<p> The unemployment rate for people with developmental disabilities is almost 7 times higher than the current national unemployment statistics. Research indicates that the majority of those with developmental disabilities do wish to work and moreover, have many skills and talents that organizations can benefit from. This paper aims to use common industrial and organizational psychological measures in a unique population--developmentally disabled adults. Specifically, the present study examines the job satisfaction, affective commitment, and turnover intentions of adults with developmental disabilities from the Harbor Regional Center and Regional Center of Orange in Southern California. This is the first research h that examines affective feelings about employment in the developmentally disabled population in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Results from the study show that adults with developmental disabilities had higher than expected job satisfaction and affective commitment towards their job. They also had lower turnover intentions than expected.</p>

<p> Most companies lack the ability to implement organizational change; over 70% of Organization Change Initiatives (OCIs) fail. This inability has negative economic and survival implications for companies. OCIs must be effective and rapid to match the high pace of change in the business environment. Transformational leadership (TL) has been linked to successful OCIs through its positive influence on employee commitment and reduced resistance to change, yet little research has been done to identify its association with OCI implementation speed. This study tested TL and change theory and their association with change implementation. It sought to determine if a relationship exists between TL behavior and OCI implementation time. Archival survey and change data from 98 domestic and international manufacturing plants were used to examine relationships between employees' perceptions of leadership communication and trustworthiness and the speed of change. Hierarchical linear regression was used to determine if these behaviors could predict the change speed of an OCI. The study confirmed the association between effective leadership communication and employee trust in leadership, but it found no significant relationship between TL behavior and the speed of change. This finding is inconsistent with the majority of TL literature; however, companies may still benefit from exploring the potential of the study's theoretical concepts to help them improve the speed of organizational change. The limitations of the study were also noted as a potential contributor to the lack of significant findings, and recommendations are offered to reduce validity risk for similar studies in the future.</p>

<p>The purpose of this research was to explore the subjective lived experiences of women leaders to understand how they experience courage. Women remain disproportionately represented in leadership roles within most areas of organizations and society. Researchers indicate that women ideally rise to successful leadership roles once they have served, or possess the potential to serve, in leadership. Additionally, previous narrative research suggests a rather significant interrelationship between women who have more frequently advanced past barriers into leadership roles and their remarkable attribute of courage. A heuristic phenomenological approach was used to collect and analyze the described lived experiences of eight courageous women leaders. The themes from the study reveal that women who experience courageous leadership (a) inhabit their authentic voices; (b) experience moral courage; and (c) experience vulnerability. Additional insights provided by the co-researchers in this study revealed some individual distinctions necessary for strong, courageous leadership; these included a strong sense of personal agency, an inner need to express autonomous identity and convictions, and the ability to build connections to followers for collaborative results. Unanimously, the women in this study reported that their experiences with courageous leadership had transformative effects on themselves and within their environment. Further research related to specific evidenced-based coaching interventions are recommended to explore how women grow toward courageous leadership. These outcomes related to authentic, morally courageous, and yet vulnerable leadership may help to establish a new paradigm for how power and leadership can be experienced in a new century for both courageous men and women. </p>

<p> Researchers have found that minorities suffering from traumatic stress report increased levels of stress in the absence of supportive and committed work environments; however, a paucity of empirical research exists for First Nations Peoples (FNP). The purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine the nature of the relationship between FNP's associated symptoms of historical loss, assessed by the Historical Loss and Associated Symptoms Scale, and organizational commitment, as measured by the Three Component Employee Commitment Survey. A total of 118 residential school survivors completed surveys. Correlation analysis was used to determine the significance of historical loss in relation to organizational commitment among survivors. Results showed an inverse relationship between affective commitment and associated symptoms of historical loss and between continuance commitment and associated symptoms. No statistically significant correlation was found between normative commitment and historical loss or associated symptoms. Findings can help inform targeted engagement, recruitment, and retention initiatives designed to accommodate FNP perspectives and experiences into organizational culture and systems. Implications for positive social change include better understanding of factors impacting career progression among FNP, such as organizational commitment. Results may also inform culturally safe interventions that help FNP to be successful.</p>

<p> Workplace bullying has affected almost half (47%) of American working adults corresponding to approximately 71.5 million workers who either experienced bullying directly or witnessed it. This resulted in an alarming turnover of 21 to 28 million workers. This qualitative historical study explored, identified, and documented through historical records and documents, the patterns and trends of workplace bullying in organizations, characteristics and types of bullies, and types of mistreatment workplace bullies direct toward intended targets over the past 30 years. The data analysis yielded eight major themes of bullying styles and traits. These consisted of the four bully styles reinforced from the literature review of the snake, gatekeeper, screamer, and nitpicker. Additionally, the three new bully styles of the tyrant, joker, and discriminator, and one outlier bully style of the reverse bully. Themes of leadership skills associated with reducing or eliminating workplace bullying were also identified and analyzed. These themes coincided with the successful leadership traits and attributes of ethical leadership, social responsibility, and encouraging the heart, which led to the development of the GUARDIAN model. The GUARDIAN model presented recommendations to leaders of organization that would limit or prevent workplace bullying, which would provide significant financial savings for organizations because of less human resource issues.</p>

