Kelly Collins Woodford and Harry A. Rissetto
In the last three years, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 246,575 charges of workplace discrimination, of which 43,437 alleged sexual harassment. In 1998…
Abstract
In the last three years, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 246,575 charges of workplace discrimination, of which 43,437 alleged sexual harassment. In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two landmark decisions governing how U.S. courts analyze sexual harassment cases. Since those cases, U.S. courts have been faced with a new conundrum: is a constructive discharge a “tangible employment action” that gives rise to automatic employer liability? Although the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals have split on the issue, the trend appears to be in favor of imposing automatic liability, effectively denying employers a defense in cases in which the alleged victim often failed to report harassing conduct. This article argues that classifying a “constructive discharge” as a “tangible employment action” will, in most circumstances, violate the Supreme Court’s admonition that “no award against a liable employer should reward a plaintiff for what her own efforts could have avoided”.
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Kelly Woodford and Jeanne D. Maes
Globally, organisations are adjusting to meet the challenges of the constantly‐changing marketplace. In the area of human resource management, many multinational organisations are…
Abstract
Globally, organisations are adjusting to meet the challenges of the constantly‐changing marketplace. In the area of human resource management, many multinational organisations are focusing in making the organisation more productive, cost‐effective, and customer service oriented. Recognising that an organisation’s employees are the key to its global success, many organisations are re‐evaluating their methods of appraising and motivating employees. As a result, annual employee evaluations, which have been a staple of human resource managers in many industrialised nations for decades, have been widely criticised in recent years. This article highlights the importance of using such evaluations not only in their traditional function for employee appraisal, but also as a tool for employee motivation, as a legal defence for selection, and as part of the strategic planning process.
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Kelly Collins Woodford and Jeanne D. Maes
Before sending employees to the US, it is critical for foreign employers to understand the basic requirements of US wage and hour law to avoid unintentional but costly violations…
Abstract
Before sending employees to the US, it is critical for foreign employers to understand the basic requirements of US wage and hour law to avoid unintentional but costly violations of that law. Many foreign companies are surprised to learn that the US workers they employ in the United States as well as their own workers who are sent to the United States for short periods are protected by the US wage and hour laws and must be paid in accordance with US law for workweeks in which the employee performs his or her work in the US or its territories. Unfortunately, many foreign companies do not learn about US wage and hour law until it is too late. This article explains the basic requirements of the US wage and hour law. Because most US wage and hour law requires an individualised case‐by‐case assessment of coverage and requirements, companies considering employing workers in or sending employees to the US are encouraged to consult with US employment law counsel about their specific situations.
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Alan F. Chow, Treena G. Finney and Kelly C. Woodford
Student/trainee perception of their performance can sometimes be inaccurate. This study aims to look at the accuracy of perception to actual performance in short‐term intervention…
Abstract
Purpose
Student/trainee perception of their performance can sometimes be inaccurate. This study aims to look at the accuracy of perception to actual performance in short‐term intervention style training/instruction.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies conducted using university students in problem solving exercises compared the performance of the students to their actual performance on the designated problems. Following the instructional intervention, the participants were asked to use a presented strategy in solving a target solution problem. Participants were then asked a short series of post‐study questions related to their perception of the learning outcomes. Perception accuracy was measured through analysis of scoring on the target solution problem and the corresponding answers to the post‐study questionnaire.
Findings
In both studies, there was a positive relationship between the score on the target solution problem and the responses to the post‐study questionnaire.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study are limited to university students in a mid‐sized Southeastern US institution. The results suggest that further study with other subject populations may support these findings.
Practical implications
Findings suggest that students have an accurate awareness of their understanding following an instructional intervention. Educators and trainers can use this accuracy in perception to measure the level of learning following lectures or other learning or training activities. This can provide useful information following classroom lectures, reading assignments, and testing to get a measure of learning, and can also be used following training activities as a measure of transfer of training.
Originality/value
The paper compares students' accuracy of perception to actual performance, and finds that students have an accurate awareness of their understanding following an instructional intervention. This can be of practical benefit to educators and trainers.
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Alan Chow, Kelly C. Woodford and Jill Showers‐Chow
The purpose of this paper is to look at how customer input was used in a front‐end needs assessment to formulate a training package that covered the necessary elements of product…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at how customer input was used in a front‐end needs assessment to formulate a training package that covered the necessary elements of product use, and how the training material was presented in a manner best suited for the trainees and their perceived needs.
Design/methodology/approach
A quasi‐experimental study was designed to compare the number of help desk calls for groups trained using the needs‐based training approach with the number of help desk calls from the most recent training groups that were trained with the standard training package.
Findings
Groups trained using a training package developed around their initial perceived needs had significantly fewer help desk calls than those who received the standard training. The number of help desk calls was reduced by over 75 percent from previous training sessions.
Research limitations/implications
Verification of transfer of training in other applications, with other products and other learner groups, would further validate that the needs‐based training approach is more effective.
