Militza Callinan

Older people's well-being as a function of employment, retirement, environmental characteristics and role preference.

The life satisfaction and affective well-being of employed, unemployed and retired men and women aged between 50 and 74 were examined as a function of characteristics of their environment and the degree to which their current role was personally preferred. Early-retired and late-employed individuals had particularly high affective well-being. Role preference (e.g. to be in a job) was significantly associated with both indicators, with better well-being in those individuals who wanted to be in their current role. Both forms of well-being were a function of the features experienced in a role (opportunity for control, clarity, etc.), over and above the identification of role membership on its own, with the relationship between older peoples role occupancy (employed, unemployed or retired) and well-being being mediated by perceived environmental characteristics.

Work Sample Testing

The general evidence supporting the use of work sample tests (good criterion — related validity, positive applicant reaction and job preview capability) is reviewed, limitations are also noted. The extent to which work sample tests may be used to limit adverse impact in selection is reviewed and the extent to which work sample tests may be used to complement other selection instruments, in particular, cognitive ability tests, is discussed. Work sample tests are based on attempts to embody key tasks within the job in a selection instrument. Five distinctive (though not mutually exclusive) types of work sample tests are identified and validity evidence is reviewed. Key dimensions (bandwidth, fidelity, task specificity, necessary experience, type of tasks and mode of presentation and response) are identified and used to compare different types of work sample tests.

Personality and work behaviour

Interest in the role of personality in organizational behaviour has increased over recent years. To a large extent this is due to the emergence of the “Big Five” as a valid and reasonably generalizable taxonomy for personality structure. As far as individual work performance is concerned, several meta-analytic studies have explored the criterion-related validity of personality and shown that personality variables are associated with overall job proficiency. These developments are evaluated in the light of a broader theoretical framework and recent empirical results. Overall job proficiency is divided into two components: task performance and contextual performance. Studies on individual and group performance, and leader effectiveness, are presented to show that personality factors are more closely related to contextual performance. Research linking personality with job and work attitudes (e.g. job satisfaction) is also reviewed. The achievements and limitations of research so far are highlighted and sugge...

Work and organizational behaviour

PART I: WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Capitalism and Organizational Behaviour The Social Nature of Work Studying Work and Organizations PART II: INDIVIDUALS AND WORK Personality and Identity Perception and Emotion Learning and Innovation Motivation at Work Gender, Race, Disability and Class PART III: GROUPS AND SOCIAL INTERACTION Groups and Teams PART IV: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE, PROCESSES AND PERFORMANCE Organizational Design Technology in Work Organizations Organizational Culture Leadership and Change Communications Decision Making and Ethics Power, Politics and Conflict Human Resource Management