Helping Adult Learners Plan For Success

We recognize there are significant external and internal barriers to effective planning and goal pursuit that are particular concerns for adult learners. Often, these barriers arise from conflicting adult roles (e.g. parent and adult learner), as well from a real or perceived lack of resources. We begin this session by reviewing common barriers to goal pursuit within the adult education environment, and we will explain how these barriers serve as a starting point for the ideas presented in this session

Testing a comprehensive model of organizational justice perceptions and personal states with personal and organizational outcomes

Managers need to understand the types of perceptions, feelings, and reactions they should elicit from personnel under their direction. To this end, a parsimonious model is required. However, few comprehensive models linking managerial behaviours to employee states and outcomes have been developed and tested. Accordingly, this research articulates the importance of three critical constructs - leader–member exchange (LMX), job satisfaction, and perceived organizational justice – and associations with emotional exhaustion, work motivation, workplace misbehavior, and emotional intelligence as a concise and efficient model that explains the relationships between attitudes and states within individuals, and related, important work and personal outcomes. The model displayed a very high level of reliability and validity based on the exceptional fit of the structural equation models across two very large samples (over 1600 participants in each study)

The security to lead: a systematic review of leader and follower attachment styles and leader–member exchange

Attachment styles can predict the quality of organizational relationships, particularly in reference to leader–member exchange (LMX). However, there is much work to be done in articulating and summarizing these findings and in detecting gaps in the literature. This systematic review fills a critical niche by providing a review of the attachment/LMX relationship. Using the PRISMA framework, this review integrates research on attachment styles and LMX by evaluating associations between secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles with LMX for leaders and followers. Across 10 studies, we review the evidence for associations between leader and follower attachment and LMX. We seek to investigate if secure attachment is associated with high-quality LMX and if insecure attachment is associated with lower quality LMX. Our review in general provides mixed support for these propositions, although the association of avoidant attachment for followers with LMX received consistent support. Furthermore, our results highlight the need to consider potential moderating and mediating factors within the attachment/LMX relationship. Based on the patterns of these relationships and the methodological gaps in the literature, we discuss the managerial implications for attachment styles in work and organizational psychology and suggest several directions for future research on the attachment–LMX relationship

Re-evaluating the factor structure of the self-assessed wisdom scale (saws)

Background. Although wisdom is a desirable developmental goal, researchers often lack valid and reliable construct measures. Webster’s (2007) popular 40-item five factor SAWS structure has had mixed support in the literature. We tested this factor structure, and age group equivalencies. We also examined whether the SAWS Openness dimension is a wisdom precursor, as proposed by other models of wisdom. Methods. Data from 709 respondents were randomly split into two. We performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on Sample 1. If the model did not fit the data, then exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on Sample 2 would offer an alternative model that could be confirmed on Sample 1. Structural equation models analysed Openness as a SAWS antecedent and a wisdom component. Multigroup CFA tested invariance across age groups. Results. The SAWS failed to replicate in the initial CFA. We extracted a 12-item four factor EFA solution, which excluded Humour factor. Openness as a wisdom component was a better model than as antecedent. Implications. The 12-item four factor model clarifies the key components of the SAWS and can be used across the adult lifespan as different age groups are invariant. We suggest Openness is better understood as a component of the SAWS

Engineering the World of Work: Organizations in an Era of Constant Change

Presenting a contemporary outlook on how organizations must adjust to the 'Era of Me', this timely book analyses contemporary learning paradigms, sustainability, performance management, and theories of work-related attitudes to promote organizational culture and productivity in workplaces in the volatile modern era. In the 21st century, the organizational environment in most western-oriented societies is dynamic, multifaceted, complex, and ambiguous. This comprehensive book explores the unique challenges faced by modern organizations due to increasingly varied, flexible, and virtual work arrangements, shifting employee characteristics, technological developments, increased competition, and enhanced diversity in business. Covering a broad range of salient topics and shifting the employee–employer relationship to one of mutual goals and trust, chapters challenge old management styles while recommending novel future methods of engineering the world of work in an era of constant change. Using a symbiosis of research, theory, and practice, Engineering the World of Work will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of psychology, organizational studies, and business administration. It will also be an essential guide to managers, stakeholders, consultants, and policymakers who are interested in practical ways of adjusting to the changes of the 21st century

Combining associations between emotional intelligence, work motivation and organizational justice with counterproductive work behaviors: A profile analysis via multidimensional scaling (PAMS) approach

