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This report presents the results of First 5 California's 2004 statewide and regional study of the early care and education (ECE) workforce in licensed family child care. The goal of the study was to collect information on the characteristics of this workforce (i.e., educational background and potential need and demand for professional development). In California, more than 50,000 licensed family child care providers and paid assistants care for approximately 250,000 children, mostly in mixed-age groups. Family child care homes make up 36 percent of all licensed child care spaces. In California, the typical licensed family child care provider is a woman of color in her mid-forties who has been taking care of children in her home for an average of 9.5 years. Compared to women in the California labor force overall, licensed family child care providers are less likely to be younger than 30 years and more likely to be over 55 years. They are also more likely to have attended college and/or completed a two-year college degree. Data are presented for California's family child care providers (i.e., gender and age, ethnic background, linguistic background, and tenure). Only a handful of providers have participated in non-credit training or have completed college coursework focused on dual-language learning in young children, despite the growing numbers of young children who speak a language other than English in their homes. Many more providers are trained to work with children with special needs. Appended are: (1) Additional Tables; and (2) Methodology for Estimating the Size of the Licensed Family Child Care Workforce in California and the Number of Children Served in Licensed Family Child Care. (Contains 52 tables and 19 figures.) [This publication was produced by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California at Berkeley. This study was made possible through the generous support of First 5 California.] more...

A week of labor education classes is held yearly at Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, California. The goal of the program, called Labor Education Week (LEW), is to fill a perceived gap in high school education concerning the labor movement, and to present labor history and issues in workshops, field trips, classroom discussions, and films. One workshop helps students discover when their rights have been violated and how to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner. Students talk with people in various fields during the Apprenticeship Career Day (when tradespeople answer questions concerning their field, schooling and training needs, pay and benefits). Some students have visited the Union Pacific Railroad and the United Parcel Service (UPS) and have talked with members of the Teamsters Union; others have visited other unionized businesses such as the Bay Area's Trunsbay Terminal; such field experiences allow them to see organized workplaces where they can apply the skills they have learned in school. The program objective is to expose students to the labor movement through distinctive, memorable activities. The document includes guidelines for developing a similar program in other schools. Included in the appendices are: (1) the LEW project proposal, including the budget; and (2) forms designed to solicit speakers, participants and sponsors, advertising fliers, and the master calendar of events for the programs. A resource guide containing a list of local speakers, a list of coordinators for 15 Northern California Building Trades Apprenticeship Programs, a current bibliography of books on labor, and a film guide is included. (NL) more...

This final report of a research program supported by the Office of Naval Research discusses the various aspects of the research program and indicates where it stands to date. The report also indicates future research suggested by some of our findings, and mentions points of departure we are taking form this initial set of empirical investigations. Some possibilities for application of our results are mentioned. The report summarizes information from previous technical reports in an attempt to tie together the entire research program. Some data not reported elsewhere are presented as well. The overall intent of the research program was to assess organizations as social-psychological systems, using the general concept of communication as a unifying variable across individuals, their work groups, and the organizations in which these groups function. (Author) more...

This report summarizes results of several laboratory and field studies investigating antecedents to and consequences of the intentional distortion of information by senders in organizational communication networks. Lab studies examined the impact of two interpersonal variables (trust in the receiver, perceived influence of the receiver over the sender) and directionality of information flow (upward, lateral and downward) on sender's propensities to block or suppress information. Field studies were used to establish the external validity of the lab investigations and to relate information distortion by senders to job satisfaction and performance. It was demonstrated that: (1) a bias exists towards screening certain types of information from upward transmission; (2) low trust in the receiver of a message results in significantly more suppression by senders, especially of information which reflects unfavorably on the senders; and (3) a measure of information distortion is significantly and inversely associated with job satisfaction and individual and group performance. Implications of these results for decision making are discussed and a model relating antecedents and consequences to information distortion is presented. more...

Previous research has consistently linked notions of interpersonal trust and source credibility to communication behavior. This study used three dimensions of source credibility (safety, expertise, and dynamism) to extend the summative variable 'trust' into components relevant to communication in organizational units. The credibility dimensions were shown to be differentially related to the frequency, accuracy, and openness of communication in work units. Perceptions of the accuracy and openness of information exchange were also related to the number of others contacted and the frequency of interaction. more...

