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Work Context (work + context)
Selected AbstractsA study of best practices in training transfer and proposed model of transferHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2008Lisa A. Burke Data were gathered from a sample of training professionals of an American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) chapter in the southern United States regarding best practices for supporting training transfer. Content analysis techniques, based on a rigorous methodology proposed by Insch, Moore, & Murphy (1997), were used to analyze the rich data. Findings suggest that interventions for bolstering training transfer are best carried out in the work context and design and delivery phase, take place after training or during, and involve trainers and supervisors. Activities garnering top attention from trainers as best practices include (starting with most frequently reported) supervisory support activities, coaching, opportunities to perform, interactive training activities, transfer measurement, and job-relevant training. Several new transfer variables also emerged from the data, indicating existing transfer models can be further refined. Ultimately, we propose a refined model of transfer to extend human resource development (HRD) theory in the area of transfer. [source] Training corporate managers to adopt a more autonomy-supportive motivating style toward employees: an intervention studyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2009Patricia L. Hardré Management style is treated in a variety of ways across the training and development literature. Yet few studies have tested the training-based malleability of management style in a for-profit, authentic work context. The present research tested whether or not training intervention would help managers adopt a more autonomy-supportive motivating style toward employees and whether or not the employees of these managers would, in turn, show greater autonomous motivation and workplace engagement. Using an intervention-based experimental design, 25 managers from a Fortune 500 company received training consistent with self-determination theory on how to support the autonomy of the 169 employees they supervised. Five weeks after the managers in the experimental group participated in the training, they displayed a significantly more autonomy-supportive managerial style than did nontrained managers in a control group. Further, the employees they supervised showed, 5 weeks later, significantly more autonomous motivation and greater workplace engagement than did employees supervised by control-group managers. We discuss the malleability of managers' motivating styles, the benefits to employees when managers become more autonomy supportive, and recommendations for future training interventions and research. [source] The effects of training design, individual characteristics and work environment on transfer of trainingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2007Raquel Velada This study aims to gain insight into some of the factors that determine the transfer of training to the work context. The present research examined the relationship between three types of predictors on transfer of training, including training design, individual characteristics and work environment. Data was collected at two points in time from 182 employees in a large grocery organization. The results indicated that transfer design, performance self-efficacy, training retention and performance feedback were significantly related to transfer of training. Contrary to expectation, supervisory support was not significantly related to transfer of training. These results suggest that in order to enhance transfer of training, organizations should design training that gives trainees the ability to transfer learning, reinforces the trainee's beliefs in their ability to transfer, ensures the training content is retained over time and provides appropriate feedback regarding employee job performance following training activities. [source] Overt and covert aggression in work settings in relation to the subjective well-being of employeesAGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 5 2001Ari Kaukiainen Abstract Aggressive behavior was studied in workplaces having (1) predominantly male, (2) predominantly female, or (3) both male and female employees in equal or near equal frequencies. In addition to examining the occurrence of different types of aggression in these workplaces, the question of whether being a target of aggression is related to employees' subjective well-being was addressed. One hundred sixty-nine participants (mainly 30,50 years of age) employed in a wide range of organizations in the public sector completed a questionnaire measuring four types of observed and experienced aggression: direct overt, indirect manipulative, covert insinuative, and rational-appearing aggression. Indirect manipulative and rational-appearing aggression were perceived to be the most widely used aggression styles in the work context. In the predominantly male workplaces, the men were perceived to use more of all types of aggression than in the predominantly female workplaces. The women's aggression was not related to the relative number of females and males with whom they worked. Participants were divided into two groups on the basis of the extent to which they estimated themselves to be targets of workplace aggression. Those who considered themselves to be victims of workplace aggression suffered significantly more from psychosocial problems and physical symptoms than those who had been victimized to a lesser extent or not at all. The victimized group also considered the aggression they had suffered to be the reason for their psychosocial and health problems. Aggr. Behav. 