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In the first criterion-related validity study of a complete 360-degree competency assessment process (i.e., where customer data are included), aggregated 360-degree assessment of 428 retail associate store managers on six competencies showed strong validity (.50) in the prediction of assessment center performance. In addition, 360-degree assessments on each of the six competencies were significantly correlated with the criteria. The aggregated 360-degree assessments also demonstrated incremental validity over managerial ratings alone in the prediction of assessment center criteria. Customer (mystery shopper) assessments were also significantly correlated with the assessment center criteria and exhibited incremental validity beyond supervisory assessments. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An implicit assumption of prior literature on strategic behavior of auditors is that auditors know the preferences of their colleagues. In this study, we conduct an experiment to investigate the validity of this assumption. In our experiment, we match a manager with a pair of top and mediocre audit seniors, as assessed by their firm. Each auditor predicts the choices that will be made by other auditors on two tasks that differ in their level of ambiguity. Our results show no difference in the accuracy among managers, top seniors, and mediocre seniors when they predict the choices made by specific individual auditors for both tasks. When predicting the number of managers and seniors who will choose a specific option on the high-ambiguity task, managers outperform top seniors, who in turn outperform mediocre seniors. For the low-ambiguity task, we find no difference among managers, top seniors, and mediocre seniors. Our results provide some limited support for models of strategic auditor behavior, and indicate that the ability to predict the choices of others is a dimension of an auditor's expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article describes what management development evaluation activities should try to accomplish, and how major companies evaluate the effectiveness of their developmental efforts. The problem of how to evaluate the effectiveness of management development programs has been with us for some time and will likely be around a lot longer. While most executives, participants in development programs, and human resource development professionals generally agree on the importance of cost-effective developmental experiences, these groups may see the purposes of development--not to mention how to measure its effectiveness--differently. Corporate executives want cost-effective programs which have a beneficial impact upon the organization--solving its current and potential problem areas and developing its needed management talent. Managers--the focus of developmental efforts-want learning opportunities that will provide them with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform most effectively on the job, plus the opportunity to use them.

The article focuses on the need and development of assessment centers. Assessment centers are being used in private industry and government for selection of many kinds of employees and managers at all levels in a wide assortment of positions. However, assessment center programs should be designed and used appropriately. A great amount of time and effort must be spent on adequately defining the critical skills and how they are represented behaviorally in a particular organization. Longitudinal studies of thousands of employees assessed indicate that the assessment method described is much more accurate than traditional appraisal procedures and these are some of the reasons--The exercises used are designed to bring out the specific skills and aptitudes needed in the positions for which a group of candidates is being assessed, the assessors are shielded from the many interruptions of normal working conditions and can pay full attention to the candidates behavior in the exercises, the procedures focus their attention on the primary kinds of behavior they ought to observe in evaluating a promotion candidate.

The article focuses on assessment centers. Most assessment center activities are costly and require large staffs. Many use a generalized set of criteria, stated in a definition type of format, which revolve around management functions like planning, leading, organizing and controlling and personality or trait-oriented characteristics like initiative, leadership, creativity and so on. These criteria generally test an individual's ability to perform work at the first level of supervision and most non-supervisory personnel desiring advancement into supervision are put through the assessment activity. However, most medium and small size companies do not have the time, money or manpower to conduct a full-fledged assessment center activity to determine first level supervisory potential on a continuous basis. For them and possibly for large companies too, the obvious alternative approach is to conduct their assessment center activity on an 'as needed' basis where and when the need is greatest -an approach requiring minimal amounts of time, money and manpower.

