The Pioneer-Syracuse University Project was designed to help people with severe disabilities find community jobs and become integral participants in their work places, using on-site and off-site resources and supports from job personnel and other community members. Specifically, project staff who had directly trained and supported people with…

A study examined how experienced and newly hired hospital unit secretaries at a large private hospital "learned the ropes" of their jobs. Two researchers interviewed and observed a total of 15 unit secretaries to gather information on the secretaries' occupational and educational backgrounds, assigned tasks, and ways of learning their assigned…

This paper describes adult symptoms of Central Auditory Processing Disorder and provides strategies for dealing with this disability. Symptoms include talking or turning on the television louder than normal, interpreting words too literally, needing remarks repeated, having difficulty sounding out words, ignoring people, being unusually sensitive…

The "spirituality in the workplace" movement serves a range of interests, including personal fulfillment on the job, a growing need to reconcile personal values with those of the corporation, and corporate desires to help individuals achieve more balanced lives. In addition to being the theme at a growing number of conferences, spirituality has…

This paper describes transitional programs developed by Black Hills Special Services Cooperative (BHSSC) to meet the needs of disabled students in rural areas. In cooperation with other public and private agencies, BHSSC provides comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services and community living programs to help individuals with severe…

Most recent reform initiatives have begun outside the collective-bargaining process and are unregulated by collective-bargaining agreements. The collective-bargaining process should be used creatively to shape the changes that are now occurring. When public school teachers were granted bargaining rights, the scope of negotiation was limited more…

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…

This guide provides a brief introduction to several types of technological devices useful to individuals with disabilities and illustrates how some individuals are applying technology in the workplace and at home. Devices described include communication aids, low-vision products, voice-activated systems, environmental controls, and aids for…

A series of papers is presented from two symposia sponsored by the Work Environment and Technology Committee and offered at annual conferences of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. The 1988 symposium was called "Applying Technology in the Work Environment" and the 1989 symposium was called "Reasonable…

This study examined the problems of postgraduate research assistants in the Netherlands. The study was conducted as a result of Government plans to introduce a new educational system for obtraining a doctorate equivalent to a Ph.D.--the "assistants-in-training system" (aio system). On the basis of a literature study on the American and…

The leadership task for a new age of schools is to stimulate continuous innovation, rather than to manage for compliance using outdated standards of work. This paper presents a typology of work cultures--the varying work conditions of schools and the challenges they present to principals in developing high-performance work cultures. Data were…

While the building and printing industries flourished in pre-Civil War Columbus, manufacturing languished. The manufacturing base grew and diversified from 1820 to 1850. Few unions emerged, and those that did seldom lasted long. During the Civil War business and manufacturing increased to serve the camps and prisons established in Columbus. When…

A study highlighted the extent to which TV news directors and subordinates perceived negative reinforcement to be used to help establish working climate in their newsrooms, and examined the differences in their perceptions that working climate affects personal ability to do "best" work on the job. Twenty news directors and 40…

The occupational-environmental typology (Holland, 1985) is based on a theory of persons and work environments. The theory uses a classification of persons and work environments to describe differences and similarities. The theory explains career choice and persistence, attraction and retention of workers, job satisfaction, and environmental…

The interactive effects of leader characteristics, follower characteristics, and the task situation on leader behavior were assessed. Focuses of the investigation were the degree of leader-follower compatibility, Vertical Dyad Linkage (VDL) versus the Average Leadership Style analysis of leader behavior, and the general problem of assessing leader…