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We implemented research-based learning (RBL) as an alternative to traditional frontal classroom lectures and laboratory sessions to impart knowledge on the emerging topic of microplastics in soil to students. The RBL module aimed at studying how microplastics (MPs) affect soil processes. We designed low-cost, small-scale and simple experiments for master's students in Environmental Engineering at the Hamburg University of Technology. Students reported a clear understanding of concepts underlined by their presentation of the results and enthusiasm towards future exploration for their master's or doctoral projects evidenced by a number of students carrying out research projects in the same field after finishing the module. The experiments were consequently published as an online learning module with the Hamburg Open Online University, to make them accessible for other students. The recent push in the education sector to include innovative teaching and learning methodologies offers new opportunities for RBL that are practical and replicable learning experiences that foster students' research and problem-solving skills in areas of chemical, soil physics and environmental engineering fields.

Purpose: As a part of a larger study, the purpose of this study was to explore the learning outcomes for the "manager as coach" when exemplary managers are engaged in coaching their respective employees. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative, multi-case study using an adaptation of the critical incident technique (CIT) and semistructured interviews was employed with 12 managers and their respective direct reports totaling 24 interviews. Content and constant comparative analyses were used to analyze the data. Findings: A total of five themes and 19 subthemes were identified regarding managers' learning outcomes from managers' perspectives. From the perspectives of their employees as coachees regarding their managers' learning outcomes, one theme with three subthemes emerged. Originality/value: Limited empirical research has explored the developmental outcomes for managers who serve as coaches for their employees. This study examined the outcomes associated with managerial coaching from both the perspectives of the managers who coach and their direct reports. The findings of this research provide more insight into the benefits managers derive from coaching their employees.

