Findings from a study investigating and comparing differences in problem-solving approaches between novice and expert elementary school principals are reported in this paper, which focuses on the interview phase of the data collection process. Interview questions were designed to explore and compare the ways in which principals perceived…

Three instruments designed to evaluate the performance of work groups in organizations were analyzed with reference to a recently developed comprehensive model of the group problem solving process. Although each instrument measured nine or ten dimensions of group behavior, none of them measured more than seven of the 16 categories of variables…

Goal-setting has been accepted as an effective motivational tool. Whether goals should be participatively set or assigned was examined by holding goal difficulty constant in an investigation based on previous results which suggested that participants in goal-setting set more difficult goals than those for whom goals are assigned. Results suggest…

The term "burnout" has become popular for describing a condition of workers and administrators in professions with a high degree of people contact. Burnout involves feelings of exhaustion, development of chronic negative attitudes about oneself and/or clientele, and lowered job performance. A review of literature reveals that burnout as…

The ways in which principals use performance appraisal data for personal professional development, the characteristics of those who use such information, and the features of performance appraisal systems and decision contexts that are predictors of appraisal use were studied through a series of interviews at four sites (two with high appraisal…

This document consists of three papers presented at a symposium on expertise in organizations moderated by Ross Azevedo at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). "How Individual Expertise May Be Socially Constructed: A Literature Review" (Abney V. Gleespen) looks at the research to determine the…

An exploratory study examined how administrators (department heads/chairs) perceive faculty members, as well as themselves, in the performance appraisal interview. Subjects, 450 faculty members and 200 administrators at a midwestern university, answered an Appraisal Interview Questionnaire in which they rated administrator performance, content and…

Critical and situated thinking in the respiratory care profession were examined through an exploratory factor analysis of the critical thinking behaviors of a sample of 868 respiratory therapists. The respiratory therapists completed a survey instrument containing 44-questions related to how well particular critical thinking behaviors are…

These four conference papers from the Biennial Conference on Postsecondary Education for Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing focus on staff development and administrative issues for postsecondary personnel working with students with deafness or who are hard of hearing. The first paper, "Mentorship for the Working Interpreter"…