Job satisfaction and life satisfaction: Analysis of a reciprocal model with social demographic moderators

The general objective of the study was to empirically test a reciprocal model of job satisfaction and life satisfaction while controlling for some social demographic variables. 827 employees working in 34 car dealerships in Northern Quebec (56% responses rate) were surveyed. The multiple item questionnaires were analysed using correlation analysis, chi square and ANOVAs. Results show interesting patterns emerging for the relationships between job and life satisfaction of which 49.2% of all individuals have spillover, 43.5% compensation, and 7.3% segmentation type of relationships. Results, nonetheless, are far richer and the model becomes much more refined when social demographic indicators are taken into account. Globally, social demographic variables demonstrate some effects on each satisfaction individually but also on the interrelation (nature of the relations) between life and work satisfaction.Job satisfaction, life satisfaction, spillover-compensation-segmentation model

Managing by values in the next milenium: Cultural redesign for strategic organizational change

The system of beliefs and values, that shaped the model for management and organizations during the 20th century, is just not good enough today. In order to keep a business functioning well and competing successfully in markets that are increasingly more global, complex, professionally demanding, constantly changing and oriented towards quality and customer satisfaction a new model is needed. In this paper, we will propose that both Management by Instructions (MBI) and Management by Objectives (MBO) today give notoriously inadequate results. By contrast, description of a new approach labeled: Management by Values (MBV), seem to be emerging as a strategic leadership tool. The paper outlines this approach and discusses the implementation of MBV as a tool to redesign culture in organizations and prepare them for the next millenium.Managing by values, management in new milenium, strategic leadership

Identifying Female Officer Potential: An Exploration in Predictors' Payoff

Cette étude examine l'efficacité d'un système de prédiction à multiples prédicteurs, système qui est compare à d'autres systèmes n'utilisant qu'un seul prédicteur. Cette comparaison a été effectuée dans le but de mettre au point un système permettant d'identifier plus efficacement le potentiel des officiers. De plus, elle évalue la validité d'une combinaison clinique de prédicateurs et compare celle-ci à la validité d'une combinaison mécanique-statistique. Deux groupes de cadets de l'armée, dont l'un de 481 sujets et l'autre de 396 sujets, ont participe à l'étude de la validité des prédicateurs et le score final de chaque cadet a été utilise comme critère de succès. L'une des conclusions principales de cette étude est que le système de sélection à multiples prédicateurs est significativement plus efficace que n'importe quel système à prédiction unique. Il faut noter que, de tous les prédicateurs, la désignation par les pairs (score sociométrique) possède la valeur prédictive la plus élevée. Enfin, les résultats démontrent que la combinaison statistique-mécanique de prédicateurs est supérieure à la combinaison clinique.This study examines the effectiveness of multi-predictor selection System as compared with any other alternative selection system which relies on only one predictor

L'évaluation des directions des ressources humaines dans le secteur public québécois

