Effects of group feedback, goal setting, and incentives on organizational productivity.

Productivity research has focused on simple jobs with the individual as the unit of analysis. Most jobs are more complex and, because of the interdependencies in the work, require group-level interventions and more complex measures of performance or productivity. This research presents a new method of measuring productivity, the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMES), and uses measures from this approach as a foundation for group-based feedback, goal setting, and incentives. The experimental design consisted of a baseline period of 8 to 9 months, followed by a 5-month period of feedback based on the ProMES. Goal setting was then added to feedback for 5 months. Finally, incentives in the form of time off from work were added to feedback and goal setting for another 5 months. Results indicated that group-level feedback increased productivity an average of 50% over baseline, group goal setting increased productivity 75% over baseline, and group incentives increased productivity 76% over baseline. Control group data showed no or only a slight increase in productivity over the same period, and level of personnel either stayed the same or decreased. In addition, work attitudes such as job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and morale were as good or better following the interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Impact of Justice Climate and Justice Orientation on Work Outcomes: A Cross-Level Multifoci Framework.

In this article, which takes a person-situation approach, the authors propose and test a cross-level multifoci model of workplace justice. They crossed 3 types of justice (procedural, informational, and interpersonal) with 2 foci (organization and supervisor) and aggregated to the group level to create 6 distinct justice climate variables. They then tested for the effects of these variables on either organization-directed or supervisor-directed commitment, satisfaction, and citizenship behavior. The authors also tested justice orientation as a moderator of these relationships. The results, based on 231 employees constituting 44 work groups representing multiple organizations and occupations, revealed that 4 forms of justice climate (organization-focused procedural and informational justice climate and supervisor-focused procedural and interpersonal justice climate) were significantly related to various work outcomes after controlling for corresponding individual-level justice perceptions. In addition, some moderation effects were found. Implications for organizations and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work environments, stress, and productivity: An examination using ASSET.

In this study (N = 16,001), the predictors of productivity (i.e., work performance) were investigated with A Shortened Stress Evaluation Tool (E. B. Faragher, C. L. Cooper, & S. Cartwright, 2004), which incorporates individual work stressors, stress outcomes (physical and psychological wellbeing), and commitment (both to and from an organization). Psychological well-being, commitment from the organization to the employee, and resources were found to be predictive. Physical health, individual work stressors (with the exception of resources), and commitment from the employee to the organization were not identified as important. The findings are discussed with reference to both previous and future research. The large sample size and broad range of occupations included suggest the findings are generalizable to other employee groupings. Implications for both stress and management theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Being controlled by normative influences: Self-determination as a moderator of a normative feedback alcohol intervention.

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the efficacy of computer-delivered personalized normative feedback among heavy drinking college students and to evaluate controlled orientation as a moderator of intervention efficacy. Participants (N = 217) included primarily freshman and sophomore, heavy drinking students who were randomly assigned to receive or not to receive personalized normative feedback immediately following baseline assessment. Perceived norms, number of drinks per week, and alcohol-related problems were the main outcome measures. Controlled orientation was specified as a moderator. At 2-month follow-up, students who received normative feedback reported drinking fewer drinks per week than did students who did not receive feedback, and this reduction was mediated by changes in perceived norms. The intervention also reduced alcohol-related negative consequences among students who were higher in controlled orientation. These results provide further support for computer-delivered personalized normative feedback as an empirically supported brief intervention for heavy drinking college students, and they enhance the understanding of why and for whom normative feedback is effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of social support and burnout, job satisfaction, and productivity.

Social support has been identified as an important correlate of a variety of work outcomes. Support from different sources, including family, coworkers, and supervisors, was examined in 211 traffic enforcement agents (92 men, 119 women). Outcomes included subjective variables (burnout and job satisfaction) and an objective measure of productivity (number of summonses). Support was negatively associated with burnout and positively associated with satisfaction and productivity. A cluster of support variables accounted for 7% of the variance in burnout and productivity and 12% of the variance in job satisfaction. Family support was more closely associated with burnout than with satisfaction or productivity, whereas immediate supervisor support was related to satisfaction and productivity but not burnout. Results suggest that support may be associated with work-related outcomes through multiple pathways. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feedback valence, feedback style, task autonomy, and achievement orientation: Interactive effects on creative performance.

This study examined the interactive effects of 3 contextual variables (feedback valence, feedback style, and task autonomy) on creative performance. Data were collected from participants who performed a role-playing task in a laboratory setting (N?=?210). Results demonstrated that the 3 contextual variables interacted to affect creative performance such that individuals who received positive feedback delivered in an informational style, and who worked in a high task autonomy work environment, generated the most creative ideas. This 3-way interaction held regardless of the participants' differences in achievement orientation. Implications of these results for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Optimizing work performance: A look beyond the bottom line.

