Business Commons^™

Leadership Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is leadership training?

Leadership training is a broad term with no universal definition. For the purposes of this review, it refers to “programs that have been systematically designed to enhance leader knowledge, skills, abilities, and other components” and it includes “all forms of leader, managerial, and supervisory training/development programs and/or workshops” (Lacerenza et al., 2017, p. 1687). As with all training, leadership training can vary in many ways. Below are some of the more common aspects that have been empirically evaluated:

Needs analysis: whether a systematic process was used to identify training needs and design the training accordingly

Content: …

Fall #1 Meeting: September 10th, 2021

Golf Management Program: Publications

Fall #1 Meeting: September 10th, 2021

PGM Student Club, PGA Golf Management, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Nebraska Innovation Studio Celebrating Marked Growth, Deann Gayman

Nebraska Innovation Studio

Since Nebraska Innovation Studio (https://innovationstudio.unl.edu/) opened its doors in 2015, the makerspace has continued to retool and expand its offerings, becoming one of the best facilities of its kind in the nation.

A re-opening event is announced in this news released, planned for September 16, 2021.

Conversational Style In Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is conversational style?

Conversational style refers to a combination of stylistic strategies to personalize instructional text (oral or written) for learners. These include “the use of first and second rather than third person, directly addressing the reader, revealing [the author’s] personal beliefs, and/or using polite forms of address” (Ginns et al., 2013, p. 452). The following excerpts illustrate such styles:

“During inhaling, the [your] diaphragm moves down creating more space for the [your] lungs” (Mayer et al., 2004)

“Let me tell you what happens when lightning forms” (vs. just the scientific description; Moreno & Mayer, 2000)

“You are about …

Addressing Work-Related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Implementation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The Implementation Team

The QIC-WD worked with Nebraska Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to establish an implementation team to lead the development and implementation of their intervention to address secondary traumatic stress. The implementation team was called the Nebraska Workforce Project Team. It included a representative from each of the five geographic regions of the state (known as a Service Areas), a representative from each staff level (worker, supervisor, administrator), the Site Implementation Manager (SIM), the Data Coordinator, sponsors (the DCFS director and Human Resources [HR] director), and three members of the QIC-WD (representing expertise in workforce, implementation, …

Organizational Change Process Milwaukee - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Division of Milwaukee Child Protective Services (DMCPS) to determine if an Organizational Change Process intervention (Availability Responsiveness Continuity or ARC) was effective in improving workforce and child welfare outcomes.

Research Questions

Process Evaluation

1. Did the ARC purveyor follow the training curriculum with fidelity and quality delivery?
2. Did the ARC Team Leaders follow the ARC implementation model with fidelity and quality?
3. Were participants satisfied with the quality of leadership, training, and group dynamics?
4. Did participants learn the required concepts and skills?
5. What were the mediators of fidelity and training outcomes?
6. Did …

Data Segmentation (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Data segmentation is the process of breaking down “big” data into smaller, more meaningful groups, called segments. In the case of workforce data, each segment represents a group of people with similar characteristics, either that pertain to them as an individual (e.g., gender, race, educational background) or to their connection to the organization (e.g., their job title, supervisor, or work schedule).

There are a variety of ways to “slice and dice” your data into meaningful groups. Some possibilities are listed below. The squares represent the unit of categorization (e.g., agency structure), and dashed green squares represent the data segments (e.g., …

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Implementation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The Implementation Team The QIC-WD worked with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), through the Office of Families and Children (OFC), to establish an implementation team to lead the development and implementation of their supportive supervision and resiliency intervention. After recruiting nine counties to participate in the QIC-WD project, the Workforce Implementation Team (WIT) initially was composed of representatives from the nine public children services agencies including administrators, managers, and human resources staff, the Site Implementation Manager (SIM), the Data Coordinator, OFC leadership, and three members of the QIC-WD (representing expertise in workforce, implementation, and evaluation). The …

