Aharon Tziner

Effects of Trainee Characteristics on Training Effectiveness

Six employee characteristics (conscientiousness, self-efficacy, motivation to learn, learning goal orientation, performance goal orientation, instrumentality) and one work environment characteristic (transfer of training climate) were captured for 130 trainees in a large industrial company in an attempt to predict training effectiveness (training grade, supervisor evaluation of the application of training). The results strongly support the predicted links, although not all the predictor variables contributed a statistically significant share of the explained variance of the training outcomes. Motivation to learn and learning goal orientation were found to contribute most to predicting training outcomes. The implications of the results are discussed and the limitations of the study are noted, along with suggested avenues for future research.

Assessing employee turnover costs: A revised approach.

Abstract An amended version of Cascios (1991) computational formula applied to dysfunctional turnover in organizations not only illustrates the high cost of turnover, but also strengthens the conviction that general accounting approaches can be successfully applied to the assessment of the economic consequences of a variety of employee behaviors. This technique could be critically important for that relatively neglected area of human resource management.

Assessing the Costs of Behavioral and Psychological Withdrawal: A New Model and an Empirical Illustration

Ce travail sur la desimplication des salaries propose un modele qui integre les dimensions financiere et comportementale et fait appel a des formules mathematiques qui fournissent une estimation du cout global de la desimplication pour l’entreprise. Pour nous differencier des tentatives anterieures de calcul d’un tel cout, nous avons essaye d’englober toute une serie de comportements et d’attitudes de retrait, incluant le retrait psychologique, le freinage, les retards, absences et demissions. L’estimation du cout prend en compte des elements directs et indirects, certains d’entre eux etant meme traditionnellement consideres comme ne relevant pas de l’economie. Les equations reposent sur le fond theorique empruntea la litterature sur le comportement comprenant l’etablissement des normes, les interactions a l’interieur de l’equipe de travail et l’eventuelle derive d’attitudes et de comportements de retrait relativement discrets vers des formes plus accentuees. On utilise dans les equations des correlations (corrigees empiriquement) entre les differentes formes de retrait. Ce modele a ete exploite pour evaluer les couts de la desimplication pour l’annee fiscale 1997 dans une societe israelienne de dimension moyenne leader dans le domaine de la haute technologic. Il est apparu que le cout de la desimplication etait approximativement de 2,8 millions de dollars americains, ou encore de 16,5% du benefice avant impots de l’entreprise. On discute aussi des consequences theoriques et pratiques de ces resultats. The present study proposes an integrative behavioral-financial model of employee withdrawal combined with mathematical formulas, allowing the estimation of the overall cost of withdrawal to the firm. In contrast to previous attempts to calculate such a cost, we aimed to cover an entire range of withdrawal attitudes and behaviors, including psychological withdrawal, withholding effort at work, lateness, absence, and turnover. Cost calculation involves direct and indirect components, including those that were traditionally considered non-economic. The equations are based on theoretical grounds of the behavioral literature, including norm determination, mutual interpersonal influences within the work teams, and the possible progression of relatively mild withdrawal attitudes and behaviors into more severe forms. Empirical mean corrected correlations between withdrawal forms are used in the equations. We applied the model by assessing the withdrawal costs for the fiscal year 1997 in a leading, medium-sized, Israeli high-tech company. It was found that the withdrawal cost was approximately 2.8 million US dollars, or 16.5 per cent of the company’s before-tax income. Theoretical and applied implications of the results are discussed.

Updated Meta-Analysis on the Relationship Between Congruence and Satisfaction:

This article reports on a replication meta-analysis of Holland’s congruence theory, which maps the relationship between vocational interests-vocational environments on one hand and satisfaction on the other. The replication is based on 26 studies reported between 1988 and 2003, representing 53 samples and 6,557 respondents. This meta-analysis also examines the effect of culture and age as moderating variables on the congruence-satisfaction relationship. The current replication found no support for the moderating effect of others in the environment, satisfaction source, and code type, as reported by the previous meta-analysis. However, previous findings regarding the effect of congruence index as a moderator were confirmed. Moreover, this type of interest questionnaire was also found to be a moderating variable. The examination of the effects of culture yielded differences between studies conducted in the United States and Israel. Some support was also found for age as a moderating variable. Recommendations for future research are suggested.

