THE EFFECT OF CONGRUENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARTICIPATION/JOB DISCRETION AND STAFF PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF A SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATION

• Other Authors: WHIDDON, BEVERLY FANT.
• Format: Others
• Subjects: Social Work
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/lib/digcoll/etd/3085271

This study examined the relationship between the level of involvement in decision-making, as perceived by staff, and the performance of those staff members in a human service organization as well as the effect on that relationship of the extent to which staff want to be involved. === The data were gathered by means of a questionnaire administered to 235 direct service and unit supervisory staff within two geographical districts of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. The data collection instrument included scales developed and used by other researchers to measure the variables of participation in decision-making, job discretion, and congruence. The instrument also included a seven-dimension scale developed by the author to measure a staff person's perception of quality of work being performed. Demographic data were also gathered from the respondents. === A positive relationship was hypothesized to exist between the level of a staff person's participation in organizational and job specific decision-making and the perceived quality of staff performance. It was also predicted, however, that not all staff wanted a great deal of involvement in such decision-making and that whether or not one was satisfied with one's level of involvement, regardless of what that level was, would affect the quality of staff performance. It was expected that the staff who either want more or less involvement than they have would perceive a lower quality of work being performed than would staff who are satisfied with their level of involvement. === The findings largely supported the hypotheses but only for direct service staff. The possession of job discretion appears to be more important to an assessment of high quality work performance than does participation in organizational decision-making. Additionally, the findings suggest that staff who are either satisfied with the level of job discretion or want less of it evaluate staff performance higher than staff who want more. === Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0549. === Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.