Harrison M. Trice

Assessing personal, role, and organizational predictors of managerial commitment.

Using a role and exchange theory framework, this study examines the commitment to their organization and to the federal service of 634 managers in 71 federal government organizations. Results indicate that certain role factors such as tenure and work overload and personal factors such as attitude toward change and job involvement are strong influences on commitment. Implications of the findings and the need for further theoretical and methodological refinements are discussed.

Measuring and predicting managerial success

Abstract This study examined two forms of managerial success—financial success and status success—measured so that possible confounding effects of age were removed. Demographic characteristics, values and ideologies, role characteristics, and characteristics of the unit supervised were investigated and found to be significant predictors of success among a sample of 474 managers in a large U.S. corporation. Some results largely confirmed past results; other results identified new significant predictors. Also, results differed somewhat for the two forms of success.

Spirits and demons at work : alcohol and other drugs on the job

The National Council on Alcoholism estimates that alcoholism costs employers some

A History of Job-Based Alcoholism Programs: 1900–1955

10 billion a year in lost productivity. The figure can be taken with a grain of salt (or snifter of brandy) but nobody, least of all employers, questions the size of the problem. Drunkenness on the job contributes just a small part. Accidents, long lunch hours, absenteeism, irritability, sloppy work\p=m-\allfrequently have a common origin: fondness for the sauce. Perhaps employers have always known this, but only recently have any tried to correct the situation. Sci-

A Field Study of the Use and Perceived Effects of Discipline in Controlling Work Performance

The early history of job-based alcoholism programs can be traced to efforts to eliminate alcohol from the workplace that were prevalent into the early years of the 20th Century, and to subsequent socio-economic factors which mandated a change in long-accepted behaviors and employer policies. Numerous forces, including World War II and its impact on the labor market, led to the need for rehabilitating alcoholics in the work force, a need recognized by a number of sensitive and innovative industrial physicians. Evidence supports the conclusion, however, that without the existence of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the dedication and almost super-human efforts of some of its members in developing and supporting the early programs, few of these programs would have survived. In an attempt to partially describe the events, forces, and individuals which were involved in the formative period of occupational alcoholism programs during the 1940s and 1950s, the authors have collected material from a variety of sources, including many first-hand accounts from persons directly concerned in early program development. It is hoped that this material will promote increasing interest in the history of job-based alcoholism programs and generate further input from sources that can contribute to knowledge about this movement which has had such a strong impact on the progress of alcoholism intervention practices.

The sick role, labelling theory, and the deviant drinker.

Data from two samples of supervisors in a large U.S. corporation show that (1) supervisors used discipline primarily as a response to certain behaviors and when the work context was supportive of i...

A Reexamination of the Relations between Size and Various Components of Organizational Complexity.

UCH effort in recent years has been directed toward educating the public M in the United States regarding the definition of alcoholism and deviant drinking as medical problems rather than as criminal offenses. 12 24 These efforts are reflected in the various publications of the Rutgers (formerly Yale) Center for Alcohol Studies, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the National Council on Alcoholism. Likewise, as the therapeutic effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous has become increasingly visible, the public has become aware of the assumption that is held by this organization that a form of physiological allergy leads to alcoholism. The A.A. concept is somewhat different from the traditional medical model, but the two conceptions share a strong tendency to reduce individual responsibility for the genesis of alcoholism.

The Role of Ceremonials in Organizational Behavior

This research was made possible by Grant No. 1 R01 AA02315-01 from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and by the help of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the cooperation of federal agencies and managers, and the assistance of many others, but especially Caroline Patchel, who assisted with computer work. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Academy of Management meetings in Kansas City, August 1976.

The Social Construction of Alcohol Problems in a Union's Peer Counseling Program

Deals with a study that explored the ceremonial aspects of personnel role with particular emphasis on organizational significance of ceremonials. Relevance of ceremonials for personnel administrators; Ceremonials of relevance for individual role performers; Role of ceremonials in the stability or equilibrium functions of a business organization. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Alcohol Abuse and Work Organizations

While the referral processes in management-based employee assistance/industrial alcoholism programs have been studied, little attention has been paid to those in union peer counseling programs. This study closes the gap by reporting ethnographic data collected in one unions member assistance program. The Tunnel and Construction Workers Union is an occupational community characterized by a heavy drinking culture, and its program consists of credentialed alcoholism counselors and a network of union members who also belong to Alcoholics Anonymous. In negotiations with these groups, drinkers learn that they are alcoholic and achieve sobriety. Negotiations break down into three stages: Getting into the Network, Learning to Stay in the Network, and Taking Responsibility. As in management-based programs, constructive confrontation and job performance are crucial elements in the negotiations. In unions, however, those elements take on a slightly different meaning because unions operate within a different social context than management-dominated work organizations.