Social stress in human-machine systems: opportunities and challenges of an experimental research approach

This article presents some deliberations on methodological approaches to researching the effects of work-related social stress on performance, with particular consideration being given to machine-induced social stress. The article proposes a broad methodological approach to examine such effects. A particular focus is placed on performance after-effects (e.g. unscheduled probe tasks), extra-role behaviour, and task management behaviour because of conventional performance measures (i.e. scheduled tasks) often being unimpaired by social stressors. The role of the ‘performance protection mode’ as an important concept is discussed. A distinction is made between three facets of after-effects: performance-related, behavioural, and emotional. Unscheduled probe tasks and voluntary tasks are proposed to measure performance-related and behavioural after-effects. Propositions for specific experimental scenarios are made, allowing for sufficiently realistic simulations of social stress at work. The availability of such lab-based simulations of work environments offers good opportunities for this line of experimental research, which is expected to gain in importance since highly automated systems may modify the impact of human-induced social stress or may even represent a social stressor themselves. Finally, the considerations presented in this article are not only of relevance to the domain of social stress but to experimental stress research in general

Personen-, System- und Situationsmerkmale als Einflussfaktoren auf den problemlösenden Umgang mit technischen Alltagsgeräten

Um die im Alltag vermehrt vorausgesetzte Fähigkeit zum problemlösenden Umgang mit technischen Geräten im allgemeinbildenden Technikunterricht fördern zu können, widmet sich dieser Beitrag der Frage, wodurch die Interaktion mit einem technischen Gerät überhaupt zu einem Problem wird. Hierzu werden auf Grundlage soziotechnischer Systeme Merkmale auf Ebene der Systeme, der Situation und der ein System bedienenden Personen ausgemacht, von denen ein Einfluss auf die Problemsituation anzunehmen ist. Die empirisch ermittelten Schwierigkeitsindizes können mithilfe multipler Regressionsanalysen zu einem großen Teil durch die Merkmale Komplexität und Transparenz erklärt werden. Von den angenommenen Zusammenhängen zu angrenzenden Konstrukten konnte nur ein verhältnismäßig geringer Teil bestätigt werden.Schlüsselwörter: Problemlösen, Techniknutzung, Alltagsgeräte, soziotechnische Systeme, Merkmale einer Problemsituatio

Construct Transparency and the Psychometric Properties of a Multidimensional Situational Judgment Test

Reported internal consistencies of SJTs are often low, and empirical examination of the structural properties of SJT scores are rarely examined. This paper addressed the need for an empirical investigation of factors that affect the validity evidence of SJT scores by examining the extent to which construct transparency influenced the internal structure of a multidimensional SJT. Methods for increasing construct transparency that have previously been applied in the assessment center literature were adapted for use in the present study. Two conditions—experimental versus control—were used to investigate the influence of construct transparency on a recently developed multidimensional SJT designed to measure multiple sensemaking skills important to leadership. Various psychometric properties were examined and compared for the two conditions using a sample of 383 participants. The study found that there were no significant differences between the two conditions for either estimates of scale intercorrelations or scale reliabilities, and the patterns of correlations with external scales were very similar. Participants in the construct transparency condition received higher scores on all scales compared to participants in the control condition, and evidence of structural validity slightly favored the scores of the construct transparency condition. However, half of the scales lacked supportive validity evidence. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the extent to which multidimensional SJTs of sensemaking skills may be dependent upon case-based knowledge and experience as well as the usefulness of making the content of multidimensional SJTs transparent to test takers

Knowledge Sharing: The Spillover Effects of Process versus Outcome Accountability

