bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Need Satisfactions and Employee Turnover
Authors: ROSS IAN C. , ZANDER ALVIN
Published: December 2006

In this study we establish the fact that the degree of satisfaction of certain personal needs supplied by a person's place of employment has a significant direct relationship to his continuing to work for that company. These personal needs are for recognition, for autonomy, for a feeling of doing work that is important, and for evaluation by fair standards. In addition, knowing important people in the organization is related to continued employment. There are some indications that anxiety develops in those employees who state that their needs for autonomy and fair evaluation are not satisfied.

In addition to the degree of need satisfaction provided by the job, we examined the degree to which the employment situation limits satisfactions which the worker can receive from his family and from his community. We found that the extent to which the job interferes with family and community satisfactions is related to turnover as strongly as the failure to receive need satisfactions on the job. But interference with off‐the‐job sources of satisfaction is not related to experiencing dissatisfaction on the job. We interpret these results to mean that there are two essentially different kinds of reasons for leaving the employing organization. Some people resign for reasons of both kinds: the job itself does not satisfy needs, and it also keeps them from receiving satisfactions from other sources. Most of the people in this study who resigned, how‐ ever, felt only one or the other of these two forms of dissatisfaction. (The interference with off ‐the‐job satisfactions is probably higher among the people studied than in the popula‐ tion at large since shift work is prevalent in the industry in which this study was conducted.)
A Validation of Tachistoscopic Training for Clerical Workers 1
Authors: MacKINNEY ARTHUR C.
Published: December 2006

This study was designed to validate the industrial use of tachistoscopic training. Twelve hours of training were administered to a group of clerical personnel on three jobs, and the training was validated against output on these jobs. Two of the three jobs failed to show any significant improvement, while the third job, a cross‐checking activity, showed a significant gain in output as a result of the training. Other results of secondary interest are presented.
Selecting Supervisors with Peer Ratings
Authors: WEITZ JOSEPH
Published: December 2006

Peer nominations on a fourteen‐item questionnaire were made by a group of life insurance agents. There were two general kinds of items–work‐oriented and socially‐oriented. Some of the agents were subsequently promoted to a supervisory position. After they had been in the job for six months, they were rated in terms of how good a job they were doing in their new position. The ranks of peer nominations for each of the items were then related to the criterion rating. It was found that this type of nomination is very useful in identifying potential supervisory personnel and is quite predictive of performance.
The Evaluation of Foremen's Performance in Relation to the Internal Characteristics of Their Work Groups
Authors: Ghiselli Edwin E. , Lodahl Thomas M.
Published: December 2006

This investigation is concerned with the relationship between merit ratings assigned to foremen and the distribution of managerial traits within their work groups. Data were available on 18 four‐man work groups and on the foreman of each. Measures of supervisory ability and decision making approach (DMA) were obtained from a self‐description inventory administered to all the subjects. Three variables were found to be related significantly to the merit ratings assigned to the foremen: the foreman's own score on the supervisory ability scale, the difference between the foreman's score and that of the highest man in his work group on the supervisory scale, and the skewness of the distribution of DMA scores among the four men in the work group. The sum of these three variables was found to correlate .92 with the merit ratings.
The Role of the Foreman in Modern Industry: II. Foreman Identification with Management, Work Group Productivity, and Employee Attitude Toward the Foreman 1
Authors: BALMA M. J. , MALONEY J. C. , LAWSHE C. H.
Published: December 2006

The first article in this series analyzed the changing role of foremen in modern industry and reported the development of a measure of management identification using an indirect method of attitude measurement. The current article describes the relationships found between foreman identification with management, work group productivity, and employee attitude toward the foreman.

After the indirect measure of foremen's tendencies to identify with management had been developed, it was submitted to first line operating foremen in 28 manufacturing plants in the Midwest. Several management people from each of the plants rated the foreman work groups in their respective plants on the basis of how well they were doing their present job. Groups of foremen from each plant were thereby identified as being leaders of relatively high‐producing or of relatively low‐producing work groups. In 19 of the 28 plants a short questionnaire designed to reflect attitude toward foreman was administered to the employees working under these selected foremen.

Statistical analyses were undertaken to investigate the relationships between the major variables: management identification scores of foremen, productivity ratings of foremen's work groups, and employees’attitude toward foremen scores. Results and implications are discussed.
The Relative Effectiveness of Formal School and On‐the‐Job Methods of Training Apprentices in Naval Occupations 1
Authors: MERENDA PETER F.
Published: December 2006

To
test the hypothesis that formal school training is a more effective method of preparing naval apprentices for the lowest petty officer level than is on‐the‐job training, advancement examination scores of Navy Basic Training School graduates were compared with those of non‐graduates. Both were matched with respect to general ability level.

