As Chief of Ordnance for the U.S. Army for over 16 years, Major General William Crozier became closely involved in the implementation of Frederick W. Taylor's scientific management in Army arsenals. Although much has been reported about Taylor and his followers, this article describes the contributions and tribulations of a practitioner who represented one of Taylor's clients during the turbulent implementation of Taylor's ideas.
Evaluation of organizational development (OD) interventions, especially with regard to gamma change, is criticalfor both OD practitioners and researchers. Yet how to assess gamma change has not been adequately resolved. An 18-month field study of an OD intervention was used to explore empirically two alternative procedures for assessing gamma change-namely the methods of Golembiewski, Billingsley and Yeager (1976b) as compared to a modification of the methods of Terborg, Howard, and Maxwell (1980). Results suggest important differences between the methods and these differences are explored in detail.
The point is made that employee separation researchers have failed to distinguish among separation criteria, leading to inaccurate parameter estimation and evaluation. It is recommended that separation be viewed as either a dichotomous (e.g., avoidable vs. unavoidable or functional vs. dysfunctional) or a dichotomized variable (e.g., membership in a longor short-tenure group). Likewise, it is argued that type of separation criterion specified determines the appropriateness of a specific estimator. In the case of a truly dichotomous criterion, the point-biserial correlation is of interest, whereas in the case of a dichotomized criterion, the biserial correlation is the proper estimator. Related statistical issues are addressed.
Countercyclical hiring (CCH) has been proposed as a limited alternative to conventional procyclical hiring. An empirical investigation of CCH was conducted on the basis of survey responses from 137 companies. For companies practicing CCH, cost and lack of meaningful work were found to be the most important of six potential inhibiting influences. Conversely, opportunities to hire higher quality experienced and entry level applicants were viewed as the most important of nine encouraging influences. Variables associated with CCH practice were identified through use of regression analysis. Human resource forecasting (HRF) for the purpose of avoiding shortages of qualified personnel and industry variables were found to be associated with the practice of CCH. No associations were foundfor the perceived importance of human resource planning (HRP), company size, the importance of maintaining a "regular" age distribution, or emphasis on management development.
Herman Hollerith developed electric tabulating machines to be used in compiling, aggregating, and totaling data itemsfor the 1890 United States census. Hollerith's innovative genius and success with the electric tabulation of complex data laid the foundation for the computer industry and contributed to the development of management information systems.
A laboratory simulation was conducted in order to examine the influence of assessees' pattern of performance (ascending, consistently average, descending) on: (a) assessor ratings of assessee performance, (b) assessor attributionsfor assessee performance and, (c) rating accuracy. The influence of rating frequency (i.e., rating at the end of each exercise versus rating after all exercises have been concluded) on assessor accuracy was also examined. As predicted, assessees who exhibit different patterns of performance receive different ratings even though their overall level of performance is similar. More specifically, the ascending performer was rated higher in terms of leadership, decision-making, and persuasiveness, than either the consistently average or descending performer. It was alsofound that descending and ascending performance was attributed more to motivation causes than consistently average performance, and that descending performance was attributed more to ability causes (i.e., a lack of ability) than either the ascending or consistently average performer. With respect to rating accuracy, it was found that descending and ascending performance was rated more accurately than consistently average performance and that subjects who made ratings at the conclusion of each exercise did not make more accurate overall assessment ratings than those subjects who made overall assessment ratings only. Instead, it was found that the accuracy of overall assessment ratings was greatest when ratings collected after each exercise were averaged. The implications of these results for assessment center procedures is discussed.
The relationship between managerial style and business unit performance has received considerable attention at a conceptual level during the past decade. However, very little empirical testing of the relationship between characteristics of the three components of managerial style (personality traits, background characteristics, and managerial behaviors) and performance has been conducted. This article reports the results of a study of the relationships among characteristics of the three components of managerial style, business unit strategy, and business unit performance. Support is found for contingency and universal relationships among the variables. Implications forfuture research are also discussed.
This study examined the relationship of strategy and beliefs about the environment to performance outcomes. By means of an assetlliability simulation game, the performance of 64 "banks" was monitored and data were collected on strategic decisions and environmental assessments. Results indicate that systematic differences in performance emerged most sharply when beliefs about the environment differed rather than as a result of differences in strategies.
In contrast to a large body of goal-setting research, recent findings suggest that challenging goals may not be beneficial when effective task strategies are not readily identifiable. In such settings goals may stimulate excessive strategy search, degrading overall performance. Two alternative aids to developing effective task strategies (restricting search or providing training in search methods) were examined in a laboratory study. Ninety-four subjects performed a stock prediction task under conditions of specific, challenging, or "do your best" goals and different task strategy interventions. The results of analyses demonstrated that the benefits of the strategy interventions were realized only if subjects were given also a specific challenging goal. Implications for goal setting theory and research are discussed.
This field study was conducted to investigate the impact of factors relating to supervisor-subordinate affective relationship and work relationship, supervisor job tenure, and subordinate performance level on supervisor attributions of subordinate performance. The results indicate that the length and nature of supervisor-subordinate work relationship and supervisor job tenure significantly affect supervisor attributions of subordinate performance to internal or external causes. The results for supervisor-subordinate affective relationship and subordinate performance level conflict with previous, predominantly laboratory-based, research. Reasons are discussedfor these results. Implications for practice are also offered.