Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 363-368).

<p> Innovation is essential for organizational survival and effectiveness and often requires a balance between managing existing competencies, skills, and resources, and pursuing newer and radical aspirations. Organizational leaders play an important role in fostering innovation in the workplace and striking a unique equilibrium between these competing priorities to maximize individual creativity and organizational innovation outcomes. By employing path analyses, this study examined the relationship between two leadership styles&mdash;transformational leadership (TFL) and leader-member exchange (LMX) and two forms of organizational innovation (exploration and exploitation). The study also investigated the role that individual and organizational variables played in explaining the leadership-innovation relationship. </p><p> Results suggested positive but non-significant relationships between leadership styles and organizational innovation due to the high correlations and overlap between the two leadership styles. Follower autonomy was positively and significantly related to exploration innovation. When analyzed separately, positive and significant associations were found for both leadership styles and organizational innovation. Results of this study suggest the equal importance of transformational and relational styles of leadership towards fostering both forms of organizational innovation. In particular, organizational support for innovation was found to mediate the leadership-innovation relationship, suggesting the importance of social mechanisms in translating the effects of leadership into innovation outcomes for the organization.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative, survey-based study was to investigate the relationship between anger and hatred in an effort to learn more about how to understand and curb the problem of workplace violence. In particular, perfectionism was examined as a possible mediator of the relationship between anger and hatred. The study was conducted on a sample of 1,192 people. The statistical techniques of correlation, partial correlation, linear regression, and principal components analysis (PCA) were used to examine the relationship between variables in the study. The following conclusions were reached: (a) The correlation between hatred and anger was significant (<i>p</i> &lt; .001) but weak (R = .298), and these values changed slightly (R=.221) when controlling for the influence of perfectionism; (b) PCA revealed hatred and anger to be highly distinct from each other; (c) PCA revealed that the sub-scales of anger and hatred were sensitive to differences in how anger and hatred are felt and expressed; (d) the relationship between anger and motivation was not significant (<i>p</i> = &lt; .001); (e) the relationship between hatred and motivation was not significant (<i>p</i> = &lt; .001); (f) anger and hatred were not multicollinear in their association with motivation; and (f) for younger subjects, anger was a weaker predictor of hatred, while for older subjects anger was a stronger predictor of hatred. Based on these findings, the main conclusion of the study is that existing theories that associate anger and hatred might require revision based on further analysis of the differences between anger and hatred</p>

<p> This non-experimental quantitative study using structural equation modeling and the theory of planned behavior examined the relationships between latent variables, affective commitment and continuance commitment, and manifest variables, career intent and retention incentive decision behavior. The sample consisted of 598 U.S. Army Captains (14% of population) who met inclusion criteria of being commissioned in 2005 and answered all questions on the archival U.S. Army Research Institute's 2007 Survey of Officer Careers. Using fit indices such as RMSEA at 0.068 and the Bentler CFI at 0.93 the final model was considered an acceptable-to-good fit, where each increase of 1 point in career intent significantly predicted increased retention incentive decision behavior by 1/7 of a point (<i>b</i> = 0.142,<i>p</i> &lt; .0001, &beta; = 0.409). An increase in 1 point in affective commitment predicted increases in career intent by almost 2 points (<i>b</i> = 1.86, <i>p </i> &lt; .0001, &beta;= 0.457) and each point increase of continuance commitment increased career intent by a little over 1/2 a point (<i> b</i> = 0.612,<i>p</i> &lt; .0001, &beta; = 0.234). There were three conclusions from this study. First, the final model extended the theory of planned behavior to the attitudes and intentions of Captains who were presented a retention incentive lending insights into remuneration for retaining entry-level employees for continued service in closed personnel systems. Second, affective commitment and continuance commitment were significant predictors of increases in career intent, and high career intent was a significant predictor of a taking a retention incentive, as the theoretical model predicted. Third, Army senior leaders were successful in retaining Army Captains with higher organizational commitment and career intent than those Captains who did not take an incentive. Four recommendations were made for Army practice: a.) continue the longitudinal survey, b.) continue to monitor external conditions and the effects on retention, c.) link leadership climate to retention, d.) tailor retention programs on retaining mid-grade officer talent. Three recommendations for future research include: a.) add non-native commitment to the longitudinal study, b.) consider the effects of remuneration on the profession of arms, and c.) analyze additional intervening variables in the model. </p>

<p> This study explored the impact demographic dissimilarity between an interviewer and a job candidate has on how the candidate is evaluated for a job. The interviewer's levels of race- and gender-based prejudice were examined as moderators of this relationship, while stress was examined as a mediator. Race and gender dissimilarity were manipulated by presenting participants with scripted videos of a job candidate responding to interview questions. Participants, who consisted of undergraduate students, were randomly assigned to evaluate a White male, a White female, an African-American male, or an African-American female job applicant. After a brief introductory clip of the candidate, participants reported how stressful they expected the task of evaluating the candidate to be and after watching the video of the interview evaluated the candidate for the job of Academic Advisor, and completed measures of prejudice. </p><p> While racial and gender dissimilarity to the job candidate did not directly affect how the candidate was evaluated for the job, results showed that racial and gender dissimilarity indirectly affected how the candidate was evaluated for the job through the mediator of stress and at different levels of race- and gender-based prejudice. Theoretical support for the impact of demographic dissimilarity on interview outcomes is provided and the practical implications of these findings are discussed. Suggestions for future areas of research are also presented.</p>