Two samples were independently drawn and studied. The first sample included 1,674 matched pairs of apprentices distributed among 30 naval occupations. The second sample included 1,716 matched pairs of apprentices distributed among 24 naval occupations.

From the findings of this study it definitely appears that formal school training is a superior method compared with on‐the‐job training of preparing apprentices (who possess at least minimal basic abilities and aptitudes) in the skills and knowledges required of petty officers, third class, in the U. S. Navy.
Product Knowledge and Performance–A Study of Life Insurance Agents
Authors: THAYER PAUL W. , ANTOINETTI JOHN A. , GUEST THEODORE A.
Published: December 2006

Two forms of a test of life insurance knowledge were administered to a sample of life insurance agents at a three‐month interval. Performance data covering a four‐year period were related to knowledge scores and to improvement from the first to the second testing. Insurance knowledge scores predicted insurance lapse ratio (an index of the proportion of insurance that was dropped by policyholders after they had made the initial payments). Improvement from one testing to the next predicted agent survival in the insurance industry, but not in the company.
Dimensions of Employee Morale12
Authors: ROACH DARRELL E.
Published: December 2006

When the results of employee opinion surveys are communicated to management and supervisory personnel, they frequently ask “What can we do to improve the situation?” and “What are the causes?” These questions are often difficult to answer, especially if the survey results are expressed only in terms of overall morale indices. Survey results may be more meaningful if they deal with specific satisfactions and dissatisfactions of the employee group. Specific satisfactions may also be more useful to management in planning programs for improvement.

To determine some of these specific satisfactions, a 62‐item employee opinion survey was subjected to a modified centroid factor analysis. This survey had previously been filled out by 2072 clerical and management employees. Twelve factors emerged from the analysis. One of the factors was identified as a general bias or “halo” factor, and another was identified as a general attitude toward supervision. The remaining ten factors were identified as: Pride in company, intrinsic job satisfaction, and satisfaction with each of the eight following conditions–setting up and enforcing job standards, supervisory consideration, work load and pressure, interest in and treatment of the individual, administration of salaries, communications, development and progress, and co‐workers. This analysis suggests areas of satisfaction which can be utilized to further understand and improve employee morale.
The Relationships Between Self‐Ratings and Peer Ratings on a Leadership Behavior Scale1
Authors: BARTLETT CLAUDE J.
Published: December 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between self‐ratings and peer ratings on a leadership behavior scale. A rating scale was constructed for the purpose of measuring small group leadership qualities. The rating scale yielded five scores, over‐all leadership and four diagnostic categories. Two orthogonal factors were extracted from each area of the leadership scale. One of the factors on each area was interpreted as a rating set factor. The second factor was interpreted as a general measure of each area. The peer ratings seemed to be a good measure of all areas of leadership. The self‐ratings were not shown to be a good measure of over‐all leadership, but they seemed to be an adequate measure of the diagnostic categories.
Background and Organizational Factors in Absenteeism1
Authors: BAUMGARTEL HOWARD , SOBOL RONALD
Published: December 2006

T0he availability of data on absenteeism for all nonsupervisory employees of a major airline for a full calendar year presented a unique opportunity for investigating some of the correlates of absenteeism. The quantitative analysis of these data was guided by two major objectives: the first was to test the prediction that the larger the size of the location (or “plant”) the higher the absenteeism, and the second was to determine how age, wage rate, seniority, and job classification were related to absenteeism with sex and “collar” held constant. The findings support the hypothesis that absenteeism is higher in larger units and thus lend credence to the notion that the characteristics of larger organizational units lead to lower levels of involvement and personal satisfaction. Other findings of the study indicate that the relationships between background factors and absenteeism are different for “blue collar” men than for other categories of employees. Among “white collar” men and women and among “blue collar” women, older, longer service, and higher paid employees are more often absent with length of service having the greatest influence. For “blue collar’ men longer length of service and higher job status are associated with lower absence rates. These findings indicate that great care should be taken in making any over‐all generalization about the factors influencing absenteeism and, particularly, that careful controls should be established in making any inferences concerning “morale” or “supervisory skill” on the basis of comparative absenteeism figures. The findings of this study, while based on data from only one company, would indicate that constructive personnel programs aimed at minimizing absenteeism should focus effort on the following work settings: larger plants, high seniority white collar personnel and blue collar women, and blue collar, male job classifications characterized by low status and little “freedom.”
The Employment Recommendation Questionnaire: III. Validity of Different Types of References1
Authors: MOSÉL JAMES N. , GOHEEN HOWARD W.
Published: December 2006

A series of investigations were made on the comparative value of different kinds of reference persons who submit employment recommendation questionnaires (ERQ) on applicants for employment in the federal service.

