Knowledge that Transforms

An important consideration when using questionnaires in organizational research is whether or not they should be administered under anonymous or identified but confidential response conditions. If the responses are to be used with other data (e.g., that obtainable from personnel files), respondent identification is mandatory. Research findings in the literature on the anonymity question suffer from two main inadequacies. First the research subjects may be students, thereby making inferences for research using employees impractical. Second, the research using employees as subjects does not deal with issues of high risk (e.g., a subordinate's perception of the technical expertise of his supervisor). The present study recognized these limitations by (1) using employees of a public agency as subjects and (2) dealing with high risk issues. The researchers concluded that under the anonymous condition, responses will be significantly more negative than under the IBC condition.

Relationships between life style-work group structure compatibility, life style compatibility with co-workers and supervisors, and job satisfaction among registered nurses (RNs) were examined. Persona listic-coordinative and formalistic-bureaucratic compatibilities explained 41% of the variance in satisfaction with work; RN-co-worker and RN-supervisor formalistic compatibility explained 40o of the variance in satisfaction with co-workers; 57%o of the variance in satisfaction with supervisor was explained by the following compatibilities: RN-supervisor formalistic and sociocentric, RN-co-worker sociocentric, and sociocentric-collaborative, and the personalistic life style dimension; 52% of satisfaction with pay was explained by the personalistic and coordinative dimensions, and sociocentric-collaborative and RN-co-worker personalistic compatibilities; and RN-co-worker personalistic compatibility explained 15% of the variance in satisfaction with promotions. Implications for increasing various components of job satisfaction for RNs were discussed.

Although the period from approximately 1900 until the late 1920's is commonly seen as a time in which mechanistic models of management and organization predominated, several outstanding humanistic management writers and practitioners also emerged. An outstanding example of these industrial humanists was Henry Dennison. Among his employee-centered innovations at Dennison Manufacturing Company was that firm's employee representation plan. This plan opened upward channels of communications for employees and contributed to the granting of numerous employee benefits. While such contributions would be judged as modest by today's standards, the representation plan was an innovation for its time and was typical of the employee-oriented programs instituted by Dennison.

This research effort examines the degree of and relationship among role ambiguity, job-related tension, and job satisfaction in a hospital environment. The specific research subjects chosen were hospital unit managers. Adaptation of the Kahn et al. national study was used to establish Role Ambiguity and Job Tension Indexes. The Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Index provided data concerning this latter variable. Findings of this study indicate that although the nature of the Unit Manager position is inherently satisfying, environmental factors contribute to a high degree of role ambiguity and job tension which tend to limit the satisfaction derived from the work.

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the behavior pattern of leaders and the willingness of their subordinates to share information. Measures of information sharing norms were obtained from 250 individuals within business organizations along with assessments of the leadership behaviors of their supervisors. Factor analysis of the information sharing measures revealed five information categories. Factor analysis of the leadership measures yielded two dimensions of leadership behavior. Leaders who gave greater emphasis to their personal relationships with subordinates in their leadership patterns were found to have subordinates with greater willingness to share information than leaders who were not oriented to personal relationships. As the degree of control exercised by the leader over his subordinates increased, the tendency for the subordinates to share information decreased.