<p> Previous research has shown that Middle Eastern applicants' ethnic names and affiliations caused Caucasian raters to demonstrate increased discrimination during resume screening. The current study extended previous research by investigating the differences in job suitability ratings given by Middle Eastern and Caucasian raters for Middle Eastern job applicants by exploring rater ethnicity as a possible moderator in the relationship between ethnic identifiers and job suitability ratings, as well as studying the effect of acculturation on Middle Eastern raters' judgments of applicant job suitability. Contrary to the prediction, the current study found that participants gave significantly higher mean job suitability ratings to the partially identified Middle Eastern resume compared to the White resume. Furthermore, White raters did not give lower mean ratings to the partially and fully identified Middle Eastern resumes as compared to the White resume. However, Middle Eastern raters did give higher mean job suitability ratings to the partially identified Middle Eastern resume as compared to the White resume. Finally, the current study found that Middle Eastern raters with lower levels of acculturation gave higher mean job suitability scores to the fully identified Middle Eastern resume. </p>

No description available.

<p> As the workplace has diversified with the inclusion of women and minorities holding positions throughout all levels of the organization hierarchy, the question remains if gendered racism exists in the 2014 workplace for women managers with minority group background. Gendered racism, described by Philomena Essed in her 1991 book, <i>Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory,</i> is a unique female experience due to their race and being a woman. Visible at this intersection of race and sex, women of color may experience the sexist and racist stereotypes dually assigned to women and minorities. This research provides a qualitative view of the experiences of gendered racism using Moustakas' transcendental phenomenology method. Data were collected from eight women who self-identified as Hispanic (<i> n</i>=2) and Black (<i>n</i>=6). All the women with the exception of one were college graduates, managers in an organization of 50 or more employees, between the ages of 35 to 62 years old. The study findings validated the experiences of gender racism in the workplace through the lived experiences of women interviewed. The women revealed their experiences with gendered racism, which affected their workplace interactions with others, manifest psychological stressors, and tainted the vision of themselves. Additionally, all of the women developed coping skills to combat gendered racism, which allowed them to pivot their careers to higher levels in their organizations. The emerging themes revealed from the study's participants experiences of gendered racism are psychological effects, feeling discounted, acceptance or justification, disrespect, and self-confidence. This research provides a phenomenological description of the lived experiences of the gendered racism and the impact of these experiences in the workplace as reveal by women of color.</p>

<p> There is substantial cost in the hiring and training of a correctional officer, with a high rate of turnover compounding these costs. While pre-employment psychological screening is suggested as one method to prevent these losses, mandates to screen are not as common in corrections as they are in law enforcement. Further, minimal research has examined the validity of psychological testing in correctional officers. This dissertation examined pre-employment psychological screening for 421 correctional officers hired by one of three upstate New York sheriff's departments. Assessments were conducted by Public Safety Psychology, PLLC from March, 1997 to June, 2012. T scores and risk estimates from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), DQ admission and problem points from the Personal History Questionnaire (PHQ) and Psychological History Questionnaire (PsyQ) and the psychologist's recommendation were used as predictors of supervisor rating and job status. Utilizing logistic regression and controlling for agency of hire, high ratings by the psychologist, high scores on PAR-H and low scores on BOR-S from the PAI were associated with satisfactory supervisor ratings. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that being non-White, having a lower rating by the psychologist, higher To and Ai scores and lower So scores from the CPI, and more General problem points on the PsyQ were predictive of officers who were fired compared to being currently employed. Furthermore, previous law enforcement experience, being younger, lower Gi, So and Wo scores on the CPI, higher To and Sc scores on the CPI, and lower probability of substance abuse issues as based on the PAI and PHQ were predictive of officers quitting rather than staying on the job. Limitations and future directions are discussed.</p>

<p> Organizational leaders are increasingly implementing distance training for employees (McGuire &amp; Gubbins, 2010) and it is not clear if employees perceive this training delivery approach to be an effective means of acquiring new skills. No current qualitative studies address the perceptions and experiences of employees in a distance training format. As a result of ten individual interviews seven themes and 17 sub-themes emerged during data analysis. The themes and sub themes represent the experiences of employees attending distance training including: (a) use of distance training, (b) benefits of training, (c) perceptions of training, (d) expectations of training, (e) training delivery format, (f) training techniques, and (g) technology. This qualitative case study confirmed there are a variety of perceptions among employees attending training in a distance training format. While this study contributes to the body of knowledge by increasing awareness of the common themes experienced by employees attending distance training more research is needed to further address the themes that emerged.</p>