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Developing and supporting a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve is a central value and a customer-based business decision of the University of Arizona (UA) Libraries. In response to data collected through climate surveys, the UA Libraries’ Diversity Committee has been systematically working to improve the organization's climate for diversity. One activity undertaken was the development and incorporation of diversity competencies into the Libraries’ hiring and training processes. This article explores the importance of a diversity-competent workforce, shares the UA Libraries’ experiences in diversity competency development, and suggests why and how other libraries can engage in a similar process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals improve their performance of a task after observing and evaluating others perform that task, a phenomenon known as the observer effect. Most of the research has demonstrated this when the observers were aware that their performance of the task was also being observed, suggesting that reactivity may play an important role. The current study examined this by evaluating the impact that observing others’ safety performance had on the observers’ subsequent safety performance under reactivity and nonreactivity conditions. Results suggest that the observer effect might be more robust when observers are aware that their performance is also being evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coaching in organisations is often limited to high potential employees and varying levels of management for a specific duration of time, typically lasting six months. The Strategies for Enhancing Performance Initiative introduces a more simplified usage of coaching and one that has potential to address a much larger audience. The Strategies for Enhancing Performance Initiative began in 2003 and involved 115 workers in an experimental/control design. The purpose of the study was to identify, test and measure the most effective Performance Control Practices used in the workplace to increase performance while simultaneously mitigating the negative effects of stress. Participants took part in a 4-hour traditional classroom-based training programme, followed by one individual 30-minute phone coaching session with an external coach 3–4 weeks after the training programme. The results for the experimental group, when compared to the control group, showed a significant difference in their ability to identify solutions to issues that positively impacted their work to be done, their effectiveness when being criticised, their heightened ability to deal with changing priorities and more effectively dealing with tight deadlines and turning around assignments. The experimental group also showed an increased adeptness for articulating ideas more clearly and concisely when compared to the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This research presents theoretical and empirical evidence to show the usefulness of a moderated mediation model to test individual differences in Behavioural Approach System in the prediction of workplace performance. We consider mastery approach orientation as the mediator in the relationship between Behavioural Approach System (BAS) and work performance. Additionally, we examined the moderated effect of a rewarding climate on the indirect effect of BAS in the prediction of work performance. Results from 123 supervisors’ ratings of employees’ work performance supported the model whereby the indirect effect of BAS on work performance via mastery orientation was strongest when the psychological climate of the organization was also rewarding. This model further advances our understanding of how individual differences in conjunction with contextual factors may influence work-related behaviour. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We tested the hypothesis that the relationship between team climate and team performance is moderated by climate strength. The study sample was composed of 155 bank branches, and a two-wave panel design was implemented. We measured four team climate facets (support, innovation, goal achievement and enabling formalization). We obtained two subjective indicators of team performance (ratings provided by team members and by team managers) and a financial indicator of team performance. Seven out of the 12 interaction effects tested were statistically significant and showed the expected sign. When financial team performance was the criterion, only the interaction term was significant. This suggests that only strong climates are related to financial team performance over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship among key issues discussed in positive organizational behavior (POB) and the implications for organizational success. One of the key outcomes of this paper is to have a better understanding of the relationship between work and a person's broader purpose of existence, and how work helps to accomplish one's purpose of life. In addition, quantitative measures are used to determine the relationship between work and happiness; a positive organizational culture and firm performance; and positive employee characteristics and employee performance. Through various statistical analyses, positive relationships were found among typical measures of positive psychology, positive organizational behavior, and employee performance. Implications for organizations and utilizations of research findings to create sustainable competitive advantages are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Librarians participating in Oregon's collaborative statewide virtual reference project used an analysis of chat reference transcripts to evaluate librarian performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional competence requires a commitment to lifelong learning, self-assessment, and excellence. Complex skills such as these require flexible and comprehensive teaching and assessment measures. We describe a combination of working and performance portfolios that both foster and evaluate the development of professional competence. We explain the conceptual and practical underpinnings that maximize the effectiveness of these tools. Drawing on experience with University of Washington residents, we identify 5 criteria that can help promote successful use of portfolios: separate working and performance functions of portfolios, developing a supportive climate, developing skills in faculty and residents, observing progress over time, and fostering mentorship opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widely accepted cognitive models of job attitudes suggest that a person's job attitude results from the linear combination of attitudes toward individual job features (feature-based processing). This is a relatively difficult cognitive process. We suggest that people act to economize scarce cognitive resources by using knowledge about job categories to generate job impressions when presented with category-consistent job features. People use feature-based processing when presented with job features that are inconsistent with a job category. Our results suggest that impressions do depend on the descriptive consistency of job features with a job category. The implications of the model for job perceptions in the workplace are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance decrements and dissatisfactions at the work place have long been observed but have not been adequately explained. Activation research and selected studies of work behavior are reviewed to show that decrements in performance may be better understood in the light of recent neuro-psychological findings. This review indicates that activation theory and the research upon which it is based anticipates behavior related to variations in task design and suggests new avenues of investigation for those interested in the determinants of work behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]