When using assessment instruments for personnel purposes, identify the purposes of assessment, specify criteria for excellent performance, determine behavior standards, and select appropriate methodology. Correlation analysis is a useful technique for establishing the validity of an instrument. (SK)

A hidden participant/observer working in a Japanese auto plant in the United States discovered worker resistance to Japanese management practices in the form of sabotage, protest, agitation, and confrontation. Results questioned assumptions that participatory techniques increase worker control and decentralized authority increases worker autonomy.…

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will be phased in over a two-year period beginning July 26, 1992. Title I of ADA prohibits discrimination in employment. Some questions relevant to education and employment are addressed. (14 references) (MLF)

A study of lawsuits filed by college faculty against their institutions looked at the effects of litigation on the people and institutions involved. The discussion examines standards of judicial review and construction of a fair personnel decision-making process. Careful planning, conscientious application of policies, and meaningful internal…

Principals claim the authority to hire teachers; however, central office personnel specialists, who are trained to make balanced, legally sound hiring decisions, also have a role to play. In an introduction to three articles on this topic, practices at three organizations outside education that demonstrate a partnership approach are cited. (MLF)

A principal praises a collaborative method of selecting teachers that involves a personnel interview and a background check followed by an interview with the building principal. Several candidates are then interviewed by a team of at least three staff members to ensure that the prospective teacher shares the school's philosophy and vision. (MLF)

In districts committed to site-based management, principals expect to have a great degree of authority in staff selection. A principal maintains that, if district administrators must make the occasional staff selection decision, then the principals should at least be consulted before the final decision is made. (MLF)

Surveys of Hungarian and U.S. workers examined attitudes toward promotions, flexibility of hours, autonomy at work, economic rewards, and job security in capitalist versus socialist context. Important concerns for Hungarians were flexibility to pursue second jobs and economic incentives, whereas Americans were concerned with promotion…

Responses from 303 of 411 North Carolina municipalities determined that use of modern personnel practices was greatest in recruitment/selection, moderate in compensation/benefits and employee rights/regulations, and marginal in performance appraisal. Factors affecting greater use were larger work force and presence of city managers. (SK)

Review of Information Age literature found not enough evidence that information industries will reenergize economies or provide high-quality jobs. Virtual organizations are hard to identify. Women do the bulk of low-skill, low-paying telework jobs, reinforcing sex roles and class divisions. Remote workers are often vulnerable and cut off from…

After operating an outsourced library onsite for six years, the computer company Sun Microsystems converted the eight outsourced workers into full-time, regular staff. The Sun library manager demonstrates the advantages of outsourcing: core competencies, cost savings, and value added. (AEF)

Identifies major subjects of state labor legislation in 1998: increases in minimum-wage rates, prevailing wage changes, child-labor revisions, workplace surveillance regulations, and bans on employment discrimination. Offers a state-by-state summary of labor legislation. (JOW)

Survey data from 100 Singapore organizations revealed the following: they tend to recruit women more for operations than supervisory/management jobs; 44% consider gender a selection criterion; recruitment ads often specify gender; and women's opportunities for promotion and training are limited as is their access to flexible work arrangements and…

Examines the influence of race and place on nurse education and employment after World War II. Comparing the postwar experiences of foreign and African American nurses, it argues that local hiring patterns have sustained low rates of minority participation in nursing. (66 references) (Author/JOW)

Defines return on investment (ROI); describes the individual articles included in this special section of the journal which focuses on the process of ROI in organizations. Together, this collection of articles displays a wide variety of views about the necessity for ROI and the quality and quantity of its use. (AEF)