<p> We are facing an unprecedented level of interconnectedness that has engendered a level of complexity that defies our historical reasoning capacity. Building off of the literature on sensemaking, this action research study proposed and investigated a new concept in leadership to respond to the growing complexity: sensecrafting. Sensecrafting refers to deliberate, collective sensemaking, while sensemaking refers to "how [people] construct what they construct, why, and with what effects . . . " (Weick, 1995, p. 4). The study answered the research question: How can individuals develop their capacity for sensecrafting in order to cultivate a more generative relationship with the organizations to which they belong? Employing Herda's hermeneutic participatory research, the study consisted of three, 1-hour conversations with six research participants which were recorded via Skype and transcribed. The purpose of the study was to see how participants employed nine traits of sensecrafting (learning, tolerating ambiguity, discernment, openness, framing, mindfulness, envisioning, action and reflection) in the workplace. Additionally, the study investigated how participants worked with stories to create a generative working environment. In the study, participants worked with a set of 18 cards that presented techniques for enhancing their sensecrafting skills. A thematic analysis of the study found that participants made frequent use of the sensecrafting traits at a personal level, and less frequent use of the traits at a collective level. The findings suggest that participants' possessed a high degree of potential to further develop their skills. Participants' exhibition of the sensecrafting traits generated value both for the individuals in the study and for their organizations. Benefits that accrued to individuals included improved relationships with key personnel and insights into how to cope with changes in the workplace. Implications from the study included the observation that a useful way to work with the sensecrafting traits would be through an instrument that measures participants on each of the dimensions of sensecrafting and that provides feedback to individuals about how they can capitalize on strengths and develop areas of opportunity.</p>

<p> The present study investigated the employment experiences of adults with mild developmental disabilities. The study's sample consisted of 45 participants with developmental disabilities who were over the age of 18. Participants were recruited from two Regional Centers in Southern California and either phone interviews or in-person interviews were conducted. </p><p> A structured interview protocol examined each participant's current work experience, along with several items exploring facilitators and obstacles to employment. Data from this qualitative investigation were organized into categories using inductive content analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed for quantitative items. Overall, it was discovered that: participants found money as the most rewarding aspect of employment, relied on outside support in obtaining and maintaining employment and found few obstacles of which to overcome, worked with others with developmental disabilities, and utilized workplace supports in entry level positions making an average wage of $8.92 a hour during a 20.72 hour work week.</p>

<p> High staff turnover in private group homes decreases organizational stability. There are a large number of developmentally disabled individuals in group homes of the high risk disaster city of New Orleans, indicating the need for stability from high staff turnover indicated by job satisfaction. The problem investigated in this study was the recognized difficulty in maintaining job satisfaction in order to retain staff in group homes of the high risk disaster city of New Orleans. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors contribute to job satisfaction. The variables examined were hours worked per week, years of service, salary, and employee benefits. A quantitative research study was employed to determine what factors significantly contributed to job satisfaction using a multiple regression methodology. The population in this study included direct service workers compiled of caregivers, nurses, and managers within three organizations facilitating group homes in the New Orleans area. From this population of employees the sample size resulted in 163 direct service workers. Questionnaires were used to collect data using Spector&rsquo;s (1985) Job Satisfaction Survey as the instrument. A multiple regression design was used to analyze the factors influencing job satisfaction. Findings in the study determined that employee benefits significantly contributed to job satisfaction wherein hours worked per week, years of service, and salaries were not significant predictors of job satisfaction. Statistically significant results for benefits received resulted in t = 2.99 and p = .003. The results of the study provided insight into high risk disaster area group homes wherein managing staff turnover is specifically difficult.</p>

<p> This research explored the challenges that New Hampshire manufacturers faced in introducing and sustaining improvement initiatives and the social dimension of this issue.</p><p> Using an ethnographic methodology, participant-observation was employed to examine the culture of a New Hampshire manufacturer. Through active participation in work groups, regular assignments, and meetings, an understanding of the impact the culture had on the implementation of a set of improvement techniques known as lean manufacturing was gained. Observations illuminated the leadership roles that both management and workers play. Nine themes described the lived experience and the social forces that guided that experience. These themes were: subgroups, lack of overall teamwork, dominant clique, lack of management interaction, focus on the past, workers social lives, individual cooperation, pride in workmanship, lack of process ownership. The effect of these nine themes on the lean initiatives was explored. Finally, the study extrapolated the findings to provide recommendations on successful practices in sustaining lean improvements.</p>

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.