A field study was conducted to find whether open office architecture is related to employees' perceptions of their jobs and their work groups, and to their behavior in and around their work stations. Fifty-two employees in the administrative division of a large manufacturing operation volunteered to participate by answering a questionnaire and allowing their work stations to be analyzed for levels of visual access and visual exposure, the two independent variables. Access and exposure, at first theorized to be independent and interacting functions, were found to be too highly correlated in this open off ice setting to test as originally planned. The design was modified by combining the measures of access and exposure, thereby creating a new independent variable called visual information. Under the modified design, results supported a prediction that less visual information would correlate with more positive responses to survey items about employees' job characteristics, and a prediction that less visual information would correlate with higher rates of work station occupancy. But there was no support for a prediction that more visual information would correlate with more positive responses to survey items about employees' work groups, nor was there support for a prediction that more visual information would correlate with fewer numbers of personal items displayed at employees' work stations. Suggestions were made for more appropriate tests of the original design in order to determine whether visual access and visual exposure operate as independent and interacting dynamics.

Attitude measurement problems are discussed within the context of a contemporary movement in the field of education. A restricted definition of the alienation construct is suggested as a theoretical framework within which research in this area could be conducted. Construction and validation data on an instrument designed to measure attitudes toward work are reported. Pre and posttest scores (using the above measure as well as the Rotter I-E Scale) of two high school Career Education programs were compared. Neither program produced significant mean attitude change in terms of these measures. However, change detected by increase in the variance on the I-E measure was significant in one program. Also, correlational data between the attitude scores and scores on two different course achievement tests indicate that the attitude and achievement variables are associated. A model for research connected with the implementation of future innovative Career Education programs is suggested.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among certain personality traits, vocational interests, and demographic factors with job satisfaction among secondary school natural science teachers. Implications for future research and educational practice were explored.;Volunteers teaching secondary school natural science classes in seven Virginia public school districts primarily in the Hampton Rhodes area were subjects for this study. Subjects completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Vocational Preference Inventory, The Job Descriptive Index, and a biographical informational questionnaire.;It was hypothesized that (1) there would be a positive correlation between the predominant basic preference, INTJ, and job satisfaction, (2) there would be a positive correlation between congruence of the Holland code IRS and job satisfaction, (3) there would be a positive correlation between differentiation and job satisfaction, and (4) there would be a positive correlation between age, sex, years as natural science teacher, years in present position, total years in education, highest degree earned and job satisfaction.;Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 were rejected. In hypothesis 4, years in present position and years as natural science teacher were negatively correlated with job satisfaction. Recommendations for further research and future educational practice were made.

The purpose of this interview based qualitative study was to explore the influence that a plurality of social contexts, represented through United Methodist congregations in the Virginia Conference, have on the formation of ministers' occupational activities.;The study used a typology developed by Larry Blazer (1987) to identify the occupational activities practiced by parish ministers. The investigation weighted clergy's professional practice using Judith Hackman's (1985) concepts of power and centrality in her study institutions of higher education's budgeting process. Congregational representatives identified occupational activities that were central and peripheral to their congregation's mission. Clergy identified the occupational activities that received more and less time (i.e., "power" in their time resource budgeting process) in their current appointment compared to their previous appointment.;Using an ethnographic analysis, the study found that ministers generally organize their occupational activities according to the mission of their present congregational appointment. Second, the diverse plurality of congregations are remarkably consistent in their missions: to provide for a nurturing fellowship. Third, ministers' activities are grouped in functionally (versus conceptually) in response to this coherent mission of United Methodist congregations. Fourth, these functional groupings form a hierarchy of overall importance for minister's occupational activities, with implications for the timing of skill acquisition during clergy's careers.;The study concludes with implication for ministers' professional education. Included is a comprehensive professional education proposal to equip ministers with the knowledge and ability to be context sensitive in the performance of their occupational activities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among prolonged teacher stress (or burnout), teachers' perceptions of leadership style adaptability, and teacher irrational belief systems.;The York County School Division was chosen because of the relative availability of subjects. Three surveys measuring teachers' perceptions of leadership style and style adaptability, teachers' irrational belief systems, and prolonged teacher stress, were disseminated among elementary classroom teachers in the county. Out of 100 elementary school teachers surveyed, there were 71 responses.;Three dimensions of burnout were measured: Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant relationship among (1) emotional exhaustion, teacher's perceptions of principal leadership adaptability, teachers' irrational beliefs and the covariates of class size, percentage of discipline problems, percentage of students below grade in reading, percentage of students with IEP's and years of teaching experience (2) depersonalization, teachers' perceptions of principal leadership adaptability, teachers' irrational beliefs, and the covariates, and (3) personal accomplishments, teachers' perceptions of principal leadership adaptability, teachers' irrational beliefs, and the covariates.;It was concluded that a significant relationship exists between emotional exhaustion of teachers and the number of students in IEP's, between personal accomplishment and leadership adaptability, and between personal accomplishment and percentage of students with discipline problems. No significant relationship showed with the subscale of depersonalization, but this result was likely affected by sample size.;Further study is needed to evaluate the relationship between depersonalization and the predictor variables and to ascertain the degree of the relationship between leadership style and predictor variables.