Cet article présente les résultats d'une recherche empirique sur l'évaluation de l'efficacité des directions des ressources humaines (DRH) dans le secteur public québécois selon l'approche par les clients. Cette méthode mesure l'efficacité des DRH par la satisfaction de leurs clients. Le modèle proposé et testé distingue les attentes et la satisfaction des clients (contrairement aux travaux précédents) et tient compte des effets des caractéristiques des DRH sur l'évaluateur (le client). Les résultats de l'étude confirment globalement les grandes conclusions de Tsui (1987, 1990) quant à l'existence de différences significatives dans la satisfaction et les attentes des clients tout en apportant quelques modifications méthodologiques. Aussi, de façon globale, les conclusions mettent en relief l'effet de trois variables indépendantes (l'engagement des clients, la compétence des membres des DRH, la fréquence des contacts des clients avec leur DRH) sur la satisfaction des clients selon les deux axes « relations du travail » et « gestion des ressources humaines ».Every organization (and department) needs to undertake a periodic analysis to pinpoint its existing strengths and weaknesses. At present, there is a growing interest among organizations about learning how to conduct a systematic human resources (HR) assessment. The evaluation of the HR function and its relationship to organizational effectiveness results in an understanding that is useful when modelling the path toward strategie human resources management. Thus, evaluation and control mechanisms are a requisite and contributing factor to the credibility and acceptance of HR management in the eyes of corporate management.Although management understands the need for assessing the effectiveness of their HR services, the approaches and instruments avallable to carry out this task are not very well developed. Recently, however, an approach called "multiple constituency" has emerged. The premise behind this approach is that the effectiveness of the HR department is determined by its reputation with constituents or clients. The multiple constituency approach is on the rise, given the importance accorded to customer satisfaction in the general management literature. With the proliferation of general concepts such as "total quality", "zero defects" and the like, this study attempts to develop a model applicable to human resources; it measures constituent satisfaction with various HR activities (i.e. the dependent variable) as an indicator of the effectiveness of the HR department. Nevertheless, given the notion of limited resources, the underlying assumption in this study is that an effective HR department is one that is able to identify the critical constituents in its organization (i.e., hospitals in this study), and to attempt to satisfy these constituent groups first and foremost. By contrast, it is also assumed that an HR department which falls to address these "core groups", may allocate time, money, and other resources to less important constituents and consequently may have less impact on the organization's overall effectiveness. Thus, the two research questions addressed in this study are:1. What are the key variables affecting the level of satisfaction of different constituent groups with their human resource department?2. Are there differences or similarities pertaining to the level of satisfaction with the HR services amongst the various constituent groups?In order to test the model, the collaboration of the Quebec Hospital Association was sought. A stratified sample was used to select 35 general hospitals (i.e., 12 large, 12 medium-sized and 11 small) of which 27 finally agreed to collaborate. Two types of instruments (questionnaires) were developed to measure 5 principal constituent groups' perceptions about their respective HR effectiveness. The groups included: (1) senior executives, (2) middle managers, (3) nurses, (4) professional employees, and (5) blue-collar workers. In parallel, all of the HR directors were given questionnaires which enabled them to supply information about their services and department (i.e., size, qualifications of the staff in the HR unit, etc.). Based on this stratified sample, and the requirement of a minimum of 42 questionnaires per hospital (i.e., a minimum of 7 employees selected at random for each constituent group), a 68.5% response rate was obtained.The fact that multiple sources of information were used and that analyses were done across hospitals and constituent groups (i.e., the aggregate nature of the analyses), reduced the problem of "method-variance" in the findings.A model pertaining to the determinants of client satisfaction with (and expectations of) the HR department was developed. The determinants of clients' satisfaction (and expectations) were divided into two principal groups: (l)those pertaining to client characteristics (i.e., seniority, age, commitment to the hospital, gender, level of autonomy, frequency of contacts with the HR department, and constituent affiliation), (2) those pertaining to HR department's characteristics (size, power, seniority of the HR department, qualifications of the HR staff, education and the general orientation of the HR strategy in conducting the HR activities). All in all, the results supported the general usefulness of the multiple constituency approach. First, the results of the factorial analysis suggested that the 10 facets of HR activities (i.e., staffing, training, remuneration, etc.) can be grouped into only two dimensions which were labelled in the study: "labour relations" and "traditional HR". Second, it was demonstrated that different constituents have significant differences in their level of satisfaction with respect to labour relations activities ÇF=11.6; P=.001). By contrast, no significant differences in satisfaction were found for the traditional HR dimension. As regards to expectations of the HR department, a significant difference was found for both labour relations and traditional HR activities. Moreover, the findings revealed that three independent variables play a major role in explaining variance in satisfaction with the HR services: (1) level of commitment of the constituent to the hospital, (2) professional qualification of the HR staff, and (3) the frequency of contacts the constituent has with the human resource department. Other findings shed more light on the level of expectation constituents have toward their HR services. The study concludes with a short discussion on how an HR department can increase its effectiveness under circumstances of compatibility and non-compatibility with its clients' expectations, and how the HR department should intervene in order to increase satisfaction thereby increasing effectiveness

