Brian D. Steffy

The influence of individual characteristics and assessment center evaluation on career exploration behavior and job involvement

Abstract The assessment center is a popular technique for identifying individuals with managerial talent and providing feedback to participants regarding their developmental needs for career progression. However, the impact of assessment center evaluations on subsequent career behavior and job attitudes has received little attention. This study investigated the impact of the assessment center evaluation, attitudes toward the assessment process, gender, locus of control, and career strategy on career exploration behavior and job involvement. Results indicated that assessment center evaluation, locus of control, career strategy, and attitudes toward the assessment process influenced job involvement and career exploration behavior.

The Impact of Family and Career Planning Variables on the Organizational, Career, and Community Commitment of Professional Women.

Abstract This study evaluated the independence of three commitment variables: organizational, career, and community commitment. The study also evaluated the influence of extra-work variables such as family career planning, individual career planning, marital stability, coping behaviors, and financial status on each of the three commitment types. A sample of 118 married professional women was used. Findings suggest that organizational, career, and community commitment are independent variables. Findings also suggest that extra-work factors strongly influence career commitment, moderately influence organizational commitment, and weakly influence community commitment. Financial insecurity, coping behaviors, and marital satisfaction positively predicted career commitment. Organizational commitment was higher among women feeling financially insecure and engaging in individual career planning. A woman who earned more than her husband was more committed to her career and organization, but less committed to her community.

Organization Theory and Technocratic Consciousness

The article presents a review of the book “Organization Theory and Technocratic Consciousness,” by Mats Alvesson.

The impact of pre-employment integrity testing on employee turnover and inventory shrinkage losses

A major home improvement chain located primarily in the western United States initiated the use of thePersonnel Selection Inventory, a written integrity test, as part of its pre-employment hiring process. For two years only, those job applicants who passed this test and other pre-employment criteria were hired by the chain. Following the introduction of the inventory, there was: (1) a 50% reduction in the number of employee terminations for theft, illegal drug use, and violence over a five year period and (2) a savings in shrinkage losses that amounted to over two million dollars over a two year period.

Dual-career planning, marital satisfaction and job stress among women in dual-career marriages

This study examined the structural relationship between dual-career planning, spouse support, problem-solving effectiveness, interrole conflict, marital satisfaction, and job stress among married female professionals. Dual-career planning and spouse support were found to be negatively associated with interrole conflict and positively associated with problem-solving effectiveness in the marriage. Interrole conflict was found to be positively associated with job stress and negatively asociated with marital satisfaction.

The long-range impact of five definitions of “fair” employee selection on black employment and employee productivity☆

Abstract Previous research has indicated that the most widely accepted definition of “fair” employment, the Cleary model, has the worst impact on black employment but the most favorable impact on employee productivity, compared with alternative definitions. However, that research concerns short-range impact on selection for a single job. The present research evaluates the long-range impact of alternative fairness models on an entire organization. This is accomplished by means of a computer simulation model of the organization, a stochastic, descriptive model that (a) simulates each of the five definitions of fair employment, (b) simulates the flow of employees into, through, and out of the organization, and (c) accumulates the net present value of employee productivity over time. Validity and selection ratio were independently varied under each of the five fairness definitions. Regarding black employment, findings indicated that the adverse impact of the Cleary model worsened over time. Regarding productivity, findings indicated that the favorable impact of the Cleary model grew over time. However, the long-range figures for the Cleary model were less favorable on both the total productivity criterion and the minority-employment criterion than were the short-range figures of previous research.