Effects of job experience on supervisor attributions for a subordinate's poor performance.

64 undergraduates worked for 2 hrs in 6-person groups on a proofreading task. Half the Ss were supervisors and half were proofreaders; roles were alternated after 1 hr. Performance was controlled so that all supervisors believed they were evaluating a poor performing subordinate. Results show that experienced supervisors (Ss who served as supervisors first and then as proofreaders) tended to blame the environment more for the poor performance and recommended more changes in that environment than did nonexperienced supervisors. A field study with 30 military officers indicated that external attributions were positively correlated with the amount of experience the supervisor had working on the same task. Results are discussed within the framework of an attributional model of performance evaluation. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experience on supervisor planning.

In a study of planning activities, 10 inexperienced undergraduates and 17 experienced supervisors from various settings audiotaped a 15-min planning session, using a thinking aloud technique, in preparation for supervising another person. Experienced supervisors generated more planning statements, and more of these statements concerned the supervisee than did statements generated by inexperienced or graduate student supervisors. Comments are made about these results in relation to the educational literature and counselor development, and recommendations are made for counseling research and supervision. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role diffusion in the supervisory relationship.

Discusses problems stemming from the supervisor's role and the power structure of the trainee–supervisor relationship when the trainees are clinical psychology graduate students. The tenets of systems theory, which present supervision as a dynamic process involving the triad of supervisor, therapist, and client, are reviewed. Ways in which supervisors are in dominant or deferent positions to their students are reviewed, parallels between the supervisory process and relationships between diagnosticians and patients, and therapists and clients, are explored. Mutuality in a mature supervisory relationship is also discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of supervisor experience level on planning and in-session supervisor verbal behavior.

Examined the effects of supervisor experience level on presession planning and in-session supervisor verbal behavior. 30 supervisors representing no, low (1? to 3 yrs), and high (4 to 25 yrs) levels of experience (mean ages 27.3, 28.7, and 35.8 yrs, respectively) listened to a 30-min audiotaped counseling interaction and then recorded thoughts and strategies for supervision in a 30-min planning session. Ss then conducted a 30-min supervision session with the counselor. Analyses of audiotapes from the planning and supervision sessions revealed no significant differences between the 3 levels of supervisory experience in planning statements. However, significant differences were observed in the actual supervision session, with low- and high-experience Ss being similar to each other and different from the no-experience group on several dependent measures. Results also indicate that the counselor rated the low- and high-experience Ss more positively than the no-experience Ss. No relation was observed between statements generated during the planning session and those occurring during supervision. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of supervisor and supervisee degree level and gender on the supervisory relationship.

86 graduate counseling students and 92 supervisors rated their relationships 3 times during a semester. At the semester's end, supervisees decribed the perceived frequency of performance of supervisor behaviors. Supervisors and supervisees differed in their perceptions of the relationship and how it developed. Supervisees, in contrast to supervisors, saw improvement in their relationships over time. Male supervisees and supervisors both rated their relationships as better than females. Gender matching affected supervisees' perceptions of their relationships but not supervisors' perceptions. Semester-end ratings showed that supervisees discriminated between the quality of the relationship, which was affected by gender matching, supervisor gender, and supervisor behavior, and supervisor competence, which was affected only by supervisor behavior. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of job experience and ability on job knowledge, work sample performance, and supervisory ratings of job performance.

Based on data from 4 independent studies reported by R. Vineberg and E. N. Taylor (1972) with a total sample size of 1,474, path analysis was used to examine the causal impact of job experience on job knowledge, performance capability as measured by job sample tests, and supervisory ratings of job performance. Findings support the conclusion that (1) when mean job experience is 2–3 yrs, there is substantial variance in job experience and (2) when the jobs are of an intermediate complexity level, job experience has a substantial direct impact on job knowledge and a smaller direct impact on performance capabilities as assessed by job sample measures. Job experience also has a substantial indirect effect on work sample performance through its effect on job knowledge, which, in turn, was found to be the strongest determinant of work sample performance. The pattern and magnitude of causal effects of general mental ability were similar to those of job experience. The effect of job knowledge on supervisory ratings was several times stronger than the effect of job sample performance, confirming the findings of J. E. Hunter (1983). When job experience was held constant, the direct impact of ability on the acquisition of job knowledge increased substantially, and this, in turn, increased the indirect effect of ability on job sample performance. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The supervisory experience: An object relations perspective.

