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This paper explores the workforce development issues that arose in the course of an Australian repeat pilot study. The aim of the pilot study was to introduce, within a different setting, a planned approach to the assessment of, and interventions in, emotional states of service users that may lead to episodes of behavioural disturbance within psychiatric units. The pilot study necessitated training of staff in the use of an assessment tool. During the course of the study, a novel element was encountered with regard to staff understanding of service user involvement in treatment. This element, presented here as 'integral self‐intervention', emerged in conjunction with the development of two wall charts: an acute arousal management process chart for staff, and a patient safety chart for service users. The paper will outline the collaborative process towards the partial realisation of this element of integral self‐intervention, and associated workforce development issues.

Drawing on the experience of the Observatories, a set of interconnected research centers in Italy, this chapter explains why academics are in one of the best positions to orchestrate interorganizational initiatives of change and development, and highlights two prerequisites that appear necessary to render salient this orchestrator role of academics: (i) the extensive use of multiple approaches of collaborative research and (ii) the creation and maintenance of a platform allowing the management and diffusion of the network-based learning mechanisms underlying each change and development effort. The contributions extend existing knowledge on organization development and collaborative research.

This study examined gender differences in CEOs' expression of implicit achievement, power and affiliation motivation. Building on the role congruity account of sex differences and similarities in motivation and existing literature on implicit motives, the study tested whether female CEOs would express higher affiliation motivation than male CEOs and similar levels of achievement motivation. In addition, gender differences in power motivation were explored.

The study used propensity score matching to generate a comparable sample of male and female CEOs from publicly traded companies. Subsequently, the authors content-coded CEO letters from annual reports using Winter's (1994) manual for scoring motive imagery in running text.

Overall, CEOs expressed more achievement and power motivation than affiliation motivation. Comparisons between male and female CEOs showed that female CEOs expressed lower power and higher affiliation motivation than male CEOs.

By integrating implicit motive theory with social role theory and the role congruity account of motivation, this study provides a theoretical framework and novel demonstration that understanding social roles and gender roles can lend insights into motive expression by CEOs.

The study uses established theory and a validated scoring method in a novel way by analyzing implicit motives from CEO letters, a critical communication channel in the CEO–shareholder relationship. In doing so, this study adopts a sociocultural perspective. Informed by the role congruity account of motivation, the study demonstrates the importance of social roles and gender roles for motivational displays.

Both uncertainty reduction theory and uncertainty management theory suggest that uncertainty reduction during organizational change is imperative as it may influence positively employees’ attitudes and behaviors. By drawing on the theory of planned behavior that links individual’s beliefs and behavior, the study seeks to examine how employees’ self- and other-interest in change may reduce perceptions of change uncertainty and consequently, foster their behavioral change support (i.e. compliance, cooperation and championing).

The study hypothesizes that employees’ self- and other-interest in change mediate the relationship between perceptions of change uncertainty and behavioral change support. The research was conducted in two large IT companies co-located in a big science park in an EU country in South-eastern Europe. Data were collected from 105 employees and their supervisors in three sequential phases.

The research findings suggest that both self- and other-interest in change partially mediate the negative relationship between perceptions of change uncertainty and behavioral change support.

The findings indicate that change management practitioners will benefit considerably if they try to decrease employees’ perceived change uncertainty by increasing their self- and other-interest in change to provoke supportive behaviors. Relevant suggestions are made.

The findings provide new insights into how perceptions of change uncertainty and self- and other-interest in change can affect employees’ change participation. Further, the research findings add to the uncertainty reduction theory and uncertainty management theory as well as, other related notions.