ERQ scores on applicants for seven professional and one trade position revealed a general tendency for acquaintances to give the most favorable evaluations, with previous subordinates, co‐workers, and employers next in order.

Agreement between the appraisals of supervisors and acquaintances is the case of printers did not yield a correlation significantly greater than zero. Agreement between acquaintances and references familiar with the applicant's work performance (supervisors and co‐workers), while significantly greater than zero, was extremely low.

A comparison of the validity of different types of references in predicting later job success of applicants in five trades revealed that supervisors and acquaintances had a very small but statistically significant validity, while personnel officers, co‐workers, and relatives manifested no significant relationship.

In the same five trades, supervisors and co‐workers who had known the applicant for a year or longer showed a numerically slightly greater correlation with job success than did reports from similar references of shorter acquaintance, but the coefficient was not statistically significant.
Human Relations Training as Manifested in an Interview Situation
Authors: MAIER NORMAN R. F. , HOFFMAN L. RICHARD , LANSKY LEONARD M.
Published: December 2006

The evaluation of training courses in human relations is a complex matter. Such evaluations may be conducted properly to answer a variety of questions. The study reported here was designed to determine whether the behavior of trainees in a particularly difficult role‐playing interview could be improved through their experiences in one such course.

The trainees were students in three different semesters of an undergraduate course in the psychology of human relations, in which the students attended two one‐hour lectures and one two‐hour laboratory period per week. The three groups differed in the amount of training, in the course content, and in the amount of skill training they received before the test situation. Group 1 received lectures on causation and attitudes. Group 2, in addition, had lectures on democratic leadership and on a number of other topics in psychology, and participated in weekly role‐playing cases involving group decision. Group 2, in addition to the training received by Group 2, was introduced to the topic of nondirective counseling in the lectures and given practice in reflecting feelings.

The Case of the Old Girls–a role‐playing interview situation which had been shown to be a difficult interview to conduct, because it usually degenerated into an argument based on attitudinal differences–was used as the evaluational instrument. Group 1 was tested during the second week of the course; Group 2 during the eleventh week; and Group 3 in the thirteenth week.

Improvements in interviewing behavior as a result of training were evidenced by significant reductions in the total number of facts and in the total number of favorable facts introduced by interviewers in Group 3. Their ability to listen and accept feelings may be said to have substantially improved. In the failure of the interveiwers in Group 3 to elicit a greater proportion of favorable facts from their interviewees than were elicited in Group 1, however, the course may be said to have been less than effective.

The discussion of the results suggests that the typical human relations training course is neither long enough nor does it include enough skill training to enable trainees to develop the skills that will change their behavior significantly. It is pointed out that the learning process requires a skillful mixture of lectures, discussion, and practice to alter the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of the trainee.
The Relation of Test Scores To Sales Criteria1
Authors: HARRELL THOMAS W.
Published: December 2006

Information about 21 petroleum salesmen was used to determine the relation of certain test scores to three criteria of proficiency in selling. A sales quota criterion was more predictable than ratings. Tests which gave significant differences between high‐ and low‐producing salesmen were the Otis Test of Mental Ability, four scales of the Bernreuter Personality Inventory, Tact and Diplomacy of the Moss‐Hunt Social Intelligence Test, and the Sales Manager scale of the Strong Interest Test. The scales of the Washburne S‐A Inventory did not differentiate between either the production or the ratings of salesmen.
EVALUATION OF TWO FORCED‐CHOICE RESPONSE FORMATS1
Authors: WATERS L. K. , WHERRY R. J.
Published: December 2006

The reactions of a sample of flight candidates in the U. S. Naval School, Pre‐Flight were used to investigate the effect of response format on subject resistance to a forced‐choice self‐rating scale. The results indicated that the subjects were more favorable toward a response format allowing them to indicate the degree of applicability of each statement in the forced‐choice pairs, even though still forced to choose one statement as relatively more applicable.
VALIDITY VERSUS STEREOTYPE: PREDICTING SALES PERFORMANCE BY IPSATIVE SCORING OF A PERSONALITY TEST
Authors: HUGHES J. L. , DODD W. E.
Published: December 2006

The validity of the usual normative scoring method for the Gordon Personal Profile (GPP), a forced‐choice personality test, was compared to the validity of an ipsative scoring method devised for this test. The criteria used were different aspects of sales performance over a three‐year period for a sample of 130 data processing machine salesmen. One of the ipsative traits, Sociability, correlated negatively (—.34) with a continuous sales production criterion (n= 90) and showed a significant difference in proportions between a top producing and promoted group (n= 44) and a low producing and separated group (n= 42). None of the normative GPP trait scores was significantly related to either criterion.