Whereas prior literature has examined how process and outcome accountability affect task performance, in this paper, I experimentally investigate the spillover effects of these accountability requirements on employees’ knowledge-sharing behavior. Because outcome accountability draws attention to task output, employees who produce higher output may be more confident in their performance and, therefore, are more willing to share task-specific knowledge. In contrast, process accountability focuses attention on exploring new task strategies, which may negatively affect short-term output. As a result, employees who engage more in exploration may produce lower output, yet these employees may be more confident in their performance and more willing to share knowledge. As predicted, experimental results show that employees with higher output are more willing to share their knowledge under outcome accountability but are less willing to share knowledge under process accountability. Mediation analysis confirms that employees’ confidence in performance underlies these results. The influences of knowledge sharing on the productivity of coworkers who receive the shared knowledge are also examined.Ph.D

The influence of personality, person-environment fit, and work engagement on adaptive performance among nurses in Malaysian public Hospitals

Currently, performance and reputation of public hospitals’ employees specifically nurses has become a central issue for the developing countries including Malaysia. However, to maintain employee’s performance in today’s work environment is so challenging due to many changes occur within the organization. Critically, globalization became a major contributor to organizational change especially in healthcare sector. Hence, adaptive performance has become an important issue for the nurses especially in critical unit like Emergency Department (ED) as they are facing with uncertainty and serious working condition. Thus, nurse’s ability to cope and adapt fast with the changes in working environment can increase their performance as well as reduce patient’s complaint. Therefore, this study intends to recognize factors contribute to enhance nurses’ adaptive performance. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between personality-traits (PT), person environment (PE) fit, work engagement (WE), and adaptive performance (AP). The study will also determine the role of WE as a plausible mediating variable between PT, PE fit and AP. PT in this study was measure using Big Five Personality Traits which are agreeableness (AG), conscientiousness (CC), emotional stability (ES), extraversion (EX) and openness to experience (OE). Meanwhile, PE fit, in this study was measured using three dimensions; person-group (PG) fit, person-job (PJ) fit, and person-supervisor (PS) fit. Besides, a mediator of WE used vigor, dedication and absorption while AP measured as unidimensional in this study. Total 638 data set of questionnaires were distributed among nurses at ED in twelve Malaysia public hospitals and 430 set was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The statistical results of this study indicate that three dimensions of PT (AG, CC, and OE) and two dimensions of PE fit (PG fit and PJ fit) were found to be related to AP. Meanwhile, the study revealed that CC, ES, and EX (for PT) and PJ fit and PS fit (for PE fit) were related to WE. The result supports for positive significant relationship between WE and AP. The finding also found that WE mediates the relationship between three dimensions of PT (CC, ES, and EX) and two dimensions of PE fit (PJ fit and PS fit) to AP. Based on the findings, public hospitals’ administrator should give more focus on nurse’ traits and individual fit to boost their work engagement as well as enhancing their adaptive performance. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions as well as limitations and recommendations for future research are also discussed in this thesis

Effects of Error-Management Training on Veterinary Student Performance in Technical Skills Training

Conventional training methods in most medical fields seek to avoid errors, framing them as negative consequences instead of as learning opportunities. Error-management training (EMT) contrasts with conventional methods by explicitly encouraging trainees to make errors through low-stakes training modules in an effort to alter perspectives on errors, utilizing them as learning opportunities, and to improve trainee performance in error-prone tasks. Simultaneously, EMT can promote the use of non-technical skills – namely metacognition and emotion control – that can provide trainees with lifelong, stress-reducing tactics that can be used across disciplines. The following describes two prospective, double-blinded studies to investigate the effects of EMT, compared to traditional error-avoidant training (EAT), on veterinary students learning to perform: 1) surgical knot tying and 2) blood smear preparation and analysis. For both studies, the performances between EMT and EAT participants were not significant when completing familiar tasks, suggesting EMT is a comparable training method. When assessing novel scenarios, participants trained by EAT showed a significant decline in long-term performance for several outcomes compared to EMT trainees. Survey data from the blood smear study found that participants in both groups felt errors were a useful part of their training and that they were able to reflect on their mistakes. These findings suggest that EMT could be an effective teaching strategy that fosters both technical and non-technical skills for veterinary students