<p> Rapid changes within the global market have intensified the shortage of experienced talent. Employee turnover remains a major threat to companies worldwide. This study examined the use of stay interviews for retaining key employees from the perspective of managers. Nine leaders who manage key talent were interviewed about what measures they currently take to retain key employees and their perspectives about using stay interviews to increase the retention of key employees. The resulting data were examined using content analysis. Study findings indicated that managers at the case organization currently engage in four activities to retain key talent: fostering employees&rsquo; productivity and development, providing rewards and recognition, disseminating organizational information, and offering professional and personal support. Managers believed that stay interviews enhance retention of key talent through a number of mechanisms such as helping employees feel valued, cultivating supportive managerial behaviors, and building strong supervisor-subordinate relationships.</p><p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to design an integrated goal and competency framework based individual development plan process. Interviews with eight employees who had been through the process were conducted. Competency frameworks have been shown in existing literature and this study to be an effective tool for leveraging for employee development and driving discussions that employees value. Findings showed that using competency frameworks provides more than enough benefits to justify people managers investing the time to understand it, socialize it within their teams, and use it as a core piece of this process. Future studies should look at multiple teams with different managers to explore that variable further.

<p> There is not a common, agreed upon definition of authentic leadership. There are varying opinions as to whether authenticity is a trait or a style; however, most scholars believe authenticity is a purpose and value based characteristic (Gardner, Cogliser, Davis, &amp; Dickens, 2011) that is developed over time (George, 2003). Transparency is a core concept of authentic leadership, and situational awareness is a critical skill for leaders to determine the degree of transparency that they should demonstrate. There is limited theoretical and empirical research on how transparency and self-monitoring can be used in conjunction with situational leadership and situational awareness theory. This study measures the impact of a leader&rsquo;s expression of transparency on follower&rsquo;s confidence in his or her ability with consideration of a number of covariates. The findings of this study are intended to help advance authentic leadership theory with specific focus on situational awareness and transparency as core concepts of authenticity. Implications are discussed on the advancement of leadership theory, authentic leadership, and transparency as a core concept of authenticity. </p><p> Data collection used Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and yielded 1,006 global participants who met the inclusion criteria. In general, higher degrees of leadership transparency yield higher levels of follower confidence. Situation can impact how expressions of transparency impact follower confidence. Thus, situational awareness and situational leadership are critical competencies for leaders to use transparency effectively. Leader-Member Exchange does not, generally, moderate the relationship between a leader&rsquo;s transparency and his or her follower&rsquo;s confidence. There was statistical significance in the difference in responses between geographies, but there were not statistically significant differences in the results when considering gender, years of work experience, education, age, and race in the US.</p><p>

<p> Research and development (R&amp;D) innovation has become an important competitive advantage that is essential to the biopharma industry and critical to drug development (Bennani, 2012; Cuatrecasas, 2006; Douglas, et al., 2010; Garnier, 2008; Hine &amp; Kapeleris, 2006; McKelvey, 2008; Pisano, 2006, 2010). Cultivating R&amp;D innovation carries a distinct challenge of balancing between fostering conditions for creativity while at the same time managing for technical, scientific and operational efficiencies. However, the trend in the industry is toward using more process management techniques focused on formalization, standardization, control and efficiency in order to accelerate drug discovery efforts (Brown &amp; Svenson, 1998; Cardinal, 2001; Cuatrecasas, 2006; Hine &amp; Kaperleris, 2006; Johnstone et al., 2011; Paul et al., 2010; Scannell et al., 2012; Sewing et al., 2008; Ullman &amp; Boutellier, 2008). </p><p> This study was designed to explore how early drug discovery scientists experience creativity in a highly coordinated and managed work environment. The research questions were as follows: <i>How do scientists working in the early discovery phases of the R&amp;D pipeline experience creativity; and how does a highly managed and coordinated work environment influence scientists&rsquo; experience of creativity?</i> The basis for understanding their experiences was captured through detailed stories and reflections about their personal background, early influences and professional experiences as a scientist. </p><p> The sample included 10 early drug discovery scientists who work for either a pharmaceutical, biotech or bio-pharmaceutical company based in the United States of America (USA). A basic qualitative study was conducted with in-depth interviews as the primary method of data collection. Data were analyzed using multiple iterations of coding, describing and classifying to interpret what creativity means, how scientists experience creativity within their work environment and what factors influence this experience. Conclusions and implications about what creativity means, how scientists experience creativity and the various dynamics that shape this experience are presented in the following pages.</p><p>

