Purpose: For 40 years, it has been widely believed in the West that learning organisations would be healthier, flexible and more competitive than other organisations. By now, one might expect them to be widespread. However, fully developed learning organisations are rare in the West. In contrast, Chinese organisations seem naturally to be learning…

Presents diversity as a resource to create a high performing work culture that enables all employees to do their best work. Distinguishes between diversity and inclusion, describes a model for diagnosing an organization's culture, sets forth steps for implementing a organizational change, and discusses the human resource professional's role.…

A research and intervention project to enhance cultural competence (CC) within nursing home staff is described, with particular emphasis on the qualitative findings generated during baseline assessments of 10 participating facilities. These findings, developed from an analysis of transcripts of 56 focus groups, suggest the importance of five CC…

Proposes strategic planning and training initiatives that can be used to facilitate the development of diverse self-directed work teams. Offers practical implications for effective functioning of diverse self-directed teams in the workforce. (Author)

Many diversity programs ask too much of managers, lack tangible standards, are the wrong tool, or may encourage stereotyping. Managing diversity requires communicating commitment to fair treatment, focusing on commonalities, prohibiting unacceptable conduct, teaching rules of civil behavior, and defining the issue as one of business risk…

Suggests that the nature of the community college workplace and culture may undermine efforts at diversity. Argues that the emphases on fast-paced work environments and dynamic personalities of the colleges work against diversification efforts and that biases behind the idea of a "proper fit" for a job should be challenged. (MAB)

Describes the results of a study of a global company that examined the effect of training design and work environment on the transfer of human resources development training. Presents a model of international transfer of training and discusses organizational factors and cultural differences that affected the transfer of training. (LRW)

With the growth of globalization, organizations are facing an increased challenge to manage talent, improve employee engagement, develop effective teams, create succession pipelines, and increase organizational effectiveness in multinational settings. Given the need to evaluate and compare individuals from more than one country using standardized…

A major challenge that decisions makers face in multi-national organizations is how to compare managers from different parts of the globe. This challenge is both psychometric and practical. We draw on the cross-cultural psychology literature to propose a three-step framework to compare personality data from different countries. The first step…

The rapid growth of multinational corporations has necessitated theoretical and practical concerns for operating and managing organizations in varying cultural environments. The Navy Public Works Centers (PWCs) provide engineering, maintenance, rehabilitation construction, transportation and housing to U.S. Navy customers around the world.…

This document contains four symposium papers on cultural issues in organizations. "Emotion Management and Organizational Functions: A Study of Action in a Not-for-Profit Organization" (Jamie Callahan Fabian) uses Hochschild's emotion systems theory and Parsons' social systems theory to explain why members of an organization managed their…

To obtain information on workplace diversity initiatives and programs, 12 diversity experts were interviewed. Participants identified organizational and individual barriers to the advancement of diverse groups in the workplace. The following factors were most likely to influence diversity in the workplace: demographic changes, global marketplace,…

Relatively little research has focused on how organizational culture and existing methods of evaluating the job performance of minority ethnic groups have contributed to exclusion from, and discrimination in, the workplace or on how organizations can address these issues. The evidence suggests the existence of a widespread tendency in…

These proceedings begin with the schedule, conference committee membership lists, and detailed agenda of the 1997 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development, which explored the future of human resource development (HRD). Presented next are papers on HRD from scholars affiliated with organizations from 12 countries. The papers are…

A literature review was conducted to identify critical work force diversity issues in today's changing workplace and identify ways organizations and career and technical education (CTE) practitioners can increase work force diversity. A broad, all-inclusive definition of diversity was developed that focuses on how diversity affects individuals and…