Results of a systematic replication of studies by Dearborn and Simon and by Walsh suggest that differences in their conclusions resulted from differences in their experimental procedures. Managers are broader perceivers when they are encouraged to identify more problems. Also, contrary to Walsh's and others' theories, in this replication belief structure did not mediate the relationship between functional experience and selective perception. In addition, predominantly negative relationships were found between areas of experience and perceptions, indicating that functional experience may produce selective imperception as well as selective perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 71 very large manufacturers, this study demonstrated that executives in externally controlled firms receive more compensation for performance and less for scale of operation than their counterparts in firms without dominant stockholders. This finding held true for both compensation level and its rate of change over time. Our main conclusion is that outside dominant stockholders view firms primarily as investments and have the power and the incentive to align the compensation of hired CEOs with performance of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on a study which examines the effects of employee age, sex, and job status on managerial assessments toward the desirability of initiating retirement procedures for older workers. It infers that a content analysis of written justifications is important in identifying the influence of employee age on managerial judgments and to the understanding of the processes underlying these judgments. It suggests that the level of ambiguity surrounding retirement decisions demands better job analysis, job design and performance appraisal systems.

This article presents information on empirical research on how organizations actually utilize assessment center results. It infers that majority of organizations have used assessment centers for only a few years and few follow administrative practices which deal with the long-term utilization of results. Based on the research, assessment centers are perceived to be valid predictors of subsequent managerial performance and that they require a great deal of planning, time and effort to effectively utilize results.

The effects of different operationalizations of the path-goal theory's leader behavior constructs are examined. The results indicate that some of the inconsistent and non-supportive research findings pertaining to the theory are due to inadequacies and differences in operationalizations of the theory's leader behavior variables. Suggestions for future tests are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six behaviorally based bipolar scales were developed to assess management potential. Managers used these scales before and after training to rate male and female versions of cases describing two hypothetical job incumbents. Both means and variances of ratings were smaller after training. Rater/ratee sex effects were also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The components of assessment centers are described and evaluative research is reviewed. Predictive validity of assessment centers appears promising, especially for management positions, although the research comes from too few sources and has some confounding methodological problems. Various alleged outcomes of using centers are found to be largely unsupported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article refers to Becker, Ronen, and Sorter (1974), or BRS, and reports on a replication study at the University of Colorado, which focused on the use of opportunity-cost information in the managerial decision-making process. Participants in the BRS study had to choose one of two investment projects, which were classified in four categories: equal margin-equal revenue (EMER); equal margin-unequal revenue (EMUR); unequal margin-equal revenue (UMER); and unequal margin-unequal revenue (UMUR). The three-stage laboratory study included a redesign of the BRS experiment and three experimental choices. Chi-square analysis is mentioned, as well as equations for normal approximation to binomial distribution and for population proportion. Results from the replication study differed from BRS.

The chief executive of a nationalized company succeeds, as does any business executive, by pleasing the owners of the company. But when the owners are a nation's citizenry and its elected officials, success and failure are not defined in terms of profit and loss. What counts is the company's political performance, and in the judging of political performance, there is no bottom line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides a comparative test of two psychological theories concerning the relationship between affect and performance. Managerial simulations are used to test whether people who are positive in disposition perform better or worse on both decisional and interpersonal tasks. Results are consistent in supporting the happier-and-smarter as opposed to the sadder-but-wiser hypothesis, since they show positive relationships between dispositional affect and performance. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to both the older literature on links between satisfaction and performance and the more recent controversy over the dispositional approach to job attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although women are increasingly being chosen for managerial positions on the basis of their qualifications, many persons still believe that they are different from men in important ways that affect job performance. This article presents convincing evidence that men and women managers' perceptions of key structure and process variables related to formal and informal organizational concepts are quite similar. The authors argue against treating women differently on the basis of sex and for more effective utilization of women as managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents various abstracts in marketing, including "What Makes Successful and Unsuccessful Executives?" by Burleigh B. Gardner; "Intercity Wage Differences, 1945-46," by L. M. David and Harry Ober; and "Getting and Using Market and Business Data."

The article discusses two studies which investigated the effect of age, departmental experience and prior rater experience on performance in assessment center exercises. The first study found that age does significantly affect assessment center performance within the same middle management level. The second study indicate that viewing a group problem, having access to variable definitions and actually rating and ranking the performance of others did not lead to better performance on a similar group problem.

