Friend or Foe? New Managerialism and Technical,Administrative and Clerical Support Staff in Australian Universities

The aim of this paper is to assess and conceptualise the effects of new managerialism‐related organisational reforms in three Australian public universities on technical, administrative and clerical support staff job stressors and job satisfaction. Using a mixed method approach consisting of a quantitative core component and qualitative supplementary component it was found that six different types of stressors were evident: time, information; supervisory; work environment; staffing and pay; and career. Path analysis showed that these stressors were closely connected to reduced job satisfaction, which could be ameliorated by employee participation, improved communication and work‐related social support. However, the qualitative analysis suggested that the prevailing climate of managerialism was not conducive to such improvements. It is concluded that while appropriate human‐resource management strategies have the potential to prevent the worst consequences of change, there is some doubt about the ability of university managers, captured by new managerialism, to create and implement such an approach.     

Special education teachers under stress: evidence from a Greek national study

The present study examines the sources of job stress in a national sample of 373 Greek special education teachers, using a self‐report questionnaire assessing job stress, its perceived sources, and its demographic and professional characteristics. Although the participants in general considered their job moderately stressful, they felt stressed by issues concerning the special needs child, such as the child's progress, safety, and social development. More than half of the teachers indicated that teaching children with autism poses major stress to them, followed by teaching students with behavioural and emotional difficulties. Regression analysis showed that the implementation of the special educational curriculum was the most important predictor of job stress, followed by the social and academic progress of children. The implications of these findings for in‐service and pre‐service teacher preparation, support, and awareness‐raising regarding job stress are discussed.     

Psychosocial Hazards in UK Universities: Adopting a Risk Assessment Approach

Drawing on the findings of a recent national survey, this article examines the extent to which higher education institutions in the United Kingdom meet the minimum standards recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the management of work‐related stressors. A comparison is also made between the average weekly working hours reported in the current survey with those found in two previous studies of the higher education sector (1998 and 2004). A sample of 9,740 academic and academic‐related employees working in higher education institutions in the UK completed a measure of seven job‐related stressors (or psychosocial hazards) (that is, demands, control, support from colleagues and managers, interpersonal relationships, role clarity and involvement in organisational change). With one exception (job control), levels of job‐related stressors in the higher education sector exceeded the benchmarks stipulated by the HSE. Stressors relating to change, role, job demands and managerial support were particularly high. Recommendations made by the HSE for interim and longer‐term targets to be achieved for the management of each stressor category are provided. Findings also revealed that average working hours remain high in the sector, with many employees continuing to exceed the weekly limit set by the UK Working Time Directive. The utility of the HSE approach in higher education institutions and ways in which the sector might work towards meeting the HSE management standards and consequently enhance employee well‐being are considered.     

Perceptions as Measures of Training Transfer

This study investigated the extent to which trainees' perceptions of the applicability of what they learned, gathered immediately after training, can predict their perceptions of actual application of the training six months after they return to the job. It also investigated whether support to apply what trainees learned during training after they returned to the job affected their six‐month perceptions. The study found that in all cases, the six‐month perceptions were statistically significantly lower than the immediate after‐course perceptions. However, using a three‐point Likert scale, with “good” being the highest rating, the actual practical judgments about the training program retained the same rating (good) for the program that received the most job environment support. For the training program that received less support, the decisions made from the initial data and the follow‐up data were different. The initial ratings were “good,” and the follow‐up ratings were “fair.” This study suggests that the immediate after‐course perceptions of training are a reasonable estimate of the six‐month perceptions when there is substantial reinforcement from the home job environment.     

