Suchergebnisse

Current personnel practices are counterproductive insofar as they engender a fear of change and align the self interest of public employees with the status quo. In moving to remedy this problem, however, we must take care not to overcompensate by losing important merit concepts such as career security which may be essential ingredients for a positive, productivity oriented, system of personnel management. Such a system, derived from both American and Japanese theory and prac tice, could involve a new dichotomy of personnel management activities between political and career executives.

Information technology (IT) can enhance organizational productivity, but only if it is learned well by employees. Unfortunately, researchers and practitioners have largely neglected the informal social processes through which employees learn to use IT. This is a study of public employees who voluntarily help others to learn. The objective was to learn how these "local experts" assist co-workers and why they do so. It finds they are motivated by both extrinsic and intrinsic factors, including altruism. Local experts seek to enhance their organization's productivity by taking the lead in learning new technology and helping others to master it. In doing so, they become sophisticated diagnosticians and trainers who are largely overlooked by top management. The findings of this study can be immediately applied by practitioners in nearly all organizations to help their local experts to enhance employees' learning and productivity.