When stressors make you work: Mechanisms linking challenge stressors to performance

Based on previous empirical findings, “challenge stressors” (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Bouderau, 2000 Cavanaugh, M. A., Boswell, W. R., Roehling, M. V., & Boudreau, J. W. (2000). An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among U.S. managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 65–74. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.85.1.65[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Lepine, Podsakoff, & Lepine, 2005 LePine, J. A., Podsakoff, N. P., & LePine, M. A. (2005). A meta-analytic test of the challenge stressor hindrance stressor framework: An explanation for inconsistent relationships among stressors and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 764–775. doi: 10.5465/AMJ.2005.18803921[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), such as the amount and scope of responsibility, can be loosely considered as “good stressors” that are consistently and positively related to job satisfaction and performance. We introduce the role of appraisal to further examine how challenge stressors are connected to performance. Structural equation modelling analyses using an applied sample of 284 employee–supervisor dyads showed that affective commitment to the organization mediated the relationship between both opportunity and threat appraisal and performance (in-role and extra-role). The mediating role of increased psychosomatic distress was supported only for the relationship between threat appraisal and in-role performance. The findings indicate the importance of taking into account the actual appraisal of “challenge stressors”, as it carries implications for performance, and reveals the key role of affective commitment and induced distress mechanisms in this relationship. In conclusion, “challenge stressors” are not always positively related to performance, but only when they are perceived as opportunities.     

Reverse exchange of healthcare devices: the case of hearing aid equipment in the UK

Abstract

Reverse exchange (RE) in dealing with the return, recycle and reuse of products is receiving a growing focus. When properly handled, RE in healthcare can deliver an economic benefit of cost minimisation and has extensive positive impacts on both human health and the environment (Li and Olorunniwo 2008 Li, X., and F. Olorunniwo. 2008. “An Exploration of Reverse Logistics Practices in Three Companies.” Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 13 (5): 381–386. doi:10.1108/13598540810894979[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) but to date, RE research is mostly limited to pharmaceutical return. This paper investigates the potential for RE benefits in the UK National Health Service (NHS) supply chain for medical devices. Hearing aids supplied to adults with hearing loss are used as an illustrative example. This research applied a consensus approach through the use of dispersed nominal groups in order to obtain qualitative data on information, barriers, solutions and priorities to support findings. Findings illustrate that the end user behaviour of returning the device, and the requirement by NHS Procurement for manufacturers to meet RE targets are secondary to the importance of audiology departments who have the autonomy to design RE processes and successfully implement initiatives. A schematic highlighting the information and materials flow of the supply chain and the barriers and facilitators to RE is presented for hearing aid devices with potential for transferability to other small medical device supply chains.     

Further Evaluation of the Accuracy of Managerial Prediction of Employee Preference

Previous research (i.e., Wilder, Rost, &; McMahon, 2007 Wilder, D. A., Rost, K. and McMahon, M. 2007. The accuracy of managerial prediction of employee preference: A brief report. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 27(2): 1–14. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) has suggested that managers perform poorly when predicting items and activities which their employees state that they might like to earn as part of performance improvement programs. The purpose of the current study was to replicate the earlier study conducted by Wilder et al. (2007 Wilder, D. A., Rost, K. and McMahon, M. 2007. The accuracy of managerial prediction of employee preference: A brief report. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 27(2): 1–14. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) with a larger and more diverse sample of managers and employees. One hundred employees and 15 managers were asked to rank order a list of items/activities they thought their employees would most prefer to be incorporated into a performance improvement plan. Next, employee preference for these same items was directly assessed using an employee reinforcer survey. Kendall rank-order correlation coefficients were used to compare the results of the managerial rank with the employee reinforcer survey. Correlations ranged from ?.6 to 1, with a mean of .25.     

