Team Cognitive Ability as a Predictor of Team Performance

This manuscript presents two studies of the relationship between team cognitive ability (average Scholastic Aptitude Test score of team members) and team performance (a subjective coach\u27s evaluation and an objective measure using Sagarin\u27s Power Rankings) among NCAA Division 1 Men\u27s Basketball teams. Study 1 was conducted following the 1991-92 season whereas Study 2 was conducted during the 1993-94 season. Both studies indicated that team cognitive ability was significantly related to the coach\u27s evaluation but not to the power ranking measure, and that team strategy moderated the relationship between cognitive ability and the coach\u27s evaluation of performance. Cognitive ability moderated the relationship between team strategy and power ranking, but the nature of the interaction was different across the two studies

Impact of Information Technology on Employee Attitudes: A Longitudinal Field Study

This longitudinal study examined the impact of an information technology system on the job and employee attitudes in a parts distribution center for a Fortune 500 company. Data were collected prior to, during, and following the implementation of an automated information technology system. Results of both the within subjects (N=24) and between subjects (N=58) analyses indicated that the automated technology reduced motivational and increased mechanistic aspects of the job as well as reduced employee attitudes

The Role of Human Resource Practices in Petro-Chemical Refinery Performance

This study examined the impact of Human Resource (HR) practices (selection, training, compensation, and appraisal) and participation on the financial performance of U.S. petrochemical refineries. Survey results from HR and Operations respondents indicated that appraisal and training were significantly related to workforce skills and that training and compensation were marginally related to workforce motivation. In addition, only training was significantly related to refinery performance, although the relationship was negative. However, selection, compensation, and appraisal interacted with participation in determining refinery financial performance such that each of these practices were strongly positively related to financial performance only under highly participative systems. Implications are discussed

Strategy, Core Competence and HR Involvement as Determinants of HR Effectiveness and Refinery Performance

This study examined the impact strategy, core competence, and involvement of HR executives in strategic decision making on the refinery managers\u27 evaluation of the effectiveness of HR and refinery performance among 86 U.S. petro-chemical refineries. Survey results indicated that higher involvement of HR in organizational strategy was strongly related to perceptions of HR effectiveness, and that the relationship was strongest to the extent that refineries pursued a product innovation strategy and viewed skilled employees as their core competence. HR involvement was unrelated to refinery performance, but was actually negatively related to the extent that refineries emphasized efficient production as their core competence

Human Capital, Overlapping Tenure, and Behaviors: A Study of Unit Performance

This study contributes to human capital research by examining human capital and the stability of human capital along with processes through which they influence performance. Specifically, this study theoretically develops and empirically tests relationships among human capital, overlapping tenure, behaviors, and performance with a unique sample of NCAA football teams. This sample allows for the examination of the relationships that human capital and overlapping tenure have with different measures of processes and performance. Human capital and overlapping tenure at the unit level are found to be related to different measures of unit processes and unit performance. Additionally, a variety of processes at both the unit level are related to greater performance at the unit and team levels. Finally, evidence of processes mediating the relationships between human capital and performance and between overlapping tenure and performance is found

Comparing Line and HR Executives’ Perceptions of HR Effectiveness: Services, Roles, and Contributions

This study compared HR and line executives’ evaluations of the effectiveness of the HR function in terms of its service delivery, roles, and contributions to the firm. Survey responses from 44 HR and 59 line executives from 14 companies indicated that (a) HR executives consistently rated the functions effectiveness higher than did line executives, and (b) the greatest differences were observed on the more important and/or strategic aspects of HR. Implications are discussed

Measurement Error in Research on Human Resource Decisions and Firm Performance: How Much Error is There and How Does its Influence Effect Size Estimates?

Recent empirical research finds that the relationship between human resource (HR) decisions and firm performance is significant in both statistical and practical terms. However, the typical research design in this area relies upon on a single respondent to validly assess firmwide HR practices. To date, no study has adequately addressed the reliability of such measures, a basic requirement of construct validity. Previous efforts have either defined reliability so narrowly as to miss a major source of measurement error (raters) or have estimated the unreliability due to raters using incorrect methods. In both cases, the result is upwardly biased estimates of reliability. We estimate reliabilities using intraclass correlation and generalizability coefficients. Our reliability estimates suggest substantial measurement error in the types of HR effectiveness and HR practice measures typically used to predict firm performance. We discuss how this degree of measurement influences research and policy implications

The Peculiar Motions of Early-Type Galaxies in Two Distant Regions. IV. The Photometric Fitting Procedure

The EFAR project is a study of 736 candidate early-type galaxies in 84 clusters lying in two regions towards Hercules-Corona Borealis and Perseus-Cetus at distances $cz \approx 6000-15000$ km/s. In this paper we describe a new method of galaxy photometry adopted to derive the photometric parameters of the EFAR galaxies. The algorithm fits the circularized surface brightness profiles as the sum of two seeing-convolved components, an $R^{1/4}$ and an exponential law. This approach allows us to fit the large variety of luminosity profiles displayed by the EFAR galaxies homogeneously and to derive (for at least a subset of these) bulge and disk parameters. Multiple exposures of the same objects are optimally combined and an optional sky-fitting procedure has been developed to correct for sky subtraction errors. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations are analyzed to test the performance of the algorithm and estimate the size of random and {\it systematic} errors. Random errors are small, provided that the global signal-to-noise ratio of the fitted profiles is larger than $\approx 300$. Systematic errors can result from 1) errors in the sky subtraction, 2) the limited radial extent of the fitted profiles, 3) the lack of resolution due to seeing convolution and pixel sampling, 4) the use of circularized profiles for very flattened objects seen edge-on and 5) a poor match of the fitting functions to the object profiles. Large systematic errors are generated by the widely used simple $R^{1/4}$ law to fit luminosity profiles when a disk component, as small as 20% of the total light, is present.Comment: 47 pages, Latex File, aaspp4.sty, flushrt.sty, 16 Postscript figures, to appear in ApJ

To downsize human capital: The strategic human resource outcomes of downsizing

Downsizing is one of the most frequently used business strategies for reducing costs, returning firms to profit or for restructuring businesses following takeovers, mergers and acquisitions. Downsizing measures are also set to become much more prevalent in the public sector as governments seek to restrict levels of public spending. This book is one of the first to provide a thorough study of downsizing from a global perspective. It examines the phenomenon in its entirety, exploring how it is initiated and what the process of downsizing looks like. It also looks at the effects of downsizing at a number of different levels, from the individual (e.g., motivational effects, effects on health and stress levels) to the organizational (e.g., financial outcomes, reputational and productivity outcomes). Written by an international team of experts, the book provides a comprehensive overview of downsizing that examines both the strategic and human implications of this process