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Although academia is becoming more like business in many respects--not all of them positive--it has not borrowed one of the best attributes of business culture: its tradition of developing leadership through succession planning. As a result, much talent is underutilized. This includes, most prominently, that of women and minorities, who tend not to be perceived as leadership material. This paper makes a distinction between two levels of academic administrators: deans and above, who are professional administrators, and department chairs and below, who could be characterized as casual administrators, since all faculty members engage in managerial activities as directors of academic programs, principal investigators of grants, committee members or chairs. In Clark Kerr's terminology, casual administrators are members of the guild, while professional administrators are members of the corporation. At present, women and minorities are having considerable trouble moving from the guild to the corporation. This paper proposes that the connection between the guild and the corporation be strengthened and become more of a two-way street. As William J. Rothwell suggests, people should have dual-career ladders and be able to move back and forth between academic and managerial jobs. Such problems as recency bias, the halo or horn effect, the Pygmalion effect, and pigeonholing must be addressed head on. This will require courage, imagination and training. A bibliography is included.

The major goal of this study is to review the current state of the art in teaching assessment by examining a sample of assessment systems, then to develop a "specification" for a state-of the art performance assessment system to be used for human capital management (HCM) functions. This specification could be a stimulus and guidepost for working on a coherent instructional vision and methods to assess how well actual instruction reflects the vision. The results could also help states or districts think about how they want to develop their own teaching competency model and what assessment approaches fit best with different uses of this model. To that end, the paper concludes with a first look at a "specification" for a high quality, multi-use assessment system, and a preliminary roadmap for developing such a system. (Contains 1 figure, 4 tables and 6 footnotes.)

This literature review examines the role of human capital formation in building innovative capacity in firms. The aim of the review is to develop a model of human capital development factors to be used as a basis for a larger research project where the factors that develop innovation capacity in enterprises will be investigated. The review finds that human capital stimulus factors are developed through appropriate human resource management practices, the learning and development system (in the enterprise) and the tertiary education system. The review also finds that the three key issues in developing human capital for innovation in enterprises are people, knowledge and creativity management. (Contains 1 footnote and 3 figures.)

Over 2000 teachers in the state of Washington received reduction-in-force (RIF) notices in the past two years. The authors link data on these RIF notices to a unique dataset that includes student, teacher, school, and district variables to determine the factors that predict the likelihood of a teacher receiving a RIF notice. They find a teacher's seniority is the greatest predictor, but (all else equal) teachers with a master's degree and teachers credentialed in the "high-needs areas" of math, science, and special education were less likely to receive a RIF notice. Value-added measures of teacher effectiveness can be calculated for a subset of the teachers and these show no relationship between effectiveness and the likelihood of receiving a RIF notice. Finally, simulations suggest that a very different group of teachers would be targeted for layoffs under an effectiveness-based layoff scenario than under the seniority-driven system that exists today. (Contains 3 figures, 7 tables and 68 footnotes.)

The issue of increasing productivity was examined from an interdisciplinary perspective focusing on the impact of workplace practices on various productivity-related outcomes. First, the following methodological issues were discussed: defining workplace practices that affect productivity; linking employer behavior and organizational performance; dealing with the complexity of interrelated factors; reverse causality; bias from selection into the program; bias from the research and publication process; biases from reverting to normal; the Hawthorne effect; and short-run versus long-run effects. Next, the impacts of the following workplace practices on productivity were analyzed with consideration for those methodological issues: job design; employee involvement; compensation; alternative work time arrangements; training; diversity management; and workplace well-being programs. Most of those workplace practices had positive effects on employees, which in turn positively affected firm performance, productivity, and competitiveness. Success of the workplace practices was enhanced when they were combined in clusters, integrated to fit overall corporate strategy, and supported by managers, supervisors, and unions. The analysis identified 11 barriers to adoption and diffusion of "best" workplace practices, including the following: managerial resistance, employee resistance, union resistance, legislative barriers, short-term focus, workplace practices as a source of competitive advantage, barriers to cooperative actions, and externalities and the fact that trained employees may be lured away by other companies. (Contains 433 references.) (MN)

