The present study was conducted to determine whether trainees’ general beliefs about training affect pretraining motivation and transfer of training in a large-scale training curriculum. In addition, the influence of social support for training from four organizational constituents (top management, supervisors, peers, and subordinates) and task constraints in the work environment on pretraining motivation and training transfer were evaluated. Nine hundred sixty-seven managers and supervisors completed a questionnaire that assessed 14 constructs. Structural equations analysis with LISREL VII indicated that the overall reputation of training, intrinsic and compliance incentives, organizational commitment, and three social support variables (subordinate, supervisor, and top management support) were predictive of pretraining motivation. In addition, pretraining motivation and subordinate, peer, and supervisor support were predictive of managers’ perceived training transfer. These findings suggests that previous theory and research (e.g., Noe, 1986; Noe & Schmitt, 1986) serve as a useful heuristic for predicting the effects of general beliefs about training on training effectiveness. Implications of the-findings for future research and practice are discussed.

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This study examined the influence of several factors on employees’ desire to provide upward feedback to their supervisors on an impending upward feedback system. Self-report data from 153 university employees indicated that the desire to provide upward feedback related negatively to fear of retaliation and positively to role appropriateness, perceived usefulness, rater self-efficacy, leader-member exchange, knowledge of upward feedback, top management support, coworker support, and feedback-seeking behavior. The authors also found that perceived usefulness mediated the relationships among fear of retaliation, leader-member exchange, top management support, coworker support, and knowledge of upward feedback with desire to provide upward feedback. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

I. PurposeThis document's intended purpose is to provide professional guidelines and ethical considerations for users of the assessment center method. These guidelines are designed to cover both existing and future applications. The title assessment center is restricted to those methods that follow these guidelines.These guidelines will provide (1) guidance to industrial/organizational/work psychologists, organizational consultants, human resource management specialists and generalists, and others who design and conduct assessment centers; (2) information to managers deciding whether or not to institute assessment center methods; (3) instruction to assessors serving on the staff of an assessment center; and (4) guidance on the use of technology and navigating multicultural contexts; (5) information for relevant legal bodies on what are considered standard professional practices in this area.

ABSTRACT:. Though emerging from qualitatively different leadership paradigms, House's (1977) conceptu~ilzation of charisma and French and Ravens (1968) personal power bases intuitively appear to represent similar leader characteristics. The present investigation examined the distinction among these constructs using ratings of leaders obtained from 142 state government employees. Structural equations analysis with LISREL VII showed support that: (1) charisma is an empirically distinct construct than referent and expert power;, and (2) charisma uniquely contributes to the prediction of subordinates' attitudes above and beyond referent and expert power. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are addressed.Until the late 1970's, much of the leadership research focused on examining rational, exchange-oriented or transactional relationships between leaders and subordinates (e.g., Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision-Making Theory, House's Path-Goal Theory). More recent attempts have shifted in focus to a transformational approach, whereby leaders are