Organizational work conditions

Question 1

Wickstrom and Bendix(2000)

Answer 1

Hawthorne effect-behavior changes because it is being investigated. The improvement of performance of workers is due to workers receiving a number of special privileges as a result of taking part.
Investigated the relationship between illumination and productivity at an electricity company in Chicago. Workers were asked to work either in control condition with stable illumination or experimental condition with progressively decreased illumination. The results show that productivity increased in both groups. It was concluded that light has little effect on workers’ performance.

Question 2

Kahn(1995)

Answer 2

Workers increasingly took the opportunity to alter their work roles. Kahn described this as a genuine transfer of power, as rather than being supervised as they had been before, the women in this study were consulted about each stage of the experiment and genuine efforts were made to create positive working environments.

Question 3

Greenwood(1983)

Answer 3

• women had worked harder in the test rooms to avoid being sent back to the ordinary manufacturing rooms where the supervision was described as “harsh”.
• the original experiments also lacked experimental rigor with many uncontrolled variables and changes of participants
• the studies were conducted during the Depression, a time of economic hardship across the USA. Therefore, the threat of losing one’s job may also have contributed to the work levels.
• the workers were being paid according to an incentive pay system based on the outcome of the experimental group rather than the workforce as a whole and this is likely to have improved productivity.

Question 4

Einarsen(1999)

Answer 4

“bullying”-hostile and aggressive behavior, either physical or non-physical, directed at one or more colleagues or subordinates; causes humiliation,offense and distress and may also affect an individual’s work performance; and create a negative working environment

Five types of bullying behavior:

1) work-related bullying such as changing tasks or making them harder to perform
2) physical violence or threats of physical violence
3) personal attacks or attacks on private life by ridicule, gossip or insulting remarks
4) verbal threats including criticism and humiliation
5) social isolation

• four stages of bullying
  1) aggressive behavior
  2) bullying
  3) stigmatisation
  4) severe trauma

Question 5

Bjorkqvist et al. 1994

Answer 5

-three main perceived reasons for bullying:
competition concerning status and job position
envy and the aggressor being uncertain about their own abilities
personality of victim

Question 6

Oldham and Brass(1979)

Answer 6

Open plan offices field study.