Can we get some cooperation around here? The mediating role of group norms on the relationship between team personality and individual helping behaviors.

Drawing on the group-norms theory of organizational citizenship behaviors and person-environment fit theory, we introduce and test a multilevel model of the effects of additive and dispersion composition models of team members' personality characteristics on group norms and individual helping behaviors. Our model was tested using regression and random coefficients modeling on 102 research and development teams. Results indicated that high mean levels of extraversion are positively related to individual helping behaviors through the mediating effect of cooperative group norms. Further, low variance on agreeableness (supplementary fit) and high variance on extraversion (complementary fit) promote the enactment of individual helping behaviors, but only the effects of extraversion were mediated by cooperative group norms. Implications of these findings for theories of helping behaviors in teams are discussed.

Ready to rumble: how team personality composition and task conflict interact to improve performance.

Although prior work has proposed a number of conditions under which task conflict in teams may improve performance, composition variables have been left unexplored. Given the effects of personality traits on team processes and outcomes demonstrated in prior work, investigating whether specific personality compositions influence the effect of task conflict on team performance is critical to researchers' understanding of conflict in teams. Our results indicate that team-level averages of both openness to experience and emotional stability function as moderators of the relationship between task conflict and team performance. Specifically, task conflict had a positive impact on performance in teams with high levels of openness or emotional stability; in contrast, task conflict had a negative impact on performance in teams with low levels of openness or emotional stability. Thus, when task conflict emerges, teams composed of members who are open minded or emotionally stable are best able to leverage conflict to improve performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Reaping the benefits of task conflict in teams: the critical role of team psychological safety climate.

Past research suggests that task conflict may improve team performance under certain conditions; however, we know little about these specific conditions. On the basis of prior theory and research on conflict in teams, we argue that a climate of psychological safety is one specific context under which task conflict will improve team performance. Using evidence from 117 project teams, the present research found that psychological safety climate moderates the relationship between task conflict and performance. Specifically, task conflict and team performance were positively associated under conditions of high psychological safety. The results support the conclusion that psychological safety facilitates the performance benefits of task conflict in teams. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Frame-of-reference training effectiveness: effects of goal orientation and self-efficacy on affective, cognitive, skill-based, and transfer outcomes.

Empirical evidence supporting frame-of-reference (FOR) training as an effective intervention for calibrating raters is convincing. Yet very little is known about who does better or worse in FOR training. We conducted a field study of how motivational factors influence affective, cognitive, and behavioral learning outcomes, as well as near transfer indexed by achieving professional certification. Relying on goal orientation theory, we hypothesized effects for 3 goal orientations: learning, prove performance, and avoid performance. Results were generally supportive across learning outcomes and transfer. Findings further supported a hypothesized interaction between learning self-efficacy and avoid performance goal orientation, such that higher levels of learning self-efficacy mitigated the negative effects of higher performance avoid tendencies.

A review and meta-analysis of the nomological network of trainee reactions.

A review and meta-analysis of studies assessing trainee reactions are presented. Results suggest reactions primarily capture characteristics of the training course, but trainee characteristics (e.g., anxiety and pretraining motivation) and organizational support also have a moderate effect on reactions. Instructional style (rho = .66) followed by human interaction (rho = .56) were the best predictors of reactions. Reactions predicted pre-to-post changes in motivation (beta = .51) and self-efficacy (beta = .24) and were more sensitive than affective and cognitive learning outcomes to trainees' perceptions of characteristics of the training course. Moderator analyses revealed reactions- outcomes correlations tended to be stronger in courses that utilized a high level rather than a low level of technology, and affective and utility reactions did not differ in their relationships with learning outcomes. The current study clarifies the nomological network of reactions and specifies outcomes that are theoretically related to reactions.

An examination of the structure and nomological network of trainee reactions: a closer look at "smile sheets".

Although D. L. Kirkpatrick (1959, 1996) popularized the concept of trainee reactions over 40 years ago, few studies have critically examined trainees' reactions to learning events. In this article, research on mood and emotion is used to develop a theoretical framework for research on trainee reactions. Two studies examine the factor structure of reactions and their nomological network. In Study 1, 178 undergraduate and 101 graduate students listened to a computer-delivered multimedia lecture. Results suggest that (a) reactions can be conceptualized as hierarchical, with overall satisfaction explaining associations among distinct reaction facets (enjoyment, relevance, and technology satisfaction), and (b) reactions are predicted by trainee characteristics. In Study 2, 97 undergraduates experienced the same lecture in 1 of 3 randomly assigned delivery technologies. Reactions were influenced by technology and were related to learning process (engagement) and outcomes (intentions regarding delivery technology, content, and learning). Both studies support the theoretical framework proposed.

Concentration-time-response modeling for acute and short-term exposures.

