Controversy exists over the validity of child Openness to Experience (OE), which is typically considered a major trait in adult personality models. In an effort to establish construct validity for child OE, data were collected for 346 children (51% girls) approximately 9–10 years of age (M = 9.92, SD = 0.83). Parents completed questionnaires about their children’s personality, temperament, and behavioral problems and competencies. Factor analyses of relevant personality and temperament facets revealed a robust and measurable OE factor made up of three facets: Intellect, Imagination, and Sensitivity. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was established via associations with other higher-order personality traits, behavioral problems, and behavioral competencies. The results underscore the importance of drawing from both temperament and personality literatures in attempts to establish construct validity for child trait domains as well as of moving beyond the higher-order domain and examining facet-level associations between OE and child behavior.

Nowadays companies have changed the way they do the business and have realized that they must explicitly manage their intellectual resources and capabilities in order to remain competitive. The consequence is a rise in demand for knowledge management professionals. Since knowledge management is an emerging discipline, presently there is no widely accepted competency framework for knowledge management professions available. A quantitative content analysis was performed using 89 job advertisements from United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Ireland in order to identify competencies of knowledge management profession. The results of the study show that most of the job advertisements asked for skills in Knowledge Management Technologies which are important for knowledge management professionals to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge management processes. The study shows also that knowledge management is more than creation, capturing, sharing and using of knowledge. Moreover it proves that knowledge management does not have a set of clear job titles and that it does not provide clearly bounded set of activities and tasks. Generally much misunderstanding exists about who and what knowledge management professionals are and what kind of skills they have to possess.

According to the survey of Multilevel Marketing (MLM) organizations report in the year 2009 conducted by Fair Trade Commission Executive Yuan, there were 4,442,000 people participated in the MLMs in Taiwan. Based on the data published by the Ministry of Interior, the population of Taiwan in the year of 2009 was 23,119,000; therefore, on average the participation rate in Multilevel Marketing Organizations in Taiwan is about 19.21%. Due to current economic uncertainty, Multilevel Marketing Organizations are especially attractive to people of all backgrounds. This is mainly because MLMs have low start-up costs, and require only basic entry level know-how to start. Although the participation rate of MLMs in Taiwan is 19.21%, the actual active number of IBOs (independent business owners) who run direct selling business is far less than the number shown on the statistics. This research is a qualitative study using the Behavioral Events Interview method to explore the managerial competency model of leaders in Multilevel Marketing organizations which further defines and includes managerial competencies clusters, managerial competencies, and managerial competencies indicators. There are six major managerial competencies clusters and sixteen sub-competencies included in this managerial competency model. The six managerial competencies clusters are ¡§Goal and Action cluster,¡¨ ¡§Cognitive cluster,¡¨ ¡§Organization Development cluster,¡¨ ¡§Leadership cluster,¡¨ ¡§Knowledge & Skill cluster,¡¨ and ¡§Personal Traits cluster.¡¨ As for the sub-competencies, they are ¡§Achievement,¡¨ ¡§Initiative,¡¨ ¡§Action,¡¨ ¡§Analytical Thinking,¡¨ ¡§Conceptual Thinking,¡¨ ¡§Information Seeking,¡¨ ¡§Organization Awareness,¡¨ ¡§Organization Development,¡¨ ¡§Developing Others,¡¨ ¡§Team and Cooperation,¡¨ ¡§Team Leadership,¡¨ ¡§Confidence,¡¨ ¡§Communication,¡¨ ¡§ Knowledge and Skill,¡¨ ¡§Dissemination of Knowledge,¡¨ and ¡§Personal Traits.¡¨ Among these, what distinguishes the managerial competency model of the leaders in MLMs from the general managerial competency model is the ¡§Organization Development cluster.¡¨ This cluster includes four competencies, which are ¡§Organization Awareness,¡¨ ¡§Organization Development,¡¨ ¡§Developing Others,¡¨ and ¡§Team and Cooperation.¡¨ In addition ¡§Action¡¨ and ¡§Dissemination of Knowledge¡¨ are also the core competencies/characteristics that leaders in MLMs possess. This managerial competencies model for leaders in Multilevel Marketing organizations can benefit three types of people. For IBOs who just join the MLMs, this model can be an educational reference for developing their managerial competencies. For leaders in MLMs, this model can be a checklist for their work performance. For people who are from the Multilevel Marketing organizations, this model can be a source for annual training programs or a reference for publications in MLM organizations.

