Transformational leadership,relationship quality,and employee performance during continuous incremental organizational change

Although transformational leadership has been investigated in connection with change at higher levels of organizations, less is known about its “in‐the‐trenches” impact. We examined relations among transformational leadership, explicit change reactions (i.e., relationship quality), change frequency, and change consequences (i.e., task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)) during continuous incremental organizational change at lower hierarchical levels. In a sample of 251 employees and their 78 managers, analyses revealed that the quality of relationships between leaders and employees mediated the influence of transformational leadership on employee task performance and OCB. We also found that change frequency moderated the positive association of relationship quality with task performance and OCB, such that associations were stronger when change frequency was high. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Empirical Investigation of the Influence of Safety Climate on Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Taiwan’s Facilities

Although the social exchange relationships between employers and employees are increasingly important to the performance of safety management systems, the psychological effects of work attitudes on this relationship have been less studied. Using a sample of first-line operators and their supervisors from 188 facilities in Taiwan which had Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18000 (OHSAS 18000) certification, the current research conducted an empirical investigation of the influence of safety climate on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Work attitude was used to disclose the psychological effect. Research results indicated that (a) safety climate was a significant predicator of OCB, (b) the psychological effect significantly influenced social exchange relationships, and (c) job satisfaction showed a stronger mediating influence than organizational commitment due to the frequent top management turnover. Discussions and implications are also addressed.     

Scapegoating in the Wild: A Burkean Analysis of Two Outdoor Adventures Gone Wrong

Aron Ralston and Christopher McCandless, two outdoor adventurers, have captured the hearts of many American environmentalists. Each has attained the status of cultural icons and inspired books and films to recount their tales. While entertainment media have romanticized both individuals, news media are not as easy on one—McCandless is vilified while Ralston is valorized. When reporting these stories, news media outlets attempted to retell each story in a way that conforms to the dominant American ideology of wilderness, where “progress” is marked by control over nature—control that both Ralston and McCandless clearly unsettled. In addition, both committed many of the same errors in being underprepared. Despite these similarities, why are they each presented so differently in the news media? This paper offers a rhetorical analysis of newspaper articles on each story, where the phenomenon of scapegoating alienates McCandless, and the phenomenon of mortification purifies Ralston, restabilizing this American environmental ideology in both stories. In conclusion, I argue that the essential difference between these two stories is that they present two opposing ideals of a human–nature relationship, with Ralston's ideology including a space for technology and industrial knowledge, and thus construed as more appropriate than McCandless' ideology.     

Polyols and Polyurethanes from Hydroformylation of Soybean Oil

This paper compares physical and mechanical properties of polyurethanes derived via the hydroformylation approach and is a part of our study on the structure–property relationships in polyurethanes created from vegetable oils. The double bonds of soybean oil are first converted to aldehydes through hydroformylation using either rhodium or cobalt as the catalyst. The aldehydes are hydrogenated by Raney nickel to alcohols, forming a triglyceride polyol. The latter is reacted with polymeric MDI to yield the polyurethane. Depending on the degree of conversion, the materials can behave as hard rubbers or rigid plastics. The rhodium-catalyzed reaction afforded a polyol with a 95% conversion, giving rise to a rigid polyurethane, while the cobalt-catalyzed reaction gives a polyol with a 67% conversion, leading to a hard rubber having lower mechanical strengths. Addition of glycerine as a cross-linker systematically improves the properties of the polyurethanes. The polyols are characterized by DSC. The measured properties of polyurethanes include glass transition temperatures, tensile strengths, flexural moduli, and impact strengths.     

A process model of employee engagement: The learning climate and its relationship with extra‐role performance behaviors

Employee engagement has recently been introduced as a concept advantageous to organizations. However, little is known about the value of employee engagement in explaining work performance behaviors compared with similar concepts. The learning climate, defined as the organization's beneficial activities in helping employees create, acquire, and transfer knowledge, has also been proposed as an antecedent of employee engagement. Using data from a sample of 625 employees and their supervisors in various occupations and organizations throughout Israel, we investigated employee engagement as a key mechanism for explaining the relationship between perceptions of the organization's learning climate and employees' proactivity, knowledge sharing, creativity, and adaptivity. We also tested whether employee engagement explained the relationship more thoroughly than similar concepts such as job satisfaction and job involvement. Multilevel regression analyses supported our hypotheses that employee engagement mediates the relationship between the perceived learning climate and these extra‐role behaviors. Moreover, engagement provides a more thorough explanation than job satisfaction or job involvement for these relationships. The implications for organizational theory, research, and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

应急协同嵌入性关系构建制约因素及建设路径

应急成效提升的关键在于应急主体建设起持续发展的稳定关系,这需要建设嵌入式关系模式来实现。通过从关系认知存在差异、关系内容多样失范、关系维系难以推进、关系强度难以深化4方面分析政府与社会组织应急领域嵌入性关系构建制约因素,针对性地提出了相关建设路径。     

支持向量机对多环芳烃毒性的定量构效预测

为了实现多环芳烃(PAHs)毒性的有效预测,提出应用定量构效技术对多环芳烃的空气-正辛醇分配系数(KOA)和致癌性进行预测。应用分子描述符和试验值确立构效关系,采用支持向量机算法(SVM)和人工神经网络算法(ANN)分别建立了PAHs的KOA回归预测模型和致癌性分类预测模型。利用网格划分(GS)、遗传算法(GA)、粒子群算法(PSO)对SVM进行参数寻优。应用均方误差(MSE)、拟合决定系数R2和分类准确率(Accuracy)分别对模型进行了验证与评价。结果表明,最佳回归预测模型GS-SVR的MSE为0.059 7,R2为0.913 0;最佳分类预测模型GA-SVC的Accuracy为95%。研究表明:应用SVM所建两种模型的稳定性和预测能力都优于应用ANN建立的模型;参数优化后模型的稳定性和预测能力得到了提高。     

新疆绿洲生态环境与经济发展的协调关系分析

建立新疆绿洲生态环境质量综合评价指标体系和经济发展水平综合评价指标体系,利用熵值法分别测度2000年-2010年新疆绿洲生态环境质量综合水平和经济发展综合水平,在此基础上利用协调模型,测度两者的协调度和协调发展度,进而分析两者的协调关系。分析结果显示:新疆绿洲生态环境质量综合水平缓慢下降,经济发展综合水平不断上升;两者的协调关系从中级协调-优质协调-中级协调,协调发展度表明两者的协调处于相对低层次的协调。     

压实坡积土的应力应变关系三维曲面初步研究

对两组不同含水量的压实坡积土样进行三轴CD试验,利用试验得到的ε1～q曲线以及体应变εv、剪应变εr、平均正应力p和广义剪应力q等数据,通过神经网络反演,并采用可视化处理技术,得到试样的部分应力应变关系三维曲面,为三维数值建模研究创造条件。