Equity theory researchers have suggested that research in this area would be greatly enhanced by examining the relationship between dispositional variables and perceptions of equity. This dissertation reports the results of a field study that examined the impact of negative affectivity (NA) on perceptions of equity. Individuals who possess this disposition perceive ambiguous stimuli more negatively than those who do not. It is hypothesized that NA would affect perceptions of equity in three ways. / First, it was hypothesized that high NA individuals would devalue the inputs they provide and outcomes they receive from their work more frequently than those who are not high NA. Second, it was posited that "NAs" would be more likely to select referents who put them at a disadvantage. Third, a direct link between NA and feelings of inequity was hypothesized. / Survey responses from 102 subjects were analyzed using regression techniques. The results provided strong support for each hypothesis. Supplemental analyses were performed to critically examine the relationship between NA and inequity. Results indicated a direct relationship between NA and job characteristics inequity. However, both supervisor and pay inequity were best explained by perceptions of job characteristics. / Limitations of this study, as well as managerial implications, and a research agenda for future investigations were also discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-11, Section: A, page: 4170. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

This study examined the relationship between top management team (TMT) characteristics, internationalization, and firm performance. Twelve TMT demographic characteristics were included in the analysis: average team age, level of education, source of education, educational specialty, organizational tenure, job tenure, team size, functional background, age heterogeneity, organizational tenure heterogeneity, job tenure heterogeneity, and functional background heterogeneity. Internationalization was measured on three levels: percentage of total sales attributed to foreign sales, number of products sold in the international marketplace, and the level of standardization for the products sold in the international marketplace. A sample of 89 Fortune 500 firms with levels of international business involvement ranging from less than 10 percent to over 60 percent of firm's total sales was used in the study. Nine (9) hypotheses which maintain that internationalization will moderate the relationship between specific TMT characteristics and firm performance were tested. The results suggest that smaller TMTs which have managers with longer organizational tenure, shorter job tenure, and greater diversity of functional background will contribute most to the performance of firms with high levels of international business involvement. The results provide further confirmation of Hambrick and Mason's (1984) "upper echelon" theory. Further, the results suggest that internationalization can moderate the relationship between TMT characteristics and firm performance. The implications of these results are discussed at length in Chapter 5. Tables, figures, and appendices are included. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-03, Section: A, page: 0642. / Major Professor: James J. Hoffman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for measuring the information gathering processes of managers in various types of organizations. / The importance of information to organizational and individual effectiveness has been frequently noted (Roberts and O'Reilly, 1974, p. 321), and past research efforts have led to the development of instruments and procedures for measuring information processing in organizations (Brooks et al, 1979; Goldhaber, 1976). Instruments, such as the International Communication Association's ICA Communication Audit, have been used to analyze how information is processed and utilized in organizations but these instruments suffer from two key limitations in that (1) they lack a theoretical foundation, and (2) they fail to adequately address the information gathering processes. / This study built on the work of researchers who developed the earlier information processing measuring instruments but is significant in that it focuses on information gathering and it has a solid theoretical foundation. It is based on James G. Miller's Living Systems Theory which has been developed over the past thirty-four years and "which might become the theory of organizational behavior and communication" (Duncan, 1972, p. 523). / During the literature review stage of the study, it was learned that a joint University of Louisville/U.S. Army research team conducted the LST/Battalion Studies between 1978 and 1982 to assess "the relevance and utility of Living systems Theory (LST) for understanding and maintaining control of changing interdependent systems in the Army" (Cary et al, 1982, I-5). The LST/Battalion researchers developed extensive instrumentation for measuring system activities including both matter/energy and information processes in Army battalions. This study applied parts of the LST/Battalion Studies to a non-military organizational setting. It also set the stage for future research on the relationship between information processing and overall effectiveness. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-09, Section: A, page: 2930. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

Thirty-one Georgia Division of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors and their supervisors were trained regarding application of management control system (MCS) standards. One year later case documentation accuracy was significantly better among the trained counselors while levels of reported job satisfaction and work alienation did not appear to be affected by MCS implementation. Results were stable in a follow-up 5 years after initial implementation. Results also indicated that a positive association of work alienation with case documentation accuracy was diminished by MCS training and implementation. A strong negative correlation between job satisfaction and work alienation was found in both follow-up surveys. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-11, Section: A, page: 3406. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

