Browsing by Author "Reio, Thomas G. Jr."

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    Determining the Administrative Support and Professional Development Needs of Contract Instructors at a Civilian Federal Training Agency
    Saitta, Joseph V. Jr. (Virginia Tech, 1998-06-09)
    Researchers know much about the use of contract (or adjunct) instructor faculty in academe, but little about contract instructors in civilian federal training agencies. No one has determined the effective administrative support of instructional delivery or the professional development needs of these federal agency contractors. The National Fire Academy's mission is to promote the professional development of those fire personnel engaged in fire suppression, fire prevention, and allied functions. Each year approximately 3000 resident students complete a variety of two week training programs. Approximately 500 contract instructors conduct most of these on-campus programs. These instructors have widely divergent expertise, instructional competence and teaching experience. The research questions were: 1. What are the problems, if any, that NFA contract instructors have had that have implications for effective program delivery? 2. What are the administrative support services, if any, that should be provided to contract instructors in the areas of: A. Orientation of new instructors? B. Program delivery? C. Evaluation processes? D. Professional development? 3. What other administrative support services, if any, would assist contract instructors in providing instructional services? 4. What are the problems, if any, that Program Chairs have dealt with that have implications for effective program delivery? All 536 resident contract instructors received a questionnaire about their perception of their administrative support and professional development needs; 45% responded (n=245). Eight of the ten Academy Program Chairs, who oversee the contract instructors, were interviewed about the types of problems and solutions they have used in dealing with these personnel. Analysis used both quantitative and qualitative methods. This research had a three-fold purpose. First, the research could determine the elements of effective support of instructional delivery for the Academy's contract instructors. Second, the research could provide the basis to make policy recommendations of such elements for the Academy. Finally, the research sought to determine what was required to support the professional development of contract instructors in any training organization. The results indicated that the responding contract instructors had several administrative support needs and concerns including keeping program content current, providing new instructors with an orientation and an instructor handbook, gaining access to classroom supplies, and improving the availability of program evaluations. There was also strong interest in three professional development options: preferred admission to other NFA classes, on-site instructor conferences, and a newsletter. Generally, Program Chairs' responses were supportive of these needs. The recommendations included the implementation of a contract instructor career path and the use of a government and contractor "shared responsibility management model."
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    Dispositional Antecedents to Post-Acquisition Employee Commitment
    Beckmann, Michael John (Virginia Tech, 2003-04-03)
    This study explores the influence of employee perception of acquisition success and the dispositional antecedents of positive affect and adaptive coping on employee- organization commitment during the 60-day period following a business acquisition. Allen & Meyer's affective, normative and continuance model of commitment was used for the dependent variables. A single sample was analyzed using a hierarchical regression approach. The survey was conducted with TRW's GIT Division, and included 51 employees who participated in three web- based surveys. The surveys were administered at (a) the change of control date, (b) 30 days, and (c) 60 days after the change of control date. Through a full- model regression, the combined dispositional and demographic variables were found to have a significant impact on the three components of employee- organization commitment. Specifically, the dispositional attribute of positive affect had a statistically significant predictive relationship to affective and normative commitment. Employee perception of acquisition success was found to have limited influence only on affective commitment, and finally, company service was determined to have a small predictive value for continuance commitment. The changing nature of the relationships between the independent variables and the dependents over time led to the conclusion that the employee sample was experiencing several symptoms of merger syndrome during the initial post- acquisition time period. As a single case, the study cannot be considered conclusive, however, the study does provide insights into the changing nature of employee- organization commitment during a specific time of organizational change. Research into additional dispositional antecedents to employee commitment is suggested, as well as further research on employee commitment after the initial 60-day post- acquisition integration period.
