Modeling Error Variance in Job Specification Ratings: The Influence of Rater, Job, and Organization-Level Factors.

The authors modeled sources of error variance in job specification ratings collected from 3 levels of raters across 5 organizations (N=381). Variance components models were used to estimate the variance in ratings attributable to true score (variance between knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics [KSAOs]) and error (KSAO-by-rater and residual variance). Subsequent models partitioned error variance into components related to the organization, position level, and demographic characteristics of the raters. Analyses revealed that the differential ordering of KSAOs by raters was not a function of these characteristics but rather was due to unexplained rating differences among the raters. The implications of these results for job specification and validity transportability are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-defeating behaviors in organizations: The relationship between thwarted belonging and interpersonal work behaviors.

This multisource field study applied belongingness theory to examine whether thwarted belonging, defined as the perceived discrepancy between one's desired and actual levels of belonging with respect to one's coworkers, predicts interpersonal work behaviors that are self-defeating. Controlling for demographic variables, job type, justice constructs, and trust in organization in a multilevel regression analysis using data from 130 employees of a clinical chemical laboratory and their supervisors, the authors found that employees who perceive greater levels of desired coworker belonging than actual levels of coworker belonging were more likely to engage in interpersonally harmful and less likely to engage in interpersonally helpful behaviors. Implications for the application of belongingness theory to explain self-defeating behaviors in organizations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond change management: A multilevel investigation of contextual and personal influences on employees' commitment to change.

The extent to which attitudes toward organizational changes may be affected by contextual (other changes going on) and personal (self-efficacy) factors was investigated with a multilevel design involving 25 different changes. Even after aspects of the change itself were controlled, the interaction between the context and the individual difference explained significant variance in attitudes toward those specific changes. The positive relationship between self-efficacy and commitment to the change was stronger as the amount of simultaneous and overlapping change in the surroundings increased. The implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building community in organizations: Principles of engagement.

This article outlines six engagement principles that facilitate community-building efforts in organizations. These six principles apply across a wide variety of organizations. The principles explored are as follows: (a) Communicate a compelling message, (b) build a guiding coalition, (c) create principle-based versus compliance-based guidelines for decisions and behaviors, (d) identify early engagement indicators, (e) generate continuous opportunities for dialogue, and (f) plan assimilation strategies for new members and new leaders. Future directions for both application and investigation of these principles are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Harry Levinson.

Recognizes Harry Levinson for his contributions to knowledge in professional practice, which derive from his unique skill in taking psychological theory and knowledge and showing how it applies to the everyday functioning of organizations. He embarked on a lifetime career of helping people to better understand the functioning of people in organizations and to use that understanding to help themselves and their organizations function both more effectively and more humanely. A citation is presented for Levinson, along with a biography and selected bibliography of his works. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The clinical documentation sourcebook: A comprehensive collection of mental health practice forms, handouts, and records.

Reviews the book, The clinical documentation sourcebook: A comprehensive collection of mental health practice forms, handouts, and records by Donald E. Wiger (see record 1997-08921-000). According to the reviewer, the author of this book accomplishes six challenging tasks. He 1) provides the essential forms for operating a sound clinical practice; 2) incorporates the key data elements in the forms with a rationale describing use and purpose; 3) keeps the manual user friendly without flooding the reader with a lot of unnecessary text; 4) includes both blank forms and a computer disk for ease in modifying forms; 5) provides forms that lend themselves for ease in data collection for research and practice profiling and; 6) offers the book and software at a very reasonable price. Dr. Wiger makes a cogent case that his forms and clinical documentation will satisfy the demands of managed-care organizations. The reviewer highlights some areas of the book where improvement is possible. He then concludes that this book gives a private-practice clinician or a behavioral-health group/agency the tools to operate a practice ethically, legally, and in line with accreditation standards and third-party payer requirements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Group genius: The creative power of collaboration.

Reviews the book, Group genius: The creative power of collaboration by K. Sawyer (2007). This book is written for a popular audience. It takes several themes from the author's past work on the sociocultural approach to creativity, particularly his research on improvisation and his book Explaining creativity, and develops them into an innovative analysis of improvisation and collaboration. The message of this book is that creative ideas emerge from collaborative webs, not from the minds of lone creators. Sawyer proposes that creative teams and organizations have moved beyond conventional notions of innovation--isolated Research and Development departments, for example--and instead harness collaborative webs. These webs include obvious ones, such as collaboration within the organization, as well as surprising ones, such as collaboration with consumers and with competitors. Researchers in the psychology of creativity will find a lot of food for thought in this book. The reviewer notes, however, that little attention is given to individual differences. This omission will madden many researchers. Researchers will also find a nascent integration of the sociocultural approach and the cognitive approach. Criticisms aside, he suggests that Keith Sawyer is one of psychology's finest writers: his books have a graceful tone and an understated erudition. The distinction between content and form is specious--writing unifies "what" and "how"--but creativity researchers will get as much out of this book's "how" as its "what". (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Officers, Boards, Committees, and Representatives of the American Psychological Association: 1974.

Provides a list of officers, board of directors, council of representatives, committees, and divisions for the American Psychological Association: 1974. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating territorial sales efforts.

"The purpose of this investigation was to provide a better method of evaluating the sales efforts of different state sales organizations in the marketing of automobile insurance. Nineteen measures representing quantitative production achievements, manpower statistics, over-all market statistics, amount of business in the area, and combinations of these were factor analyzed. Five factors emerged, two of which were not evaluative measures and three that might ultimately be used as such. The five factors were: Absolute Size, Potential per Agent, Over-all Effectiveness, Manpower Utilization, and Rate of Growth. Although the first two factors were not directly associated with the evaluation of the states, their presence gave some additional knowledge about the other three factors." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)