Yitzhak Fried

The Mindlessness of Organizational Behaviors

Much organizational behavior is argued to be performed mindlessly, on the basis of scripts learned through organizational socialization, work experience, and symbolic management. While scripts conserve cognitive capacity, provide a basis for organizing and evaluating behavior, legitimate organizational activities, moderate role conflict, andfacilitate sense making, prediction, and control, they also induce a lack of vigilance and authenticity in operating routines, and bunkered perceptions, premature closure, and superstitious learning in decision making. Directions for future research include documenting the existence and effects of mindlessness, and exploring the predisposing conditions of script processing and means of maximizing the functional and minimizing the dysfunctional aspects of scripts on organizational effectiveness.

Growth Need Strength and Context Satisfactions as Moderators of the Relations of the Job Characteristics Model

Empirical investigations of the job characteristics model (JCM; Hackman & Oldham, 1980) have failed to systematically explore the moderating effects of growth need strength (GNS) and context satisfactions (viz., pay, job security, co-worker, and supervision) on the relations among the core job characteristics, critical psychological states, and work outcomes. Previous studies also are criticized for the use of subgroup analytic techniques, low statistical power resulting from small sample sizes (i.e, often less than 200) and/or samples consisting of individuals of relatively homogeneous jobs/occupations. As an attempt to address these deficiencies in the literature, this study examined the moderating effects of GNS and each of the four context satisfactions using a large sample (N = 6405) of employees from a variety of jobs and occupations. Overall, the results of univariate and multivariate hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses suggest that none of thefive individual difference factors appeared to be viable moderators of any of the relations among job characteristics, psychological states, and three work outcomes (viz., growth satisfaction, overall job satisfaction, and internal motivation). Also, there was no supportive evidence for potential joint moderating effects between GNS and each context satisfaction on the relations of the JCM.

The joint effects of noise, job complexity, and gender on employee sickness absence: An exploratory study across 21 organizations — the CORDIS study

Using objective indicators, organizational archives, and expert ratings, we examined the joint effects of noise, job complexity and gender on employee sickness absence. The sample consisted of 802 white-collar employees across 21 organizations in Israel. We hypothesized that noise would have the strongest positive correlation with absenteeism for female employees with high job complexity. The results supported this hypothesis. Moreover, the full regression model (including the sets of covariates, main effects terms, and interaction terms) explained a meaningful portion (34%) of the absenteeism measure. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

The interactive effect of chronic exposure to noise and job complexity on changes in blood pressure and job satisfaction: a longitudinal study of industrial employees.

The hypothesis of this study was that noise exposure level and job complexity interact to affect changes in blood pressure (BP) levels and job satisfaction over 2-4 years of follow-up. Results showed that among workers exposed to high noise, those with complex jobs showed increases in BP that were more than double shown by those with simple jobs. Under low noise exposure, there was a small increase in BP for workers with complex jobs but about a 3-fold increase in workers with simple jobs. The prevalence of elevated BP showed a similar trend. Job satisfaction increased among workers with complex jobs but was much less in those exposed to high noise. It was concluded that exposure to occupational noise has a greater negative impact on changes in BP and job satisfaction over time among those performing complex jobs. In contrast, job complexity had a clear beneficial effect for workers exposed to low noise.

National Cultures, Performance Appraisal Practices, and Organizational Absenteeism and Turnover: A Study across 21 Countries.

Performance appraisal (PA) is a key human resource activity in organizations. However, in this global economy, we know little about how societal cultures affect PA practices. In this study, we address this gap by focusing on 2 complementary issues: (a) the influence of societal (national) cultural practices on PA practices adopted by organizations and (b) the contribution of the level of congruence between societal cultural practices and the characteristics of organizational PA practices to absenteeism and turnover. The results, based on a large data set across multiple countries and over 2 time periods, support the hypothesized effects of societal (national) cultural practices on particular PA practices and the interactive effects of societal cultural practices and PA practices on absenteeism and turnover. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

The Moderating Effect of Job Security on the Relation between Role Clarity and Job Performance: A Longitudinal Field Study

In a longitudinal field study of a random sample of employees in an organization undergoing major restructuring and downsizing, we investigated the moderating influence of job security on the effect of role clarity on employee performance. The results support our hypothesis. That is, job performance increased over time under higher levels of role clarity. Moreover, this increase in performance was maximized when both role clarity and job security were high, while deterioration in performance was greatest when role clarity was low and job security was high.

Exploring the relationship between workspace density and employee attitudinal reactions: An integrative model

We have attempted to explore the inconsistent results in the literature concerning employee reactions to workspace density by examining the simultaneous moderating effects of job complexity and organizational tenure on the relationship between workspace density and three attitudinal outcomes: organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and co-worker satisfaction. We found the strongest negative relations between density and reactions when job complexity and organizational tenure were high, simultaneously. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

The joint effect of noise exposure and job complexity on distress and injury risk among men and women: the cardiovascular occupational risk factors determination in Israel study.

Learning ObjectivesState the ways in which—in this study of Israeli industrial workers—noise levels and objectively estimated job complexity interacted to influence the risk of work-related injury in men and women.Describe whether and how the risk of injury depended on a number of patient- and work-related factors.Focusing on measures of noise-related stress, point out the implications of these findings for quality of life both at work and in nonworking hours.State possible reason(s) for the observation that exposure to noise effects more adversely those workers performing complex jobs. Abstract We sought to explore the possibility that exposure to noise at work might interact with job complexity and gender to affect the incidence of occupational injury among industrial employees. In this study, we examined 4084 men and 1643 women from 21 industrial plants while controlling for a number of potent confounding variables, among them active safety hazards. Logistic regression results showed that the predictor variables interacted and that the highest injury risk (odds ratio = 2.72) was observed in women in high noise and high job complexity, compared with the referents scoring low on these predictors. The comparable injury risk in men was only 1.3. Parallel results were observed for three noise stress indicators: workload, noise annoyance and postwork irritability. We conclude that the joint exposure to noise and high job complexity is disruptive, resulting in higher distress and occupational injury risk, particularly among women.

Work orientations in the job demands-resources model

Purpose – This study aims to examine the role of instrumental vs intrinsic work orientations in the job demands‐resources (JD‐R) model.Design/methodology – Using a sample of 123 employees, the authors investigated longitudinally whether an instrumental work orientation moderates the motivational process, and mediates the health impairment process in the JD‐R model.Findings – Regression analyses revealed that an increase in job resources over time was particularly beneficial for experienced flow at Time 2 among employees holding an instrumental (vs intrinsic) work orientation. In addition, structural equation modeling analyses showed that work pressure was reciprocal with need for recovery, which was reciprocal with instrumental work orientation.Research limitations/implications – Findings suggest that work orientation should be integrated in research linking work characteristics with motivational and health impairment processes.Practical implications – Organizations should avoid placing overly high demand...

Short research note: Rater positive and negative mood predispositions as predictors of performance ratings of ratees in simulated and real organizational settings: Evidence from US and Israeli samples

Laboratory research shows that raters who experience positive mood evaluate others more favourably, while raters who experience negative mood provide less favourable ratings. Based on these findings it was hypothesized that in more realistic work situations, raters who are high on positive mood predisposition would provide higher job performance ratings of ratees, while raters who are high on negative mood predisposition would provide lower job performance ratings. These hypotheses were tested by examining performance ratings from two sources: a realistic organizational simulation conducted in the US and an Israeli industrial firm. In both samples, negative mood predisposition was negatively associated with performance ratings of ratees, whereas positive mood predisposition was unrelated to performance ratings.