This study investigates the relationship between Machiavellian orientation and several job-related correlates among 150 managers in a large manufacturing firm. The findings indicate that Machiavellian orientation is positively associated with job strain and perceived opportunity for formal control, and negatively associated with job satisfaction. Machiavellian orientation was not significantly associated with upward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the authors' opinions regarding a criticism of their article "Some Personal and Situational Correlates of Reactions to Management Development Training." The authors' focus on comments made about the purpose and content of management development programs. Possible reasons that executives might have for supporting or opposing management training programs are also discussed.

A firm's ability to operate effectively and efficiently in a highly competitive environment is greatly dependent upon the quality of its human resources. The authors examine some of the problems in current management development programs and propose a comprehensive, integrated system of human resource planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the various definitions of an entrepreneur and the means of testing for roles which delineate entrepreneurial behavior. Important in testing is achievement motivation and where it originates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting the right man for the right job is a problem that's at best difficult to solve, but the psychological testing techniques described here are of considerable help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether a powerful chief executive officer (CEO) impacts corporate risk taking in the distinctive institutional and market setting of China? Second, in case such relationship exists, the paper further aims to investigate whether the presence of large shareholders affects it, and finally, whether this effect of large shareholders varies in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs).Design/methodology/approach The authors have used a sample of 1,502 Chinese firms listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. Sample period is 2008-2013. Besides conventional fixed-effect regression, dynamic panel data estimation (generalized method of moments) is applied to address the potential endogeneity.Findings The results show that CEO power is negatively related with corporate risk taking in two risk proxies, i.e. total risk and idiosyncratic risk. Second, the presence of large shareholders significantly affects this relationship, but does not change the primary negative relationship between CEO power and corporate risk taking. Finally, the results show that the relationship between CEO power and corporate risk taking is different in SOEs and NSOEs. The findings of this paper contend the organizational and behavioral theory viewpoint that individual decisions are more extreme.Practical implications This study provides useful implication for policymakers and suggests that while evaluating CEO’s performance, institutional and market settings should be considered.Originality/value This study provides new insights on the impact of CEO power on corporate risk taking under the two distinctive features in a developing country, i.e. presence of large shareholders and state-owned enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effect of changes in CEO position on subsequent firm performance by studying 91 CEO turnovers in Indonesia. Our results show that firm performance decreases during the turnover year. Moreover, the incoming CEO does not increase firm performance in subsequent years. Indeed, there is evidence that firm performance decreases after such turnovers. We ultimately conclude that CEO turnovers in Indonesia do not have a positive effect on firm performance. Going further, we divided CEO turnovers into routine and non-routine turnovers on the basis of the turnover process. Both routine and non-routine CEO turnovers show similar results with all samples, in which the incoming CEO in a routine or non-routine turnover does not have a positive effect upon firm performance. Further evidence suggests that the incoming CEO tends to upsize firm assets rather than downsize them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the author's opinions regarding the article "Some Personal and Situational Correlates of Reactions to Management Development Training," by Stephen J. Carroll and Allan N. Nash, published in the June 1970 issue. It is suggested that executives' support of management training programs is based on the program's perceived practicality.

