This article considers the prevalence of what have been termed "training discourses" as dominant practices within a particular University of Technology, and discusses the implications of such discourses for teaching and learning. The rapid emergence of this training or skills discourse in Universities of Technology in South Africa, in…

Mounting evidence indicates a dispositional component to global job satisfaction. Unfortunately, however, relatively little attention has been given to the potential effects of dispositions on work-related attitudes other than global job satisfaction. We used a five-year prospective design to investigate the relationships of affective disposition…

This article follows Engestrom (2001) in suggesting a new approach to learning in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the social and cultural realities of the workplace. The article briefly reviews the theoretical status and practical standing of work on lifelong learning in SMEs, and suggests that Engestrom's work may help us to…

When I had to reapply for my own position as principal I felt as if I was facing the prospect of losing a part of myself. Conversations with other women colleagues confirmed that I was not alone in this response. Taking this as my cue, I explore the notion of principal "identification" practices--that is the continuing process of forming…

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that create a positive climate for diversity and to demonstrate how these factors predict outcomes related to achieving a positive campus climate for diversity. Based on survey data collected from 437 staff members employed at a large, public, predominantly White University in the Midwest, results…

This study among 115 US and 260 Dutch nurses and nurse assistants tested a theoretically derived model of specific relationships between work characteristics and two theoretically distinct outcomes (i.e., emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction). Furthermore, the mediating role of negative work-home interference (NWI) in this context was…

Historically, conscientiousness-performance relationships have been modest, suggesting the need to examine theoretically-relevant moderating variables. Based on theory and empirical research suggesting that performance variance is maximally predicted in the presence of person and situation variables, we examined the moderating potential of work…

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that task-induced mental fatigue is moderated by control over work scheduling. Participants worked for 2 hr on simulated office work, with control manipulated by a yoking procedure. Matched participants were assigned to conditions of either high control (HC) or low control (LC). HC participants decided their…

The purpose of this article is to develop a framework to understand and assess the quality of learning environments in the workplace. It is argued that indicators used to measure and assess informal learning at work, at both the national and the enterprise level, are underdeveloped. Consequently, current frameworks to measure and benchmark…

This exploratory study examines cross-national similarities and differences in employee perceptions of issues in the work environment in 17 organizational work settings in seven Asia-Pacific countries; Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. Employees at these 17 sites indicated their degree of…

Improving healthcare services in the developing world remains a major goal for many organizations and despite enormous training and program investments from international organizations, service improvements have been modest. This study looks at how to improve results by examining the relationship between the conditions in a healthcare providers'…

The purpose of this paper is to compare burnout between prison caseworkers and correctional officers and examine reasons for the high turnover of caseworkers. The study was conducted through surveys at a maximum/medium men's prison and at an all security level women's prison in the Midwest. By using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, it was found that…

This study used the Prison Social Climate Survey to measure perceptions of the work environment among staff employed in all group homes administered by a state department of juvenile justice. Work environment perceptions were favorable along six dimensions and in the moderate range on a seventh. The variables that most consistently predicted staff…

Purpose: This study aims to examine workplace learning and job satisfaction in small, commercial US banks. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data collection with correlational procedure. Findings: The study found a statistically significant relationship between the workplace learning variables and the job satisfaction variables. Research…

The term "curriculum" has been used almost exclusively in educational circles to refer to plans for the conduct of learning lessons in school classrooms. This paper argues that the concept can be productively expanded to describe learning processes in workplaces, including those in which learning is not the intentional outcome of an interaction.…