A task force was convened to identify the nature, extent, and pattern of skill needs and shortages for managerial occupations in the United Kingdom (UK). The task force began by examining the key challenges facing managers in the UK. The following factors were among those considered: economic policies promoting liberalization and deregulation; increasingly fragmented and global product markets; and technological transformations arising from developments in microelectronics. The demand projections for managers and skills shortages (as demonstrated through recruitment problems for higher-level occupations) were reviewed along with the new skills and competencies demanded of managers. Skills related to the following management roles were detailed: managing operations, managing finance, managing people, and managing information. Each key role was subdivided into units of competence that were in turn subdivided into elements of competence. Performance criteria and range indicators were provided for each element of competence. The following key management roles were added to the original four: manage energy, manage quality, and manage projects. Existing management standards were reviewed and modified to reflect the new roles. Management training and development in schools and small and medium enterprises were discussed along with criticisms that have been leveled against competency-based management development. (Contains 112 references.) (MN)

This report discusses the possibility of expanding the resource and finance data to be collected as part of the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The proposal under consideration, which is being field tested in the fall of 1998 and winter of 1999, has two major components. The first is to collect more detailed information about staffing resources in the schools included in the SASS sample. This information would improve understanding of how schools allocate personnel resources, which account for more than 85% of expenditures at most school sites. A review of the options suggests that the data needed to conduct Resource Cost Model analyses of U.S. schools can be collected through the SASS without much increase in the burden on respondents. The second component is to gather expenditure data for individual schools in the SASS sample to permit analysis of expenditures at the school level. The analysis shows that it is possible to collect information by NCES function and object categories and to collect school-level data across a diverse array of districts. A drawback is that an instrument of the complexity needed to meet these two purposes is difficult and time consuming for the respondent. The final section of the paper discusses linking the staffing and expenditure data. Appendixes contain information about the development of the surveys and copies of the public school and private school surveys. (Contains 19 exhibits.) (SLD)

Despite increased attention to learning within the workplace and investigation into the distribution and nature of learning-related activities, how these trends have impacted the role of human resource (HR) professionals has been less extensively examined. Studies examining their role indicate that HR development (HRD) positions name traditional responsibilities associated with an orthodox training role--instruction, program design, and administration. Some HRD professionals are expected to provide advisory and diagnostic services, perform expanded training oriented roles, handle organizational change or development, analyze needs, conduct skill audits, and advise on individual career development. Later studies have reflected expanded roles. Personal attributes essential for senior positions are flexibility, tenacity, and capacity to accept challenges and question the traditional way things have been done. Arguably, the role of HRD professionals now requires an acute awareness of the business of their enterprise, a strategic focus, and flexibility in modes of delivery along with skills associated traditionally with training and development. Areas of uncertainty concerning the nature of this area as a career field are whether the role is more strategic; whether the role is enhanced or degraded; how outsourcing affects HRD as a career field; the challenge of knowledge management; and organizational positioning. (Contains 20 references.) (YLB)

Changing workplace practices in Canada's government workplaces were examined. The study analyzed 774 responses (response rate, 53%) to the 1998 Survey of Workplace Issues in Government, which was a survey of government managers in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta. The findings of five case studies were also considered. The survey results provided the systematic empirical evidence of how external pressures to "increase emphasis on results" and budget constraints have led some Canadian governments to change the way they organize work and adopt workplace practices such as measuring performance, increasing the volume of work, and divesting service delivery functions. Public managers were increasingly adopting flexible staffing practices and flexible job designs, which in turn meant greater emphasis on training and employee involvement policies. Compensation remained highly centralized, and workplaces remained highly unionized. Employed training increased slightly in all areas compared with 3 years earlier. The case studies provided concrete examples of changing work in government workplaces, including the move from direct service delivery to policy formulation and increasing emphasis on outputs and outcomes. Appendixes include 41 tables of detailed statistics and regression results and a summary of the case study findings. (Contains 18 figures and 41 references.) (MN)

