مجله مطالعات روان شناسی صنعتی و سازمانی
سال ششم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1398)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of positive thinking training on professional ethics and job satisfaction of university employees.

This research was a semi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test and control group. The statistical population consisted of all employees of the Islamic Azad University of Sousangerd Branch in 2018. From this population, 30 employees who had the lower scores on professional ethics and job satisfaction were selected. From this sample, 24 employees randomly selected and then randomly assgined into two experimental and control groups, each one 12 participants. The 8 session positive thinking training was provided for the experimental group. At each session, the experimental group was given the opportunity to discuss successes and failures in the implementation of the assignments. Both groups were evaluated in three stages: pre-test, post-test and follow-up. ANCOVA was used for data analysis.

The ANCOVA’s results showed that positive thinking training increased  both professional ethics and job satisfaction of employees.

According to the findings, positive thinking training was effective in increasing the professional ethics and job satisfaction of employees. Professional ethics has a significant effect on the activities and outcomes of the organization. Professional ethics increases productivity, and improves communication. Therefore, in such conditions, the organization can expect to improve job satisfaction, because job satisfaction is a psychological factor that provides the person with emotional adjustment to the job and work conditions. According to the results of this study, it is recommended that managers should pay particular attention to the positive thinking training so that professional ethics and job satisfaction in the organizational environment could be realized.

Organizational commitment and job performance are among the most important organizational concepts that their role is very important in all aspects of an organization and training to improve these variables has always been the focus of managers. Despite of using training methods based on other approaches in psychology, the use of group training based on choice theory has been limited. The theory of choice is based on the psychology of internal control, and argued that human behaviors, emotions, and motivations are considered internal events. Responsibility training is based on choice theory and aims to teach people to adopt new behaviors to improve their unhappy relationships and satisfy their needs, and overall to increase their ability to control life effectively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of group responsibility training based on the choice theory on organizational commitment and job performance.

The pretest posttest control group desighn was used. The sample consisted of 40 employees, selected through stratified random sampling method from all engineers working in different engineering departments of Nargan Consulting Engineers Company. 40 employees were randomly assigned in two experimental and control groups. Allen and Meyer organizational commitment questionnaire including three emotional, continuance and normative components was used to measure the organizational commitment. Job performance was measured by Patterson job performance questionnaire. This questionnaire measures four components of job performance including sense of responsibility, discipline, cooperation and job improvement. After pre-test measurement, training was administered for the experimental group and then the post-test was performed. The data were analyzed by ANCOVA.

The results of ANCOVA showed that the effect of training on organizational commitment (p < 0.001) and job performance (p < 0.012) were significant.

In general, this study investigates the effectiveness of group responsibility training based on choice theory on organizational commitment and job performance.The results of this study confirmed the previous studies regarding the effectiveness of the theory of choice training on improving individuals' behavioral abilities and acceptance of work life responsibilities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of assertiveness group training on employees’ self-assertiveness and quality of work life  

The design of this research was pretest-posttest with control group design. From the statistical population, 24 employees with job tenure at least one year were selected by convenience sampling method and then randomly assigned in experimental and control groups (each 12 employees). The experimental group received eight 90-minatue sessions while the control group remained at waiting list. The instruments included Walton quality of work life and Gambrill & Riche’s assertiveness questionnaires. ANCOVA was used for data analysis.

Findings showed that there is no difference between the groups in terms of self-assertiveness and quality of work life before the intervention. After the intervention, there was a significant increase regarding self-assertiveness and quality of work life in experimental group.

Group training of assertiveness increased the self-assertiveness and quality of work life in experimental group compared with the control group. It appears that life skills training, especially assertiveness training should be implemented to improve skills in order to improve mental health. Also, the quality of work life is an important issue in the workplace.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of work life of Qazvin education staff and predicting it based on career adaptability.

The research method was a descriptive and correlational study. The statistical population was all employees of three educational districts of Qazvin. According to the Kergci and Morgan table, 136 employees of this population were selected by simple random sampling method. Participants completed the Walton quality of work life and the Savicas career track adaptability questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and stepwise regression analyses.

The results showed that the quality of work life of the employees is relatively high. In all three areas, none of the dimentions of quality of work life, except the overall living space, showed a significant difference. According to the results of this research, career adaptability of the employees was higher than average. Also, the findings showed that there is a significant positive correlation between career adaptability and quality of work life, so that by increasing adaptability, the quality of work life would increase. Results of stepwise regression analysis showed that among all dimentions of career adaptability, career control was a significant predictor of quality of work life.