A temporal investigation of the direct,interactive, and reverse relations between demand and control and affective strain

Abstract

Few studies have tested how stressors affect outcomes over time. We sought to extend the literature by means of a longitudinal study testing for direct, interactive, and causal relations between demands and control and affective strain. We extended prior work testing causal relationships for Karasek's (1979 Karasek, R.A. Jr. 1979. Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24: 285–307. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Job Demand-Control (JDC) model by examining both the effects of demands and control on strain and in turn the effects of strain on demand and control. We tested our hypotheses using hierarchical linear modelling with a military sample of 1539 soldiers who completed six waves of survey data at 3-month time lags. The results replicate earlier cross-sectional studies reporting effects of work characteristics on strain; however, in our study these effects did not persist past three months. The results also provide evidence for reverse causal effects such that higher strain was associated with higher subsequent work overload and lower control over a six month time period. Similar to past research, we did not find support for the interactive effects of work overload and control on strain. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice (such as the optimum time for applying interventions during the management of change), especially in terms of understanding the specific time lags for different stress–strain associations and the need for additional theories to explain reverse relationships.     

The educational orientation of participants in postgraduate managerial study programmes in Poland

The health care industry in Taiwan has faced many challenges in recent years. To tackle those challenges, many hospitals in Taiwan began using management techniques used in other industries. As a result, quality management has become important within Taiwan's health care industry. This study provides a perspective on how this health care industry, by developing both quality control circle (QCC) practices and organizational learning techniques, responded to those challenges. In this study, the authors conducted a comprehensive review of studies published between 1995 and 2007 in Taiwan. The review focused on the quality management, QCC, organizational learning and health care organization aspects reported in previous studies. The authors applied the 4Is (intuiting, interpreting, integrating and institutionalizing) conceptual framework of Crossan et al. (1999 Crossan, M. M., Lane, H. W. and White, R. E. 1999. An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24(3): 522–537. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) (Crossan, M.M., H.W. Lane, and R.E. White. 1999 Crossan, M. M., Lane, H. W. and White, R. E. 1999. An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24(3): 522–537. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review 24, no. 3: 522–37). in their discussion of the linkage between quality improvement activities and organizational learning. The results revealed the existence of a link between organizational learning and QCC activities. In addition, the reviewed QCC activities facilitated organizational learning and contributed to health care quality improvements in the studied hospitals. Finally, QCC practices in hospitals facilitated dissemination of organizational learning concepts in those hospitals.     

Assessing and Increasing Staff Preference for Job Tasks Using Concurrent-Chains Schedules and Probabilistic Outcomes

The assessment and improvement of staff members' subjective valuation of nonpreferred work tasks may be one way to increase the quality of staff members' work life. The Task Enjoyment Motivation Protocol (Green, Reid, Passante, &; Canipe, 2008 Green, C. W., Reid, D. H., Passante, S. and Canipe, V. 2008. Changing less-preferred duties to more-preferred: A potential strategy for improving supervisor work enjoyment. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 28: 90–109. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) provides a process for supervisors to identify the aversive qualities of nonpreferred job tasks. Through participative management, the process reduces these aversive qualities while increasing the appetitive properties via the pairing of these tasks with enjoyable consequences. The present study provides an extension of Green et al.'s work through utilization of a concurrent-chains schedule arrangement via the pairing of reinforcing consequences with a target job task using probabilistic outcomes to directly assess job task preferences for eight direct support staff in a human service organization.     

Evaluating Behavioral Self-Monitoring With Accuracy Training for Changing Computer Work Postures

The primary purpose of this study was to replicate and extend a study by Gravina, Austin, Schroedter, and Loewy (2008) Gravina, N., Austin, J, Schroedter, L. and Loewy, S. 2008. The effects of self-monitoring on safe postural performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 28: 238–259. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. A similar self-monitoring procedure, with the addition of self-monitoring accuracy training, was implemented to increase the percentage of observations in which participants worked in neutral postures. The accuracy training required the three participants to practice self-monitoring with the experimenter at least 20 times and to meet the criteria of 90% accuracy for the last 10 monitors. Feedback was delivered after each monitor. Two postures for each of the three participants were targeted by the intervention, and all six improved with an average effect size of 4.7 (range: 3.4 to 8.2) compared to Gravina et al., in which effect sizes averaged 1.9 (range:??.1 to 3.2). In addition, participant self-monitoring was more accurate overall (77%) when compared to Gravina et al. (44%).     

