Harold Stolovitch is Emeritus Professor of Workplace Learning & Performance, Université de Montréal, where he also served as Associate Dean of Research and Chair of the Instructional & Performance Technology graduate programs. He has also been a Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Visiting Professor at the University of Southern California.…

I congratulate Paul E. Newton on a thoughtful and evenhanded contribution to test validity theory. I especially appreciate the evident care that went into interpreting the various authors whose work Newton discusses. I found many useful insights along with the few minor points with which I might quibble. I comment on three aspects of Newton's…

In this article, we reply to Bergman, Payne, and Boswell (2012) and Maertz (2012), who commented on our reconceptualization of the employee turnover criterion and proximal withdrawal states (Hom, Mitchell, Lee, & Griffeth, 2012). We agree with some points (e.g., anticipated destinations) but take issue with others (e.g., turnover intentions as…

Scholars representing the field of organizational science, broadly defined as including many fields--organizational behavior and development, management, workplace performance, and so on--were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might…

After finishing her undergraduate degree in English, the author's first employment was in an academic department at her alma mater. At a large public state institution, the salary scale for non-academic appointees was--and remains--woefully low. Knowing that monetary compensation wasn't the source of staff satisfaction, her chairman made a…

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) was an efficiency expert whose concerns were less about avoiding worker fatigue and more about increasing profit margins by any means necessary. Taylor was devoted to finding the One Best Way to carry out a task and then training workers to do that task unvaryingly; attempts by employees to improve their own…

English teachers have always had a hard time getting kids to read books, but in recent years the problem has spread and taken new directions. The rejection of books by teens and young adults has become a common feature. One by one, recent studies and surveys have charted the decline. With the advent of the Digital Age, teens have more diversions…

This article shares the authors' personal stories that shed light on what to watch out for when the board takes up a performance review. The authors describe what they considered less-than-satisfying experiences with their board of education's process of performance assessment. They offered to do so with candor in hopes of helping their colleagues…

The authors of this featured article (Joo, Jeung, & Yoon, 2010) respond to calls for further examination of how individual differences and workplace environment jointly impact organizational behavior. The authors integrate social psychology and management research to examine employee behavior and its relation to human resource development.…

Improving employee performance in an organization seems to cycle back and forth among six broad approaches. Rather than debate which approach is most effective, the argument is made that each approach is simply one aspect of a larger behavior system. The ultimate answer, then, is to integrate these approaches within an overarching behavior systems…

A school district's strategic objectives typically include improving education outcomes of students, reducing costs, improving customer service and increasing productivity. While the language, emphasis and order will vary, it is difficult to imagine a district that does not strategically focus on these or related objectives. Most districts perform…

After being told in an end-of-year job review that performances are not considered valuable research outcomes, the author argues in this essay that performance matters. This essay makes a case for recognizing performance ethnographies as research, pedagogy, and active service and concludes with guidelines for performance ethnographers who are…

Performance indicators specify the measurable evidence necessary to prove that a planned effort has achieved the desired result. They have two uses: to identify what should be accomplished, and to provide criteria for determining success or failure. (JOW)

The author of this article, an education attorney, begins by describing a case where, a school superintendent of personnel for a rural school district in Michigan had just received a performance evaluation with high marks and a new three-year contract. Two months later the school board called him into a closed session and presented him with…

Argues that attracting nontraditional leaders to school administration requires the adoption of results-based practices tying compensation to performance. Includes profiles of two nontraditional leaders: Jennifer Henry, executive director of the Academy for Urban School Leadership in Chicago and Paula Dawning, superintendent of the Benton Harbor…