When organizations employ professionals it is critical to comprehend the nature of professional identity as it relates to learning in the workplace. These findings indicate ways that professional identity influences workplace learning behavior in doctors of veterinary medicine. Using grounded theory, ethnographic investigation and analysis…

The interrelationships among job involvement, values, personal background, participation in decision making, and job attitudes were investigated by questionnaire for a sample of 2,775 employees of six manufacturing organizations, representing a 66 percent response rate. The results of this study indicated that job involvement, a basic orientation…

Randomly selected employees from a Veterans Administration Medical Center (n=200) were asked to complete measures on distributive justice and procedural justice 4 weeks before their performance appraisal; and on job satisfaction, commitment, involvement, and self-reported performance feedback 4 weeks after their performance appraisals.…

Field research was conducted to evaluate the workgroup meetings of an organization. The evaluation served to determine whether management's established objectives for the meetings were reached and to develop research strategies useful in examining individual communication activities. Two questionnaires (for supervisory/nonsupervisory personnel)…

The first of the four papers in this symposium, "The Role of the Survey in the Assessment of an Organization for High Performance Redesign: A Case Study" (Teresa K. Moyers, Oris T. Griffin), looks at how one company used a survey to analyze the way the social system currently is designed and operates. "Thriving on Change: An…

The self-interests of the primary participants in the school and the common welfare as represented in the improvement of the American educational system are most likely to become one in the process of improving the school as a work place. This strategy was explored in the form of a collaborative enterprise. Eighteen schools in southern California…

Quality circles (QCs) have been considered one of the most promising approaches to improving American workers' productivity. The differences of quality circle effectiveness between active QCs (N=36) and inactive QCs (N=17) in a 3-year period were examined in a quasi-experimental field study. The dependent variables examined were the amount of…

Recent research on organizational turnover has concentrated on testing models of the turnover decision process, in particular, Mobley's (1977) model of employee turnover. The present research was based on Mobley's theoretical work and the subsequent empirical tests of his model. Employees (N=266) at a large computer company completed a…

These five papers are from a symposium on high involvement work teams that was facilitated by Catherine M. Sleezer at the 1995 Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD) conference. "An Empirical Study of Employee Involvement in Designing and Managing Reward Systems" (William M. Kahnweiler) reports on a study of 300 organizations that…

Powerful pressures are compelling company officers and managers to take a long, careful and objective look at their women employees. The effects of legislation and legal action, the perception of what is right and fair, and corporate concern with profit and public image are among the factors that are fostering employer interest in the critical…

The career ladder is an incentive plan widely considered in response to perceptions of decline in teaching effectiveness and as a method of employment retention. Organizational research demonstrates the importance of meaningful work and authority relationship factors in determining employee attitudes. This study examines effects of career ladders…

Organization Development (OD), conceived by behavioral scientists to humanize psychological aspects of working conditions which deprive employees of opportunities to develop and utilize their inherent resources, is based on the assumption that human resources can be released if people are given other conditions for work and cooperation. There is…

The traditional systems used to produce goods and services in this country are being challenged by evolving alternatives. The focus of these new alternatives is on the human element in the work force. Studies in adult work attitudes indicate that a more humanistic system is needed to promote productivity. Inherent in the human condition is the…

This document contains four papers on organizational enhancement and human resource development (HRD). "Motivation to Improve Work through Learning in Human Resource Development" (Sharon S. Naquin, Elwood F. Holton III) argues that HRD's traditional conceptualization of motivation should be expanded to incorporate motivation to use…