Workplace aggression incidents are increasing and, thus, becoming more difficult to address in the United States. Health care workers in particular are at an increased risk of burnout compared to individuals working in other occupations. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to investigate the propensity for workplace aggression among health care professionals and the association between job satisfaction and the propensity for workplace aggression. The conservation of resources theory was used to frame the study. The Work Environment Scale and the Conditional Reasoning Test of Aggression were used to collect data from 89 mental health clinicians, nurses, and technicians employed at 2 metro Atlanta hospitals. Findings indicated no correlation between workplace aggression and job satisfaction among mental health workers. Findings also indicated no higher propensity for workplace aggression among frontline workers (nurses and technicians) than among other mental health workers. However, findings revealed that employees with more years of service had a higher propensity for workplace aggression. Implications for social change include enhancing the capacity of mental health workers to handle the emotional and physical demands of the job.

In spite of decades of research, concerning nurse's intention to leave their employer (ITL), in 2011, 31.2% of the British nurses surveyed indicated they had formed an ITL. Grounded in reasoned action theory as developed by Ajzen and Fishbein, the purpose of the correlational study was to provide hospital managers with information regarding the relationship among nurse's job satisfaction (JS), organizational culture (OC), and ITL. The archival data from the 2011 NHS Staff Survey included responses from nurses (n = 21,257) across the British National Health Service. The Spearman's rho correlates rs (21,257) indicated relationships among nurse's job satisfaction, organizational culture, and ITL. Among nurse's considering leaving their employer, the findings were statistically significant (p < .01) with a large effect size (-.534) for JS and medium effect size (-.345) for OC. With the ITL benchmark of planning to leave in 12 months, the findings were significant (p < .01) with medium effect size (-.495) for JS and medium effect size (-.321) for OC. Among nurses who intended to leave as soon as they had another job the significant results (p < .01) had a large effect size for JS (-.525) and medium effect size (-.340) for OC. As nurses form ITL, they might participate in work avoidance behaviors such as increased absenteeism. The study findings and the instruments used in this study may identify areas for improvement as pathways to manage the costs associated with turnover and absenteeism. Furthermore, reducing turnover and absenteeism might contribute to social change. Reducing turnover and absenteeism might improve the quality of care provided to patients. Addressing the factors that might contribute to ITL may also improve the quality of life for nurses

Approximately 93% of Fortune 1000 companies in the United States rely upon executive coaching to accelerate executive performance. However, there is a lack of empirical research identifying effective executive coaching competencies. In this modified Delphi study, a panel of 17 executive coaching experts was purposefully selected from the International Coach Federation and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Participant selection criteria included training in executive coaching, executive coaching credentialing, and -?¥3 years practicing executive coaching or purchasing executive coaching services. Participants used a 5 point Likert-type questionnaire to provide their expert opinion regarding essential executive coaching competencies for enhancing executive on-the-job performance. In an iterative 3-round process, a consensus between these experts was determined when the mean of respondent ratings reached 4.0 or higher. Data received from the panel of experts were calculated for means and standard deviations. This analysis showed key executive coaching competencies such as trustworthiness, adherence to a code of ethics, executive coaching certification, and 19 others. This list of competencies may be used to inform future research on coaching effectiveness, and may serve as criteria for HR managers when selecting coaches. Coach training entities could benefit by integrating these findings in their teaching curriculum. More effective executive coaching is important because of its potential to improve organizational efficiency, profitability, and work environment, positively impacting the lives of employees.

Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is a program that provides individualized and supportive services to assist individuals with disabilities in obtaining and maintaining employment compatible with their skills, abilities, and interests. Previous research has shown that people with disabilities are at risk for experiencing discrimination in multiple stages of the rehabilitation process. The primary purpose of this study was to explore if recommendations for hypothetical rehabilitation services by rehabilitation counseling students were influenced by (a) the consumer's race, (b) causal attribution of disability, (c) participant's race, and (d) the interaction of the counselor's race and consumer's race. A 2 x 2 x 3 Factorial design was utilized and results from this study revealed that recommendations for rehabilitation services were not influenced by the consumer's race, participant's race, or the interaction of the counselor's race and consumer's race. The findings did reveal that a hypothetical consumer who had an internal cause of disability was more likely to receive fewer recommendations for rehabilitation services then a consumer with an external cause. Discussion and implications are provided.

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ABSTRACT AN ANALYSIS OF ADA TITLE I ALLEGATIONS OF WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION AS FILED WITH THE EEOC BY PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS Jessica Erin Hurley A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Health Related Sciences—Rehabilitation Leadership Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011 Dissertation Chair: Brian T. McMahon, Ph.D., CRC This study explores employment discrimination as experienced by persons with mental illness who filed allegations under Title I (the employment provisions) of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. The entire universe of employment discrimination allegations filed under Title I of the ADA from July 26, 1992 (its first effective date) until the present is maintained by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in a database named the Intermission System (IMS). This database contains over 2 million allegations of workplace discrimination filed not only under Title I of the ADA, but also under all statutes in its jurisdiction. From the IMS, two extractions containing ADA Title I allegations only and ranging from July 26,1992 through December 31, 2008 [the last date before the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008 went into effect] were made: the first including all Title I allegations for all impairments, not just mental illness (402,291); and the second containing only those Title I allegations filed by persons with mental illness (56,846 total: depression (25,375); unknown mental illness (11,977); anxiety disorder (10,370); bipolar disorder (7,675); and schizophrenia 1,449). Using nonparametric tests of proportion, each group of allegations is compared to the balance of mental illness allegations that is left once the group of allegations is removed. In addition, each group individually, as well as the complete group of all mental illness allegations, is evaluated with an exploratory technique called the Exhaustive Chi Squared Interaction Detector. Lastly, findings are provided and implications for employees, employers, rehabilitation professionals, policy makers, and future researchers are discussed.

