: An examination of theoretical and empirical relationships.

Our purpose in this study was to meta-analytically address several theoretical and empirical issues regarding the relationships between safety climate and injuries. First, we distinguished between extant safety climate→injury and injury→safety climate relationships for both organizational and psychological safety climates. Second, we examined several potential moderators of these relationships. Meta-analyses revealed that injuries were more predictive of organizational safety climate than safety climate was predictive of injuries. Additionally, the injury→safety climate relationship was stronger for organizational climate than for psychological climate. Moderator analyses revealed that the degree of content contamination in safety climate measures inflated effects, whereas measurement deficiency attenuated effects. Additionally, moderator analyses showed that as the time period over which injuries were assessed lengthened, the safety climate→injury relationship was attenuated. Supplemental meta-analyses of specific safety climate dimensions also revealed that perceived management commitment to safety is the most robust predictor of occupational injuries. Contrary to expectations, the operationalization of injuries did not meaningfully moderate safety climate–injury relationships. Implications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and service climate: Test of a model.

This article conceptually and empirically explores the relationships among manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and climate for customer service. Data were collected from 1,486 employees and 145 managers in grocery store departments (N = 145) to test the authors' theoretical model. Largely consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that core self-evaluations were positively related to managers' service quality orientation, even after dimensions of the Big Five model of personality were controlled, and that service quality orientation fully mediated the relationship between personality and global service climate. Implications for personality and organizational climate research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development and evaluation of behaviorally based rating scales.

Makes a distinction between criterion measures that assess individual performance in terms of concrete job functions and those that reflect organizational outcomes several steps removed from actual behavior (e.g., salary level). It is argued that psychologists should be trying to measure and predict the former, and a modification of the method of scaled expectations is suggested as 1 technique for doing so. The method was used to develop 9 criterion dimensions for department managers in a nationwide retail chain. The resulting behavior rating scales were compared with a summated ratings technique on a sample of 537 department managers. The behavioral scales yielded less method variance, less halo error, and less leniency error. Additional benefits from the method are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Climate quality and climate consensus as mediators of the relationship between organizational antecedents and outcomes.

Research has shown that climate quality (average climate ratings) is related to organizational antecedents and outcomes, but researchers have yet to examine climate consensus (the variance of climate ratings). Similarly, studies have investigated typical behavior (members' average performance), but have neglected behavioral similarity (within-group variance). Data from 1,196 members in 180 organizations were used to test relationships of climate quality and consensus with organizational antecedents and outcomes. Climate quality and consensus both had significant correlations with organizational antecedents and outcomes, but climate consensus did not contribute a significant increment to the prediction of organizational outcomes. Finally, quality mediated many relationships between organizational antecedents and outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change Agent Competencies for Information Technology Project Managers.

In the past few years, the project management (PM) profession has grown exponentially. Yet recent studies in the information technology (IT) sector have found that the use of PM methodologies alone does not guarantee project success. In fact, IT project success is seen to rely on the ability of project managers to be agents of change (i.e., individuals who lead organizational change efforts), a traditional role of practitioners of organization development and change. This article identifies the knowledge, skills, and competencies that are common to organization development (OD) practitioners and project managers, as represented by 6 principles or competencies that OD and PM change methods snare: communication, teamwork, process management, leadership, training, and continuous learning. The importance of these 6 principles in developing professional project managers as effective agents of change is explored with the intent of finding means to improve upon current IT project success rates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal investigation of newcomer expectations, early socialization outcomes, and the moderating effects of role development factors.

This longitudinal study examined hypothesized moderating effects of role development on the link between unmet expectations and socialization outcomes. Data were collected from 248 new hires before organizational entry and at an average of 4 weeks after entry. Three role expectations, conflict, clarity, and acceptance, were measured at both data collections. Two role development constructs, leader-member exchange (LMX) and team-member exchange (TMX), and three socialization outcomes, organizational commitment, turnover intention, and job satisfaction, were measured after entry. Results showed that met expectations, LMX, and TMX were significant predictors of all outcomes. In addition, LMX and TMX significantly moderated several relationships, such that favorable role development relationships with supervisors or work groups ameliorated the negative effects of unmet expectations. Research and applied implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of Optimism Bias Regarding Organizational Dynamics on Project Planning and Control

Schedule delays and cost overruns in large-scale construction projects are caused by a variety of reasons including unrealistic expectations at the planning stage. This paper examines, through computer simulation, the phenomenon of optimism bias regarding organizational dynamics as a potential cause for unrealistic expectations on schedules and budgets. A theoretical framework is introduced to examine how optimism bias regarding organizational dynamics can affect the performance of construction processes. A variety of “what-if” scenarios is tested, and based on our results, we claim that managers who maintain an unbiased attitude during project planning tend to outperform those having either an optimistic or a conservative approach. Therefore, we argue that developing an explicit method for analyzing and taking into account organizational dynamics would be a stepping stone toward adding more realism to construction planning and control practice.     

Client preferences and anticipations in career counseling: A preliminary investigation.

