Managerial Feedback Seeking Behavior in Relation to Feedback Discrepancies, Source Attributes, and Goal Characteristics

Historically, feedback has primarily been studied as an organizational resource, due largely to the performance-improving effects of feedback. Recently, however, researchers have suggested that feedback may also serve as an individual resource for employees. Specifically, it has been suggested that individuals within organizations may actively seek feedback to help them attain their personal goals. Although employee feedback seeking behavior is, to date, a relatively new area of inquiry, research has shown that employees’ feedback seeking behavior is related to such factors as goal value and importance, and negative performance beliefs. Other factors that would seem to be related to individuals’ feedback seeking behavior include the discrepancy of prior feedback, attributes of feedback sources, and characteristics of the performance goal. The present study was designed to investigate the relation of discrepancy in prior feedback, source attributes, and goal characteristics to managers’ overall feedback seeking behavior and their feedback seeking behavior and reliance on two feedback sources (i.e. their supervisor and their subordinates). It was hypothesized that the discrepancy between managers’ self feedback ratings and ratings given to them by a source (i.e. their supervisor and subordinates) would be positively related to their subsequent feedback seeking behavior. In addition, it was hypothesized that various goal characteristics and source attributes would be positively related to feedback seeking behavior, and would moderate the relationship between discrepancy in prior feedback and feedback seeking behavior. Subjects were 153 middle level managers in a large governmental agency who had participated in a developmental workshop, during which they received feedback relating to various performance dimensions from their supervisor, subordinates, and self. At the end of the workshop, subjects selected developmental performance goals. A survey questionnaire three months after the workshop was used to assess source attributes, goal characteristics, and feedback seeking behavior in relation to each subject’s most important developmental goal. Analyses of managers’ responses indicated an overall moderate level of feedback seeking behavior pertaining to their performance on their developmental goal. In addition, feedback seeking from subordinates was just as frequent in feedback seeking from the supervisor. Contrary to expectations, discrepancy between self and others’ feedback ratings was not related to subsequent feedback seeking behavior, and no strong moderators of this relationship were found. As hypothesized, the goal characteristics of importance, commitment, and uncertainty were positively related to overall feedback seeking behavior (across all sources). In addition, the source attributes of subordinate credibility, power, and availability were positively related to managers’ seeking and reliance on their subordinates for feedback, and the attribute of supervisor credibility was related to feedback seeking and reliance on the supervisor. These results and the results from additional analyses were discussed, as were suggestions for future research of feedback seeking behavior

CRITICAL THINKING AND INTERDISCIPLINARY DEVELOPMENT FOSTERING CRITICAL THINKING IN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY WELLNESS COACHING ACADEMIC PROGRAM

Critical thinking skills are seen as increasingly important in meeting the complex demands of the global workplace (Pithers, 2000). Developing curriculum that crosses and integrates specific disciplines is one important mechanism that institutions of higher learning can use to foster higher-order critical thinking skills among their students (Behar-Horenstein & Niu, 2011; Nosich, 2009). This paper explores the interdisciplinary curriculum development process to develop a minor in Wellness Coaching, where critical thinking was a unifying core component. The steps used in the curriculum development process are described, and implications for interdisciplinary programs focusing on critical thinking skills are examined

Healthcare Comics

This comic, and the series of workshops that produced it, emerged from a partnership between the Comics Studies team in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, and the School of Dentistry, both at the University of Dundee in Scotland. In recent years we have produced many comics about oral health and homelessness, oral health and public engagement, and several other themes. This led to a series of workshops as part of the postgraduate student-learning Forum for Public Engagement, Inclusion, and Impact. This forum aims to raise awareness of health/oral health inequalities in culturally diverse groups. Over the course of three intensive workshops, ten students who were undertaking Masters programmes in Dental Public Health (MDPH) and Public Health (MPH) worked together to produce three stories, which are presented here. In each case, the aim was to think about ways to use comics to communicate an important health message, but also to show the impact health professionals can make on the experience of patients and the public more generally.Working in Dundee Comics Creative Space, and with help from Dr Damon Herd and Thushani Indumani Devi Wijesiri, the students worked in groups to produce scripts and sketches, which comics artist Clio Ding, who joined the workshops online from Singapore, then used to produce the final comics. The students did a fantastic job and responded with huge enthusiasm and creativity, and we are all very grateful to Clio for bringing these stories to life

