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Examined the effects of a flexible working hours schedule on the arrival and departure times of 162 public sector employees. Results indicated that workers, when scheduling their own workday, deviate only moderately from their preflexitime arrival/departure times; and they tend to develop relatively stable arrival/departure patterns. (Author/RC)

This article discusses distinctive characteristics of Chinese negotiating behavior as compared to that typical of the United States. Following a review of relevant research, the authors found that Confucian philosophy continues to provide the foundation of Chinese cultural traditions and values, with the tenets of harmony, hierarchy, developing one's moral potential, and kinship affiliation having relevance for interpersonal behavior. An analysis of three key interpersonal norms illustrates the impact of culture on the negotiation process: emotional restraint and politeness as basic to communication, an emphasis on social obligations, and the interrelationship of the life domains of work, family, and friendship. Based on these norms, the authors offer recommendations for preparing, conducting, and concluding negotiations with one's Chinese counterparts. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

A survey of the 721 workers from a light manufacturing company (168 managers and 553 workers) produced data used to examine the roles of reference groups both outside and inside the organization within the framework of equity theory, with attitude toward pay used as the basis for the comparison. It is shown that the outside reference group is more important than the inside reference group in understanding job attitudes and behavior patterns. It is also shown that outside contributions and inside pay components are similar for the 168 managers as for the 553 workers in terms of the evaluation of pay satisfaction. However, the relationship between pay components differed for the two groups for overall job satisfaction, and might be nonlinear for managers.

A nonmetric scaling method was used to test several taxonomies of work motivation. The intercorrelations among the importance ratings of 14 work goals, made by 800 salesmen and 1,800 repairmen were analyzed. A two-space solution was deemed adequate to reflect both the empirical and theoretical interrelationships among the variables. These results were consistent with an intrinsic-extrinsic grouping of the variables, but more complex relationships of motivational variables were also revealed. In particular, Alderfer's tripartite classification and Maslow's five-fold hierarchy were strongly supported by the smallest space analyses for both salesmen and repairmen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interrelationships among the employee's personal value system, job attitude, and organizational reward system. It was assumed that individual values are part of the set with which employees approach their work environment and evaluate the organizational reward system. Two separate and distinct Israeli employment universes were investigated and compared. They were that of industrial workers on the kibbutz and that of persons employed by private sector industries. It was found that workers from the kibbutz industry, where differential financial renumeration does not exist, reported a higher level of self-realization values and more satisfaction with intrinsic job aspects than those employed in the private sector. In contrast, employees in the private sector, who receive differential extrinsic rewards, reported a higher level of both aggrandizement values and extrinsic job satisfaction. In both samples, personal values were found to be related to aspects of job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines several taxonomies of work motivation, which have been developed to conceptualize employee's needs and expectations. Concerns about taxonomic adequacy apply to theories, which focus on performance outcomes as well as those, which are based on individual attitudes and needs. Some of the major problems with current classification systems may be related to the methodologies used to establish the taxonomies: in particular the heavy reliance on factor analysis, with its statistical rigidities. A number of nonmetric approaches have become available in recent years and offer the possibility of exploring work motivation more flexibly, using empirical data. Nonmetric analysis seems promising for exploring the grouping among various motivational variables when one considers the type of data typically collected. The findings suggest that the development of applied theories of work motivation may be limited by the traditional analytical tools used to date, primarily factor analysis. The smallest space analysis method, and other multidimensional techniques may be quite appropriate to analyzing the data in this field.

The article evaluates the influence various aspects of job satisfaction have on an employee's tendency to stay with or leave an organization. An inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover has been substantiated. Research has shown a relationship between turnover and intrinsic facets of satisfaction and turnover and extrinsic facets of satisfaction. There is a line of reasoning which suggests that extrinsic factors are most crucial in determining turnover. If dissatisfaction causes an employee to withdraw from his working place, as indicated by the inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover, extrinsic aspects of the job must be primarily responsible. The authors conclude that intrinsic aspects influence workers to remain, while extrinsic aspects influence them to leave. tendency to stay, and the tendency to leave. In this study, the hypothesized causal relationships among the variables are presented according to the path analytic model. It has been found that the linear correlations between the extrinsic facets and stay and leave tendencies are negligible.

The article presents a study by Simcha Ronen about the employees' work goals in various countries, published in the periodical "International Review of Applied Psychology." Ronan tested the international application of motivational models by research on highly trained, non- managerial employees of a multinational electronic company in five countries: Germany (2720), Canada (1088), France (1966), Great Britain (1533), and Japan (1695). The author observed that a single firm "may have a value system, transcending national borders, which may obscure national differences. The study employed the non-metric multivariate technique, Smallest Space Analysis, in which the differences between points and corresponding correlation coefficients were determined and plotted to construct a map for each country. The samples from Germany, Great Britain, and Canada report autonomy to be included in the self-actualization category (linked to skill utilization and job challenge) while France and Japan report autonomy to be associated with the self-esteem category (linked with recognition and opportunity for advancement).