Online Contract Training: Applying Organization Theory to Reconcile Competing Missions within Community Colleges

Community colleges in the United States have become major providers of human resource development services, particularly through offering workforce development training to local employers. The addition of workforce development services to community colleges is a fairly recent phenomenon. Some see workforce development efforts as diluting community colleges’ historic mission of providing affordable and accessible opportunities for students to transfer to 4-year institutions. The addition of online training has created additional stressors, because of increases in costs, opportunities for outsourcing, and increased opportunity for serving those outside of the local community. Using an organizational theory framework, this conceptual article addresses the competing emphases in the community college mission and attempts to understand how various types of institutions overcome internal and external barriers in introducing online workforce development through organizational change initiatives

Online contract training: Applying organization theory to reconcile competing missions within community colleges

Community colleges in the United States have become major providers of human resource development services, particularly through offering workforce development training to local employers. The addition of workforce development services to community colleges is a fairly recent phenomenon. Some see workforce development efforts as diluting community colleges’ historic mission of providing affordable and accessible opportunities for students to transfer to four-year institutions. The addition of online training has created additional stressors, due to increases in costs, opportunities for outsourcing, and increased opportunity for serving those outside of the local community. Using an organizational theory framework, this conceptual article addresses the competing emphases in the community college mission and attempts to understand how various types of institutions overcome internal and external barriers in introducing online workforce development through organizational change initiatives. Keywords: Online Workforce Development, Contract Training, Organizational Change Community colleges are major providers of training services in the U.S. As part of their workforce and economic development mission, they offer non-credit courses in a wide range of topics, such as basic software skills, management development, customer service skills, total quality management, and safety skills. However, they also offer highly specialized training in technical fields such as healthcare, manufacturing, and software development. Although participants often enroll directly in such courses, community colleges commonly enter into contracts to provide direct training for employers and other organizations like labor unions and business groups. In this regard, community colleges are among the largest providers of human resource development (HRD) in the United States. HRD, as a field of practice, is dedicated to learning and development for work and workplaces, whether provided for the good of the individual, a particular employer, a nation, or society in general (Jacobs, 2006; Jacobs & Hawley, 2009; Lynham & Cunninghan, 2006; McLean & McLean, 2001). Such learning and development takes the form of formal training, informal work-related learning, organization development, and performance improvement efforts. This article focuses on online contract 1 training, a type of formal training in which community colleges provide HRD services to employers and work-related groups

The toxic continuum from incivility to violence: What can HRD do

Abstract The frequency, intensity, and duration of uncivil behavior should be a concern to leaders in any organization. All too often seemingly isolated, subtle uncivil incidents (e.g., instigating a joke) can lead to patterns of uncivil behavior (e.g., bullying) and even physical violence. Each is a form of aggressive behavior. Inasmuch as uncivil behavior is linked to poorer individual-(e.g., job performance) and organizational-level (e.g., costs) outcomes, human resource development (HRD) is increasingly being called to implement useful strategies for dealing effectively with this vital workplace issue. The article traces the more subtle forms of uncivil behavior that tend to be ambiguous in intent to more intentional forms of uncivil behavior, that is, bullying and physical violence. The article suggests that HRD can make a strong, positive contribution to reducing the likelihood of uncivil behaviors, which in turn can play a meaningful role in increasing the success of the organization. Finally, a summary of the eight articles are presented that comprise this issue

Online contract training: Applying organization theory to reconcile competing missions within community colleges

Abstract Community colleges in the United States have become major providers of human resource development services, particularly through offering workforce development training to local employers. The addition of workforce development services to community colleges is a fairly recent phenomenon. Some see workforce development efforts as diluting community colleges' historic mission of providing affordable and accessible opportunities for students to transfer to four-year institutions. The addition of online training has created additional stressors, due to increases in costs, opportunities for outsourcing, and increased opportunity for serving those outside of the local community. Using an organizational theory framework, this conceptual article addresses the competing emphases in the community college mission and attempts to understand how various types of institutions overcome internal and external barriers in introducing online workforce development through organizational change initiatives

Predicting intent to turnover: Reciprocal learning in mentoring relationships, organizational citizenship behavior, and mediating mechanisms

