Navigating uneven terrain: The roles of political skill and LMX differentiation in prediction of work relationship quality and work outcomes

Drawing from social/political influence, leader–member exchange (LMX), and social comparison theories, the present two‐study investigation examines three levels of LMX differentiation (i.e., individual‐level, meso‐level, and group‐level LMX differentiation) and further tests a model of the joint effects of political skill and LMX differentiation on LMX, relative LMX, and employee work outcomes. In Study 1, we used data from 231 employees and found support for the interactive effect of political skill and individual perceptions of LMX differentiation on LMX quality. We also found partial support for the moderating role of individual‐level LMX differentiation on the indirect effects of political skill on self‐rated task performance and job satisfaction via LMX. In Study 2, we used data from 185 supervisor–subordinate dyads and examined both meso‐level and group‐level LMX differentiation via a multilevel moderated mediation model. Results supported the moderating role of group‐level LMX differentiation and group mean LMX on the indirect effects of political skill on supervisor‐rated task performance and contextual performance/citizenship behavior as well as job satisfaction via relative LMX. Overall, the results suggest that politically skilled employees reap the benefits of LMX differentiation, as they enjoy higher absolute LMX and relative (i.e., to their peers) LMX quality. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The problem with [in] management theory

Theory is essential to everything that we do as people studying and practicing industrial/organizational psychology and organizational behavior. But, I think that our field has lost its way recently and become enamored by shiny objects and interesting puzzles. Advancing management theory seems to have become an end state in and of itself. We seemed to be far more concerned with the entertainment value of theories than we are with their scientific rigor or real‐world value. Top journals in our field are mandating that all articles must make a theoretical contribution, and theoretical contributions are being gauged primarily in terms of how innovative, counter‐intuitive, surprising, and interesting they may be. I advocate for a more balanced approach, and in particular, for greater use of abductive inference. I argue that if you start with a real‐world challenge and draw from existing theory, and then develop new theory to understand and change things, you are also making a theoretical contribution. Whether or not we are guided by theory is not really at issue—at issue is how well developed are our theories, how accurate are they, and do they help us to improve organizational life for everyone involved?     

基于熵权模糊模型的土壤重金属生态风险评价

土壤重金属污染评价对于环境保护策略的制定和民众健康的防护具有重要意义。应用熵权、毒性系数和模糊数学构建了熵权模糊法评价模型,并以陕西省彬长煤化工业区为例,对其土壤重金属富集特征和潜在生态风险进行了评估。结果表明,土壤Cd、Co和Pb质量比较高,空间差异明显,建矿时间较长的工业园区土壤重金属潜在生态风险水平较高。熵权评价显示Cd为主要污染因子(权重为0.566)。模糊综合评价显示,研究区55.7%的样点为轻度污染,24.3%的样点为中度污染,无重污染和严重污染隶属样点。研究区污染程度有由轻度污染向中度污染过度的趋势。与传统污染评价指数相比,熵权法和模糊数学模型的联合应用有助于提高风险评价的准确性。     

基于可拓云理论的泥炭质土场地沉降风险评价

为更好地研究泥炭质土场地地铁车站基坑周边沉降问题,预测和评估施工时及施工后的沉降风险,在分析了泥炭质土的特点后,选择土层厚度、有机质质量分数、重度、天然含水率、孔隙比、土层埋深和压缩模量7个指标,建立沉降风险评估指标体系,并根据改进层次分析法和改进熵权法求出主观权重与客观权重,最后用理想点法耦合主客观权重求出各评价指标的综合权重;根据沉降等级分类标准,生成每个评价指标的云滴图,计算得到各评价因子的可拓云矩阵,进而将综合权重向量与可拓云矩阵相乘得到综合确定度,根据综合确定度最大原则确定样本沉降风险等级。以昆明某地铁车站施工监测数据为例,用建立的可拓云模型对泥炭质土场地的沉降风险进行评价,最终评价结果与实际监测结果吻合较好,验证了分析方法的合理性及可行性。该评价方法充分考虑了多种因素影响,明确了沉降的风险等级,评价结果为泥炭土场地上建(构)筑物的设计施工及应急处理提供了理论依据。     

Six Common Mistakes in Conservation Priority Setting

A vast number of prioritization schemes have been developed to help conservation navigate tough decisions about the allocation of finite resources. However, the application of quantitative approaches to setting priorities in conservation frequently includes mistakes that can undermine their authors’ intention to be more rigorous and scientific in the way priorities are established and resources allocated. Drawing on well‐established principles of decision science, we highlight 6 mistakes commonly associated with setting priorities for conservation: not acknowledging conservation plans are prioritizations; trying to solve an ill‐defined problem; not prioritizing actions; arbitrariness; hidden value judgments; and not acknowledging risk of failure. We explain these mistakes and offer a path to help conservation planners avoid making the same mistakes in future prioritizations. Seis Errores Comunes en la Definición de Prioridades de Conservación     

