There is a long research tradition associating humour with creativity, although relatively little research which focuses on the use of humour among professionals in particular workplaces. Addressing this gap, this paper analyses ordinary everyday workplace interaction in a range of New Zealand white collar organizations in order to examine claims…

The Ethical Climate Typology (ECT) and Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ) are instruments traditionally used to examine the ethical work climate in organizations. The instruments were modified to correct shortcomings acknowledged in the literature and tested on a sample of libraries. Data analysis suggested that some modifications improved the…

The politics of dual-career academic couples, and the policies directed toward them, have been dissected and debated at length. Rarely mentioned, however, is how an academic career can be affected by a husband, wife, or significant other who is not on the professorial track. Most pairings of professor and nonprofessor work just fine. The partners…

In both Switzerland and Germany, necessary reforms in vocational education have been taking place for the past few years. By taking a closer look at the commerce sectors of both countries and their reforms, one can better compare their systems of apprenticeship. While the necessity for change in the commercial sector was similar in both countries,…

This article discusses the disconnect between industrial-organizational (I-O) and vocational psychology in the context of Donald Paterson's career, an applied psychologist who bridged both disciplines. Paterson's interests in "both" vocational guidance and personnel selection suggest that these fields are interwoven, despite the prevailing gap…

The paper explores the concept of self-directed learning (SDL) in the workplace. This paper introduces a definition and argument for the importance of SDL, presents conditions that promote SDL, and suggests how future issues and implications should be applied for greater understanding and utilization of SDL in the workplace. The significance of…

Universities today need to become quicker on their toes. They must continually scan the environment and seize emerging opportunities--and institutional advancement must lead this effort. An unfortunate number of institutional advancement operations are ill equipped for the task at hand. Many suffer from high staff turnover and overly hierarchical…

In dealing with Knowledge Management (KM) literature, we have to diagnose three essential points: first, we have detected a lack of comprehensive theoretical models based on "grand theories", secondly, we have discovered an overemphasis of "good" values, like openness and trust, that help organisations to learn. And thirdly, we have to recognise…

Contingent, non-standard or "casual" work is present in large numbers in virtually every sector of the United States economy. Staffing strategies that use subcontracted or contingent work--strategies that once characterized only some low-wage workers such as garment and agriculture--have now spread to virtually every area of industry, including…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical contribution towards the understanding of the process of sharing practical knowledge (PK) in a hostile work environment. The particular focus is an instance of the process of sharing PK between experienced and non-experienced workers in a bio-pharmaceutical industry.…

This paper reports results to date of a three-year project by Athabasca University, intended to determine the education and training needs and interests of employees in a work camp in northern Alberta's oil sands. (Future reports will address results of efforts to provide programming suiting the needs identified, and the uptake, satisfaction,…

This study assessed whether attendance rates in a workplace predicted subsequent outcome of employment-based reinforcement of cocaine abstinence. Unemployed adults in Baltimore methadone programs who used cocaine (N = 111) could work in a workplace for 4 hr every weekday and earn $10.00 per hour in vouchers for 26 weeks. During an induction…

The aim of this article is to focus on the language needs of university graduates at today's workplace as seen through the eyes of their employers. Using interview data from the representatives of 15 Finnish employers, we highlight certain language-related trends at the workplace of university graduates, underline the need for a range of languages…

Workplace applications of behavioral self-monitoring (BSM) methods have been studied periodically for over 35 years, yet the literature has never been systematically reviewed. Recent occupational safety interventions including BSM resulted in relatively large behavior changes. Moreover, BSM methods are functional for addressing a broad range of…

The effects of workstation changes and a performance management (PM) package on seven typing postures were examined for seven office workers. Workstation adjustments were implemented first. Two participants increased five safe postures by 50% or more. The effects of a PM package on postures that did not improve by 50% were then examined using a…