This dissertation is an exploratory study that expands the developmental scope of mentoring and makes pioneering contributions to the mentoring and turnover literature. It begins with an overview of the antecedents of turnover and proposes high-quality mentoring as a predictor of low voluntary employee turnover. The researcher uses Ragins's (2005) theory of relational mentoring to comprehend the cognitive processes behind the quality of mentoring relationships and the differences between mentors' and protégés' perceptions of high-quality mentoring relationships. Further, this study explores the effect of mentoring experiences among a unique group of individuals with multiple experiences as mentors and protégés in organizations. Overall, the exhaustive data analyses conducted with a sample ( N = 594) of managerial and nonmanagerial employees from three U.S.-based organizations belonging to the American business and industry imply the following: (a) Mentoring experiences can have direct and indirect effects on intent to turnover and on altruistic OCB; (b) altruistic OCB mediates the relationship between mentoring participation and intent to turnover; (c) organization-based self-esteem and organizational commitment mediate the relationship between mentoring quality and protégé's altruistic OCB; (d) there are role-based (e.g., mentor, protégé) preferences for reciprocal learning in mentoring relationships; (e) relational mentoring measured by the extent of reciprocal learning in mentoring relationships predicts critical organizational outcomes including intent to turnover, especially among mentors; (f) quality of mentoring relationships can override the differences between formal and informal mentoring relationships; (g) informal protégés are more likely to volunteer as informal mentors, leading to an informal mentoring chain (IMC); and (h) formal protégés are equally likely to become both formal and informal mentors, leading to a dynamic perpetuation of both formal and informal mentoring in organizations. This study concludes with recommendations for human resource development (HRD) professionals to advocate an optimal mix of traditional mentoring (e.g., learning is dispensed hierarchically from the mentor to the protégé) and relational mentoring (e.g., learning may be dispensed reciprocally from either the mentor or protégé) in order to benefit mentors, protégés, and individuals with multiple mentoring experiences as mentors and protégés in organizations

Online Contract Training: Applying Organization Theory to Reconcile Competing Missions within Community Colleges

Community colleges in the United States have become major providers of human resource development services, particularly through offering workforce development training to local employers. The addition of workforce development services to community colleges is a fairly recent phenomenon. Some see workforce development efforts as diluting community colleges’ historic mission of providing affordable and accessible opportunities for students to transfer to 4-year institutions. The addition of online training has created additional stressors, because of increases in costs, opportunities for outsourcing, and increased opportunity for serving those outside of the local community. Using an organizational theory framework, this conceptual article addresses the competing emphases in the community college mission and attempts to understand how various types of institutions overcome internal and external barriers in introducing online workforce development through organizational change initiatives

Online contract training: Applying organization theory to reconcile competing missions within community colleges

Community colleges in the United States have become major providers of human resource development services, particularly through offering workforce development training to local employers. The addition of workforce development services to community colleges is a fairly recent phenomenon. Some see workforce development efforts as diluting community colleges’ historic mission of providing affordable and accessible opportunities for students to transfer to four-year institutions. The addition of online training has created additional stressors, due to increases in costs, opportunities for outsourcing, and increased opportunity for serving those outside of the local community. Using an organizational theory framework, this conceptual article addresses the competing emphases in the community college mission and attempts to understand how various types of institutions overcome internal and external barriers in introducing online workforce development through organizational change initiatives. Keywords: Online Workforce Development, Contract Training, Organizational Change Community colleges are major providers of training services in the U.S. As part of their workforce and economic development mission, they offer non-credit courses in a wide range of topics, such as basic software skills, management development, customer service skills, total quality management, and safety skills. However, they also offer highly specialized training in technical fields such as healthcare, manufacturing, and software development. Although participants often enroll directly in such courses, community colleges commonly enter into contracts to provide direct training for employers and other organizations like labor unions and business groups. In this regard, community colleges are among the largest providers of human resource development (HRD) in the United States. HRD, as a field of practice, is dedicated to learning and development for work and workplaces, whether provided for the good of the individual, a particular employer, a nation, or society in general (Jacobs, 2006; Jacobs & Hawley, 2009; Lynham & Cunninghan, 2006; McLean & McLean, 2001). Such learning and development takes the form of formal training, informal work-related learning, organization development, and performance improvement efforts. This article focuses on online contract 1 training, a type of formal training in which community colleges provide HRD services to employers and work-related groups