Purpose: The critical incident technique (CIT) is widely used in many disciplines; however, scholars have acknowledged challenges associated with analyzing qualitative data when using this technique. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to address the data analysis issues that have been raised by introducing some different contemporary ways of analyzing qualitative critical incident data drawn from recent dissertations conducted in the human resource development (HRD) field. Design/methodology/approach: This article describes and illustrates different contemporary qualitative re-storying and cross-incident analysis approaches with examples drawn from previously and recently conducted qualitative HRD dissertations that have used the CIT. Findings: Qualitative CIT analysis comprises two processes--re-storying and cross-incident analysis. The narrative inquiry-based re-storying approaches the authors illustrate include poetic narrative and dramatic emplotting. The analytical approaches we illustrate for cross-incident analysis include thematic assertion, grounded theory, and post-structural analysis/assemblages. The use of the aforementioned approaches offers researchers contemporary tools that can deepen meaning and understanding of qualitative CIT data, which address challenges that have been acknowledged regarding the difficulty of analyzing CIT data. Research limitations/implications: The different contemporary qualitative approaches that we have introduced and illustrated in this study provide researchers using the CIT with additional tools to address the challenges of analyzing qualitative CIT data, specifically with regard to data reduction of lengthy narrative transcripts through re-storying as well as cross-incident analyses that can substantially deepen meaning, as well as build new theory and problematize the data through existing theory. Practical implications: A strength of the CIT is its focus on actual events that have occurred from which reasoning, behaviors, and decision-making can be examined to develop more informed practices. Originality/value: The CIT is a very popular and flexible method for collecting data that is widely used in many disciplines. However, data analysis can be especially difficult given the volume of narrative qualitative data that can result from data collection. This paper describes and illustrates different contemporary approaches analyzing qualitative CIT data, specifically the processes of re-storying and cross-incident analysis, to address these concerns in the literature as well as to enhance and further evolve the use of the CIT method.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to apply social exchange and organizational support theories to examine the relationship between mid-level strategic enrollment managers' perceptions of managerial coaching behaviors enacted by their senior managers and their own reported job engagement, as mediated by perceived organizational support (POS) within the US higher education context. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative survey-based half-longitudinal design, which used the latent marker variable technique, was conducted with a sponsoring professional organization in the strategic enrollment management (SEM) field in the USA. A total of 301 usable surveys were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings: The results of this study indicate that SEM managers' job engagement and the perceived managerial coaching behaviors provided to them by their senior managers were positively correlated, and that POS fully mediated this relationship. These findings highlight how coaching behaviors may allow managers to elicit positive emotional responses and, by fostering enhanced POS, ultimately enhance job engagement among their team members. Originality/value: This study addresses several calls for research on managerial coaching, job engagement and POS in an under-examined higher education context within the human resource development field.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper and the contribution to this special issue is to build on Kim and Watkins' (2018) recent finding that 'leaders mentor and coach those they lead' is the item in the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) that is most highly-correlated with performance. Given the criticality of providing strategic leadership for learning and, more specifically, the consistent associations between leaders who mentor and coach and work-related performance outcomes, a better understanding of the associations between the learning organization concept and managerial coaching is warranted. Watkins and Kim (2018, p. 22) contend that 'future directions for learning organization research include a search for the elusive interventions that would create a learning organization'. In response to this call for research, a research agenda for assessing managerial coaching as a learning organization (LO) intervention is proposed. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper briefly reviews literature on the learning organization and the DLOQ instrument, followed by a more in-depth review of the managerial coaching literature and suggestions for how future research could be conducted that more closely integrates these two concepts. Findings: Existing literature suggests that to 'provide strategic leadership for learning', a dimension in the DLOQ, is one of the most pivotal dimensions for creating learning cultures that build learning organizations. Specifically, an item within this dimension, 'leaders who mentor and coach' has been recently identified as one of the most critical aspects associated with strategic leadership for learning. Originality/value: The extant managerial coaching literature offers a solid foundation for more closely integrating and mainstreaming the developmental intervention of managerial coaching into learning organizations. Directions for future research that identifies fine-grained perspectives of the discrete facets of managerial coaching in learning organization contexts are suggested.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine a unique application of mega-events theory in a US health-care organization. The organization hosted 50 virtual listening calls (LCs) in the summer of 2020 to understand and to hear their employees' voices regarding their emotions about issues of racial injustice and to solicit their ideas for creating a more inclusive workplace. Design/methodology/approach: This study used an illustrative, descriptive qualitative design. Using Saldaña's (2015) structural coding approach, data from 388 employees who voluntarily participated in 50 virtual LCs were analyzed. Findings: A total of eight themes with respective subthemes emerged regarding employees' range of emotions and six themes emerged regarding employees' specific suggestions for creating a more diverse and inclusive organization. This research suggests that hosting these open, virtual LCs enabled a space for employees to authentically voice their perspectives, learn from each other and afforded a powerful learning opportunity for organizational leaders to inform their diversity and inclusion practices. Originality/value: This study represents a unique application of mega-events theory, focuses on pivotal events in the summer of 2020 that have been nationally and globally impactful and demonstrates the power of listening and learning to inform taking action in a health-care organization already constrained with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite growing utilization of scholarly metrics to assess faculty research output, quality, impact, and productivity, the marketing discipline has yet to develop a comprehensive, generalizable benchmark for assessing scholar productivity. This study builds on and extends previous productivity benchmark studies by examining a considerably larger and more representative sample of over 1,000 marketing scholars from U.S. research-intensive schools and by assessing marketing scholar productivity over complete careers rather than for specific periods of time. Consistent with the objectives of benchmarking, the study findings enable educational administrators and faculty themselves to see exactly where a particular marketing scholar's productivity falls within the range of scores.

Examples of informal and incidental learning, including an extended discussion of informal learning in flight instruction, are used to illustrate the model of informal and incidental learning in practice, as well as the nonlinear nature of this learning.

The main goal of this study was to investigate the influence of an established school programme with a high amount of physical education on visual-spatial ability in a secondary school. One hundred and forty-four adolescents, 69 from sport classes and 75 from regular classes, solved a cognitive processing speed task and a mental rotation task. The results reflect a better cognitive processing speed of the boys in the sports classes compared to regular classes but no differences for girls. Concerning the mental rotation performance, we found a significantly better mental rotation performance for boys and girls in the sports classes compared to regular classes due to an increased number of items worked on. Supposedly, motor expertise facilitates mental rotation performance by promoting a faster editing of the task. The benefits of sport classes in normal high school settings have to be investigated in further studies considering the effect on academic performance.

