The article presents the results of research on strategically managing human resources to promote effective teamwork. The study used professional football as an example of a job which requires considerable specialized knowledge and the ability to coordinate interdependent tasks as part of a team. An overview of related previous studies is provided, along with details of the research protocol, which involved the National Football League (NFL.) Implications for human resources management are discussed in terms of tasks, best practices, tenure and performance.

This article exploits a natural experiment initiated by Oregon and Washington voter referendums to show that the minimum wage is a blunt instrument that differentially affects low‐wage workers within and across industries. Specifically, employment growth specifications indicate that the minimum wage generates consistently negative employment effects for eating and drinking workers where the minimum is shown to be relatively binding, but not for hotel and lodging workers where the minimum is less binding. Regressions using job‐specific want‐ad data from Portland and Seattle newspapers also indicate a reduction in hiring solicitation relating to the extent that the minimum wage binds. ( JEL J31, J38)

Moneyball (Lewis, 2003) is a book about baseball. The book describes how a small-market Major League Baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, has been able to compete with large-market teams by being innovative in a tradition-laden industry. However, when read through a business management lens, one discerns that this baseball book, in fact, has general management lessons in a variety of areas including leadership, innovation, overcoming resistance to change, and creating a sustainable competitive advantage. In this article, we outline and illustrate the valuable lessons for business that emerge from the Moneyball story. More specifically, we provide a brief overview of the book; summarize arguments for applying Moneyball ideas to management as presented in the popular media as well as in academia; determine the underlying management themes contained in the Moneyball story; and propose Moneyball lessons for managers.

Moneyball (Lewis, 2003) is a book about baseball. The book describes how a small-market Major League Baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, has been able to compete with large-market teams by being innovative in a tradition-laden industry. However, when read through a business management lens, one discerns that this baseball book, in fact, has general management lessons in a variety of areas including leadership, innovation, overcoming resistance to change, and creating a sustainable competitive advantage. In this article, we outline and illustrate the valuable lessons for business that emerge from the Moneyball story. More specifically, we provide a brief overview of the book; summarize arguments for applying Moneyball ideas to management as presented in the popular media as well as in academia; determine the underlying management themes contained in the Moneyball story; and propose Moneyball lessons for managers.

A number of phenomena of interest to management and organizational scholars have been investigated within the context of sport (e.g., compensation-performance relationships, escalating commitment, executive succession, sustainable competitive advantage). The authors are unaware, however, of any systematic effort to address the rationale, benefits, and potential of conducting organizational research within sport. The purpose of this article is to investigate how studying within the context of sport can contribute to an understanding of management and of organizations with a focus on how such contribution can be achieved with creative and innovative research approaches. The authors present a general overview of the rationale for studying organizational phenomena within sport and provide a concise review of such research. With this as background, the authors discuss a number of organizational phenomena that they have studied within the domain of sport. The article suggests how organizational research might benefit by using sport as a context in ways not yet evident in the literature.

Although research on customer service representatives (CSRs) in call centers has increased in recent years, little attention has been paid to the growing use of contingent (temporary) CSRs in this setting. This study investigated the role that human capital plays in explaining the job satisfaction and performance of contingent and regular CSRs. Consistent with our expectations, contingent CSRs had less human capital but higher job satisfaction than regular workers. In addition, we found that human capital mediated the relationship between work status and job satisfaction. Contrary to expectations, no Performance differences were found between contingent and regular CSRs. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Health promotion programmes at work involve: the periodic or continuing delivery of materials and activities for educational and/or behavioural change that are designed to maintain or improve the workers’ fitness, health and well-being; and changes in organizational practices and policies conducive to health promotion. Cost—effectiveness analysis and cost—benefit analysis suggest that such programmes can provide financial benefits to work organizations through reduced health-care costs, occupational injuries and absenteeism, and through increased worker productivity (Fries et al., 1993; Pelletier, 1993; Kaman, 1995).