This research is founded on facility personnel¡¦s in hi-tech industries, with two objectives: 1) understand investigate how workers¡¦ personal personality and functional competencies influence their job performance, and 2) establish a criteria for future recruitment. This study uses the Big Five Model developed by McCrae & Costa (1989). The Big Five refers to agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability, and openness to experience. In addition, the five functional competencies, identified through expert interviews, include air-conditioning, electricity, fire prevention, environmental protection, safety and damage prevention. In this study, 148 samples were collected. Research methods include descriptive statistics to analyze sample characteristics, reliability analysis to verify validity of tables, and regression analysis to verify the effects of demographic profile, personality, and functional competencies. The findings suggest that agreeableness and conscientiousness positively affect job performance. On functional competencies, fire prevention, safety and damage prevention contribute favorably to job performance. These findings could be used towards recruitment and selection of facility personnel¡¦s, and corporate training to raise companywide performance.

According to the survey of Fair Trade Commission Executive Yuan, some people participate two or more than MLM organization. Excluding the number of participants, there were 4,570,000 people in the year of 2010 compared to 4,442,000 people in the year of 2008 which increased 128,000. Based on the data published by the Ministry of Interior, the population of Taiwan in the year of 2010 was 23,162,000; therefore, on average the participation rate in Multilevel Marketing Organizations in Taiwan is about 19.73% compared to the year of 2009 is about 19.21% which increased 0.52%. Then, MLM system has been many years, therefore, it to be considered that MLM system can provide service and selling successfully and effectively to consumers, and it helps salesmen or distributors can get profit. This research questionnaire is based on¡uThe Study of Managerial Competencies of Leaders in Multilevel Marketing Organizations¡vand through statistics analysis to find out the new managerial competencies. After research result, there are six major managerial competencies aspects and fifteen items included this managerial competency model. The six managerial competencies aspects are ¡§Goal and Action aspect,¡¨ ¡§Cognitive aspects,¡¨ ¡§Organization Development aspect,¡¨ ¡§Leadership aspect,¡¨ ¡§Knowledge & Skill aspect,¡¨ and ¡§Personal Traits aspect.¡¨ As for the sub-competencies items, they are ¡§Action,¡¨ ¡§Goal Setting,¡¨ ¡§Conceptual Thinking,¡¨ ¡§Information Seeking,¡¨ ¡§Team and Cooperation,¡¨ ¡§Organization Development,¡¨ ¡§Organization Communication,¡¨ ¡§Organization Awareness,¡¨ ¡§Team Leadership,¡¨ ¡§ Knowledge and Skill,¡¨ ¡§Dissemination of Knowledge,¡¨ ¡§Industries Knowledge,¡¨ and ¡§Personal Traits.¡¨ Through the statistics analysis, it can find out what kinds of the managerial competencies that the leaders should have. And the leaders can lead team members who come from other industries.

The purpose of this study was to determine the inclusion and content of an international agricultural education course at the post-secondary level by answering the following research questions: What disciplines of agriculture should be included in an international agricultural education course at the university level?; What competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) in international agriculture are needed by students and should be developed in a course in international agricultural education at the university level?; and How should an international agricultural education class be used in multiple degree programs at the university level?. A three round Delphi procedure was used to solicit expert opinions regarding each of the research questions. The results revealed the most significant disciplines as: extension and education, philosophy, policy, models, program planning, public and private systems, & evaluation; role of agriculture in a developing nation?s economy; social, economic, political issues; and cross cultural communication. The competencies that should be developed identified by the panel were: skills working with other cultures; roles of change agents; environmental, developmental, conservation, sustainability, natural resources issues; extension models; understanding non-governmental organizations; knowledge of basic agriculture; ability to listen, plan and evaluate. The panel suggested the use of such a class in a multiple degree program should be a requirement for a minor in international agriculture. The study found that items not included among the panel consensus were items on practical or technical production practices. Further studies should be conducted to determine if the area of expertise of the panelists focused more on extension since they were in fact more familiar with extension techniques than any other areas, their experiences were based more on educational typology than practical and technical systems, or their placement in those professional positions did not allow them to focus on the skills and trades that were already known to flourish in their geographical region. One recommendation is to develop a more diverse panel of experts that cover more global territory to gain further insight into the research questions. A more diverse panel may bring more variation to the results. A deeper search into the background and identity of each panel member may also be necessary to discover the uniqueness of each expert in gaining diversified responses. If a professional in international agricultural education was in a non-native country and answered the instrumentation questions based on their work in that environment, that may be different than answering the questions based on their activity in a native country. Note: This student obtained a joint doctoral degree from Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University.

