K. Dow Scott

An examination of conflicting findings on the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism: A meta-analysis.

This study, which applied meta-analytic procedures, found a significant negative relationship between certain facets of job satisfaction and absenteeism. Findings suggest that sampling errors, scal...

Gender differences in absenteeism.

Employee characteristics and attitudes of secondary school teachers were examined to determine if men and women had different reasons for being absent. Although women were found to perceive some work related factors different than men and to take substantially more days off than men, their absence occurrences were not significantly different. In addition, an employeess age and attitude toward pay were the only factors found to exhibit a gender-related impact on absenteeism. Perceived role conflict, and job involvement were found to be significantly related to absenteeism for both men and women.

National Gainsharing Study: The Importance of Industry Differences:

This survey of gainsharing plans across industries leads to the conclusion that there are major differences in the degree to which gainsharing is used in various sectors of the U.S. economy.

Self-Rated Performance and Pay Satisfaction, Merit Increase Satisfaction, and Instrumentality Beliefs in a Merit Pay Environment

The relationship of self-rated performance to pay level satisfaction, merit increase satisfaction, and instrumentality beliefs in a merit pay environment is investigated. Self-rated performance exhibited a significant negative relationship with all three variables beyond that accounted for by control variables. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Employee incentives in the public sector: A national survey of urban mass transit authorities

Managers in this decade are facing a number of challenges that hinge on the demand for increased productivity. This study focuses on the viability of financial incentive strategies to improve public sector productivity. The transit industry was chosen for the survey due to its interest in financial incentive programs (FIPs) and its concern with productivity. The data indicate that numerous FIPs are being used within the transit industry and that these programs are for the most part evaluated positively.

The evolutionary development of a Scanlon Plan

Many academicians’ technique of choice Vian for increasing productivity and employee commitment is gainsharing. Similarly, many articles have reported substantial increases in productivity through so-called gainsharing programs, but close examination of these programs indicates that their design and philosophy vary substantially. Indeed, such success stories often focus on recently developed programs, and they seldom mention the difficulties encountered when man-

A COMPONENT FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE INITIATING STRUCTURE SCALE OF THE LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR DESCRIPTION QUESTIONNAIRE, FORM XII

Responses of 175 persons in a workforce to the Initiating Structure scale of the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire, Form XII, were factor analyzed. The correlation matrix was recomputed for the supervisory unit level and for the residual scores of individuals after removal of the effects of group membership using the technique recommended by Dansereau, Alutto, Markham, and Dumas (1982). Comparisons of the component matrices indicated that using group-oriented leadership questions does not guarantee group-oriented results.

When accuracy is not enough: The moderating effect of perceived appraisal use

It is hypothesized that perceived appraisal use in making pay related decisions will moderate the relationship between instrumentality beliefs and appraisal accuracy related variables. Perceived appraisal use was found to moderate the relationship between instrumentality beliefs and perceived appraisal accuracy, supervisor appraisal behavior, and supervisor knowledge of performance.

Gainsharing Experiments in Health Care

as organizational development techniques designed to generate a major cultural change. While the potential of gainsharing has attracted the attention of a number of theoreticians and practitioners, a national survey by three of the authors, Steven E. Markham, Beverly L. Little, and K. Dow Scott, found that its actual use might be overestimated. In fact, their data revealed a perplexing pattern in the degree to which such programs actually are used in various sectors of the U.S. economy. With the exception of the government sector, all of the sectors had active plans that, on average, appeared successful. Despite this evidence of successful gainsharing programs, however, the service sector used gainsharing at a much lower rate than did the traditional manufacturing sector. (See &dquo;National Gainsharing Study: The Importance of Industry Differences&dquo; in the January-February 1992 Compensation and Benefits Review.) Quite simply, the evidence shows that the promise of gainsharing has not been realized in service industries. Among the various groups composing the service sector, the medical/hospital industry is of paramount importance. Often considered the third largest component of our overall economy, there is little doubt that the medical industry is currently facing a financial crisis attributable, at least in part, to cost overruns of past years. On

A TEST OF EDEN'S EXPECTANCY/GOAL DIFFICULTY MODEL AMONG SALES REPRESENTATIVES.

Edens (1988) model predicts that trait expectancy, state expectancy, and goal difficulty are determinants of performance. Data collected from a national sales force indicated partial support for the model. Removal of state expectancy from the model provides a more concise explanation of performance differences among sales representatives.