Growth motives and learning behaviors among older workers:Toward a more comprehensive assessment

Research findings indicate an age-related decline in worker’s growth and learning. In this paper, we investigate to what extent these results may be affected by measures (e.g., growth need strength scale) that are influenced by educational approaches to workplace learning, framing learning as intentional processes of knowledge acquisition guided by educators. Based on Human Resource Development (HRD) and non-HRD literature, we propose that these measures may not fully capture learning processes of older workers who seemingly prefer learning outside of formal educational contexts (e.g., spontaneous, strengths-based, and collaborative forms of learning). We examine measures of growth motives and learning behaviors and conclude that these are strongly influenced by an educational perspective, encouraging inaccurate conclusions regarding older workers’ learning interest and activity. We provide suggestions for the development of new measures inspired by a noneducational perspective on work-related learning, for instance by tapping into spontaneous, strengths-based, and collaborative forms of learning

Backstage Staff Communication: The Effects of Different Levels of Visual Exposure to Patients

Objective: This article examines how visual exposure to patients predicts patient-related communication among staff members. Background: Communication among healthcare professionals private from patients, or backstage communication, is critical for staff teamwork and patient care. While patients and visitors are a core group of users in healthcare settings, not much attention has been given to how patients' presence impacts staff communication. Furthermore, many healthcare facilities provide team spaces for improved staff teamwork, but the privacy levels of team areas significantly vary. Method: This article presents an empirical study of four team-based primary care clinics where staff communication and teamwork are important. Visual exposure levels of the clinics were analyzed, and their relationships to staff members' concerns for having backstage communication, including preferred and nonpreferred locations for backstage communication, were investigated. Results: Staff members in clinics with less visual exposure to patients reported lower concerns about having backstage communication. Staff members preferred talking in team areas that were visually less exposed to patients in the clinic, but, within team areas, the level of visual exposure did not matter. On the other hand, staff members did not prefer talking in visually exposed areas such as corridors in the clinic and visually exposed areas within team spaces. Conclusions: Staff members preferred talking in team areas, and they did not prefer talking in visually exposed areas. These findings identified visually exposed team areas as a potentially uncomfortable environment, with a lack of agreement between staff members' preferences toward where they had patient-related communication

The Representational Function of Clinic Design: Staff and Patient Perceptions of Teamwork

This study empirically investigates the relationships between visibility attributes and both patients’ and staff members’ teamwork experiences. Teamwork among healthcare professionals is critical for the safety and quality of patient care. While a patient-centered, team-based care approach is promoted in primary care clinics, little is known about how clinic layouts can support the teamwork experiences of staff and patients in team-based primary clinics

Voice, control, and procedural justice: Instrumental and noninstrumental concerns in fairness judgments.

One hundred seventy-nine undergraduate Ss took part in a study of the effects of instrumental and noninstrumental participation on distributive and procedural fairness judgments. In a goal-setting procedure, Ss were allowed voice before the goal was set, after the goal was set, or not at all. Ss received information relevant to the task, irrelevant information, or no information. Both pre-and postdecision voice led to higher fairness judgments than no voice, with predecision voice leading to higher fairness judgments than postdecision voice. Relevant information also increased perceived fairness. Mediation analyses showed that perceptions of control account for some, but not all, of the voice-based enhancement of procedural justice. The results show that both instrumental and noninstrumental concerns are involved in voice effects

A multilevel study of leadership, empowerment, and performance in teams.

A multilevel model of leadership, empowerment, and performance was tested using a sample of 62 teams, 445 individual members, 62 team leaders, and 31 external managers from 31 stores of a Fortune 500 company. Leader-member exchange and leadership climate related differently to individual and team empowerment and interacted to influence individual empowerment. Also, several relationships were supported in more but not in less interdependent teams. Specifically, leader-member exchange related to individual performance partially through individual empowerment; leadership climate related to team performance partially through team empowerment; team empowerment moderated the relationship between individual empowerment and performance; and individual performance was positively related to team performance. Contributions to team leadership theory, research, and practices are discussed. Keywords: teams, leadership, motivation, multilevel, performance As a result of the widespread move to team-based organizations in industry, managers are often asked to lead and motivate not only individuals but also teams as a whole Perhaps owing to these same trends in industry, researchers have primarily focused their efforts at the team level of analysis without considering important individual-level processes in team contexts Accordingly, the main purpose of our study was to extend previous research and answer these theoretically and practically relevant calls for multilevel team leadership and motivation research. We do so by examining team leader behaviors and employee motivation simultaneously at both the individual and team levels of analysis. In particular, we develop and test a multilevel model of leadership and motivation through the lens of employee empowerment, a motivational concept that, over the last two de

Making Sense of Whistle-Blowing's Antecedents: Learning from Research on Identity and Ethics Programs

Despite a significant increase in whistle-blowing practices in work organizations, we know little about what differentiates whistle-blowers from those who observe a wrongdoing but chose not to report it. In this review article, we first highlight the arenas in which research on whistle-blowing has produced inconsistent results and those in which the findings have been consistent. Second, we propose that the adoption of an identity approach will help clarify the inconsistent findings and extend prior work on individual-level motives behind whistle-blowing. Third, we argue that the integration of the whistle-blowing research with that on ethics programs will aid in systematically expanding our understanding of the situational antecedents of whistle-blowing. We conclude our review by discussing new theoretical and methodological arenas of research in the domain of whistle-blowing.No Full Tex

Explaining clinical behaviors using multiple theoretical models

PMID: 23075284 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3500222 Free PMC ArticlePeer reviewedPublisher PD

CEO’s Age and the Performance of Closely Held Firms

Research summary: Using detailed ownership and financial information from a large sample of owner‐managed private firms in three Western European countries, this paper examines the relationship between CEO’s age and firm’s performance. Tracking firms over time, we find that as a CEO ages, the firm experiences lower investment, lower sales growth and lower profitability, but also higher probability of survival, suggesting a trade‐off between the managerial approaches of younger and older CEOs. These results are stronger in industries more reliant on human capital, such as service and creative industries. Our evidence also suggests that regional financial development moderates the relationship between a CEO’s age and a firm’s performance by facilitating the reallocation of assets from firms owned by older CEOs to firms owned by younger CEOs. Managerial summary: How do management styles change as CEOs grow older? Using a large firm‐level dataset, we examine the behavior and performance of firms with CEOs of different ages. We find that as a CEO grows older, firm investment, growth and profitability decline, but probability of survival increases. The results are stronger in industries where human capital and creativity are more important. Regional financial development moderates the age‐performance relationship by facilitating reallocation of assets from firms with old CEOs to firms with younger CEOs. Our findings suggest that management styles change with age, as older CEOs tend to emphasize survival at the expense of higher profits and faster growth

High school optional course enrollment and performance

Issued as final reportSpencer Foundatio