This paper describes a spreadsheet-based faculty flow model developed and implemented at the University of Calgary (Canada) to analyze faculty retirement, turnover, and salary issues. The study examined whether, given expected faculty turnover, the current salary increment system was sustainable in a stable or declining funding environment, and whether further early retirement incentives would be necessary. The model, called the Academic Staff Resource Projection Model, is based on the Markov chain approach to project faculty movement out four years. It was developed using Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet software. Nine alternative policies and assumptions were tested concerning: (1) retirements for ages 55 to 70; (2) resignation rates by years of service; (3) age distribution of newly hired staff; (4) annual attrition of one rank replaced by another rank; (5) overall attrition replacement ratio; (6) adjustments to allow for addition or elimination of academic programs; (7) starting salaries; (8) salary schedule information; and (9) rate of promotion to next rank. Six figures and flow charts illustrate the model and show the spreadsheet file structure and flows. Three appendixes include a policy variables worksheet, a salary schedule, and an age distribution schedule. (Contains 16 references.) (CH)

This longitudinal multi-method study assessed changes in institutional autonomy at 30 community colleges in one state. Six years after legislated changes intended to increase autonomy and create a uniform fiscal operation system had been implemented, the study found that changes in autonomy in selected fiscal, personnel, and operational matters were inconsistent and incomplete. Investigators concluded that as the resource dependency theory suggests, connections between state-legislated changes and real change at the local level are complicated and slow to develop. The paper reviews the conceptual framework; discusses related institutional characteristics, contextual variables, and political strategies; and lists the measures of fiscal, personnel, and operational autonomy used. The data were based on questionnaires completed for two unpublished institutional autonomy surveys, the first conducted in 1988 just prior to the legislated changes, and the second in 1995; the response rate for both surveys was 100 percent. Tables list the autonomy measures and some survey data. (Contains 33 references.) (CH)

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 1994-95 survey indicate that about one-fifth of the adult population volunteers. Estimated value of their work is 3% of the gross national product, $12.5 billion. However, volunteer training is neglected in the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training (VET). A seminar was conducted to identify volunteer training issues in VET. Participants noted that, ideally, organizations would have a mix of volunteers and paid personnel and that volunteer experience would be a valuable indicator of employability. In organizations where specific competencies are required, such as fire fighting, volunteers need a high level of capability and thus more training. Better delivery of training would improve satisfaction. Constraints on volunteer training include cost, loss of investment when volunteers leave, tensions between paid and unpaid workers, and lack of capacity. Strong anecdotal support was found for volunteer work as a significant path to paid work. Ambiguities surround the attempt to interpret volunteer employment and training in accordance with market economy principles. Assessment is also an ambiguous issue: formal assessment may be perceived as a failure to respect the gift of volunteers' time, yet volunteers may resent training and assessment that favors paid employees. Participants demonstrated a high level of support for national Training Packages, if used selectively and sensitively. The choice of undergoing formal assessments involved in the Training Packages should be left to the volunteer. (Contains 20 references.) (SK)

Training issues can be examined from at least two perspectives: the structural level (macro-level) and the micro-level. Structural issues in the delivery of training include the following: absent or uneven corporate commitment, inadequate expenditures by businesses, degrees awarded by schools that do not guarantee skill mastery, poaching of trained workers, accounting rules that require training be treated as an expense and not an investment, inadequate government funding for retraining displaced workers, need for closer employer-school ties, and need for help from organized labor. Issues in the design, delivery, and evaluation of training efforts include an emphasis on the techniques and methods of training rather than the content and little emphasis on assessment of training outcomes. Training is critical to the implementation of four competitive strategies that firms use to compete for business in the marketplace and to gain competitive advantage--speed strategy, innovation strategy, quality-enhancement strategy, and cost-reduction strategy. Certain ground rules can enhance the likelihood that organizations and individuals will benefit from training. Before training, needs analysis should be done at multiple levels. During training, the objective is to select a training technique that accurately matches demonstrated training needs and to deliver training in a manner that maximizes learning, retention, and transfer. After training, long-term effects must be evaluated. (Contains 35 endnotes.) (YLB)

The interrelationship between people management practices and product market/competition was examined in a series of case comparisons of pairs of firms/organizations of the following types: professional sports teams, military services, retailing firms, information service firms, business schools, financial services, shipping services, and food and beverage companies. The case comparisons suggested a clear division between companies that develop employee competencies within the firm and those that assemble employee competencies ready-made from the outside market. Those firms that developed talent from within tended to rely more on group and organizational efforts to achieve competencies, whereas those firms that hired talent from without relied more on individual efforts. A clear division was also found between organizations that compete by moving quickly and adjusting to new opportunities and firms that have developed a superior approach to a long-standing market. Organizations of the first type did not develop employee talent from within because it did not pay for them to do so. The case comparisons were concluded to support the argument that there may be no such thing as "best practice" for all employers and that, like product differentiation, distinctive human resource practices help firms compete. (MN)