The distributions of GPP ipsative traits differed significantly for men rated highest on performance in the company sales training program (n= 55) and men in the top producing and promoted group (n= 44). The top salesmen had fewer men high on Sociability and more men high on Responsibility than the top training group. These findings suggested the need for a re‐examination of the company's sales training and recruiting personality stereotype in view of the significant proportion of men employed who were high on Sociability and whose chances of becoming top producing salesmen were poor.
PERFORMANCE DIMENSIONS OF SUPERVISORY POSITIONS
Authors: PERES SHERWOOD H.
Published: December 2006

This study was directed at the identification of the performance characteristics of administrative and general supervisors.

The present study was one of a series of research projects conducted at Sandia Corporation in order to determine independent performance dimensions in a variety of job families. Four hundred and fourteen supervisors submitted essays describing the performance of the best supervisor they knew at Sandia Corporation. The essays were analyzed and, after editing and the removal of duplicate statements, a final check‐list questionnaire of 303 statements depicting supervisory performance was obtained. Three hundred and seventy‐two supervisors described on a check‐list scale the best and worst supervisor they knew by checking each statement on a five‐point applicability scale.

The statements were subjected to a factor analysis by the Wherry‐Winer method. Seven factors emerged from the analysis. The factors were identified as follows: Establishment of Work Climate, Management Ethics, Practice of Self and Subordinate Development, Personal Maturity and Sensitivity, Knowledge and Execution of Corporate Policies and Procedures, Technical Job Knowledge, and a general bias factor.
PEER RATINGS: A NOTE ON THE UNRATED CASES1
Authors: DOLL RICHARD E.
Published: December 2006

Performances are compared between naval aviation cadets who received average scores as a result of not being rated either high or low on peer ratings, cadets who received average scores because of having received equal numbers of high and low nominations, and cadets who received scores at levels other than average. The results indicated that the unrated group are not inferior to those men who were rated average, nor to the average of the total group in performance on the criterion used here.
PERSONALITY AND SUCCESS OF TRAINING IN HUMAN RELATIONS
Authors: PAPALOïZOS ANTOINE
Published: December 2006

The evaluation of a human relations course has shown that a favorable change in attitudes toward subordinates was produced in 33 per cent of the cases, this group being characterized as “normal‐extraverted” by a personality questionnaire.
VALIDITY AND NONLINEAR HETEROSCEDASTIC MODELS
Authors: KAHNEMAN DANIEL , GHISELLI EDWIN E.
Published: December 2006

The validity of tests commonly is expressed in terms of the Pearsonian coefficient of correlation. The use of this coefficient implies that linear homoscedastic relationships hold between test scores and criteria. Therefore, the position is taken that the accuracy of prediction of criteria from test scores is the same throughout the entire range of scores and that both success and failure on a job are the result of the same factors. Examination of the relationships between test scores and criteria for three groups—executives, office workers, and autobus repairmen—indicated that descriptions of the predictive power of the tests and of the traits important in job success and failure as given by the Pearsonian validity coefficient were not entirely adequate. Use of a different index, theta, was shown to give much more meaningful and useful descriptions.
THE PREFERENCE INDEX AND RESPONSES TO FORCED‐CHOICE PAIRS
Authors: WATERS L. K. , WHERRY R. J.
Published: December 2006

The self‐descriptive responses of 164 flight students to 30 forced‐choice pairs, matched on an index of job importance but differing on discrimination values, were available from an earlier study. Differences between index values for statements in each pair were obtained for the preference index, job importance index, and discrimination index. These differences were correlated with frequency of choice of the nondiscriminating statements. A substantial relationship was found between PI differences and frequency of choice, even when the effects of apparent and real validity differences were removed. The results are compared to previously reported data and discussed in relation to the rating situation.
PREDICTING TURNOVER IN AN AUTOMATED OFFICE SITUATION
Authors: SHOTT GERALD L. , ALBRIGHT LEWIS E. , GLENNON J. R.
Published: December 2006

In an attempt to reduce the high rate of turnover among clerical employees working in a highly automated office, existing personnel information was examined for items which might discriminate short tenure from long tenure employees. Sources of data were the application blank, test scores, and reference inquiries. Nine items for women and seven for men were found which cross‐validated significantly and predicted well using validity extension samples.
COMPARISON OF THREE METHODS FOR ASSEMBLING APTITUDE TEST BATTERIES
Authors: TRATTNER MARVIN H.
Published: December 2006

A factored battery of thirteen aptitude tests was administered to samples of approximately 200 journeyman employees in each of twelve blue collar job series. Performance ratings were obtained from the employees' first and second level supervisors. Three basic methods for selecting and weighting tests from the aptitude battery were compared. The tests were selected on the basis of results obtained on one sample of employees in each job series and then applied to the second or independent sample to test the significance of the validity coefficients.