Previous research suggests that communication and performance in organizations are intertwined. This study examines the relationship of individual communication in formal organizations to both objective and perceptual assessments of performance. Results confirm the link between a number of facets of organizational communication and performance. Both the quantity and quality of information appear to be important correlates of individual performance across a variety of tasks and functions. (Author) more...

A research program concerned with organizational communication is discussed. The conceptual basis used to examine communication process and structure is reported and data are provided which describe communication-content-derived aspects of organizational structure. The data suggest that viewing organizations in communication content terms may be more beneficial to understanding some other organizational processes than are some more frequently used descriptions, such as formal authority charts. Hypotheses concerning possible antecedents and consequences of different communication structural phenomena are mentioned. more...

This paper expands on one part of a larger research program concerned with organizational communication discussed in AD A013 675. The purpose is to examine a set of potential antecedent (demographic and personality) and consequent (perceived communication, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance) variables possibly associated with the communication roles (isolate or participant) people occupy at work. The findings indicate that communication isolates and participants are differentiable in terms of affective and behavioral responses to work. Suggestions for future research are offered. more...

A series of investigations has examined the interrelationships of individual-difference variables in an organizational setting. Work-reward preferences are treated as the focal variables for the studies. A discussion is presented which examines the appropriateness of within-person and between-person prediction models in the motivation domain. (Author) more...

The report is a companion piece to Technical Report No 7 (AD-785 003) from this grant. It reviews the research in organizational communication completed and in progress suggests some directions future research might take, and mentions how the results of the research might be applied in the Navy. The report reviews two theoretical reviews of the literature in organizational communication, the development of a framework for guiding organizational behavioral research, the development and inclusion of an instrument for assessing individual perceptions about organizational communication, and seventeen investigations based on field data and laboratory studies of organizational communication. (Modified author abstract) more...

An attempt was made to provide a framework for understanding research on behavior in organizations. This framework, with its attendant language, is intended to suggest research strategies appropriate for analyzing antecedent conditions and consequences of individual and organizational characteristics. In addition, application of the framework should suggest those vectors used to characterize responding units and environments which are badly in need of conceptual and empirical development. An argument was presented for the simultaneous assessment of the effects of responding units and environments on multivariate response surfaces. Examples of the kind of research which might be designed using this framework were presented and suggestions made about broadly defined content areas in need of research attention. Finally, a discussion of relationships among organizations and their societal context on the one hand and the lives of their members on the other was presented., Prepared in cooperation with Illinois Univ., Urbana. more...

The impact of three interpersonal variables (one's trust in his superior, the perceived influence of the superior, and the mobility aspirations of the subordinate) on upward communication behavior was examined in a survey of respondents from four diverse organizations. The importance of trust as a facilitator of more open information exchange was supported empirically. Influence of the superior and mobility aspirations of the subordinate appeared less strongly related to upward communication behavior. (Modified author abstract) more...

A preliminary data collection was carried out to test the questionnaire and data collection procedures to be used in a larger psychological study of the human resources of organizations. A Navy fighter squadron was chosen since the eventual study will be conducted in the first fighter squadrons of the Navy F-14 program. The report is a purely descriptive account of the instrument development. It presents some results of the preliminary data collection. (Modified author abstract) more...

Research concerned with organizational communication is at a stage of development where mapping the communication domain is a prerequisite to relating its dimensions to other organizational variables. Some of the problems involved in, and past efforts concerned with measuring organizational communication are discussed. One further approach to measurement is then described. (Author) more...

Researchers frequently confound communication in organizations with a host of other phenomena such as leadership and control. With no adequate theories of organizational communication, existing relevant research remains unintegrated. The purpose of the paper is to ask how organizational theories might aid in developing future organizational communication research and improved theories. Some of the different approaches to organizational theory are discussed and the research implied by each specific approach is mentioned. The theoretical views are then drawn together to suggest one perspective from which future organizational communication research might be considered. (Modified author abstract) more...