High Levels Of Turnover Research Articles

Individual Differences Among Service Employees

SUMMARY To do an excellent job of managing external relationships, service firms must be prepared to do an excellent job of managing internal relationships. This effort begins with recruiting, selecting, and retaining employees who are likely to serve customers well. While service firms strive to match the knowledge, ability, and skills of potential employees to the requirements of the job, most do not have the time or the resources to implement elaborate recruitment and selection systems. This is especially true among services where relatively high turnover levels mandate that recruitment and selection processes be fast and inexpensive. To meet this challenge, managers often focus on a set of easily identifiable individual characteristics, such as experience, job tenure, age, or education that can be assessed during the time of an interview or scan of a job application. This study examines the effect of these characteristics on the attitudes and responses of service employees that are critical for the effective delivery of quality service (job satisfaction, self-efficacy, role stress, organizational commitment). The results indicate that satisfied and committed service employees tend to be older, better educated, and possess a great deal of service experience. These employees also appear to be better able to handle the stress associated with service positions. These characteristics are atypical of the service industry, where employees tend to be younger, possess relatively little experience in any one industry, and are less educated. Implications for managing the recruitment, selection, and retention of service employees are offered, as are directions for future research.

Local Labor Market Restructuring and the Employment of Welfare Recipients in Los Angeles County

Although welfare rolls have dropped considerably in recent years, most welfare recipients who find work are employed in low-wage, insecure jobs. The problem of "working poverty" is especially acute in large city-regions such as Los Angeles, where local labor market restructuring has created an expanding, low-wage economy, increasingly dependent on immigrant labor. This paper analyzes the employment outcomes of 6,931 women who completed the county's welfare-to-work program in 1996. I evaluate their earnings, labor market segmentation, and job stability. The results show that women were highly concentrated in low-wage service jobs and experienced high levels of turnover and unemployment. Many were unable to obtain employment in the formal labor market. I argue that the struggles of the working poor in a growing regional economy are explained not solely by human capital limitations, but by processes of local labor market restructuring that have contributed to widespread economic insecurity in Los Angeles County.

Emotional dissonance, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in call centre workers

The rapid rise of the service sector, and in particular the call centre industry has made the study of emotional labour increasingly important within the area of occupational stress research. Given high levels of turnover and absenteeism in the industry this article examines the emotional demands (emotional labour) of call centre work and their relationship to the job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in a sample of South Australian call centre workers (N = 98) within the theoretical frameworks of the job demand – control model, the effort – reward imbalance model, and the job demands – resources model. Qualitatively the research confirmed the central role of emotional labour variables in the experience of emotional exhaustion and satisfaction at work. Specifically the research confirmed the pre-eminence of emotional dissonance compared to a range of emotional demand variables in its potency to account for variance in emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Specifically, emotional dissonance mediated the effect of emotional labour (positive emotions) on emotional exhaustion. Furthermore emotional dissonance was found to be equal in its capacity to explain variance in the outcomes compared to the most frequently researched demand measure in the work stress literature (psychosocial demands). Finally, emotional dissonance was found to exacerbate the level of emotional exhaustion at high levels of psychosocial demands, indicating jobs combining high levels of both kinds of demands are much more risky. Future theorizing about work stress needs to account for emotional demands, dissonance in particular. Potential ways to alleviate emotional exhaustion due to emotional dissonance is to reduce other psychosocial demands, increase rewards, support and control as conceptualized in the JDR model. Ways to boost job satisfaction are to increase control, support, and rewards.

The Lazarus effect: can the dynamics of extinct species lists tell us anything about the status of biodiversity?

Lists of extinct Australian plants created over the last 20 years were examined and were shown to have high levels of turnover. In general, the lists are contracting in length and their composition changes substantially, a phenomenon we term the ‘Lazarus effect’. There is little explanation for these changes in the cryptic nature of species habits, or their distribution in remote locations. Most of the turnover is due to changes in knowledge about the species' status, and changes in taxonomy. Lists maintained in some other countries are more stable, but at the potential cost of underestimating the extent of extinction. Comparisons between jurisdictions and between lists are difficult because of different attitudes taken towards uncertainty and variation in research effort among different taxa. For any assessment that uses lists of extinct or threatened species as indicators of environmental change, we recommend that sources of bias are reduced and that uncertainties in lists are made more transparent. An important step in this process is to distinguish listing changes due to a change in status from those due to a change in knowledge about distribution, abundance and taxonomy. Assessments of environmental change based on species lists should be standardised to exclude these latter sources of variation, and take into account new assessments of previously unevaluated taxa.