27:360,371, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Flexible work bundles and organizational competitiveness: a cross-national study of the European work contextJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 8 2005Eleni T. Stavrou The present study explores the categorization of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) into bundles and their connection to organizational competitiveness in the European Union. The measures of competitiveness were performance, turnover, and absenteeism. Four moderators were used in the study, organization sector, industry sector, organization size, and organizational women-supportiveness. The analyses revealed four FWA Bundles, namely Non-Standard Work Patterns, Work Away from the Office, Non-Standard Work Hours and Work Outsourced. Non-Standard Work Patterns were found to be related to decreased turnover (in the private sector), while Work Away from the Office was related to improved performance and reduced absenteeism. Non-Standard Work Hours and Work Outsourced (within the public sector) were positively related to turnover, suggesting that these types are possibly not being used as true flexibility arrangements. Finally, post-hoc analysis revealed that Non-Standard Work Hours was related to increased performance only among Swedish organizations. Implications for management and future research are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Slaying myths, eliminating excuses: Managing for accountability by putting kids firstNEW DIRECTIONS FOR EVALUATION, Issue 121 2009Robert J. Rodosky The authors write about evaluation, testing, and research and their relation to policy, planning, and program in the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in Louisville, Kentucky. The authors focus on evaluation and testing for accountability and on managing the unit for this purpose. In detail they show the many evaluation demands from both inside and outside JCPS, from the State of Kentucky to No Child Left Behind. Their everyday work context is active, often tumultuous. Managing evaluation in this context is a form of juggling, and the authors succeed in part because they "have seen most of it before." Also contributing to their effectiveness are the leaders' managing styles. This case study gives a good glimpse of the everyday life in a school district evaluation shop. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Risk factors for worker injury and death from occupational light vehicles crashes in New South Wales (Australia),AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 9 2010Rwth Stuckey MPH Abstract Background/Aim To identify risk and protective factors for crash casualty outcomes in occupational light vehicles (OLV), a previously under-recognized work context for injuries and fatalities. Methods A register-based study was conducted using linked vehicle crash and registration data (n,=,13,491) for the Australian state of New South Wales. Univariate and multivariate analyses were undertaken to assess the relationship between casualty outcomes and variables drawn from four domains of potential determinants of severity: user, vehicle, road, and work organization factors. Results Nineteen percent of OLV crashes had OLV-user casualties (n,=,2,506) and 1% fatalities (n,=,34). Adjusted casualty risk factors included tired driver (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5,2.7), no seat belt use (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4,2.3), and excessive speed (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2,1.6). Adjusted fatality risk factors were no seat belt (OR 12.9, 95% CI 4.9,34.3) and high-speed zone crash (OR 5.0, 95% CI 2.1,12.3). Conclusions OLV users are at risk from both recognized road risks and hazards specific to OLV use. Findings suggest that risk reduction could be improved by the use of safer vehicles, fatigue management, and journey planning. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:931,939, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Unemployed Individuals' Work Values and Job Flexibility: An Explanation from Expectancy-Value Theory and Self-Determination TheoryAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Anja Van den Broeck Changes in the contemporary labour market have resulted in an increasing demand for flexibility in the work context. The present research examines the associations between unemployed individuals' work values and their attitudes towards job flexibility. Consistent with Expectancy-Value Theory, results showed that the general concept of employment value was positively related to all measured types of flexibility, that is, training flexibility, pay flexibility, the flexibility to accept an undemanding job, and the flexibility to accept a job for which one is over-qualified. In line with Self-Determination Theory, holding an intrinsic work value orientation related positively to training and pay flexibility, whereas extrinsic work value orientation was negatively related to these two types of flexibility. Overall, these results indicate that not only the degree of employment value but also the content of unemployed individuals' work value orientations matter in understanding their job flexibility. L'évolution actuelle du marché de l'emploi a provoqué une demande croissante de flexibilité dans le domaine du travail. On étudie dans cette recherche les liens qui existent entre les valeurs professionnelles