The Impact of Total Employee Participation in an Experience-Based Training and Development Program, or Corporate Adventure Training Program, on the Corporation\u27s Work Climate

Experience-based Training and Development (EBTD) or Corporate Adventure Training (CAT) has had a short history of usage and a long history of problems· with its credibility. Proponents of EBTD/CAT have claimed it was an effective and appropriate way to build teams, develop individuals and improve companies. They stated their case on a moderate collection of personal anecdotes and testimonies. Opponents of EBTD/CAT have claimed it was a sham, like many of the group oriented encounter techniques of the sixties. They cemented their opinion by pointing to a clear lack of research evidence, failing to substantiate the impact of such programs. With the decreasing value of the development dollar, more companies have questioned the efficacy of EBTD/CAT programming and called for hard data to support its transfer of learning. This study examined changes, over a two year period, in the corporate climate of an Australian company, which chose total employee participation in an EBTD/CAT program. A major Australian government-owned corporation, primarily involved with public service delivery, chose EBTD/CAT as the sole means of training and development for its entire complement of (approximately) 5,000 employees. The main focus of this training was to alter the climate of the organization around the two new cultural concepts of teamwork and empowerment A sample of 100 employees, stratified for gender (male 65% and female 35%) and management level (upper 10%, middle 30% and lower 60% ), was randomly selected from the population of about 500 managers in a company of 5,000 employees. The sample of 100 were surveyed three times (before, during and after treatment), but all 5,000 employees underwent the treatment Treatment consisted of a five day residential EBTD/CAT program during the most recent year (between the dates of July 1, 1990 and June 30, 1991). No other training and development schemes were underway during the two year period of study (from December 1, 1989 to December 31, 1991 ). The EBTD/CAT program.was fairly standard in design, with the first day devoted to socialization activities, icebreakers and deinhibitizers. The next two days consisted of cooperation, communication and trust exercises followed by common group initiative activities and problem solving tasks. The fourth day consisted of a high ropes course, with choice of egress by rappelling or zip wire. The final day incorporated a great deal of personal reflection, solo time and group dialogue around action plans for future challenges. Evening were spent attending lectures by the company facilitators and presenting dramatic skits interpreting the daily events. Although attendance was mandated by the company, the program operated under a challenge by choice philosophy and, once in attendance, no employees were forced to participate in any activity against their will. Survey rounds, consisting of three instruments, were administered to subjects on three separate occasions, each approximately one year apart. Instrumentation included three surveys: section m of the Individual-Team-Organization (ITO) survey (Anderson, 1987); the short form of the Organizational-Health (OH) survey (Phillips, 1989): and the Motivational Analysis of Organizations-Climate (MAO-C) survey (Pareek, 1989). The 17% attrition over two years was likely due to employee turnover from company downsizing (estimated at 13% ), and yet attrition was proportionate across strata and reasonable (with a return rate over 80%, non-respondent bias was not an issue). Data met all normality requirements, therefore, two factor ANOVAs were conducted. Two main effects for management level were noted, indicating that in these two cases the three management levels differed on the average of their opinions. All, but a few, analyses showed main effect changes in means across the three times of surveying: before, during and after, indicating that opinions changed over the treatment period. Since the limited studies in EBTD/CAT have concentrated on benefits and changes to the group or to the employee, and have apparently ignored the bottom line of organizational benefit and change (a concern prevalent for many companies) the intent of this study was to track changes in the one aspect of corporate climate. This study does not claim that the EBTD/CAT program caused the changes discussed Regardless of the testimonials from the company executive, the EBTD/CAT program may have contributed to the improvements, but without a control company (almost impossible to obtain under most circumstances) the certainty of causality should not be stated Furthermore, these findings must not be generalized beyond the parameters of this study: changes in corporate climate for a major Australian company government-owned and primarily involved in public service delivery, with management response to the surveys and total employee participation in an EBTD/CAT program over the period 1989-1991. In summary, and in the opinion of three levels of management, but not necessarily all employees, this particular company successfully changed its corporate climate over a period of two years, during which all employees participated in an experience-based training and development or corporate adventure training program only. Overall, the company improved on its planning utility, structure flexibility, systems functioning ( upper managers were least pleased with systematic changes), sensible & supportive roles, positive relationships, excessive delays in workflow, reflection time, and mission and goal clarity during the first year; while concern for getting the job done (rather than accounting for time and cost), alignment, marketplace impact, and profit versus growth decreased over the same period, although decreases were not seen as necessarily detrimental in this case, since the company moved through a desired period of well­ needed readjustment. During the second year, reflection time decreased, but work enjoyment improved (lower managers enjoyed their work least), even though workloads increased over both years. Decreases in planning seriousness, crisis avoidance, purpose contribution, and responsiveness index; increases in stretch; and fluctuations in resource provision, strategic position, purpose clarity, and individual versus organizational goals, were all overshadowed by by complex interactions between the time of survey (before, during or after treatment) and the level of manager (upper, middle or lower) responding. Feedback from the company executive committee highlighted the expected influence of several extraneous environmental variables on.these interactions and attributed some interaction to the treatment of the EBTD/CAT program. Future research ought to broaden the base of knowledge concerning the impact of EBTD/CAT programs on other aspects of corporate climate (motivation, etc.) and deepen the base of knowledge by replicating or extending this study with companies from other nations, involved in other areas of business, and consider all types of employees, not just managers. Despite the inherent problems of controlling for environmental factors, either by formal control group or informal speculation, this type of research is valuable as companies seek evidence on the efficacy of this kind of outdoor learning

