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The primary purpose of this research was to extend current knowledge of the individual differences that are traditionally associated with leadership emergence and to determine whether the individuals characterized by individual differences attributed to transformational leaders were also likely to emerge as a leader in a leaderless group. Leadership behaviors and followers' perceptions of emergent leadership of individuals with Ross and Offermann's (1997) enabling and forceful personality patterns were examined in an emergence setting that facilitates transformational leadership. A secondary purpose of this research was to further our knowledge of the process of leadership. The leadership process defined by Lord and his associates (Lord, Fot & Phillips, 1982; Lord, Foti & DeVader., 1984) was expanded to include relevant elements of Mischel's theory of personality (Mischel, 1999). The contextual influence of the task situation and feedback from others were examined. Individuals did not differ on transformational leadership behavior, but forceful individuals did exhibit a greater proportion of initiating structure behaviors than other individuals and were rated highest on leadership. In addition, there was no evidence of changes in the leadership process due to feedback based on the perceptions of others. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed. Ph. D.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of ease of evaluation of dimensions on the construct validity of a selection assessment center conducted in 1993. High ease of evaluation dimensions, operationalized as the greatest proportion of highly diagnostic behaviors, were expected to demonstrate greater construct and criterion related validity. Multitrait-multimethod analysis and confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that high ease of evaluation dimensions demonstrated greater convergent and discriminant validity than low ease of evaluation dimensions. Contrary to predictions, however, there was little difference in the criterion related validity of the high versus low ease of evaluation dimensions. Moreover, the entire assessment center yielded extremely low predictive validity using both dimension and exercise scores as predictors. The implications of the findings from this study are discussed. Ph. D.

One of the most prominent trends in organizations today is the use of teams to accomplish the work once assigned to individuals. Team composition variables, including the personality characteristics of team members, need to be carefully considered so that the transition of work from individuals to teams results in performance improvements. The types of tasks relegated to teams also affect performance, and it is equally important that group tasks are clearly defined. As such, the current study explores the impact of Big Five personality patterns on both group cohesiveness and group performance on creative, brainstorming tasks. At the group level, it was predicted that teams with personality patterns consisting of moderate levels of Extraversion, high levels of Openness to Experience, and high levels of Conscientiousness (Optimal pattern) would perform significantly better on an innovative task than teams with personality patterns that varied from this pattern. It was also hypothesized that group cohesiveness would mediate this relationship. Of the 65 three-person groups, it was found that those possessing the Optimal pattern outperformed groups with three different patterns in terms of the quantity of creative ideas generated and average level of creativity. However, groups with the Optimal pattern generated more superior ideas than only one of the other pattern conditions, and contrary to predictions, did not generate a significantly higher percentage of superior ideas than any of the other pattern conditions. It was also found that group cohesion did not mediate the relationship between group-level personality and creative task performance. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. Ph. D.

This study examined test-taking attitudes and response distortion on a personality test. Consistent with our hypotheses, applicants were found to have significantly more positive test-taking attitudes and exhibit a greater degree of response distortion as compared to incumbents. In addition, test-taking attitudes were significantly associated with response distortion. However, test-taking attitudes failed to affect work performance or validity in the incumbent sample. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed. Ph. D.

To determine whether incomplete reward reduction and reward increment would influence the "frustration effect" (FE) in double alleyway, rats were given 153 trials with 50% partial reward in Goalbox 1 with 4 or 12 pellets in Goalbox 1 and 4 or 12 pellets in Goalbox 2. On trials 106-153, the postshift phase, half of the rats in each group were shifted to a reward magnitude opposite to that previously received in Goalbox 1. During preshift, Alley 1 start and running speeds were inversely related to Goalbox 2 reward magnitude. The size of the FE was directly related to Goalbox 1 and Goalbox 2 reward magnitude. During postshift, Alley 1 running were inversely related to preshift Goalbox 1 reward magnitude. The size of the FE was directly related to Goalbox 1 and Goalbox 2 reward magnitude. The results were discussed in terms of Amsel's theory of frustration. Master of Science