As oil prices fluctuate widely and a worldwide recession grows, people are seeing a fundamental shift in the U.S. economy and in consumer buying behavior. This shift is forcing every organization to maximize its efficiency in order to remain profitable and is thereby creating a higher demand for new staff who have management and project management…

This article brings together the fields of action learning and operations strategy. It presents a case of action learning focused on strategic operations improvement in the extended manufacturing enterprise. As the third article in the set of explorations in this journal within the fields of action learning, operations strategy and collaborative…

Within increasing pressure on young people to perform successfully in work, there is a growing concern regarding their levels of numeracy (and literacy). Whether such concerns are founded is the basis of this paper. This paper reports on the numeracy practices undertaken by three young boatbuilders who were nearing the completion of their 4-year…

Purpose: Over the past ten years, most Dutch high schools have been confronted with mergers, curriculum reforms, and managerial changes. As a result, the pressure on the schools' communication systems has increased and several problems have emerged. This paper aims to examine recurring clusters of communication problems in high schools.…

A new trend in e-learning development is to have subject matter experts use rapid development tools to create training simulations. This type of training is called rapid e-learning simulation training. Though companies are using rapid development tools to create training quickly and cost effectively, there is little empirical research to indicate…

Purpose: This purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between dimensions of commitment to the profession of business, and ascribed importance of various organisational characteristics to the first full-time job following graduation. Design/methodology/approach: Business administration students (n=446) completed surveys on…

In spite of enormous investment and remarkable advancement in information system technology (IST) corporations, human integration remains the dominant factor in their success. While 10% of the failure can be attributed to technique failures, 90% are due to human issues. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to capture the…

In an effort to standardize training delivery and to individualize staff development based on observation and reflective practice, the Air Force implemented the Developmental Training Model (DTM) in its Child Development Programs. The goal of the Developmental Training Model is to enhance high quality programs through improvements in the training…

Despite the ever-increasing practice of using e-learning in the workplace, most of the applications perform poorly in motivating employees to learn. Most workplace e-learning applications fail to meet the needs of learners and ultimately fail to serve the organization's quest for success. To solve this problem, we need to examine what workplace…

"Transformative learning" is a term used by Mezirow (1991) and his followers to designate a specifically "adult" kind of learning that involves shifts in how learners view the world and themselves. New research into learning in VET suggests that in some subject areas transformative learning may play more than an incidental…

This article describes a doctoral program partnership between a university and a community college district that addresses the need of employment-planning strategies for building leadership capacity in the community college system. Succession planning information is provided as a foundational framework to plan for the next generation of community…

We argue that the Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers, with its dual emphasis on literacy and occupational skills, can serve as a new model for writing classrooms and writing program administrators. We further contend that the "contact zone" classroom should be replaced with community-based "federations."…

In this research, the authors test a model in which the regulatory focus of employees at work mediates the influence of leadership on employee behavior. In a nationally representative sample of 250 workers who responded over 2 time periods, prevention focus mediated the relationship of initiating structure to in-role performance and deviant…

Some struggles for prestige in academic technical communication are self-defeating and wasteful because of the clash between the material (or positive-sum) economy of the workplace and the positional (or zero-sum) economy of the academy. Some professors of technical communication create disrespect for themselves and their specialties because they…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of protege self-presentation by self-disclosure, modesty, and self-monitoring in mentoring. Design/methodology/approach: This study used three data sources (i.e. employees, peers, and mentors) and a longitudinal design over a period of two years. Findings: Employee self-disclosure and…