Forget EPSSs: How You Can Marshal Mobile Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and Spatial Awareness for Performance Improvement

Mobile geolocation applications identify global coordinates of mobile devices and can be enriched with performance‐context data. This technology has potential to integrate job aids, learning bursts, and parts of manuals with work tools (such as checklists) at the point of performance to better support individual and team performance. Emerging uses of mobile geolocation allow human performance technologists to move from generic electronic performance support systems (EPSSs) to spatial support systems. These increase the potential for performers to access more context‐aware information at the time and space in which the actions occur. Mobile geolocation can also automatically send data about the performance to enterprise databases so that actions taken and the use of training or job aids at the point of performance can be tracked. This article explores how mobile geolocation functionality can be orchestrated to support performance, enrich enterprise databases, and aid human performance technologists.     

Assistant professors of school psychology: A national survey of program directors and job applicants

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the nature of academic position openings in the field of school psychology and to gather information about the characteristics sought and attributed to those individuals who were hired at the assistant professor rank. Survey methodology was used to gather information from both program directors and new assistant professor hires about the job‐search process. A total of 178 program directors in school psychology from the United States were sent surveys in the fall of 1998. One hundred twenty‐six of the program directors responded (71%). Fifty‐five (44%) program directors reported their program had an assistant professor job opening within the last 2 academic years. Of the 55 program directors that reported having job openings, five of these reported that they had two position openings in the last two academic years. Thus, data were gathered on a total of 60 job openings at 55 schools. Information about the job search process and characteristics sought in applicants, from the program directors perspective, are described. In addition, demographic data, prior teaching and research experiences, and information about the new hires' job‐search process is presented. Recommendations are provided to help graduate students, faculty advisors, and future applicants with the job‐search process. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 691–698, 2003.     

The Use of Level Three Evaluation Data to Assess the Impact of Technology Training on Work Performance

The operational environment permitted the evaluation of new technology use comparing trained end‐users. Data was collected to determine:

• • use a team approach that includes diverse expertise
• • identify critical job performance metrics associated with effective tool use
• • get participation from the technology development and end‐user communities
• • collect quantitative data which can be amplified by follow‐up interviews and observations
• • get a commitment from management to use evaluation results for overall performance improvement
• • work toward a technology deployment process that routinely includes evaluation data.

     

Web 2.0 and Transfer: Trainers' Use of Technology to Support Employees' Learning Transfer on the Job

We steer transfer research in a new direction by examining the use of Web 2.0 technologies for supporting learning transfer resulting from formal training. We report survey results from training professionals (N = 83) on how their organization uses such methods to cue and support workers’ application of learned knowledge and skills on the job. Guided by the technology acceptance model (TAM) theory, we examined predictor variables found to influence technology use based on empirical and theoretical support in the information technology (IT) literature. Results indicate that trainers are influenced by several individual factors (computer experience, computer anxiety, and computer self‐efficacy), as well as their organization's learning climate, to use Web 2.0 tools to support transfer of learning. Trainers also prefer to use social media, networking applications, and visual media to support transfer among learners. We discuss implications for using Web 2.0 technologies in support of learning transfer and provide directions for future workplace learning research.     

Emotion‐regulation ability,burnout, and job satisfaction among British secondary‐school teachers

The topic of emotion regulation and its relationship with teacher effectiveness is beginning to garner attention by researchers. This study examined the relationship between emotion‐regulation ability (ERA), as assessed by the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and both job satisfaction and burnout among secondary‐school teachers (N = 123). It also examined the mediating effects of affect and principal support on these outcomes. ERA was associated positively with positive affect, principal support, job satisfaction, and one component of burnout, personal accomplishment. Two path models demonstrated that both positive affect and principal support mediated independently the associations between ERA and both personal accomplishment and job satisfaction. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Team performance improvement: Mediating roles of employee job autonomy and quality of team leader–member relations in supportive organizations in the Korean business context

The purpose of this research was to examine the mediating roles of job autonomy and the quality of the leader–member relationship to explain the impact of organizational support on team performance. A total of 228 cases collected from Korean business organizations were used for data analysis. Hierarchical multiple regression, Type 1 SS‐based general linear modeling, and structural equation modeling were used for analyses. All results were compared to examine the magnitude of the interactions of two mediating variables—job autonomy and leader–member relation quality—to predict the influence of organizational support on team performance. Results include (1) two mediating variables played partial mediating roles; (2) between the mediating variables, leader–member relations maximized the magnitude of job autonomy; (3) organizational support was the commanding predictor for team performance, while it was found to be a statistically nonsignificant factor, which did not directly influence team performance. Conclusions are described, followed by limitations and future research recommendations.     