Provides a theoretical framework based on D. W. Winnicott's (1965, 1971) theory of object relations for understanding aspects of the supervisory process. Focus is on the early caregiving relationship as a metaphor in delineating important aspects of the therapeutic experience. A case illustration (a male rape victim in his early 30s with a history of nonpsychotic depression), which demonstrates supervision of a student in psychotherapy training, is interpreted in light of parallel caregiving processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of ratee task performance and interpersonal factors on supervisor and peer performance ratings.

The study examines the effects of a wide array of rater–ratee relationship and ratee-characteristic variables on supervisor and peer job-performance ratings. Interpersonal ratings, job performance ratings, and ratee scores on ability, job knowledge, and technical proficiency were available for 493 to 631 first-tour US Army soldiers. Results of supervisor and peer ratings-path models showed ratee ability, knowledge, and proficiency accounted for 13% of the variance in supervisor performance ratings and 7% for the peer ratings. Among the interpersonal variables, ratee dependability had the strongest effect for both models. Ratee friendliness and likability had little effect on the performance ratings. Inclusion of the interpersonal factors increased the variance accounted for in the ratings to 28% and 19%, respectively. Discussion focuses on the relative contribution of ratee technical and contextual performance to raters' judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative importance of task and contextual performance dimensions to supervisor judgments of overall performance.

Although evidence supports the unique contribution of task performance and contextual performance to overall evaluations, little is known about the relative contribution that specific dimensions of contextual performance make to overall performance judgments. This study evaluated the extent to which supervisors consider task and contextual performance by using relative weights (J. W. Johnson, 2000) to statistically describe the relative importance of specific dimensions of each type of performance to overall performance ratings. Within each of 8 job families in a large organization, each of 4 dimensions of contextual performance made not only a unique contribution but a relatively important contribution to the overall evaluation. Evidence also supports the adaptive performance dimension of handling work stress as an aspect of contextual performance and job–task conscientiousness as an aspect of both task and contextual performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of differences in subordinate and supervisor age on attitudes and performance.

In a study of the influence of differences in employee age and the age of the employee's immediate supervisor, an age-difference variable was created and used to test 4 competing sets of predictions for performance and attitudinal outcomes within a sample of 292 high school teachers. Analyses revealed that employees who were older than their supervisors (1) reported better working relations with their supervisors, (2) evaluated their supervisors more favorably, and (3) received ratings from their supervisors that were not less favorable than other employees. The results suggest that bias does not necessarily operate against employees who are older than their supervisors and that a relational approach that is based on attribute similarity–dissimilarity offers an additional source of systematic variance that can aid in explaining individual responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self- and supervisory perspectives on age and work attitudes and performance.

Person- and context-oriented definitions of age were used to predict 3 sets of work outcomes: work attitudes, performance ratings, and reports of developmental practices. The 5 age measures included employee chronological age, employee subjective age (i.e., self-perceptions of age), and social age (i.e., others' perceptions of age), as well as self- and supervisors' perceptions of the employee's relative age (i.e., compared with the employee's work group). The study assessed (1) the relationships among the age measures, (2) the additive relationships among the age measures that predicted work outcomes, and (3) the interactive relationships among the age measures that predicted work outcomes. Each prediction received some support except for number (2). Furthermore, many of the age–work-outcome relationships were replicated in the managerial sample. Implications for the use of alternative age measures are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Escalation bias in performance appraisals: An unintended consequence of supervisor participation in hiring decisions.

The tendency of supervisors to escalate their commitment of a previously expressed opinion by biasing performance ratings was examined in the context of a "real" organization. The hypotheses of the study were (a) that supervisors who participate in a hiring or promotion decision and agree with the eventual decision would positively bias subsequent performance appraisal ratings for that employee, and (b) that supervisors who participate in the original decision but disagree with the decision would bias subsequent performance appraisal ratings in a negative direction. Cases in which the supervisor had not participated in the hiring or promotion decision were used as a control condition. The study was conducted in a large public-sector organization with a sample of 354 clerical employees. Data provide strong support for both hypotheses, demonstrating both positive and negative escalation biases. The implications of these findings for research on escalation and for organizational policy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early intervention and early experience.

