The proving ground of the global marketplace makes Japan and the United States more alike than most people think. Both struggle with the effects of the worldwide recession, with work forces that are losing their predictable sameness, and with the failure of tried-and-true management practices. (Author)

Employee wellness directly affects business/industry operations and costs. When employees are helped and encouraged to stay well, this people-positive policy results in triple benefits: reduced worker absenteeism, increased employee productivity, and lower company expenditures for health costs. Health care programs at the worksite offer these…

This article addresses an overview of three specific technologies as they are currently used in business communication, the causes of aversion, the effects of aversion, and educational responses to aversion. (CT)

The author states that human resources managers must not react defensively to the introduction of technological advances into their businesses. He says that managers should properly view new technology as a viable basis for strengthening and expanding their companies and providing greater long-term job security for their employees. (CT)

Discusses the goals of career adaptation counseling: to keep good people who may be dissatisfied; to make people who may have slipped more productive; and to save outplacement, recruitment, and training costs. Examines how counseling can help solve broad career issues, and how communication is crucial to the counseling process. (CT)

Outlines six characteristics that the successful factory of tomorrow must possess and discusses four phases of change that are generally recognized in the integration process--awareness, acceptance, participation, and ownership. Ten change principles that can be addressed through education to reduce resistance to technological innovation are…

Context shifting is an approach to training that aims to transform the participants' point of view, allowing them to create a new context in which to perform their jobs, a new way of defining their roles that motivates them to exhibit skills and use information. (SK)

Proposes the "congruence model" as a theoretical framework for assessing the effects on organizational behavior of changes based on modern electronic technology. The nature and causes of resistance, encroachment on professional judgement, and unwillingness to deviate from standard practice when using online systems are discussed. Sixteen…

The educational sector should be concerned about the reasons for and consequences of employee turnover. One of the ways in which an institution can assess the reasons for the departure of its employees is the exit interview. An exit interview is designed to gain information about voluntary employee turnover. (MLW)

The advent of a nationwide service economy is having profound effects on the relationship between workers and the workplace. Trainers and chief executive officers alike need to plan for the inevitable. (Author)

Discusses the research of Gary Latham and Edwin Locke on the effect of goal setting and goal commitment on employee productivity. (SK)

Discusses burnout and its causes, and then lists steps an employer can take to help ward off or soften the effects of burnout. (Author/IRT)

Analyzes mishaps affecting Delta Air Lines from perspective of motivational psychology. Hypothesizes that pilot error in one near disaster caused other employees to try harder not to make mistakes. Sees additional motivation as pushing many employees beyond point of optimal performance, generating decline in overall performance. Describes problem…

The challenge at Pacific Gas & Electric was to train 27,000 employees to create an environment in which cultural diversity improves the company's competitive advantage. The solution was to train and certify 110 employees as diversity awareness trainers. (JOW)

Develops a preliminary model of workplace dynamics based on behaviors rather than attitudes and argues that the behavioral categories of good soldier, smooth operator, and saboteur are key modes of adaptation. The model facilitates the integration of studies of the workplace with broader themes in a way not allowed by the concept of job…