Search

A survey was conducted among Australian managerial, professional, clerical, and trade workers to find out whether job stress is associated with passive, recuperative leisure activities (the spillover hypothesis) or stimulating and demanding leisure needs and activities (the compensation hypothesis) in each group. Among management, stress was associated with passive, recuperative leisure activities, whereas among professionals a mixed pattern was found. Among the two lower level occupations (clerical, blue collar) there were few relationships between stress and leisure needs and activities.

Studies the performance of work groups performing organizational tasks. Descriptive dimensions used in rating group products; Neglect of task variables as determinants of performance; Classification of intellective tasks meeting the requirements of task typology.

Compatible and incompatible groups with person or task-oriented leaders were assembled and were required to use one of four work organizations while performing a manipulative task. Interchange compatibility was determined by Schutz's (1958) FIRO-B scales and leadership style by Fiedler's (1964, 1967) least. preferred co-worker (LPC) scale. In terms of structural role theory, organizations differed in kind and amount of two forms of cooperation-coordination and collaboration-identified by O'Brien (1968). Group leaders were required to use participatory rather than supervisory leadership. Results indicated that compatible groups had higher productivity than incompatible; that collaborative groups had lower productivity than noncollaborative; that collaboration and coordination interacted in influencing group productivity. Implications and suggestions for future research were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the study was to investigate whether job satisfaction was more strongly associated with congruency between desired and perceived job attributes than with job attributes alone. The perceived and desired job attributes of skill-utilization, influence, variety, pressure and social interaction were measured for a cluster sample of 1383 employees in metropolitan. Adelaide. The sample was a representative one with respect to occupation, sex and national origin. The congruency hypothesis was supported for the attributes of skill-utilization and variety but not for influence, pressure or social interaction. Perceived job attributes accounted for up to 38 per cent of the variance in job satisfaction whereas the product term between perceived and desired attributes accounted for less than 3 per cent of variance. If job values are defined as desired attributes of an employee's job system, the results indicated that the importance of job values as predictors of job satisfaction has been overestimated in theories of work values. Implications of the findings for job redesign were briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the frequency of job seeking in young unemployed men and women in Adelaide, South Australia. Person's expectation of finding a job; Perceived attractiveness or desirability of employment.

Korman's self-consistency theory maintains that chronic self-esteem is positively related to performance with the form of the relationship being affected by ability and task difficulty. However, previous research findings suggest that observed relationships between chronic self-esteem and performance are attributable to a positive correlation between chronic self-esteem and ability. Thus an alternative hypothesis is that task relevant abilities predict performance and that chronic self-esteem has no relationship to performance when ability is controlled. These hypotheses were tested with 24 high and 24 low self-esteem subjects who worked on manipulative and cognitive tasks that varied in difficulty. Following Korman's procedure, chronic self-esteem was measured by Ghiselli's Self-Assurance Scale. When self-esteem and abilities were used as joint predictors of performance, self-esteem was unrelated to performance. Analyses of task satisfaction also did not support Korman's theory. The main predictor of task satisfaction was perceived skill-utilization. It was concluded that chronic self-esteem, as measured by the Ghiselli Self-Assurance Scale, was not a motivational construct but was best interpreted as an estimate of task ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his general model of small group productivity, Shiflett (1979) maintained that group performance was a function of both resources and transformers. Resources are the task relevant skills and abilities of group members and transformers are those variables which represent group process. This paper examines in detail Shiflett's suggestion that a mathematical model of group structure (Oeser & Harary. 1962. 1964; Oeser & O'Brien, 1967) can be used to derive indices of the situation which can be used as measures of the transformer variable in models of small group performance. Two models of group performance are proposed. One uses an index of potential influence (O'Brien, Biglan & Penna, 1972), and the other an index of potential participation (O'Brien & Gross. 1981) as the transformer variable. A study of small group performance provided support for the models and steps for further development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the reciprocal relationships between locus of control and job attributes of a representative sample of 1383 employees in a large Australian city. It was predicted that employees with an internal locus of control would attain jobs higher on skill-utilization, influence and income than those attained by employees with an external locus of control. It was also predicted that jobs involving high skill-utlization, influence and income would induce greater internal control beliefs than those low on skill-utilization, influence and income. Locus of control was measured using Rotter's scale (Rotter, 1966). Reciprocal causation was assessed using two-stage least squares analysis. For the total sample, it was found that locus of control and job attributes were reciprocally determined. However, locus of control was not related to influence when skill-utilization and income were controlled. When the sample was split on the basis of gender and marital status, the predicted relationships between locus of control, skill-utilization and income were found for married men only. For married women, locus of control was neither a determinant of job attributes nor an outcome of job experience. These sub-group differences were interpreted in terms of differences in job tenure, work values and occupational opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An examination of the job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, 1976, 1980) showed that it contained two alternative statements about the relationship between job attributes and job satisfaction. One statement asserted that job satisfaction was an additive function of job attributes while the other asserted that the function was multiplicative. This study showed that both formulations omitted skill-utilization as a predictor of job satisfaction. A random sample of 125 employees in metropolitan Adelaide completed the job characteristics scales and a skill-utilization scale (O'Brien, 1980, 1982a). Job satisfaction was measured by the Job Descriptive Index