Search results

Two studies were conducted to investigate the impact of socially‐induced positive affect on organizational conflict. In Study I, male and female subjects were provoked or not provoked, and then exposed to one of several treatments designed to induce positive affect among them. Results indicated that several of these procedures (e.g., mild flattery, a small gift, self‐deprecating remarks by an opponent) increased subjects' preference for resolving conflict through collaboration, but reduced their preference for resolving conflict through competition. In addition, self‐deprecating remarks by an opponent (actually an accomplice) increased subjects' willingness to make concessions to this person during negotiations. In Study 2, male and female subjects were exposed to two treatments designed to induce positive affect (humorous remarks, mild flattery). These were presented before, during, or after negotiations with another person (an accomplice). Both treatments reduced subjects' preferences for resolving conflict through avoidance and increased their preferences for resolving conflict through collaboration, but only when delivered during or immediately after negotiations. Together, the results of both studies suggest that simple interventions designed to induce positive affect among the parties to conflicts can yield several beneficial effects.

To examine the relationship between monochronic work behavior (behavior that minimizes interruptions on the job) and Type A behavior, 147 faculty members of a midsized private university responded to a set of questionnaires which measured monochronic work behaviors, Type A behavior, job‐induced stress, research productivity, and number of working projects. Type A behavior was significantly and positively correlated with monochronic behaviors – in other words, Type As were more likely to use behavioral strategies that reduced polychronic thought. Type A and monochronic behaviors were also significantly correlated with job‐induced stress and number of publications. Contrary to the hypothesis, Type A and monochronic behaviors were also positively and significantly correlated with number of working projects.

In 1969, Warren Nutter left the University of Virginia Department of Economics to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Nixon administration. During his time in the Defense Department, Nutter was deeply involved in laying the groundwork for a military coup against the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. Although Nutter left the Pentagon several months before the successful 1973 coup, his role in Chile was far more direct than the better-known cases of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, and Arnold Harberger. This chapter describes Nutter’s role in Chile policymaking in the Nixon administration. It shows how Nutter’s criticisms of Henry Kissinger are grounded in his economics, and compares and contrasts Nutter with other economists who have been connected to Pinochet’s dictatorship.

An essential part of any customer experience management strategy is providing a seamless experience. One of the roadblocks, often a recurring barrier, is the presence of silos. Many people see corporate silos as a function of the organisational structure. But that is only one part of the problem. Influencing siloed mindsets across the length and breadth of the organisation is probably a more significant challenge. The siloed structure and mindset together impact the culture of the organisation that, in turn, affects their quality of customer experience management. This chapter covers the essential aspects of understanding the meaning of silos, including a historical, cultural and organisational perspective on what creates silos. While silos are inevitable, their adverse consequences are not. This chapter provides directions on how to overcome the adverse aspects of silos, thereby enabling better management of customer experiences. Multiple examples, from a customer as well as an organisation point of view, are used to highlight this dimension. The chapter also covers the role of a leader in breaking a silo culture and enabling successful application of various strategies for customer experience management.

RICHARD DE BURY'S prayer that war, the great enemy of the book and therefore of the library, be averted must have risen to the minds of some librarians recently. As we write these lines international relations seem to have reached a boding complexity unrivalled since 1939 and with potentialities for ill as great or even greater. By the time these words appear we hope sanity and a calmer spirit will prevail and that the Christmas we face as librarians may indeed be a happy one. However that may be, the many frustrations all development, including library development, have suffered in the past year, are not likely to be overcome soon. The 35 to 50 millions our interruption for good or ill in the Israel‐Egyptian affair has cost—a relatively small matter financially against our national annual spendings of thousands of millions—are not likely to make for library progress. Yet, paradoxically, our greater advances in modern times have been the outcome of conditions created it would seem by war. The Great World War showed the naked need of the public library service in a way that the previous seventy years of peaceful advocacy had failed to do. Even greater progress came out of the Second World War. What was lost in each of these catastrophes no one has been able to calculate.

Competition is a prominent topic of discussion among academics and practitioners; yet the relevant literatures in management and psychology lack a consistent definition to describe this phenomenon. Consequently, much of the mixed results concerning competition's impact on attitudes and performance might be due to conceptual differences about the construct. A survey administered in a laboratory setting demonstrated individuals perceive different types of competition, and these different types had different impacts on attitudes and behavior. One type of competition identified here, the opportunity for informal competition, draws from a vast literature in social psychology—using social comparisons to evaluate performance. These results support broadening the definition of competition and expanding future research investigation efforts. Informal social competition can potentially benefit efforts to effectively direct and enhance motivation.

The purpose of this article is to empirically test whether applicants fake their responses to personality based employment inventories.

This study utilized a within subjects design to asses whether applicants elevated their scores in an applicant conditions. Subjects who applied for a job were later contacted and asked to complete the same personality measure under an honest instructional set. The within subjects design allowed the researcher to examine faking behavior at the individual level of analysis rather than draw inferences between applicant and incumbent groups.

Results suggest that a significant number of applicants do fake personality based selection measures. Depending on the confidence interval used between 30 and 50 percent of applicants elevated their scores when applying for a job. The results also show that applicant faking behavior resulted in significant rank ordering changes that impacted hiring decisions.

One limitation of the study is the exclusion of a job performance criterion measure. Without this measure definitive statements regarding the decay in the criterion validity of the measure cannot be made. While the study demonstrated rank ordering changes, decrements in criterion validity cannot be demonstrated without measuring job performance.

The practical implications of the paper are that personality measures should not be used alone. Rather they should be included in a test battery of measures that are less susceptible to faking behavior. In addition, applied researchers must continue research efforts to address the faking issue.

Empirical research has supported the notion that respondents can fake when instructed, however, other research has suggested that applicants do not fake in applied settings. This study is the first to provide substantial evidence that faking does occur in applicant settings and that is disrupts rank ordering of applicants.

Nuclear weapons confront us as the challenge of our times. To understand the special psychological and moral issues raised by nuclear arsenals and their use, we must first grasp the special nature of these weapons. In a recent book on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the authors highlighted a fact which often escapes public attention; namely, nuclear weapons, many times more powerful than the 12.5 kiloton uranium bomb and the 22 kiloton plutonium bomb dropped respectively on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are qualitatively different from conventional explosives.