The influence of leadership behavior and organizational commitment on organizational readiness for change in a higher learning institution

Many factors contribute to the effectiveness in implementing organizational change. However, many change effort fail due to several factors such as lack of commitment, style of leadership, and emotional distress of the employees who have to implement the change. This study was intended to determine the influence of leadership behavior and organizational commitment on organizational readiness for change in a higher learning institution. It was based on a conceptual framework that combined part of an adapted model from organizational development and change theory. A total of 169 academic staff from the main and branch campuses UiTM throughout Malaysia were selected based on stage and cluster sampling to participate in this study. The result shows that there is a significant relationship between organizational commitment and leadership behavior on organizational readiness for change. The findings also revealed that 36.5% of the variance in readiness for change is explained by organizational commitment and transactional leadership behavior. In determining the role of the organization commitment as a moderating variable, the result of the study indicates significant moderating effect of affective commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and organizational readiness for change. This study implied that building organizational commitment as well as developing transformational and transactional leadership behavior could contribute to formulation of organizational readiness for change and subsequently lead to the success of a change program.     

Exploring autonomous learning capacity from a self-regulated learning perspective using learning analytics

Practising self-regulated learning (SRL) has been proposed to develop learning autonomy. However, there is lack of empirical evidence on how SRL strategies affect autonomous learning capacity. This study attempts to bridge that gap by utilizing the learners’ trace data for measuring the learners’ autonomous interactions, and investigates the effects of four SRL strategies on learners’ autonomous choices. The goal is to explain how the employed SRL strategies impact autonomous control (in terms of frequencies of self-enforced decisions, as well as time-spent on decision making). The results from an exploratory study with undergraduate learners (N = 113) shown that goal-setting and time-management have strong positive effects on autonomous control, effort-regulation moderately positively affects learners’ autonomy, while help-seeking has a strong negative effect. These findings provide empirical evidence and contribute to clarifying the role of each one of the SRL strategies in the development of autonomous learning capacity, from a learning analytics perspective. Limitations and potential implications for research and practice are also discussed.     

Predicting organizational commitment from organizational culture in Turkish primary schools

This study aims to describe organizational culture and commitment and to predict organizational commitment from organizational culture in Turkish primary schools. Organizational Culture Scale (İpek 1999) and Organizational Commitment Scale (Balay 2000) were used in the data gathering process. The data were collected from 415 primary teachers and analyzed to describe their organizational culture and organizational commitment perceptions by computing arithmetic means for each dimension constituting these scales. Moreover, the relationships between organizational culture and commitment perceptions were tried to be investigated through the regression analyses to predict the organizational commitment perceptions of primary teachers from their organizational culture perceptions. The study results revealed that primary school teachers perceived all four organizational culture dimensions at moderate levels, but they particularly perceived organizational commitment at internalization and identification levels. They rarely perceived organizational commitment at compliance level. The results revealed that organizational commitment at compliance level was predicted from power and role cultures, while organizational commitment at identification and internalization levels was predicted from achievement and support cultures.     

The impact of FTP on commitment to career choices: situating within a social cognitive perspective

Future time perspective (FTP) is an important theoretical construct that may assist educators in their understanding of individuals' learning, motivation and decision-making. There is empirical evidence attesting to the predictive effects of anticipation of future goals on both cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. The present study, based on previous conceptualizations, proposes the statistical testing of the impact of FTP on commitment to career choices and academic achievement in the subject educational psychology, via personal self-efficacy beliefs and effort expenditure. Two hundred and fifty-six first-year university students (151 women and 105 men) were administered a number of Likert-scale inventories and path analytical procedures were used to validate the hypothesized structural relations. The results yielded from a comparison of different a priori models indicate the impact of FTP on commitment to career choices and academic achievement indirectly, via personal self-efficacy. Personal self-efficacy is also found to exert positive effects on vocational exploration and academic achievement, highlighting the potency of social cognitive theory. In general, the findings obtained provide empirical grounding for applied educational practices and continuing research development.     

The impact of Confucianism on organizational communication

Confucianism has been identified as the major cultural factor that explains the economic success of the Asian Five Dragons. This paper explores the impact of Confucianism on the organizational communication in these nations, based on the four key principles of Confucian teachings: the hierarchical relationship, the family system, Jen, and the emphasis on education. This study further discusses the influence of these four principles of Confucianism on management behaviors and communication in the organization. Implications of Confucianism influence on organizational communication are also explained.     