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to determine if a Supportive Supervision and Resiliency intervention, known as Coach Ohio, was effective in improving workforce and child welfare outcomes. Research Questions The site-level evaluation for Ohio was designed to understand implementation of and outcomes related to the Coach Ohio intervention and its component parts: (1) the ACCWIC Coaching Model for managers and supervisors to introduce the key principles of supportive supervision and (2) Resilience Alliance (RA) groups for supervisor and frontline workers to enhance coping in the face of exposure …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: August 25, 2021, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The LEI-N fell by 0.17% during July 2021, the first decline in ten months. The decline in the leading indicator, which is designed to predict economic activity six months in the future, suggests that economic growth will slow in Nebraska during the first months of 2022. Four components of the leading indicator worsened during July. Building permits for single-family homes declined while there was a small drop in manufacturing hours-worked. Initial claims for unemployment insurance and the value of the U.S. dollar also rose during July. A rising U.S. dollar is challenging for Nebraska businesses, which compete in international markets. …

Linking Human Resources And Child Welfare Data (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

When examining workforce data, it can be valuable to capitalize on data from a variety of systems, such as various human resources (HR) databases, learning management systems, and child welfare information systems. Each can be useful on their own, but additional information can be learned when different types of data are connected. For example, applicant information may be stored in a database that is separate from other HR data on those hired, and there is value in looking at the connections between applicant data and later aspects of employment.

Data linkage involves pairing observations from two or more data files …

Evaluating The Impact Of Covid-19 On Nebraska Land Auctions And Implications For Future Farm Real Estate Sales In 2021, Jim Jansen, Jeffrey Stokes

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey and Report 2020-2021 provides insight into recent trends on the market value of agricultural land and cash rental rates across the state. Each year, the special feature section from this report covers topics on new or emerging issues related to the agricultural land industry in Nebraska. These topics reflect interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Reports. The special feature section in 2021 evaluates the effects of COVID-19 on Nebraska land auctions over the prior year and implications for this transaction method involving future agricultural …

Workforce Metrics Using Child Welfare Data, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Workforce metrics that can be constructed from child welfare data fall into three categories: caseload/workload, case continuity, and worker- and unit-level variability.

Caseload/Workload Metrics

Caseload metrics can help to

• Assess compliance with caseload standards (e.g., policy, statute)
• Describe and inform case assignment decisions
• Describe and address the work burden experienced by staff
• Describe and address inequities in caseloads among workers
• Inform workforce planning or staffing decisions
• Monitor caseloads to assess policy or practices intended to affect caseloads

Caseload metrics are among the most commonly used workforce metrics that can typically be obtained from child welfare data. These metrics are usually …

Workplace Ostracism, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is workplace ostracism?

Workplace ostracism is “the extent to which an individual perceives that he or she is ignored or excluded by others at work” (Ferris et al., 2008, p. 1348). The most popular measure is the 10item Workplace Ostracism Scale (Ferris et al., 2008). Example items include “others avoided you at work,” “others refused to talk to you at work,” and “others at work shut you out of the conversation.”

Why is workplace ostracism important?

Ostracism in the workplace is important because it is associated with an array of job attitudes, stress indicators, and behaviors. Specifically, ostracism is …

Secondary Traumatic Stress, Burnout And Resilience In The Child Welfare Workforce: Early Results From Nebraska’S Randomized Controlled Trial Of Resilience Alliance, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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A 2018 needs assessment indicated that more than 50% of the child welfare workforce in Nebraska was experiencing elevated secondary traumatic stress (STS). STS refers to the experience of people – generally professionals– who are exposed to others’ traumatic events as part of their work. As a result of this exposure, these professionals can develop their own traumatic symptoms and reactions such as sleeplessness and anxiety. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in partnership with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) implemented CFS Strong, a multi-phased workforce intervention …

Workload, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is workload?