Reviews the book, Optimizing work performance: A look beyond the bottom line by Martin Morf (1986). This book is an interesting addition to the rapidly growing list of publications which deal with "improving performance" or "increasing productivity" in the workplace. It is an addition, however, for which an appropriate audience may be difficult to find. Indeed, in attempting to be "of particular interest to those involved in personnel, corporate organization, or industrial relations, as well as to scholars and students of organizational psychology", the book may fail to appeal strongly to any of these groups. This is unfortunate because Martin Morf makes a number of interesting comments in his book--particularly about the relationship between the individual, his or her work, and society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior in a nonexperiment: The effects of behavioral field research on the work performance of factory employees.

To determine whether a field research process itself has an influence on employee productivity which might become confounded with the influence of more legitimate independent variables, 73 male workers in 1 department of a factory were studied. Field research operations, consisting of observational and survey techniques, were employed during the middle 2 wk. of the 6-wk "before," "during," and "after" experimental design. Research effects on the total department and the 8 work groups were negligible. Hypothesized moderator influences for age, authoritarianism, rural-urban background and union activity level, although small, were found thus demonstrating that research operations can affect different people in different ways on a productivity criterion. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A brief, web-based personalized feedback selective intervention for college student marijuana use: A randomized clinical trial.

Despite clear need, brief web-based interventions for marijuana-using college students have not been evaluated in the literature. The current study was designed to evaluate a brief, web-based personalized feedback intervention for at-risk marijuana users transitioning to college. All entering first-year students were invited to complete a brief questionnaire. Participants meeting criteria completed a baseline assessment (N = 341) and were randomly assigned to web-based personalized feedback or assessment-only control conditions. Participants completed 3-month (95.0%) and 6-month (94.4%) follow-up assessments. Results indicated that although there was no overall intervention effect, moderator analyses found promising effects for those with a family history of drug problems and, to a smaller extent, students who were higher in contemplation of changing marijuana use at baseline. Implications of these findings for selective intervention of college marijuana use and web-based interventions in general are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of the antecedents and moderator influences of climate strength.

The authors tested 3 hypotheses regarding the antecedents and moderator influences of climate strength (CS; the degree of within-unit agreement of climate perceptions). The sample consisted of 197 work units. Social interaction among unit members showed positive, statistically significant correlations with CS in goals orientation and innovation climate. Work-unit leaders' informing behavior was positively correlated with CS in the 3 climate facets measured (i.e., support, goals orientation, and innovation). CS in innovation moderated the impact of work units' innovation climate on average satisfaction and commitment. CS in goals orientation moderated the influence of work units' goal orientation on average commitment. The moderator influences showed the expected direction: CS fostered the influence of work units' climate on the criterion variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attendance dynamics at work: The antecedents and correlates of presenteeism, absenteeism, and productivity loss.

Presenteeism is attending work when ill. This study examined the antecedents and correlates of presenteeism, absenteeism, and productivity loss attributed to presenteeism. Predictors included work context, personal characteristics, and work experiences. Business school graduates employed in a variety of work positions (N = 444) completed a Web-based survey. Presenteeism was positively associated with task significance, task interdependence, ease of replacement, and work to family conflict and negatively associated with neuroticism, equity, job security, internal health locus of control, and the perceived legitimacy of absence. Absenteeism was positively related to task significance, perceived absence legitimacy, and family to work conflict and negatively related to task interdependence and work to family conflict. Those high on neuroticism, the unconscientious, the job-insecure, those who viewed absence as more legitimate, and those experiencing work-family conflict reported more productivity loss. Overall, the results reveal the value of a behavioral approach to presenteeism over and above a strict medical model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing motivation: The impact of supervisor feedback on subordinate task interest.

Examined with 64 male and 48 female undergraduates the determinants and consequences of the performance feedback given in an experimentally created supervisor–subordinate work relationship. Subordinates worked on a series of hidden-figure puzzles and received periodic performance feedback from their supervisors. Two dimensions of the supervisors' feedback were assessed: (1) the amount of competence information it contained and (2) the degree to which it was given in a controlling manner. Two situational variables hypothesized to affect these feedback dimensions were manipulated: (1) whether or not the supervisors administered rewards for good performance to their subordinates and (2) whether or not the supervisors were themselves rewarded for maintaining their subordinates' task enjoyment. The impact of the supervisors' feedback on the subordinates' self-perceived competence and task enjoyment was also assessed. A path analytic process analysis revealed that both feedback dimensions were affected by the manipulated situational variables and that both dimensions were in turn related to the subordinates' self-perceived competence. However, the controlling behavior was positively related to self-perceived competence only in the subordinate not rewarded conditions, suggesting an important boundary restriction. The subordinates' self-perceived competence was the sole factor directly related to their task enjoyment. Results are interpreted in terms of theories of intrinsic motivation. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderator variables and different types of predictability: Do you have a match?