Risk of health effects from acute and short-term exposure depends on exposure time as well as exposure concentration. A general approach to extending a concentration-response model to include time as a variable is described using mortality of rats exposed to hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) as an example. This particular example resulted in a logit model with concentration-time (c-t) relationship linear in time and log-concentration. It provided an improved statistical fit, based on the Akaike information criterion in the observed time range, 30 m-360 m, over implementing the c-t relationship of [ten Berge, W.F., Zwart, A., Appelman, L.M., 1986. Concentration-time mortality response relationship of irritant and systemically acting vapours and gases. J. Hazard. Mater. 13, 301--309] as a default in the logit model. This approach also indicated that there might be a fundamental difference in the relationship between concentration, time, and response at short exposure times, somewhere less than 30 m, a hypothesis for further consideration from a biological perspective. In general, the proposed approach provides flexibility to develop a concentration-time-response model, and the associated concentration-time relationship, from the data. Interpretation and potential implications, however, need to be considered within the context of biological plausibility as well. Implementation of the proposed approach requires adequate data for separate concentration-response modeling at each of several exposure durations.

Utilizing data from multiple studies (meta-analysis) to determine effective dose-duration levels. Example: rats and mice exposed to hydrogen sulfide.

The objective of this exercise was to incorporate as much data as possible from multiple studies, that may differ in exposure durations, to derive a chemical-specific dose-duration response curve from which to identify toxicity markers (e.g., ED01, benchmark dose, and LD50). This has the advantage of incorporating more information than single-study assessments to improve estimates and reduce confidence intervals, and determining toxicity markers as functions of exposure duration as well as dose. The example used mortality for rats and mice, analyzed separately, from acute exposure to hydrogen sulfide (dose refers to airborne concentration of H(2)S). Statistical methods were applied to determine when data from different studies could be pooled. EC01, EC10, and EC50 (doses with response rates of 1, 10, and 50%) were estimated, with 95% confidence intervals, at durations of 5, 10, and 30 min, and 1, 2, 4, and 6 h. A single dose-duration response curve for mortality was fit to the rat data for exposures of 5 min, 10 min, 30 min, and 1h, using a logistic curve additive in log(dose) and log(duration). Separate fits of that model were required, however, at 2, 4, and 6h, due to an increasing impact of duration relative to concentration as duration increased. The curves for rats fit the data exceedingly well and exhibited a threshold-like response followed by a steep incline as concentration increased. There were fewer data for mice but the response pattern for mortality clearly differed from rats. This example demonstrates the feasibility of extending the concept of single-study benchmark doses to multiple-study dose-duration benchmarks, using U.S. EPA's program CatReg. Similar applications to long-term animal studies could be considered.

Arsenic, drinking water, and health: a position paper of the American Council on Science and Health.

The purpose of this American Council on Science and Health report is to review issues and sources of uncertainty affecting assessment of potential health risks related to drinking water in the United States. Some background is included on how these issues arose, as is a review of the 1999 National Research Council report (with references to an updated version), to formulate a position based on the current science concerning how much of a risk of adverse health effects actually exists from arsenic in drinking water in the United States. ACSH concludes that there is clear evidence that chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic at concentrations of at least several hundred micrograms per liter may cause: (1) cancer of skin, bladder, lung (and possibly several other internal organs, including kidney, liver, and prostate), and (2) noncancer effects, including classic cutaneous manifestations that are distinctive and characteristic of chronic arsenic poisoning (diffuse or spotted hyperpigmentation and palmar-plantar hyperkeratoses). Noncancer effects may be multisystemic, with some evidence of peripheral vascular, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, and adverse reproductive outcomes. Further study is needed to know if beneficial effects of arsenic in animal studies apply to humans. ACSH concludes that there is little, if any, evidence of a detrimental health effect in humans from inorganic arsenic in drinking water at the current maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 50 microg/L or below, either in the United States or elsewhere. As noted in the 1999 NRC report, "No human studies of sufficient statistical power or scope have examined whether consumption of arsenic in drinking water at the current MCL results in an increased incidence of cancer or noncancer effects" (NRC, 1999, p. 7). Based on our review, described in this article, ACSH finds that the limitations of the epidemiological data available and the state-of-the-science on the mode-of-action of arsenic toxicity, including can cer, are inadequate to support the conclusion that there are adverse health effects in the United States from arsenic in drinking water at or below the limit of 50 microg/L.

Effects of Training Goals and Goal Orientation Traits on Multidimensional Training Outcomes and Performance Adaptability.

This research examined the effects of mastery vs. performance training goals and learning and performance goal orientation traits on multidimensional outcomes of training. Training outcomes included declarative knowledge, knowledge structure coherence, training performance, and self-efficacy. We also examined the unique impact of the training outcomes on performance adaptability by predicting generalization to a more difficult and complex version of the task. The experiment involved 60 trainees learning a complex computer simulation over 2 days. The research model posited independent effects for training goals relative to goal orientation traits and independent contributions of training outcomes to the performance adaptability of trainees. The findings were consistent with the proposed model. In particular, self-efficacy and knowledge structure coherence made unique contributions to the prediction of performance adaptability after controlling for prior training performance and declarative knowledge. Implications and extensions are discussed. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.