The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), an independent agency of the U.S. Federal government, has been instructing employees in the tenants of followership since 2009. As part of a multi-pronged approach to create a more empowered workforce and enhance trust in leadership, instruction in followership has helped to raise the FDIC from the…

Australian schools are now under constant pressure to improve student results, particularly those of Indigenous students. To this end, successful school-community interrelationships are considered especially significant. This paper reports on a microcosm of one such relationship, that between Indigenous Education Workers (IEWs)/Community Education…

The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of viable learning organizations based on identifying viable organizational learning mechanisms. Two theoretical foundations, complex system theory and viable system theory, have been integrated to provide the rationale for building the sustainable organizational learning mechanism. The…

This paper discusses a qualitative case study that addresses how an intranet can provide opportunities for learning about an organization's culture. Four primary findings are discussed with the study concluding that cultural knowledge is conveyed and renewed through an intranet in a learning process that emphasizes informal learning and…

As part of a project investigating how communication within hospital systems differs from communication in other types of organizations, the employees of a 40-bed hospital were surveyed for their attitudes on perceived uncertainty, internal patterns of communication in the hospital, and worker satisfaction. Variables that were studied included…

Task analyses have traditionally been framed in terms of overt behaviors performed in accomplishing tasks and goals. Pioneering work at the Learning Research and Development Center looked at what contribution a cognitive analysis might make to current task analysis procedures, since traditional task analysis methods neither elicit nor capture…

A case study of two metropolitan newspapers examined whether there was a relationship between type of newsroom management style--"authoritarian" or "democratic"--and journalists' perceptions of management style and leadership, editors' roles, career goals and job satisfaction, readers' news source contact, and community…

This study focuses on the influence of professional training programs on trainees' development. A training program was evaluated through exploring trainees' perceptions of its influence on their skill development. The findings suggest that while professional training programs may be relevant to trainees' needs for career development and life-long…

"Professional development" has become the panacea of 1990s reform efforts. However, understanding of the breadth, depth, and nature of teacher learning experiences remains limited. Using an embedded case study design, this paper examines the factors that motivate teachers to engage in development activities, the ways they experience…

This paper argues that in addition to being an important source of data for a project evaluator, project humor also provides a check on the evaluator's comprehension of background and events (i.e., if an evaluator does not understand a joke, he or she has probably not attained an insider's perspective). In addition, humor becomes a source of…

Although organizations spend increasingly large amounts of money on training, little effort or money is spent on evaluating the effectiveness of training programs. When evaluations are done, they are often designed for specific programs and often consider only participant reactions and immediate learning, and ignore behavior changes and long-term…

Poorly planned implementation of microcomputers has been shown to increase stress symptoms. Concerns have also been raised about the impact of new technology on the quality of the work environment. Programming expertise alone is not sufficient to prevent these problems. This paper therefore describes the role that psychologists can play in…

For more than 80 years, jobs in the United States have been designed by people for others. For most of these years, the experts in job design have placed the production technology above the job holder in importance. Since the 1950s, many jobs have been redesigned around new, computer-based technology. Often, the net effect has been to make those…

The majority of learning that occurs in the workplace is informal, however, little is known about how such learning is best supported and nurtured. A qualitative case study was recently conducted to explore the contextual factors that may shape informal workplace learning. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted and constant comparative…

A case study used focus groups to examine employee attitudes and concerns. Subjects, about 60 employees and managers of a major university teaching hospital in the southeast, were formed into 4 focus groups to discuss their attitudes. Employees hoped that management would use the information gathered to improve the communication environment and…