Journal of Management

A systematic understanding of responses to dimensions necessitates that the dimensions be defined and operationalized consistently. This paper's results indicate that task attribute manipulations have not consistently/represented the theoretical conceptualizations of the task characteristics. The implications of these results for job design research are discussed.

A large, diverse sample of national firms was used to investigate the relationship between specialization, formalization, and centralization in the functional work unit. A finding was that the three variables compose a single dimension of organizational structure. Another finding was that, within this dimension, specialization, formalization, and centralization were negatively related; this indicates that these are alternative mechanisms for achieving administrative control. The findings are discussed in the light of previous research in the area and the implications for practicing managers.

Organization and work group climates were measured by the use of identical questions for 112 managers in different business units. The results provide tentative support for the notion that organization and work group climates are different constructs; organization and work group climates were moderately correlated and had different relationships with job satisfaction and job involvement.

This study systematically assessed the various roles essential to managers on different levels of the managerial hierarchy. A sample of 352 top, middle, and low-level managers from both large and small organizations in a variety of industries was asked to rate the various roles required by their positions. The analysis of variance results indicate that 7 of the 10 roles are influenced by hierarchical level. A quadratic discriminant analysis was used to identify a role profile for managers on different levels of the managerial hierarchy. Implications for the practice and teaching of business are discussed.

This field study examined the effets of MBO on measures of quantity and quality' of performance and satisfaction with the work and supervision among employees in a human services agency. Although not all the quantity measures improved significant/,} the (combined measure for quantity of performance and one of two quality measures showed significant improvement following implementation of MBO. Satisfaction with supervision also significantly improved but not satisfaction with work. The study lends support to the use of MBO in public sector organizations.