This study aimed to understand the lived experience of department chairs in a Canadian university context. Guided by phenomenological inquiry, 21 individual interviews of experienced academic chairs were analyzed. Findings focus on the rewards and challenges of the position, advice for professors interested in taking on this role, and the systemic…

This longitudinal study aims to create in-depth knowledge about the phenomena of middle-leadership and career in school by identifying (1) driving forces for seeking and maintaining middle-leading positions, (2) opportunities and difficulties in maintaining the middle-leading role over time, and (3) underlying thoughts of career disclosed in the…

Bioinformatics--the so-called shotgun marriage between biology and computer science--is an interdiscipline. Despite interdisciplinarity being seen as a virtue, for having the capacity to solve complex problems and foster innovation, it has the potential to place projects and people in anomalous categories. For example, valorised…

We investigated the experiences of research assistants in their dual role as both employees and trainees, when they were employed in a complex, mixed-methods, Canadian study on the everyday experience of living with and managing a chronic condition. A total of 13 research assistants participated in one or more components of this study: a survey (n…

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of women who have children and work in mid-level student affairs positions. The study of this phenomenon was driven by four problems: (a) women face barriers in rising to upper-level leadership positions, (b) women are more likely than men to leave the field of student affairs, (c) there…

This study of the relationship of perceived role to satisfaction with a job presents four plausible models based on the variables role accuracy compliance, performance evaluation, and satisfaction. These models are evaluated by path analysis. Compliance and performance evaluation are shown to be important variables mediating the relationship…

This study tests the hypothesis that perceived freedom is a function of the probability that actors will behave in a line with their dispositions by varying the pattern of extrinsic rewards associated with the behavior alternatives. Subjects in both experiments are college students. (CM)

Nurses (N = 363) were surveyed regarding their perceptions of different job-satisfaction factors. The results revealed many significant interactions between the role-characteristic data and the intrinsic-extrinsic factors data. Ti was concluded that nursing-job satisfaction must be reviewed in light of the roles and characteristics of the nurses…

The principal should test the limits of his school system's diversity by taking a variety of desirable actions without first consulting his superiors, according to the author. He advocates positive action on the part of principals rather than reaction to external stimuli. (Editor)

This study tests basic assumptions of the justice judgment model which assumes there are alternative justice norms whose relative importance depends on the social situation. The subjects (120 men and 120 women) received information about the nutritional neediness and school performance of four children, and then donated money to them. Many…

A national probability sample revealed similar patterns of relationships between perceived job characteristics and job satisfaction for men and women, indicating that they require similar job characteristics to be satisfied with their jobs. Self expression has the highest correlation with job satisfaction for both men and women. (Author)

This research examined Mintzberg's-dimensional model of the managerial job. Two questions were asked: (1) What effect do the job incumbent's career goals and activity preferences have on perceived importanceof the roles; (2) How does perceived importance of the roles affect job performance? One hundred seventy principals responded to a…

Some "hidden" consequences of an organization's goals, practices, and procedures on the climates created for employees were reviewed, beginning with an exploration of some potential impacts of a lack of fit between goals and means to obtain goals on climate and eventual employee behavior, referring particularly to differences between product- and…

A study of 20 Vermont secondary principals and ex-principals examined what induced some to stay and many others to leave the profession. There are four significant issues: role definition; shifting power and authority; work relationships; and respect, recognition, and rewards. Survivors manage to maintain perspective, detach themselves, and escape…