This study investigated the manager's use of information in performance appraisal in making decisions about employees. The main research question addressed by the study was whether or not managers weighted the information in the performance appraisal differently when faced with different types of decisions. Associated research questions were: (1) the identification of the personal variables (experience, seniority, education, etc.) with which this differential weighting was associated, if any; and (2) whether or not an analytical tool could be devised for: (a) identifying and clarifying the actual policies for ranking, judging, and making decisions about personnel; (b) developing or expanding a manager's awareness of their decision making processes; and (c) facilitating training of managers in making decisions using the multiattribute information of the performance appraisal. / The sample subjects were 80 managers of both sexes from a large state university. Their organizational levels ranged from first line supervisors to vice presidents, deans and directors of institutes; their educational levels ranged from high school completion to Ph.D.s; and their backgrounds included education, behavioral sciences, engineering, business and humanities. All of them had experience in evaluating personnel. / The model employed was linear multiple regression. The experimental design was fractional factorial (after Addleman). Managers were provided with two sets of sixteen performance evaluations each representing respectively sixteen candidates for a promotion, and sixteen candidates for a merit money allocation. The managers were asked to rank the candidates according to their preference for the above purposes. Each performance evaluation had five factors: initiative, dependability, job knowledge, quality of work, and quantity of work. Each factor had three levels: satisfactory, above satisfactory and outstanding. Both series of sixteen candidates included exactly the same cells, differing only in the names of the "candidates." / The results of the study indicated that the managers of this sample weighted quality and quantity of work more heavily when ranking for merit money distribution, and weighted job knowledge more heavily when ranking for promotion purposes. The differential weighting of the factors of dependability and initiative was not statistically significant ((alpha) = 0.05), though the lack of significant results for initiative may have been due to insufficient test power. / The experiment failed to show a significant association between preference for weighting differentially and the personal variables considered: sex, educational background, educational level, experience in management, and experience in evaluation. This analysis used oneway ANOVA, with t contrasts between means of weight coefficients (betas). The results were sparse and did not present an interpretable pattern, probably due to insufficient cell sizes (five to seven subjects per cell in some cases). Nevertheless, some results indicated that for both promotion and merit money, males emphasize more quantity of work than females (p = .008) and the reverse was true for quality of work, where females emphasized more quality than males for both promotion and for merit money distribution purposes (p = .05). Another unexpected result was the low weight attributed to quantity of work for both decisions ((mu)(,promotion) = -.022 and (mu)(,merit money) = .095) which was interpreted as due to the minimum level of "satisfactory" used for each of the factors in the performance evaluation. / Recommendations focused on the importance of having a better model of judgment when using performance evaluation information for decisions, on the necessity of having stronger construct validity on the side of the criterion variables of the performance evaluation, and, finally, on the convenience of having separate performance evaluations for different purposes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-10, Section: A, page: 4480. / Thesis (D.B.A.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This research was meant to fill a gap in the matrix organization conflict literature. First, a model of conflict which established a taxonomy of conflict and integrated the conceptual matrix literature was developed. This model included the antecedent, latent, and manifest variables identified in previous literature. Additionally, the affective and substantive variables were integrated into the taxonomy. Thus, a model which meshed the interpersonal and strategic nature of conflict was detailed. Second, a measure of conflict which approached an appropriate level of scaling was found which equated product manager-functional executive strategy variances. This measure represented the revised plans of managers operating in a stable growth setting which emphasized incremental decision making. Third, a set of individual, organizational, and environmental constructs were proposed as explanatory variables of the strategy variances. Conflict was said to function in relation to risk, the environment, goal/reward system, role orientation, motivation and power balance. Fourth, three industries consisting of matrix organizations were created through the use of the Systems Analysis Research Paradigm. Business policy students were employed as surrogate managers in the simulated setting. / The research met with varying degrees of success. First, it was found that risk plays a major role in the conflict between product manager and the functional executive. As such, the innovation that occurs as a result of the vertical and horizontal information flows represents a positive aspect of the matrix structure. Second, the task-environment relationship may provide mixed strategies within the matrix. The various interfaces experienced increasing and decreasing amounts of conflict depending on the nature of the task and the direction of environmental change. Third, the use of an integrative reward system may decrease the degree of conflict in a matrix. Fourth, the type of individuals and their various motivations may affect the amount of conflict in a matrix. Fifth, the locus of decision may interact with the task to produce more or less conflict. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4561. / Thesis (D.B.A.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