Healthcare Comics

This comic, and the series of workshops that produced it, emerged from a partnership between the Comics Studies team in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, and the School of Dentistry, both at the University of Dundee in Scotland. In recent years we have produced many comics about oral health and homelessness, oral health and public engagement, and several other themes. This led to a series of workshops as part of the postgraduate student-learning Forum for Public Engagement, Inclusion, and Impact. This forum aims to raise awareness of health/oral health inequalities in culturally diverse groups. Over the course of three intensive workshops, ten students who were undertaking Masters programmes in Dental Public Health (MDPH) and Public Health (MPH) worked together to produce three stories, which are presented here. In each case, the aim was to think about ways to use comics to communicate an important health message, but also to show the impact health professionals can make on the experience of patients and the public more generally.Working in Dundee Comics Creative Space, and with help from Dr Damon Herd and Thushani Indumani Devi Wijesiri, the students worked in groups to produce scripts and sketches, which comics artist Clio Ding, who joined the workshops online from Singapore, then used to produce the final comics. The students did a fantastic job and responded with huge enthusiasm and creativity, and we are all very grateful to Clio for bringing these stories to life

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Invited review: Large-scale indirect measurements for enteric methane emissions in dairy cattle: A review of proxies and their potential for use in management and breeding decisions

Publication history: Accepted - 7 December 2016; Published online - 1 February 2017.Efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of milk production through selection and management of low-emitting cows require accurate and large-scale measurements of methane (CH4) emissions from individual cows. Several techniques have been developed to measure CH4 in a research setting but most are not suitable for large-scale recording on farm. Several groups have explored proxies (i.e., indicators or indirect traits) for CH4; ideally these should be accurate, inexpensive, and amenable to being recorded individually on a large scale. This review (1) systematically describes the biological basis of current potential CH4 proxies for dairy cattle; (2) assesses the accuracy and predictive power of single proxies and determines the added value of combining proxies; (3) provides a critical evaluation of the relative merit of the main proxies in terms of their simplicity, cost, accuracy, invasiveness, and throughput; and (4) discusses their suitability as selection traits. The proxies range from simple and low-cost measurements such as body weight and high-throughput milk mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) to more challenging measures such as rumen morphology, rumen metabolites, or microbiome profiling. Proxies based on rumen samples are generally poor to moderately accurate predictors of CH4, and are costly and difficult to measure routinely onfarm. Proxies related to body weight or milk yield and composition, on the other hand, are relatively simple, inexpensive, and high throughput, and are easier to implement in practice. In particular, milk MIR, along with covariates such as lactation stage, are a promising option for prediction of CH4 emission in dairy cows. No single proxy was found to accurately predict CH4, and combinations of 2 or more proxies are likely to be a better solution. Combining proxies can increase the accuracy of predictions by 15 to 35%, mainly because different proxies describe independent sources of variation in CH4 and one proxy can correct for shortcomings in the other(s). The most important applications of CH4 proxies are in dairy cattle management and breeding for lower environmental impact. When breeding for traits of lower environmental impact, single or multiple proxies can be used as indirect criteria for the breeding objective, but care should be taken to avoid unfavorable correlated responses. Finally, although combinations of proxies appear to provide the most accurate estimates of CH4, the greatest limitation today is the lack of robustness in their general applicability. Future efforts should therefore be directed toward developing combinations of proxies that are robust and applicable across diverse production systems and environments.Technical and financial support from the COST Action FA1302 of the European Union

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Executive coaching tools and techniques: Which tools are best for which purposes?

As executive coaching becomes an increasingly popular activity used by HRD specialists for a variety of developmental purposes, a systematic review of the tools and techniques used in executive coaching is lacking. While there are core coaching tools and techniques used across a variety of coaching situations, there may be as many tools and techniques for coaching as there are coaches. The purpose of this interactive session is to explore some of the most commonly used and powerful coaching tools and techniques in relation to the purposes and stages in the coaching process for which they are used. Stages in the coaching process, goals for coaching, and criteria for evaluating various coaching tools and techniques will be discussed

Strategic Human Resource Development Alignment from the Employee\u27s Perspective: Initial Development and Proposition Testing of a Measure

Through fieldwork at a large healthcare organization, an initial measure of employees\u27 perceptions of strategic human resource development (SHRD) alignment was developed. An empirical investigation of the 12-item measure was conducted with 2062 employees from all levels and position types in a large healthcare organization in the mid-south United States. The measure (SHRD-AI) was found to have one factor with 82% of explained variance and was positively correlated as hypothesized with measures of perceived investment in employee development, learning-organization culture, manager support for HRD, and psychological climate. Implications of the study include potential linkages between (a) employees\u27 perceived SHRD alignment and (b) a learning culture promoting employee voice, which may be especially critical variables in healthcare organizations facing a wide range of strategic challenges