The theoretical foundation of this study comes from the significant recurrence throughout the leadership literature of two distinct behaviors, task orientation and relationship orientation. Task orientation and relationship orientation are assumed to be generic behaviors, which are universally observed and applied in organizations, even though they may be uniquely enacted in organizations across cultures. The lack of empirical evidence supporting these assumptions provided the impetus to hypothetically develop and empirically confirm the universal application of task orientation and relationship orientation and the generalizability of their measurement in a cross-cultural setting. Task orientation and relationship orientation are operationalized through consideration and initiation of structure, two well-established theoretical leadership constructs. Multiple-group mean and covariance structures (MACS) analyses are used to simultaneously validate the generalizability of the two hypothesized constructs across the 12 cultural groups and to assess whether the similarities and differences discovered are measurement and scaling artifacts or reflect true cross-cultural differences. The data were collected by the author and others as part of a larger international research project. The data are comprised of 2341 managers from 12 countries/regions. The results provide compelling evidence that task orientation and relationship orientation, reliably and validly operationalized through consideration and initiation of structure, are generalizable across the countries/regions sampled. But the results also reveal significant differences in the perception of these behaviors, suggesting that some aspects of task orientation and relationship orientation are strongly affected by cultural influences. These (similarities and) differences reflect directly interpretable, error-free effects among the constructs at the behavioral level. Thus, task orientation and relationship orientation can demonstrate different relations among cultures, yet still be defined equivalently across the 11 cultures studied. The differences found in this study are true differences and may contain information about cultural influences characterizing each cultural context (i.e. group). The nature of such influences should be examined before the results can be meaningfully interpreted. To examine the effects of cultural characteristics on the constructs, additional hypotheses on the constructs' latent parameters can be tested across groups. Construct-level tests are illustrated in hypothetical examples in light of the study's results. The study contributes significantly to the theoretical understanding of the nature and generalizability of psychological constructs. The theoretical and practical implications of embedding context into a unified theory of task orientated and relationship oriented leader behavior are proposed. Limitations and contributions are also discussed.

<p> <b>Purpose:</b> The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to identify and describe the behaviors that exemplary city managers practice to lead their organizations through conversation using Groysberg and Slind&rsquo;s (2012b) 4 elements of conversation leadership (intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality). </p><p> <b>Methodology:</b> This qualitative research study was used to describe the behaviors of exemplary Southern California city managers. The counties included in the study were San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino. The researcher selected 10 exemplary city managers that met 4 of the 6 criterion identified as exemplary. The phenomenological research design was selected to explain how these city managers lead through conversation. Data collection included semistructured interviews, observation, and collection of pertinent artifacts. The researcher used the NVivo software to provide analysis of the data and show the emerging themes. The themes were then examined to identify behaviors that the exemplary city managers practice to lead through conversation. </p><p> <b>Findings:</b> Examination of qualitative data from the 10 city managers, collected through in-depth interviews, observational data, and review of artifacts produced 20 themes and 299 frequencies within the conversational leadership elements. Ten key findings supported the conversational leadership elements of intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> The study supported Groysberg and Slind&rsquo;s (2012b) 4 elements of conversational leadership and identified specific behaviors that exemplary city mangers practice to lead their organizations. The culmination of research identified four conclusions. City managers must (a) engage in conversations that promote trust and listening attentively to engage stakeholders in honest communication, (b) focus development strategies to cultivate a culture of open dialogue and a two-way exchange of information, (c) use strategies to gain active contributors to ensure a member&rsquo;s commitment to organizational goals, (d) use conversation to create clarity of message, provide focus, and elicit feedback on goals and directions. Recommendations: Further research is needed on city managers practicing conversational leadership in different regions of the United States. Additionally, research is needed on for-profit, publicly traded companies and professional sports organizations and the use of conversational leadership.</p><p>

<p> In recent years, marijuana use has become an increasingly prominent concern for Human Resource professionals. Policy makers for organizations are scrambling to understand how individual state legalization in the United States will affect their businesses. This study investigated job applicant perceptions of organizational attractiveness, job pursuit intention, and corporate social responsibility of organizations as potentially affected by marijuana testing policy. Marijuana use was studied as a potential moderator. Results suggest that marijuana use and drug-testing policy both play a role in shaping job applicant perceptions. While perceptions for non-marijuana users were relatively unaffected by drug-testing policy, marijuana user perceptions were affected. An interaction effect of marijuana use and drug-testing policy was found for organizational attractiveness, and main effects of marijuana use and drug-testing policy were found for job pursuit intention. There were no significant results for corporate social responsibility. Additional research on work-related marijuana use and attitudes towards marijuana in the workplace was conducted and reported. Future research and practical implications are included.</p><p>

