Emotional disruption and industrial productivity.

Will the emotional disturbances of operators have more effect during a changeover than when things are stereotyped? A number of assembly line situations, involving small numbers of workers, were studied. "In there experiments, involving four independent comparisons, we find precisely the same pattern of results. Emotional disturbance has little effect on stereotyped activity, but does have a disrupting effect on nonstereotyped activity." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4LH01S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affiliation motivation and productivity in small groups.

"This study tested the hypotheses that under conditions favoring the anticipation of rejection, Ss high in threat-oriented affiliation motivation are (a) more productive on a competitive task, and (b) less productive on a cooperative task than Ss low in threat-oriented affiliation motivation. These hypotheses were in general supported by data from 88 undergraduate Ss." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men in groups: Insights, interventions, and psychoeducational work.

Review of book: Men in Groups: Insights, Interventions, and Psychoeducational Work, Michael P. Andronico (Ed.), 1996, Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 410 pp. Reviewed by Christopher T. Kilmartin. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social behavior of chronic schizophrenics in supervised and unsupervised work groups.

Small groups of chronic schizophrenics worked at policing a dormitory under 1 of 2 conditions of staff supervision: Maximal (active leadership) and Minimal (once the tasks were set patients were left to their own devices). Each group was composed of 5 patients. 3 groups worked under each supervisory condition. The groups were matched for age, length of hospitalization, education, and general verbal behavior of the patients. Measurements of performance and social behavior were daily over a 7-week period. The less supervised group showed signs of cohesiveness and lessened dependency on the staff member for decisions, with some indication of increased job performance. All groups showed decreased verbal interaction over time. Although the use of verbal communication was avoided whenever possible during the experimental period, the Ss showed signs of the formation of group structures and task-related roles were observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance and interactional dimensions of organizational work groups.

Perceptions of group adequacy and interaction processes by 91 members of 12 work groups in a research and development organization were factor analyzed. 6 reliable dimensions evolved which cut across several previously defined constructs and differentiated the 12 work groups from each other beyond the .01 level by analyses of variance. Of the total group phenomena variance, 33% was accounted for by a single dimension of group effectiveness in problem solving. This dimension correlated negatively with: (1) the occupational and educational level of the group, (2) the educational heterogeneity of the group, (3) group size, and (4) the level of the group in the organizational hierarchy. These findings suggest that different principles may govern traditionally organized work groups vs. ad hoc groups formed specifically for the purpose of an experiment. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Socialized charismatic leadership, values congruence, and deviance in work groups.

The authors conducted a field study to investigate the relationship between socialized charismatic leadership and deviance in work groups. Because socialized charismatic leaders are thought to play an ethical leadership role, the authors hypothesized that the socialized charismatic leadership style would be associated with reduced deviance in the leader's work group. This prediction was supported for both the interpersonal and the organizational dimensions of deviance. Next, the authors examined the mediating role of values congruence. The results were partially supportive of the values congruence mediating hypothesis. Implications for future research and for management are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental illness, milieu therapy, and social organization in ward groups.

"It was concluded that as degree of mental illness increases, there is a decrease in social organization and social relationship involving positive or negative feelings. This process appears to be reversed by milieu therapy." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Disability, work and social policy—Models for social welfare (Springer series on social work, vol. 2).

Reviews the book, Disability, work and social policy—Models for social welfare (Springer series on social work, vol. 2) by Aliki Coudroglou and Dennis L. Poole (1984). This book is dedicated "to the people of PUSH for their determination and courageous example." PUSH, or "People United for Self-Help," was established in 1970 in Phoenix, Arizona. The book addresses rationally and at times with understandable emotion the social and moral problems of caring for disabled persons; it describes the merits of and need for an advocacy organization like PUSH; and it offers a mainstreaming model that conceivably might provide "occupational opportunity for all disabled workers in the least restrictive environment." While most students of social work, rehabilitation, policy science, sociology, and even psychology or medicine would profit from reading this book, it is not clear as to the audience for which it was written or the role it should play in graduate curricula. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transactive memory and performance in work groups: Specificity, communication, ability differences, and work allocation.

The present study examined the effects of specificity, communication, ability differences, and work allocation, on the utilization of transactive memory in work groups. Clerical staff members (N = 36) worked individually and then with a coworker to complete a quiz covering six domains of work-related knowledge and to allocate domains of knowledge or specific quiz items in a manner that maximized group performance. Allocations were made first individually and then collaboratively. Results indicated that transactive memory facilitated group performance. Specificity (item allocations vs. domain allocations) led to more effective utilization of member knowledge, but communication did not. Group performance was higher when members differed in ability and when they allocated more work to the more proficient member. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of white authoritarianism in biracial work groups.

This study attempted to determine the effect on Negro Ss of interaction with high and low authoritarian white Ss under varying degrees of forced or voluntary cooperation. Though apparently more prejudiced against low status culture groups, the authoritarian (high F scale) white was more compliant to a biracial situation than nonauthoritarian whites. Among several other findings, the authors conclude: "These results indicate that even when Negroes are given objective evidence of equal mental ability in a relatively brief interracial contact they tend to feel inadequate and to orient compliantly toward whites." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GD48K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational characteristics, work characteristics, and relationships with psychologic work reactions in nursing: A longitudinal study.