The need for better incorporation of the construct emotional intelligence (EI) into counterproductive work behavior (CWB) research may be achieved via a unified conceptual framework. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to use the Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) approach, and a conceptual framework that unifies motivational process with antecedents and outcomes, to assess differences in EI concerning a variety of constructs: organizational justice, CWB, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation. Employing established scales within a framework unifying CWB, intrinsic motivation, EI, organizational justice, and outcome constructs, two EI-based profiles displayed associations with CWB based on responses from 3,293 employees. Both the first core profile, high overall justice and low emotional intelligence, and the second core profile, high emotional intelligence and low work motivation, displayed associations with interpersonal deviance and organizational deviance, as well as emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. The results are discussed with respect to possible underlying theory and an overarching unified motivation framework that incorporates goal choice, intrinsic motivation, antecedents, and outcomes. We also provide directions for future research and implications for managers in the workplace based on heuristic conceptual frameworks that combine multiple motivational perspectives into a unified model

Constructive Deviance, Leader-Member Exchange, and Confidence in Appraisal: How Do They Interrelate, if at All? Desviación Constructiva, Intercambio Líder-Miembro y Confianza en la Evaluación: ¿Cómo se Interrelacionan, si lo Hacen?

Abstract. This study examined connections between elements of Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX) relationships, trust and confidence in performance appraisal processes, and constructive deviant behavior. The sample consisted of 120 members of a large public service organization. The results support positive connections between the constructs of LMX, confidence in appraisal processes, and constructive deviant behaviors. However, when predicting constructive deviance we found no difference in using confidence in appraisal processes as a single predictor compared to using both confidence in appraisal and LMX. The implications of these results are discussed, and we offer several suggestions for developing research programs dealing with the intersection of LMX, confidence in appraisal processes, and constructive deviant behavior in organizations. Key words: constructive deviance, LMX, appraisal confidence, workplace deviance. Resumen. Este estudio examina las conexiones entre el intercambio líder-miembro (LMX), la confianza en los procesos de evaluación del desempeño y las conductas desviadas constructivas. La muestra fueron 120 miembros de una amplia organización de servicio público. Los resultados apoyan relaciones positivas entre los constructos de LMX, la confianza en los procesos de evaluación y las conductas desviadas constructivas. Sin embargo, en cuanto a la predicción de la desviación constructiva, no se encontraron diferencias entre usar la confianza en los procesos de evaluación como factor individual de predicción y utilizar tanto la confianza en la valoración como LMX. Se discuten las implicaciones de estos resultados y se ofrecen varias sugerencias para el desarrollo de programas de investigación relacionados con la interrelación de LMX, la confianza en los procesos de evaluación y la conducta desviada constructiva en las organizaciones. Palabras clave: desviación constructiva, LMX, confianza en la evaluación, desviación en el trabajo

I’m still in the blue family: gender and professional identity construction in police officers

With an increase in gender equality policies and gender balance targets within traditionally male professions, organisations such as the police service are experiencing changing demographics. How these shifts influence the construction of professional identity is unclear. Drawing on focus group data, this study aimed to explore identity construction of police officers across gender using a thematic analysis method. Two themes related to identity construction were found to be common to both male and female police officers: ‘Working within a blue family’ and ‘Being a copper is a job for life’. However, the way in which these themes were articulated differed between male and female officers, with male officers experiencing more difficulty than female officers in terms of positioning their identity within the evolving police culture. The findings from this study have implications for gender policies in the workforce as they suggest that men may experience more difficulty than women in adjusting to a gender-diverse workforce, and that professional identity within traditionally male professions is more complex and nuanced than what was previously assumed

Clarifying the effect of work hours on health through work–life conflict

Previous research on the relationship between work hours and health has produced inconclusive findings, which may be related to the use of predominantly male samples. This paper examines the relationship between work hours and health in a national Australian sample (Australian Work + Life Index) of men and women. We examine total work hours across major occupational groups and find differences in health outcomes related to gender. In addition, our findings provide important insights into the pathway through which work hours impact health. Specifically, we offer compelling evidence that work–life conflict functions as a pathway through which total work hours impact health outcomes. The results of this study suggest that human resource management practitioners pay further attention to interventions that enable workers to more successfully manage the energy exchange between work and non-work domains. We also review several related pathways by which human resource managers may reduce employee work–life conflict

Depleted dedication, lowered organisation citizenship behaviours, and illegitimate tasks in police officers

This study builds on the relatively limited work examining police officer identity, dedication, and organisation citizenship behaviours (OCB), by connecting illegitimate tasks to these outcomes. From the textual analysis of focus group responses by members of an Australian state police service, a clear social identity of 'copper' emerged among constables, and when this copper identity was threatened, the constables' dedication and levels of OCB depleted. The most serious threat to that identity was the need to perform illegitimate tasks based on perceived time-wasting activities. However, a new negative phenomenon, tasks reducing professional discretion, emerged as a third type of illegitimate task. The study also indicates that future studies of police dedication and OCB depletion need to consider the negative socio-political aspects of managerialism