<p> It is increasingly being recognized that students are not developing all the skills in school that employers need. Much of this skill gap stems from students not developing soft skills such as the ability to communicate, form interpersonal relationships, and act professionally. This is a problem for students because it limits their employability, a problem for employers because it limits the capabilities of the emerging workforce, and a problem for educators because it limits the practical value of the degree programs they offer. </p><p> While soft skills are difficult to develop in the classroom, it is known that internships provide an effective alternative. However, the nature of internship experiences that develop interns&rsquo; soft skills has been largely unexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the research question: <i>What is the nature of internship experiences that develop interns&rsquo; soft skills?</i> Sub-questions included: (a) <i>What internship experiences contribute to interns&rsquo; soft skill development?</i> and (b) <i>How do these internship experiences develop interns&rsquo; soft skills?</i> </p><p> To investigate these questions, data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews with a diversity of 19 research participants engaged in internships at a large scientific and cultural organization. Based on a review of experiential learning, internship, soft skill, and experiential learning theory literature, questions posed to participants were specifically designed to explore a variety of factors relevant to the research question of this study. These factors included communication, relationships, professionalism, mentorship, biography, context, sensation, reflection, comprehension, and action. </p><p> Based on analysis of the data, this study offered three principal conclusions. (1) interns develop soft skills when they interact, relate, and are professional with others; (2) interns develop soft skills by pushing boundaries, reflecting with mentors, being motivated, and repeating action; (3) the nature of internship experiences that develop intern soft skills is their capacity to offer a full range of opportunities to practice soft skills.</p><p>

In this research paper, the constructive management of political behaviour in organisations was investigated. A general overview of relevant aspects which specifically relate to the constructive management of political behaviour in the automotive industry was presented. The literature study included a discussion of the nature of political behaviour and guidelines for the management of political behaviour in organisations. The research methodology consisted of three phases: Phase 1: A literature study to determine guidelines to manage political behaviour in organisations constructively. Phase 2: An empirical study to determine the effectiveness of these guidelines in practice by means of a survey amongst role players in the automotive industry in South Africa. Phase 3: The findings from the literature study and empirical study were integrated into guidelines of how managers can manage political behaviour constructively. The study identified nine main strategies for managing political behaviour. They are: Open communication. Communication must be open to keep all parties informed and to prevent distrust. Reduction of uncertainty. This involves preventing employees being unsure of what the future holds. Awareness. The aim of awareness is for managers to be sensitive to and aware of situations that could elicit political behaviours. Furthermore, they must recognize political behaviour for what it is. Setting an example. Managers must set an exemplary example and not engage in political behaviour. An understanding of the reason/motivation for the formation of informal (political) groups or cliques. Having established the reason why political groups form will enable a manager to manage them more effectively. Confront political game players. Managers must address all forms of possible political behaviour in a serious manner. Understanding the organisation’s strategy, goals and action plans. All employees need to know exactly what direction the organization is moving in and what is in it for them. It is management’s task to ensure this open and clear communication, to prevent fears and political behaviour. Tie resource allocation and rewards to strategy. This can be achieved by ensuring that the criteria for the allocation of rewards is straight forward and understood by all. Reward systems must, furthermore, be directly linked to performance. There should also be transparency in decision-making. Isolate resource acquisition from internal operations. It is necessary to clearly specify the conditions and ground rules for the acquisition of resources to ensure that the process is transparent. The conclusion reached is that political behaviour in organizations can be managed constructively to build win-win relationships.

<p> The personality congruence of supervisors and subordinates and its influence on work outcomes is a relatively new topic in social and behavioral sciences. Most well-known personality theory is Big Five that includes openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion and agreeableness traits. LMX theory focuses on the mutual relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate. There is a gap in the literature regarding the mediating role of LMX perceptions of subordinates on the relationship between personality congruence of supervisors and subordinates and affective commitment (AC). The purpose of this cross-sectional design was first to explore the direct relationship between supervisors and subordinates personality congruence and AC of subordinates. The second purpose of this study was to explore the role of LMX as a mediator between the personality congruence of supervisors and subordinates and AC of the subordinates. A cluster sampling method was used to gather 400 supervisor-subordinate dyads from 3 technopolises in Ankara, who completed self-reported questionnaires. A technopolis is a technology science park. Polynomial regression analysis was conducted to measure the congruence level of dyads&rsquo; personality traits and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the mediating effect of LMX. Results revealed that, LMX has no mediating effect on personality congruence and AC. The results also revealed that there is a significant relation between the agreeableness congruence of supervisors and subordinates, and AC. This information can be used by organizations by pairing up agreeable dyad members to increase affective commitment. The findings of this study may create positive social change by promoting optimum functioning organizations that have committed employees which would affect the society and economy in a positive way.</p><p>