Helping Business Students Acquire the Skills Needed for a Career in Analytics: A Comprehensive Industry Assessment of Entry‐Level Requirements

Fact‐based decision making is changing job functions within organizations more than any other technology. Analytics, once the purview of the data scientist, is now spread throughout organizations. No longer is there a single job title, job function, or set of required skills and credentials for an analytics career. Companies have moved away from seeking applicants with a specific degree to now recruiting analytics talent based on required skill sets. For more than a decade, business schools have been developing new programs in analytics in response to industry's needs. However, in developing meaningful career‐ready professionals, business programs must understand the skills required across different analytics job functions. In this article, the authors present a comprehensive assessment of the skills sought by employers when considering a candidate for an entry‐level analytics position. The authors describe the demand for various types of analytics professionals, identify the job titles and functions with the most significant demand, and then draw a comparison of the job requirements of hard skills, soft skills, software skills, and credentials between three of the most sought‐after analytics areas: data science, data analytics, and business analytics. The authors conclude by providing faculty and administrators with recommendations on how to adapt their courses and programs to provide students with the fundamental preparation necessary for careers in data science, data analytics, and business analytics.     

Preparing professional performers: music students’ perceptions and experiences of the learning process at Birmingham Conservatoire

Students at a musical conservatory in Britain develop ideas of musical success or failure through using notions of ‘talent’ and ‘hard work’. Mature, working‐class and younger, middle‐class students utilize these notions differently. The latter maintain that innate capacities determine success while the former believe that social factors are also important. Conservatoire education may leave both unprepared for a professional world with fewer job possibilities and shrinking government support for the arts.     

When the going gets tough: Direct,buffering and indirect effects of social support on turnover intention

We examined the role of social support in turnover intention among new teachers. First, we tested and found evidence for a direct negative relationship between social support and turnover intention. Second, we tested the social support buffer hypothesis, and found that teachers with higher social support had lower turnover intention in the face of higher workload, compared to teachers with lower support. Third, we examined a mediational hypothesis, and found that social support acts indirectly, through job satisfaction in relation to turnover intention. These findings suggest that social support can be a valuable resource for new teachers.     

Twins with autism: utilising video feedback to improve job‐related behaviours

Employment for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a significant factor in assuring quality of life in adulthood. The research reported in this article examines the effectiveness of video feedback (VFB) in improving the job‐related behaviours of twin adolescents with ASD and learning disabilities. The targeted behaviours included active engagement, decision‐making, responding to others, hygiene, and transition making. A within‐participant multiple‐probe design across targeted job behaviours, replicated across two participants, was used. The experimental phases of the design consisted of (A) baseline, (B) VFB + job coach evaluation, (C) VFB + concurrent job coach and self‐evaluation, and (A) maintenance. Using a modified Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools (BOSS) form broken into one‐minute intervals, job coaches evaluated participants on job‐related behaviours. Data gathered shows that VFB significantly impacted active engagement, responding to others, hygiene and transitioning. Decision‐making was least impacted by the interventions. The use of VFB is one way that job‐related behaviours of adolescents with ASD and other disabilities can be positively influenced.     