Because the lowest score are belong to the adequate and fair payment, so in order to improve the quality of employees’ life work, the most important issue that should be considered by educational managers are financial affairs, salary and benefits. Since only in the general living space dimention that relates to the balance between work and family life, there was a significant difference among distinct 3 and others. District 3 employees got higher scores. According to the smaller size of the area and employees’ workload they haven’t prevented from family responsibilities. If other areas can reduce workplace problems, can create a balance between work and family of employees, that it increases the quality of work. According to the positive relationship between employees’ career adaptability and quality of work life, counseling can be taken to increase adaptability especially in terms of control in order to improve the quality of work life of the employees. Accordingly, the specific attention of descion makers on teacher’s work life quality, seems to be necessary.

Education specialists have increasingly focused on studying the factors that influence academic achievement over the last three decades (Gibbsons, 2007). As positive psychology progresses, its applications to the workplace are expanding, such as positive organizational behavior, positive organizational research, and more recently, psychological capital (Golparvar, Fathi, Kazemi,& Rahmati azar monabadi., 2019). The psychological resources created by the positive emotions of the employees may lead to positive psychological states in the employees, such as their sense of psychological security (Ardalan, Ghanbari, Zandi, & Seif Panahi, 2013). Therefore, considering the role of teachers as the most important factor in the success of the educational system, as well as the role of their psychological capital and psychological security in students' inner passion and motivation, these two can improve the teaching-learning environment and thus to improve students' academic achievement. The aim of the present study was to investigate teachers' psychological capital and psychological security with students' academic achievement.

The research method was descriptive-correlational type. The statistical population of the study consisted of teachers and high school students of the district 6 of the Ministry of Education in Tehran. From this population, 50 teachers and 184 students were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected using Lutz Psychological Capital, Edmonson Pychological Security, and Saatchi Educational Achievement Questionnaires. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and regression analysis.

Findings showed that teachers' psychological capital and psychological security have positive and significant relationship with academic achievement. According to the results of multiple regression analysis, the variables of hope, resilience, optimism, efficiency, team usefulness, psychological safety, and learning behavior and team performance of teachers at a significance level less than 0.05 can predict students' academic achievement. Among the components of psychological capital, resilience, optimism, and efficacy are the most important predictors of student achievement.

Given the importance of teachers’ psychological capital, it is recommended that school principals select teachers with this charateristic, provide opportunities such as educational courses, conferences and congresses and desirable educational quality. Also, giving teachers the freedom to act, increasing mutual respect, honesty, and openness in the workplace will enhance teachers' sense of psychological security.

Job attitudes is a concept that reflects the positive and negative perceptions of the individuals about work and the various aspects of their work environment. An appropriate and positive attitude is concerned for achieving individual and organizational success. Research regarding the attitudes of employees in the organization will make managers be aware of employees’ views and expectations about their jobs, responsibilities, and organization climate, and to determine whether the policies and practices implemented by them are equitable for all employees. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of job attitudes (Job engagement, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction) with job performance of Kermanshah public librarians.

Research design was a descriptive correlational study. The population of this study was all Kermanshah public librarians. 83 librarians were randomly selected. Instrument included Allen & Meyer’ (1990) Organizational Commitment, Schaufeli & Bakker’ (2006) Job Engagement, Weis et al’ (1967) Job Satisfaction, and Hersey & Goldsmith’ (1980) Job Performance Questionnaires. The content validity and internal consistency reliability of the questionnaires were confirmed. The data were analyzed by pearson orrelation oefficient and multivariate regression analysis.

The results showed that there was a positive significant relationship between job engagement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment with librarians' job performance. Also, the results of Multivariate Regression Analysis showed that job engagement (β=0.52, p < 0.001), job satisfaction (β=0.44, p < 0.001), and organizational commitment (β=0.45, p < 0.001) predicted job performance, significantly.

The results showed that organizational commitment, job engagement and job satisfaction are important factors that can predict job performance of librarians. Librarians with high organizational commitment, job engagement, and job satisfaction do more efforts because they are motivated to and satisfied with their organization and their jobs. As the findings showed, the highest the correlation between job engagement (an attitude that makes individuals psychologically identify themselves with their job) and job performance, the level of librarians' performance would be high. Therefore, in the long-term planning for public libraries, librarians' job attitudes should be taken into consideration. This requires managers to provide appropriate context for improving and increasing employees’ job engagement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Managers should pay attention to employees' attitudes, because employees' attitudes affect the behavior of individuals in the organization.