Like many districts across the United States, Galveston, Texas, is focused on building a culture of excellence. The district is a study in contrasts. On one hand, it is laced with opulent vacation homes and resort hotels used by out-of-town owners. On the other, the median household income level is $28,895, with 22% of the population living below the poverty level. Of the 7,000 students enrolled in the Galveston Independent School District, 74% are economically disadvantaged and 74% are minority. More than one-fourth (26.5%) of families speak a language other than English, primarily Spanish. One challenge the district faces is a high mobility rate among its teachers, as the district human resource team seeks educators to "come teach at the beach." Attracting and retaining educators are among the district's highest priorities. The author discusses steps that have been taken to restructure the school system, balance the mobility rate, and make a shift in professional learning.

This article introduces the concept of qualitative case study research as empirical inquiry. It defines and distinguishes what a case study is, the purposes, intentions, and types of case studies. It then describes how to determine if a qualitative case study is the preferred approach for conducting research. It overviews the essential steps in designing qualitative case study research, including the role of literature and theory, approaches for collecting data and analyzing it, as well as how to write up and present case study findings. It articulates how to avoid common pitfalls when engaging in qualitative case study research and concludes with the strengths and limitations associated with this form of empirical inquiry.

Purpose: There is an ongoing shortage of talented supply chain managers with the necessary skills and business-related competencies to manage increasingly complex and strategically important supply chain processes. The purpose of this paper is to propose that organizations can create and maintain competitive advantage by leveraging the expertise of human resource development (HRD) professionals to provide a range of developmental and change-oriented interventions related to critical supply chain manager skill sets that are currently in short supply. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper. Findings: This is a conceptual paper. Practical implications: Supply chain management (SCM) decisions significantly influence financial performance since firms expend up to 75 percent of their revenue on supply chain activities. HRD professionals' intervention capabilities in training and development, organizational development and change management uniquely equip them to disseminate a deeper and broader understanding of the SCM concept within organizations, to help prioritize the development of supply chain managers and to address the complex interpersonal issues associated with helping people to work together collaboratively to foster operational innovation and make increasingly complex supply chain processes function effectively. Originality/value: The requisite skill sets for effective supply chain managers are described, linkages between HRD and SCM are highlighted, and areas of HRD professionals' expertise that can be exploited to better develop supply chain managers' skill sets and competencies are considered.

Coaching has received considerable attention in recent years as the responsibility for employees' learning and development has been increasingly devolved to line managers. Yet there exists little published empirical research that measures specific coaching behaviors of line managers or examines the linkages between line managers' coaching behavior and employee performance. This survey study integrates the perceptions of supervisors and their respective employees to examine supervisory coaching behavior in an industrial context and to assess its association with employee job satisfaction and performance. Findings suggest that supervisory coaching behavior is positively associated with employees' job satisfaction and performance. Implications for research and practice are presented. (Contains 1 figure and 6 tables.)

Reports on a study of 208 manufacturing managers that found a positive correlation between the seven dimensions of learning organizations and four measures of business financial performance. "Invited Reaction" by Timothy T. Baldwin and Camden C. Danielson critiques the use of key respondent perceptions and bottom-line performance. (Contains 61 references.) (SK)

Assess three alternative approaches to interdepartmental integration: the interaction view; the collaboration view; and the combination view, which integrates interaction and collaboration. Presents results of a survey of functional managers that show interaction and collaboration positively associated with performance improvement and suggests that collaboration mediates the relationship between interaction and performance. (Author/LRW)