The development of a faculty information system at Carnegie Mellon University is traced using a case study approach. Attention is focused on the process of system design by committee, the resulting relational database, and its impact on institutional research and university reporting. Technical implementation and details of the system design are covered. Goals for the system were to provide: access to both current and historical information; and an integrated database of faculty information from which queries, reports, and analyses could be easily generated. The ultimate goal was to provide information to support faculty-related decision-making processes, both centrally and in colleges and departments. The relational database management system, INGRES, was chosen for development of the information system. Included in the system were biographical, salary, teaching, and research data. Future directions in the ongoing project include the development of a university information system that will integrate faculty, student and space data, and the transfer of data from this system through the campus-wide network of personal computers. (SW)

Relatively little is known about how unions affect employers because of a lack of data and research at the level of the firm. The little evidence available suggests that the effects are complex and go well beyond the effects associated with higher wages. In particular, a better understanding of the role that unions play in providing training and greater attachment to the employer is needed. To the extent that public policy decisions make it more difficult for unions to organize employees, they reduce the competition that nonunion employers feel and reduce the incentives for these firms to maintain good human resource practices. Public policy decisions that make it more difficult for unions that provide extensive training, such as in the skilled trades, to retain their members may eventually make it impossible for those unions to provide training because they will be unable to recoup the costs through dues. Recommendations include (1) research at the firm level that will investigate the mechanisms through which union coverage affects the management of workers and the behavior of the organization as a whole; (2) consideration of costs in policy decision making; (3) unions as active partners in government training programs, especially for displaced workers; (4) where unions represent occupations where skills are general and employers therefore have no incentive to provide training, encouragement of union participation in training and more government training grants for that purpose. (51 references) (CML)

The 1980s have been a period during which important private experiments with innovations have occurred in employee participation, work redesign, and the introduction of new technologies and new systems of production. It is now time to move beyond the experimental stage. The following four interrelated policy initiatives should guide public efforts to promote diffusion and institutionalization of workplace innovations: (1) establish a national database for measuring the diffusion of innovative practices and evaluating their economic and social consequences; (2) update labor law to remove the barriers to labor-management cooperation and innovations; (3) integrate support for workplace innovations with broader human resource, labor market, and economic policies; and (4) provide the political leadership needed to produce a positive climate within which innovative labor management relations can flourish. These initiatives are necessary because there is no reliable estimate of the extent to which employee participation or work redesign principles have diffused across the U.S. work force; growing evidence indicates that current law is undermining workers' and union representatives' confidence in the fairness of the law and heightening labor-management tensions; and diffusion is not likely to occur without strong national leadership and the commitment of financial resources to build support for the innovations. (77 references) (CML)

Formal worker participation schemes, such as the quality circles and related employee involvement schemes that have been introduced in 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, are likely to have a lasting impact on the way many organizations work. In a majority of empirical studies, direct participation is associated with at least a short-run improvement in satisfaction, commitment, quality, productivity, turnover, and/or absenteeism. In almost no cases does participation make things worse. Sustained long-term improvements in performance occur only when (1) participative groups are given the information and authority to make substantial changes in the workplace; (2) supervisory behavior is altered so that formal participation is consistent with the way things are usually done; (3) workers and managers are rewarded for increased responsibility and productivity; (4) job security and guarantees of individual rights make workers feel free to participate; and (5) employees believe that participation is not merely a means of speed-up or a threat to their jobs or union. The government should subsidize research and demonstration projects, introduce participation within federal agencies, and revise the National Labor Relations Act to make it clear that participation programs are legal in both union and nonunion settings, as long as their purpose is neither to bypass nor to avoid unions. (73 references) (CML)