Predicting teacher commitment: The impact of school climate and social–emotional learning

The aim of this study was to investigate whether school climate and social–emotional learning impact teacher commitment. The sample included 664 public schoolteachers from British Columbia and Ontario in Canada. Participants completed an online questionnaire about teacher commitment, school climate, and social–emotional learning. Binary logistic regression analyses showed that positive school climates significantly predicted three forms of teacher commitment: greater general professional commitment, future professional commitment, and organizational commitment. Of the school climate variables, student relations and collaboration among staff predicted commitment. In addition, stronger beliefs and integration of social–emotional learning predicted two types of teacher commitment: greater general professional commitment and organizational commitment. Of the social–emotional learning variables, the support and promotion of a social–emotional learning culture across the school and comfort with and regular implementation of social–emotional learning in the classroom predicted greater teacher commitment. Implications for practice and research are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An organizational learning perspective on academic development: A strategy for an uncertain future

Abstract

This paper takes as a starting point the interest in organization theory in the idea of ‘learning organizations’ and the practical implications for conceptualizations of academic development. In doing so, it analyses epistemological and methodological complexities associated with the concept of academic development from a perspective that focuses on organizational learning. The contention of the paper is that an appropriate theoretical basis for academic development in the current times is provided by a broad organizational learning perspective. It is argued that an organizational learning methodology for the practice of academic development has the potential to provide powerful learning and feedback structures well‐suited to institutional inquiry and adaptation that will assist universities to meet the turbulence and challenges of an unpredictable future. A vignette from The University of Melbourne describes a prototype for such a methodology.     

从教育服务承诺看高等教育的政策调整

我国加入WTO签定的教育服务承诺具有鲜明的政策性意义。履行这一承诺要求对现行的教育政策尤其是高等教育政策作出一些必要的调整。高等教育政策调整主要包括宏观管理政策、招生政策、财政政策和高校教学政策等方面。调整教育政策又特别需要加强政策研究。     

组织承诺及其对人力资源管理的启示

本文通过对组织承诺概念与组成部分、组织承诺的影响因素、组织承诺的行为意义的探讨，结合组织管理实际．在组织的文化建设、员工职业生涯规划、激励政策制定及引导员工合理流动等方面，提出对人力资源管理实践的指导性意见。     

The social context of human learning: Some prospects for the study of socio-cognitive regulations

Numerous studies conducted by social, cognitive, and educational psychologists suggest that learning, cognitive functioning and development, and education are fundamentally embedded in a complex social matrix. Recent studies have demonstrated the influence on cognitive performances of several basic social variables, including evaluative pressure, group membership, situations of personal or categorical social comparison, and the academic value of the task. These findings clearly point out the necessity of considering the autobiographical dimension of the individual to explain this influence, an idea which is clearly consistent with other results obtained in studies on scholastic self-schemas. The present paper shows that the influence of the social context of cognition cannot be explained unless it is viewed from a sociocognitive perspective which considers the autobiographical memory of the individual.     

The role of organizational learning in transformational leadership and organizational innovation

Leadership is an important factor affecting organizational innovation. Many studies show that transformational leadership has positive and significant influence on organizational innovation. Based on a literature review and previous work, this study aims to investigate the influence of transformational leadership on organizational innovation and to examine whether organizational learning is a mediator between their relationships. Structural equation modeling was used to test the model. The research sample consisted of 330 teachers in charge of administration in postsecondary schools. The findings of this study provide evidence that transformational leadership and organizational learning have significant positive relationship influence on organizational innovation. The research also demonstrates that there is significant effect on the role of mediation in organizational learning on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational innovation. The study suggests that if school principals use the strategies of transformational leadership and organizational learning at the same time, organizational learning was highly effectiveness to achieve organizational innovation in the postsecondary schools.     

The structural relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior in university faculty in China: the mediating effect of organizational commitment

Asia Pacific Education Review - The present study focuses on the relationship between university faculty members’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), affective organizational...     

