RICE CENTER FOR ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS STUDIES

DESCRIPTION OF THE CENTER

The Rice Center for Organizational Effectiveness Studies (RCOES) is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary entity affiliated with Rice University. A fundamental assumption of RCOES is that the effectiveness of organizations depends to a large extent on how well these organizations use their human resources.

RCOES will have the following objectives:

Although the primary participants at this time are from the Department of Psychology and the Jones Graduate School of Management, the intent is to provide a vehicle for collaboration among a diverse group of faculty from Rice and the Houston community.

CHALLENGES IN TODAY'S ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Over the last century an impressive body of knowledge has accumulated on human behavior in the workplace. Research from a variety of social science disciplines has shown that the effectiveness of organizations depends to a great extent on the attitudes, skills, and motivation of the people who do the work. This research has come from psychology, sociology, the decision sciences, marketing, economics, political science, human resources management, and organizational behavior. The importance of the human factor is likely to increase as the consequence of several challenges facing organizations.

*Technological change, driven largely by the continuing evolution of computer-based systems, continues to revolutionize the nature of work and job requirements. This technology is not only creating new types of jobs but may fundamentally change the way people relate to one another in organizations; it may, eventually, change the basic nature of organizations.

*The training of the workforce has not kept pace with the increasing cognitive skill requirements of the new technologies. Much of the training area is driven by the latest fad and too little attention has been given to empirical research. It is clear that research is needed on ways of increasing the utility of training and making greater use of new educational technologies.

*The workforce is becoming increasingly diverse with regard to race, sex, and age. Diversity can have numerous benefits, but it is also a potential source of conflict in the workplace. A greater understanding is needed of the consequences of diversity and ways of dealing with the problems associated with a multicultural and heterogeneous workforce.

*There is a continuing shift to services in the U. S. economy. About two-thirds of the currently employed population work in service jobs and according to one projection, nearly three fourths of American workers will be involved in providing various services by the year 2000. Traditionally, research has focused on the relationship of the individual employee and a physical or intellectual task, but in the future a greater understanding of interpersonal skills such as the ability to communicate, negotiate, persuade, lead, and manage conflict.

*The downsizing and reengineering of American corporations has forced many organizations to rethink the way they structure and manage work. The traditional hierarchical organizational structure is mutating into forms that are so radical that we lack the theories and metaphors to describe them. Some have speculated that the dominant type of organization in the future may be a temporary network, formed to accomplish a specific objective and then dissolved when this objective is achieved. In essence, organizations of the future may lack the boundaries that separated them from other organizations. Whereas supervisory authority may have sufficed in traditional organizations, the critical glue holding together the new organizational forms appear to depend to much greater extent on interpersonal relations, trust and the effective use of computer technologies. Again, research is needed to understand the human dynamics of these new organizational forms.

*The corporation of the past was characterized by stability and security. In contrast, employees of the future will need coping skills in which they respond to continual change by giving up their routine practices, exploring alternatives, and adopting new practices. The traditional organization relied heavily on authoritarian supervision of individual employees. However, an increasing number of organizations are relying on teams of workers who are expected to make decisions and assume responsibilities that were formerly reserved for management. Research is needed on how to effectively lead and motivate employees in the face of a changing employment contract.

*The globalization of the world economy is requiring greater contact between employees in U. S. organizations and persons in other countries. Most of the previous behavioral research on organizations has been conducted in North America. Clearly, there is a need for research on how to prepare people for dealing with different cultures and societies.

ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS

RCOES will sponsor the following activities:

1. Vehicle for external funding. The center would provide the vehicle for coordinating the efforts of faculty in preparing proposals for external funding to such agencies as the National Science Foundation. RCOES would have value in leveraging the intellectual capital resident within the university with resources available within the Houston business community to address an important national issue (organizational effectiveness) from the human perspective. The National Science Foundation is only one agency which is funding projects involving partnerships between university scholars and business organizations. RCOES would provide a competitive advantage in seeking such funding.

2. Conferences - Nationally recognized experts on issues of relevance to organizational effectiveness will be brought to the Rice campus for meetings with Rice faculty and representatives of organizations in the Houston area. In conjunction with these presentations, roundtable panel discussions will be conducted to identify critical research needs and to provide an exchange of ideas between decision makers in Houston area organizations and scholars at Rice.

