Envisia Learning

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

Schoen, M. & Nowack, K. (2010). Reconditioning the Stress Response Reduces the Inflammatory Cytokine IL6: A Pilot Study. Submitted to the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. File

Giesser, B., Coleman, L., Fisher, S. Guttry,M., Herlihy, E., Nonoguchi, S., Nowack, D., Roberts, C, & Nowack, K. (2010). Living Well with Multiple Sclerosis: Comparisons of a 12-Week Blended Learning Versus Direct Classroom Program. . File

Nowack, K. (2010). Emotional Intelligence: What Can Be Changed?. Envisia Learning, Inc. File

Nowack, K. (2010). Leveraging Multirater Feedback to Facilitate Successful Behavioral Change. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research 61, 280-297. File

Ima Sims (2009). Unmal jefe puedellegar a matarde estres a sus empleados. La Contra de La Vanguardia Interview by Ima Sanchis following the Life09 I Congerso Internacional de Liderazgo Femenino, 16, 17 y 18 de Septiembre, Barcelona, Spain (Espanol). File

N.D. (2009). Social Stress: Bem−me−quer, mal−me−quer?. Vida Saudavel The article appeared in Vida Saudavel magazine in January 2009 based on an interview and lecture with Dr. Kenneth Nowack about his stress research and validation of the wellness and health assessment called StressScan (Portuguese). File

Nowack, K. (2009). Personal Success Scorecard. Personal Excellence Volume 12, No. 12. File

Nowack, K. (2009). The Neurobiology of Leadership: Why Women Lead Differently Than Men. ESCI-UPF Negocios Internacionales Paper presented at the Life09 I Congerso Internacional de Liderazgo Femenino, Barcelona, Spain. File

Nowack, K. & Pons, Baldiri (2009). A Comparison of Emotional Intelligence of Leaders in Spain and the US. . File

Agatha Gilmore (2008). Lifestyle Learning: Improve the Bottom Line with Behavioral Education. Chief Learning Officer pp. 22-27, Interview with Chief Research Officer Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. . File

Nowack, K. (2008). Los jefes son una de las principales causas de estres laboral. Aedipe Catalunya (Spanish) pp.20-22. File

Nowack, K. (2008). StressScan: Coaching at Work. Coaching at Work Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CPID), Volume 6, pp. 48-49. File

Nowack, K. (2008). Coaching for Stress: StressScan. Psychometrics in Coaching Association for Coaching, UK, pp. 254-274. Text The chapter will first provide a general overview of an integrative stress and health management model across executive, life, career or health coaching.  The theoretical models behind stress and individual behaviour change will then be briefly introduced.  This will be followed by the development and interpretation of StressScan and its link to an online stress management planning system and resource library called Talent Accelerator to help facilitate coachee wellness. This section draws heavily on more extended discussions about StressScan from previous publications (cf. Nowack; 1990; 1991, 1994a; 1994b). The reader is referred to the manual (Nowack, 1990) for details of the instrument, research and guidance on scale interpretation. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the use of StressScan with coachees as well as how the concepts behind this assessment can help coaches manage their own work/life stress and avoid job burnout.

To order, please go to:
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Nowack, K. M. (2007). Predicting the Future Success of Talent. Talent Management 3 (2), p. 14. File

Giesser, B., Coleman, L., Fisher, S., Guttry, M., Herlihy, E., Nonoguch, S., Nowack, D., Roberts, C. & Nowack, K. (2007). Living Well with Multiple Sclerosis: Lessons Learned from a 12-Week Community Based Quality of Life Program. Paper presented at 17th Annual Art & Science of Health Promotion Conference, March, 2007, San Francisco, CA. File

Nowack, K. (2007). Best Practices in Utilizing 360 Degree Feedback. . File

Nowack, K. (2007). Combating Stress in the Workplace. PersonnelZone.com January 2007. File

Nowack, K. (2007). It's Not How Smart You Are But How You Are Smart. Talent Management 3 (10) p. 10. File

Nowack, K. (2007). Lifestyle Coaching as a Strategic Talent Management Tool. Talent Management 3 (7), 36-37. File

Nowack, K. (2007). Strategic Talent Management Through Career Paths. Talent Management Magazine Volume 3 (4), p. 16. File

Nowack, K. (2007). Using Wellness Coaching as a Talent Management Tool. Selection & Development Review Volume 23, No. 5, pp. 8-11. File

Nowack, K. (2007). Who is the Resilient Talent, and How Do You Develop It? . Talent Management 3 (6) p. 12. File

Nowack, K. (2007). Why 360-Degree Feedback Doesn't Work. Talent Management 3 (8), p. 12. File