The three test selection methods utilized were: (1) Wherry‐Gaylord Integral Gross Score Weight Method, which involves selecting and multiple weighting tests according to their intercorrelations and correlations with a criterion. In addition, tests selected and multiple weighted by the Wherry‐Gaylord method for the jobs were also weighted by their standard deviation by adding raw scores. (2) Civil Service Commission (CSC) Job Analysis Method, which involves equally weighting tests selected for a job series according to the validity of the tests for measuring the rated important employee abilities. (3) General Blue Collar Test Battery, which involves equally weighting the five tests that yielded the highest average correlation with the criterion for all jobs on the test selection sample. This battery was then utilized for all twelve job series.

The tests selected and the weights applied for the twelve jobs by utilizing the test selection methods were indicated, also the validity coefficients obtained by applying the different patterns to the cross‐validation samples were tabulated. The criterion ratings yielded an average Spearman‐Brown estimated product‐moment reliability of .675. All but four of the 36 cross‐validation coefficients were significant at least at the .05 level. Most of the differences in the cross‐validity coefficients were due to the different jobs on which the three test weighting methods were applied rather than the test weighting methods. Also, a comparison of the Wherry‐Gaylord multiple formulas with the same tests unit weighted for the cross‐validation sample revealed that unit weighting the tests was as effective as using multiple weights. It appears that one test selection method is as effective as another for the number of subjects, job series, and test selection and weighting methods utilized in these studies. The implications of these results are discussed.
A MANAGERIAL SELECTION STUDY
Authors: SPITZER MORTON EDWARD , McNAMARA WALTER J.
Published: December 2006

Astudywas conducted in a manufacturing division of an electronics firm to determine if tests could be selected which would be positively related to managerial success and thus useful in selecting employees who have good managerial potential. Data were obtained from 102 managers, 84 of whom were first‐line managers. These employees were from four plants in various sections of the United States.

A job analysis was conducted by means of interviews to find the characteristics that were minimal requirements for the position of manager and those that discriminated between better and poorer managers. Based on the job analysis, a number of characteristics were hypothesized which seemed to relate to the success of the managers interviewed. Tests were then selected to measure these characteristics. Both subjective and objective criteria were employed to evaluate the test results. The objective criterion (salary corrected for length of service) was found to be the most satisfactory measure. When the tests were correlated to the objective criterion for the first‐line managers, two measures (Otis Test of Mental Ability and Background and Contemporary Data Form) were found to have significant validity and cross‐validity.

The results indicate that the use of these instruments in the selection procedure would increase the number of managers capable of performing in an above‐average manner. This increase might be as much as 36 per cent over the present situation as measured by the criterion of the study.
THE SELECTION INTERVIEW— A RE‐EVALUATION OF PUBLISHED RESEARCH1
Authors: MAYFIELD EUGENE C.
Published: December 2006

Over the last few years, the selection interview has been subjected to a great deal of criticism. Most of this criticism has stressed a general lack of evidence concerning the interview's reliability and validity. The present paper, while agreeing for the most part with prior criticism, attempts to take three further steps. First, the present limited knowledge is explained in terms of (a) a lack of comparability between studies and (b)an overdependence on research results from other areas. Second, in spite of these shortcomings, there are numerous research findings which have received support from more than one study. These findings are summarized and discussed. Finally, a starting point for basic research on the selection interview which may lead to more profitable research in the future is presented.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS IN AN EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION PLAN1
Authors: HARDIN EINAR
Published: December 2006

Summary and Discussion

Nonparticipants, unawarded suggesters and award recipients in a medium‐sized insurance company that had recently installed an employee suggestion plan were compared as to personal characteristics, own attitudes, and attitudes of supervisors. Participants were found to be more concentrated in the age group 25–44, have greater labor force attachment and work experience, and place higher value on order and regularity than did the nonparticipants. No support was found for the common notions that suggesters are prone to gripe and to be hurt by rejection of suggestions or, by contrast, to be “company men.” Nervous, undogmatic, unauthoritarian and fairly well satisfied supervisors tended to have more suggesters among their subordinates than did other supervisors. This provides some support for the assertions of much management literature that the supervisors can greatly affect the success of a suggestion plan.
INCENTIVE PRACTICES AS VIEWED BY SCIENTISTS AND MANAGERS OF PHARMACEUTICAL LABORATORIES 1
Authors: CHALUPSKY ALBERT B.
Published: December 2006

IN an effort to determine the incentives currently being used to motivate scientists and to explore incentive effectiveness, a questionnaire survey was conducted of research directors of 13 pharmaceutical companies and a sample of 75 scientists in one laboratory. In general there was high agreement between research management and scientists on the success of merit salary increases, promotions, and increase in complexity and challenge of assignments. These same three incentives were valued highly both by the more productive scientists as well as by their less productive colleagues. The more productive scientists also considered the incentives of greater freedom to come and go, and time off for attendance at professional meetings to be influential in motivating research output. However, neither of these incentives was ranked highly by the managers nor by the less productive scientists. Understandably, the younger scientists appeared to value educational assistance more than did their elders; while commendations for superior performance, stock options and purchases, and participation in company seminars or meetings made a greater impression on the older group.

