Organizational Stress and Job Attitudes: Moderating Effects of Organizational Level and Task Characteristics

This study examined the moderating effect of two organizational variables, namely, organizational level and the nature of the task (line supervision vs production planning), on the relationships between role ambiguity and conflict with job satisfaction, job involvement, and effort-performance expectancy. The results suggest that, while the relationship between role-conflict and job attitudes remains stable across organizational levels, role-ambiguity is considerably more strongly related to job attitudes in the higher level. Role-conflict was more strongly related to job attitudes for line supervisors than for production-planning employees. The same trend was found for role ambiguity although the differences were significant only for job involvement. </jats:p

Effects of Rest and Secondary Task on Simulated Truck-Driving Task Performance

The study was designed to examine the effects of extra task stimulation and extra rest on performance and fatigue of haul truck drivers engaged in a simulated driving task. Sixty male subjects, randomly selected from the population of truck drivers in a large mining company, operated a driving simulator for a period of 7 h. A 2 x 3 experimental design was employed including two levels of rest conditions and three levels of secondary-task manipulations. The results show that performance and perceived fatigue were significantly higher when a secondary task involving voice communication was added to the basic driving task, but an added vigilance task had less effect. An extra 30-minute rest period in the middle of the experimental session significantly alleviated the reported experience of fatigue but did not affect performance. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to actual industrial driving tasks. </jats:p

Intrapersonal Conflict and Choice of Strategy in Conflict Management

The effect of intrapersonal conflict is investigated with respect to an initial choice among alternative strategies for management of interpersonal conflict. In this study 140 members of an academic institution were asked to consider an hypothetical situation in which a candidate for a position has to be selected and their personal preference among the candidates is in opposition to that of another senior member of the organization. The choice of a strategy for management of interpersonal conflict was affected by inner conflict associated with one's own preference among the candidates. When the set of available candidates induced inner conflict, the respondents were more inclined to use avoidance, accommodation, collaboration, and compromise, and less likely to use competition. </jats:p

Graphological Assessments for Personnel Selection: Concerns and Suggestions for Research

There is an inconsistency between the spreading practice of graphology as a selection tool and the insufficient research support for the technique. The present paper identifies some major concerns about the current status of available knowledge on the employment of handwriting analysis for personnel selection. Drawing on the extensive psychological literature about personnel selection, personnel evaluation, and attribution processes, variables that may moderate the reliability and validity of script assessments are suggested. Four categories of such variables are identified: attributes of the writer, attributes of the graphologist, attributes of the job, and the organizational context. Conceptual and empirical methods for improving the psychometric properties of graphological assessments are suggested. And, the relationship of general problems in personnel-selection research to the use of graphology for personnel selection is discussed. The intent is to propose a research framework that will allow psychologists and managers to make valid judgments about the benefits, as well as limitations, of employing graphology in making personnel recommendations. </jats:p

Sign Registration in Daytime and Nighttime Driving

Drivers were stopped 200 m after passing a warning sign and were tested for recall and recognition of the sign. It was predicted that at night, when the view of the road ahead is severely restricted, sign registration levels would be higher than during the day, when drivers can obtain most of their information directly from their view of the road ahead. The results supported this hypothesis; sign recall levels ranged from 3 to 6% during the day and from 14 to 18% at night. Other variables that were measured (sign content, roadway environments, and subjective levels of fatigue and boredom) had no significant effects on sign registration. </jats:p