Orientation: Assessment Centres (ACs) have a long and successful track record in South Africa when used for selection and development purposes. The popularity of the approach is mainly attributable to the ACs' numerous strengths, which include the perceived fairness, practical utility and strong associations with on-the-job performance. To maintain the integrity of the AC, it is important for practitioners and decision makers to apply the method in a consistent and standardised manner. Research purpose: The purpose of the report is to provide practitioners and decision makers with practical guidelines and concrete procedures when using ACs as part of the organisation's human resource management strategy. Motivation for the study: The past decade has seen significant advances in the science and practice of ACs. Now in its fifth edition, the revised Guidelines seek to provide important information to practitioners and decision makers on a number of factors when used in conjunction with the AC method, namely, technology, validation, legislation, ethics and culture. Main findings: The Guidelines provide specific suggestions and recommendations for using technology as part of the manner of delivery. Issues of culture, diversity and representation are also discussed. New features of the Guidelines include more concrete guidance on how to conduct a validation study as well as unpacking several ethical dilemmas that practitioners may encounter. Of critical importance is a position statement on the use of ACs in relation to new legislation (Employment Equity Amendment Act, Section 8, clause d) pertaining to psychometric testing. Practical/managerial implications: The Guidelines serve as a benchmark of best practice for practitioners and decision makers who intend on, or are currently, using ACs in their organisations. Contribution/value-add: In the absence of formal standards governing the use of ACs in South Africa, the Guidelines provide an important step towards establishing standardisation in the use of the AC method. The Guidelines provide (1) guidance to industrial and organisational psychologists, organisational consultants, human resource management specialists, generalists and the Department of Labour, and others designing and conducting ACs; (2) information to managers deciding whether to introduce AC methods; (3) instructions to assessors taking part in the AC; (4) guidance on the use of technology and navigating diverse cultural contexts; and (5) a reference for professionals on best practice considerations in the use of the AC method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Accounting & Management is the property of Croatian Accountant and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how top executives’ compensation is associated with environmental performance in the Chinese context and how this association varies with differing levels of industrial competition. Design/methodology/approach – Combining agency and institutional theories, the empirical study is based on a sample of 698 publicly listed firms in China’s manufacturing sector. Findings – The authors find that top executives’ cash pay has a positive association, and equity ownership a negative association, with corporate environmental performance. Furthermore, in more competitive industries, both pay and ownership are more strongly associated with environmental performance, indicating that industrial competition plays a moderating role in these relationships. Practical implications – The findings imply that different incentive schemes can motivate executives toward environmental management in the Chinese context in opposite directions. They highlight the importance of improving regulation in order to motivate firms to engage in further environmental management. Originality/value – Previous work on the relationship between executives’ compensation and socially responsible activities has mainly focussed on developed countries. This study is set in an emerging economy, and identifies new evidence to show that the effect of executive incentives is institutionally specific. In addition, it explores the effect of industrial competition on executives’ incentives to engage in environmental management, suggesting an explanation for the contradictory evidence found in previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the potential benefits of executive hubris to firm innovation. Grounded in the upper echelons theory and the firm innovation literature, hypotheses were developed and tested in two studies with different contexts and methods. Study 1 uses a set of cross-sectional survey data on a large sample of Chinese CEOs in manufacturing industries. Study 2 uses a set of longitudinal archival data on U.S. public firms in high-tech industries. Both studies render robust support to the authors’ main theoretical prediction—that executive hubris is positively related to firm innovation. The authors further found that the main effect varies under certain environmental conditions: The relationship between executive hubris and firm innovation becomes weaker when the environment is more munificent and complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing to what extent applicant reactions are related to stable individual differences and not only to characteristics of a selection procedure is important for the design and administration of the selection procedure and for dealing with applicants. The aim of this study was to explore relationships between individual differences ( Big Five, core self-evaluations, trait affectivity, and general mental ability) and applicants' perceptions of an operational assessment center ( AC). Data from 294 applicants revealed that individual difference variables explained significant variance in their perceptions of the AC, even after controlling for self-rated and actual performance. Based on these results, the nature of the applicant pool should be considered for designing selection procedures, dealing with applicants, and for research purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although assessment centers ( AC) continue to spread to Asian countries, no published study exists that evaluates AC practices in an Asian country, and none within the largest populous country within the region of Indonesia. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory survey of Indonesian organizations to examine how ACs are designed, executed, implemented, and evaluated in the target country. In this article, we show first how political, economic, and cultural circumstances have an impact on the use of AC programs in Indonesia. Second, we report a broad spectrum of AC features within Indonesian organizations. Third, we compare selected results of our study with prior findings in other countries and regions to identify advantages and disadvantages in current Indonesian AC practices. Finally, implications for both future AC research and practice in both this region, and more widely, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study conducted on soft skills required by entry-level managers in order to build rapport and trust with the employees. It also highlights the importance of soft skills for an entry-level manager to handle situations, personnel management, and evaluating the performance of their team members.