Mass communication and pro-environmental behaviour: waste recycling in Hong Kong

Treatment of domestic waste has been one of the major environmental problems in Hong Kong. The Government has a stated policy to advocate the minimization of waste disposal through the encouragement of waste reduction, re-use and recycling. The current study applies Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour to predict behavioural intention and actual behaviour of voluntary use of waste recycling receptacles. A systematic random sample of 173 household members in a public housing estate were interviewed. The results indicated that attitude was the major factor in predicting behavioural intention, followed by behavioural control and social norms. Attitude, subjective norm and perceived control together explained 44% of the variance of behavioural intention. Perception of mass media as a major source of subjective norm was first introduced and tested. Mass communication stood out as one of the major sources of influence in establishment of subjective norms. The study has the implication that more publicity messages should be put on the mass media to promote green behaviours.     

The importance of group‐focused transformational leadership and felt obligation for helping and group performance

Leaders face a challenge to simultaneously motivate workgroups and the individuals within them. Recent criticisms highlight the need to deconstruct broad leadership constructs to offer better theoretical insight into the effects of specific leadership behaviors on groups versus individuals. We address this call by exploring the effects of group‐focused and individual‐focused aspects of transformational leadership. Applying social identity theory, we theorize that group‐focused transformational leadership is key to fostering felt obligation, motivating helping behavior, and enhancing group performance, whereas individual‐focused leadership may only foster helping when individuals also feel a sense of obligation toward their workgroup. In a field study of 260 employees reporting to 36 supervisors in a skilled trade company, we find support for these predictions using multilevel structural equation modeling and multilevel mixed effects modeling. Thus, group‐focused (vs. individual‐focused) transformational leadership and subsequent felt obligation are important antecedents for encouraging helping and, in turn, workgroup performance.     

Voting Systems for Environmental Decisions

Voting systems aggregate preferences efficiently and are often used for deciding conservation priorities. Desirable characteristics of voting systems include transitivity, completeness, and Pareto optimality, among others. Voting systems that are common and potentially useful for environmental decision making include simple majority, approval, and preferential voting. Unfortunately, no voting system can guarantee an outcome, while also satisfying a range of very reasonable performance criteria. Furthermore, voting methods may be manipulated by decision makers and strategic voters if they have knowledge of the voting patterns and alliances of others in the voting populations. The difficult properties of voting systems arise in routine decision making when there are multiple criteria and management alternatives. Because each method has flaws, we do not endorse one method. Instead, we urge organizers to be transparent about the properties of proposed voting systems and to offer participants the opportunity to approve the voting system as part of the ground rules for operation of a group. Sistemas de Votación para Decisiones Ambientales     

Valuing Ecosystem Services in Terms of Ecological Risks and Returns

Abstract: The economic valuation of ecosystem services is a key policy tool in stemming losses of biological diversity. It is proposed that the loss of ecosystem function and the biological resources within ecosystems is due in part to the failure of markets to recognize the benefits humans derive from ecosystems. Placing monetary values on ecosystem services is often suggested as a necessary step in correcting such market failures. We consider the effects of valuing different types of ecosystem services within an economic framework. We argue that provisioning and regulating ecosystem services are generally produced and consumed in ways that make them amenable to economic valuation. The values associated with cultural ecosystem services lie outside the domain of economic valuation, but their worth may be expressed through noneconomic, deliberative forms of valuation. We argue that supporting ecosystem services are not of direct value and that the losses of such services can be expressed in terms of the effects of their loss on the risk to the provision of the directly valued ecosystem services they support. We propose a heuristic framework that considers the relations between ecological risks and returns in the provision of ecosystem services. The proposed ecosystem‐service valuation framework, which allows the expression of the value of all types of ecosystem services, calls for a shift from static, purely monetary valuation toward the consideration of trade‐offs between the current flow of benefits from ecosystems and the ability of those ecosystems to provide future flows.     

“Würde der kreatur” and the common morality

If respect for the dignity of non-human creatures is to be an element of public policy it needs, as a first step, to be assimilated into the common morality. It is suggested that such respect may be based on several philosophical premises. Limiting the discussion to sentient animals, the paper reviews three of these: the concept of animal telos; the application of Rawlsian contractarianism to the case of non-human animals as moral patients; and human attitudes to animals in the light of virtue theory. Consideration is then given to the extent to which, by accommodating respect for the dignity of animals within the common morality, these principles might find more substantive expression in public policy.