The study of career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction levels of R&D personnel: the case of Taiwan

This study sets out to explore the relative gap between career development programmes and career needs, and its subsequent causal effect on job satisfaction levels among research and development (R&D) personnel. The study reveals that R&D personnel have diverse career needs at various stages of their career, and that job satisfaction levels among this group are particularly affected by the gap between career needs and career development programmes depending upon which stage of their career they have reached. It is also clear, for R&D personnel in particular, that not only is the gap between career development programmes and career needs an important determinant of job satisfaction, but that there are considerably higher turnover levels among researchers in the high-tech industry in Taiwan than the average level for industry as a whole. Thus, from a pragmatic perspective, it is of particular importance to propose effective career development programmes aimed at satisfying the career needs of R&D personnel in order to improve the level of job satisfaction in this group.

Labor's Youth Brigade

This paper utilizes archival research, in-depth interviews and par ticipant observation to analyze the founding and organizational history of the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute. The author argues that the particular way in which the institution was founded, the conflicting goals and mission of its early supporters, and genera tional and ideological clashes between Institute graduates and the larger labor movement have created conflict and, in some cases, undermined the Institute's founding goals. Additionally, the unre solved nature of these debates—as well as the larger debate regard ing commitment to organizing among Institute affiliates and the AFL-CIO—may undercut organizer success in the field and con tribute to a high level of turnover among Institute graduates.

Divergence of Opinion Surrounding Extreme Events

This paper examines the stock market performance of a large sample of new issues (IPOs and SEOs) following an extreme price movement during the first three years after the offering. Strong underperformance follows either a positive or negative (at least +/ 15%) one day return event. This poor performance cannot be explained by the Fama-French four-factor methodology, or by the generally low stock returns of growth firms. Unlike recent issuers, non-issuers report no poor performance following a similar extreme event using the four-factor methodology. The extreme event date shows very high levels of turnover, a measure of divergence of opinion. Finally, there is a strong negative linkage between higher levels of divergence of opinion and subsequent stock performance.

The Bali STD/AIDS Study

Prostitution has been an important factor in the spread of HIV infection in Asia. Interventions need to be developed to reduce the risk of transmission of sexually transmitted infections in this area. To educate female sex workers about sexually transmitted infections and assess the impact of the educational intervention. Brothel areas in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, were divided into areas of high and low program (interventional) effort. The intervention included educational sessions for sex workers, treatment of sex workers for sexually transmitted disease (STD), condom distribution, and printed information for clients of the sex workers. A high-effort area was one in which a more intensive educational intervention occurred. A clinic was available for STD treatment in both areas. Behavioral surveys and STD testing were used to evaluate the programs. Six hundred female sex workers participated in behavioral surveys and STD examinations every 6 months for four rounds of data collection. Each round, about half of the women were new to the study. A total of 1586 women participated in at least one evaluation round. Changes were evaluated in AIDS knowledge, STD knowledge, and condom use, as well as in the prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, syphilis, and Trichomonas vaginalis. Testing for HIV was conducted anonymously. Improvements were noted in the knowledge of sex workers about AIDS and STDs and in the reduction of some bacterial STDs. Women who remained in the study area for more than one round had increased knowledge of HIV infection/STDs and condom use and had reduced levels of syphilis, gonorrhea, and trichomonas infection (P < 0.01). The additional education received by women in the high-effort program area was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of syphilis. Prevalence of HIV remained low throughout the study. The high level of turnover of female sex workers contributed to the maintenance of significant levels of STDs in this population. Developers of HIV/STD prevention programs for sex workers need to consider the mobility of the sex worker population. Interventions combining behavioral and medical approaches can contribute to prevention of these diseases.

Parent Perspectives on the Roles of Paraprofessionals

This article examines parent perceptions of paraprofessional roles and employment conditions. Nineteen mothers of 23 children who received special education services in general education classrooms with support from paraprofessionals participated in focus group interviews. This exploratory study revealed that these mothers identified closely with paraprofessionals and believed that they were compassionate, dedicated people who functioned in four major roles: Connector, team member, instructor, physical caregiver/health needs provider. Participants also identified problems associated with paraprofessional employment including the lack of training, low pay, and lack of respect for the position, resulting in high levels of turnover. Respect for paraprofessionals was of particular concern to the mothers, who believed that the respect accorded to paraprofessionals reflected the respect accorded to their children.

