Utility analysis is a method used to evaluate human resource decisions on a financial basis. Current methods depend on an assumption that individual performance and value of performance share at least a linear relationship. This study examined several group dynamics factors, expected to be present in a typical organizational setting, which may cause violation of this critical assumption. These factors were group versus individual performance, social norms for effort and performance, and situational constraints. Results of a survey from over 500 computer programmers provided support for the prediction that these factors caused violation of the assumption of a linear, deterministic relationship between performance and value of performance. Computer simulations were then conducted to determine the extent of bias introduced into the utility analysis process resulting from these effects. Results indicated that current methods of estimating selection utility may overestimate true utility by as much as 32 percent. Limitations and extensions of the findings are also discussed / acase@tulane.edu

By conceiving of teams' nonroutine performance as a series of coping responses, this paper examines how crewmembers' positive and negative affectivity (PA, NA) impact individual behaviors and team processes. A theoretical model is developed in which trait affect's influence is predicted to vary depending on the nature of the task, the level of analysis, and the timing of behaviors. The model is empirically tested using coded behaviors of 75 nuclear power plant control room operators, composing 17 crews, who engage in a high-fidelity training simulation. Results using random coefficient modeling were mixed, but generally failed to support the study hypotheses. Discussion focuses on the potential benefits of NA in organizations and on the limitations of the current study context / acase@tulane.edu

In meta-analysis, results of individual studies are analyzed to determine whether there is a single effect-size parameter, and if so to provide a point-estimate of that parameter. The present research examined estimation of the correlation parameter, rho, using various numbers of independent Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients (rs). In three studies, methods for obtaining a point-estimate of rho and constructing confidence intervals around that estimate were examined. In Study I several transformations of r and Fisher's z transformation (z ') were used to estimate rho and accuracy was evaluated via bias, variability, and variance-around-rho. Compared to the mean untransformed r, the alternative estimates were not found to improve accuracy. In Study 2 several analytical estimates of the standard error of the mean r and mean z' were examined. Only Fisher's (1958) estimate of the standard error of the mean z ' was consistently accurate, as determined by confidence interval (CI) width and Type I error rate when CIs were used for significance testing. In Study 3, the estimates of rho examined in Study 1 were used to construct CIs, however, none of the alternative estimates was found to improve CI width, relative to the mean z ' / acase@tulane.edu

The current study examines the association between perceived sexual orientation discrimination and indicators of well-being in a sample of 362 gay men and lesbian women. Although there are several important differences between gay men and lesbians, whose stigma is not inherently visible, and those with more visible stigmatizing conditions, research regarding perceptions of discrimination and outcomes for ethnic minorities and women is used as a basis for deriving hypotheses suggesting that the experience of sexual orientation discrimination on the job would be associated with reduced well-being, and that social identification and social support would moderate the heterosexism---well-being relationships, indicating a 'buffering' effect against detriments to well-being associated with discrimination. Perceptions of direct discrimination against gays and lesbians on the job were found to be related negatively to life satisfaction, and positively to depression and anxiety. Perceptions of indirect heterosexism, behaviors and features of context which stem from inappropriate assumptions that all employees are heterosexual, were related positively to anxiety symptoms. Relationships between indirect heterosexism and anxiety, life satisfaction, and self-esteem were moderated by some aspects of social support, such that more social support was associated with weaker relationships between heterosexism and well-being indicators. However, no aspects of social support moderated the relationships between direct heterosexism and indicators of well-being. In contrast to results reported in previous studies of ethnic minorities, strength of social identification did not moderate any of the heterosexism---well-being relationships. Limitations of this study and implications of the results are discussed / acase@tulane.edu

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 58 p. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how human agency and learner autonomy contribute to or inhibit leader action and leadership development. Bandura (1986, 1997) identified four core features of human agency (forethought, intentionality, self-regulation, and self-reflection) and three modes of human agency (personal, proxy, and collective). Confessore (1992) identified four conative factors of learner autonomy, including desire (Meyer, 2001), resourcefulness (Carr, 1999), initiative (Ponton, 1999), and persistence (Derrick, 2001). Six adult professionals in an organizational context participated in this qualitative study. The findings show that desire has a profound influence on the formation of intentions. The findings also show that desires, beliefs, and intentions influence goal formation. The path of goal pursuit resides between need-meeting goal formation and goal attainment. The pathway of goal pursuit represents the domain within which leader action and development takes place. Within this leadership domain, resourcefulness, initiative, and persistence represent self-control mechanisms that leaders utilize in the context-specific self-regulatory process of taking leader action. The exhibition of human agency within this leadership domain influences the manner in which the conative factors of learner autonomy are utilized. Leadership and leadership development represent a self-efficacious and autonomous self-regulatory process of learning that takes place on the path of goal pursuit. A theoretical model illustrates self-efficacious autonomous leadership and leadership development among adult professionals in the organizational context.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-95). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Task Comparison Between Career Counselors and Vocational Evaluators| What's the Difference?

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX72763/87.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Thomas A. Schwandt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-135) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.