Cette revue de questions décrit les développements actuels des recherches américaines en psychologie de la santé. Bien que la mission et les objectifs du Département de Psychologie de la Santé de l'Association Américaine de Psychologie soient vastes, la majorité des recherches aux Etats‐Unis ont été réductionistes pour ce qui est de la théorie, essentiellement cliniques et centrées sur l'individu avec une ouverture minimale sur l'environnement. On examine en détail les recherches qui ont porté sur les programmes de promotion de la santé sur le lieu de travail. Ces investigations qui adoptent une perspective plus ouverte que la plupart des recherches en psychologie de la santé peuvent servir de modèle pour les études à venir. L'article conclut en montrant que la psychologie de la santé atteint aux Etats‐Unis un moment critique. C'est l'occasion de développer une vaste psychologie de la santé qui engloberait la santé et la maladie, les recherches mono‐ et interdisciplinaires, l'individu et de multiples niveaux d'analyse. II est également probable qu'à l'avenir la psychologie de la santé se dédoublera avec un regard sur l'individu et un autre sur l'environnement.This review examines current developments in American research in health psychology. Although the mission and objectives of the Division of Health Psychology in the American Psychological Association are broad, the majority of research in the US has been reductionistic in theory, clinical in focus, and directed at studying the individual with minimal attention to context. Research on health promotion programmes at the worksite is reviewed in detail. This literature, which takes a broader perspective than most health psychology research, may provide a model for future studies. The paper concludes by stating that health psychology in the US is at a critical stage. There is the opportunity to develop a comprehensive health psychology that is inclusive of health and illness, of single‐disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, and of intra‐individual and multiple levels of analysis. There also is a chance that in the future we will see two distinct fields of health psychology; one that looks inside the individual and one that looks outside.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a revised worksite health promotion program that featured an employee steering committee/menu approach to intervention. The “Take Heart II” program was evaluated using a quasi-experimental matched-pair design with worksite as the unit of analysis. Experimental and control worksites did not differ on baseline organizational or employee demographic variables or on baseline levels of dependent variables. Outcome and process results revealed consistent, but modest effects favoring intervention worksites on most measures. Cross-sectional analyses generally failed to produce statistically significant intervention effects, but cohort analyses revealed significant beneficial effects of the Take Heart II intervention on eating patterns, behavior change attempts, and perceived social support. Neither analysis detected a beneficial effect of intervention on cholesterol levels.

Purpose. This study examines whether social support for behavior change at work is associated with changes in employee heart disease risk factors. Design. A prospective correlational design was used with data sets collected 12 months apart. Setting. Twenty-five small to medium worksites in Oregon. Subjects. Participants were 689 men and 421 women volunteers who participated in two health assessments at the worksite on company time. Measures. Demographic characteristics, gender, social support, smoking behavior, dietary fat intake, and total blood cholesterol. Results. Employees reporting strong social support at work for not smoking and for limiting dietary fat were less likely to smoke (r = -.11, odds ratio [OR] = .86) and to consume fat in their diets (r = −.10) at baseline. Employees who reported the most change in social support over a 12-month period were most likely to have stopped smoking (r = .15, OR = 1.31). Social support at baseline, however, was unrelated to change in smoking, dietary fat, or total blood cholesterol in a prospective design. Although women reported more social support at work than did men, no differential gender effects of social support were reported on heart disease risk status or change in risk status. Conclusion. Baseline social support at work did not predict future behavior change. The observed association between social support and lifestyle may be better explained as cognitive rationalization than by the impact of social support on behavior.