Changes in Educational Team Membership for Students who are Deaf-Blind in General Education Classes

This study examined the changes in team membership for 18 students with deaf-blindness from 1994-95 to 1997–98. The findings highlight the many people who are involved in each student's education and the high level of turnover among professional staff from year to year. Implications for managing changes in team membership are discussed, and recommendations for future research are offered.

THE IMPACT OF ANGLO AND HISPANIC ETHNICITY, GENDER, POSITION, PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION ON TURNOVER INTENTIONS: A PATH ANALYTIC INVESTIGATION

The intention to recruit entry level accountants by public accounting firms has declined in recent years, and organization structures are changing as are the skills necessary to be a successful accountant. The problem firms are now struggling with is how to attract and retain the best candidates with long-term potential to succeed in more demanding roles. To complicate the problem, the demographics of the American workforce are changing. It is estimated that by the year 2000, 25% of the new entrants into the workforce will be immigrants, and 20% will be non-white, U.S. born. Additionally, approximately half of the entry-level professionals hired by the Big Six firms during the past 5 years have been women and this percentage is expected to increase to over 60% during the next several years. The accounting profession does not have a distinguished record of hiring minorities and women. Consequently, the problem has become: How do modern organizations attract and retain qualified individuals into accounting positions with long-term potential from a population with a heavier representation of minorities and women? The high level of turnover among professional accountants has previously stimulated considerable research and one possible explanation for turnover is personality differences. A survey was conducted to investigate the impact of Anglo and Hispanic ethnicity, gender, personality, hierarchical position and job satisfaction on the turnover intentions of a sample of accountants. The data were analyzed using path analysis. The results of the analysis indicated that no direct relationship exists between ethnicity and either personality, job satisfaction, or turnover intentions. However, while females were found to be more inclined toward a Type A personality than males, the latter were found to be more likely to hold higher positions within the firm. A direct effect, for gender, was not detected on either job satisfaction or turnover intentions. Personality was not found to directly affect turnover intentions, but the expected relationship between Type A personality and high job satisfaction was detected. Finally, individuals experiencing high job satisfaction were found to have lower turnover intentions, and those individuals at higher positions in the firm exhibited higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions than individuals at lower positions. The results suggest that other variables not identified in the study are impeding the progress of minorities and women in the accounting profession.

Adaptive pull-type production control using Kalman Filters

The purpose of this research was to design a closed-loop process control methodology for a pull-type assembly line. It will aid in meeting the required production quota and in minimizing shipping and work-in-process inventory, particularly in environments with high levels of absenteeism and turnover that directly affect work station yield rates. The adaptive pull-type process control system (APPCS) allows pull-type production, with its associated benefits, to be successfully implemented in environments with low and variable yield rates. This is accomplished by dynamically feeding back production information to adjust the number of parts that should be included in a production container. The production control methodology uses a Kalman filter that predicts the amount of pieces the first workstation must place in a production tote in order to meet the target production quota. The key to the algorithm is the weighting function, which statistically dampens the effects of going beyond or below the target production quota. The APPCS was simulated on a pull-type production line with high levels of turnover, absenteeism, and poor yield rates. The results, compared to historical data, were encouraging with future work needed on the development of a forcing function and a covariance matrix for inspection error.

Noise Trading, Delegated Portfolio Management, and Economic Welfare

We consider a model of the stock market with delegated portfolio management. All agents are rational: some trade for hedging reasons, some investors optimally contract with portfolio managers who may have stock-picking abilities, and portfolio managers trade optimally given the incentives provided by this contract. Managers try, but sometimes fail, to discover profitable trading opportunities. Although it is best not to trade in this case, their clients cannot distinguish 'actively doing nothing,' in this sense, from 'simply doing nothing.' Because of this problem: (i) some portfolio managers trade even though they have no reason to prefer one asset to another (noise trade). We also show that, (ii), the amount of such noise trade can be large compared to the amount of hedging volume. Perhaps surprisingly, (iii), noise trade may be Pareto-improving. Noise trade may be viewed as a public good. Results (i) and (ii) are compatible with observed high levels of turnover in securities markets. Result (iii) illustrates some of the possible subtleties of the welfare economics of financial markets.