Outdoor Education Fatalities in Canada: A Comparative Case Study

The recent criminal negligence case against an Ontario teacher in the death of a student identified pertinent outdoor education administration and policy issues. This comparative case study examined this case and two additional high profile Canadian outdoor education fatalities, identifying common factors and issues. Using Accimaps to illustrate the multiple contributing factors for each event, the case studies all exhibited contributory administrative factors of undefined risk tolerance, risk creep, lack of oversight, and issues regarding parental consent. Conclusions were drawn as preventative lessons that can inform school or board-level outdoor education policy and practice

Small scale energy release driven by supergranular flows on the quiet Sun

In this article we present data and modelling for the quiet Sun that strongly suggest a ubiquitous small-scale atmospheric heating mechanism that is driven solely by converging supergranular flows. A possible energy source for such events is the power transfer to the plasma via the work done on the magnetic field by photospheric convective flows, which exert drag of the footpoints of magnetic structures. In this paper we present evidence of small scale energy release events driven directly by the hydrodynamic forces that act on the magnetic elements in the photosphere, as a result of supergranular scale flows. We show strong spatial and temporal correlation between quiet Sun soft X-ray emission (from <i>Yohkoh</i> and <i>SOHO</i> MDI-derived flux removal events driven by deduced photospheric flows. We also present a simple model of heating generated by flux submergence, based on particle acceleration by converging magnetic mirrors. In the near future, high resolution soft X-ray images from XRT on the <i>Hinode</i> satellite will allow definitive, quantitative verification of our results

Arctic Seafloor Integrity Cruise No. MSM95 – (GPF 19-2_05)

The main aim of the MSM95 research expedition was to investigate and map physical impacts on the arctic seafloor in two distinct and contrasting Arctic areas (The Svalbard shelf edge and the HAUSGARTEN time series stations in the FRAM strait) with a range of research equipment. A ‘nested’ data approach was conducted in each research area, with broad seafloor mapping conducted initially with the R/V MARIA S. MERIAN onboard acoustic systems (The EM122 and EM712 bathymetric systems), followed by focused subsequent mapping conducted by PAUL 3000 automated underwater vehicle (AUV) sidescan and camera deployments, Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (OFOBS) towed sidescan and camera trawls and finally with very high resolution investigations conducted with a new mini-ROV launched directly from the OFOBS for close seafloor visual analysis. These data will be used to produce spatial distribution maps of iceberg and fishery impacts on the seafloor at three locations to the north, south and west of the Svalbard Archipelago, as well as maps of drop stone and topography variations across several of the HAUSGARTEN stations

