In my I/O class we will soon be discussing work schedules and I came across an interesting quote in the Schultz & Schultz book (Psychology and Work Today, 9th ed.) that says, "An interesting relationship has been documented between nominal and actual working hours. When nominal (prescribed) hours are increased, actual working hours decrease. In other words, the longer the workday or workweek, the lower the work productivity". The authors go on to assert that much overtime work is "unproductive because people tend to adjust to the longer workday by performing at a slower pace". However, beyond a couple of anecdotes related to WWII and the Great Depression and a vague reference to a study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (also during WWII), the authors provide no references to back up their assertions. (A quick search of PsycInfo also yielded little useful information except for a study on overtime published in Personnel Psychology in 1980.) The authors also say that "some research shows that employees spend no more than half the workweek actually performing required job tasks". However, once again, no research is cited. If any of you are familiar with research in this area, please let me know. If the authors' assertions are correct, I think this would be a really interesting topic to discuss in my class.
Thanks! Valerie J. Eastman, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Department of Behavioral Sciences Drury University 900 N. Benton Springfield, Missouri 65802 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