Patterns of turnover in Middle and Upper Ordovician brachiopods of the eastern United States: a test of coordinated stasis

A compilation of species occurrences in a chronostratigraphic framework of depositional sequences from a 250,000 km2 area in the eastern United States is used to test for coordinated stasis in Middle and Upper Ordovician articulate brachiopods. Two rapid pulses of turnover in brachiopod species separate three periods of relatively lower turnover (ecologic-evolutionary [EE] subunits) that range from 3 to 9 m.y. in duration. Turnover within these EE subunits is characterized by high levels of percent species origination (ca. 60%) and percent species extinction (ca. 80%) and low levels of percent species persistence (&lt;10%), all of which fall outside the range reported for coordinated stasis. Turnover between EE subunits is characterized by low levels of percent species holdover and percent species carryover (ca. 10% or less) and is consistent with coordinated stasis, although turnover pulses are driven largely by pulses in either extinction or origination, and not by pulses in both, as reported for coordinated stasis. Taken together, although these data display a marked bimodality in turnover, high levels of turnover within EE subunits is inconsistent with a pattern of coordinated stasis. Turnover rates within these EE subunits are much higher than previous global estimates for Cambro-Ordovician brachiopods or Phanerozoic marine species and indicate that local extirpation and migration play a significant role in regional biodiversity dynamics. Despite the high level of turnover observed within these EE subunits, some level of ecologic stability occurs because abundant genera persist throughout entire EE subunits. Ordovician species in this study behaved relatively independently of other taxa and were not tightly integrated as suggested by the broadly overlapping taxon abundance curves, the shifting habitat preference of some taxa, the piecemeal turnover between EE subunits, and the continuous creation of new species associations due to background levels of turnover within EE subunits. Turnover within EE subunits was associated with relatively stable or only mildly fluctuating environments. Rapid turnover between EE subunits was caused by extreme perturbations to the regional or possibly global ocean-climate system.

A process model to study the impact of role variables on turnover intentions of information systems personnel

The rapid evolution and spread of information systems (IS) technology has created a major set of managerial challenges. The high level of turnover among IS professionals has necessitated the development of strategies which will allow organizations to manage the IS human resources effectively. In the literature very little attention has been paid to this area. In this paper we present a process model based on system dynamics to study the turnover problem among IS professionals.

Engineering Development: An Integrated Approach

Summary To enhance our career development program, our Denver E and P Div. undertook a project that defined both the tasks and the personal characteristics needed to be a fully productive engineer. This paper describes the project's definitional process and the resultant implementation steps. Scope In the early 1980's, our Denver E and P Div. undertook a project to design a 5- to 7-year integrated development project to design a 5- to 7-year integrated development program to help new graduates become fully productive program to help new graduates become fully productive engineers. This paper outlines the reasons for undertaking the project; describes the methodology, recommendations, and project; describes the methodology, recommendations, and results; and discusses some implications for the development of engineers. The project was undertaken to consider the questions management was asking in the early 1980's. How do we ensure that we have sufficient experienced engineers to run the business? Is it possible to develop a fully contributing engineer in 5 to 7 years? How do we let recently graduated engineers know that they are not fully qualified after 2 or 3 years of experience? Is it possible to define engineering "experience" and "maturity" ? Although today's business conditions are radically different from those of the early 1980's, these questions remain relevant. The concerns then centered on high levels of turnover, the bimodal age distribution, and the number of senior engineers expected to retire within 5 to 7 years. Today, many senior engineers have retired, and a relatively young (by historical standards) engineering work force must cope with ever-changing business conditions in times when capital is scarce and inflation will not hide mistakes. So the challenge became one of testing whether it is possible to integrate the process of developing engineers possible to integrate the process of developing engineers in such a way that productivity is improved and mistakes are reduced. This testing also had to be done in an industry full of unknowns, and where risk and high stakes are taken for granted. Structure In structuring the project, attempts were made to build from the "folk" wisdom of what is represented by way of "experience" and "maturity" by the engineers who are frequently asked the tough questions. Every organization has engineers who are respected by peers, managers, and new engineers for knowing what to do the people presidents call when they want a fast, accurate answer. If several of these experts were studied and a definition reached on the profile of the expert/superior performer, then one would know how to direct the development performer, then one would know how to direct the development process. The object was to streamline the development process. The object was to streamline the development process rather than to develop "clones." This point is process rather than to develop "clones." This point is important, because the result should be additional productivity through faster, directed growth rather than a group productivity through faster, directed growth rather than a group of identical engineers. Methodology The cornerstone of the project's methodology was to compare the superior performer with the average performer. From this knowledge, a conclusion could be drawn on where development dollars would be allocated. The second major part of the methodology was to examine not only the technical skills and knowledge of the superior performer but how the person used them. The assumption was that technical knowledge was not the primary difference between the superior performer and primary difference between the superior performer and the average performer. Rather, the big difference was the personal characteristics that the individual brought to the personal characteristics that the individual brought to the job. Such important qualities as being well prepared, looking at a project from a cost/benefit viewpoint, forward thinking, knowing where the industry experts are, thinking conceptually as well as systematically, and enthusiasm were all significant. Grouped together, these personal characteristics represent the intangibles of an excellent engineer. By looking at these intangible qualities, we could define "experience" and "maturity." A consulting group was used to develop and to implement the project. This group specializes in training-needs analyses that examine not only the job and the associated technical skills and knowledge, but also personal characteristics. The first steps were to distribute two questionnaires to all the engineers-one covering technical skills and knowledge, the other personal characteristics. Next, a statistically chosen sample of experienced engineers was interviewed in-depth. During these interviews, each engineer was asked to describe in detail specific on-the-job engineering experiences. We were not interested in perceptions, but in actual events. The consultants analyzed perceptions, but in actual events. The consultants analyzed the interview transcripts, looking for themes that differentiated between superior and average performers.

