David C. Munz

The path to a healthy workplace: A critical review linking healthy workplace practices, employee well-being, and organizational improvements.

This review synthesizes much of the previousresearch since 1990 linking healthy workplacepractices in organizations to employee well-be-ing and organizational improvements. Based onthe review, both a direct and an indirect linkbetween healthy workplace practices and orga-nizational improvements are proposed. Fivegeneral categories of healthy workplace prac-tices were identified in the literature: work-lifebalance, employee growth and development,health and safety, recognition, and employeeinvolvement. Previous research also suggeststhat the link between these practices and em-ployee and organizational outcomes is contin-gent on the effectiveness of communicationwithin the organization and the alignment ofworkplace practices with the organizationalcontext. Finally, a discussion of some limita-tions of previous research and recommenda-tions for future work in the area of healthyworkplace practices are provided.Keywords:

Promoting creativity in temporary problem-solving groups: The effects of positive mood and autonomy in problem definition on idea-generating performance.

The current study examined the effect of mood and autonomy in problem definition on the idea-generating performance of temporary workgroups. Groups (N 54) were randomly assigned to a mood (positive vs. neutral) and autonomy (high vs. low) condition and asked to brainstorm ways to improve university student life. It was found that positive mood increased the originality of ideas and that problems that provided low autonomy led to a greater number of ideas. Mood and autonomy interacted to affect group satisfaction. Furthermore, positive mood led to the identification of more important domains for improvement in the high-autonomy condition. Implications for future research using temporary problem-solving groups are discussed.

Are there methodological and substantive roles for affectivity in job diagnostic survey relationships

Latent variable models analogous to those developed by L. J. Williams, M. B. Gavin, and M. L. Williams (1996) were used to investigate the measurement and nonmeasurement relationships of negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA) with the Job Diagnostic Survey scales. Reanalyses performed on data collected as part of an organizational assessment of nonfaculty university employees (N = 644) showed NA and PA to have weak measurement and substantive relationships with the job characteristics and affective outcomes scales. The relationships between job characteristics and job outcomes were not associated with NA. However, PA showed a weak association with these relationships. Implications for future research on affectivitys roles as substantive and methodological variables in organizational assessment are discussed.

Scales to Measure Four Dimensions of Dispositional Mood: Positive Energy, Tiredness, Negative Activation, and Relaxation

The present study addresses the measurement of trait mood by examining a set of new scales to measure four separate dimensions: positive energy, tiredness, negative arousal, and relaxation. The data were divided into two halves. On the first half of the data, separate exploratory factor analyses were performed for each dimension using 15 items chosen from various sources to represent each dimension of mood. On the second half of the data, separate confirmatory factor analyses identified the items for which the data best fit the model. The factor analyses produced conceptually meaningful scales whose scores varied in internal consistency reliabilities ranging from .87 to .93. Relationships among the scales match the predictions of theories by Burke, Brief, George, Roberson, and Webster; Thayer; and Watson and Tellegen.

MEASURING THE POLES OF NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE MOOD USING THE POSITIVE AFFECT NEGATIVE AFFECT SCHEDULE AND ACTIVATION DEACTIVATION ADJECTIVE CHECK LIST

The Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) has become one of the most widely used measures of mood. It was developed from research using responses to adjective checklists as empirical evidence for the two independent, bipolar factor model of mood. However, when scores on the PANAS were factor analyzed with those from another mood checklist, Thayers Activation Deactivation Adjective Check List, the PANAS represented only half of the model proposed by Watson and Tellegen (1985) by not containing adjectives representing the lower poles of positive and negative affect.

Are Better Sleepers More Engaged Workers? A Self‐regulatory Approach to Sleep Hygiene and Work Engagement

Previous research has emphasized facets of both the organizational environment and individual differences as predictors of work engagement. This study explored sleep hygiene as another important behavioural factor that may be related to work engagement. With a sample of 328 adult workers, we tested a multiple mediator model in which sleep hygiene predicts work engagement through ones appraisals of resource depletion stemming from demands (psychological strain) and general self-regulatory capacity (self-control). Results indicated that individuals who frequently engaged in poor sleep hygiene behaviours had lower self-regulatory capacity, experienced higher subjective depletion and were less engaged at work. Additionally, the path from poor sleep hygiene to decreased work engagement was attributed to perceptions of personal resources that are needed to exert self-regulatory energy at work. This is consistent with current self-regulatory theories suggesting that individuals have a limited amount of resources to allocate to demands and that the depletion of these resources can lead to stress and lower self-regulatory functioning in response to other demands. Specifically, poor sleep hygiene results in the loss of self-regulatory resources needed to be engaged in work tasks by impairing the after-work recovery process. Practical and research implications regarding sleep hygiene interventions for well-being and productivity improvement are discussed.

Factor analysis of the wechsler memory scale-revised and the halstead-reitan neuropsychological battery

Abstract A principal components factor analysis of the 12 subtests of the WMS-R, WAIS Verbal and Performance IQ scores, and measures of a modified Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery was performed on a sample of 135 patients. The Visual Reproduction subtests I and II factored with other spatial measures and Performance IQ while Logical Memory I and II and Verbal Paired Associates I and II emerged as separate verbal memory factors. Additionally, two attention/concentration factors were found, one primarily verbal and one primarily visual. Further study in the interpretation of the Verbal and Visual Memory Indexes was advised.

A Further Test of the Inverted-U Hypothesis Relating Achievement Anxiety and Academic Test Performance

The assumption that the inverted-U hypothesis, which shows performance as a function of activation level, mediates the relationship between achievement anxiety and academic test performance was tested by comparing Achievement Anxiety Test scores of 75 male and female college students with a self-report measure of activation taken prior to a classroom examination. Results supported the predicted relationship between achievement anxiety reaction type and academic performance (rho less than .05), but only partially supported the inverted-U hypothesis posited to account for this relationship. Results were further interpreted as suggesting that examinees experience two general types of arousal in the testing situationōne type that enhances performance and one that impedes performance. Further implications of the results were discussed.

Essential hypertension and self-disclosure.

A matched sample of 16 hypertensive and 16 non-hypertensive Air Force male Ss were administered the Journal Self-Disclosure questionnaire and participated in an interview that discussed high and low intimate topics. Questionnaire data, content analysis scores of interview topics, and situational stress measures supported the hypothesis that hypertensives conceal their personal thoughts and feelings from others and deny the emotion-arousing stimuli of a self-disclosure situation. Investigation of the underlying psychodynamics of hypertension in a self-disclosing situation as a potentially fruitful line of research was discussed.

Life goals and general well-being.

Meaning, purpose and major goals in peoples lives have been purported to relate to well-being and health. To begin study of the relations among these variables, a group of 115 college students was divided into subgroups scoring high and low on general well-being, and differences in their life-goal orientation were estimated using the Life Esteem Survey questionnaire. Three life-goal components were significantly different for the subgroups: recognition of a framework of purpose, perspective of progress, and commitment to a framework. A fourth component, quality of life goals, was not significantly different. A comprehensive set of 22 possible life goals significantly discriminated among the subgroups; however, on only one, excitement, were differences significant. The only significant interaction between sex and well-being also held for the value placed on the goal of excitement. A tendency was shown for the value placed on more hedonistically oriented goals to differentiate the subgroups with the group on low well-being higher on the hedonistically oriented goals.