Development and validation of a questionnaire for measuring perceived political considerations in performance appraisal

A 25-item scoring instrument was developed to measure perceptions of the extent to which performance appraisals are affected by organizational politics. The survey was administered to 157 francophone managers. A factor analysis revealed that the perceptions of the extent to which political considerations affect the appraisal an employee receives can be sensibly interpreted in terms of a single general factor. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the instrument was high. Moderate support was found for the instruments convergent and discriminant validity.

Contextual and Rater Factors Affecting Rating Behavior

Recent performance appraisal research has highlighted the important role played by contextual and individual factors in shaping rating behavior. This article reviews cumulated empirical data supporting the proposition that in factors and constraints present in the organization, contexts in which appraisal systems reside and rater attributes, such as personality factors or beliefs, systematically affect rating behavior. The effects of these context and rater factors are reflected in ratings accuracy, ratings discrimination among raters/dimensions, and rating elevation.

Additional evidence of attitudinal influences in performance appraisal.

The attitudes of twenty-nine managers toward performance appraisal and toward their organization were used to predict differences in mean ratings and measures of discrimination among ratees and performance dimensions. Substantial multiple correlations were obtained for all three dependent variables (between 32 and 46% of the variance in each measure was explained), and several individual correlations were statistically significant. Raters who showed low levels of confidence in the appraisal system, high levels of discomfort, or high levels of instrumental commitment were more likely to provide ratings that were unusually high or that did not discriminate well among ratees and/or dimensions. Raters who showed higher levels of attitudinal commitment or who perceived more risks associated with distorting ratings tended to provide lower ratings and to discriminate among ratees and/or dimensions.

Relationships Between Attitudes Toward Organizations and Performance Appraisal Systems and Rating Behavior

Data collected in seven separate samples in three countries (the USA, Canada and Israel) were used to examine the relationships between perceptions of one’s organization (climate, commitment), beliefs about appraisal systems (self-efficacy, uses of appraisal) and raters’ orientations to appraisal systems (confidence and comfort) and specific rating behaviors. We obtained good fits for structural models suggesting that attitudes and beliefs accounted for substantial variance in raters’ likelihood of giving high or low ratings, willingness to discriminate good from poor performers, and willingness to discriminate among various aspects of job performance when completing actual performance ratings. Proximal attitudes and beliefs (i.e., those directly related to the performance appraisal system) appear to have stronger links to rating behavior than do more distal attitudes (i.e., attitudes toward the organization in general).

A Comparison of Three Methods of Performance Appraisal with Regard to Goal Properties, Goal Perception, and Ratee Satisfaction

The effects of rating scale formats on several indices of the usefulness of performance appraisal for employee development were examined. The job performance of 96 police officers was rated using simple graphic scales or one of two behaviorally oriented rating formats: behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) and behavior observation scales (BOS). As predicted, ratees’ satisfaction with performance appraisal was highest and their perceptions of performance goals most favorable when using BOS. In addition, performance improvement goals for officers rated using BOS were judged by experts to be most observable and specific. Contrary to the authors’ predictions, graphic rating scales were generally as good as BOS and as good as or better than BARS when evaluated in terms of ratee attitudes and goal characteristics. The results suggest that different behaviorally-oriented rating formats can enhance or inhibit the developmental applications of performance appraisal.

Does Conscientiousness Moderate the Relationship Between Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Performance Appraisal and Rating Behavior

Attitudes, beliefs, and orientations of 253 managers toward performance appraisal, along with the personality dimension conscientiousness, were used to predict rating behavior (i.e., mean ratings and measures of performance dimensions discrimination and ratee discrimination). As predicted, relationships between rater attitudes and rating behavior were moderated by conscientiousness; correlations between the attitudes and rating behavior were strongest for raters who were relatively low on conscientiousness.