For 4 decades, vigorous efforts have been based on the premise that early intervention for children of poverty and, more recently, for children with developmental disabilities can yield significant improvements in cognitive, academic, and social outcomes. The history of these efforts is briefly summarized and a conceptual framework presented to understand the design, research, and policy relevance of these early interventions. This framework, biosocial developmental contextualism, derives from social ecology, developmental systems theory, developmental epidemiology, and developmental neurobiology. This integrative perspective predicts that fragmented, weak efforts in early intervention are not likely to succeed, whereas intensive, high-quality, ecologically pervasive interventions can and do. Relevant evidence is summarized in 6 principles about efficacy of early intervention. The public policy challenge in early intervention is to contain costs by more precisely targeting early interventions to those who most need and benefit from these interventions. The empirical evidence on biobehavioral effects of early experience and early intervention has direct relevance to federal and state policy development and resource allocation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in the effects of frontal cortex injury: Role of differential hormonal experience in early development.

The extent to which sex differences in the behavioral effects of frontal injury in the adult rat can be attributed to differential exposure to testosterone (T) during development was investigated. The effects of these factors on brain weight and relative brain size were also examined. At birth, males were gonadectomized (GDX) or not and females were given T or oil injections. In adulthood, all animals were GDX or sham-operated and received either bilateral aspiration lesions of the medial frontal cortex or a sham operation. Rats were tested on the Morris water maze task, the radial arm maze (RAM), and the landmark water task. The effects of frontal injury on performance of the Morris water maze task were greater in rats not exposed to T at birth, there was no effect of neonatal T exposure on performance on the RAM, and on the landmark water task there was a complicated interaction of sex and neonatal T exposure in rats with frontal injury. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subordinate satisfaction with male and female managers: Role of perceived supervisory influence.

103 22–35 yr old (38 male and 49 female) semiskilled French-speaking Canadian workers read about 3 critical incidents in the company in which either a male or female supervisor had high or low influence in solving a problem of his/her subordinates. Satisfaction with the supervisor was rated on a 6-point scale. Results show that the degree of influence had a significant impact on S satisfaction, but gender-based variables did not. It is suggested that supervisory gender is a proxy variable that may mask more salient organizationally relevant parameters. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job experience correlates of job performance.

Although measures of job experience are frequently-used screening devices in the selection of employees, personnel psychologists have devoted little attention to their usefulness. This article quantitatively summarizes data on the relation between job experience and job performance from a total sample of 16,058. The correlation between job experience and job performance was found to be moderated by two variables: length of experience and job complexity. The highest correlations were obtained in populations with low mean levels of job experience and for jobs that place low levels of cognitive demands on employees. Results appear to be consistent with the causal model of job performance proposed by Schmidt, Hunter, and Outerbridge (1986). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Main and interaction effects of task and contextual performance on supervisory reward decisions.

Undergraduates (N?=?494) participated in a managerial inbasket simulation While periodically interrupted by a videotaped subordinate who performed at 1 of 4 levels of task performance and 1 of 4 levels of contextual performance. After completing the inbasket, students decided how much of a pay increase to give the subordinate, whether to promote him, and whether to recommend him for a fast-track development program. Results showed significant main effects on reward decisions for both task performance, F(3, 479)?=?69.6, p ?F(3, 479)?=?26.0, p ?F(9, 479)? =?9.6, p ?     

Role of performance goals in prose learning.

Investigated the effect of learning goal instructions in prose learning. 96 Ss read and were tested on 2 passages. Different goal instructions were introduced for the 2nd passage with either a paced or an unpaced reading period. For both paced and unpaced conditions, a Hard Goal condition (answer 18 of 20 test questions) produced significantly higher estimates before reading of the number to be answered correctly and a greater number correct on the test after reading than did Easy Goal (5 of 20) and General Goal ("do your best") conditions. The Hard Goal improvement was attributed to an increase in study persistence and changes in learning behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of the rater in performance appraisal.

Notes that ratings for performance appraisal are frequently made by supervisors. In the present study, judgments of effectiveness for 153 hospital nurses were obtained from the nurse herself and her peers in addition to her supervisor, using the same rating form. Factor analysis indicated that each rating source could be clearly identified and characterized. The data reaffirm the notion that interrater disagreement may reflect systematic rater bias as well as meaningful differences in the ways in which judgments are made. Implications for comprehensive appraisals are suggested. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)