Many Americans believe that Japanese management practices are culturally-specific and unsuitable for implementation in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Japanese management practices and organizational values clash with American values. The introduction outlines human resource policies practiced by Japanese firms in Japan and postulates reasons for failures of Japanese techniques in American corporations Nonmanagement employees (n = 326) of Japanese- and American-owned banks in California were used for the study. Congruency between corporate and personal values were assessed with a self-constructed values questionnaire based upon England's Personal Values Questionnaire (1967). Human resource management techniques, organizational commitment, and job involvement were also assessed The results indicate that Japanese managers don't use management practices common in Japan because of their concern that such practices won't work with an American workforce. However, American employees of both banks expressed interest in incorporating Japanese techniques in their organization. Employees of Japanese-owned banks feel that their current job security policy is much better than those of previous banks in which they worked. In addition, American-owned banks have more extensive training programs and use participation in decision-making more than their Japanese counterparts The centralized decision-making policies of Japanese-owned banks appear to be caused by cultural confusion and a resultant lack of trust between parent company nationals and American employees. This, in turn, has created a rigid corporate culture where lines of authority are clear. Conformity and obedience were among the most prominent corporate values for Japanese-owned banks whereas personal initiative and ambition were valued in American-owned banks. No overall differences were found between the banks in employee acceptance of corporate values. Finally, no differences were found between Japanese- and American-owned banks in organizational commitment and job involvement / acase@tulane.edu

The purpose of this investigation was to explore relationships between accidents and demographic variables, attitudes, values and opinions about safety held by workers, and to compare accident rates (and performance records) of workers. Identification of attitudes toward safety that differentiate safe from unsafe employees could assist organizations in enhancing the safety of the workplace through identification or specialized training of potentially unsafe workers This study utilizes field data, collected by an offshore drilling company, using its Offshore Questionnaire (OQ). Information for the predictor variables (Offshore Questionnaire, Demographics, and BMCT) was provided by the company. Analyses were conducted to evaluate the hypotheses and to examine the dimensions of the OQ The findings in this study serve both to confirm some and contradict other previous findings. Kunce (1967) found a relationship between tenure and accidents. In the present study those positions requiring more experience--and, therefore, tenure--did have a significantly lower accident rate than entry-level positions It would appear that workers in the offshore industry are experiencing some of the same changes that the industry itself is experiencing. Rather than pioneers exploring new frontiers, workers today are experienced, well-trained professionals involved in oil and gas production and extraction. Working offshore is still a risky occupation, however the maturity of the industry allows many of these risks to be anticipated. The identification of these risks, combined with the selection and training of workers, could provide the industry the opportunity to be a safer and more productive workplace / acase@tulane.edu

The study of organizational commitment is an integral component of any research involving organizational withdrawal. Organizational commitment progressed from vague identification under 'morale' in the 1950's, to being considered part of job satisfaction in the 1960's to becoming clearly defined in the late 1970's. In the 1980's, research has shown commitment as the best single predictor of organizational turnover. In 1987 research has shown the commitment construct to be multidimensional. In 1989, research linked job performance to commitment. In the 1990's construct measurement is being refined. The current research asks if there are different commitment factors for different groups. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the factor structure of commitment is different for different organizational groups (a military and a civilian group), given the same occupational position (clerical workers). Commitment was also hypothesized to have a higher correlation with Intention to Quit (ITQ) than Job Satisfaction correlated with ITQ. Causal Structural Modeling and factor analysis showed that factor structures did differ between samples in interpretable ways. Commitment did correlate higher with ITQ in the military sample while Job Satisfaction had a higher correlation with ITQ in the civilian sample. This research implies that the structure of commitment changes depending on the organizational environment. These interpretable differences have the potential for differential weighting of factors in tailoring organizational turnover interventions / acase@tulane.edu

Recently, Finkelstein, Burke, and Raju (1995) performed a meta-analysis on the age discrimination in employment literature and found that the situational moderators of rater age, age salience, and job-relevant information each had some effect on differences in ratings of older and younger workers such that older workers tended to be rated less favorably on a number of work-related dimensions. However, the interacting effects of these variables on various work outcomes has not been addressed in the literature. Moreover, a conceptual framework specifying how these variables affect work-related outcomes has not been developed. The present study, based on refinements of the conceptual framework presented in Finkelstein et al., examined the effects of situational variables on ratings of interpersonal skills, economic benefit, and likelihood to interview a hypothetical applicant using experienced raters. In addition to hypotheses about the interacting effects of the variables examined in Finkelstein et al., it was hypothesized that age identity (i.e., a match between one's chronological age and cognitive age) would interact with age salience to produce a psychological state of in-group bias that would lead raters to favor workers from their age group. Support was found for a main effect of target age on economic benefit ratings; the older target was rated less economically beneficial than the younger target. In some instances (i.e., when age was highly salient; when raters psychologically identified with their age), older raters disfavored older workers in ratings of economic benefit. Older raters were more likely than younger raters to wish to interview an older target only when age was not highly salient and when they expressed a high level of value in their age group. Suggestions were made for the development of improved measures of economic benefit and age identity for further investigations of their role in a nomological network explaining age discrimination in employment. Further, suggestions for future research on age discrimination were put forth in the areas of downsizing, newcomer socialization, work teams, and the development of an investigation into the effects of a possible generation gap in the workplace / acase@tulane.edu