The Changing Structure of Opportunity: Recruitment and Careers in Large Law Firms

Growth and bureaucratization have begun to transform patterns of recruitment and career development in large law firms. Based on a case study of four large Chicago firms, this article examines these changes and their implications. The findings indicate that the social composition of large firms has become substantially more heterogeneous with respect to the status of law school attended, gender, and ethnoreligious background. However, data on lawyers' careers suggest that associates entering firms today face an increasingly bureaucratic organizational context marked by higher levels of turnover, earlier and more intensive specialization, decreased levels of client responsibility, and more frequent assignment to large-scale litigation. The article also addresses the dynamics of individual choice over type of work performed in firms. Lawyers initially working in litigation fields are far more likely to change fields of practice than are lawyers who begin in office practice fields, reflecting the increased tendency for firms to assign new associates to litigation as well as the alienating propensity of large-firm litigation for many associates. Paradoxically, a greater proportion of lawyers in traditionally organized, general service firms than in bureaucratically organized, specialty firms report that their choice of work was dictated by the firm. Also, somewhat surprisingly, the frequency with which firms explicitly direct lawyers into particular fields has not increased from earlier periods. The article concludes that these anomalies result from the fact that firms control the career choices of lawyers, and always have, but that the way such control is exercised varies across firms and historical periods.

Membranes of animal cells. II. The metabolism and turnover of the surface membrane.

Turnover studies of the surface membrane and of cell particulate matter of L cells in tissue culture in logarithmic and plateau phase of growth have been made. The rate of incorporation of isotope into these fractions and the rate of fall of specific activities of labeled L-cell fractions have been observed. The following interpretation of the data appears most likely although other interpretations are possible. Growing and nongrowing cells synthesize approximately similar amounts of surface membrane and particulate material. In the growing cell the material is incorporated with net increases in substance. There is relatively little turnover. In the nongrowing cell newly synthesized material is incorporated, but a corresponding amount of material is eliminated so that there is turnover without net increase of substance. Our results suggest that there is no gross differential turnover between the protein, lipid, and carbohydrate of the surface membrane under the conditions of our experiments. Metabolic inhibitors or omission of amino acids in the culture medium lead to a decrease in synthesis of surface membrane and cell particulates and cause an equivalent decrease in the rate of degradation of surface membrane and of particulates; therefore the synthetic and degradative aspects of turnover appear to be coupled. As cultures of nongrowing cells in suspension or on a glass surface age, their synthetic and turnover capacities diminish. Our results suggest that the cell may exist in a nongrowing state with a level of synthesis similar to that of a growing cell. It can exist in this state with a high level of turnover.