Practical implications
All reasonable effort that can lead to more effective training will improve the customer's overall perception of the organization and will contribute to customer retention. Both customer satisfaction and retention are critical elements in the ongoing success of any company.
Originality/value
The demonstration of effectiveness and the utilization of assessment data for continuous improvement may have both practical and legal implications for the future; including enhancing customer satisfaction and retention, and reducing the likelihood of successful legal claims for negligence, particularly negligent training.
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In 2002, Equal Opportunities International published a United States wage and hour law “primer” for foreign companies. That primer provided a basic overview of the U.S. laws…
Abstract
In 2002, Equal Opportunities International published a United States wage and hour law “primer” for foreign companies. That primer provided a basic overview of the U.S. laws regulating the compensation of employees who are working in the United States. On August 23, 2004, one major component of that primer changed: who is exempt from the over time requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This article explains the new Fair Pay Regulations governing which employees may be classified as “exempt” and, consequently, not paid overtime for working more than forty hours in a work week.
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Alan F. Chow, Treena Gillespie Finney and Kelly C. Woodford
This paper aims to bring together the concepts of Six Sigma into the process of training design and training transfer.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to bring together the concepts of Six Sigma into the process of training design and training transfer.
Design/methodology/approach
The concepts of the paper are supported with an actual example of their application to practice. The industrial example shows where the inclusion of the concepts of Six Sigma can make positive contributions to the design and transfer of training processes.
Findings
The application of the concepts to training design and transfer showed a positive contribution through a more structured process. Including the concepts of Six Sigma within the process of training design and transfer will provide the organization with additional support and structure to improve the overall success of the training design process, and improve the impact and effectiveness of the training itself.
Research limitations/implications
The single example of application may limit the successfulness of the overall concept to training design overall. Based on the successful application in one industrial training setting, the impression that the concepts will adequately translate to additional applications is favorable.
Practical implications
The success of the application shown in this paper suggests that further success is likely in other similar industrial applications. Expanding the application to other job training design processes should improve the overall process of training design in other areas and industries.
Originality/value
Training design and transfer are critical components to all areas of an organization that conducts any type of training. Application of these and other improvement methods and tools will improve the overall performance of the training process and the effectiveness of the training.
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The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical framework of whistleblowing that gives due recognition to the emotional and reflexive processes that underpin it. Modes of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical framework of whistleblowing that gives due recognition to the emotional and reflexive processes that underpin it. Modes of anger are integrated into the model based on a reading of Geddes and Callister (2007), and developed by Lindebaum and Geddes (2016) work on moral anger.
Design/methodology/approach
The model is derived by interrogation of the extant literature on whistleblowing with due recognition accorded to emotional and reflexive dimensions that have been underrepresented in previous research. The model was tested by a qualitative study that uses memoir analysis to interrogate a board level whistle-blower’s account of the complex, traumatic and like-changing nature of his experience.
Findings
The paper identifies key stages in whistle-blower thinking before, during and subsequent to a decision to expose corporate wrongdoing. It demonstrates how emotional and reflexive processes influence a whistle-blower’s mode of anger expression, and how different perspectives by the whistle-blower and the focal organisation may view this expression as moral or deviant anger.
Research limitations/implications
The complexity of the whistleblowing process, together with possible alternative perspectives of it, makes identifying every influencing variable extremely challenging. Also, reliance on a whistle-blower’s own account of his experience means that recall may be partial or self-serving. The model can be used to analyse other whistle-blower accounts of their experience, and further confirm its applicability.
Originality/value
This is the first application of memoir analysis to a whistle-blower’s account of his experience that relates modes of anger expression to stages in the whistleblowing episode. It addresses a significant imbalance in whistleblowing research that hitherto has emphasised rationality in whistle-blower decision making and downplayed the influence of reflexivity and emotion.
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This paper sets a case study of missing children in the Republic of Ireland against a review of international research to explore broader understandings and responses to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets a case study of missing children in the Republic of Ireland against a review of international research to explore broader understandings and responses to the problem.
Methodology/approach
The study begins by reviewing the literature on pioneering American initiatives dating back to the 1970s and more recent literature from Great Britain where a series of high-profile scandals involving sexual exploitation of teenage girls provoked a number of controversial inquiries into the police and social work professions. The present study was prompted by an evaluation of the 116 000 Missing Children Hotline which was introduced to Ireland in 2012 under the auspices of the European Union (EU) Daphne III Programme by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC).
Findings
The central conclusion emerging from analysis of the evidence is that Missing Children Hotlines remain rooted in representations of ‘stranger danger’ and disconnected from repeat runaway children who feature prominently in police reports from formal care settings or family homes and who are actively targeted by sexual predators and criminal gangs. The implications are that systemic change requires grounding in research strategies which combine police data with anthropological studies to give legitimacy to the voices of runway and sexually exploited children.
Originality/value
The study offers original international perspectives on missing children to epistemological research communities in the fields of social work, criminology and policing with recommendations that Missing Children and Runaway Safe-lines are targeted systemically at keeping runaway children, homeless children and at-risk-youth safe and off the streets.