The purpose of this dissertation was to introduce and test a theory of 'rejection and deflection' (RAD). This theory proposes that majority group members (middle- and upper class Whites) can deflect accusations of being racist by rejecting a subset of their racial in-group (poor Whites); and, as a result of this rejection and deflection process, are more likely to discriminate against the racial out-group. Results from a sample of 166 middle and upper income White participants suggested that: (1) people who were not given the opportunity to reject poor Whites were more likely to recommend a Black job applicant for a high status position than were people not given the opportunity to reject poor Whites; (2) participants tended to distance themselves from poor Whites and attributed more negative qualities and less positive qualities to poor Whites than they did to middle class Whites; and, (3) modern racism (McConahay, 1986) positively predicted rejection of poor Whites. Implications for this research as it relates to the interaction of race and social class are discussed along with directions for future research on RAD theory / acase@tulane.edu

A critical issue associated with assessing training needs concerns who within an organization is in a position to assess those needs most objectively. Of particular concern is the relative utility of assessments by job incumbents and their supervisors (McEnery & McEnery, 1987). A possible alternative to self- or supervisory assessment of training needs is an 'Us' assessment, an assessment by job incumbents of the training needs of their entire work group. A second primary purpose of this study was to test a proposed model of training needs assessment Subjects were 121 entry level police patrol officers and their supervising sergeants. Patrol officers completed self and Us assessment questionnaires designed to measure attitudes concerning job area difficulty, performance, cause of performance, effectiveness of training, supervisor/subordinate communication, and training needs for eight job areas. Sergeants completed a similar supervisory assessment questionnaire, and a second normative questionnaire rating difficulty, performance necessary at entry, importance, time spent, opportunity to observe, and degree to which job area performance distinguishes overall levels of job performance. Data relating to demographic variables, such as sex, race, and age of respondents was also collected Results indicated moderate agreement between self and 'Us' ratings, but very little agreement between supervisory ratings and the two other types. Self-ratings tended to be the most lenient, followed by Us ratings. Neither supervisor/subordinate communication, nor degree of supervisor opportunity to observe appeared to moderate interrater agreement to any significant degree. Less halo was found for Us ratings than for either supervisory or self-ratings. Although all three rater groups tended to attribute performance level to causes internal to job incumbents, Us ratings tended to be more external than either supervisory or self-ratings. Performance and difficulty to learn ratings were most predictive of need for training, but each of the five hypothesized predictors explained a significant portion of need for training variance in at least two of the eight job areas. Partial support was found for hypothesized moderating effects of perceptions of training efficacy and level of job performance necessary at job entry / acase@tulane.edu

Scholars suggest that organizational diversity management (DM) programs are useful not only to satisfy legal requirements or social demands, but also to further the achievement of business objectives. However, much is still to be learned about the effects of such programs on individuals' perceptions of the organization. After reviewing the relevant literature on organization-level DM programs, I present a theoretical framework using recent literature that takes a strategic perspective on DM. This research classifies organization-sponsored DM programs into qualitatively different categories. Using the typology, I develop a model that proposes person-organization fit perceptions and attributions as mechanisms driving the relationship between DM programs and organizational attractiveness. I describe two experimental studies designed to test the proposed relationships between organizational diversity perspectives and applicants' perceptions of organizations. The first follows a two-phase between-subject design, while the second uses a within-subject policy-capturing methodology. Results, implications, and conclusions are discussed.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Saint Mary's University, 2009. / Running head: Factors affecting applicant attraction Includes abstract. Supervisor: Victor Catano. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-46).

With automation, every aspect of office work becomes streamlined, on-line, and universally accessible. This eliminates the need for a hierarchical work structure, and for spatially and temporally bounded offices. When traditional cultural constructs are abandoned through telecommunication and electronic technologies, both home and work need to be redefined. Because the workplace is being transplanted into the home, workers must establish boundaries between these two worlds to substitute for the loss of office social interaction and to balance professional and personal life. Social and architectural theories, statistics and case studies, have alternately made both dire and optimistic predictions about the repercussions of telecommuting. This thesis tests these predictions through case studies which examine how actual people are coping with this new way of working and living. It uses the resulting information to focus on the ways that home design is affected by these phenomena.

M. Tech. Organisational Leadership / The aim of this research to investigate the key factors impacting on retention of skilled employees in the public sector using the psychological contract as a framework in an emerging economy context. The focus of the study was on employees perspectives regarding elements of the employment relationship they consider valuable and how these inducements affect their commitment and loyalty to the organization.