Conducted 2 closely related experiments with 228 undergraduate students. Exp I examined the moderation of congruence between self-ratings and peer-ratings of traits following the procedure of J. M. Cheek and S. R. Briggs (see record 1983-23439-001). Exp II examined the congruence of attitudes and actual behavior and was based on M. P. Zanna et al (see record 1981-10514-001). All Ss completed a 158-item questionnaire that measured the moderator variables that were previously studied. These included self-monitoring, private self-consciousness, personal identity, and empathy. Results indicate that the 1st type of predictability (congruence) was unrelated to the 2nd. The greatest self–peer rating congruence was found among Ss who had good social communication skills. The greatest internal disposition–actual behavior congruence was found among Ss who were unwilling, unable, or both to change their behavior in response to situational demands. Being aware of, attentive to, and placing importance on the inner self was related to both types of predictability. The discussion focused on the manner in which moderator variables (especially those that concern social skills) will affect each type of predictability and the need to match moderator variables to specific types of predictability. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational communication and performance.

Five independent objective measures of overall organization performance (i.e., number of clients served, cost of operation) were examined as correlates of 4 perceived communication variables (adequacy of information, information exchange, supervisor communication, and performance feedback) among 12 district organizations within a federally funded social services system. Ss included 457 employees (mean age 34 yrs) in 3 major job categories (administrators, service providers, and clerical workers), 60% of whom were women. Results indicate that 2 perceived communication variables, the quality of supervisory communication and information exchange within the peer workgroup, were strongly related to critical revenue and workload measures of overall organization performance. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Properties of organization structure in relation to job attitudes and job behavior.

This article reviews the results of empirical field studies that have investigated the relationships between properties of organization structure and job attitudes and job behavior in business and industrial organizations. The following 7 structural properties were examined: organizational levels, line/staff hierarchies, span of control, subunit size, total-organization size, tall/flat shape, and centralized/decentralized shape. At least 5 of these 7 variables (with the possible exceptions being span of control and centralized/decentralized shape) were found to be significantly related to one or more attitude or behavioral variables. Implications of these findings for organization theory and future research are discussed. (3 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of an organization skills intervention to improve the academic functioning of students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit significant academic impairments, as evidenced by poor academic achievement, grade retention, and school dropout. Deficits in organization skills may contribute to these academic impairments, as children with ADHD frequently lose assignments, misplace their completed work, and have difficulty planning for tests. The present study examined the pilot efficacy of an 8-week organization skills intervention for children with ADHD. Thirty-seven children were randomly assigned to receive the intervention immediately or to a wait-list control. Participants made significant improvements in organization and homework management skills during the intervention and these gains were maintained at 8-week follow-up. Parents of children in the intervention group reported decreased homework problems. Children in the intervention group also demonstrated pre-post gains on teacher ratings of academic impairment and GPA. This study suggests that targeted academic skills interventions have the potential to improve overall academic performance among children with ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring individual research productivity: A review and development of the integrated research productivity index.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate methods of measuring individual research productivity for counseling psychologists. Using the 60 members of the Journal of Counseling Psychology editorial board, the authors computed a comparison of 6 popular indices of productivity, revealing considerable levels of positive skewness, kurtosis, and overlap with each other. Combining the strengths of the 6 indices, the authors developed a new productivity index entitled the Integrated Research Productivity Index (IRPI). The IRPI measures individual productivity by statistically combining an individual's author-weighted publications, average times cited by other publications, and years since first publication into a comprehensive score. Productivity values and IRPI scores for 3 groups of counseling psychologists (Tyler Award recipients, Kuder Award recipients, and Division 17 Presidents) were computed to provide evidence of discriminant validity among the indices. In contrast to the other measures examined, the IRPI accounts for productivity per year and years in the field and assesses mean citation count per article as opposed to total citation count, thus yielding similar scores for Tyler (lifetime) and Kuder (early career) research award recipients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality coherence: Moderating self–other profile agreement and profile consensus.

Traditional research on moderator variables in personality has focused on measures of relative consistency. In contrast, using Goldberg's (1992) adjectives representing the Big Five personality traits, the authors examined the applicability of moderator variables to measures of personality coherence. The authors considered 3 traditional moderator variables (interitem variability, construct similarity, and scalability) and one new moderator variable: the temporal stability of response patterns. Across 2 studies, individuals with temporally stable response patterns had higher levels of personality coherence, as measured by self-other profile agreement and informant profile consensus, than did individuals with less temporally stable patterns. By comparison, the normatively based moderator variables did not moderate self-other profile agreement and informant profile consensus. The implications for personality structure and coherence are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic effects of providing MMPI-2 test feedback to college students awaiting therapy.

Investigated the benefits of sharing Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) test results verbally with clients. Ss were randomly selected from a college counseling center's waiting list: 32 received test feedback according to a collaborative model developed by S. E. Finn (1990) and 29 received only examiner attention. Groups did not differ on age, sex, days between examiner contact, and initial levels of distress and self-esteem. Compared with the controls, clients who completed the MMPI-2 and heard their test results reported a significant decline in symptomatic distress and a significant increase in self-esteem, and felt more hopeful about their problems, both immediately following the feedback session and at a 2-wk follow-up. Also, clients' subjective impressions of the feedback session were overwhelmingly positive. Although the study failed to identify specific client variables or elements of the feedback session that were related to these changes, the findings indicate that psychological assessment can be used as a therapeutic intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)