Philippine Journal of Psychology

June 2005, Vol. 38, No. 1

Special Issue in Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Special Issue Editors: Ma. Regina M. Hechanova and Mary Lou U. Onglatco

Contents

State of Industrial/Organizational Psychology in the Philippines
Ma. Regina M. Hechanova

This article traces the roots of IO Psychology. Based on archival data, interviews and a review of literature, it presents the state of education, research and practice in IO psychology. The articles highlights the challenges that IO psychologists face and the implications for the growth of the field in the country.
Investigating the Moderating Role of Equity Sensitivity Between Psychological Contract Breach and Employee Outcomes
Robert L. Tang, Simon Lloyd D. Restubog and Peter Lemuel T. Cayayan

Research on psychological contracts suggests that employees’ affective and behavioral reactions to breach may be influenced by their sensitivity to equity. The equity sensitivity concept, a refinement of Adam’s equity theory, postulates that individuals have varying levels of threshold to fair and unfair situations. It proposes that individuals differ in their reaction to under- and over-reward situations. At both ends of the continuum are benevolents, individuals having preferences for under-reward situations, and entitleds, individuals who place greater value on outcomes they receive rather than their contributions. This study integrates psychological contract breach and equity sensitivity in an effort to better understand how the interactive effects of these variables influence employee outcomes. We hypothesized that entitled individuals will have lower affective commitment and greater decrease in civic virtue behavior than benevolent individuals following a contract breach. A survey was administered to 185 sales personnel of eight pharmaceutical organizations. We used hierarchical multiple regression as our data analytic tool in order to retain the continuous nature of the variables and increase statistical power to detect interaction effects. We found support for most of our predictions. Psychological contract was negatively related with civic virtue behavior and affective commitment. Equity sensitivity also moderated the relationship between breach and civic virtue behavior. Both entitleds and benevolents reported a significant decrease in civic virtue behavior. However, the negative effects of breach were stronger for the entitleds.
Individualism-Collectivism, Attributions, and Leadership Styles of Asian and Western Managers
Jocelyn M. Mayoralgo-Nolasco

The study examined differences on individualism–collectivism, attributions for work performance and leadership style of Asian and Western managers. Fifty Asian and forty managers from five multinational companies participated in the study. Consistent with expectation, Asian managers scored significantly higher in collectivism. Western managers, on the other hand, scored significantly higher in individualism. Based on the four causal factors delineated by Weiner, Frieze, Kukla, Reed, Rest, and Rosenbaum’s (1972) model of attribution for task performance, both groups of managers attributed good work performance more to ability and effort and poor performance was attributed to task difficulty. However, Asian managers more than their Western counterparts perceived that luck contributed to work performance. They also believed other situational factors were important causes of work performance. In terms of leadership style, results indicated that both groups of managers have the same leadership style. Implications for future leadership research and for organizations seeking to manage diversity were discussed.
Dissecting the Glass Ceiling: Leadership Stereotypes and Gender Discrimination as Perceived by Filipino Managers
Abigail Ruthchin L. Lim and Ma. Regina M. Hechanova

This study examined leadership stereotypes and discrimination against women as perceived by Filipino managers. Successful managers were associated with more masculine rather than feminine traits although the distinction between males and females was less compared to previous studies. Although discrimination against women was not perceived to be a real problem by both males and female managers, there were four areas where gender differences were evident. Female managers perceived that women are penalized more for mistakes than men, are excluded by men from informal networks, and have a harder time finding a mentor than men. Male managers felt that men are given more responsibilities than women in the same position. We suggest that in a country where women enjoy a fairly high level of empowerment, there still are subtle forms of discrimination that may account for the glass ceiling effect.
Conflict Management Style, Social Support and Teamwork in a Call Center Environment
Elizabeth Patricia M. Grozman

This study investigated the relationship between Thomas-Kilmann’s five conflict management styles, social support, and teamwork in a call center and explored the differences in conflict management style between managers and frontliners in the organization. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to test the construct validity of the measures and correlational analysis and analysis of variance were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results showed that the collaborating, competing, and accommodating conflict management styles have significant relationship with teamwork. Avoiding had a significant relationship with social support and social support had a strong, positive relationship with teamwork. Lastly, findings showed that managers tended to be more competitive in their conflict management style compared to frontliners who were more accommodating.
Satisfaction with Work Life Balance Programs and Its Relationship with Work-Related Outcomes
Raquel S. Cementina, Farida R. Pangan and Katie Abigail C. Yabut

As a response to the rapid changes in the work environment, organizations continue to create programs that help employees attain work life balance. This study on call center employees explored the relationship of employee satisfaction with work-life balance programs on perceived job stress level, organizational commitment, and turnover intent. Results show that satisfaction with work life balance programs correlated negatively with perceived job stress level and positively with organizational commitment. However, it failed to show a relationship between satisfaction with work life balance programs and turnover intent. Implications of the study were discussed.
Job-Fit: Its Drivers and Outcomes among HR Practictioners
Godofredo A. Lanuza and Ma. Regina M. Hechanova

This study examined job-fit, its drivers and outcomes among 131 human resources (HR) practitioners in the Philippines. The study showed Filipino HR practitioners are strong in HR functional competencies and process skills such as communication and group facilitation. However, they also report significant gaps in strategic thinking, change management, and organization diagnosis. Job-fit is related to education attainment, job level, and tenure. Job-fit is likewise correlated with career satisfaction and commitment. Areas of HR practice that practitioners wish to pursue more are organization and career development. On the other hand, the results show a relative lack of interest in employee relations and recruitment and selection.