Client expectations have been studied infrequently in career counseling. This study provides preliminary data about precounseling expectations, which were conceptualized as preferences and anticipations. 92 university students (22 men and 70 women) who sought career counseling completed an open-ended questionnaire. Results suggested the following conclusions: (1) Clients have fairly clear ideas about what they want (preferences) from career counseling and about what the experience should be like; (2) clients are somewhat less certain about what the career counseling experience will actually be like (anticipations) and less optimistic about it; (3) a number of mismatches exist between clients' preferences and anticipations; (4) clients do not have well-developed expectations about their dislikes in career counseling; and (5) few differences are evident between clients who have had previous counseling and those who have not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of the validity of the Sales Comprehension Test and Sales Motivation Inventory in differentiating high and low production in life insurance selling.

"Sixty ordinary life insurance agent volunteers were obtained from 17 companies operating in Nebraska. All were experienced life insurance salesmen. The population was dichotomized unequally into 'successful' and 'unsuccessful' groups on the basis of insurance sold during the previous calendar year. All men completed the Sales Motivation Inventory and Sales Comprehenhion Test… . Scores of the two instruments, when combined, yielded a t significant at the .01 level." "These findings suggest that the Sales Motivation Inventory is capable of differentiating the more competent life insurance salesmen from the less competent life insurance salesmen in the geographical area covered, and under the circumstances of this study." 29 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Climate as a moderator of the relationship between leader-member exchange and content specific citizenship: Safety climate as an exemplar.

The present study integrates role theory, social exchange, organizational citizenship, and climate research to suggest that employees will reciprocate implied obligations of leadership-based social exchange (e.g., leader-member exchange [LMX]) by expanding their role and behaving in ways consistent with contextual behavioral expectations (e.g., work group climate). Using safety climate as an exemplar, the authors found that the relationship between LMX and subordinate safety citizenship role definitions was moderated by safety climate. In summary, high-quality LMX relationships resulted in expanded safety citizenship role definitions when there was a positive safety climate and there was no such expansion under less positive safety climates. The authors also found that safety citizenship role definitions were significantly related to safety citizenship behavior. Implications for both social exchange theory and safety research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Employee responses to formal performance appraisal feedback.

Investigated the attitudinal impacts of receiving formal performance appraisal feedback. Based on the suggestion that the feedback that one is "satisfactory" will be disconfirming for many feedback recipients, it was hypothesized that attitudes toward the performance appraisal systems and organizational commitment will decrease and remain lower for those receiving satisfactory ratings, whereas the attitudes of those receiving higher appraisal ratings will remain unchanged. The hypotheses were tested on panels of management and nonmanagement employees (the latter receiving new appraisals 12 mo after their managers) in 2 federal agencies over a 30-mo period using perceived and actual performance ratings. There was a significant and stable drop in the organizational commitment of satisfactory employees after the introduction of formal appraisals, with mixed results for attitudes toward the appraisal system. Findings suggest that potentially negative consequences of implicitly comparative formal performance appraisals can occur for those performing at a satisfactory, but not outstanding, level. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations and preferences.

Client expectations and preferences have been thought by many to influence the client's willingness to engage in and be influenced by the therapist and the process of therapy. Definitions and methods of assessment are presented of clients' expectancy for therapeutic gain; expectations about the roles they and their therapists will play; and their preferences for therapy roles, type of psychotherapy, and demographic features of the therapist. Included is a review of the empirical evidence based on 76 studies of the relation between client expectations and preferences, on the one hand, and the outcome of psychotherapy, on the other hand. Clients' expectations for therapeutic gain are related to outcome in most studies, although no causal conclusions can be drawn. The literature on role expectations is equivocal, and the relatively few studies on client preferences yield primarily negative or mixed results. Finally, specific implications for therapeutic practices are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competence, criteria, and credentialing

Nurse executives, administrators, and managers are constantly being challenged by the changes in healthcare. Although it sometimes seems there is really nothing new, proactive visionary nurse administrators can rediscover, redesign, and redirect their own and others' activities to achieve organizational effectiveness. Such approaches require periodic examination of all strategies and practices--past, present, and future--for their relevance, practicality, and success. The editors of "Executive Development" reflect on topics important to organizational life.     

When organizational climate is unambiguous, it is also strong.

Several recent studies have addressed the topic of climate strength--the degree to which there is agreement among an organization's members regarding the practices and policies as well as the shared values that characterize the organization. To further investigate antecedents of climate strength, the authors used data from the GLOBE Project, totaling 3,783 individuals from 123 organizations. The authors hypothesized that they would find greater climate strength in organizations with climates reflecting mechanistic as opposed to organic organizational forms. Although the authors did in fact find such a trend, they also unexpectedly uncovered significant and strong nonlinear effects, such that climates that are clearly mechanistic or clearly organic have strong climates, with weaker climates emerging for organizations with more ambiguous climates. These findings provide interesting new avenues to pursue in understanding the origins of climate strength. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)