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    Effects Of Curiosity On Socialization-Related Learning And Job Performance In Adults
    Reio, Thomas G. Jr. (Virginia Tech, 1997-04-02)
    Although the significance of curiosity in motivating and directing learning has received substantial scholarly support, little information exists about curiosity's importance in adult learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate curiosity's possible relevance in an adult learning context, the workplace. Specifically, this study was an examination of adult curiosity's relationship to socialization-related learning, and ultimately job performance. Four curiosity instruments (the Novelty Experiencing Scale; State-Trait Personality Inventory; Melbourne Curiosity Inventory; and the Sensation Seeking Scale), one socialization-related learning questionnaire (Workplace Adaptation Questionnaire), and one job performance instrument (developed to assess technical and interpersonal job performance) were administered in four service-industry organizations. Demographic data were also collected and the final sample included 233 employees. Two-, three-, and four-factor curiosity models were examined to clarify the nature of the curiosity construct. Curiosity factor scores were subsequently used as independent variables in multiple regression equations to assess their research utility. Three a priori determined, recursive path models suggesting a causal influence of curiosity on socialization-related learning and job performance were tested as well. Standardized partial regression coefficients were calculated from a combination of the correlational matrix containing the three main study variables (curiosity, socialization-related learning, and job performance), and their standard deviations, using the EQS for Windows 5.4 routine. Multiple loadings of several of the curiosity subscales on the curiosity factors indicate a conceptual overlap between the Sensation Seeking and Venturesomeness curiosity factors; thus, the nature of curiosity may be best represented by a Cognitive Curiosity and Sensation Seeking factor interpretation. The findings also suggest that the two-factor curiosity model may have had the best research utility for the purposes of this study. The three- and four-factor curiosity solutions did not explain a significant amount of additional variance in the multiple regression models predicting socialization-related learning and job performance. Results suggest, too, that curiosity has both a direct and an indirect causal influence on job performance. This research indicates that curiosity or the desire for information has a weak but significant direct effect on total job performance, and its effect on total job performance can also be mediated by the learning associated with the socialization process. When examining curiosity's effect on the two separate job performance dimensions, i.e., technical and interpersonal, curiosity's only significant effect on both job performance dimensions was mediated through the socialization-related learning variable. Overall, this study's findings suggest support for adult curiosity as being relevant in the socialization process and in job performance as well.
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    An Investigation of the Nexus Between Strategic Planning and Organizational Learning
    Endlich, Norman Andrew (Virginia Tech, 2001-10-30)
    This study considered the question: "What is the nature of the nexus between strategic planning and organizational learning, and how does it operate in a specific organization?" A single case study using the narrative inquiry approach was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters in Washington, DC. The research found a mature strategic planning process at NASA supported by a wide variety of active and ongoing organizational learning activities, of both an explicit and implicit nature. Based solely on the current research, the nexus between strategic planning and organizational learning is defined as a fluid, dynamic interplay and relationship within an organization that at times is an explicit, implicit, and sometimes even accidental process that uses an organization's strategic plan to: develop an informed workforce; store, transfer, and retrieve knowledge and data; create an awareness and understanding of the external environment; initiate behavioral change based on past experience; support a culture of learning; maintain an active communications network; encourage continuous improvement; and involve and inform customers and stakeholders. As a single case study, the research cannot explain all organization behavior and activity as it relates to strategic planning and organizational learning. However the study provided a first look at the nature and composition of the nexus between the two constructs in the context of a government agency. Research similar to the current study is suggested in organizations of various sizes as well as in non-government organizations, such as private industry, academia, and the non-profit sectors. Future research is suggested in areas such as the effect of organizational learning on competitive advantage, which was not addressed in the current study, but is suggested in the literature. Finally, research is suggested in organizations that do not have a strategic planning process that has achieved the level of maturity found at NASA.
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    Motivation of managers assigned to a Federal agency towards participation in government-sponsored training
    Nason, Alan Barry (Virginia Tech, 1998-05-22)
    This study examined the motivations of managers in a Federal government agency to participate or not participate in voluntary government-sponsored training. The researcher distributed a questionnaire, via agency electronic mail, to managers and supervisors in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The questionnaire comprised items selected from three instruments used and validated in previous adult education participation studies and provided the data for this study. Section 1 of the questionnaire addressed demographics, Section 2 addressed non-participation, and Section 3 addressed participation. Respondents rated the degree of influence or importance each item had on their decision to participate or not to participate in government-sponsored training.The data revealed the relative importance of the reasons for participation and non-participation and their relationship to the demographic variables. Cognitive interest and professional advancement were the primary motivations for participation in training. Lack of course relevance and time constraints were the primary motivations for not participating in training. There was no significant difference in motivation between men and women managers for either participation or non-participation. Other demographic variables had low to mid-range correlations with specific reasons for participation and non-participation, none of which were concentrated on a single cluster or factor.
