Jacob E. Hautaluoma

Attributes of the deer hunting experience: a cluster-analytic study.

ABSTRACTUsing data from Washington State deer hunters, this paper reports on a cluster analytic study of the attributes of the deer hunting experience. The data were collected by mail questionnaire...

Anxiety Management Training as a Strategy for Enhancing Computer User Performance.

Abstract This study assessed the effects of self-managed relaxation and cognitive coping skills training on the anxiety and performance of 80 apprehensive computer trainees. The influence of a computers user friendliness upon these measures was also examined. The college student subjects were taught to use spreadsheet software and were then assigned an independent computer task to complete. Experimental sessions included a control condition as well as manipulations in which subjects were trained to use relaxation coping skills, cognitive coping skills, or a combination of the two skills. Half of the subjects worked with “friendly” and half with “less-friendly” software. Training in 3elaxation or cognitive coping skills reduced error rates and task times, but not computer anxiety. Combined relaxation and cognitive coping skills training had similar effects, as did the use of friendly software. The findings indicate that teaching anxiety management skills may be most appropriate when software is relatively difficult to use.

Effects of Applicant Overeducation, Job Status, and Job Gender Stereotype on Employment Decisions

Employment preferences of personnel representatives in electronics firms regarding job applicants who had varying levels of education were investigated. The applicants had either obtained a 4-year college degree, completed 2 years of college, or completed high school. The stimulus jobs required the equivalent of a high school education but varied in terms of status and gender stereotype. The personnel representatives tended to recommend college-educated applicants for higher status jobs and male stereotypic jobs and applicants who had high school degrees for lower status and female stereotypic jobs. Contrary to the results of most previous research on overeducation, the performance of the applicants who were college graduates was expected to be higher than that of the less educated applicants.

Effects of Organizational Diagnosis and Intervention on Blue-Collar "Blues"

A small Midwestern manufacturing company suffered excessive turnover among its blue-collar workers in 1972. An organizational diagnosis involving interviews and survey questionnaire assessment of all employees revealed some possible reasons. Several interventions of feedback, supervisory skills training, and process observation were conducted by a team of organizational psychologists; the effects of the interventions are discussed in terms of changes in turnover, reduced absenteeism, and more positive attitudes toward work, the company, and supervision.

Low Back Pain Among Residential Carpenters: Ergonomic Evaluation Using OWAS and 2D Compression Estimation

Occupational low back pain (LBP) remains a leading safety and health challenge. This cross-sectional investigation measured the prevalence of LBP in residential carpenters and investigated ergonomic risk factors. Ninety-four carpenters were investigated for LBP presence and associated risk factors. Ten representative job-tasks were evaluated using the Ovako Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS) and ErgoMaster™ 2D software to measure elements of posture, stress, and risk. Job-tasks were found to differ significantly for total lumbar compression and shear at peak loading (p < .001), ranging from 2 956 to 8 606 N and 802 to 1 974 N respectively. OWAS indicated that slight risk for injury was found in 10 job-tasks while distinct risk was found in 7 of the 10 job-tasks. Seven of the 10 job-tasks exceeded the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) action limit of 3 400 N for low back loading. The point prevalence for LBP was 14% while the annual prevalence was 38%.

Construction work practices and conditions improved after 2-years' participation in the HomeSafe pilot program.

This study reevaluated changes in job-site safety audit scores for a cohort of residential construction workers that had protracted exposure to the HomeSafe pilot program for 2(1/2) years. The investigation was a repeated measure of a cohort study underway in the six-county metro area of Denver, Colo. The larger study was a longitudinal, quasi-experimental design with a cohort of residential construction workers within the HomeSafe strategic partnership between Occupational Safety and Health Administration Region VIII and the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver (HBA). Audits were conducted on residential construction sites. Study subjects were construction workers employed by partner or control companies within the study. Repeated measures of 41 companies showed significant improvement (p=.01) in audit scores, increasing from 71.8 to 76.8 after 2(1/2) years in the program. HomeSafe companies out-performed controls (p=.01) for both the retest group and previously unaudited HomeSafe companies. Prolonged exposure in the HomeSafe pilot program resulted in improved audit scores for companies within the program for at least 2 years.

Values and Sociometric Choices of Incarcerated Juveniles

Summary Some effects of the time incarcerated on the values and sociometric choices of 107 young inmates at a federal correctional institution were assessed. The longer an inmate was incarcerated, the less were his values like those that the prison staff attributed to an ideal inmate. Values showing decreasing acceptance over time by the inmates were religiousness, honesty, achievement, and kindness, while independence and loyalty increased. There was little evidence for a change toward socially acceptable values as the inmates neared release, in contrast to the results of other investigations. One of the sociometric measures, however, showed that inmates tended increasingly to choose staff as peers, as release time approached.

Low back pain in Hispanic residential carpenters

OBJECTIVE Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of lost work time and has been recognized as Americas number one workplace safety challenge. Low back pain is occurring at epidemic proportions among construction workers, and minority populations have been underinvestigated for risk of back injury. This project investigated the multiple potential risk factors for occupational LBP among Hispanic residential carpenters. METHODS This investigation evaluated 241 Hispanic residential framing carpenters. Data for this study were collected using a 91-question survey. End points of interest included point, annual, and lifetime prevalence of LBP. RESULTS Nineteen percent of respondents reported they had an episode of LBP in their lifetime. CONCLUSIONS Hispanic residential carpenters reported less than expected prevalence of LBP compared with non-Hispanic counterparts in the same trade and location. Job tasks and personal and workplace risk factors, including psychological and morphological characteristics, affect the prevalence of LBP among Hispanic framing carpenters.

Trait Patterns, Background Characteristics, Managerial Styles, and Job Practices of Industrial Middle Managers

Abstract Cluster analysis was used to classify the trait patterns of middle managers in the United States into six personality types. These personality types ranged from low to high leadership, and they differed in terms of background characteristics, time spent on and importance of job functions, and managerial styles. The six types appear to be useful for understanding the personalities of middle managers and for making organizational decisions about them.

Perceived social structure, role, and communication patterns in an organization☆

Abstract Relationships among organizational roles, perceptions of the structure of the organization, and communications were studied in a university psychology department. Fifty-five members, representing five status groups (e.g., faculty, graduate students, etc.) and four sections of the department (e.g., Counseling, Experimental, etc.), judged the similarity of 16 faculty stimuli, rated the faculty on their interests and activities, and reported on their own communications. Individual Differences Multidimensional Scaling analysis of the similarities data revealed four dimensions of the perceptions of the organization: Section Affiliation, Teaching versus Research, Interest in Industrial Psychology, and Orthodoxy of Life-Style. Section groups differed significantly both in their communications and in the way the Orthodoxy of Life-Style dimension was weighted in their perceptions of the organization. Perceptions of the organization were related to communication behavior.