Transformational leadership theory was examined in 89 schools in Singapore using a split sample technique (N = 846 teachers). The study sought to examine the influence of transformational leader behavior by school principals as it related to organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, teacher satisfaction with leader, and student academic performance. Attitudinal and behavioral data were collected from both teachers and principals; student academic performance was collected from school records. School level analyses showed that transformational leadership had significant add-on effects to transactional leadership in the prediction of organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and teacher satisfaction. Moreover, transformational leadership was found to have indirect effects on student academic achievement. Finally, it was found that transactional leadership had little add-on effect on transformational leadership in predicting outcomes. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

OBJECTIVES:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term effects of a low-intensity work-site heart disease risk reduction program using a matched pair design with work site as the unit of analysis.METHODS:Twenty-six heterogeneous work sites with between 125 and 750 employees were matched on key organization characteristics and then randomly assigned to early or delayed intervention conditions. Early intervention consisted of an 18-month multifaceted program that featured an employee steering committee and a menu approach to conducting key intervention activities tailored to each site.RESULTS:Cross-sectional and cohort analyses produced consistent results. At the conclusion of the intervention, early and delayed intervention conditions did not differ on changes in smoking rates, dietary intake, or cholesterol levels. There was considerable variability in outcomes among work sites within each condition.CONCLUSIONS:Despite documented implementation of key intervention activities and organization-level changes in terms of perceived support for health promotion, this intervention did not produce short-term improvements beyond secular trends observed in control work sites. Research is needed to understand determinants of variability between work sites.

This article describes the conceptual basis, design, and intervention approach for a worksite-based heart disease risk reduction project. Baseline characteristics of the 26 moderate size worksites participating in the Take Heart Project are also described. The trial is designed to produce changes at both the organization and employee level on tobacco use, dietary fat intake, and serum cholesterol. A key feature of the intervention is creation of employee steering committees to enhance ownership and involvement. From a menu of brief, low-intensity health education and environmental change activities, these committees select activities best suited to their worksite. The baseline characteristics of ogranizations randomized to intervention and control conditions were similar, and indicated a relatively high level of worksite activity related to cholesterol and smoking.

The competing explanations for adverse health symptoms commonly observed in night-shift workers can be divided into "correlational" and "causational" groups. This study monitored health claims and costs over 3 years for all shifts in seven industrial plants and administered a survey canvassing a range of behavioral and attitudinal dimensions. Shift workers differed from day workers in symptomatology and health claims, and, in their feelings of support from management, safety attitudes, and practices, felt support from friends and family, alcohol and tobacco use, and other dimensions. Because shiftwork was associated with adverse health effects but these other measured dimensions were not, the explanation that health effects are due to shiftwork itself rather than to its attitudinal or demographic correlates is supported.

Meta-analytic techniques were applied to 20 controlled studies of work site smoking cessation yielding a total of 34 comparisons of long-term (average = 12 months) quit rate (QR). An overall weighted mean effect size (ES) of .21 +/- .07 was found, indicating a modest but significant overall effect (P less than .01). The weighted average follow-up QR from all interventions was 13%. Based on previous research, characteristics associated with interventions, work sites, employees, and research methodology were identified as potential moderator variables. Apart from methodological variables, interventions conducted in smaller work sites (ES = .45 +/- .17), which lasted 2 to 6 hours (ES = .42 +/- .13), and which contained heavy smokers (ES = .28 +/- .07) were associated with the largest effect sizes. We were also interested in absolute quit rates. After controlling for methodological quality, programs that included a cessation group component (partial r = .39), that were not overly complicated (partial r = -.42), and that shared company and employee time (partial r = -.48), as well as the above variables had the strongest associations with QR. Implications for public health policy and future research are discussed.

Survey data from 268 employees participating in a work redesign intervention showed that beliefs about the negative impact of the intervention on the work context was an important predictor of the level of support for the change. In contrast, beliefs about the process used to introduce the change and the potential positive impact of the change on core job dimensions were only weakly related to supportfor the intervention. These results suggest that researchers and practitioners need to be sensitive to employee fears and concerns about the negative consequences of work redesign interventions.

AbstractSixty‐seven MBA students were asked to provide salary increment recommendations for a set of employees. Contrary to past evidence of a preference for an adjustment system, the majority of respondents utilized an absolute merit system for determining salary increases (wherein employees of equal merit were assigned raises of equal dollar magnitude independent of initial base salary). Further analysis suggested the importance of an individual's value system in the decision to employ a particular approach to allocating raises.