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    Organizational Justice, Moral Ideology, and Moral Evaluation as Antecedents of Moral Intent
    Johnson, Jennie Susan (Virginia Tech, 2007-04-17)
    The present research in ethical decision-making draws from the fields of moral philosophy, social psychology, and organizational theory with the intention of establishing links among social/organizational influences, individual cognitive elements of moral behavior, individual difference characteristics, and the intention to act ethically. Ethical decision-making, by investigating the moral judgment (evaluation) and moral intent components of an ethical decision-making model, was examined. This augments existing research concerning inconsistencies between the ethical behavior of an individual and the individual's level of moral development, which in the workplace are hypothesized to be related to organizational factors. Research questions developed from this groundwork, as well as research on moral ideology and organizational justice, were formulated to examine how moral ideology, moral evaluation, and organizational justice work together to explain moral intent. Moral evaluation explained 55% of the variance in moral intent after controlling for moral ideology and organizational justice. For a subset of the data, three organizational justice variables explained a very modest proportion of the variance in moral evaluation after controlling for two moral ideology variables. Implications for future research and considerations for practice are presented.
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    Post-Secondary Education Decisions of High School Black Males in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (A Case Study)
    Murphy, Joyanne Patricia (Virginia Tech, 2005-12-07)
    This study sought to understand the perspectives of young Black males toward post-secondary education. A qualitative case study research design was selected because it allowed the researcher to examine in a holistic fashion the complexities of how the issues of school, home, community, and peers function in the life of a young Black male in St. Thomas, USVI; and how these issues in his life yield a perspective on and a decision about participating in higher education. A case study using taped interviews and observations of one high school Black male and his mother was conducted. Data were analyzed using Ethnograph and a coding matrix based on the tenets of grounded theory. The findings showed that the young man was ambivalent about the educational process and about his plans concerning his preparation for the future. In high school he saw three options: enlisting in the military, engaging in full-time employment, or pursuing a college education at the University of the Virgin Islands as long as he could achieve success. He viewed all three paths as equal. His family's influence had a profound impact on his decision to participate in advanced education despite his lack of commitment and his underachieving high school career. The educational issues in the territory signal the need for territorial policy makers to initiate educational improvements in the public schools and to mandate, at the university level, an information and recruitment program for young males to improve the demographics of post-secondary education in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Recommendations for further research are offered.
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    Surviving a Terminal Diagnosis: the Ultimate Lifelong Learning Experience
    McAndrew, Alice E. (Virginia Tech, 2004-06-03)
    Every year in the United States, cancer accounts for one in four deaths. As the pool of those who have received diagnoses increases, more individuals can be encountered who have survived a terminal diagnosis or exceeded expected time limits for survival. Perhaps even more extraordinary, many of these consider it the "best thing" that ever happened to them. These are the modern eras' "mythical" heroes; they return bearing maps for our own eventual journeys. This study used a grounded theory research approach to illuminate the phenomenon of terminal diagnosis survivorship as evidenced in the psycho/social/spiritual learning process. The unit of analysis is the psychosocial and spiritual learning process as discovered and developed from three cases of individuals who described being positively transformed after receiving a terminal diagnosis. Three research questions were examined: (a) What are the components (e.g., coping strategies, problem solving techniques, emotion management) of the learning process employed by three cancer patients who have experienced a terminal diagnosis? (b) In what ways did the phenomenal meaning of their lives change as they coped with the trauma of a terminal diagnosis followed by remission persisting a significant time past doctors' predictions? (c) What changes did they make in their lives, viewed from a holistic perspective, including thought processes, healthcare, emotion, spirituality and changes in their social lives? A comparative analysis of tape recorded interviews yielded the data resulting in a six-phase model of terminal diagnosis survivorship delineating a psycho/social/spiritual transformational learning process. Death acceptance emerged as a central organizing construct facilitating transformational changes in those given a terminal diagnosis resulting in a constellation of attitudinal and behavioral change. This model challenges and extends theory in adult learning and post traumatic survival by challenging the heavily rational and cognitive based theories of these fields, emphasizing the importance of emotions, altered states, extrarational experiences and spirituality. This model also explicates the role of denial that can alternatively hamper, facilitate or place on hold movement toward death acceptance, the ultimate transformative agent. Additionally, this model elucidates the importance of holding environments on both sustaining and eliciting transformational and developmental change.