Although the effects of occupational or work stress have received considerable attention in recent years, few studies have attempted to systematically measure the construct. Prior to this study, Scale 1 of the Work Stress Inventory was developed to measure three indices: (1) appraised stress; (2) frequency of stressful situations; and (3)…

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…

The nature of the work environment as perceived by non-instructional staff was studied at the University of Michigan. Content analysis was undertaken of responses to open-ended survey questions answered by 4,891 non-instructional staff. Qualitative data from the content analysis were analyzed and compared to results of a quantitative data analysis…

The Sheffield (Great Britain) Occupational Functional Reading Project was organized to study the functional reading required of 16-year-old school leavers who entered employment or training for a job, and to design instruments for assessing and diagnosing occupational functional reading abilities. The primary task of the project was to develop a…

This paper describes an ongoing literacy research project involving writing samples and observations of workers in a state social service agency, a large labor union, and several scientific laboratories. Procedures discussed are: (1) selecting participants who were willing to give 16 hours of interview time over the course of a year; (2) selecting…

This study attempted to develop a reliable and valid instrument for assessing work environment and continuous quality improvement efforts in the non-academic sectors of colleges and universities particularly those institutions who have adopted Total Quality Management programs. A model of a work environment for continuous quality improvement was…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on new perspectives in education that was conducted as part of a conference on human resource development (HRD). "A Systems Model for Evaluating Learning and Performance" (Hallie Preskill, Darlene Russ-Eft) describes a model for HRD developers to use in evaluating learning and performance that…

This paper discusses a study that investigated whether competencies identified by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) could be used to document job skills of students with mild disabilities. Participants in the study were 17 teachers, job coaches, and parents associated with a high school special education department…

A Pima County (Arizona) adult workplace education program in English as a Second Language (ESL) is outlined. Salient elements in program design, student recruitment and program marketing, student assessment, instructional methods, and program evaluation are noted, and the topical content of the ESL curriculum is charted. Tasks/competencies and…

The project Self-Assessment and Self-Evaluation in New Forms of Training near the Workplace--A Step Towards the Learning Organisation was undertaken in Bavaria, Germany, to help companies begin the process of becoming learning organizations by helping workers manage their own learning. The project is based on the following principles and…