The area of recognition of performance received the greatest number of write‐in comments from both managers and scientists as the most effective nonfinancial incentive. Scientists, however, placed more stress upon the role of the supervisor in appraising and recognizing research performance.
Evaluation of a Reading Development Program For Scientists And Engineers
Authors: Jones Dan H. , Carron Theodore J.
Published: December 2006

Previous investigations of reading improvement have failed to agree on the relative effectiveness of machine vs. book‐centered training methods. In this report of gains achieved and retained by 114 scientists and engineers, 42 subjects were trained with the aid of mechanical equipment and 72 by means of a book‐centered method. Equated forms of the Diagnostic Reading Tests were used as criteria of success. All participants had gained significantly in rate, comprehension, and index at the completion of training. However, follow‐up eighteen months later clearly showed the superiority of book‐centered training. A statistical analysis of pre‐, post‐, and follow‐up scores is presented, as well as correlation of reading gains with other psychometric data.
SELECTION INTERVIEW DECISIONS: FIRST RESULTS FROM A LONG‐TERM RESEARCH PROJECT
Authors: MAYFIELD EUGENE C. , CARLSON ROBERT E.
Published: December 2006

Recent reviews of the literature have pointed out the need for additional knowledge of the decision‐making process as it occurs in the selection interview. The present paper reports the first results from a long‐term project designed to investigate this process in a life insurance context. These results provided valuable information on which additional work could be based. The research presently being undertaken is briefly described and discussed.
UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES CAN A UNIONIZED COMPANY USE TESTING FOR PROMOTION?1
Authors: Biddle R. E.ichard , Jacobs LaureenM.
Published: December 2006

A job‐related, “fair test” of ability, when used as one tool and not as the sole determining factor, has been established by arbitrators to be an appropriate selection instrument. If a test has been determined as being job‐related (i.e., related to the actual performance of the job), has been administered and scored both fairly and consistently, it will be considered a “fair test.” Generally, in unioncompany contracts that mention testing, a “fair test” contains the above qualifications. Arbitrators have indicated that the union involved should be afforded the opportunity to see the test; it was made quite clear, however, that the union should not have the test.

In all cases reviewed, tests were upheld by arbitrators when they (1) were “fair tests,” and (2) did not conflict with the contract language. Past testing practice was not a determining factor when these two conditions existed.

A total of 69 cases between 1953 and 1967 have been found relevant–27 from 1953 to 1962 and 42 from 1963 to 1967. In the first study, 13 cases were lost by a company; in six of these cases a company violated the union‐company contract and in seven cases the test used did not qualify as a “fair test.” A total of twelve cases were lost by a company in the second study; in two cases a company violated the union‐company contract and in ten cases the test used did not qualify as a “fair test.”
IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF AN ASSESSMENT CLASSIFICATION MODEL FOR MANPOWER UTILIZATION1
Authors: BRUSH DONALD H. , OWENS WILLIAM A.
Published: December 2006

The present study deals with implementing and evaluating Schoenfeldt's assessment‐classification model in an industrial setting using a multiplicity of job families and a range of criteria. A total of 1,987 non‐exempt employees of a U. S. oil company were administered an extensive autobiographical inventory. Hierarchical clustering of the resulting biographical profiles produced 18 subgroups of employees such that within any one subgroup, background experiences and interests were similar and between subgroups they were different. A similar methodology was applied to job analysis data in creating a structure of 19 job families for 939 office and clerical jobs. Significant relationships were found between biodata subgroups and criteria of sex, education level, termination rate, equal employment opportunity job classification and performance ratings. There was no statistically significant relationship between subgroup membership and race. In addition, there was a significant relationship between subgroups and job families. Applications for a variety of personnel management practices are discussed.
THEORY TESTING: COMBINING PSYCHOMETRIC META‐ANALYSIS AND STRUCTURAL EQUATIONS MODELING
Authors: VISWESVARAN CHOCKALINGAM , ONES DENIZ S.
Published: December 2006