In 2008, 33.7 million Americans teleworked from home. The Telework Enhancement Act (S. 707) and the Telework Improvements Act (H.R. 1722) of 2009 were designed to increase the number of teleworkers. The research problem addressed was the lack of understanding of factors that influence home-based teleworkers' job satisfaction. Job dissatisfaction has been found to have a significant impact on voluntary turnover. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship among telework frequency, information communication technology (ICT), and job satisfaction. The research questions were designed to answer whether correlational relationships exist among telework frequency, ICT, and job satisfaction and to identify primary concerns of home-based teleworkers regarding social interaction, recognition, and career advancement. Sociotechnical theory was the theoretical framework used in this quantitative correlational study. Data were collected from 218 home-based teleworkers via an online survey. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses. A Pearson product-movement analysis showed a significant positive relationship between ICT usage and job satisfaction. There was no significant relationship between telework frequency and job satisfaction. Pattern matching analysis indicated that teleworkers' concerns centered on a perceived desire for increased face-to-face communication with managers and coworkers. Organizational leaders could use the results of this study to develop strategies that leverage ICT media to enhance communication and collaboration and improve the quality of work life in virtual organizations.

The success rate of information technology projects is on a downward trend, with reported losses in the billions of dollars. Recent studies indicate a 50--56% project success rate based on quality, budget, and on-time criteria. Building upon the conceptual framework of the emotional intelligence and knowledge management theories, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how project management practitioners apply self- and cultural-awareness competencies to affect project outcomes. Using a purposeful sampling method, 24 experienced U.S.-based project management practitioners participated in a web-based questionnaire. Following Giorgi's data reduction process resulted in numeric data coding. Thematic analysis revealed themes of (a) awareness and redirection of negative emotions, (b) cultural intelligence, and (c) balanced diverse teamwork. The findings from this research study support increasing awareness, training, and application of emotional and cultural intelligence competencies within the multidimensional knowledge-centric global business environment. Increased awareness and ability to use emotional and cultural competencies can lead to enhanced business outcomes. Improved people-based business practices may increase the economic stability for the organization, employees, and specifically the project management practitioner as a knowledge manager. Implications of social change from this study include increasing success of knowledge-based information technology solutions, expanding employment opportunities, and supporting socially-responsible integrated change.

This correlation study focused on the lack of understanding of the relationship between social self-image "face" and conflict styles among adult employees on school campuses. An individual's social self-image may involve concerns for the social representation of oneself, another individual, or a relationship. Limited research pertaining to the degree face concerns affect conflict styles within school communities is a problem for school administrators because conflict styles can influence conflict outcomes and impact workplace quality on school campuses. This study relied on Ting-Toomey's face-negotiation theory, which proposes that individuals prefer conflict styles based upon face concerns. Research questions explored correlations between self-face, other-face, and mutual-face concerns with dominating, emotional expressive, neglect, integrating, obliging, compromising, third-party help, and avoiding conflict styles. The sample consisted of 192 adults employed on 3 school campuses located in a large metropolitan region in the western region of the United States. Participants completed a survey by recalling a conflict with an adult coworker. Participants responded to items measuring social self-image and behavioral responses to conflict. Results were analyzed using multiple regression tests. Findings suggest that preferences for conflict styles were very different in the presence of self-face than in the presence of other-face and mutual-face, and face-concerns were either weak predictors or nonpredictors for avoiding and third-party help. This study has the potential to enhance workplace quality on school campuses in that it suggests mutual-face concerns for relationships associate with cooperative conflict styles that tend to promote constructive conflict outcomes.

There is little research on the coping strategies of direct support professional caregivers working with the intellectually disabled (ID) and developmentally disabled (DD). The study was guided by Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theory of the transactional model of stress and coping. The purpose of this study was to assess whether there is a correlation among the independent variables of coping and personality characteristics with stress as the dependent variable. A convenience sample of 69 professional caregivers was used. Data were collected using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, NEO-FFI-3, and a demographic questionnaire. A correlational analysis was conducted to assess the variables. Findings revealed a moderate correlation between confrontive coping and stress while the coping styles of distancing, self-controlling, and seeking social support were weakly correlated with stress. Additional results were a strong correlation between neuroticism and stress and a moderate correlation between conscientiousness and stress. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine if neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extroversion could predict stress. The analysis indicated that the variance in stress was predicted by neuroticism. Recommendations for future research include using a larger sample size, controlling for selection bias, and examining which coping styles are more useful in coping with stressful situations. A longitudinal design to examine cause and effect is also recommended. This study provides insight into the way professional caregivers cope with stress and the results can be used to develop a screening tool.