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In an educational landscape fraught with demands and limited finances, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) of teachers are a coveted resource. In this regard, transformational leadership (TL) is often attributed with the achievement of such organizational outcomes. This conceptual essay considers the relationship between teacher culture, teacher OCBs, and TL, arguing that the characteristics of teacher culture predispose those who become teachers to perform OCBs. Furthermore, due to its participatory style, TL may result in either a motivating or de-motivating influence on teacher OCBs depending on the perceived values congruence between teacher culture and leadership goals and behavior. Implications and suggestions for practice are offered.

Teacher discretionary behaviors are considered to be organizationally beneficial and ways to develop and support such behaviors are sought after. Discretionary behaviors have, in the main, been considered from an individual level of analysis. However, using the group as the level of analysis, and viewed through Social Identity/Social Categorization theory (SIT/SCT) respectively, data from this longitudinal, mixed-method, case study of teachers during a curricular reform suggest that teacher discretionary behaviors may be the means to teacher socialization and the outcome of teacher social identification. Implications and applicability of the findings to other settings are discussed.

Organizational environment where the organizational behavior takes place and the task roles employees need to perform have become increasingly complex in today's organizations. To respond to this complexity, modern organizations need willing, flexible, and proactive employees who go beyond narrow task requirements and who approach work proactively by showing personal initiative (Crant, 2000; Ohly, Sonnentag, & Pluntke, 2006; Parker, 2000; Sonnentag, 2003). In an era where the responsibility and decision making have shifted downward through transformational leadership and shared decision-making, employees have started taking part in both decision making and implementation process without constant close supervision (Frese & Fay, 2001; Sonnentag, 2003). They are expected to demonstrate discretionary behaviors that may go beyond their formally identified job descriptions to carry out the current expectations and comprehensive and complex tasks. Discretionary behavior refers to the employee behavior that is not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and in the aggregate promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organization (Organ, Podsakoff, & MacKenzie, 2006; Van Dyne, Cummings, & McLean Parks, 1995). Employee discretionary behaviors contribute to maintenance and enhancement of the social and psychological organizational context which supports task performance and organizational effectiveness (McBain, 2004; Organ, 1997). As Den Hartog and Belschak (2007) stated, employee discretionary behaviors are crucial for organizations to be able to stay competitive in today's global economy.

Teachers constitute one of the largest groups of knowledge workers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and outcomes of teachers’ task and extra-role performance (ERP) under two different autonomy regimes in charter and regular public schools. A special emphasis was given to the ERP of teachers. Both the predictors and outcomes of teacher work performance were comparatively investigated in these two different school environments.

By applying a social-cognitive perspective and a causal comparative design, the study comparatively tested the reciprocal relationships among the study variables in public and charter schools. The clustered sample included 812 public school teachers and 112 charter school teachers.

The findings revealed that the predictors and outcomes of teachers’ task and ERP have differing dynamics in these two distinct types of public schools. The School Type, which represented the differences in school autonomy between public and charter schools, appeared to be the strongest differentiating factor across two groups of schooling. Both types of teacher performance (task and extra role) in charter schools outweighed their counterparts in public schools. Similarities and differences were observed on the predictors and outcomes of teacher work performance.

The current study contributed to the scant literature on the effects of school autonomy on teacher task and ERP. A clear understanding on the predictors and outcomes of teacher work performance under two different school autonomy regimes may guide practitioners and policymakers in their efforts to bring public schools to a more competitive edge.

Yahya Altınkurt holds Ph.D. from Anadolu University, Turkey. He is assistant professor at Dumlupınar University Faculty of Education in Kütahya. Dr. Altınkurt's research focuses on strategic planning, organizational justice, organizational citizenship, and leadership in schools. His most recent books include Assessment of Researches of School Administration (2008, Anadolu University Publishing coauthored with E. Ağaoğlu, M. Ceylan, E. Kesim, and T. Madden). Dr. Altınkurt's research has appeared in various journals including Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, Education and Science, Educational Administration: Theory and Practice, International Journal of Human Sciences, Academic Sight.

This chapter examines the competitiveness of the tourism cluster in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by applying Porter's competitiveness of nation diamond model, with its four dimensions: factor conditions, demand conditions, the related and supporting industries, and, lastly, the firm's strategy and rivalry. Specifically, we provide a thorough analysis of the UAE's strategic plans, initiatives, and tactics to cultivate competitiveness in tourism across the nation. This includes the draft of a vision for the nation, decisions to build and reinforce their infrastructure, determination to develop and nurture skilled workforce, ability to respond innovatively to their customers' evolving demands, selection of the appropriate base for competition, and, finally, continuous melioration of related industries. Examining secondary data and by reviewing governmental reports, we find that UAE did not cultivate a national advantage by owning random natural resources, but rather by having a strategic intent to converge all their efforts and to deliberately build a coherent cluster in the tourism sector. The chapter also provides some limitations and recommendations for future research.

Narrative criminology has made stories respectable again, despite criminology's long-professed ties to a model of positive science. Given the field's continued scepticism about the ‘truthfulness’ of stories, narrative scholars have grappled carefully with the place and utility of lies for understanding the social worlds and individual identities of crime-involved populations. In this chapter, we draw from a study of women's pathways to incarceration in Sri Lanka, analysing the case of one study participant who shared with us many ‘tall tales’ about their life. In comparing Daya's account with those of other participants, we explore the complex relations among ‘truth,’ ‘fiction’ and ‘lies,’ and their implications for narrative criminology. We offer specific cautions about the place of verisimilitude and plausibility in narrative criminologists' efforts to make sense of offender narratives.

The questions posed for the national reporters for this International Seminar demonstrate the wide range of issues that can be included as part of an analysis of corporate social responsibility. Even limiting the discussion of corporate social responsibility to employment issues covers a broad scope, represented by the three general questions posed for this Seminar: (1) hiring policy; (2) personnel management policy; and social protection policy. Before entering this discussion of the three questions, though, it may be useful to step back to an even broader question of the meaning of the term, “corporate social responsibility” (CSR). The term, itself, carries an underlying assumption of the legitimacy of a particular economic system and its central actors; that is, corporations are central, legitimate, and functional actors in social relations within a capitalist economic structure. The concept of CSR does not question the existence of corporations and their role in maintaining a system of private ownership and control over capital. The fundamental goal of capitalism and corporations to maximize market control and profits remains intact. Policies favoring CSR, rather, seek to shape the conduct of corporations to increase socially responsible corporate practices, but do not challenge the legitimacy of corporate power. Such social responsibility may range from curbing human rights violations by corporations, such as violence against union organizers, to influencing corporations to provide decent wages to employees, to pressuring corporations to carry out business with out harming the environment. The recent attention to CSR may be understood as an expression of concern over the reduced effectiveness of individual nations to maintain the integrity of social welfare policy within current conditions of global power exercised by transnational corporations (TNC).

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