Tomika W. Greer

Inspecting the Hierarchy of Life Roles A Systematic Review of Role Salience Literature

Role salience is a reflection of the importance and value that people attribute to the roles central to their lives and identities. One pivotal aspect of role salience is individual responsibilities to organizational roles. Role salience has meaningful implications for employees and organizations. Understanding and acknowledging the importance of holistic treatment of role salience has the potential to affect organizational policies, HRD practices, and, ultimately, employee learning and performance. In this study, findings from a systematic review of the role salience literature are reported. Following a search of four Human Resource Development (HRD) journals, the PsycINFO database, and the Academic Search Complete database, 67 articles and papers were identified for inclusion in the literature review. The authors argue that role salience research has implications for HRD professionals; however, role salience has largely been ignored in the HRD literature. The authors speculate on why role salience has not been common in HRD literature and ways in which role salience perspectives and related applications can benefit HRD, organizations, and individuals.

Using HRD to Support Repatriates A Framework for Creating an Organization Development Strategy for Repatriation

A systematic review of repatriation literature in human resource development (HRD) journals reveals common themes of low motivation to repatriate among expatriates and high rates of repatriation failure in organizations. In addition, there is a gap in the published research regarding organization development (OD), suggesting that there is a need to look more closely at managing the changes for individuals, teams, and organizations associated with repatriation. In this article, we addressed this literature gap by proposing a framework for creating an OD strategy for repatriation. This framework is useful for HRD instructors, trainers, and other practitioners who are tasked with creating and instructing others on how to create an OD strategy for repatriation. Such a strategy could help improve repatriation motivation and decrease repatriation failure, ultimately improving organizational performance. The proposed framework was adapted from a positive model of planned change and focuses on discovering, examining, and capitalizing on previous organizational successes to positively impact the repatriation process.

Leveraging Research to Advance Undergraduate HRD Education: An Introduction

The Problem As undergraduate human resource development (HRD) programs continue to develop in the United States, faculty face challenges related to finding tools, resources, and curriculum to effectively teach the principles and practices of the field to traditional college students. Most of the existing research regarding academic programs in HRD is based on graduate programs and is, therefore, less attentive to the potential of undergraduate programs as a viable pathway to the HRD profession. Little scholarship exists to address this important, pressing, and timely issue. The Solution This issue of Advances in Developing Human Resources addresses the gap in knowledge regarding better practices for teaching and learning in undergraduate HRD programs and contains the first collection of focused examinations of HRD undergraduate students, programs, and experiences. This collection of articles gives direction for building undergraduate HRD curricula and enhancing its relevance for traditional college students, identifies relevant competencies for undergraduate HRD programs, and provides insight into alumni perspectives of the value of an undergraduate degree in HRD. The Stakeholders The primary audience is HRD faculty, scholars, and scholar-practitioners who engage with undergraduate students or hope to in the future. Secondary audiences include human resource management (HRM), management, adult educators, higher education administrators, career counselors, and other professionals who are involved with enhancing the extent to which undergraduate students and new graduates are equipped to make meaningful contributions to organizations.

Beyond the “Ideal” Worker: Including Men in Work–Family Discussions

Work-family literature has historically been heavily focused on the experiences of married, white mothers. Recent efforts have been undertaken to correct for the omission of more diverse populations in the work-family literature. This chapter aims to summarize the current knowledge of men’s experiences at the work-family interface. Specifically, a review of literature is presented to clarify what is known about men’s work-family conflict and work-family enrichment and the theoretical frameworks for understanding men’s work-family experiences. Gaps in the literature are highlighted. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Furthermore, this chapter offers alternative perspectives that challenge the traditional family structure of a male breadwinner who is partnered with a woman who is focused on children and the home. The “ideal worker” is deconstructed, forming a basis for the argument that men encounter work-family issues and warrant more attention in work-family research. Suggestions for future research streams are included.

The Value of an Undergraduate HRD Degree: An Exploratory Investigation of Perceived Employability and Career Success:

The Problem Undergraduate human resource development (HRD) programs are becoming increasingly popular. However, there is little research available regarding the outcomes of the alumni of these programs and the value that they attribute to their undergraduate HRD degree. The Solution In this exploratory study, a survey was used to assess the value of an undergraduate HRD education among graduates of an undergraduate HRD program. Perceived employability and subjective career success were used as measures to assess the value of an undergraduate HRD degree from the perspective of alumni from an undergraduate HRD program. Academic achievement was also considered for the possibility of impacting the perceived value of the degree. Descriptive statistics are used to report the findings related to perceived employability and subjective career success. The Stakeholders The results of this study are useful to undergraduate HRD program administrators and alumni who are interested in the career outcomes of undergraduate HRD students in the first few years following their graduation. These administrators and alumni can use the results to market and describe the value of an undergraduate degree in HRD. An additional stakeholder group includes potential students who may seek clarification on the experiences of graduates of the undergraduate HRD programs that the potential students may be considering.

Career Development for Women Veterans: Facilitating Successful Transitions From Military Service to Civilian Employment

The Problem Women veterans suffer from higher unemployment rates than their male counterparts. This is especially true among women veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although scholars and practitioners recognize the disparity in employment between men veterans and women veterans, there has been little attention given to addressing this gap to improve the employment situation for women veterans. Furthermore, many of the existing policies and programs designed to assist veterans with civilian employment pursuits are targeted toward men veterans and have proven to be less effective for enhancing employability of women veterans. This is a critical HRD issue due to HRD’s interest in career development and the role of HRD professionals in assisting more women veterans in gaining civilian employment. The Solution Toward a remedy for improving unemployment rates for women veterans, this article contains a review of literature focused on exploring barriers to employment among women veterans and strategies for overcoming these barriers. Within this study, the specific needs of women veterans are explored in relation to their employability. Ultimately, this article highlights practical solutions in accordance with transition theory to the growing problem of unemployment among women veterans. These solutions are useful for HRD professionals to assist with successful transitions to civilian employment for women veterans. The Stakeholders This article will be of interest to HRD scholars and practitioners who are concerned with the well-being and employability of women veterans. The information contained in this article will be helpful to counselors and other professionals who are assisting women veterans in their transition to the civilian workforce.

Employed Mother Stereotypes and Linkages to Work-Family Conflict and Enrichment

Social psychological theories were used to explain stereotypes of mothers in the workplace. Further, the extent to which mothers’ harbor these negative stereotypes and perceive that their managers agree with such stereotypes was explored. Survey participants reported their level of agreement with the stereotypes that employed mothers are incompetent employees, inflexible employees, not committed to their jobs, and require special accommodations compared to other groups of employees. Data were collected from 680 women. ANOVA results revealed that the non-mothers reported higher agreement with the stereotype statements than mothers. Correlations showed significant relationships between agreement with the stereotypes and increased work-family conflict. Agreement with the stereotypes was also negatively related to work-family enrichment. Regression analyses also revealed that (dis)agreement with these stereotypes predict whether or not working mothers believe they are getting assigned to important projects and tasks. The chapter concludes with suggestions for reducing the prevalence of negative stereotypes of working mothers. Future research opportunities include clarifying relationships between stereotypes of working mothers and outcomes of interest by considering demographic variables, life/career stages, and the impact of stereotype threat.