The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to explore the impact of employee morale, as manifested in institutional climate data, upon institutional effectiveness; and (2) to determine the extent to which information generated by climate survey data was used in developing and implementing change initiatives at each of the institutions studied. Three institutions were selected for this multiple site case study. Four sources of data from each institution were used to provide a "picture" of institutional climate. These sources of data were (a) the Personal Assessment of the College Environment (PACE) climate survey, (b) institutional self-study reports, (c) reaffirmation team reports, and (d) employee interviews. These four sources of data also provided opportunity for triangulation, a method to ensure internal validity. External validity was established by cross-case analysis and peer review. Indications of institutional climate were consistent across all four data sources. The institution in which climate was perceived as "excellent" was also recognized by the reaffirmation team of its accrediting agency as an "exemplary institution ... Few institutions have such tremendous energy at all levels as (this) College. It holds the promise of being an exemplary institution for the rest of this century and the next" (Reaffirmation Team Summary, 1996, p. 1). In contrast, the reaffirmation team of the institution in which the climate was "dreadful" indicated that "The College is in a difficult position to demonstrate through verifiable means, its attainment of purposes and objective both inside and outside the classroom" (Reaffirmation Team Report, 1995, p. 9). Results of the study indicated disparity in employee morale and thus in institutional climate. Employees of one institution consistently indicated that "the climate is excellent" (Professor, 1996). Employees of the second institution indicated that the "climate is better, but could be improved" (Support Staff, 1996), and employees of the third institution indicated that "people here work under dreadful conditions" (Professional Support Staff, 1996). Additionally, the results indicated that equally as important as conducting climate surveys was the use of the results in effecting change. Employees at all three institutions consistently stated that it was "seeing the results" (Associate Professor, 1996) that actually made the difference. At one institution evidence of change resulting from employee input indicated to them that "there is not a 'we-they' atmosphere here ... that they (employees) are important to the overall mission of the College" (Associate Professor, 1996). In contrast, employees of the second institution stated that "we do not revisit the issues ... ten years is a long time" (Instructor, 1996) and "people are questioning whether we are going backwards toward a more autocratic system" (Associate Dean, 1996). Employees at the third institution stated that "unfortunately the results just sit in a drawer ... if we had followed some of the priorities and actually did some planning and implemented it, I am sure there would have been some positive changes" (Professional Support Staff, 1996). It appeared that the difference in the three institutions studied was that employees of the institution in which the climate was perceived as "excellent" were respected for their intelligence, knowledge, and for their contributions to the success of the institution. Employees of the institution in which the climate was "dreadful" indicated a perception that they were not respected for their contributions to the institution and that there was a lack of trust among administrators and employees.

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of occupational stress among nurse administrators and to identify the types of strategies used by nurse administrators to deal with or manage occupational stress. The study examined the relationship between selected demographic variables, occupational stress, and strategies. The research design included five research questions along with seven null hypotheses testing the relationship between occupational stress and demographic variables--age, gender, marital status, years of professional nursing experience, years as a nurse administrator, educational attainment, and hospital bed capacity. There were seven additional hypotheses testing the relationship between the same demographic variables and three categories of coping strategies. The instrument used included the researcher-designed Demographic Questionnaire, the Health Professions Stress Inventory (HPSI), and a listing of 17 coping strategies. Nurse administrator's HPSI overall mean stress score was lower than the HPSI mean stress level scores reported for nurses in previous studies. Five subscales of stressors (Stress Factors) were identified by analyzing the HPSI using Principal Components Factor Analysis. A statistical significant difference (p $<$.05) was revealed for nurse administrators for: (1) overall stress level when tested by three of the demographic variables, years as a nurse administrator, educational attainment, and hospital bed capacity; (2) subscale level of stress when testing the HPSI five stress factors by marital status, years as a nurse administrator, and educational attainment. A statistical significant difference (p $<$.05) for strategies used by nurse administrators was revealed with testing: (1) Avoidance strategy by demographic variables--age, number of years of professional experience, number of years as a nurse administrator, and hospital bed capacity and, (2) Active Cognitive strategy by demographic--gender. The Spearman Rho correlation coefficient procedures used to correlate the HPSI five Stress Factors with Active Cognitive, Active Behavioral, and Avoidance strategies revealed: (1) Stress Factor 1, Professional Conflicts was significantly related to Avoidance strategy (r$\sb{\rm s}$ =.24). (2) Stress Factor 2, Lack of Recognition as a Professional, was negatively significantly correlated with Active Cognitive Strategy (r$\sb{\rm s}$ = $-$.22). (3) Stress Factor 3, Work Overload, was significantly related to Active Cognitive strategy (r$\sb{\rm s}$ =.23). (4) Nurse administrators overall stress was significantly related to Avoidance Strategy (r$\sb{\rm s}$ =.28).