and an 18-item facet satisfaction scale. Using hierarchical regression, it was found that skill-utilization accounted for as much unique variance in job satisfaction as did the additive or multiplicative combinations of job attributes denned by the job characteristics theory. The implications of these results for the job characteristics theory and job design were briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to Rump's (1983) comment, it was shown that the unemployed and employed groups in the Dowling & O'Brien (1981) study did have substantial differences in employment history. However, it was agreed that it is desirable to differentiate unemployed and employed groups on a criterion not based solely on current employment status. Further analyses were conducted on the Dowling & O'Brien (1981) data using groups that were either continuously or intermittently unemployed since leaving school as well as groups that were continuously or intermittently employed since leaving school. The mean work values (desired influence, desired skill-utilization, desired variety) of continuously employed respondents increased over time whereas the mean work values of continuously unemployed respondents decreased over time. These differences in change patters were not statistically different when analysed by repeated measures analysis of variance. Using Time 1 (September 1976) work values as covariates, there were significant differences in Time 2 (September 1977) work values. Differences in work values at Time 1 were not significant but the continuously employed group had significantly higher desired skill-utilization and variety at Time 2 than did the continuously unemployed group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evidence for the job characteristics theory of work attitudes and performance (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, 1980) was reviewed. This theory states that employee job satisfaction, intrinsic work motivation, and productivity are a function of the characteristics of a job. The central characteristics are skill-variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. The theory also states that employee attitudes and performance are moderated by the employee's need for psychological growth. Employees with low growth need strength are less responsive to job characteristics than employees with high growth need strength. Results obtained from studies designed to test the theory showed that the propositions related to job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation were weakly supported. Propositions relating to productivity were not supported. Furthermore, the moderating effects of growth need strength on the relationships between job characteristics and outcome measures were overstated. It was found that definitions of the job characteristics, especially skill-variety, were not well-stated and it was suggested that this could partly account for the failure of many studies to identify independent job characteristics. The model also failed to consider skill-utilization as an important determinant of job outcomes and made unwarranted assumptions about the strength of association between perceived and objective job characteristics. The implications of these deficiencies in the model for job design were briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work and leisure activities of 1383 employed persons were described using five task attributes - influence, variety, pressure, skill-utilization and interaction, in order to test three theories of work and leisure-compensation, generalization and segmentation. There were significant occupational differences on the work attributes, but there were few occupational differences on the leisure attributes. Also there were few significant correlations between the attributes of people's work and leisure activities. These results tend to support the segmentalist theory of work and leisure. While there were no strong relationships between work and leisure attributes for the total sample there were occupational differences in work/leisure relationships. High status occupations showed significant decreases in attributes such as influence, variety and skill-utilization from work to leisure, while low status occupations showed non-significant increases from work to leisure. Females generally had lower levels of the work attributes in comparison to males. They also showed stronger patterns of compensation, especially on the dimensions of influence and variety. It was concluded that the understanding of work/leisure relationships would be enhanced by studying how persons develop different workfleisure patterns rather than postulating universal compensation/generalization processess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between perceived crowding, density, and job satisfaction for a sample of 195 public service employees. Contrary to predictions and previous findings, it was found that crowding was unrelated to satisfaction with work itself, coworkers, supervision, and pay. Employees in less dense sections reported higher satisfaction with work itself than those in denser sections. These results were found using multiple regression and statistically controlling for skill-utilization, influence, variety, pressure, age, education, tenure, and income. There was a small negative association between crowding and satisfaction with promotion opportunities. However, analyses of this association using two stage least-squares procedures did not identify any causal relationships between crowding and promotion satisfaction. The results were similar for both males and females, although crowding accounted for more of the variance in job satisfaction for females than for males. The strongest predictor of job satisfaction was skill-utilization which accounted for up to 42% of the variance whereas crowding accounted for less than 6% of the variance. The results were interpreted in terms of the task demands of clerical jobs which, being routine and simple, were relatively unaffected by changes in crowding and density. The importance of the task as a moderator of the crowding-satisfaction relationship was briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier studies have provided weak support for a congruency theory of job satisfaction which predicts that congruency or match between work values and perceived job attributes is a significant predictor of job satisfaction. One possible explanation of weak congruency effects is that previous studies failed to identify employees with large discrepancies between work values (desired job attributes) and perceived job attributes. A sample of 396 retail and hospital pharmacists was chosen to provide a better test of the congruency hypothesis as these pharmacists had relatively large discrepancies in desired and perceived work attributes. Results obtained from a mail survey showed no significant association between congruency of job attributes to desired attributes and job satisfaction when the total sample was used in the analysis. The congruency hypothesis was supported for recently qualified pharmacists for the attributes of skill-utilization and variety. In all analyses desired job attributes, either directly or in interaction with perceived job attributes, accounted for far less variance in job satisfaction than perceived job attributes alone. These