There is no one, universally accepted definition of workload. A broad definition is that it is “an all-encompassing term that includes any variable reflecting the amount or difficulty of one’s work” (Bowling & Kirkendall, 2012, p. 222). Quantitative workload is the label for the amount of work done, and qualitative workload is the label for the difficulty of work (Bowling & Kirkendall, 2012). Further, there is a distinction between mental and physical workload and between objective and perceived workload (Bowling & Kirkendall, 2012). A variety of approaches have been used to measure objective workload. A common one …

Frontline Job Redesign Louisiana - Intervention Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Child Welfare Division (CWD), in collaboration with the QIC-WD, implemented a frontline job redesign as its intervention. (For more information see Intervention Background.) An implementation team, including QIC-WD representatives, CWD leadership, child welfare staff from all levels of practice, and human resources and civil service representatives undertook development of the job redesign. Development of the intervention was guided by the following principles:

• children and families are the center and focus of the practice,
• a dual focus on prevention and permanency, requiring increased knowledge and skills in providing both parents and …

Addressing Work-Related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Research Questions

The site-level evaluation for Nebraska was designed to understand implementation of and outcomes related to CFS Strong and its component parts, including Resilience Alliance (RA), Peer Support Groups (PSG) and Restoring Resiliency Response© (RRR). Relationships among intervention components, outputs, and outcomes were mapped out in Nebraska’s logic model. Initial research questions of interest included how much participants were satisfied with the RA, PSG, and RRR sessions they attended. Furthermore, for RA, the evaluation measured how much facilitators adhered to the manualized RA program, whether group dynamics (e.g., engagement and conflict) were positive or negative, and how …

Impacts Of Crop Insurance And Intra-Season Hedging On Long-Run Net Income Risk, Kara Zimmerman

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Each year producers must make risk management decisions early in the growing season when many variables are unknown. In this thesis we create an empirical model utilizing thirty years (1989-2018) of historical yield, cost, and daily price series data, to determine the optimal risk management strategy of crop insurance and an intra-season marketing plan that will both minimize net income risk and maximize average net income. The empirical model is taken a step further to include an out-of-sample year in order to test the robustness of empirical results to financially devastating events that have never been seen. We test the …

Frontline Job Redesign Louisiana - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Louisiana Department of Children and Families to determine if a Job Redesign was effective in improving workforce and child welfare outcomes.

Research Questions

A key research question concerned the extent to which the job redesign reduced the amount of time caseworkers spent on administrative tasks and increased time spent on clinical work with children and families. The QIC-WD also tested questions related to the expected effects of the redesign on workers’ perceptions of their job complexity, role overload, and work-life balance, and how these perceptions relate to job satisfaction, case …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Intervention Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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A Competency-based Personnel Selection process was the intervention designed as part of the QIC-WD project to address inconsistencies in hiring and to identify candidates with the desired competencies to be hired as Child Welfare Specialist (CWS) I/II with Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) (for more information see the Site Overview). The Competency-based Personnel Selection process is a standardized hiring procedure that includes a structured interview with behaviorally anchored rating scales, a typing assessment, and a writing assessment. Additionally, research was conducted on a set of academic and commercial hiring assessments to determine how well these measures of personality, cognitive skills, …

Onboarding Program Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians - Evaluation Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Family Safety Program (EBCI FSP) to determine if an Onboarding intervention was effective in improving workforce outcomes.

Research Questions

The evaluation of the newly developed onboarding program for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Family Safety Program (EBCI FSP) was designed to understand both implementation and early outcomes. Examples of primary implementation questions from the new employee’s perspective included:

• To what degree was the new employee’s workspace ready on their first day?
• Did the new employee have individual meetings with their supervisor in weeks 1-5? …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: July 28, 2021, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The LEI-N rose by 1.17% during June 2021, the ninth consecutive monthly increase. Steady improvement in the leading indicator implies that economic growth will be strong in Nebraska during the second half of 2021. Three components of the leading indicator rose during June. Business expectations, airline passenger counts, and initial claims for unemployment insurance all showed improvement. Specifically, respondents to the June Survey of Nebraska Business reported plans to increase sales and employment in the state over the next six months. Airline passenger enplanements rose sharply as the industry moved closer to pre-pandemic levels of activity. Initial claims for unemployment …

Organizational Constraints, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are organizational constraints?

