Issues and Practices in Management Job Rotation Programs as Perceived by HRD Professionals

A management job rotation (MJR) program is a planned effort to develop management trainees, supervisors, managers, or executives by placing them, for extended time spans, in new work settings within an organization. Surprisingly little research has been conducted on MJR, even though research conducted by the American Society for Training and Development with the U. S. Department of Labor indicates that instruction for experienced middle managers tends to gravitate away from formal in–house instruction to focus on mentoring, job rotation, and outside seminars. This article reviews what is known about MJR and summarizes results of a recent exploratory survey of training and development professionals about MJR practices in their organizations.     

Becoming a Secondary Teacher in Germany: A trainee perspective on recent developments in initial teacher training in Germany

Increasing job mobility amongst secondary teachers within Europe, as well as the relentless pursuit of quality, prompted me into studying the training of graduates in Germany. It is the aim of this study to draw conclusions in relation to Initial Teacher Training programmes in England through the critical analysis of the German system in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. It focuses on the following aspects: the statutory framework, preparation for teaching, assessment of trainee competence and support available to trainee teacher (mentor, tutor). This study raises issues, which do not exclusively relate to the German situation, but are equally relevant within an English context. The points considered are: the role of the mentor, assessment of trainee competence and the ratio of theory and practice as elements of the course content. La mobilité croissante des enseignants du secondaire au sein de l'Europe ainsi que la recherche incessante de qualité, m'ont poussée à étudier la formation professionnelle en Allemagne. Le but de cette étude est de tirer des conclusions sur la formation professionnelle des enseignants du secondaire en Angleterre à travers une analyse critique du système dans l'état fédéral de Baden-Württemberg. Cette étude se concentrera sur les points suivants: la structure officielle, la préparation à l'enseignement, l'évaluation des compétences pédagogiques et le support disponible aux professeurs en formation. Cette étude met à jour des problèmes qui existent aussi bien en Allemagne qu'en Angleterre. Les aspects considérés sont: le support du mentor, l'évaluation de l'aptitude des stagiaires et le temps attribué à la théorie et à la pratique pendant la formation. La creciente movilidad de profesores de secundaria en Europa asícomo la incansable búsqueda de calidad me sugirió un estudio sobre la formación pedagógica en Alemania. Es la intención de este estudio el evaluar la formación pedagógica en Inglaterra a través de un análisis crítico del sistema alemán en el estado federal de Baden Württenberg. El estudio se centra en las siguientes áreas claves: el sistema de estatutos, la preparación para la enseñanza, la evaluación de la competencia del profesor aprendiz y el apoyo del mentor/tutor. El estudio discute temas que no se refieren exclusivamente a la situación alemana pero que son igualmente relevantes dentro de un contexto inglés. Los puntos considerados son: la función del mentor, la evaluación de la competencia del aprendiz, y la relación entre la teoría y la práctica como elementos del contenido del curso. Die zunehmende Mobilität der LehrerInnen auf dem europäischen Arbeitsmarkt sowie ein ständiges Streben nach Qualitätsverbesserung haben mich zu einer Studie über das Lehrpraktikum an weiterführenden Schulen in Deutschland veranlaßt. Das Ziel dieser Studie besteht darin, durch kritische Analyse des Systems in Baden-Württemberg, Schlußfolgerungen über das Ausbildungsprogramm in England zu ziehen. Die folgenden Schwerpunkte sind dabei berücksichtigt worden: Gesetzliche Rahmenbedingungen, Vorbereitung auf die Lehrtätigkeit, Beurteilung der LehrpraktikantInnen, Unterstützung durch MentorInnen und Lehrbeauftragte. Diese Studie rückt folgende Diskussionspunkte in den Vordergrund, die sich nicht ausschließlich auf die Situation in Deutschland beziehen, sondern in gleichem Maße auf England zutreffen: die Mentorenrolle, die Beurteilung der Lehrfähigkeit und das Verhältnis von Theorie und Praxis im Ausbildungsprogramm.     