Abstract Peter Drucker (1999), a management master, points out that in the organizations of the 21st century, the most valuable assets of an organization are knowledge workers and the productivity of knowledge workers. Koch (1998) points out that exerting ¡§80/20 Principle¡¨ to find out core customers, investing resource and service on those rare mass-customers who can create most profits, and cultivating the relationship of long-term strategies are the effective ways to increase profits instead of continuously looking for new customers. Telecom industry plays a very important role in the development of Taiwan economy. It is really a crucial issue for this case corporation to focus on how to keep mass-customers in the competitive environment. The cost strengths of customer loyalty come from the factors of men and the outcomes of the long-term mutual interaction between customers and employees. The input of outstanding human resource is the main indicator deciding whether an enterprise possesses competitive strengths or not. The employees serving enterprise customers are the front-line representatives of this case corporation approaching enterprise customers. Outwardly, these employees represent their company, and it goes without saying that the quality and work performance of the employees are very important to the enterprise. The subject of the research is the present knowledge workers serving in the department of enterprise customers in this case corporation. Through the theories and concepts of literature review, the research uses individual attributes and knowledge workers¡¦ management strategies as the independent variables and core competencies as the intermediary variables to explore the relationship among individual attributes, knowledge workers¡¦ management strategies, core competencies and work performance. Among the totally mailed 603 questionnaires, there are 412 effective and available, and the effective return rate of questionnaires is 68.33%. After factor analysis, credibility analysis, variance analysis, correlation analysis and multi-regression analysis, here is the result of the research: 1. There is a positive significance among the research variables of the knowledge workers¡¦ management strategies, the degree of the possession of core competencies and work performance. 2. There is a positive significance between the knowledge workers¡¦ management strategies and the degree of the possession of core competencies: for example, ¡§team encouragement¡¨ has the positive effect on ¡§interpersonal competency,¡¨ ¡§attitude competency,¡¨ and ¡§profession competency,¡¨ and ¡§company learning commitment¡¨ has the effect on ¡§profession competency.¡¨ 3. There is a positive significance between the degree of the possession of core competencies and work performance: for example, ¡§interpersonal competency¡¨ and ¡§profession competency¡¨ significantly have the positive effect on ¡§task performance,¡¨ and ¡§interpersonal competency,¡¨ ¡§attitude competency¡¨ and ¡§profession competency¡¨ all significantly have the positive effect on ¡§contextual performance.¡¨ 4. There is a positive significance between the knowledge workers¡¦ management strategies and work performance: for example, ¡§knowledge leadership¡¨ and ¡§company learning commitment¡¨ significantly have the positive effect on ¡§task performance,¡¨ and ¡§knowledge leadership¡¨ and ¡§team encouragement¡¨ significantly have the positive effect on ¡§contextual performance.¡¨ 5. The knowledge workers¡¦ management strategies have an influence on work performance through the intermediary variables, core competencies: for example, ¡§company learning commitment¡¨ indirectly influences ¡§task performance¡¨ through the intermediary variables ¡§profession competency¡¨ and ¡§team encouragement¡¨ indirectly influence ¡§contextual performance¡¨ through the intermediary variables ¡§interpersonal competency,¡¨ ¡§attitude competency¡¨ and ¡§profession competency.¡¨

