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An exploratory study investigated the relationship between learning style and preference for training delivery mode. It was expected that learning style would influence learners’ preference for receiving training through classroom‐, computer‐, TV‐, print‐, or audio‐based delivery modes. A total of 165 employees from a large US financial institution completed the Kolb Learning Style Instrument and a survey measuring training delivery mode preference. Results found support for the expected relationship between the two, with convergers showing a stronger preference for computer‐based delivery and assimilators showing a stronger preference for print‐based delivery. However, results also revealed an overall preference for classroom‐based delivery for adults in the study, regardless of their learning style. Implications of these results for training design and delivery are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to test two common assumptions underlying the success of total quality management (TQM): that change occurs as training imparts new knowledge needed by employees to effectively participate in the intervention, and that employees then receive the organizational support needed to translate this knowledge into new job behaviors and organizational practices that define the intervention.

A survey was completed by 216 employees of a large US company 15 months after the implementation of a Fsix sigma quality improvement program. Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they had the skills and resources needed for successful participation in six sigma (success expectancies).

Results showed that employees as a group had low expectancies for both skills and resources, but that expectancies were significantly higher for program participants than for non‐participants.

The primary implication of this finding for change agents is the need to examine and understand employee expectancies for success and how they are affected by training and ongoing participation. Monitoring employee expectancy beliefs regarding the confidence, knowledge, and resources needed for successful participation allows training, facilitation, and oversight to be targeted in terms of who needs what and when.

This study tests two common assumptions underlying the success of TQM.

Examines the effects of a total quality management initiative on a department in a mid‐sized utility company in the USA. A longitudinal design was used to examine the effects of total quality management on performance measures and employee satisfaction over time, and a cross‐sectional survey was used to measure the perceived effects of leadership and culture on these outcomes. Results suggested that a culture change characterized by empowerment, employee development, and teamwork occurred immediately after the intervention, and was sustained over the next two years. However, a shift back to the pre‐intervention culture was evidenced by the end of the study, a shift accompanied by a significant decline in employee job satisfaction. Possible explanations for the organization’s failure to sustain the culture change are discussed, including the role of leadership, external threats and the threat‐rigidity hypothesis, and changes in the intervention itself.

This paper examined employee perceptions of the rewards associated with their participation in a six sigma program. Six sigma is an approach to organizational change that incorporates elements of total quality management, business process reengineering, and employee involvement.

A survey was completed by 215 employees (34 percent response rate). Respondents rated the extent to which they felt their participation in six sigma was “instrumental” for a range of outcomes, as well as valence (desirability) of each outcome (based on the VIE concept of instrumentality). The outcomes were classified into four categories: extrinsic, intrinsic, social, and organizational.

Valence ratings revealed that all 12 outcomes were perceived as desirable. Instrumentality ratings showed that extrinsic outcomes were rated significantly lower than intrinsic, social, and organizational outcomes. Additional analyses revealed significant differences on all four outcome categories between participants and non‐participants in the six sigma program.

The positive valence and instrumentality ratings for participants indicate they believe their participation will lead to valued outcomes for themselves and their organizations. However, employees who choose not to get involved in six sigma do not perceive that their participation would have led to desired outcomes. The results also show that while participants value extrinsic rewards, they do not see six sigma as instrumental in their receipt. These perceptions have important implications for attracting and retaining program participants.

While much has been written about the use of reward systems in supporting a successful six sigma effort, this study empirically examines how employees actually perceive the rewards associated with their participation. It also identifies which types of rewards are most instrumental for participants and non‐participants.

What are the most important factors to consider when introducing a quality initiative? Should you focus upon process and people in equal measures? And how could you ensure that this program is sustained on an ongoing basis? It is widely accepted that there is more to implementing TQM than simply reworking a few processes and advising employees of your intentions. Organizations must cultivate the right mindset throughout their workforce and ensure that this mode of thinking is promoted on a continual basis. In short, culture and leadership are crucial. This has been well documented as far back as 1951, yet there has been little empirical research to measure just how big a role these two elements play.

The major part of studies in the field of strategic cognition focussed on strategy content, while process studies are comparatively rare. Those of the studies that are dedicated to explain strategy occurrence are dominantly restricted to formal decision making. In contrast to this, the purpose of this paper is to draw on a framework that helps to get a differentiated picture on contingent processes, strategies may pass through in organizations. Furthermore, an own elicitation procedure is introduced that enables to measure strategic cognition on different levels.

The paper provides an empirical approach by applying collective causal mapping techniques, both on an individual as well as collective level. The conceptual framework of the study rests on the “genesis” concept of strategy formation introduced by Kirsch and colleagues.

The main contribution of the paper is the presentation of a methodical approach to study the formation of shared strategic orientations in small companies. An operationalization to study these cognitive processes, based on collective causal mapping techniques is provided.

Applying the methodical approach presented in the paper is expected to make a contribution to the understanding of the shared knowledge of organizational members about major strengths and weaknesses of a new strategic reorientation and to contribute to practical concerns of organizational members in specific problematic situations, especially in small companies.

The study empirically approaches the complex phenomenon on strategy formation in small companies and therefore expands the understanding of shared cognition in organizations.

The purpose of this study was to advance research on work-related well-being and age by using a life-span approach to investigate the relationship between mastery goal orientation and work engagement during various age periods. The authors further tested whether a perceived motivational climate moderated the proposed relationships, and whether the nature of the moderation differed between age groups.

The authors utilized a two-wave, web-based questionnaire survey and collected data from 838 employees in the financial sector in Norway. Multiple regressions and PROCESS macro were used to test these hypotheses.

The authors found that both work engagement and mastery goal orientation differed across age groups and that the relationship between mastery goal orientation and work engagement was stronger for older than for younger ages. The results further support the moderating role of a motivational climate. Whereas a perceived mastery climate moderated the relationship between mastery goal orientation and work engagement for older workers, a perceived performance climate moderated the suggested relationship for younger workers.

The study extends research on work engagement in an age-diverse workforce by applying a life-span approach to the interplay between person and contextual elements in fostering work engagement. Furthermore, the study involved investigating factors that may inhibit or enhance the link between mastery orientation and work engagement for various age groups, which is important given work engagement’s link to central work outcomes.