The approach of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 posed several real and imagined threats to the Mormon Kingdom in the Great Basin. The Pacific Railroad ended Mormon geographic isolation and brought economic competition from the States. The railroad also made it possible for miners to get to the gold fields faster and with the heave equipment necessary to make Utah mining profitable. Sensing the political problems and the social and moral evils that would accompany the railroad, the Mormon leaders, in hopes of meeting these problems, counseled to extend their economic goal of self-sufficiency. Through stepped-up cooperation and unity they felt this could be accomplished.

While a wealth of research has deemed cohesion critical for team effectiveness (e.g., Mullen and Copper, 1994; Beal, et al., 2003), less emphasis has been placed on understanding how to get it. Multiple studies do examine cohesion antecedents, but these studies have not yet been integrated in either theoretical or empirical manners. The purpose of this study was thus to begin addressing this gap in the literature. I conducted a series of meta-analyses to identify and explore various antecedents of cohesion, as well as moderators of antecedent-cohesion relationships. Findings revealed a variety of cohesion antecedents. Specifically, team behaviors, emergent states, team composition variables, leadership variables, team interventions, and situational variables, as well as specific variables within each of these categories, were all explored as cohesion antecedents. In most cases, significant relationships with cohesion were demonstrated, and did not differ across levels of analysis or based on cohesion type (i.e., task cohesion, social cohesion, group pride). Hypotheses pertaining to moderators of antecedent-cohesion relationships (e.g., theoretical match between antecedent and cohesion) generally were not supported. Thus, while most antecedents appeared to be important for cohesion's formation and sustainment, some interesting differences emerged, providing insight as to where attention should be focused when enhanced cohesion is desired. Results provide a foundation for the development of more comprehensive models of team cohesion, as well as insight into the mechanisms through which cohesion can be facilitated in practice. Ultimately, findings suggest that teams can become cohesive through the presence of various processes and emergent states, team interventions, and components of their situational context.

Sexual minorities are the target of numerous negative stereotypes in the United States, and are sometimes perceived as deviant and devalued as compared to heterosexuals. Stereotype threat, the anxiety of confirming a negative stereotype about oneself or one's group, has been linked to perceived stress; and stress has been linked to low job satisfaction. Sexual minorities provide a unique test of stereotype threat theory because they may choose to conceal their minority status at work. Thus, this study also examines whether the visibility of the stigma is a necessary precursor to the experience of stereotype threat. Given the uniqueness of this population, a new and presumably more comprehensive model of stereotype threat (the Multi-Threat Framework) was also examined to ensure that stereotype threat was being adequately measured by examining every possible type of stereotype threat. Job satisfaction has been linked to many organizational outcomes such as poor performance, absenteeism, and turnover intentions; thus, it is important to examine predictors of low job satisfaction. Thus, the current study tested perceived stress as a mediator between stereotype threat and low job satisfaction in a sample of 150 sexual minorities who were employed full time. Internalized homophobia was predicted to moderate the relation between stereotype threat and perceived stress. Results indicated support for the moderated mediation model using only the traditional measure of stereotype threat; that is, stereotype threat predicted low job satisfaction through job stress. Moreover, at high levels of internalized homophobia, individuals reported high job stress, regardless of levels of experienced stereotype threat. However, those with low internalized homophobia reported high job stress only when stereotype threat was high. No differences were found with regards to degree of concealing, suggesting that the deleterious effects of high stereotype threat on job stress occurred regardless of whether participants were concealing. Additionally, the moderated mediation model was not supported when measured using the new Multi-Threat Framework, suggesting that the measure may not be measuring the same construct as the traditional measure. Finally, results suggest that stereotype threat added significant incremental validity in predicting job dissatisfaction over perceived discrimination. These findings, in total, suggest that stereotype threat is a valuable construct for predicting negative work outcomes for stigmatized individuals. Implications for improving the work lives of sexual minorities were discussed.