This thesis is a case study about the transformation processes for a petrochemical corporation in Taiwan during the last thirty-nine years (1965~2003). We adopted the Grounded theory as the research method to probe the relationships between growth and change for the case company. We had several interviews with senior managers. In addition, the public reports about the company are also collected, such as news and financial analyses on newspapers or journals. There have been four phases of company development that are divided by three changes. According to the findings in this research, it is concluded that most of the transformation or change decisions were based on the core competence. Therefore, the R&D capabilities that have been much emphasized by the company provide the speed and flexibility for the company to adapt the industrial dynamics. Another important factor is the vision of the executive managers. They make good decisions because they foresee the company needs for the growth associated with the environmental changes. Finally, we have found that the core technical competence plays the essential role for the corporate transformation. Enterprises should well recognize their cores and then develop proper business strategies. They should plan for changes and incorporate them into organizational process to establish a company¡¦s culture

The purpose of this research is about inquiring into the following two matters¡GWhether managerial competencies and stressors of a chain store manager affect one¡¦s job performance by the full mediation through one¡¦s stress coping, Meanwhile,what¡¦s the differences among managerial competencies,stressors,stress coping,and job performance under different personal traits. The research was presumed, experimented, verified, and completed through ways of Factor Analysis, One-Way ANOVA, and Regresion Analysis by the post survey, replied by 98 out of 200 samples in 48% efficient returning. The results of research are listed as following¡G 1.Problem solving abilities in managerial competencies make a notable impact to job performance. Leading abilities in managerial competencies only make a notable impact to financial job performance. Human relations abilities and personal effectiveness in managerial competencies make a notable impact to managements of commodities and stores as well as managements of employees and customers. 2.Personal factors in stressors make an evident impact to job performance. 3.Escape stress in stress coping makes a notable impact to financial job performance. Control stress in stress coping makes a notable impact to job performance of both managements, commodities and stores as well as employees and customers. 4.Problem solving abilities in managerial competencies make a notable impact to stress coping. Human relations abilities and personal effectiveness in managerial competencies make a notable impact to stress coping of control stress. 5.Organization factors of stress make an evident negative influence to both control stress and escape stress. Personal factors of stressors make a notable impact to control stress, escape stress and symptom management. 6.Managerial competencies and stressors, going through the full mediation of stress coping, make notable impacts¡G (1).Problem solving abilities and leading abilities in managerial competencies, going through the full mediation of escape stress of stress coping, make a notable impact to financial job performance. (2).Problem solving abilities of managerial competencies, going through the full mediation of control stress of stress coping, make a notable impact to job performance of both commodity and store managements. (3). Problem solving abilities and leading abilities in managerial competencies, going through the full mediation of control stress of stress coping, make a notable impact to job performance of both employee and customer managements. 7.A store manager with different traits makes a notable impact to the managerial competencies, stressors, stress coping and job performance.

Lindner, Murphy, and Wingenbach (2002), noted that agricultural education's core is communication because it is the component that spreads a variety of ideas to a large group of people and is the essential form of education needed for scholarship. Research is needed to ensure that agricultural education students are taught to write, effectively and efficiently, an argument paper that establishes the following components: coherence, audience awareness, argument, summary, sources, and grammar. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine if the writing competencies of the Doc@Distance graduate students have changed or improved based on the recommendations made in a previous study. A census of the Doc@Distance students was taken for this study. Thirty students submitted an argument writing sample that they wrote during the orientation week of their program in August 2003. The conclusions of this study found that 68.8% of the 2004 Doc@Distance Cohort suggested inadequacy in writing an argument paper, and 71.4% of the 2007 Doc@Distance Cohort suggested inadequacy in writing an argument paper. Ending Cohort `04 demonstrated weakness in coherence, argument, summary, and grammar. Beginning Cohort `07 demonstrated weakness in coherence, audience awareness, summary, and grammar. As a result of this study, it is recommended that a follow-up study be conducted on Cohort `07 in two years to determine if writing abilities for argument papers have changed and to assess the overall changes in argument-writing for this cohort. It is recommended that a study be conducted on Cohort `10 upon admission to determine their argument-writing ability. Ending Cohort `07 and Beginning Cohort `10 should be tested to determine if a difference exists between students completing the program and students entering the program. It is recommended that undergraduate agricultural education students be tested to determine their argument-writing competencies. It is recommended to compare and contrast on-campus agricultural education students and distance education students at Texas A&M University. Finally, it is recommended that Cohorts `07 and `10 be evaluated on their competencies to write data reports, narratives, and informative and research analysis papeers.