Austin Community College mailed an Employee Satisfaction Survey in spring 2000 to 2,903 employees. The survey form asked respondents to rate college-wide and/or campus services that they had requested or received during the past year in terms of promptness, quality, attitude and overall service. The overall survey return rate was 15.4%, but rates…

The way in which 261 learning disabilities professors rated their proficiency on Council for Learning Disabilities' competency statements in 11 areas was investigated. Results revealed that reading was the most important competency area. Competence in cognition and career/vocational education was not viewed as particularly important. (Author/SEW)

Problems facing older faculty and staff members who want to continue working are discussed, along with innovative ways to help them achieve a financially secure retirement. A retirement planning program and seminar plans to help faculty and staff avoid making poor retirement decisions are proposed. (MLW)

Maintaining "locus of control" is a significant variable for educators, human resource personnel, and employment counselors dealing with the chronically unemployed, or the underemployed disadvantaged or handicapped workers, this article describes 10 techniques related to change of locus of control and development of more responsible and successful…

Compares volunteers' and paid employees' attitudes toward their jobs and supervisors. Finds that volunteers are higher in intrinsic motivation and are more satisfied with their supervisors' decision-making. Suggests that supervisors of volunteers should use participative decision-making tactics and employ compliance-gaining behavior strategies…

Discusses the information on academic library practices provided in student employment manuals. Highlights include the mission statement, expectations of employment, enrollment and eligibility requirements, employment eligibility verification, application form, the hiring process, program policies, release of employment verification information;…

Describes a survey of knowledge and skills in the health information sciences conducted by the Medical Library Association (MLA) and relates the results to the MLA's educational policy statement. Credentialing for the Academy of Health Information Professionals is described, and ways to acquire medical knowledge and skills are discussed. (Contains…

Four groups' ratings of students on 15 attributes seen as key to performance on the job and in higher education indicate a wide gap between what students and their parents think of students' preparedness for jobs and college versus what their employers, college professors, and admissions officers think. (RLC)

Background characteristics (grade point average, degree level, college quality, major, work experience, and recruitment source) were correlated with performance appraisal scores of 564 entry-level public employees. Although most agency managers surveyed believed performance was linked to those characteristics, grade point average was the only…

Professionals frequently are least able to learn because they have rarely experienced learning-related failure and are prone to defensive reasoning. Companies can become learning organizations by helping managers and employees learn to analyze their behavior and learn productively. (SK)

Effective corporate adventure training programs: (1) develop parallel structures between the adventure experience and the workplace (context); (2) consider how the learning will address a company's future needs (continuity); (3) provide learners with valid information and feedback on their actions (consequences); and (4) create physically and…

Leaders bring to new jobs their values and vision, the authority of their position, and their reputation and accomplishments. How new superintendents conduct themselves during the critical entry/"honeymoon" phase affects their subsequent working relationships and leadership effectiveness. Structured interviews with staff, parents, and…

A meta-analytic review of all adequately designed field and laboratory research on the use of incentives to motivate performance is reported. Of approximately 600 studies, 45 qualified. The overall average effect of all incentive programs in all work settings and on all work tasks was a 22% gain in performance. Team-directed incentives had a…

Anticipatory socialization is the process of gaining knowledge about work that begins in early childhood and continues until entering the workplace full-time. On self-administered questionnaires, 64 high school students answered open-ended questions about what they have learned about work from five sources: parents, educational institutions,…

Three longitudinal studies investigated the usefulness of distinguishing among employees' affective commitments to the organization, the supervisor, and the work group. Study 1, with 199 employees from various organizations, found that affective commitments to these entities were factorially distinct and related differentially to their theorized…