ABSTRACT
This study tests whether the detrimental effects of strong diversity faultlines on team performance can be counteracted by combining 2 managerial strategies: task role crosscutting and superordinate goals. We conducted a 2 (crosscut vs. aligned roles) × 2 (superordinate vs. subgroup goals) experimental study. Seventy-two 4-person teams with faultlines stemming from gender and educational major performed a complex decision-making task. The results show that teams with crosscut roles perform better when they are assigned a superordinate goal than a subgroup goal, whereas teams with aligned roles are not affected by goal manipulations. This effect is mediated by elaboration of task-relevant information. Implications for theory and management of team faultlines are discussed.
Subject(s)
Cooperative Behavior , Decision Making/physiology , Goals , Group Processes , Role , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Psychological Tests , Task Performance and Analysis , Young AdultABSTRACT
Although employee trust in leaders has garnered substantial empirical research, trust between coworkers has been virtually ignored. Extending the work of D. L. Ferrin, K. T. Dirks, and P. P. Shah (2006), the authors examined the role of group leaders, an influential third party in the workplace, on coworker trust formation. The correlates of the extent to which coworkers trust one another were examined in an investigation of 146 members of 32 work groups representing 4 diverse organizations. In this study, which utilized full network data, coworker trust was operationalized as in-degree centrality in the trust network. Controlling for relational demography and coworker helping behaviors, the authors found, as hypothesized, that coworkers tended to place more trust in fellow coworkers who were also trusted by the teams' formal leaders than in coworkers who were less trusted by leaders. In addition, consistent with the social information processing theory, support was found for the hypothesis that the relationship between leaders' trust and coworker trust is stronger when group performance is poor.
Subject(s)
Attitude , Interpersonal Relations , Leadership , Organizational Culture , Trust , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Perceived trustworthiness is a critical antecedent of interpersonal trust, yet researchers have a limited understanding of how such perceptions are generated. The authors used 2 competing perspectives within the relational demography literature--similarity-attraction and relational norms--to empirically examine the effect of demographic differences. Whereas the similarity-attraction account suggests that subordinates will perceive their managers as more trustworthy when managers and staff are similar in demographic attributes, the relational norms account proposes that subordinates will perceive their managers as more trustworthy when their demographic differences follow normative expectations. Data collected from a field study of 178 manager-subordinate dyads in Hong Kong and Macau support the relational norms account in terms of education and organizational rank. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the study.
Subject(s)
Cross-Cultural Comparison , Interpersonal Relations , Organizational Culture , Personnel Management , Social Identification , Trust , Adult , Authoritarianism , China , Female , Hierarchy, Social , Hong Kong , Humans , Male , Social Conformity , Social Perception , Social Values , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Fourteen collaborating laboratories assayed maleic hydrazide (MH), 6-hydroxypyridazin-3(2H)-one, in technical and formulated products by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (LC) with sulfanilic acid as an internal standard. The active MH in the samples (6 lots) ranged from 16% (expressed as the potassium salt) to 98% (MH in the technical). A small amount of 1 M KOH was added to the technical MH and analytical standards to create the potassium salt of the analyte which is soluble in water. Test samples and standards were extracted with water containing the internal standard before analysis by LC on a C8 column with an ion-pairing eluting solution and UV detection at 254 nm. The concentration of MH was calculated by comparing the peak area response ratios of the analyte and the internal standard with those in the analytical standard solution. Eleven laboratories weighed each test sample twice with single analysis. Three laboratories weighed each sample once and made duplicate injections on the LC system. The data were analyzed using the 11 laboratories' results. A second data analysis was done including all laboratory results using a Youden pair approach, selecting one of 2 duplicate assay values randomly for each laboratory and sample. In the first data analysis, the repeatability standard deviation ranged from 0.07 to 1.39%; reproducibility standard deviation ranged from 0.22 to 1.39%. In the second data analysis (using all laboratory data), repeatability standard deviation ranged from 0.09 to 0.86%; reproducibility standard deviation ranged from 0.22 to 1.31%.
Subject(s)
Chromatography, Liquid/methods , Maleic Hydrazide/analysis , Chemistry Techniques, Analytical/methods , Chromatography, Liquid/standards , Herbicides/analysis , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Hydroxides/chemistry , Ions , Maleic Hydrazide/chemistry , Models, Chemical , Potassium/chemistry , Potassium Compounds/chemistry , Pyridoxine/analogs & derivatives , Pyridoxine/analysis , Quality Control , Reference Standards , Reproducibility of Results , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Prior studies on alternative work schedules have focused primarily on the main effects of compressed work weeks and shift work on individual outcomes. This study explores the combined effects of alternative and preferred work schedules on nurses' satisfaction with their work schedules, perceived patient care quality, and interferences with their personal lives.