Seasonal, interannual and spatial patterns of bacterial taxonomy and genetic functions in the Arctic Ocean

Bacterial diversity and function across time and space in the Arctic Ocean, including the Polar Night, remain virtually unknown. In the FRAM Observatory, we study microbial composition and genetic potential in ice-covered and ice-free regions of the Fram Strait, the major gateway between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. A continuous amplicon time-series, derived from moored autonomous samplers, revealed marked taxonomic and functional seasonality among bacterial communities in the ice-free West Spitsbergen Current, with distinct succession of taxonomic modules. PacBio long-read metagenomes showed peaks of proteorhodopsin- and DMSP-utilizing genes in late summer, whereas winter mixing of the water column covaried with ammonia- and nitrite-metabolizing bacterial genes. In the ice-covered East Greenland Current, taxonomic and functional diversity varied less with seasons, with prominent influence of ice cover and polar water masses. For instance, high-ice conditions coincided with higher number of peptidoglycan-utilizing genes. Continuous observations were contextualized with five-year amplicon data from summertime samples collected across Fram Strait, integrating seasonal and interannual patterns of bacterial community dynamics. This fundamental baseline information helps understanding ecological and biogeochemical processes in a marine region severely affected by climate change

Can the Solar Wind be Driven by Magnetic Reconnection in the Sun's Magnetic Carpet?

The physical processes that heat the solar corona and accelerate the solar wind remain unknown after many years of study. Some have suggested that the wind is driven by waves and turbulence in open magnetic flux tubes, and others have suggested that plasma is injected into the open tubes by magnetic reconnection with closed loops. In order to test the latter idea, we developed Monte Carlo simulations of the photospheric "magnetic carpet" and extrapolated the time-varying coronal field. These models were constructed for a range of different magnetic flux imbalance ratios. Completely balanced models represent quiet regions on the Sun and source regions of slow solar wind streams. Highly imbalanced models represent coronal holes and source regions of fast wind streams. The models agree with observed emergence rates, surface flux densities, and number distributions of magnetic elements. Despite having no imposed supergranular motions, a realistic network of magnetic "funnels" appeared spontaneously. We computed the rate at which closed field lines open up (i.e., recycling times for open flux), and we estimated the energy flux released in reconnection events involving the opening up of closed flux tubes. For quiet regions and mixed-polarity coronal holes, these energy fluxes were found to be much lower than required to accelerate the solar wind. For the most imbalanced coronal holes, the energy fluxes may be large enough to power the solar wind, but the recycling times are far longer than the time it takes the solar wind to accelerate into the low corona. Thus, it is unlikely that either the slow or fast solar wind is driven by reconnection and loop-opening processes in the magnetic carpet.Comment: 25 pages (emulateapj style), 13 figures, ApJ, in pres

Ideal relaxation of the Hopf fibration

Ideal MHD relaxation is the topology-conserving reconfiguration of a magnetic field into a lower energy state where the net force is zero. This is achieved by modeling the plasma as perfectly conducting viscous fluid. It is an important tool for investigating plasma equilibria and is often used to study the magnetic configurations in fusion devices and astrophysical plasmas. We study the equilibrium reached by a localized magnetic field through the topology conserving relaxation of a magnetic field based on the Hopf fibration in which magnetic field lines are closed circles that are all linked with one another. Magnetic fields with this topology have recently been shown to occur in non-ideal numerical simulations. Our results show that any localized field can only attain equilibrium if there is a finite external pressure, and that for such a field a Taylor state is unattainable. We find an equilibrium plasma configuration that is characterized by a lowered pressure in a toroidal region, with field lines lying on surfaces of constant pressure. Therefore, the field is in a Grad-Shafranov equilibrium. Localized helical magnetic fields are found when plasma is ejected from astrophysical bodies and subsequently relaxes against the background plasma, as well as on earth in plasmoids generated by e.g.\ a Marshall gun. This work shows under which conditions an equilibrium can be reached and identifies a toroidal depression as the characteristic feature of such a configuration