Supervisory Training about Alcoholics and Other Problem Employees; a Controlled Evaluation

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Abstract
To examine the reasons for the gap between company policy and actual practice by which alcoholic employees are unidentified or tolerated until their condition is well advanced, 222 front-level supervisors in a large organization in upstate New York were stratified according to sex, type of work supervised and division of employment-variables which did not involve direct contact with the subjects by the investigators. Subjects within each stratum were assigned at random to 1 of 4 distinct groups. Groups A and B underwent 2 training sessions: 1 on the problem employee in general and the other on the alcoholic employee in particular. Groups C and D, the control groups received no training. Groups A and C were given a preliminary test for attitudes while Groups B and D were not. All 4 groups were given a final test. Changes from training were small. In contrast, changes from administration of the questionnaire alone were very pronounced. Testing and training combined produced more changes than training alone. There was a close relationship between attitude to the problem employee and attitude to the alcoholic employee. Negative evaluations by the supervisor were directly related to more confrontation and referral patterns. Using an approach to the problem employee in general yielded more favorable changes than the traditional emphasis on the alcoholic. The data implied the following. Emphasis on work problems caused by the alcoholic employee would lower his work associates'' toleration of him and simultaneously raise the "bottom" for the alcoholic, promising earlier referral and treatment. The questionnaire may be a useful educational and alerting device as well as a testing instrument. The disposition most closely matched which change factors in the training and therefore most likely to benefit from it was characterized by high toleration of ambiguity, self-esteem, dogmatism, high intelligence, female sex, youth, minor supervisory experience, supervision of fewer employees, supervision of office work, and ability to withstand cognitive confusion created by new information. A wide range of training techniques would influence a wide spectrum of supervisory types. Association of alcoholism with other management problems raises the likelihood of training being successful.

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