Building Healthy Workplaces: What We Know So Far.

By way of introduction to this Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, we hope to achieve three interrelated goals. First, we define what we mean by a "healthy workplace," and we delineate the ways in which work is associated with mental health. We argue that work is both a causal factor in mental and physical ill-health as well as a potential health resource that both may protect us and assist in our recovery from psychological ill-health. Second, we review the individual, organizational, and societal costs of unhealthy work and workplaces, and, consequently, of poor mental and physical health. Our argument is simply that we are incurring horrific economic and social costs when we have unhealthy workplaces. Finally, we provide a framework in terms of a healthy workplace model to help summarize this literature, and to present the articles in this Special Issue. Throughout this introduction, we emphasize that these goals are highly compatible with organizations' traditional focus on enhancing productivity and profitability. Put simply, what is good for Canadian workers is good for Canadian industry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A knowledge-based expert system for technology acquisition in small and medium scale manufacturing organizations

Consistent and reliable decision making for technology acquisition in small and medium scale manufacturing organizations is vitally important since these firms are the backbone of national economies, both in developed and developing countries. Because of their flexibility, small and medium scale firms are successful in adopting new technologies. However, a careful analysis should be conducted in technology acquisition decisions. Since these decisions require special type of knowledge and expertise, expert system, as an important tool of computerized decision making, can overcome these multidimensional difficulties.

This paper proposes a knowledge-based approach making use of issues such as sales, processes, costs and general policies, in decision processes for technology acquisition by small and medium scale manufacturing organizations in the developing environments.     

Getting even or moving on? Power, procedural justice, and types of offense as predictors of revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, and avoidance in organizations.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 92(1) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2006-23339-006). The first sentence in the first paragraph on page 660 is incorrect. The corrected sentence should read as follows: "The patterns of all three interactions support our theoretical explanation that (a) a victim of lower status than the offender pursues revenge as the only means of achieving justice when procedural justice climate is low and (b) victims with high absolute status refrain from revenge by attempting forgiveness and reconciliation when procedural justice climate is high because the organization can be counted on to mete out justice."] A field study and an experimental study examined relationships among organizational variables and various responses of victims to perceived wrongdoing. Both studies showed that procedural justice climate moderates the effect of organizational variables on the victim's revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, or avoidance behaviors. In Study 1, a field study, absolute hierarchical status enhanced forgiveness and reconciliation, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were high; relative hierarchical status increased revenge, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were low. In Study 2, a laboratory experiment, victims were less likely to endorse vengeance or avoidance depending on the type of wrongdoing, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were high. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating Structural and Behavioral Leadership Strategies.

The nature of organizations and the environments in which they operate have grown increasingly complex. Certain obvious limitations of traditional bureaucratic models of leadership are being widely challenged in the literature. In general, scholars have begun to call for radical changes in the way the authors conceptualize and implement the leadership function in organizations of all sizes and types. One feature of proposed leadership models is the diversification of leadership throughout the organization in ways that empower individuals to recognize and act upon opportunities to contribute to the organization in leadership roles. This article offers some thoughts about conceptualizing this diversification in the context of systems theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA-Approved Sponsors of Continuing Education in Psychology.

The Sponsor Approval System, established in 1979 by the APA Council of Representatives, was developed in response to an increasing emphasis on more formalized continuing education programs for psychologists, with the accompanying need for methods of recognizing qualified providers. The system provides national standards for continuing education in psychology, a computerized APA Continuing Education (CE) Registry, and a CE calendar/clearinghouse. A list is provided of organizations that have been approved by the Subcommittee on CE Sponsor Approval to offer continuing education activities for psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Technology-Enabled Innovation, Industry Transformation and the Emergence of Ambient Organizations

Technology-enabled business innovation may present the potential to structurally transform traditional industry practice, but uncertainty remains as to where and how such transformations might be accomplished. To maintain enterprise competitiveness and agility during these times of structural change, a frequent suggestion for strategic management is to seek loosely coupled partnerships or alliances with best practice providers for non-core functions. Original research into the nature of alliances in the financial services industry reveals the presence of tightly coupled, technology-enabled ventures that deliver core services electronically across organizational and industry boundaries. These alliances represent an emerging specialized organizational form, the virtual or ambient organization. Theoretical and practitioner literature provide little reference to ambient organizations, by any name, and confuse the terms: alliances, strategic partnerships and virtual organizations. Tightly coupled, technology-enabled ambient organizations that can cross industry boundaries provide a previously unrecognized linkage between organizational form and industry transformation. Analysis of four instances of ambient organization in and across three industries produces a model of their characteristics and features. Theoretical and empirical implications are examined.     

Self-esteem and the diffusion of leadership style.

Neither simple imitation, nor motivational coincidence, is adequate either to explain the frequent, superficial absence of similarities in leadership style across hierarchical levels (leadership climate) or to prescribe the best means for changing the style involved when climate does occur. Self-esteem of the lower-level supervisor is investigated as a mediating variable in this problem, in the context of an organization in which no formal human relations training had taken place. Variables were measured by questionnaires submitted to 17 foremen and their 330 male subordinates in a packaging materials plant. Hypotheses, all confirmed by the data, relate supportiveness of the foreman's supervisor to the foreman's behavior toward his subordinates through the attendant consequences of the foreman's self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Division of Psychotherapy.

Discusses the consideration of forming a Division of Psychotherapy within the American Psychological Association. The author provides the percentage of total members that are interested in psychotherapy and feels that despite the pros and cons of forming a Division of Psychotherapy, the sheer magnitude of these numbers warrants serious consideration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological organizations of Canada--Round two.

This article is presented as a potential chapter of the history of psychological organizations in Canada. The writer briefly describes the origins, the structure, the aims and membership of the Canadian University Counselling Association. In his view a substantial number of the members of C.U.C.A. could be the nucleus of a division or interest groups of C.P.A.--specifically that of Counselling Psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A company guide to the selection of salesmen.

Reviews the book "A company guide to the selection of salesmen" by M. Mandell. This report discusses current practices of 180 manufacturing firms in selecting salesmen. The report is, in effect, a manual for sales managers and relatively untrained sales personnel workers. Research evidence is conspicuous by its absence. The personnel psychologist, however, will be pleased to note the repeated pleas made by Mandell for sales organizations to base their selection programs on the results of personnel research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)