Several methods for improving the job analysis process were examined using the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ). Holistic ratings of PAQ dimensions for four jobs were obtained from 63 non-experts, nine graduate students who were familiar with the PAQ, and three professional job analysts who were very familiar with the PAQ. Holistic ratings were compared to a traditional score profile obtained from professional job analysts. For all groups, holistic ratings of the dimensions were not similar to the traditional score profiles; consequently, rating PAQ dimensions holistically is probably not a viable alternative to reducing the effort required in the job analysis process. Additionally, a comparison of three rating scales in the holistic condition showed that they were moderately correlated. Future research investigating rating scales that yield independent information should be conducted. The potential benefits of a detailed item training session for job analysts are also discussed.

Structured methods of job analysis have traditionally been based upon theories of job performance that describe work in terms of discrete dimensions of behaviors, such as work output, relations with others, etc. Recent job analysis research has sought to reduce the effort of a traditional structured job analysis by reducing the demands placed upon the rater providing job analysis information. The Job Element Inventory (JEI) is one such structured job analysis inventory which seeks to reduce the effort in the job analysis process while assessing jobs through a priori theories of work activities. Early research has shown that the JEI has many desirable properties, though the replicability of its putative structure has not been addressed. This research employed confirmatory factor analysis methods designed to assess the replicability of the structure of the JEI in many different samples of data. Results indicate that the JEI's structure was recoverable, with minor modifications, across several disparate jobs. These results were consonant with popular theories of work behavior. Implications for future applications of the JEI are discussed.

The effects of a situational and a personality variable on the performance of a laboratory task were examined. Goal setting was used to provide situational performance parameters while Type A-B behavior pattern provided a measure of individual differences. The contrasting predictions of each variable were integrated to form experimental hypotheses. The results indicate that personality variables may moderate the situation-performance relationship. Implications for research in person-situation interaction are discussed.

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Age-bias in employment decisions is seen as a likely result of the unwanted effects of stereotypes. The concept of stereotype has long been tied to notions of prejudice, and seen as stemming from uncontrollable unconscious or sociocultural forces. In early conceptions, thus, stereotypes had been seen as resistant to change. More recent formulations in the social cognition area may provide a means for altering at least the more extreme effects at the individual "stereotyper" level. One way this alteration may be accomplished is by manipulating the information input, such that the stereotyper is also led to attend to outcome-relevant information which is not stereotypical. Manipulation of outcome-relevant information had little effect on decision-making. However, information age-relatedness did have an effect on hypothetical hiring decisions. Results indicate that providing non-age-related information can result in significantly less of an age effect on decisions than does providing age-related information. This report discusses the use of the Policy Capturing approach, design-improvement strategies, and the benefits to be derived from this line of research.

Katz and Kahn (1978) defined leadership as "an influential increment over and above compliance with routine directives of the organization" (p. 528). Methodological shortcomings in previous tests of this concept prohibit meaningful interpretation of the results. If found to be useful, this definition of leadership has important implications for both the study and application of leadership principles. The purpose of the present research was twofold: (1) to test whether incremental influence accounts for unique variance in the dependent measures after controlling for the organizational sources of power; (2) to explore the contribution of both leader behavioral influence strategies and subordinate attributions of leader power to subordinate reasons for complying with the leader's requests. A field study was conducted in which five bases of leader power were used: expert, referent, reward, legitimate and coercive. Incremental Influence was defined as compliance based on the leader's expert and referent power. Subordinate attributions of a leader's power were assessed using the Attributed Power Index (Holzbach, 1974), which measures the same five bases of power. Leader Influence Strategies were assessed by the Kipnis and Schmidt (1980) Managerial Influence Profile, which measures seven behavioral influence strategies: Friendliness, Bargaining, Reason, Coalitions, Higher Authority, Sanctions, and Assertiveness. The usefulness of Incremental Influence was tested using a hierarchical regression framework. As predicted, results showed that Incremental Influence accounted for unique variance in measures of subordinate satisfaction and multiple source ratings of leader effectiveness. The relationship of both strategies and attributed power to the reasons for compliance also were tested with hierarchical regression procedures. The use of Reason (as rated by subordinates) was found to be a significant predictor of compliance based on both expert and referent power, while the use of Assertiveness predicted compliance based on the organizational sources of power. Attributed Power was found not to moderate the relationship between influence strategies and reasons for compliance, as had been predicted. Rather, both attributed leader power and the strategies leaders are perceived to use contributed independently to reasons for compliance.