Student Perceptions of the Way that they are Supervised during Work Experience: an instrument and some findings

This paper is intended as a contribution to the debate and evaluation activity which in the UK is following Dearing's recommendation that more work experience should be provided for more higher education students. The paper gives an instrument for researching students’ perceptions of the roles their workplace supervisors play. Two surveys using the instrument and involving a total of 669 students on different courses in the field of teacher education are reported. In the surveys, the responses of many students suggested that they had received ‘good’ (i.e. theoretically desirable) supervision in the workplace but this was not the case for all students. There were for example clear differences across courses and, in addition, the course whose students appeared to have experienced the least desirable kind of supervision subsequently suffered the highest rate of student drop‐out. In contrast, students who had apparently received the ‘best’ kind of workplace supervision tended to be happier with their workplace experience as a whole. In discussing the findings, the paper draws attention to their limitations, pointing out that much more needs to be known about the work experience which is offered to HE students across the disciplines and across the country. The paper suggests that specific as well as general instruments will probably need to be developed for researching this and suggests that, since it is general, the instrument described in the paper might be useful to other HE researchers who wish to evaluate their students’ work experience. The paper concludes by situating the increasing interest in work experience for higher education students in the wider context in which links between ‘work’ and ‘education’ are becoming increasingly blurred.     

Academic Adjustment and Learning Processes: a comparison of international and local students in first‐year university

This article examines the academic adjustment and learning processes of international and local first‐year students. Twenty first‐year local and international students participated in a semi‐structured interview study upon the completion of their first year in a Faculty of Commerce and Management. Students reported positive and negative critical incidents which helped or hindered their learning during the first year. In addition, students described their feelings, thoughts and behaviours in relation to these incidents. Critical incidents were coded, themes identified, and comparisons made across local and international student groups. The impact of particular teaching processes are considered, and implications for teaching and learning in the first year are discussed.     

A 30-s chair-stand test as a measure of lower body strength in community-residing older adults.

Measuring lower body strength is critical in evaluating the functional performance of older adults. The purpose of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability and the criterion-related and construct validity of a 30-s chair stand as a measure of lower body strength in adults over the age of 60 years. Seventy-six community-dwelling older adults (M age = 70.5 years) volunteered to participate in the study, which involved performing two 30-s chair-stand tests and two maximum leg-press tests, each conducted on separate days 2-5 days apart. Test-retest intraclass correlations of .84 for men and .92 for women, utilizing one-way analysis of variance procedures appropriate for a single trial, together with a nonsignificant change in scores from Day 1 testing to Day 2, indicate that the 30-s chair stand has good stability reliability. A moderately high correlation between chair-stand performance and maximum weight-adjusted leg-press performance for both men and women (r = .78 and .71, respectively) supports the criterion-related validity of the chair stand as a measure of lower body strength. Construct (or discriminant) validity of the chair stand was demonstrated by the test's ability to detect differences between various age and physical activity level groups. As expected, chair-stand performance decreased significantly across age groups in decades--from the 60s to the 70s to the 80s (p < .01) and was significantly lower for low-active participants than for high-active participants (p < .0001). It was concluded that the 30-s chair stand provides a reasonably reliable and valid indicator of lower body strength in generally active, community-dwelling older adults.     

The effects of self-handicapping on attributions and perceived judo competence

The aim of this study was to examine hypotheses derived from Jones and Berglas's (1978) self-handicapping model. It was hypothesized that individuals using many self-handicaps would use more internal attributions and report greater gains in perceived judo ability following success than individuals using few self-handicaps. In addition, it was hypothesized that individuals using many self-handicaps would use more external attributions and report less reduction in perceived judo ability following failure. Fifty-three judo players completed measures of trait self-handicapping, situational self-handicapping and a measure of perceived judo ability before competition. Following competition, the participants completed the Causal Dimension Scale II and the measure of perceived judo ability for a second time. Analyses of variance revealed that high self-handicappers attributed failure to more external factors than low self-handicappers. It was also found that high self-handicappers reported less of a reduction in perceived judo ability following failure than low self-handicappers. The findings therefore provide support for the potential short-term benefits of self-handicapping in sport, although further research is required to examine the long-term implications of using self-handicaps.