Producing goods and services of high quality is not expensive, but correcting poor quality costs U.S. companies as much as 20 percent of sales revenues annually. One survey reported that only 1 out of 300 U.S. companies involved management and engineering staff in quality training. The tendency is to have a quality control department, separate from other functions. National policies must help improve the quality of the U.S. work force and of working life; enhance the quality of products, services, and technologies; generate new technologies; provide technical assistance to industry and commerce; and establish the leadership to move into the next century of international competition. It is recommended that quality programs be established in federal departments that influence the nation's quality (such as the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Defense); a Presidential Commission on Quality and Competitiveness disseminate information; individuals and companies that are leaders in the pursuit of quality be rewarded; vocational training at the postsecondary level be increased; participative management be increased; and networks of industry, union, academic, and government representatives be established to give managers and employees of companies information on quality and production techniques. (79 references) (CML)

Employee ownership through employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) was first mentioned in federal legislation in the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. Since then, at least 19 pieces of federal legislation have been enacted that deal with employee ownership in some way, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and tax legislation. Among the results of such legislation have been the slight broadening of the holding of stock, the provision of an important employee benefit, and the ability of entrepreneurs to manage financial needs. These benefits have come without decreases in company performance, but there is evidence that increased performance is possible if ownership is coupled with participative decision making. To encourage employee ownership, the U.S. Department of Labor should (1) support the formation of state-level organizations to facilitate employee ownership and to help implement the necessary changes in labor relations; (2) make available information on Internal Revenue Form 5500C so researchers can study whether companies use employee ownership to replace pension plans or offer it as simply an additional benefit; and (3) develop a simplified ESOP document. Securities and Exchange regulations should give employee shareholders the same rights held by bondholders in firms of 500 or more employees. (53 references) (CML)

Little scholarly attention has been paid to what aspiring principal are actually reading in the preparation courses or whether the texts prepare them for the demands of accountable management. We examine eleven of the thirteen most commonly assigned educational administration texts in a sample of 210 principal preparation syllabi. In the texts studied, of thirteen terms tracked, "performance" and/or "achievement" were the most commonly used, appearing 44.3 times per 100 pages of text. Meanwhile, the terms "efficiency," "accountability," and "termination/dismissal" were mentioned less than six times per 100 pages. The texts generally encourage the use of data but are more skeptical when it comes to using results to make tough management decisions. Three possible approaches to enhancing the content of preparation are proposed: authors broadening discussion in existing texts, publishers issuing new texts, or faculty taking steps to diversify their assigned readings. (Contains 8 tables and 5 footnotes.)

This CED report examines teacher pay and other compensation issues. Schools must be able to compete effectively for college-educated workers who have more career choices and see themselves as more mobile professionally than did earlier generations. Traditional compensation policies for teachers (salary schedules that reward only longevity and academic credentials, and pension policies that penalize mobile teachers and those who do not spend a lifetime career in teaching) are out of sync with the objective of expanding the pool of talented individuals who are willing to teach. (Contains 8 tables, 10 figures, 20 footnotes, and 100 endnotes.)

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) is strongly committed to promoting race equality in the way that HMIE staff go about performing their role within Scottish education. Scottish society reflects cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity and Scottish education should be accessible to all. No-one should be disadvantaged or excluded because of their ethnic background or their cultural or religious identity. People in Scotland live with many cultures. This race equality scheme is designed to demonstrate how HMIE is putting into practice its commitment to the promotion of race equality and how, in particular, it intends to address the statutory duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. It is an "Associate Scheme" that operates within the general context of the Scottish Executive's corporate Race Equality scheme.

A class project used in one college-level business French course in Oregon involves creation of a French company using a modified simulation approach. Students work in groups to determine what product or service they would like to develop and research the creation of a company. During this process, they simulate a number of situations encountered in establishing a business, including correspondence and documentation. Currently, the entire course is based on the project. Steps include: (1) selecting a product or service the students have a personal interest in and that can be marketed in France; (2) determining the legal status of the company, using authentic documents; (3) locating the business in France; (4) creation of logo, letterhead, and other company documents; (5) creating job announcements for employees; (6) determining needed banking accounts and services; (7) ordering supplies and equipment; and (8) planning marketing and advertising. Other topics, such as customs and trade regulations, can be incorporated. Students make oral presentations near the end of the course, using role-playing and supporting visual aids. A written report is also required. Student response to the project has been enthusiastic, and the approach is felt to be effective in promoting active learning. (MSE)