Hiring highly qualified people is crucial to every company, and Background Screening and Investigations is an essential guide to succeeding in a turbulent business environment. A crucial part of any hiring process should be employment background screening, pre- and post-hire, which gives hiring personnel a glimpse into a person's past behavior patterns, propensities, and likely future behavior.
Background Screening and Investigations describes all aspects of the employment background screening processes - its history and evolution, the imperative for implementing a screening process, and the creation of a comprehensive policy. Nixon and Kerr show how security and human resources professionals can work together to negotiate legal hurdles and make their background screening process successful.
* Where do HR and security perspectives differ on hot topics like hiring convicted felons, data protection, and sexual predators?
* What does state law allow when screening job candidates?
* How should companies deal with emerging issues like international background investigations and continuous (Infinity) screening of current employees?

Author Heather A. Wandell, after observing thousands of hours of human workplace behavior and hundreds of hours of monkey behavior, discovered there is a connection In "Monkey Business," she compares the monkeys behavior to the human behavior and offers unique business and personal life practices to help to move your life forward.

A compilation of previously published columns, these lessons revolve around the themes of creating an environment where possibility thrives, acknowledging our shared humanity, getting along, communicating with awareness, evolving our business paradigm, and opening to optimism. "Monkey Business" can help you to put a new practice into your life that may bring relief to your own mental suffering;
shift energy in your workplace or personal life;
break down barriers;
realize you are the agent for change in your life;
consider a new possibility;
gain a new understanding of relationships;
increase your flow of creativity;
notice teachers are everywhere;
give a second chance at life.

The lessons taught in "Monkey Business" guide you to take responsibility for being the creator of your stories, your life, and your experience an ongoing process that takes steadfast, mindful practice.

Human Resources in Healthcare, Health Informatics and Healthcare Systems addresses two major problems that threaten the health of the human race. The first of which is the lack of human resources in healthcare. We need to ensure that we have an adequate number of healthcare professionals who are highly motivated and properly trained. Furthermore, we need to ensure that they have the latest health technology at their disposal, which is the second major issue facing the world today. The world's most respected scholars and practitioners describe their experiences and propose possible theoretical and practical solutions in this relevant and timely handbook.

This volume focuses on what many see as an iminent crisis in the public sector, and particularly in the federal government-the possibility that, due to the realities of workforce demographics, poor leadership, lack of competitiveness in the labor market, and demotivating worker conditions, the public service will not maintain its capacity to manage programs, execute laws, and effectively deliver services for the American people. Larry Lane and James Wolf examine the significant human resource problems now confronting federal agencies, addressing these issues from a demographic, organizational, political, and cultural perspective. Arguing that the revitalization of the public service demands an effective, responsible, energetic, and committed workforce, they recommend concrete solutions and strategies aimed at stabilizing the current situation and contributing to a stronger and more effective public service over the long term. Following an introductory statement of major issues, Lane and Wolf explore the crucial roles of the public service in a democratic system of governance and assess the factors that now put the system at risk. They then introduce four conceptual lenses that can be used as an analytical tool to understand the problems of the public service and to develop solutions for assuring the supply, preparedness, productivity, and dedication of government employees. The authors first look at employment flow-the problem of maintaining workforce cadres over time. They examine problems of attraction and retention, inadequacies in system personnel policies, and the necessity for workforce planning. Turning to a discussion of competence in the workforce, the authors examine systemicblocks to the development of competence and offer strategies for addressing the competence issue. The next two chapters treat the concepts of energy and commitment, exploring ways to foster an organizational culture that encourages productivity, continuous improvement, and a long-term commitment to public service. The final chapter presents a detailed set of proposals, options, and initiatives for rebuilding the public service. Administrators, policy-makers, personnel officers, and students of public administration will find this work a significant contribution toward understanding and resolving the public sector's intensifying human resource problems.

How does one approach the study of intuition - a complex, cross-disciplinary field, which is still developing? How can intuition be captured in situ? How can researchers harness their own intuition? In this original Handbook, the expert collaborators use method-related themes to help answer these, and other questions, and explore innovative developments in intuition research.This groundbreaking Handbook is organized around six method-related themes: - the question of cognitive systems and capabilities; - the role of emotions and stress; - major quantitative approaches; - qualitative techniques for mapping intuition; - the use of grounded theory; and - the role of the researcher's own expertise and intuition. Academics and researchers of organizational behavior, as well as researchers in business and management, who use quantitative and qualitative research techniques, will find this book to be an informative and invaluable read. It will also be of interest to industry professionals looking to adopt new staff training and development methods. Contributors include: C. Akinci, A. Antonietti, L. Baldacchino, L. Cabantous, J-F Coget, B. Colombo, R. Cooksey, V. Doerfler, S.E. Dreyfus, C. Eden, M. Fenton-O'Creevy, S.L. Grant, S.A. Hamilton, C. Harteis, G.P. Hodgkinson, C. Horvath, O. Hyppanen, P. Iannello, J. Langan-Fox, A. Lockett, C. Petitmengin, P. Ping Li, A.C.R. van Riel, M. Robson, E. Sadler-Smith, M. Sinclair, R.E. Smerek, M Stierand, S. Teerikangas, D. Ucbasaran, L. Valikangas, S. Vohra