It is costly to train the counselors who serve in intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS). The hiring agency must pay for traveling expenses in addition to any fee paid for training. When an IFPS worker chooses to terminate employment before the end of two years of employment, this puts a strain on an already tight budget. This problem could be alleviated by finding an efficient pre-hire screening instrument. The three personality traits described in Hardiness Theory literature: commitment, challenge, and control, are traits often used to describe the ideal IFPS worker. This study assessed IFPS workers to determine if the competent IFPS worker possessed these traits and to discover if they are satisfied with their work, and not suffering from symptoms of burnout. Twenty null hypotheses were formulated. Fifty-eight specialists from the Tennessee Home Ties programs completed: (a) a demographic survey; (b) the Personal Views Survey to measure Hardiness; (c) the Maslach Burnout Inventory; and (d) the Job In General scale to measure job satisfaction. Supervisors provided a copy of the Therapist Evaluation Form to measure employee competence. Eight specialists and three directors participated in additional telephone interviews. The Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation statistic was used to determine statistically significant relationships between pairs of research variables. Nineteen of the 20 null hypotheses were rejected. The results of the study support the existence of a relationship between hardiness and competence, burnout, and job satisfaction. Pearson product-moment correlations were obtained to ascertain if a statistically significant relationship existed between any of the research variables and the demographic variables. Weak positive relationships were found between age and competence and between years of service and competence.

In recent years, the challenges facing college admissions professionals have increased, and turnover in the field has become an area of concern. A review of the literature indicated that surprisingly little research had been done in the area of job satisfaction for college admissions professionals and, in particular, Christian college admissions professionals. No direct application of professional (cosmopolitan-local) orientation to the admissions profession could be found in the literature. As a result, the primary purpose of this study was to examine both the level of job satisfaction and the cosmopolitan-local orientation of Christian college admissions professionals, and to determine if any relationship existed between the level of job satisfaction and the cosmopolitan-local orientation of Christian college admissions professionals. All members of the National Association of Christian College Admissions Personnel (NACCAP), the major professional organization for Christian college admissions professionals, were surveyed to gather data for the study. The survey consisted of the 72-item Job Descriptive Index (JDI), the 18-item Job in General scale (JIG), a 19-item cosmopolitan-local instrument, and six demographic items. Of the 723 surveys mailed out, 490 were completed and returned for a 68% return rate. Two research questions and 36 hypotheses were created. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and Pearsons correlation were used in analyzing data. All hypothesis testing was conducted at the .05 level of significance. Twenty-five null hypotheses were rejected, and 11 null hypotheses were not rejected. The mean age of survey respondents was 30.2 years, and the mean years of admissions experience for the group was 4.7. At the admissions counselor (entry) level, the mean age was 26.1 years and the mean years of experience was 2.3. Median job satisfaction scores for admissions professionals fell into the "satisfied" range in all areas but two: "satisfaction with pay," with a median score in the "neutral or ambivalent" range, and "satisfaction with opportunities for promotion," with a median score in the "dissatisfied" range. On the cosmopolitan-local items, the group scored particularly high on the "concern with organizational goals" and "organizational immobility" variables. Significant relationships were found to exist between each of the six job satisfaction variables and the set of cosmopolitan-local variables. Additionally, significant relationships were found to exist in 19 of the 30 possible pairings of the job satisfaction and cosmopolitan-local variables.

This study examines the relationship between personality traits as identified by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and transformational leadership as measured by The Nature of School Leadership. The subjects were 74 North Carolina public school elementary principals. The principals completed the MBTI. Principals also provided pertinent demographic information. Selected teachers in each school were asked to give their perception of the principal as a transformational leader by completing The Nature of School Leadership. Data were analyzed to look for significant relationships between personality and demographics as they related to transformational leadership. The analysis of demographic information yielded gender as a significant factor in transformational leadership. Females were found to have a significantly higher mean score on The Nature of School Leadership. The bipolar MBTI traits of introvert/extrovert, intuitive/sensate, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving were analyzed, and the thinking/feeling trait was found to be a significant factor in transformational leadership. A predisposition toward the thinking trait tended to produce higher scores on the transformational leadership scale.