Previous research has found that when subjects are given cognitive feedback, they reach higher levels of achievement than when they are given outcome feedback. It was hypothesized that this finding was due in part to the predictability of the task environment since outcome feedback is at a distinct disadvantage as a sole means of conveying such information. A study was conducted to compare response and outcome feedback under three conditions which varied in terms of the predictability between actual and optimum criteria. The design included a control group receiving no feedback at all, two response groups differing in precision of feedback information, and two outcome feedback groups differing on a quantity dimension. Task predictability conditions averaged across five learning blocks were high (r = .94), moderate (r = .87) and low low (r = .71). The study also attempted to clarify the definition of feedback and to equate the availability of task information in the various feedback conditions that were compared. The results, however, did not support the above hypothesis. The utility of outcome feedback was inferior to that of response feedback under all three predictability conditions tested. In fact, an interaction revealed that the effect of increased predictability raised rather than lowered the disparity between outcome and response feedback performance. Generally, a decline in task predictability accompanied a decline in performance measured in terms of achievement, hit-rate, knowledge, and control. The results also revealed that a control group that received no feedback at all performed as well as or better than those that received feedback when the availability of task information was equated. Moreover, eliminating the memory requirement inherent in the use of outcome feedback only worsened performance. Similarly, adding precision to the response feedback condition beyond the level of mere directional error information did not improve performance. The principal conclusions to be drawn from these findings are: (a) increasing predictability improves judgment performance, (b) providing outcome feedback is more detrimental to performance than providing response or no feedback when a valid task structure is available, and (c) increasing predictability does not reduce the disparity between the effectiveness of outcome and response feedback.

Discrepancy or difference measures of job-related role perceptions have long been employed as environmentally-based surrogate measures of occupational role stress (i.e., subjective role conflict and role ambiguity). The validity of these differences measures as alternate indices of role stess, however, has only been assumed. The present research attempted to address this deficiency. Employees (N = 297) of a large public service agency responded to questionnaires concerning role-related activities in their jobs as either caseworkers or clerks, and concerning job-related affective and behavioral states, such as job satisfaction, involvement, and performance. Four competing theoretical models which examined the relationships between discrepancy measures and the affective and behavioral measures were tested. These models were derived for current theoretical and empirical findings. The following conclusions can be drawn from the results of this research: (1) Discrepancy measures of role perceptions were not related to subjective measures of role stress. (2) Discrepancy scores played a relatively minor role in theory; most of their variability was determined by factors outside the models. (3) Subjective measures of role stress made a fairly substantial contribution to theory as a mediator between organizationally-relevant antecedent and outcome variables. (4) Some group differences were indicated which suggests that discrepancy measures of role perceptions may have been more valid in the clerical sample. Although the continued use of discrepancy measures as surrogates of role stress cannot be recommended, further research is needed to clarify possible occupational differences in the utility of discrepancy scores. The potential use of discrepancy measures of role perceptions as a tool to improve supervisor-subordinate communications was suggested.

The use of students to appraise the performance of college teachers has been questioned by educators because of concerns over potential biasing factors relating to intrinsic characteristics of the students, such as reasons for taking the course, perceptions of progress or success in the course relative to expectations, and perceived course workload. However, the construct validity of questions asked to measure these potentially biasing constructs has not been systematically examined, thus casting a shadow on previously published causal models of the relationships among these factors. Cross-sample construct validation was conducted on five factors cited in the literature: prior interest in the subject matter, reason for taking the course, strength of motivation to take the course, perceived course workload or difficulty, and estimated relative progress in the course. A sixth factor of global teacher evaluation items was added to verify the relationship between ratings and the other five factors. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that, of the five, only the workload/difficulty construct exhibited validity as a distinct construct. Prior interest, reason for taking the course, and strength of motivation were basically all components of a broader construct of desire or drive to take the course. Estimated progress turned out to have two separate components, one positive and student-related (satisfaction) and one negative and teacher-related (dissatisfaction).