This book analyzes the impact of culture on employee justice judgments and reactions to perceptions of fairness and unfairness. I start this book with the following two questions. Why is a book on culture and organizational justice needed? What does such a book add to the extant literature on organizational justice, especially, after the publication of the landmark work of Colquitt and Greenberg (2005), Handbook of Organizational Justice? Although there are no easy answers to these questions, in the following lines, I explain the reasons why a book on culture and justice is not only needed but also timely. There are at least three reasons for which a book on culture and organizational justice is needed. First, a book on culture and organizational justice is needed because "there are indications that culture exerts very important and wide-ranging effects on justice behavior including even generally shaping the likelihood that individuals will experience feelings of injustice" (James, 1993, p. 22). Second, globalization has led to the interrelatedness of world economies. Thus, most organizations not only operate in several countries, but they also employ people from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. The resulting challenge is to find new ways of managing a culturally diverse workforce. Third, justice is inherent to any organized social group. As examples of social systems, organizations are arenas of justice concerns because their members compete for limited resources. The resources for which they compete include tangibles, such as money but also intangibles, such as status, power, and prestige (e.g., Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, 1985). In the following lines, I elaborate on the three reasons why a book on culture and organizational justice is needed and timely.

Emerged from the Lewinian tradition of research into organizational behavior, motivation, and change, here is a conceptual but practical way for HR professionals and others in today's organizations to understand better, more quickly and reliably, what the underlying human problems in their organizations are. Cunningham proceeds from the conviction that the key to solving organizational problems is in the hands of people, and that when people talk about the problems they experience they are reflecting their values and beliefs. The way to get people to do that is through a style of inquiry called indirect questioning--the Echo approach. This approach, which managers and executives in all types of organizations will find helpful and extensively useful is the subject of CunninghaM's examination.

The Echo approach is designed to bring to the surface and measure the values and beliefs held by a group of people and the organizations they comprise. Cunningham illustrates how this approach works, how to design interviews, surveys, and observations that actually echo peoples' values and beliefs--the obvious ones and those they keep hidden. Readable, well illustrated with cases and examples, this book will help executives at all levels understand better what people in these organizations are actually thinking and saying. In doing so it will help organizations become more productive and be more desirable places to work.

A volume in Ethics in Practice Series Editors Robert A. Giacalone, Temple University and Carole L. Jurkiewicz, Louisiana State University Ethical business creates social value. That's the theme of this bold new volume, heralding and defending this rapidly-growing new conception of capitalism making its way into the mainstream. It provides clear and succinct guidelines for how to evaluate what counts as an ethical business as well as how and why ethical businesses tend to succeed better over the long term. The book is jargon-free and targeted primarily at thoughtleaders and academics in business and philosophy who will want to use it in their business ethics classes. Each chapter has been selected for its ability to engage a wide audience without oversimplifying the content. All twelve chapters are original and authored by leading business ethicists including William Shaw, Tony Simons, Duane Windsor, and Mark Schwartz. Each piece makes use of recent empirical evidence or ethical theory (or both) in order to present a detailed yet overarching picture of what ethical business looks like--and how to achieve it--in today's global environment. It is thus divided into three subsections: 1. The Role of Corporate Culture 2. A New For-Profit Paradigm 3. Making the Change Happen: Voluntary and Regulatory Examples Perhaps the book's greatest strength is its blending of cutting-edge philosophy, psychology, and management theory into a cohesive, provocative, and accessible format. Hence, it promises to launch a wide discussion of what exactly we should expect the moral duty of business to be.

Employee theft is one of the most pervasive problems faced by businesses today, and it continues to escalate at an estimated rate of 15 percent per year. This volume presents the first full-length guide to the alternatives available to companies seeking to reduce both the actual theft of tangible property and the profits lost through cheating on time cards and expense accounts. The authors offer an in-depth discussion of the safeguards employers can implement, ranging from internal controls to physical security measures, and develop a comprehensive theft reduction strategy aimed at creating a working environment that discourages theft. They also address the legal and ethical problems arising from theft control issues as well as the question of equity in the workplace.

The authors agree that a plan for reducing employee theft can only be successful if it focuses on making the work environment unattractive to thieves rather than on simply catching thieves. They offer a practical theft reduction strategy, based on techniques that have proven successful in a variety of firms, that begins with the recruitment process and reaches into every aspect of business operation. In their concluding chapter they discuss what to do when a thief is identified. Five appendixes provide additional information including a guide to hiring and keeping good employees, a study of employee theft by Virginia's Crime Prevention Manual Task Force, an examination of what motivates employees, an internal controls checklist, and a list of dos and don'ts in dealing with employee theft. Human resource managers, small business owners, and executives in large corporations will find this volume an invaluable asset in their efforts to confront the growing problem of employee theft.

