This article provides a review of literature on collective orientation and effective teams by theoretically elucidating the relationship between these two constructs. The relationship between these two constructs is found by identifying the elements that go into creating an effective team, which are also found in a collectivist orientation. As those elements are identified, a model encompassing "team collectivist" corporate culture is proposed. The model depicts the development of team collectivist corporate culture, including members' attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics that reflect collectivist orientation that would aid in the development of effective teams, thus increasing performance and productivity within the organization. The model seeks to provide the Human Resource Development (HRD) professional with a tool that will (a) enable them to predict whether or not certain individuals have the potential to be an effective team player, (b) enable the organization to be proactive in building effective teams, and (c) allow team managers to diagnose and provide solutions to dysfunctional teams.Sony, a Japanese electronics company, used to be well known for its engineering expertise and its ability to produce innovative and successful products (Chandler, 2005). In the 1990s, the company produced on average four new ideas every day! Their ability to be creative came in large part from their collectivist culture and use of effective teams. At Sony, the collectivist culture emphasized communication, cooperation, and harmony between teams of engineers across the organization to facilitate change and innovativeness. Then changes happened within Sony and the external environment. As external competition from companies like Nokia and Apple became more intense, Sony had trouble responding to these changes. Engineers were given freedom to pursue their own ideas, and managers took individual credit for their own McAtavey, Nikolovska success. Managers began to share less with other divisions. This trouble seemed to stem in part from Sony' s change in culture and the long-standing tradition of lifelong employment. Top managers became more individualistic, acting as if they had complete control of their domain, and teamwork declined tremendously. Competition increased, while Sony' s bureaucracy slowed its decision-making process, making it difficult for the company to respond to its competitors.Sony eventually was able to turn itself around, in part by returning to its collectivist roots while simultaneously turning to a non-Japanese executive, Sir Howard Stringer, who was able to cut costs and streamline operations, which increased Sony' s profits (Jones & George, 2008).As the Sony example illustrates, today's turbulent economic environment creates even a greater necessity for corporations to seek more efficient means to remain competitive in the market. In order to accomplish this, corporations have undergone major changes over the past two decades in order to achieve higher levels of work performance. The development o...

In this article we introduce the job aid as a cultural artifact in specific historical social contexts. Framing job aids as such within a broader context of social history enables human resource development (HRD) researchers and practitioners to reflect critically on training and development with a perspective on social justice vis‐à‐vis social responsibility. With the use of a targeted literature review, we present two historical cases of questionable job aids, specifically, in the so‐called patent medicines of the early 20th century and the job aids used for training the Hitler Youth. Lessons learned from social history include recognizing the fundamental role that culture has in shaping not only what actions adult learners carry out, but also how the job aids can memorialize their performance. Further, it is posited that introducing the dimension of social history to training offers a more thorough and robust inquiry to critical HRD.

The purposes of the study were to assess and compare learning gained in a masters of science in human resources course entitled Management Communication and to measure performance through an objective pre-test and post-test examination with students pursuing their degree at a cluster site in Kingston, Jamaica, away from the main campus with those at the campus (Fort Lauderdale, Florida).These students were completing this graduate course in the summer term of 2005 and received traditional, face-to-face instruction in a classroom setting, with classes delivered in a weekend format during the term. Two different instructors taught the class using the same performance measure for comparison purposes. Student performance for the purpose of this study was defined as the score on the pre-test and on the final examination (post-test).Findings revealed that there was a statistically significant difference (alpha = .05) in the pre-test and post-test scores of students enrolled at the Kingston of Jamaica cluster and those at the Main Campus. Both groups had significant gains in the pre- and post-test examinations. Furthermore, the overall performance of students in Jamaica seems to be equivalent to the performance of students at the Main Campus when the classes are taught by two different faculty members who used the same final exam questions.

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