Gerald L. Rose

Cognitive conflict and goal conflict effects on task performance

Abstract Decision-making (prediction) behavior under two types of conflict was experimentally examined within the Social Judgment Theory research paradigm. Interpersonal cognitive conflict (the degree of disagreement over the interpretation of a common stimulus), goal conflict (the degree of competition for payoffs), and trial blocks were independent variables. Prediction error was the dependent measure. Individuals made better predictions about task-criterion values under no-goal conflict than under goal conflict conditions. During the initial stage of a series of prediction trials, subjects made better predictions of task-criterion values under high cognitive conflict than under low cognitive conflict conditions. All groups of subjects were able to improve prediction performance significantly over time. These results are generally consistent with arguments stressing the potential benefits of minimal goal conflict over payoffs and high cognitive conflict on decision quality.

Sex Effects on Managerial Hiring Decisions

Subjects evaluated hypothetical male and female applicants for managerial positions. Half required supervision of predominately female subordinates; half the supervision of predominately male subor...

Sex effects on effort attributions in managerial performance evaluation

Abstract The effects of three sex variables, sex of subject, sex of evaluatee, and sex of evaluatees subordinates, were examined in an experiment. After reviewing performance data which was identical in all experimental conditions 62 male and 24 female subjects assessed the causes of the observed performance for four conditions: males managing predominately male subordinates, males managing predominately female subordinates, females managing predominately male subordinates, and females managing predominately female subordinates. Despite the comparable performance evidence, both male and female subjects attributed greater effort to managers whose subordinates were predominately of the opposite sex than to managers whose subordinates were predominately of the same sex. These results extend previous attribution research by demonstrating that sex effects on attributions depend not only on the evaluatees sex, but on evaluatee sex interacting with the larger sexual context of the job. Unwarranted personnel decisions appear likely due to these attribution patterns.

Why Good Job Performance May (Not) Be Rewarded: Sex Factors and Career Development.

Abstract An experiment tested the effects of three sex variables on managerial career evaluations. The variables were sex of evaluator, sex of manager (evaluatee), and predominate sex of managers subordinates. Each subject evaluated four managers, one in each possible combination of the last two independent variables, in an “in basket” format. All four situations included comparable managerial performance data. Subjects evaluated each manager in terms of size of a deserved salary increase, probable performance if promoted, promotability, and probability of attaining 5-year tenure. There were no differences in evaluations between male and female evaluators. Managers sex and predominate subordinate sex frequently interacted. The interactions were interpreted as a sex-matching bias which can inappropriately benefit managers of opposite sex subordinates and hinder careers of managers with subordinates of their own sex.

When disagreement facilitates performance in judgment tasks: Effects of different forms of cognitive conflict, information environments, and human information processing characteristics

Abstract The effects of cognitive conflict, i.e., interpretive disagreement between parties sharing the same information, on adjustments to alternative information environments are explored in an experimental study of judgment. The results indicate that conflict facilitates appropriate shifts in judgment in some cases, but not in others. Thus the introduction, maintenance, or enhancement of conflict may be as important in some contexts as it is undesirable in others. Several implications and suggestions for extending the contingencies under which conflict might be useful are presented.