Design and Validation of MAPS for Educators: A Performance Support System to Guide Media Selection for Lesson Design

The importance of adopting technology‐supported performance systems for on‐the‐job learning and training is well‐recognized in a networked economy. In this study, we present a performance support system (PSS) designed to support technology integration for lesson design. The goal is to support educators in the development of appropriate and effective technology integration strategies for learning and training events. The system is based on the PSS design architecture created by Hung and Chao (2007) called Matrix‐Aided Performance System (MAPS). MAPS was created to minimize navigational confusion and enhance users' comprehension and synthesis of information gathered from the PSS. Fifteen educators and instructional technologists were invited to evaluate the system's readiness as well as to identify potential practical constraints that might hinder its use in a real‐world setting. Findings from a perception survey and focus group interviews confirm the beneficial effects of the unified interface on navigation and orientation of content materials. Feedback provided by participants to improve the system interaction and functionality are also reported to further validate the design architecture of MAPS.     

Monetary Reward Versus the National Ideological Agenda: career choice among Chinese university students

Abstract

This paper studies university students’ job‐selection criteria as an indicator of how socio‐economic forces have deconstructed the state‐supported value system in China in the course of reformatting a society in which money‐power has risen to combat not only political control but moral forces. The analysis is based on the surveys conducted by Chinese researchers in various institutes and different regions between 1990 and 1995. The study suggests the increasing importance of “a good income” in graduate job selection, which is a reflection of a set of new concepts competing with the official ideology. Growing market forces, translated into educational reform as “economic efficiency”, have undermined the effectiveness of political‐moral education. Because of the collapse of traditional values and the lack of new ethical standards of conduct, “money talks” has become a norm guiding social behaviours and personal relationships, and has helped form a force to resist the power of political‐moral education.     

Self‐efficacy,school resources,job stressors and burnout among Spanish primary and secondary school teachers: a structural equation approach

This study examines the relationship between school resources, teacher self‐efficacy, potential multi‐level stressors and teacher burnout using structural equation modelling. The causal structure for primary and secondary school teachers was also examined. The sample was composed of 724 primary and secondary Spanish school teachers. The changes occurring in the Spanish teacher role in the last decade were taken into account to select job stressors. The results obtained revealed that external (school support resources) and internal (management classroom self‐efficacy and instructional self‐efficacy) coping resources have a negative and significant effect on job stressors. In turn, job stressors have a positive and significant effect on teachers’ burnout considering it as both a unidimensional and multidimensional construct. Furthermore, the hypothesised structure of burnout dimensions revealed that emotional exhaustion plays a key role in explaining Spanish school teachers’ burnout. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Explaining the class gap in training: the role of employment relations and job characteristics

Existing studies consistently find a gap in further education between high‐ and low‐skilled workers, implying a gap in formal training between high‐ and low‐skilled classes. In this paper, we hypothesize that the most important reasons for differences between social classes in further education participation are grounded in job characteristics rather than worker characteristics. This is in line with theoretical foundations of the construction of the widely used Erikson‐Goldthorpe‐Portocarero (EGP) class scheme and related classifications, such as the new European Socio‐Economic Classification (ESeC) scheme that we apply in our analyses. We explore the importance of different job characteristics for the explanation of the class gap with a dataset providing detailed information about the jobs of more than 20,000 German employees. The tasks performed and the technologies used in the job are found to be of particular importance. Both are able to explain much of the variation in training activity between different class positions and different educational levels. We discuss the implications of our results for social inequality. Our conclusion is that much of the variation of training incidents between classes comes from the very simple fact that they carry out different jobs. This should always be taken into account when inequality in training between individuals is examined.     

Job demands and resources as antecedents of university teachers’ exhaustion,engagement and job satisfaction

Abstract

This study aims at testing the application of the job demands-resources model on university teachers in mainland China. It investigates the relationship between the job characteristics of university teaching and teachers’ well-being. Based on the analyses of a sample of 2,758 university teachers, the results of structural equation modelling support the health impairment and motivational processes suggested by the model. Specifically, job demands consisting of teaching demands, teaching-research conflict and new challenges reduced university teachers’ job satisfaction through the mediation of emotional exhaustion; job resources comprising teaching resources, social support and administrative support increased university teachers’ job satisfaction through the mediation of work engagement. The implications of these findings are discussed.