5 Bringing National Culture to the Table: Making a Difference with Cross‐cultural Differences and Perspectives

Abstract

Cross‐cultural research has achieved a front‐and‐center role in management and social psychology. In this chapter, we attempt to address the fundamental issue of what makes cross‐cultural research valuable. In doing so, we first summarize major methodological and conceptual themes across recent reviews. We then raise the question about the criticality of cross‐cultural differences, i.e., whether cross‐cultural differences are required for research in this domain to matter. Most efforts exerted by cross‐cultural researchers have been directed toward uncovering and explaining cross‐cultural differences, or finding better ways to do so. However, differences per se do not necessarily make an important difference in advancing knowledge. Instead, we argue that a more fundamental value of cross‐cultural research is the diverse perspectives it offers for theoretical innovation. Using Wagner and Berger’s (1985 Wagner, D.G. and Berger, J. 1985. Do sociological theories grow?. American Journal of Sociology, 90: 697–728. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) typology, we examine how the inclusion of “other cultural” perspectives has contributed to knowledge growth in social psychology and organizational behavior. We conclude with suggestions for how the field can further realize the inherent benefits of diverse cultural perspectives in future research.     

Building better measures of role ambiguity and role conflict: The validation of new role stressor scales

Occupational stress researchers have given considerable attention to role ambiguity and role conflict as predictors of employee health, job attitudes and behaviour. However, the validity of the Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman’s (1970 Rizzo, J. R., House, R. J., &; Lirtzman, S. I. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15, 150–163. doi: 10.2307/2391486[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) scales – the most popular role stressor measures – has been a source of disagreement among researchers. In response to the disputed validity of the Rizzo et al. scales, we developed new measures of role ambiguity and role conflict and conducted five studies to examine their psychometric qualities (Study 1 N?=?101 U.S. workers; Study 2 N?=?118 workers primarily employed in the U.S.; Study 3 N?=?135 employed U.S. MBA students; Study 4 N?=?973 members of the U.S. Air Force (USAF); Study 5 N?=?234 workers primarily employed in the U.S.). Across these five studies, we found that the new role stressor scales have desirable psychometric qualities: they displayed high levels of substantive validity, high levels of internal consistency and test–retest reliability, they produced an interpretable factor structure, and we found evidence of their construct validity. We therefore recommend that these new scales be used in future research on role stress.     

Note on inventory models with Weibull distribution deterioration

This article explores the inventory model with a general demand rate function in which both the Weibull distributed deterioration and partial backlogging are considered. The inventory model discussed here is based on the important finding by Wu [Wu, K.S., 2001. An EOQ inventory model for items with Weibull distribution deterioration, ramp type demand rate and partial backlogging. Production Planning and Control, 12, 787–793]. There are four parts in our research. First, we derive the analytical framework of the inventory model for a general demand rate function1 1.?Based on detailed suggestions of Professor Wafik H. Iskander, Email: whiskander@mail.wvu.edu . Second, for the ramp type demand, we improve Wu's model to find the criterion to guarantee the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution. Third, we develop a new model to compensate for the missing case in Wu's article. Fourth, we combine our results to show that our findings are applicable to the ramp type demand inventory model, so that the optimal solution is independent of the demand function. Finally, some numerical examples and graphs are provided to illustrate our discovery and demonstrate the application of our analytical framework.     