findings are generally consistent with previous results in showing that work values, as measured by desired job attributes, are very weak predictors of job satisfaction. The strongest predictors of job satisfaction were measures of perceived skill-utilization, influence and variety. The implications of these results for current theories of job satisfaction were briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A representative sample of 301 Adelaide retirees was interviewed using a structured questionnaire which requested information about locus of control, health symptoms and satisfaction with reitrement (activities, finance, health, people and life in general). Previous research (Reid, Haas, & Hawkings, 1977) had shown that life satisfaction and adjustment of internally controlled retirees was greater than that reported by externally controlled retirees. As it was possible that this relationship was moderated by health of retirees and rated aspect of life satisfaction, it was considered necessary to establish the association between locus of control and aspects of retirement satisfaction when health was statistically controlled. Using partial correlations it was found that Rotter's locus of control scale was a significant predictor of most aspects of retirement satisfaction for males when age and self-reported health was controlled. For females, only life satisfaction was significantly predicted. Using path analysis, the relationship between the level of skill-utilization in pre-retirement occupation, locus of control, and life satisfaction was examined. Skill-utilization was negatively associated with locus of control for both males and females, but did not have a direct association with life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A longitudinal study of school leavers in South Australia was conducted with a sample of 652. School leavers (in their last year of school) were given a questionnaire which measured their desired level of skill-utilization, influence and variety in a job. One year later they were retested. Of the total sample, 386 were employed, 65 unemployed and 201 engaged in further education. It was predicted that employed and unemployed subjects would show lower work values while those in further education would show increases in work values. Those subjects who continued as students did show an expected increase in their desire for skill-utilization, influence and variety. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant change in the work values of those unemployed. Those in employment showed a significant increase in their desire for skill-utilization but no change in desired influence and variety. Results did not support the value adaptation model of Herzberg, Mausner, Peterson, & Capwell (1957), even though there was a significant discrepancy between experienced job attributes and the work values of those in employment. The possible consequences for social adjustment of continued discrepancies between work values and existing job structures (underemployment) is briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discrepancy theory of leader effectiveness (O'Brien & Harary, 1977) was tested with 20 three-person groups. Each group leader was pre-selected on the basis of scores on the FIRO-B scales which measured control and participation (inclusion) needs. Half the leaders selected had high control and low participation needs and the other half had low control and high participation needs. Matched and discrepant group structures were imposed by using two structures which provided either high control and low participation opportunities or low control and high participation opportunities. The effects of leader style and group structure were tested using a 2 × 2 factorial design with rated productivity on production and discussion tasks being the dependent measure. Group structure had a significant effect upon group productivity, but the results showed no significant interactions between leader style and group structure. Group structure accounted for approximately 41% of variance in group productivity, whereas the style × structure interaction accounted for approximately 1%. There were no significant effects upon satisfaction with the task or co-workers. Discussion of the results concludes with a recommendation that theories of leadership become embedded within structural theories of group productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier publications (O'Brien, Biglan, & Penna, 1972; O'Brien & Harary, 1977) defined the potential participation of an individual in a group in terms of the number of connections from the individual to the task system. In order to have an index of potential participation which gives comparable values across groups and organizations varying in size, it is necessary to provide a formula which gives the maximum possible participation value for an individual in a group with a fixed number of persons, positions and tasks. The present paper derives a number of formulae using the notation of structural role theory (Oeser & Harary, 1962, 1964). Different formulae are associated with restrictions in the properties of informal relationships, as well as the length of sequences in the interpersonal and task graphs. The relationship between the indices of potential participation and sociometric indices is discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current classifications of leadership styles are reviewed and it is maintained that a more inclusive classification would measure leadership style on two separate dimensions of need for control and participation. With such a classification it is possible to relate leadership style directly to group structure by measuring the difference between the leader's expressed needs and the opportunity he has of satisfying these needs in the position he is assigned within the structure. Opportunities for satisfying these. needs are measured by indices of potential influence and participation. Finally, a discrepancy index, d, is developed to enable measurement of the difference between the matrix of needs and the matrix of need opportunities. The relation between d values of leaders and members and job satisfaction and group productivity is investigated in a number of experimental small-group studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contends that research findings of one of the most prominent writers, E. W. Bakke, on employment and unemployment bears a lot of discrepancy. According to the article, none of Bakke's studies provide a classification of general changes in the mood of the unemployed persons. Instead unemployment was described as a state of personal powerlessness. A sense of external control was not generalized to situations where effort could lead to personal accomplishment. In Bakke's studies, unemployed men are supposed to display a high degree of self-reliance and personal control as well as a great deal of resilience in enduring the economic deprivation associated with job loss. This interpretation of the problem of the unemployment basically considers that the problem is not the situation but the person. Hence, the personality and behavior of the unemployed person needs to be changed in order to improve the situation. Bakke's studies emphasized on lack of money and not the absence of work activities as the major cause of distress.

