David G. Carnevale

Trust in the Public Sector: Individual and Organizational Determinants

Trust is of major theoretical and instrumental significance for the study of public organizations. Despite an extensive literature detailing the implications of trust in organizational life, there has been little systematic research on its individual or organizational determinants. This article develops and tests a model of trust formation in public organizations. Results of this research show that organizational trust is a distinct work-related attitude. Trust is based on individual demographics, psychological and individual predispositions, attitudes and beliefs, and affective responses to organizational factors. The most important determinants of trust, however, are found in the organizational climate established by supervisory relations.

Federal service 2000: Staff training and labor-management cooperation

Despite general agreement about what it takes to move workforces into the 21st Century, the Federal Government is not well-advanced in utilizing labor-management collaboration to facilitate human captital development. A content analysis of a representative sample of Federal collective bargaining agreements covering more than 1 million workers and other data are used as indicators that the national government and its unions are in the very earliest stages of advancement concerning joint determination in training program design, implementation, and evaluation. Legal constraints are identified as one possible obstacle to greater cooperation. It is concluded that the parties have strong mutual interests in greater collaboration and that programs such as Total Quality Management (TQM) may serve to establish the necessary foundation for such interactions in the future.

Predictors of Student Withdrawal from a Self-Paced Degree Program

Abstract Self-paced post-secondary studies are expected to become much more common in the near future, yet little is known about the causes of student withdrawal from such programs. This paper studies student withdrawal from an entire degree program rather than a particular course, examining both qualitative and quantitative data. We find that staff behaviors and perceived educational quality are related to the likelihood of withdrawal. Demographic characteristics (gender, full-time employment, and marital status) are unrelated to the likelihood of withdrawal. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.

Dialogue and the Administrator-Mediator

Abstract Conflict resolution is a widespread challenge in organizational life. Many common sense ideas about conflict fail to take into account communication behavior in a psychosocial context. Instead, they focus on “moves” and established techniques as the way to solve problems. This article presents a deeper conceptualization of conflict, mediation, and peacemaking that focuses upon psychosocial and existential issues embedded in both conflict and peacemaking. The central theme is that a host of human developmental variables interfere with “authentic dialogue.” These are the key for constructive and lasting dispute resolution.