3. Access to and sponsorship of students - Each year information will be provided to organizations on students at Rice with particular interests in organizational effectiveness. These could include students in the MBA program in the Jones School and the Ph.D. and master's programs in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Human Factors, and Human Computer Interaction. RCOES will provide a vehicle for students to find full-time positions or internships and to find organizational sponsors for their MA and Ph. D. research.

4. White paper series - A white paper series on issues relevant organizational effectiveness will be published and distributed to organizations affiliated with RCOES. This series will contain empirical and theoretical contributions by Rice faculty and other scholars associated with the center.

5. Research projects - Individual organizations may have specific research projects that fit the expertise and resources of Rice faculty that are associated with RCOES. The center will form and coordinate research teams consisting of students and faculty to conduct these field studies.

6. Surveys of workplace attitudes. Periodic surveys will be conducted to assess the changing attitudes, values, and expectations of the adult working population in the Houston area. The findings of these surveys will be disseminated by means of the white paper series and conferences.

Other projects that may be conducted by RCOES depending on faculty interest and the availability of resources:

FACULTY

It is expected that the faculty most actively involved in the center will come from the Department of Psychology (especially those in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Human Factors programs) and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management. However, the intent is to build bridges among a variety of departments at Rice. In time we would hope that RCOES will become increasingly interdisciplinary and will include faculty in Economics, Political Science, Anthropology, Sociology, Education, Statistics, and Human Performance and Health Science. It is also expected that the center will engage in joint ventures with other entities such as the Baker Institute, the Center on Management Information Technology (COMIT), the Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning, and Leadership Rice. A core concern at the present time is research on the technological, psychological, and organizational factors involved in human learning and skill acquisition. Although the focus is on the human element of improving organizational effectiveness, the scope of research interests encompassed by RCOES will be kept as broad as possible. The faculty who are currently the primary participants in the planning of RCOES are listed below. We expect that his list will grow as other faculty become involved in the future.

Steve Currall

Dr. Currall holds faculty appointments in the Jones Graduate School of Management and the Department of Psychology. He teaches courses in management, organizational behavior, strategic human resource management, and negotiation. His research has been published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences, and Quality Management Journal. In 1995 he was the lead editor of Power and Negotiations in Organizations: Readings, Cases, and Exercises published by Kendall/Hunt. Currall has advised organizations such as Campbell Soup Company, Columbia Gas Development, FMC, Intel, Reading and Bates Drilling, and Shell Chemical. Currall received a Ph. D. from Cornell University and an M. Sc. from the London School of Economics. Before attending graduate school, he worked as a professional fund raiser and public relations specialist.

 Robert L. Dipboye

Dr. Dipboye is chair of the Department of Psychology and also holds a faculty appointment in the Jones Graduate School of Management. He received his Ph. D. in I/O psychology from Purdue University. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Applied Psychology and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Organizational Behavior and the Academy of Management Review. He has published extensively on issues of staffing and is the author of Selection Interviews: Process Perspectives, and Understanding Industrial and Organizational Psychology: An Integrated Approach. He has advised a variety of organizations on issues of human resources management and organizational development, including Union Carbide, Chevron, Texas Department of Corrections, and Baylor College of Medicine.

Max Elden

Dr. Elden received his Ph. D. from UCLA and is an adjunct professor of Psychology at Rice University. His field of study is that of Organizational Development, which can be defined as a process of planned change in which organizations achieve greater effectiveness through system wide changes that emphasize the human element. Among Dr. Elden’s specific interests are work place democratization, Quality of Work Life (QWL), participative leadership, and action research. As a Professor at the University of Trondheim in Norway he has been involved in many research programs focusing on the process of involving employees in the design and managing of the organization. Among these projects has been a study of the effects on Quality of Work Life of new technologies in the areas of robotics and process control office automation and the effects of QWL improvements such as autonomous work groups on employee absenteeism. Another interest of Dr. Elden is how to involve employees in the research process as active participants in the design, data gathering, and interpretation of results.

 Jennifer George

Dr. George is the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management in the Jones Graduate School of Management. She also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychology. She received a B.A. in psychology/sociology from Wesleyan University, an M.B.A. in finance from New York University, and a Ph.D. in management and organizational behavior from New York University. She has been a Consulting Editor for the Journal of Organizational Behavior, is on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Management, and the Journal of Managerial Issues, and previously served on the Editorial Review Board of the Academy of Management Journal. She teaches courses on organizational behavior. Her research interests include the role of affect, mood, and emotion in the workplace, personality influences, groups and teams, creativity, prosocial behavior, and values, work-life linkages, and stress and well-being. She has published in leading journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Psychological Bulletin. She has also co-authored two books, Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior (2nd ed.) and Contemporary Management (2nd ed.).