The aim of this study was to investigate longitudinal relationships between (a) organizational characteristics and work characteristics and (b) organizational characteristics and psychologic work reactions. To get insight into patterns of relationships, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 596 nurses at time 1 and 379 at time 2. A two-wave full crosslagged structural panel model was used to analyze the data. With regard to the relationships between organizational characteristics and work characteristics, the crosslagged analyses showed stronger support for a pattern of reversed "causation." Considering relationships between organizational characteristics and psychologic work reactions, no reversed crosslagged relationships were found, although hypothesized cross-sectional relationships were supported. This lack of relationships over time was explained by methodological as well as theoretical arguments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why and how people engage in social comparison while learning social skills in groups.

This study was conducted among 269 medical students who participated in educational training groups. Self-evaluation was the most important motive to engage in social comparison with other group members, followed by, respectively, self-enhancement and self-improvement. Upward comparisons (i.e., with better-performing group members), were motivated by self-improvement, particularly when they involved identification. Upward comparisons were also motivated by self-evaluation, particularly when they involved contrast. Downward comparisons (i.e., with worse-performing group members) were mainly motivated by self-enhancement, particularly when they involved contrast. Performance stress was higher the more participants identified downward, the less they identified upward, and the more they contrasted themselves upward. It is concluded that educators should pay attention to the potentially maladaptive role that social comparisons might play in training groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sociometric choice patterns in hospital ward groups with varying degrees of interpersonal disturbances.

"Selected aspects of the sociometric choice process were analyzed for their hypothesized relationship to certain expressions of inter-personal disturbances. Patients on five hospital wards representing an inter-personal disturbance continuum were given a sociometric test containing positive, negative, and relatively objective criteria… . Those aspects of sociometric responses analyzed were reciprocations, intercriteria overlap, and acceptability score patterns." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedent probability and the efficiency of psychometric signs, patterns, or cutting scores.

It is difficult or impossible to determine the efficiency of most psychometric devices used in clinical psychology, since (1) base rates are seldom provided in the literature and hence comparisons cannot be made between decisions from psychometric devices and from previous experience, (2) insufficient distribution data are provided and samples are too small, (3) cross-validation data are lacking, (4) type of population to which a psychometric device can be applied is not clearly specified, and (5) results are not reported in terms of the number of correct decisions resulting for individuals within the groups studied. Corrective methods are presented. 19 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature.

The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43% of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25% of the variance in subjective performance, 2% in turnover perceptions, 34% in job satisfaction, 24% in organizational commitment, and 26% in role perception outcomes. Beyond motivational characteristics, social characteristics explained incremental variances of 9% of the variance in subjective performance, 24% in turnover intentions, 17% in job satisfaction, 40% in organizational commitment, and 18% in role perception outcomes. Finally, beyond both motivational and social characteristics, work context characteristics explained incremental variances of 4% in job satisfaction and 16% in stress. The results of this study suggest numerous opportunities for the continued development of work design theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remaining time and opportunities at work: Relationships between age, work characteristics, and occupational future time perspective.

The authors adapted the concept of future time perspective (FTP) to the work context and examined its relationships with age and work characteristics (job complexity and control). Structural equation modeling of data from 176 employees of various occupations showed that age is negatively related to 2 distinct dimensions of occupational FTP: remaining time and remaining opportunities. Work characteristics (job complexity and control) were positively related to remaining opportunities and moderated the relationship between age and remaining opportunities, such that the relationship became weaker with increasing levels of job complexity and control. (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)     

Examining the effects of work externalization through the lens of social identity theory.

This study examines whether dissimilarity among employees that is based on their work status (i.e., whether they are temporary or internal workers) influences their organization-based self-esteem, their trust in and attraction toward their peers, and their altruism. A model that is based on social identity theory posits that work-status dissimilarity negatively influences each outcome variable and that the strength of this relationship varies depending on whether employees have temporary or internal status and the composition of their work groups. Results that are based on a survey of 326 employees (189 internal and 137 temporary) from 34 work groups, belonging to 2 organizations, indicate that work-status dissimilarity has a systematic negative effect only on outcomes related to internal workers when they work in temporary-worker-dominated groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Team productivity and contradiction of management policy commitments.

What is the relationship between management consistency of policy and team productivity? "A simulated small industrial plant was the setting for an experiment in which a team of Ss worked together on a manufacturing problem. Their assigned task was to produce different kinds of toys at a profit… . Twenty four-man teams were divided into ten consecutive team pairs, each member of a pair being subjected either to (a) a condition under which the team's expectations of management were contradicted by subsequent events or (b) a condition under which the team's expectations were confirmed. The hypothesis that team productivity would be greater under the confirmation condition was supported by the data. Some theoretical implications of the experiment were suggested." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality, work characteristics and employee well-being: A longitudinal analysis of additive and moderating effects.

This study tested the longitudinal influence of personality (measured by the characteristics growth need strength, negative affectivity [NA], and upward striving) on 3 psychological outcomes (intrinsic work motivation, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention), using a pattern of specific relationships between work characteristics and these outcomes as a framework. The study hypotheses were tested in a multioccupational sample consisting of bank employees and teachers, using a 2-wave panel design with a 1-year time interval and structural equation modeling. NA had a cross-lagged direct and additive relationship with emotional exhaustion and also moderated the relationship between Time 1 workload and Time 2 emotional exhaustion. The authors concluded that NA may have multiple effects on emotional exhaustion that persist over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)