de chômeurs et leurs attitudes envers la flexibilité. Dans la ligne de la théorie expectation-valence, les résultats montrent que le concept général de valence de l'emploi est relié positivement à toutes les mesures de la flexibilité, c'est-à-dire la flexibilité de la formation, du salaire et de l'acceptation d'un poste sans intérêt ou sous-qualifié. En accord avec la théorie de l'autodétermination, le fait d'accorder une valeur intrinsèque au travail entretient une corrélation positive avec la flexibilité de la formation et du salaire, tandis que la valeur extrinsèque est en relation négative avec ces deux aspects de la flexibilité. En somme, ces résultats indiquent que chez les chômeurs non seulement le niveau de la valence de l'emploi, mais aussi le contenu des valeurs relatives au travail permettent de comprendre leur flexibilité. [source] Relationship-based practice and reflective practice: holistic approaches to contemporary child care social workCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2005Gillian Ruch ABSTRACT The renewed interest in relationship-based practice can be understood in the child care social work context as a response to the call to re-focus practice in this field. Relationship-based practice challenges the prevailing trends which emphasize reductionist understandings of human behaviour and narrowly conceived bureaucratic responses to complex problems. In so doing practitioners engaged in relationship-based practice need to be able to cope with the uniqueness of each individual's circumstances and the diverse knowledge sources required to make sense of complex, unpredictable problems. This paper argues that if relationship-based practice is to become an established and effective approach to practice, practitioners need to develop their reflective capabilities. An outline of contemporary understandings of relationship-based and reflective practice is offered and findings from doctoral research drawn on to identify how reflective practice complements relationship-based practice. The product of this complementary relationship is enhanced understandings across four aspects of practice: the client, the professional self, the organizational context and the knowledges informing practice. The paper concludes by acknowledging the inextricably interconnected nature of relationship-based and reflective practice and emphasizes the importance of practitioners being afforded opportunities to practise in relational and reflective ways. [source] The professionalism of practising law: A comparison across work contextsJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 8 2008Jean E. Wallace Traditionally, the literature assumed that solo practitice best exemplifies the ideal professional work arrangement and that when professionals become salaried employees their professionalism is seriously threatened. The primary goal of this paper is to examine lawyers' sense of professionalism across two work contexts: solo practitioner offices and law firm settings. We also examine status distinctions within law firms, between associates and partners, and compare both to independent practitioners. Solo practitioners and law firm partners are similar on most key dimensions of professionalism, whereas the greatest contrasts occur between partners and associates within law firms. Partners and solo practitioners share similar experiences of autonomy and service as owner-managers, whereas partners and associates share greater collegiality among professionals, perhaps fostered through law firm cultures. All three groups report comparable amounts of variety in their work and are equally committed to the practice of law. The key factors that account for gaps in professionalism reflect the nature of law practices, primarily through time spent with corporate clients and pressure to generate profits. We conclude that different versions of lawyers' professionalism are influenced by the everyday aspects of their work and one version is not necessarily more professional than the other. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Being there: the acceptance and marginalization of part-time professional employeesJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 8 2003Thomas B. Lawrence Part-time professional employees represent an increasingly important social category that challenges traditional assumptions about the relationships between space, time, and professional work. In this article, we examine both the historical emergence of part-time professional work and the dynamics of its integration into contemporary organizations. Professional employment has historically been associated with being continuously available to one's organization, and contemporary professional jobs often bear the burden of that legacy as they are typically structured in ways that assume full-time (and greater) commitments of time to the organization. Because part-time status directly confronts that tradition, professionals wishing to work part-time may face potentially resistant work cultures. The heterogeneity of contemporary work cultures and tasks, however, presents a wide variety of levels and forms of resistance to part-time professionals. In this paper, we develop a theoretical model that identifies characteristics of local work contexts that lead to the acceptance or marginalization of part-time professionals. Specifically, we focus on the relationship between a work culture's dominant interaction rituals and their effects on co-workers' and managers' reactions to part-time professionals. We then go on to examine the likely responses of part-time professionals to marginalization, based on their access to organizational resources and their motivation to engage in strategies that challenge the status quo. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Ability and Trait Complex Predictors of Academic and Job Performance: A Person,Situation ApproachAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Ruth Kanfer A battery of cognitive ability, knowledge, and non-ability measures were administered to 105 college students enrolled in a cooperative school-work program and used to predict academic and job performance. Composite scores for each domain were derived from factor analyses of 11 measures of verbal, numerical, and spatial abilities, four measures of domain knowledge, and 27 measures of personality and motivational traits, vocational interests, and self-assessments. Both ability and non-ability trait composites were significant predictors of academic performance, but only the non-ability trait composites predicted job performance. Implications for the integrative assessment of individual differences and their predictive validities for performance in different active work contexts, as well as the importance of trait composites across contexts, are discussed. Un ensemble de mesures relatives aux connaissances, aux aptitudes et autres dimensions furent obtenues auprès de 105 étudiants de 1° cycle impliqués dans un programme de travail scolaire coopératif, avec pour objectif de prédire les résultats universitaires et la performance au travail. Des scores composites pour chacun de ces deux domaines ont été constitués à partir d'analyses factorielles des onze mesures des aptitudes verbale, numérique et spatiale, des quatre mesures portant sur les connaissances et des 27 mesures relevant de traits de personnalité, de la motivation, des intérêts professionnels et de l'auto-évaluation. Les scores des aptitudes et des traits de personnalité furent des prédicteurs significatifs du succès universitaire, mais seuls ces derniers ont prédit la performance au travail. On réfléchit aux conséquences sur l'évaluation synthétique des différences individuelles et leur validité prédictive de la performance dans différents contextes de travail productif, ainsi que sur l'importance des scores composites selon les situations. [source] Industrial and Organisation Research on Self-Regulation: From Constructs to ApplicationsAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2005Jeffrey B. Vancouver L'autorégulation rencontre actuellement du succès en psychologie industrielle et organisationnelle. Les travaux théoriques et empiriques englobent des processus allant de l'entrée dans l'organisation à la sortie et à la réembauche. Les interventions et les concepts clés de l'autorégulation dans le monde du travail sont recensés en insistant sur la validité interne et de construction. Quelques concepts comme l'efficacité personnelle et l'implication ont bénéficié d'un grand intérêt de la part des psychométriciens et semblent constituer des cibles de premier ordre lors des interventions. Néanmoins, ces concepts restent entachés d'hypothèses dont la validité n'est pas garantie. D'autres concepts, en particulier la rétroaction et la divergence, souffrent de significations sensiblement différentes dans la littérature sur l'autorégulation, ce qui nuit à la compréhension et à la communication entre les universitaires et les praticiens. On a lancé des interventions relevant des principes de l'autorégulation; celles-ei ont ensuite étéévaluées avec sérieux: il est apparu qu'elles avaient un impact sur un ensemble de variables pertinentes du point de vue organisationnel comme l'amélioration des performances et la réduction de l'absentéisme. Malheureusement, les interventions sont rarement étudiées de façon détaúllée et systématique, ce qui ne permet pas de tirer des conclusions sur les aspects de l'intervention qui sont pertinents du point de vue de la causalité. La discussion insiste sur les lacunes dans la connaissance et l'appréhension des processus de l'autorégulation dans les contextes organisationnels, ainsi que sur la façon dont la discipline pourrait tenter de combler ces lacunes. The self-regulation perspective is currently well received in the industrial and organisational psychology literature. Theoretical and empirical work span processes ranging from organisation entry to exit and reentry. Key self-regulation constructs and interventions in work contexts are reviewed with a focus on construct and internal validity. Some constructs, such as self-efficacy and goal commitment, have received substantial psychometric attention and seem important targets for interventions. Nonetheless, potentially unwarranted assumptions remain regarding these constructs. Other constructs, particularly feedback and discrepancy, have acquired substantially different meanings within the self-regulation literature that inhibit understanding and communication among scholars and practitioners. Interventions based on self-regulatory principles have been developed, and rigorous tests of these interventions have been conducted. These interventions were found to influence a range of organisationally relevant outcomes such as increasing performance and reducing absenteeism. Unfortunately, studies of comprehensive interventions are rare and often lacked controls, making it difficult to draw conclusions regarding what aspects of the interventions are causally relevant. Discussion focuses on the gaps in the field's knowledge and understanding regarding self-regulatory processes in organisational settings and how the field might attempt to fill those gaps. [source] | |||||||||||||