This study assessed discrepancies between residential employees' work values and program directors' perceptions of the residential employees' work values. Additionally, work values of residential employees were analyzed to identify variations when considering gender, age, educational level, length of service, job classification, and current position. The study was undertaken to assist in developing a clearer understanding of the work values of residential employees for the purpose of enhancing administrator-associate relationships and to determine factors in the work setting that might contribute to longevity and more productive, satisfied, motivated employees. Data for the study were gathered from 172 program directors and residential employees in the First Tennessee District by the use of Donald Super's (1970) Work Values Inventory and Demographic Information Questionnaire. Analysis of the data included t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Tukey's Post-hoc Analysis. There were eight major findings. Residential employees scored higher on the work values creativity, esthetics, and surroundings than program directors perceived they would score. Over 55 age group valued economic returns, independence, intellectual stimulation, and security less than other age groups. No significant differences were found to exist when considering gender or length of service of residential employees. Residential employees with less education placed less value on intellectual stimulation than employees with more education. Residential employees with high school diplomas placed more significance on surroundings than bachelor degree employees. Full-time residential employees placed greater merit on independence and intellectual stimulation than part-time employees. Shift workers placed more merit on economic returns, intellectual stimulation, and security than houseparents. Recommendations were made for program directors for the following work values: way of life, esthetics, surroundings, creativity, economic returns, achievement, altruism, supervisory relations, and intellectual stimulation. Recommendations were also made for future studies on older residential employees, adolescents' perceptions of quality of services received, and the work environment of residential facilities.

This research was designed to extend the unfolding model of voluntary turnover by examining the most commonly reported turnover decision path. Specifically, the purpose of the current investigation was to explore how employees evaluate negative workplace events--coined "shocks"--and the effects of such events on turnover intention. Participants, 204 Registered Nurses currently employed by a hospital, were asked to report on a negative work event. Only satisfaction with the organization's response to the event affected justice perceptions regarding the shock event. Events perceived as unjust or unfair were negatively related to perceived compatibility with the organization, which in turn predicted turnover intention. Job embeddedness also influenced perceived compatibility and intent to leave the organization. Characteristics of the shock events and suggestions to organizations to prevent avoidable, voluntary turnover are also presented.

The distinction between technical and contextual performance is widely recognized in the Industrial/Organization Psychology literature (Sackett & Lievens, 2008). Less well-understood are the causal antecedents of performance in these domains and how those antecedents relate to each other. Motowidlo, Borman, and Schmit (1997) proposed that technical performance is determined largely by cognitive ability, which acts through the mediator technical knowledge to influence technical performance. They also proposed that contextual performance is mainly determined by personality traits and that these traits influence contextual performance via the mediating variable contextual knowledge. Although prior research has examined some of the causal antecedents proposed by Motowidlo et al. (1997), no study has examined these four variables simultaneously, in addition to gathering information about performance criteria in the two domains. This study examined these six variables in a sample of medical students. In keeping with the verbiage used in the medical literature, students' contextual knowledge is referred to as professional knowledge and their contextual performance is referred to as professional performance. Medical students (N = 209) beginning their third year at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston completed measures of professional knowledge and the Big Five personality traits and consented to have their MCAT scores (a proxy for cognitive ability) and their first- and second-year course grades (grade point average; a measure of their technical knowledge) gathered for this investigation. Performance criteria consisted of attending physicians' ratings of students' professional and technical performance during their clinical rotations. Rotations were grouped according to whether they fell into the domain of Primary Care or the Specialties. Notable findings are summarized by a path analytic model. Agreeableness exerted a causal influence on professional knowledge (β = .38) and Primary Care professional performance (β = .14). Extraversion causally affected professional knowledge (β = -.22). Professional knowledge accounted for variance in Primary Care professional (β = .19) and technical performance (β = .22). Openness to experience and conscientiousness influenced technical knowledge (β's -.19 and .25). Cognitive ability was directly related to technical knowledge (β = .43) and Specialties professional (β = -.21) and technical performance (β = -.19). Technical knowledge was related to Primary Care professional (β = .32) and technical performance (β = .42) and also Specialties professional (β = .46) and technical performance (β = .57). Results generally suggest that separate causal paths underlie performance in Primary Care and the Specialties, respectively.

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