This paper presents an overview of a useful approach for theory testing in the social sciences that combines the principles of psychometric meta‐analysis and structural equations modeling. In this approach to theory testing, the estimated true score correlations between the constructs of interest are established through the application of meta‐analysis (Hunter & Schmidt, 1990), and structural equations modeling is then applied to the matrix of estimated true score correlations. The potential advantages and limitations of this approach are presented. The approach enables researchers to test complex theories involving several constructs that cannot all be measured in a single study. Decision points are identified, the options available to a researcher are enumerated, and the potential problems as well as the prospects of each are discussed.
Basel II: The Route Ahead or Cul‐de‐Sac?
Authors: Brealey Richard
Published: December 2006

Despite the best efforts of regulators, banking crises throughout the world have been on the rise and proved costly both in terms of the burden on taxpayers and the effect on output. The revised Basel Accord establishes new procedures for measuring the risk of bank loans and for calculating the capital that needs to be held against these loans. But if these new rules are undoubtedly an improvement on the existing ones, their continued focus on the risk of individual loans suggests that bank regulation is heading down a cul‐de‐sac.

Ideally, one would like to be able to view individual loans as parts of portfolios, with better diversified portfolios assigned lower risks and capital requirements. But because of the difficulty of measuring the risk of loan portfolios (which stems from their complicated covariance structure), the author suggests that the regulators and their constituencies would be better served by requiring more realistic valuations of loan portfolios and other bank assets. In this sense, the design of effective capital adequacy rules involves a trade‐off between developing developing more precise measures of risk, on the one hand, and improving the frequency and accuracy of asset valuations, on the other. The author urges bank regulators to focus less on refinements of risk measurement and more on efforts to incorporate fair value accounting.
Navigating in the Midst of More Uncertainty and Risk
Authors: Butcher Jim , Turner Nick , Drenth Gerard
Published: December 2006

With the steady increase in the variety and scale of uncertainties and risks, the challenges for today's executives have become ever more complex and daunting. One powerful tool for navigating among different risks and uncertainties is scenario planning. From its early days of use within Shell, scenario planning has evolved in ways that make it better suited to the tasks of identifying, analyzing, and managing various financial risks across different industries. During the last ten years, Morgan Stanley has also been using scenario planning to gain a better understanding of key risks and uncertainties facing the financial services industry, ranging from the consequences of possible changes in the dollar to the emergence of hedge funds and the remarkable growth of China and India.

In discussing the benefits of scenario planning, the authors note its potential to help management in a number of ways:

By challenging conventional thinking and current assumptions about its industry and world;

By identifying key signals or potential direction changes ahead of time, which is especially important when lead times to invest, hedge, or change assets are limiting factors;

By identifying and assessing the value of strategic or “real” options—options to invest in new opportunities or limit downside risks that may suddenly open up or disappear, and that man‐ agement must be prepared to “exercise” quickly and decisively;

By reinforcing the recognition that value added comes not just from better strategic thinking and planning, but from the role of risk management in helping companies take advantage of new opportunities;

By encouraging more cross‐divisional and firm‐wide conversations about strategic choices and options, thereby creating a shared understanding of and greater consensus about chosen strategies; and

By forcing them to go beyond the limits of typical three‐to‐five year forecasting limitations to think hard about longer‐term strategic choices.
Active control of passive acoustic fields: Passive synthetic aperture/Doppler beamforming with data from an autonomous vehicle
Authors: D’Spain Gerald L. , Terrill Eric , Chadwell C. David , Smith Jerome A. , Lynch Stephen D.
Published: December 2006

The maneuverability of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with hull-mounted arrays provides the opportunity to actively modify received acoustic fields to optimize extraction of information. This paper uses ocean acoustic data collected by an AUV-mounted two-dimensional hydrophone array, with overall dimension one-tenth wavelength at 200–500Hz, to demonstrate aspects of this control through vehicle motion. Source localization is performed using Doppler shifts measured at a set of receiver velocities by both single elements and a physical array. Results show that a source in the presence of a 10-dB higher-level interferer having exactly the same frequency content (as measured by a stationary receiver) is properly localized and that white-noise-constrained adaptive beamforming applied to the physical aperture data in combination with Doppler beamforming provides greater spatial resolution than physical-aperture-alone beamforming and significantly lower sidelobes than single element Doppler beamforming. A new broadband beamformer that adjusts for variations in vehicle velocity on a sample by sample basis is demonstrated with data collected during a high-acceleration maneuver. The importance of including the cost of energy expenditure in determining optimal vehicle motion is demonstrated through simulation, further illustrating how the vehicle characteristics are an integral part of the signal/array processing structure.
Subcritical scattering from buried elastic shells
Authors: Lucifredi Irena , Schmidt Henrik
Published: December 2006