Purpose: This study aims to examine the process of informal learning of aviation instructors. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative instrumental case study design was used for this study. In-depth, multiple semi-structured interviews and document review were the primary approaches to data collection and the data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis. The Marsick, Watkins, Callahan, and Volpe reconceptualized model of informal and incidental learning underpinned this study. Findings: Findings support prior research on the catalysts, strategies, and lessons learned that are associated with informal learning. However, a key finding of this study was capturing the complexity of the informal learning process for aviation instructors as they faced the daily challenges associated with facilitating their students' learning which served as the catalyst for their learning. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study are not intended to be generalizable to populations beyond this specific study due to limitations associated with the site selection, purposeful sample selection criteria, and sample size. Additionally, the unique nature of the aviation field and temporal considerations prevent the generalizability of the results of this study. Originality/value: Despite the growing base of research on informal learning, calls for research that continues to examine how certain characteristics of workers and their work environment influence informal learning, and research that provides more holistic understandings of this type of learning have been requested. This research responds to these calls by exploring the process of informal learning among aviation instructors. The catalysts for informal learning, the strategies used, and lessons learned are identified. More importantly, unlike previous research, the complexity of the process of informal learning is captured and illustrated as a cyclical, non-linear, non-sequential process that is highly intertwined with teaching in this aviation context. The careful documentation of the actual learning process provides thick, rich data to deepen our understanding of what this kind of learning actually looks like. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

Purpose: The concept of managers assuming developmental roles such as coaches and learning facilitators has received considerable attention in recent years. Yet, despite the growing body of expert opinion that suggests that coaching is an essential core activity of everyday management and leadership, the literature base remains largely atheoretical and devoid of empirical research. While there is some consensus about what effective coaching looks like, little if any empirical research has examined ineffective coaching behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to compare the empirical findings from three separately conducted studies to derive a comprehensive understanding of the ineffective behaviours associated with managerial coaching. Design/methodology/approach: The current study adopted a cross-national "etic" methodology based on the empirical findings generated by three previously conducted and purposefully selected "emic" studies. Drawing on Berry's and Lyons and Chryssochoous' "emic-etic" approach and cross-cultural comparisons, the researchers employed Guba and Lincoln's file card approach to analyze and compare the three behavioral datasets of the previously conducted studies. Findings: The findings from this cross-national comparative "etic" study revealed that the vast majority of ineffective coaching behaviours previously identified in the emic studies were held in common with each other. The predominant ineffective behaviours included using an autocratic, directive, controlling or dictatorial style, ineffective communication and dissemination of information, and inappropriate behaviours and approaches to working with employees. Of the 17 ineffective behaviours that were compared only three were not held in common. Research limitations/implications: Limitations associated with this cross-national study included minor variations in the use of data collection approaches and samples of managers in the previously conducted emic studies. Practical implications: The ineffective managerial coaching behaviours derived from the cross-national comparisons can be integrated as diagnostic tools into coaching training programmes and management and leadership development programmes to improve the practice of managerial coaching. They can also be used to increase managers' awareness of the behaviours that impede their coaching interventions with their respective employees. Originality/value: The literature base on coaching in general and managerial coaching in particular has been criticized for not being research-informed and evidence-based, but rather predominantly practice-driven and guru-led. The findings from the current cross-national etic study not only add to a sparse base of empirical research on managerial coaching, but also illuminate an underdeveloped area, namely that of ineffective managerial coaching practice. Furthermore, the findings provide a foundation on which to compare and contrast future empirical research that may be conducted on managerial coaching behaviours. (Contains 6 tables.)

Purpose: Interest and research on workplace learning has intensified in recent years, however, research on assessing how employees facilitate each other's learning through everyday work experiences and how organizational contextual factors promote or impede the facilitation of others' learning at work is underdeveloped. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore how employees facilitate others' learning and the contextual factors that influence employees' facilitation of others' learning in a workplace setting. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study approach was selected for this study. An adaptation of the critical incident technique and semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 employees representing various functional areas within a learning-oriented consumer-focused manufacturer. Content analysis and constant comparative analysis were the approaches used to analyze the data. Findings: Several findings emerged that describe the catalysts for employees' facilitating others' learning, the behaviors that facilitators engaged to facilitate others' learning, and the perceived outcomes from facilitating learning. Several positive and negative organizational contextual factors emerged that influence the facilitation of others' learning. Specifically, the role of learning-committed leadership, manifested in several ways, emerged as a powerful organizational contextual factor. Research limitations/implications: The findings from case study research are not intended to be generalizable. The use of self-report data is another limitation, as are recollections of critical incidents. However, integrating multiple sources of data collection was an attempt to allow for triangulation of findings. Practical implications: The findings depict the importance of leadership and management in the process of facilitating learning and the extent to which leaders and managers can create organizational environments conducive to the facilitation of learning that has implications for management and leadership development programs. This study also identifies avenues for future research. Originality/value: This paper contributes to research that explores how employees facilitate others' learning and the contextual factors that influence employees' facilitation of others' learning in a workplace setting. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

