Testing the existence of a Green Contract: an exploratory study.

The Problem: Climate change has been identified as one of the most significant challenges of this generation. Yet, little is known about the reciprocal expectations that organizations and customers have in relation to environmental issues. Moreover, the field of HRD has done little to date to respond to environmental challenges.The Solution: A set of four hypotheses were tested with a sample of 102 Scottish retail customers to examine some of the expectations customers have in relation to organizations. Three of the four hypotheses were proven indicating a strong correlation between levels of Customer Environmental Commitment/Action and Perceived Organizational Environmental Commitment/Action. The Stakeholders: The research identifies an important educational role for HRD practitioners in improving the training and awareness of individuals in relation to environmental issues and the dissemination of positive environmental practices and innovative approaches. It postulates the existence of five variants of a “green contract”, which distinguishes different degrees of environmental commitment and behavior shown by both customers and organizations

The Role of Swift Trust in Virtual Teams and Implications for Human Resource Development

The Problem The combination of flatter organizational structures, globalization, cost-saving initiatives, and the increased emphasis on knowledge sharing has been a contributor to the use of virtual teams in U.S. organizations.The Solution To perform efficiently in a virtual environment, team members must develop swift trust, which does not come inherently with team membership. Understanding the individual, team, organizational, and technological barriers affecting the development of swift trust is critical to an appreciation of how such barriers can be overcome.The Stakeholders In this article, we indicate how virtual human resource development (VHRD) can assist virtual teams, managers, and HR professionals overcome swift trust development barriers. The intended audience for this article includes HRD scholars, scholar-practitioners, practitioners, and students interested in understanding how trust is fostered in virtual teams and how HRD practitioners can make a valuable contribution to the effectiveness of virtual teams

Grade Inflation and Student Individual Differences as Systematic Bias in Faculty Evaluations

The media has recently exposed that grade inflation is a concern for higher education in North America. Grade inflation may be due to consumerism by universities that now compete for students. Keeping students happy (and paying) may have been emphasized more than learning. We review the literature on faculty evaluation and present a model that incorporates students' individual differences and grade inflation as sources of bias in teaching evaluations. To improve teaching effectiveness, and avoid consumerism in higher education, faculty evaluations must begin to focus on students and the reciprocal role of grade inflation in teaching evaluation. (Contains 1 figure.)Higher Educatio