Buried objects have been largely undetectable by traditional high-frequency sonars due to their insignificant bottom penetration. Further, even a high grazing angle sonar approach is vastly limited by the coverage rate dictated by the finite water depth, making the detection and classification of buried objects using low frequency, subcritical sonar an interesting alternative. On the other hand, such a concept would require classification clues different from the traditional high-resolution imaging and shadows to maintain low false alarm rates. A potential alternative, even for buried targets, is classification based on the acoustic signatures of man-made elastic targets. However, the elastic responses of buried and proud targets are significantly different. The objective of this work is to identify, analyze, and explain some of the effects of the sediment and the proximity of the seabed interface on the scattering of sound from completely and partially buried elastic shells. The analysis was performed using focused array processing of data from the GOATS98 experiment carried out jointly by MIT and SACLANTCEN, and a new hybrid modeling capability combining a virtual source—or wave-field superposition—approach with an exact spectral integral representation of the Green’s functions for a stratified ocean waveguide, incorporating all multiple scattering between the object and the seabed. Among the principal results is the demonstration of the significant role of structural circumferential waves in converting incident, evanescent waves into backscattered body waves, emanating to the receivers at supercritical grazing angles, in effect making the target appear closer to the sonar than predicted by traditional ray theory.
Geometrical perturbation of an inclined wall on decay times of acoustic modes in a trapezoidal cavity with an impedance surface
Authors: Sum K. S. , Pan J.
Published: December 2006

Decay times of acoustic modes of a trapezoidal cavity (TC modes) with an inclined wall are studied. Each cavity wall is successively assigned an impedance surface and the other five walls are rigid. The decay times are obtained from the coupling between rigid-walled modes of the rectangular cavity (RC modes) that bounds the trapezoidal cavity. Two coupling mechanisms are identified, namely, the damping coupling and the geometrical coupling. The former is related to the coupling of RC modes at the impedance surface, while the latter is related to the coupling of RC modes at the inclined wall. Both mechanisms include the same volume coupling where RC modes couple throughout the trapezoidal cavity. When the impedance surface is at either of the two trapezoidal walls, the grouping of TC modes with same decay times and the decay time variation with the wall inclination are determined only by the damping coupling. When the surface is at any of the other rectangular walls, both the damping and geometrical couplings are at work. This paper provides an understanding of how the inclined wall and the impedance surface location affect the TC-mode grouping, and what determines the decay time variation with the inclination.
Orthogonal adaptation for multichannel feedforward control
Authors: Yuan Jing
Published: December 2006

In active noise control, it is desired to generate destructive interference by model-independent control. This is possible for single-channel systems to which a recently proposed method, called orthogonal adaptation, is applicable. In this study, the new method is extended to multichannel systems. An important issue is how to optimize a feedforward controller in the minimum H2 norm sense. In practice, secondary paths of some multichannel systems may be nonminimum phase. It is a difficult problem to design H2 feedforward controllers for multichannel systems with nonminimum phase secondary paths. The problem is solved analytically here with the best achievable, a practical and an economical solution. A recursive least squares algorithm is presented for online identification of multiple paths without persistent excitations. These solutions make it possible to implement noninvasive mode-independent controllers for multichannel systems. Experiment results are presented to verify the analytical results.
Acoustic beams with angular momentum
Authors: Lekner John
Published: December 2006

A family of exact solutions of the Helmholtz equation is used to represent transversely bounded helicoidal sound beams. Simple results are obtained for the energy content per unit length, the momentum content per unit length, and the angular momentum content per unit length. The analysis is restricted to lossless media; scattering and viscous damping are neglected. The energy, momentum, and angular momentum are calculated to second order in the velocity potential. The angular momentum content is always equal to m∕ω times the energy content, where m (an integer) is the topological charge and ω is the angular frequency.
Model-based sound synthesis of the guqin
Authors: Penttinen Henri , Pakarinen Jyri , Välimäki Vesa , Laurson Mikael , Li Henbing , Leman Marc
Published: December 2006

This paper presents a model-based sound synthesis algorithm for the Chinese plucked string instrument called the guqin. The instrument is fretless, which enables smooth pitch glides from one note to another. A version of the digital waveguide synthesis approach is used, where the string length is time-varying and its energy is scaled properly. A body model filter is placed in cascade with the string model. Flageolet tones are synthesized with the so-called ripple filter structure, which is an FIR comb filter in the delay line of a digital waveguide model. In addition, signal analysis of recorded guqin tones is presented. Friction noise produced by gliding the finger across the soundboard has a harmonic structure and is proportional to the gliding speed. For pressed tones, one end of a vibrating string is terminated either by the nail of the thumb or a fingertip. The tones terminated with a fingertip decay faster than those terminated with a thumb. Guqin tones are slightly inharmonic and they exhibit phantom partials. The synthesis model takes into account these characteristic features of the instrument and is able to reproduce them. The synthesis model will be used for rule based synthesis of guqin music.