The Use of Video Modeling,Prompting, and Feedback to Increase Credit Card Promotion in a Retail Setting

We evaluated the use of video modeling, role play, prompting, and feedback to increase credit card promotion by sales associates in a retail setting. We first used the Performance Diagnostic Checklist (Austin, 2000 Austin, J. 2000. “Performance analysis and performance diagnostics”. In Handbook of applied behavior analysis, Edited by: Austin, J. and Carr, J. E. 321–349. Reno, NV: Context Press.  [Google Scholar]) to identify the variables contributing to the poor performance of two sales associates. Based on the results, we developed an intervention package that included a video model, instructional prompt cards, role play, and feedback. During baseline, target employees asked a mean of 26% of customers to enroll in the credit card program. Following intervention, target employees asked a mean of 84% of customers to enroll in the credit card program. Furthermore, employees rated the intervention as enjoyable, as effective, and as a system that they would continue to use. The results illustrate the effectiveness of video modeling, prompting, and feedback in increasing credit card promotions and delivering critical information about the card to daily customers.     

A primal–dual online algorithm for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-server problem on weighted HSTs

In this paper, we show that there is a \(\frac{5}{2}\ell \cdot \ln (1+k)\)-competitive randomized algorithm for the k-sever problem on weighted Hierarchically Separated Trees (HSTs) with depth \(\ell \) when \(n=k+1\) where n is the number of points in the metric space, which improved previous best competitive ratio \(12 \ell \ln (1+4\ell (1+k))\) by Bansal et al. (FOCS, pp 267–276, 2011).     

1.61-approximation for min-power strong connectivity with two power levels

Given a directed simple graph \(G=(V,E)\) and a cost function \(c:E \rightarrow R_+\), the power of a vertex \(u\) in a directed spanning subgraph \(H\) is given by \(p_H(u) = \max _{uv \in E(H)} c(uv)\), and corresponds to the energy consumption required for wireless node \(u\) to transmit to all nodes \(v\) with \(uv \in E(H)\). The power of \(H\) is given by \(p(H) = \sum _{u \in V} p_H(u)\). Power Assignment seeks to minimize \(p(H)\) while \(H\) satisfies some connectivity constraint. In this paper, we assume \(E\) is bidirected (for every directed edge \(e \in E\), the opposite edge exists and has the same cost), while \(H\) is required to be strongly connected. Moreover, we assume \(c:E \rightarrow \{A,B\}\), where \(0 \le A < B\). We improve the best known approximation ratio from 1.75 (Chen et al. IEEE GLOBECOM 2005) to \(\pi ^2/6 - 1/36 + \epsilon \le 1.61\) using an adaptation of the algorithm developed by Khuller et al. [SIAM J Comput 24(4):859–872 1995, Discr Appl Math 69(3):281–289 1996] for (unweighted) Minimum Strongly Connected Subgraph.     

Equitable vertex arboricity of 5-degenerate graphs

Wu et al. (Discret Math 313:2696–2701, 2013) conjectured that the vertex set of any simple graph G can be equitably partitioned into m subsets so that each subset induces a forest, where \(\Delta (G)\) is the maximum degree of G and m is an integer with \(m\ge \lceil \frac{\Delta (G)+1}{2}\rceil \). This conjecture is verified for 5-degenerate graphs in this paper.     

Managing international manufacturing at plant and plant network levels – insights from five case studies

Abstract

In this study, we develop understanding of management of international manufacturing by a combined analysis of manufacturing firms’ plant networks and roles of individual plants within them. We elaborate the framework of Ferdows (1989 Ferdows, K. 1989. “Mapping International Factory Networks.” In Managing international manufacturing, edited by K. Ferdows, 3–21. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier Publishers. [Google Scholar]) at plant and network levels by analyzing data collected from five plant networks of global manufacturing companies and propose an enhanced framework consisting of four main role types with eleven plant roles, which have implications on the network level. The findings give interesting and novel insights into management of international manufacturing; we conclude that plant roles are more complex than conventionally considered and understanding of international manufacturing requires elaborated analysis at both plant and network levels.     