Nowack. K. (2007). Using Assessments in Talent Coaching. Talent Management Volume 3, 12, p.16. File

Rebecca Johnson (2007). Emotional Intelligence Testing. British Test Publishers Association Web . File

Nowack, K. (2006). Emotional intelligence: Leaders Make a Difference. HR Trends 17, 40-42. File

Nowack, K. (2006). Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction, Retention and Stress. . File

Nowack, K. (2006). Gender Differences in Leadership Practices. . File

Nowack, K. (2006). La movilidad laboral, un rasgo de la sociedad actual. El Global Los tiempos cambian y con ellos evoluciona la sociedad. Si hace anos primaba la estabilidad en el puesto de trabajo, ahora la tendencia apunta a la sustitucion de la estabilidad laboral por la seguridad en la contratacion. Esa es la idea principal en torno a la que ha girado la conferencia "Inteligencia emocional y estres en la vida laboral y personal" impartida por el asesor de recursos humanos Kenneth Nowack (Spanish). File

Nowack, K. (2006). Optimising Employee Resilience: Coaching to Help Individuals Modify Lifestyle. Stress News International Journal of Stress Management, Volume 18, 9-12. File

Nowack, K. (2006). Resilience: How Hardy are you?. Personal Excellence October 2006, p.8. File

Nowack, K. and Roberts, C. (2006). Chronic Illness and Spirituality: What Do You Believe?. American Group Psychotherapy Association National Conference, San Francisco, February 2006. File

Peck, D. (2006). Build A Business Brain: Fighting Fatigue. Executive Grapevine Magazine http://www.executive-grapevine.co.uk. File

Nowack, K. (2005). Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and Employee Engagement: Creating a Psychologically Healthy Workplace. . File

Nowack, K. (2005). Longitudinal evaluation of a 360 degree feedback program: Implications for best practices. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Los Angeles, March 2005. File

Giesser, B., Coleman, L., Fisher, S. Guttry,M., Herlihy, E., Nonoguchi, S., Nowack, D., Roberts, C, & Nowack, K. (2005). Living Well: Facilitating Positive Health Habits in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 86 (10), e8. Text Objective: To determine the impact of a structured program on health-related and coping behaviors in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Design: Persons who are newly diagnosed wtih MS may experience anxiety, depression, and a sense of control on learning of their diagnosis.  These stressors may aggrevate or interfere with a person's implementation of positive health-related behaviors.  Educational interventions are widely used in other chronic disease models (diabetes, hypertension, epilepsy) to promote positive health behaviors.  Setting: University based MS center treating outpatients.  Participants: 76 subjects were self-referred or referred by a health care professional.  Criteria included diagnosis of MS <5 years and minimal symptoms of disability.  Most participants were employed at least part time.  Intervention:  Participants met weekly for 3 hours a session over 12 weeks.  Intervention consisted of didactic presentations, which included symptom management, strategies, nutrition, preventive health practices, fitness activities, and emotional and spiritual wellness exercises.  Main Outcome Measures: Measures administered to participants at the beginning and end of the program included the Profile of Mood States, Modified Fatigue Impact Scale, Stress Profile Inventory, 3-item spirituality index, Marlow Crowne Social Desirabilty Index, and Taylor Manifest Anxiety scale.  a 5-item post-them measure of current health and functioning was specifically developed to evaluate overall program outcomes and effect sizes were determined for practical significance.  Results: At the end of the program, participants reported statstically significant improvement (P < .01) in all areas assessed including fatigue, mood, stress, sleep patterns, health related behaviors (e.g. those relating to nutrition and exercise), spirituality and coping strategies after controlling for age, sex and education. Conclusion: Effect sizes inidcated the biggest impact of the program in self-reported overall health, knowledge about MS, reduced stress, and enhanced feelings of empowerment and meaningfulness in life (spirituality index).

Nowack, K. and Wimer, S. (2004). Organizational Stress Management: Survival Strategies. . File

B. S., Impara, J. C., & Spies, R. A. (Eds.). (2003). Stress Profile. The fifteenth mental measurements yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements. URL

Nowack, K. (2003). Executive Coaching: Fad or Future?. California Psychologist Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, 16-17. File

Nowack, K. (2002). Does 360 Degree Feedback Negatively Effect company performance: Feedback Varies With Your Point of View. HR Magazine Volume 47 (6). Text Multi-rater feedback can raise more questions than it answers. How is an employee to react, for example, when his manager gives him negative ratings, while feedback from his direct reports and peers is laudatory? Research suggests that disagreement between rater groups is common—and that the resulting confusion creates challenges for employee development.

The strength of 360-degree feedback is that it reflects the varying perspectives of different rater groups. That’s also part of the problem. What one group views as effective behavior, another group may see as problematic.

