Summarizes preliminary results of a 3-year study of 250 new head teachers in secondary schools throughout England and Wales. The main problems confronting new head teachers involved relationships with the senior management teams. Most head teachers continued to teach, were involved in curriculum development, and exerted stronger instructional…

Conflict between work and family roles can be stressful and damaging to the job performance of both sexes. Instruction in combining these roles will improve the quality of life, increase worker productivity, and enable workers to exert a constructive influence on business, industry, and government in stimulating changes in policy and practice. (SK)

Performance standards help define more clearly the behaviors necessary for evaluated persons to perform their jobs successfully. This article discusses how performance standards differ from criteria; outlines formats; and presents a behaviorally anchored rating scale. (MLH)

Before designing and implementing an evaluation program for principals, districts must determine purpose. Districts that weave both purposes (accountability and professional improvement) into a comprehensive evaluation program reap important benefits. Three basic phases are involved--planning, collecting information, and using information. (MLH)

Studies the effect of sex on the correlation between job satisfaction and self-evaluation using two experiments with college students. Results of both studies indicate that women rate their performance lower when they are dissatisfied with a task than when they are satisfied, but men's ratings are not affected by their task satisfaction. (FMW)

Discusses the use of hypermedia for performance improvement interventions in light of traditional approaches to computer-based training (CBT). Problems with CBT are discussed, hypermedia and hypertext are differentiated, links with data files are explained, hardware selection is discussed, and a comparison of hypermedia systems is presented. (LRW)

Discussion of effective performance supervision emphasizes measurability, communication, follow through, and revision, and provides a generic model applicable to a variety of supervisory settings. Highlights include observation and documentation of actual performance; communicating variance between performance standards and actual performance;…

Data from four studies were used to analyze the hypothesis that performance evaluation variables can be constructed with a rater's facet and a trait's facet. The regularity of the pattern of intercorrelations across different rater groups was remarkable. The use of facet analysis before confirmatory analysis is discussed. (SLD)

Transfer of training to job performance can be enhanced by appropriate follow-up activities. These may be a combination of trainee action plans, assignment of an interim project, coaching, or seminars and workshops. (SK)

Assesses the relationship between literacy abilities and on-the-job performance of electronics technicians from three employment levels (training, experienced, and supervisory). Finds no significant correlation between reading ability and job performance but finds that metacognitive aspects of literacy consistently and significantly correlated to…

New ways of working affect career choices as follows: a career is a series of roles, not steps; project management is a key skill; project roles can be performed by insiders or outsiders; careers are made in markets, not hierarchies; and the fundamental career choice is not among companies but between specializing and generalizing. (SK)

A survey of 1,208 professional employees showed that 90% had taken internal courses, 40% external courses. Greater participation was associated with more positive work attitudes, satisfaction, perceived higher quality of company services/products, and fewer barriers to service excellence. Better evaluation data were needed to determine the value…

The New York State Division of Budget uses a decentralized system to assess promotion candidates by comparing their training, experience, and recent performance to the proposed position. Managers and candidates find the system more effective than traditional written/oral exams. (SK)

A survey soliciting school board members' and administrators' views on effective and ineffective board behaviors showed that both groups valued board members' ability to distinguish between policy and administration, willingness to ensure policy recommendation opportunities for superintendents, insistence on policies sensitive to broad public…

A model of antecedents and outcomes of career commitment was tested with data from 510 of 650 Singaporean teachers and nurses surveyed. The model did not fit the data: career satisfaction did not affect career commitment directly or indirectly through organizational commitment. Career commitment was not significantly related to work quality. (SK)