An FPTAS for generalized absolute 1-center problem in vertex-weighted graphs

Given a vertex-weighted undirected connected graph \(G = (V, E, \ell , \rho )\), where each edge \(e \in E\) has a length \(\ell (e) > 0\) and each vertex \(v \in V\) has a weight \(\rho (v) > 0\), a subset \(T \subseteq V\) of vertices and a set S containing all the points on edges in a subset \(E' \subseteq E\) of edges, the generalized absolute 1-center problem (GA1CP), an extension of the classic vertex-weighted absolute 1-center problem (A1CP), asks to find a point from S such that the longest weighted shortest path distance in G from it to T is minimized. This paper presents a simple FPTAS for GA1CP by traversing the edges in \(E'\) using a positive real number as step size. The FPTAS takes \(O( |E| |V| + |V|^2 \log \log |V| + \frac{1}{\epsilon } |E'| |T| {\mathcal {R}})\) time, where \({\mathcal {R}}\) is an input parameter size of the problem instance, for any given \(\epsilon > 0\). For instances with a small input parameter size \({\mathcal {R}}\), applying the FPTAS with \(\epsilon = \Theta (1)\) to the classic vertex-weighted A1CP can produce a \((1 + \Theta (1))\)-approximation in at most O(|E| |V|) time when the distance matrix is known and \(O(|E| |V| + |V|^2 \log \log |V|)\) time when the distance matrix is unknown, which are smaller than Kariv and Hakimi’s \(O(|E| |V| \log |V|)\)-time algorithm and \(O(|E| |V| \log |V| + |V|^3)\)-time algorithm, respectively.     

Approximation for maximizing monotone non-decreasing set functions with a greedy method

We study the problem of maximizing a monotone non-decreasing function \(f\) subject to a matroid constraint. Fisher, Nemhauser and Wolsey have shown that, if \(f\) is submodular, the greedy algorithm will find a solution with value at least \(\frac{1}{2}\) of the optimal value under a general matroid constraint and at least \(1-\frac{1}{e}\) of the optimal value under a uniform matroid \((\mathcal {M} = (X,\mathcal {I})\), \(\mathcal {I} = \{ S \subseteq X: |S| \le k\}\)) constraint. In this paper, we show that the greedy algorithm can find a solution with value at least \(\frac{1}{1+\mu }\) of the optimum value for a general monotone non-decreasing function with a general matroid constraint, where \(\mu = \alpha \), if \(0 \le \alpha \le 1\); \(\mu = \frac{\alpha ^K(1-\alpha ^K)}{K(1-\alpha )}\) if \(\alpha > 1\); here \(\alpha \) is a constant representing the “elemental curvature” of \(f\), and \(K\) is the cardinality of the largest maximal independent sets. We also show that the greedy algorithm can achieve a \(1 - (\frac{\alpha + \cdots + \alpha ^{k-1}}{1+\alpha + \cdots + \alpha ^{k-1}})^k\) approximation under a uniform matroid constraint. Under this unified \(\alpha \)-classification, submodular functions arise as the special case \(0 \le \alpha \le 1\).     

An improved parameterized algorithm for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-cluster vertex deletion problem

In the p-Cluster Vertex Deletion problem, we are given a graph \(G=(V,E)\) and two parameters k and p, and the goal is to determine if there exists a subset X of at most k vertices such that the removal of X results in a graph consisting of exactly p disjoint maximal cliques. Let \(r=p/k\). In this paper, we design a branching algorithm with time complexity \(O(\alpha ^k+|V||E|)\), where \(\alpha \) depends on r and has a rough upper bound \(\min \{1.618^{1+r},2\}\). With a more precise analysis, we show that \(\alpha =1.28\cdot 3.57^{r}\) for \(r\le 0.219\); \(\alpha =(1-r)^{r-1}r^{-r}\) for \(0.219< r<1/2\); and \(\alpha =2\) for \(r\ge 1/2\), respectively. Our algorithm also works with the same time complexity for the variant that the number of clusters is at most p. Our result improves the previous best time complexity \(O^*(1.84^{p+k})\) and implies that for fixed p the problem can be solved as efficiently as Vertex Cover.