And, each rater group brings natural biases to the table. For example, studies conducted by Organizational Performance Dimensions find that supervisor feedback tends to be based on bottom-line results (are tasks completed on time and well?), technical competence and whether an employee’s behavior draws complaints from colleagues or clients.

By contrast, direct reports base their reviews on factors such as willingness to involve the direct report in decisions, interest in a direct report’s professional development and trustworthiness.

Peers, who lack perspective on their colleagues' day-to-day performance, tend to focus on leadership potential. Their remarks often reflect opinions on whether the participant has the "right stuff" to motivate and create a compelling vision for others to follow.

None of these perspectives is wrong, and all of these insights can be valuable in creating a 360-degree view of performance. However, it’s important that the person being reviewed—and his supervisors—understand how the "filters" used by different groups affect how they rate performance.

Nowack, K. and Heller, B. (2001). Making Executive Coaching Work: The Importance of Emotional Intelligence. Training Magazine trainingmag.com. File

Nowack, K. (2000). Individual stress management: Effective or not?. Occupational Medicine: State of the Art Reviews Hanley and Belfus, Inc., Philadelphia, PA., Vol 15, No. 1, pp. 231-233 . File

Nowack, K., Hartley, J. and Bradley, W. (1999). Evaluating results of your 360-degree feedback intervention. Training and Development 53, 48-53. File

Nowack, K. (1999). 360 Degree feedback. Intervention: 50 Performance Technology Tools San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, Inc., pp.34-46. Text The major goal of 360-degree feedback interventions is to facilitate purposeful individual or team behavior change. Successful behavior change at the individual or team level requires three necessary conditions:

1. Awareness/Insight;
2. Motivation/Self-Efficacy; and
3. Ability.

When properly designed and implemented, multi-rater or 360-degree feedback interventions provide specific feedback to enhance self-insight and self-awareness necessary for any potential behavior change. However, without sufficient motivation and self-efficacy, most behavior change efforts are largely unsuccessful. Effective 360-degree feedback interventions enhance the motivation levels of individuals and teams to make constructive behavior changes to meet the needs of both internal and external stakeholders (e.g., customers, direct reports, team members, etc.).

Multi-rater or 360-degree feedback interventions involve the systematic collection of specific information from multiple sources to enhance awareness of individuals and teams. Most commonly, data and information are collected from multiple sources that have a relevant, and hopefully accurate, perspective to share using focus group, interview, or paper-and-pencil instruments. The data collected are commonly summarized quantitatively and/or qualitatively and shared with one or more members of the organization in an oral and/or written manner. The most common form of multi-rater or 360-degree feedback interventions today typically utilizes an off-the-shelf or in-house designed instrument measuring critical competencies required for competitive performance. Most feedback from these interventions is collected from multiple perspectives (e.g., one's supervisor, direct reports, peers, team members) and is summarized in the form of a written and/or computerized feedback report (often including graphic comparisons of self-other perceptions, written comments, and narrative information). The most common uses of multi-rater or 360-degree feedback interventions include: Executive/management coaching, training and development, career counseling, succession planning and development, training needs assessment, training evaluation, and performance appraisal and evaluation.

Despite the growing popularity of multi-rater of 360-degree feedback, a number of issues emerge in the use and implementation of such organizational interventions. These include such things as:

What competencies should be assessed and measured?
How many individuals ensure a reliable and valid set of observations about another individual?
Who should provide feedback?
How should raters be selected?
Should 360-degree feedback be used for development or appraisal purposes?
Should individuals providing feedback be identified?
The chapter includes a real-world case study and answers to the current issues and questions regarding best practices in the use of 360-degree feedback interventions. References are also provided for additional readings in the multi-rater or 360-degree feedback literature.
 

Wimer, S. and Nowack, K. (1998). Thirteen common mistakes in implementing multi-rater feedback systems. Training and Development 52, 69-80. File

Wimer, S. & Nowack, K. (1998). How to Benefit from 360 Degree Feedback. Executive Excellence . Text In recent years "360-degree feedback" (multi-rater feedback) has become a popular tool for helping executives develop. How can you design and implement a 360-degree assessment and feedback intervention that will create maximum value for the individual and organization? This article discusses seven critical guidelines to help you get the most from any 360-degree assessment and feedback intervention.

The guidelines discussed include:

1. Defining and communicating a clear purpose
 
2. Starting at the top of the organization
 
3. Having an open mind to feedback and a willingness to change behavior
 
4. Conducting a pilot test in your organization
 
5. Communicate with all program participants and those involved in the 360-degree feedback process

6. Safeguarding confidentiality
 
7. Evaluating your 360-degree process.

Specific suggestions and strategies are presented and discussed.