 David Lane

Dr. Lane received his Ph. D. from Tulane University and holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Statistics. His interests include interface design and the application of computer technology to training. Dr. Lane has consulted for a variety of technology companies, including Lotus, Microsoft, and Ashton Tate. He has published an electronic textbook/data analysis system called "Hyperstat."

H. Albert Napier

Dr. Napier holds faculty appointments in the Jones Graduate School of Management and the Department of Psychology, and is Director of the Center on the Management of Information Technology. He received his Ph.D., M.B.A., and B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Napier's research interests include human computer interface, decision support systems, uses of information technology and issues related to managing the information technology function in organizations. Dr. Napier has authored a number of articles which have appeared in such journals as the MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, Interacting with Computers, Human-Computer Interaction, Management Science, and Operations Research.

Mikki Hebl

Dr. Hebl holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychology. She received her B. A. from Smith University, her M. A. from Texas A&M, and her Ph. D. from Dartmouth. Her research interests include leadership, diversity, the psychology of gender-roles, and employment discrimination.

Pamela A. Kennedy

Dr. Kennedy holds BA, MA, and Ph. D. degrees in psychology from Rice University. She served as a Senior Consultant with the American Productivity and Quality Center, where she consulted in significant strategic change projects, and continues to be a consulting resource and master traineer for the Center and its clients. She was a founding partner with The Core Group, a Houston based consulting firm, and was Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of International Core Group, Inc. She has extensive experience working with individuals and groups at all organizational levels, from senior executives and union leaders to first-line supervisors and employees. Her client list includes Alyeska Pipline Service Company, Amoco Corporation, British Petroleum, Champion International, Scott Paper Company and the United Paperworkers International Union, Citicorp Acceptance Corporation of America, the United States Postal Service, Shell Canada, The American College of Epidemiology, National Steel and the United Steel Workers of American, Kaiser Aluminum and the USWA, Union Carbide, and the Metal Trades Unions. Her areas of specialty include team building, executive coaching, change management, labor-management relations, and conflict resolution.

Miguel Quiñones

Dr. Quiñones received his B. S. in psychology from Texas A&M University and his M. A. and Ph. D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Michigan State University. He holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychology and the Jones Graduate School of Management. He teaches courses in statistics, psychometrics, psychological testing, personnel selection, training, and motivation. He has published in journals such as Personnel Psychology and the Journal of Applied Psychology. He is the editor of a forthcoming book entitled "Training in a Rapidly Changing Workplace: Applications of Psychological Research and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Psychology. Dr. Quiñones has consulted with the U. S. Air Force on various training design, evaluation, and transfer issues as well as with private organizations on a variety of applied psychological projects.

Karen Schnietz

Robert Westbrook

Dr. Robert Westbrook is the William Alexander Kirkland Professor of Management and currently the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University. He received his A. B., M. B. A., and Ph. D. from the University of Michigan. His current teaching and research interests include marketing management, customer analysis, customer satisfaction, and organizational culture. Dr. Westbrook has published extensively in professional journals such as the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Consumer Research.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

The expertise and research interests of the faculty include the following topics:

1. Job and task analysis.

2. Training systems designs and analysis

a. Experimental evaluation of learning and transfer

b. Instructional systems design and analysis

c. Adaptive learning algorithm analysis

3. Human-machine interface design and evaluation

4. Software design and evaluation

5. Attitude surveys and survey feedback

6. Design, implementation, and evaluation of

personnel programs related to

a. personnel selection

b. performance appraisal

c. reward and feedback systems

d. employee training

7. Human resources planning

8. Decision support systems

9. Industrial accident analysis

10. Physical ability testing

11. Design of hazard warnings

12. Organizational diagnosis

13. Management development

14. Legal issues in HRM

15. Strategic Human Resource Management

16. Changing employment contract and organizational trust

17. Work motivation

18. Work stress

19. Team development

20. Conflict resolution

21. Negotiation procedures and skills

22. Human computer interaction

23. Employment discrimination issues

24. Diversity

25. Meeting management

26. Organizational change and transformation

27. Organizational structure

28. Executive decision making

29. Customer satisfaction

30. Marketing

GOVERNANCE

The organizational structure would include a director and a program committee consisting of Rice University faculty and representatives from supporting organizations outside Rice.