With a representative sample of 1383 Adelaide employees it was found, using simple multiple regression, that job satisfaction was significantly predicted by the perceived job attributes of skill-utilization, influence, variety, pressure, and interaction. For the total sample, skill-utilization was the strongest predictor of job satisfaction. In order to measure the degree of over-estimation of R², a double cross-validation of the data was conducted. The R² varied from .47 to .51 and the beta coefficient for skill-utilization remained the highest and varied from .48 to .50. The effects of multi-collinearity were measured using principle components analysis and measures of the variance inflation factor for each beta coefficient. It was concluded that multicollinearity was not a significant problem for these data. The degree to which the observed association between job satisfaction and skill-utilization was due to content similarity of the scale was assessed by deleting ability items from the job-satisfaction scale. There was only a slight reduction in the magnitude of the skill-utilization beta coefficient. Skill-utilization remained the strongest predictor of job satisfaction when the JDI (work itself) was used as the criterion with a separate sample. There was a small reduction in R² and beta coefficients but not sufficient to suggest that the original associations were due to content similarity. Finally, the generality of the regression results was examined by repeating the regression within occupational groupings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship. between perceived influence in decision making and job satisfaction with a sample of 192 assembly line employees at an Adelaide food factory. It also examined the way in which the influence-job satisfaction relationship was moderated by desired influence, need for control and need for participation. New scales were developed for measuring influence and desired influence as it was considered that previous scales were either unreliable or deficient in range. Job satisfaction was measured using the Job Description Index which had separate scales for satisfaction with work, pay, promotions, supervision and co-workers. It was found that influence had a moderate positive association with work and promotion satisfaction. This association was not moderated by desired influence or personality factors. There was a negative correlation (-0.22) between perceived and desired influence. Influence was not the dominant predictor of job satisfaction, as skill utilisation, pressure and tenure were also significant predictors. The results were related to various theories of worker participation and industrial democracy and it was indicated how such a survey could be used to structure the introduction of worker participation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A major proposition of Fiedler's contingency model of leadership is that the effectiveness of a particular style of leadership is dependent upon the favourability of the group situation. Favourability refers to the potential influence of the leader and is measured by ordering several dimensions of group structure. This paper presents a more general method of measuring potential influence which involves the use of matrix representations of group structure. The use of this index of potential influence is illustrated in a study dealing with the effect of group structure upon productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effects of programmed culture training upon the performance of volunteer medical teams in Central America. Living and working in a foreign culture is notoriously difficult for a large number of people. One phenomenon, frequently observed in newcomers, is the culture shock syndrome which has been extensively described in the psychological literature. Self-instructional culture training programs, called Culture Assimilators, have been developed for Iran, Thailand, and Honduras. A number of laboratory studies have shown that programmed culture assimilators lead to improved adjustment, although not to improved productivity on the part of those who have read the assimilator programs prior to working in heterocultural group. The present study was designed specifically to investigate the effects of a task-related assimilator on the productivity of groups working for a considerable period of time. During the summer of 1967, 91 teams went to Honduras and Guatemala as voluntary public health workers. The results show that groups where the majority of members were culture assimilator trained had overall higher levels of productivity than groups containing a minority of, or no assimilator trained members.

The article investigates effect of leadership style upon performance and adjustment of small medical volunteer teams working in relatively isolated Central American villages. One major research program has presented evidence that the effectiveness of the leader is contingent upon both the leader's style of interacting with his members and the favorableness of the group situation. Leadership style in this program has been measured by means of the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale which requires the leader to think of all others whom he has ever known and then to describe the one person with whom he has found it most difficult to work. This need not be someone with whom he works at the present time; in fact, least preferred co-workers frequently are individuals with whom the rater worked in the past. The descriptions of the least preferred co-worker or LPC are made on simple bipolar adjective scales modeled after Osgood's Semantic Differential. Persons who describe their least preferred co-workers in very unfavorable terms (low LPC) in effect reject people with whom they cannot work well. These low LPC people tend to be task-oriented in their leadership style, that is, they seek need gratification from working on the task or from task achievement. Persons who describe their least preferred co-workers in relatively favorable terms tend to be relationship-orients. These high LPC persons seek need gratification in interpersonal relationships and in achieving a place of prominence in their work group.