In the 1960s and 1970s, changes from rigid 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. work scheduling to a more flexible form of work scheduling began to occur. Flexible work scheduling was also known as "flextime." / This investigation attempted to identify the factors related to the use of flextime in a computer operations office of a large governmental agency. The subjects were 92 of the 117 employees of the Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security Data Center. Each responded to the Flextime Inventory, the research apparatus used in this study. It contained demographic items, questions concerning preferences, opinions, and uses of flextime, as well as two previously designed instruments. These were the Life Quality Inventory and the Budner Tolerance-Intolerance of Ambiguity Scale. / Frequency counts, percentages, means, Pearson Product Moment Correlations, and other descriptive statistics were analyzed to provide answers to six research questions. It was found from these that the vast majority of employees were satisfied with and preferred to remain on their flextime program. They practiced a very flexible form of flextime and felt it had a positive impact on their environment, work quality, and their personal attitudes. Clerical, professional, and supervisory employees used flextime to about the same extent. It was also found that supervisees' perceptions of supervisors' attitudes about employee flexibility were as important to the use of flextime as were the supervisors' actual attitudes. / Those who had responsibilities for dependents such as ill parents and children, used flextime very frequently for many different activities. Also, independent travelers were found to use flextime much more than car poolers and users of public transportation. / It was concluded from this investigation that the subjects considered flextime an extremely advantageous work system, with benefits for both employees and employers. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-11, Section: A, page: 4817. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The general scarcity of resources within the overall environment forces government contractors to strategically plan for resource acquisitions. This study used a dynamic systems approach to analyze the resource-acquisition process of government contractors. / Two research questions were raised to guide this research: (1) What is the strategic policy structure that captures and reflects the behavior of the resource acquisition decision-making process by government aerospace contractors? (2) What are the key effects (or impacts) on the system from the strategic policy alternatives in the resource acquisition decision-making process of a government aerospace contractor? / The general research plan was implemented in two phases: field study (Phase I) and modeling and experimentation (Phase II). The field study was conducted to gain a better overall understanding of productive systems that operate within the government marketplace. In Phase II, a System Dynamics model of a government aerospace contractor was constructed based on earlier System Dynamics models and refined from interviews with key management personnel of one government aerospace contractor. The System Dynamics model was subjected to a verification procedure to establish confidence in the model, and the model was also utilized to evaluate alternative expansion policies for a government contractor. An aggressive expansion policy allows higher growth at the expense of increased instability. On the other hand, a conservative expansion policy provides a lower growth rate with more stability. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2829. / Thesis (D.B.A.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This research reports the results of a policy modeling study in which a system dynamics simulation model of the United States weapon acquisition system was developed. The model integrates the impacts of the arms race, fiscal constraints, national budget priorities, the Department of Defense acquisition process, competing defense budget priorities, and the structure of the defense industrial base into a single model. The research presents the theoretical bases for the simulation model in the form of a graphical conceptual model. The conceptual model was developed after a review of the pertinent literature and in conjunction with interviews with senior analysts and executives representing the Congress, the executive branch, the Department of Defense, academia, and defense industry. The validation process for the simulation model and a demonstration of the policy evaluation capabilities of the model are presented. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-07, Section: A, page: 1873. / Major Professor: Thomas Dillard Clark, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This dissertation applied a schematic view of dispositional attribution to the employment selection process. The study examined the process by which employment interviewers utilize various informational cues when forming impressions of job applicants. Although most existing research suggests that negative informational cues have a significantly greater influence on impression formation than do positive informational cues, this study examined differences among schemas used by potential employers which may lead to differences in the rules of inference utilized when making causal attributions about applicants. / Theory and research in the areas of the employment interview, attribution theory, and schema offer insights into how employment interviewers utilize positive and negative informational cues about job applicants in the selection process. Based on these insights, a schema model of dispositional attribution in the employment selection process was developed and tested. The model suggested that it is the particular trait dimension being judged--not the negativity of the cue--that influences which informational cues are considered to be the most diagnostic about an applicant. / The sample used to examine the proposed model consisted of 100 employment interviewers from both the public and private sector. The results provided empirical evidence which suggests that positive informational cues may, under certain conditions, be more influential in impression formation than negative informational cues. Specifically, employment interviewers appear to be more influenced by positive information which attests to an applicant's ability rather than negative information. Although interviewers appear to be more tolerant of negative information concerning an applicant's ability-related traits, they are less tolerant of negative information concerning an applicant's morality-related traits. As such, positive-ability and negative-morality information about a job applicant are more influential in impression formation. / Moreover, the results suggest that positive-ability and negative-morality information about an applicant are more likely to be utilized by the employment interviewer in the selection decision than are negative-ability and positive-morality information. Both theoretical and practical implications of the current research findings are presented. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-04, Section: A, page: 1031. / Major Professor: Pamela L. Perrewe. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.