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The present study replicated and extended research on the influence of team assignment methods on task performance and fairness perceptions. This study examined the influence of team assignment methods, goal commitment, and partner status on team member performance and fairness perceptions in a laboratory setting. The assignment conditions were comprised of three variables: assignment method (random, self-decision, and ability), performer status (assigned or unassigned), and partner status (unassigned team member stayed or left during task performance). A significant interaction was found between assignment method and performer status when the unassigned team member left during task performance, but not when the unassigned team member stayed. Random and self-decision assignment methods resulted in higher levels of goal commitment and task performance than did ability-based assignment conditions. Lastly, goal commitment was found to mediate the relationship between assignment method and task performance. The implications of these findings for the task performance and organizational justice literatures, as well as for managers in general, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on theory regarding the dynamics of organizational double binds, hypotheses were developed about interactive effects of role conflict, role ambiguity, and coping on psychological exhaustion. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 948 civil servants employed by a government administration in Germany. The sample included 250 (26.4%) women (M age=43.6 year, SD=8.3) and average organizational tenure was 17.1 year (SD=10.0). Moderated multiple regression supported the two hypothesized three-way interactions. Under conditions of high role conflict and high role ambiguity, exhaustion was lower in workers reporting high control coping than in workers reporting low control coping. Under conditions of high role conflict and high role ambiguity, worker exhaustion was more pronounced when support coping was high than when it was low. Problem-focused control coping seems crucial to maintain mental health in dealing with contradictory and unclear work role expectations. Emotion-focused support coping appears symptomatic of prolonged involvement in psychologically dysfunctional work situations that cannot otherwise be addressed. Implications are discussed in the context of growing awareness of the contradictory demands organizations impose on employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of workplace friendship is recognized by researchers and practitioners, but its antecedents with respect to work roles are not well understood. employees' gender might moderate a relationship between work roles and friendships. Data from a survey of 221 international tourist hotel employees showed that a key aspect of job support, role ambiguity, was negatively related to having workplace friendships. However, employees' gender did not moderate this relationship. Role clarity (the opposite of role ambiguity) may facilitate workplace friendships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Role ambiguity was examined as a moderator of occupational self-efficacy and job satisfaction on the basis of the data obtained from 280 employees of U.S. housing finance agencies in four states. The interaction effect was found to be small but significant. The practical implications of role ambiguity at different levels of occupational self-efficacy were discussed. The value of reducing role ambiguity is higher for those who have low self-efficacy. The theoretical implications of the findings support the inclusion of dispositional and situational interactions in research regarding job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conley and You assessed the plausibility of three alternative model specifications of the relations between role stressor's (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) and organizational commitment, satisfaction, and turnover intentions among a sample of 178 teachers employed in four Southern California high schools. Using structural equations modeling procedures to evaluate their data, the authors reported the best fit for their "fully mediated effects" model wherein there was a "strong causal path from role ambiguity and role conflict → satisfaction → commitment → intentions to leave" (p. 781). This note addresses methodological issues with the present study and provides suggestions for follow–up efforts designed to replicate and⁄or extend this line of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conley and You assessed the plausibility of three alternative model specifications of the relations between role stressor's (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) and organizational commitment, satisfaction, and turnover intentions among a sample of 178 teachers employed in four Southern California high schools. Using structural equations modeling procedures to evaluate their data, the authors reported the best fit for their "fully mediated effects" model wherein there was a "strong causal path from role ambiguity and role conflict → satisfaction → commitment → intentions to leave" (p. 781). This note addresses methodological issues with the present study and provides suggestions for follow–up efforts designed to replicate and⁄or extend this line of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]