Education and teaching have changed in significant ways over the last decade. Since the late 1980s the Commonwealth of Australia has encouraged the development of "multi-skilled workers"; however, Alvin Toffler (1990) points out that changes in technology would create a deskilled work force with overly specialized, noninterchangeable…

As a major place of employment for occupational therapists within a rural community, school systems present the therapist with a foreign and oftentimes bureaucratic organizational form. The therapist is trained in the medical model of occupational therapy, and the transition to an educationally based care model is difficult and fraught with…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined faculty/staff perceptions of their principals' leadership styles, with a focus on their use of shared-governance approach. Data were gathered through a survey of 32 faculty and 20 staff members in four county schools in Tennessee and North Carolina. A majority of the sample reported that their…

This volume presents several distinctive but related empirical studies and opinion pieces about chief education officers (CEOs). The collection begins with (1) "Introduction: A Framework for Understanding School System Administration" (Kenneth Leithwood and Donald Musella). Section A, "Chief Education Officers' Practices and…

Based on a model of human symbolic activity, a study examined the influence of congruity of communicator style expectations of and experiences with a supervisor as it affects subordinates' satisfaction with supervision. Nine supervisors and 87 subordinates employed at the Hose Production Center of a national tire and rubber corporation were…

Findings of a study that examined the working conditions that teachers face in an urban school district in the southern United States are presented in this paper. A survey mailed to 1,329 teachers in 15 secondary and 68 elementary schools produced an approximate 50 percent response rate per school. Interviews were also conducted with the union…

"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…

Increasing numbers of employed parents of young children, increasing work-family conflict experienced by these parents, and the importance of early experience for children's brain development combine to suggest opportunities for business organizations to improve their competitiveness and compassion. This report draws upon data from the National…

A study investigated the variety of ways in which managers use language in sociolinguistically sensitive ways to get things done at work. Drawing on a database of over 300 interactions in a range of New Zealand workplaces, aspects of power (how things are accomplished), politeness (the importance of small talk), and solidarity (the difference…

Musculo-skeleton injuries, which include tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic neck and back pain, and other Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI), are the leading causes of disability in working-age people in North America. This paper highlights studies indicating that computer users are especially susceptible to these injuries; therefore, the…

This study examined a wide variety of issues related to paraprofessional homecare work, including the background of the workforce and a profile of the client population. It specifically investigated the components of homecare work associated with job satisfaction. Interviews were conducted with 306 home attendants and 181 home health aides…

This study examined the migration patterns of graduates from southern land-grant universities in an attempt to determine the characteristics of graduates who leave the state where they received the degree and their reasons for moving. The data were collected in 1986-87 by a survey of 1,858 graduates of southern land-grant universities who had…

Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children, this study involved a statewide survey to assess the salary levels, benefits, working conditions, and turnover rates for teaching and administrative staff of child care centers and Head Start programs in Pennsylvania in 1992. A random sample of 2,500 licensed, full-day…

There is very little published information available about occupational safety and health libraries. This study identified, described, and compared the occupational safety and health libraries in the United States. The questionnaire first filtered out those libraries that did not fit the definition of an occupational safety and health library;…

This report summarizes the roundtable on information technology which brought together leaders from business, government, the non-profit sector, and academia to explore the use of complex adaptive systems as a model for determining information technology's role in both the workplace and diverse societal settings. Topics covered in this document…