Organizational constraints are work conditions that interfere with an employee’s motivation or ability to perform (Spector & Jex, 1998). Though the overall definition sounds quite broad, the assessment focuses on 11 specific types of constraints: inadequate training, incorrect instruction, lack of necessary information about what to do or how to do it, poor equipment or supplies, lack of equipment or supplies, organizational rules and procedures, conflicting job demands, other employees, the supervisor, inadequate help from others, and interruptions by other people (Spector & Jex, 1998). Respondents indicate how frequently these factors make it difficult or impossible …

Supportive Supervision And Resilience Alliance To Address Secondary Trauma In Ohio: Preliminary Findings On Impact, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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In early 2018, as part of a needs assessment process, the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) conducted surveys with 588 Ohio child welfare workers across nine counties to assess organizational culture and climate (OCC), and secondary traumatic stress (STS). The results found that the organizational culture and climate across all participating counties was above average in rigidity and resistance, and below average in engagement. In addition, 53% of respondents experienced elevated levels of STS symptoms. STS can mimic the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Bride, 2007) including nightmares, sleep disruption, avoidance, and irritability. STS in child welfare has …

Cultural Intelligence, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is cultural intelligence?

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is “a person’s adaptation to new cultural settings and capability to deal effectively with other people with whom the person does not share a common cultural background and understanding” (Earley & Ang, 2003, p. 34). Note that this is about general capabilities that cut across different cultures, rather than effectiveness in a specific culture (Ang et al., 2015). Though this definition sounds like it includes all types of intercultural interactions, the focus is a bit more limited—work settings and situations that involve differences in race, ethnicity, and nationality, either within or across countries. …

Addressing Work-Related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Intervention Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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CFS Strong–Building a Resilient Workforce (known as CFS Strong) was the intervention designed as part of the QIC-WD project to address secondary traumatic stress (STS) among child welfare workers and supervisors in Nebraska’s Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) agency (for more information see the Site Overview). CFS Strong included multiple components:

• Resilience Alliance (RA), developed by the New York City Administration of Children’s Services-New York University Children’s Trauma Institute, to create a better and healthier work environment, and to help staff develop skills and behaviors that promote their physical and psychological well-being, thereby putting them in the …

Onboarding Program Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians - Site Intervention Logic Model, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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four main components: inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. Collectively, these demonstrate the resources and actions required to implement the program, as well as the associated result or changes anticipated through implementation of the program. The hypothesized relationships are represented by the pathways connecting the listed activities and anticipated outcomes. For more information see Site Overview.

Communication Is Key To Success, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Research on organizational communication describes a connection between poor communication, negative attitudes towards the workplace, and decreased worker satisfaction. Conversely, in an environment where communication is valued by management, staff can be encouraged to participate in practice and policy change. Too often new initiatives are announced and then fade away. Clear lines of communication, involving varying levels of staff and using a variety of methods, are key to gaining staff buy-in and keeping workers informed of initiative progress.

The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) is working with eight jurisdictions to develop and test promising workforce interventions. Effective communication …

Weather Impacts The Agricultural Production Efficiency Of Wheat: The Importance Of Precipitation Shocks, Bowen Chen, Elliott James Dennis, Allen M. Featherstone

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Many studies have explored the determinants of technical efficiency in crop production, but fewer have examined how weather might change technical efficiency over time. We estimate weather effects on technical efficiency using data from 540 Kansas winter wheat farms from 2007/08 to 2016/17 using a panel stochastic frontier model that controls for farm-specific heterogeneity with farm fixed effects. Results show that precipitation is nonlinearly related to technical efficiency and that extreme temperature is associated with lower technical efficiency. Improving resilience to precipitation shocks is key to sustained efficient wheat production in Kansas.