Informal learning is one of the most prevalent forms of learning in the workplace. However, little is known about how such learning is best supported, encouraged, and developed within organizational settings. While organizational context is considered to be significant in facilitating or inhibiting informal learning, limited research has been conducted that explores such factors and how they influence informal learning. Therefore, a qualitative case study was conducted to explore the contextual factors that influence informal learning. Findings associated with the organizational contextual factors that positively and negatively influence informal learning are presented along with implications for practice and future research.

Cases of four female entrepreneurs produced seven themes related to the meaning of change resulting from business start-up: definition of the transition experience within a connected self, precursors and readiness, support of informal networks, traits, risk-taking behaviors, motivations, and decision making. The results imply that entrepreneurship programs for women should use the contextual framework of relationships. (Contains 24 references.) (SK)

Discusses the role of managers in organizations that aspire to become learning organizations and considers the concept of the manager as coach. Describes findings from a qualitative critical incident study that investigates triggers for coaching and outcomes of coaching interventions for the employee, manager, and organization. (Author/LRW)

Makes these rebuttal points: (1) the study was of managers in learning organizations, not organizational learning; (2) the study took an integrating rather than instrumental view of work and learning; (3) the conceptual framework was an expression of management behavior, not a model of learning processes; and (4) the learning context does need further investigation. (SK)

Investigated the relationship among identity, affective variables, and achievement in English as a foreign language (EFL). Participants were 135 native Hebrew speakers and 53 native Russian speakers studying advanced EFL at an Israeli university. Results showed that ethnolinguistic identity was a greater predictor of achievement than any of the other variables. (Author/VWL)

Twelve managers described effective and ineffective critical incidents in which they tried to facilitate employee learning. From the analysis emerged 13 behavior sets that help define the role of facilitator. (SK)

Presents the findings from a large-scale educational change initiative in a Fortune 10 company in which managers adopted instructional roles in a cascade delivery approach. (Author/CCM)

Discusses the role of managers as coaches in organizations that aspire to become learning organizations and reports the results of a qualitative critical incident study that investigated the triggers for coaching and the outcomes of coaching interventions for the individual employee, manager, and organization in terms of performance. (Author/LRW)

Study examined effects of a partner's insistence on condom use. After first time sex, participants felt more responsible, less at-risk, and less worried when a condom was used. Partners were evaluated as more responsible, more caring, and less likely to have a sexually transmitted disease. Insistence on condom use resulted in less guilt and regret, and enhanced the relationship. (Author/JDM)

Ellinger, Watkins, and Bostrom report a study of 12 managers who described critical incidents in which they facilitated employee learning. Behaviors defining facilitation were identified. Dirkx's response criticizes the research for its individualistic and decontextualized focus. (SK)

Evaluation of an innovative approach to organizational change using managers as instructors included a survey of 266 of the managers. Factor analysis of their responses showed that support for the innovation was contingent upon their belief that it was consistent with their role, that their power will be enhanced, and that the time required is worth the results. (SK)

Describes steps taken by university level teachers of academic English to weave the World Wide Web into an English for academic purposes reading program. Describes the initial problems and solutions, implementation and insights, and pedagogical implications. (Author/VWL)

This paper discusses in general terms when computer based instructional simulation (CBIS) is appropriate and suggests how to construct a good instructional simulation. The role that documentation plays is particularly stressed, as is determining that CBIS is the proper instructional method. (Author/IRT)

Describes the school system that has emerged in the German Democratic Republic since World War II. The present system provides a quality socialist education for all students and emphasizes theoretical and practical career education at all levels. (Author/WD)