L’absentéisme hospitalier au Québec : aspects culturels et socio-démographiques

Cet article porte sur certains aspects de l'absentéisme en milieu hospitalier au Québec. L'intérêt principal ici réside dans la remise en question de certaines pratiques analytiques.Research on sociodemographical and cultural determinants of work absenteeism has been plagued with empirically inconsistent results. It has been suggested that the failure to analyze the data beyond a simple linear bivariate approach, as well as insufficient levels of aggregation (eg: individual without organizational units) is possibly responsible for the inconsistencies.This study was designed to demonstrate these deficiencies. Although the study is limited in scope, an attempt has been made to compare and contrast the different results that could be obtained when a linear, as opposed to interactive, approach is used. And further, it raises many questions concerning the adequacy of published research which attributes absenteeism to sociodemographical characteristics without delving into the real complexity of this phenomenon.Four hundred seven (407) subjects employed in six Québec hospitals, representing a wide variety of occupations, participated in this study. Personal and sociodemographical characteristics were obtained from questionnaires administered in the course of another research project carried out by the authors.The results show a significant difference in absenteeism depending on the level and type of the analysis performed. For example, it is found that the mean absence rate for the ' 'Francophone hospitals" was significantly higher than that of the "Anglophone hospitals". Cultural reasons are advanced to explain these differences.At the individual level of analysis, several findings emerge. First, it is shown that sex is an important determinant of absence behavior. Such finding is consistent with other published results, which point out that women have significantly higher rates of absence than men. Yet, when further analysis is undertaken, the concomitant effects of other related sociodemographic variables are more clearly revealed. For example, married women are absent more often than single women while the opposite tendency is found for men. The combined effect of sex and marital status may point to an explanation of absenteeism in terms of "family social responsibility". This explanation differs from that which might be advanced based on the simple analysis of each of these variables treated independently. Further, bivariate analysis of absence by the level of education, shows an inverse relationship between these two variables. However, when the same analysis is repeated, adjusting for sex, it is found that women have systematically higher rates of absence in each category of education. Other relationships found for income, age and absenteeism are also discussed in the text.The implications of the results are discussed in terms of a research strategy for the conduct of a sociodemographical and cultural study of absenteeism

A Real Estate Agency's Level Analysis of the Climate-Performance Relationship

La recherche en matière de relation entre le climat organisationnel et le rendement au travail a été entachée de résultats empiriquement inconsistants. L'inconsistance des observations a été attribuée aux principaux facteurs suivants: l'analyse du rendement à un niveau inapproprié, soit au niveau individuel plutôt qu'à celui du service ou de l'unité de production; la négligence à prendre en compte d'autres variables structurelles, tels les paramètres sociodémographiques qui opèrent concomitamment avec le climat organisationnel sur le rendement au travail. La présente étude tente d'établir la variance explicative du climat organisationnel sur le rendement au travail en tenant compte des variables socio-demographiques pertinentes au niveau de l'unité d'opération. Vingt-neuf (29) agences de courtage immobilier ont compose l'échantillon des unités d'opérations soumises à l'étude. Le climat organisationnel caractéristique de chaque agence a été identifie à l'aide d'une adaptation du questionnaire ACQ {Agency Climate Questionnaire de Schneider et Bartlett, 1970). Les données relatives aux traits sociodémographiques des agents, tels l'ancienneté d'emploi et le niveau d'instruction, ont aussi été colligées pour chaque unité opérationnelle de l'échantillon. Deux indices relativement objectifs du rendement des agences furent retenus: le nombre total de transactions indiquant l'ensemble des activités de chaque bureau et le revenu en dollars reflétant la rentabilité du bureau. Les analyses révèlent la contribution propre et significativement forte du climat organisationnel à expliquer le rendement au travail (60 à 70 pourcent). Les implications des observations sont discutées en référence aux unités d'analyse et aux particularités organisationnelles.The autors aim at ascertaining whether perceived organisational climate alone explains any significant portion of variance in work performance and to examine whether the concomitant entrance of selected sociodemographic variables yields any additional contribution in explaining performance

Managing by Values: Cultural redesign for strategic organizational change at the dawn of the 21st century

The system of beliefs and values, that shaped the model for management and organizations during the 20th century, is just not good enough today. In order to keep a business functioning well and competing successfully in markets that are increasingly more global, complex, professionally demanding, constantly changing and oriented towards quality and customer satisfaction a new model is needed. In this paper, we will propose that both Management by Instructions (MBI) and Management by Objectives (MBO) today give notoriously inadequate results. By contrast, description of a new approach labeled: Management by Values (MBV), seem to be emerging as a strategic leadership tool. The paper outlines this approach and discusses the implementation of MBV as a tool to redesign culture in organizations and prepare them for the next millenium

Identifier les rapports entre la satisfaction au travail et celle hors travail : vers un modèle polymorphique de la relation

The general objective of the study was to empirically test a reciprocal model of job satisfaction and life satisfaction while controlling for some social demographic variables. 827 employees working in 34 car dealerships in Northern Quebec (56% responses rate) were surveyed. The multiple item questionnaires were analysed using correlation analysis, chi square and ANOVAs. Results show interesting patterns emerging for the relationships between job and life satisfaction of which 49.2% of all individuals have spillover, 43.5% compensation, and 7.3% segmentation type of relationships. Results, nonetheless, are far richer and the model becomes much more refined when social demographic indicators are taken into account. Globally, social demographic variables demonstrate some effects on each satisfaction individually but also on the interrelation (nature of the relations) between life and work satisfaction