Nowack, K. (1997). Congruence Between Self and Other Ratings and Assessment Center Performance. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality Volume 12, 145-166. File

Greene, R. and Nowack, K. (1995). Hassles, hardiness and absenteeism: Results of a 3-year longitudinal study. Work and Stress 9, 448-462. File

Nowack, K. (1994). Psychosocial Predictors of Health and Absenteeism: Results of Two Prospective Studies. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, September 1994, Los Angeles, CA. File

Nowack, K. (1994). The secrets of succession: Emphasizing development in succession planning systems. Training and Development 48, 49-54. File

Nowack, K. and Pentkowski, A. (1994). Lifestyle habits, substance use, and predictors of job burnout in professional working women. Work and Stress 8, 19-35. File

Nowack, K. (1993). 360 Degree feedback: The whole story. Training & Development Journal 47, 69-72. File

Nowack, K. (1993). Assessment Center Performance and Basic Skills. Paper Presented at the Eight Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Francisco, CA, April 1993. File

Schwartz, G.E., Schwartz, J.I., Nowack, K.M., & Eichling, P.S. (1993). The hardiness and the negative affectivity confound as a function of a defensive coping style. University of Arizona and Canyon Ranch. . File

Nowack, K. (1992). Self-assessment and rater-assessment as a dimension of management development. Human Resources Development Quarterly 3, 141-155. File

Schwartz, G.E., Schwartz, J.I., Nowack, K.M., & Eichling, P.S. (1992). Changes in perceived stress and social support over time are related to changes in immune function. University of Arizona and Canyon Ranch. . Text A sizeable literature exists documenting a relationship between perceived levels of stress, social support, and immune function. Little research has examined whether changes in perceived levels of stress and social support are associated with corresponding changes in immune function. In this study , four groups of subjects between the ages of 60 and 70 (group 1, n=31, group 2, n=24, group 3, n=25, group 4, n=30) were pretested and retested 3 months after participating in an 11 day intensive health promotion program for the elderly at a large health resort in Arizona. This 11-day in-house program emphasized lifestyle change behaviors, health education, physical exercise, stress management and relaxation skill building.

As part of a battery of both psychological and biological variables, measures of perceived stress and social support (Nowack, 1990) and percent lymphocytes and monocytes (from CYR blood counts) were obtained, and changes in these variables over the three months were correlated.

For the total sample (n=110), subjects who reported experiencing a decrease in perceived stress over time showed a significant increase in lymphocytes over time (r= -.231, p < .01). This pattern was observed in each of the four groups analyzed separately (r's = -.20, -.39, -.33, -.33).

Subjects who reported an increase in perceived social support over time showed increased monocytes over time (r = .27, p < .01). Again, this pattern was observed in each of the four groups analyzed separately (r's = .19, .30, .26, .33).
 

Nowack, K. M. (1991). A Quantitative Approach to Training Needs Analysis. Training and Development Journal Volume 45, 69-73. File

Nowack, K. M. (1991). Psychosocial predictors of physical health status. Work and Stress 5, 117-131. File

Nowack, K. M. (1990). Initial development of an inventory to assess stress and health risk. American Journal of Health Promotion 4, 173-180. File

Nowack, K. M. (1989). Coping style, cognitive hardiness, & health status. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 12, 145-158. File

Nowack, K (1988). Approaches to validating assessment centers. Performance & Instruction 27, 14-16. File

Nowack, K. (1988). The Stress Resistant Employee: An Update. . Text It is becoming increasingly clear that the effects of work and life stress are costly both to the individual and to the organization. Everyone experiences work and life stress, yet many people are more stress resistant (hardy) than others. Several factors appear to be quite predictive of the stress resistant employee. These include the perception of stress; the practice of good daily health habits; the expressing of less Type A behavior; satisfaction with social support networks; and an involved, committed, and empowered outlook. Hardy Type A persons can be distinguished from less hardy Type A's by their internal, rather than external, commitment to aspects of work and life. Previous research suggests that for working women, even if it is possible to "have it all," something may have to go and that may be the women's health. In a study of 350 employees, professional working women reported significantly lower overall health habits than their working male counterparts. Professional working women reported significantly more work and life stress and a less optimistic outlook on life than did men. Health promotion programs with targeted and specific outcomes may produce better success than those trying to be everything for everybody. Companies committed to employee health promotion may wish to succinctly define what organizational and individual outcomes they are targeting and structure their programs and interventions accordingly. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Psychological Association (68th, Burlingame, CA, April 28-May 1, 1988).

Nowack, K. (1986). Who Are the Hardy?. American Society of Training and Development Volume 40, 116-118. File