困境与超越:专业学习共同体下的学习文化构建

专业学习共同体把管理者和教师联结在一起,相互交流,共同学习,以提高专业教学效率,达到学生、教师、学校共同发展的目的。以专业学习共同体为视角审视学校学习文化,发现校长带头学习的示范效应差、教师共同探究与反思的意识不强等问题。要建设学习文化,可以采用强化校长的学习、分享及对教师的支持,促进教师个人和教师团队持续不断地学习,理解和高度关注学生的学习等策略。     

The organizational impact of university labor unions

The current review presents both postulated and empirically tested consequences of university unionization and labor strikes on the North American institution’s administration, faculty, and students. The review explores the impact of collective bargaining on employee working conditions including job security, academic freedom, university governance, and due process. More importantly, this review examines the much neglected issue of organizational work relationships in a unionized academic environment. The relationships discussed include those between faculty members, between the faculty and administration, between the faculty and the university as an institution, and between the faculty and their union. The threat of unionization and labor strikes to the professor–student or mentor–mentee relationship has been a central concern of those opposed to graduate student unions, and this issue is also addressed here. The text concludes with the identification of potential areas for future research.     

The key to organizational performance improvement: A perspective of organizational knowledge creation

The primary purpose of this research is to explore the impacts of knowledge creation practices on organizational performance improvement. Research has been empirically assessed on the basis of the collected data from three Korean private organizations. The concept of knowledge creation theory was adapted as the theoretical framework of this research (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Structural equation modeling has been used in order to assess the fit of the hypothesized model with the collected data. The result of the confirmatory factor analysis suggests that the hypothesized measurement model is a reliable and valid construct in the Korean context; multiple regression analysis reveals that knowledge creation practices have a positive and strong influence on performance improvement. Conclusions, limitations, and implications for human resource development are discussed.     

Triangulation of language assessment modes: learning benefits and socio-cognitive prospects

An experimental design was adopted in the present study to cross-compare the effect of two formative assessments, namely peer assessment (PA) and teacher assessment (TA), with summative assessment (SA) on the improvement of language learners’ writing skill and self-efficacy. Writing excellence was operationalized by structural (grammar), lexical (word choice), and discoursal (cohesion and coherence) well-formedness. Furthermore, focused group interview was run to elicit the learners' attitudes and preferences toward type of assessment. Three cohorts of proficiency-matched language learners sat for a semester-long experimentation (20 sessions × 90 min = 30 h) and three testing sessions. The results revealed that PA group significantly improved in the writing skill, but TA and SA groups did not. Self-efficacy was not enhanced in any of the assessment groups under study. The interviews and follow-up member checkings indicated that the pupils did not have positive attitudes toward PA and preferred TA. Among the sources of this disfavor, they referred to misunderstanding, lack of knowledge or attention, tiredness, poor handwriting of the assesse, shyness, friendship bias, and even feeling not qualified enough to judge their peers’ tasks. Overall, then, the study reported a mismatch between the students’ actual performance and attitudinal beliefs under different assessment conditions, implying that (a) Iranian students are more inclined toward teacher-dominated pedagogies and (b) triangulation of assessment modes provides more reliable optimal results.     

The effects of workplace learning on organizational socialization in the youth workforce

The purpose of this study was to identify how high school graduate newcomers adjust to working in organizations. This study examines how their formal learning, intended informal learning, and unintended informal learning experiences jointly influence their adjustment processes [e.g., role clarity and personal–organizational (P-O) fit]. It also explores the extent to which the newcomers’ adjustment processes relate to socialization outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to quit) and their mediating effects on the relationship between the types of learning and socialization outcomes. Results show that formal learning and intended informal learning have a strong positive relationship with P-O fit, while unintended informal learning is positively associated only with role clarity. In addition, role clarity indirectly and P-O fit directly affect job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to quit. The implication for management practices and future research is discussed.     

Relationships among organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and learning organization culture in one Korean private organization

The purpose of this study is to identify dynamic relationships among organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and learning organization culture in a Korean private company. Using a sample of 669 employees from five subsidiaries of a Korean conglomerate, this research found that learning organization culture is moderately and positively related to job satisfaction. In addition, organizational commitment, except for continuance commitment, was found to be moderately and positively related to learning organization culture and job satisfaction. This research enables CEOs and HR practitioners to view organizational commitment, learning organization culture, and job satisfaction as important variables that can be applied in their management, interventions, and practices.     

大学英语学习环境在生态视角下的给养情况

生态学是研究生物与自然环境关系的学科,生态学教学是站在生态学角度上营造课堂和谐氛围的新颖教学方式,它将学习环境和学习紧密的联系起来,确保学生在课堂教学过程中将学习到的知识转化为自己语言的养料。这也掀起了一股研究生态化教学的热潮,所以本文先简单介绍了生态化的大学英语教学,以及对现阶段大学英语学习环境的给养情况进行了分析,然后分析了良好的学习环境对英语学习的重要性,最后就在生态视角下,就如何优化大学英语学习环境的给养给出了一些建议。