Arnon E. Reichers

Cynicism About Organizational Change MEASUREMENT, ANTECEDENTS, AND CORRELATES

A new construct called Cynicism About Organizational Change (CAOC) was proposed and distinguished from related concepts. The measure of CAOC was supported by confirmatory factor analysis and has acceptable internal consistency reliability. Potential antecedents (measured 21 months before the measurement of CAOC) were examined. Little support was found for CAOC having dispositional roots in one’s general negative affectivity. More support was found for CAOC being learned as a result of little previous change, ineffective leadership practices, and lack of participation in decisions. CAOC was negatively correlated with a concurrent measure of organizational change and with the motivation to keep on trying to support change efforts. In addition, CAOC was negatively correlated with factors outside the realm of change: organizational commitment and the number of labor grievances. Finally, CAOC weakened the instrumentality perception of the relationship between performing well and earning more money, while holding the actual pay system constant.

New Employee Orientation Programs

Abstract The conceptual domain of new employee orientation programs is defined. Following this, orientation programs are distinguished from socialization, psychological contracts, training, and realistic job previews (RJPs). Three somewhat diverse areas of academic research are used to develop a framework for the design and study of new employee orientation programs: (a) stress theory/coping methods, (b) attitude theory/change methods, (c) RJP theory/methods. The framework for designing new employee orientation is called “ROPES,” an acronym for Realistic Orientation Programs for new Employee Stress. Five field experiments that best represent ROPES are reviewed. Future research on newcomer orientation should be guided by a clear definition of the conceptual domain, borrow liberally from related areas of inquiry, be conducted in field settings, and use experimental designs.

A Note on Some Relationships Between the Aptitude Requirements and Reward Attributes of Tasks1

This paper reports relationships between the aptitudes required by Jobs and the psychological rewards offered by jobs. Some low but consistent correlations were found between numerical, verbal, and...

Is remembered change useful

Measures of change are used for two main purposes in OD: (a) estimating the amount of change that occurred from an OD intervention (e.g. mean differences); and/or (b) assessing relationships between two or more variables as part of hypothesis testing (e.g. correlations). In this study we primarily focus on the hypothesis testing purpose for measuring change, although we will discuss the implications for estimating the amount of change. We focus on two alternative measures of the change in job satisfaction over time: (a) Longitudinal Change; and (b) Remembered Change. These two measures of change are used as predictors of organizational commitment and the number of labor grievances filed by individuals. Our results show that combining both measures of job satisfaction change together explains more variance than either measure alone. We conclude by discussing the meaning of change and the implications of these results for both OD practice and research.

A quasi-experimental study of an action-research project: The effect of project visibility

A three-year Action-Research organizational development (OD) project in an automotive parts manufacturing plant was designed to: (a) increase employee participation, and (b) solve specific problems. All employees were surveyed before and after interventions. The OD effort was directed at the largest of four internal business units in the Plant, called the Experimental group. The remaining three business units formed the Comparison group, resulting in a quasi-experimental research design. Elements of the OD effort to increase employee participation included; (a) collaboration in data gathering, interpretation, and action planning, (b) widespread dissemination of survey results, and (c) collaboration in four issue-specific Task Forces. Besides differences in focus, the Task Forces also differed in the degree of their “visibility” to employees. We define visibility as: (a) the number of employees exposed to the intervention, and (b) the degree to which the intervention was directly observable by employees. Task force visibility was directly related to Task Force success, as measured by data from the second survey. Detailed suggestions for increasing employee participation and the visibility of OD projects are offered. In addition, some new suggestions are also offered for the effective conduct of Town Hall meetings in order to achieve decisions that need both high quality solutions and high employee acceptance.

Effectiveness of Problem-Solving Groups: Process and Outcome Criteria

Multiple measures of both group process and effectiveness of outcome were gathered from 100 problem-solving groups of 526 people. Generally low correlations among the measures of effectiveness of process and those of outcome effectiveness indicate that effectiveness is multidimensional as previously suggested. The relationships between measures of process and effectiveness of outcome supported previous models suggesting general linkages between these two sets of measures. The particular pattern of relationships between process and outcome measures found here was understandable, given the context in which these data were gathered. Thus, the use of multiple measures of both process and effectiveness of outcome in research on small groups is recommended.