With an emphasis on building success in today's multicultural workplace, Fine describes the truly multicultural organization, one that values the cultural differences among its employees and knows how to create policies and practices that encourage the full productivity of all employees. Fine maintains that just to remain competitive as the U.S. workforce becomes culturally diverse, organizations must not only recognize the inherent multiculturalism within their walls, but must actively transform themselves into such organizations. Her book thus explains how cultural differences affect workplace behavior and provides ways for management to work with them, not against them. A practical, challenging, research-based discussion for human resource professionals and management in public and private organizations.

After reviewing the changing demographics of the workforce and discussing how present practices are exclusionary, Fine provides detailed descriptions of the values, norms, beliefs, and behaviors of various ethnic groups and women and the dysfunctional interactions among groups. Nine case studies document diversity initiatives in public, private, and not-for-profit organizations, and lead to numerous concrete ways to train employees in multicultural understanding and create policies and practices that acknowledge, value, and incorporate cultural differences into the organization itself. Fine offers no quick fixes, however; instead, she makes clear that building a successful multicultural organization is a difficult, unceasing process of creating and recreating organizational life. The result is an analytical, research-based discussion for scholars, researchers, and others in the academic community -- and a practical guide to the complexities posed by multiculturalism for organization management at all levels in both the public and private sectors.

The quality of working life has been central to the sociological agenda for several decades, and has also been increasingly salient as a policy issue, and for companies. This book breaks new ground in the study of the quality of work by providing the first rigorous comparative assessment of the way it has been affected by the economic crisis. It examines the implications of the crisis on developments in skills and training, employees' control over their jobs, and the pressure of work and job security. It also assesses how changing experiences at work affect people's lives outside of work: the risks of work-life conflict, the motivation to work, personal well-being, and attitudes towards society. The book draws on a rich new source of evidence-the European Social Survey-to provide a comparative view over the period 2004 to 2010. The survey provides evidence for countries across the different regions of Europe and allows for a detailed assessment of the view that institutional differences between European societies-in terms of styles of management, social partnership practices, and government policies-lead to very different levels of work quality and different experiences of the crisis. This comparative aspect will thus forward our understanding of how institutional differences between European societies affect work experiences and their implications for non-work life.

This work critically examines diversity, discrimination, and inclusion in the English-speaking Caribbean nations, with a specific emphasis on persons with disabilities. The chapters include an evaluative analysis on the extant theoretical and empirical literature on persons with disabilities in employment, exploring the nature of their disability, the role of information technology in gaining and retaining employment, and an analysis of the laws and relevant policies which prohibit the discrimination against persons with disabilities in the Caribbean region. Though the enactment of legislation outlawing the discrimination of persons with disabilities is not widespread in the Caribbean, a few select territories have taken positive steps towards recognition of the need to achieve inclusion of persons with disabilities and accept the diversity of the Caribbean populace. After exploring the general state of disability and discrimination in the Caribbean region, the authors analyze workplace accommodations provided to persons with disability, particularly as relations to IT and assistive devices, before focusing on workplace stigmas related to mental health disability and employment law. In addition to literature-based analyses, the book includes qualitative case studies, with the goal of providing benchmarks in organizational responses to employees with disabilities. Further, the authors highlight lessons to be learned from other countries in addressing inequality in the workplace for disabled persons. With its analysis of employment as well as socio-economic and legal issues, this interdisciplinary text will serve as a useful resource in not only understanding the organizational challenges faced by persons with disabilities in the region but also the necessary legislation needed to address discriminatory practices on a wider scale.

Shows how the principles of Action LearningA" can be used to enhance performance and help manage change in the workplace. Much has been written about the challenges of managing change in organisations and the importance of keeping people motivated and positive throughout the process. This practical guide shows how action learning can help change to 'stick'. Apart from the benefits to teams, departments and organisations, action learning can also be valuable for personal development. It is an extremely cost effective way to help people and their organisations move forward in today's fast changing world. This book will show you how.

In this groundbreaking work, an expert in transgender explains practices and policies that will lead to a healthier, happier workplace. As The Complete Guide to Transgender in the Workplace demonstrates, there is a strong business case for treating transgender workers with dignity. Its tips, guidelines, and policy examples will help organizations enhance the bottom line, while keeping the workplace harmonious. The most in-depth and informative volume on transgender workers ever written, the book offers useful tools, practical information, and a variety of resources that will enable business leaders and organizations to deal effectively with the transgender phenomenon. It will also help workers struggling with their identities and will give strength to those who are secure, but have yet to come out. There is no doubt that this guide will become the leading resource for every business owner, CEO, manager, HR/EEO professional, and transgender worker. Better yet, it will improve the cultural climate and quality of life for transgender workers and the organizations that employ them, resulting in increased productivity and improved profitability. Includes useful tools managers and policymakers can institute in any organization Notes policy examples from successful organizations Provides an agenda for training on transgender issues Offers resources for further guidance on transgender issues