CAPITAL TIMES, November 15, 1989 Center's concern is working-life quality Mary V. Kiehn Capital Times Contributor The Center for Quality of Working Life is actively promoting awareness of its existence and purpose. A new brochure highlighting previous projects of the center and detailing the services available will soon be ready for distribution and will be included in the promotional materials of the university. The center's goal is "to improve the general business climate of Pennsylvania by stimulating improved organizational effectiveness and quality of working life," and "to act as a catalyst and focal point for solution of productivity and quality of working life problems," according to one of its publications. Dr. Rupert F. Chisholm, Co-director of the center, promotes those ideas when he speaks at various industry and management conferences, such as a recent Harrisburg conference of the Department of Labor and Industry for employment security personnel and a conference in September sponsored by the York Area Labor/ Management Council. The center has: •Helped to establish a labor- After 12 years of managerial management committee serving the experience, including employee relations §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ § § § Beacon Lodge § § Positions available for students § interested in providing a summer of 1 recreation for blind and visually handicapped children and adults. Beacon Lodge, located in central Pennsylvania, is seeking camp counselors for ten and twelve week § camping programs. In addition to General Counselors, there is a need § for a WSI, Canoeing Instructor, Archery Instructor, Crafts Instruc- § tor, Nature Specialist, and Nurses 1 and Lifeguards. The summer offers § a well-rounded program of activities 1 from bowling to overnight canoe trips § down the Juniata River. To request 1 an application and/or additional information, write: P.0.80x 428, Lewistown, PA 17044 or call 717-242-2153 § § §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Camp for the Blind York/Adams County area to improve the business climate of that region. •Assisted the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in developing a survey of employees on productivity and quality of working life. •Published for lour years a bi monthly newsletter on labor management issues that went to 4,500 labor leaders, managers, and others in Pennsylvania. •Established a collection of case studies, books and other literature maintained by the center as resource material. Dr. Chisolm says that as a consultant the Center for Quality of Working Life enters bids with firms or organizations seeking assistance. It has extensive academic resources and the advice given is not driven by economics because of its affiliation with the university. The center adds to its own reserve of information through its consulting work. Dr. Chisolm recognized from his first day of business experience that employees could do more than they are given an opportunity to do. "There is a lot of wasted talent in the work place," he said. CAMPUS manager and personnel policy advisor for Exxon, he left the business world to earn a Ph.D. in organizational behavior. Improvement in the quality of his own working life was one of his goals as well as having an opportunity to influence others through teaching. Although management sometimes feels threatened by efforts to improve working life, Dr. Chisolm says, "Employee psychic satisfaction, which follows challenge, opportunity for growth and involvement in planning, can benefit the employer as well." The Center for Quality of Working Life was founded at Capital Campus in August 1978 by Dr. Chisolm and Dr. Melvin Blumberg, Director of the school of business under grants from the National Center for Productivity and Quality of Working Life and the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Chisolm received his doctorate from Case Western Reserve University and a master's degree in industtrial Somewhere Beyond the Mary Lee Schnable Capital Times Staff Warsaw--Budapest--Prague. Solidarity--Iron Curtain--Communism: All are words that call to mind different ways of life in far away places; places that, in the spring of 1990, students at Penn State Harrisburg have a chance to visit. "This is a time of great change (in Eastern Europe)," said Dr. Robert Simko, the tour leader, who spent six weeks in Hungary in 1988 as a Fulbright Scholar. Sweeping reforms are taking place in Hungary and Poland. At first people in Eastern European countries were looking over their shoulders, not knowing whether to believe that reforms would actually happen, Simko said. Now they see that the changes are for real. The pace of change is accelerating, and their nervousness is giving way to optimism. Tour participants will have the opportunity to witness first hand the kinds of things they can only see on TV now, he said. The group will depart from PSH on February 25 and return on March 7. The $1563.00 cost of the 11-day trip includes transportation, accommodations in First Class hotels, two meals per day, the services of English speaking guides, taxes, tips, transfers and all required visas. While the tour is scheduled to coincide with the spring semester break, participating students will miss three class days during the week following the break. In the past, Simko says, students have worked out absenses resulting from educational tours with their professors with no problem. § § The tour will focus on the capital cities, but the itinerary allows considerable free time for participants to relations from Cornell University. He is a Professor of Management in the graduate programs in Public Administration at Penn State Harrisburg. Dr. James T. Ziegenfus, Jr., co director of the center, is an Assistant Professor of Health Care Management at Penn State Harrisburg. He had six years of experience as a research and organizational development consultant in private practice prior to joining the faculty at Penn State Harrisburg. Dr. Ziegenfus received his his Ph.D. in social systems sciences from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a master's degree in psychology from Temple University, and a master's degree in Public Administration from Penn State Harrisburg. There is a relationship between satisfaction in one's working life and personal life Dr. Chisolm believes, and he is enhancing the quality of his own life by learning to fly. far, far away: Iron Curtain shop and sightsee on their own. In Warsaw the group will tour the city and explore the Old Town, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the historic residence of kings at Wilanow. The last evening will include a gala dinner accompanied by a traditional folklore show. Sights in Budapest include Buda Castle, the 13th century Mathias Church, Fisherman's Bastion, Gellert Hill, and fashionable Vaci Street. A farewell dinner will include Gypsy/Hungarian folk music. The tour of Prague will include the Bohmenian castles of Karistein and Konopiste, the Old Jewish Quarter, Wenceslaus Squeare and the Astronomical Clock. Live folk music will highlight the last evening in Prague. After a brief stopover in Helsinki, Finland the tour will return to the United States. While the trip is part of Public Policy 497, special Topics: Eastern Europe, the study tour may be taken without enrolling in the course. Persons wishing to take the course, however, must participate in the tour. So if good, food, gypsy music, and the chance to see history in the making appeal to you, act now! The last day to submit the initial $250.00 deposit is November 20th. The balance is due by December 18th. For more information, call Dr. Robert Simko at (717) 948-6047. He is an Associate Professor of Geography and Planning in the Public Policy department at PSH. Portions of this article were taken from the pamphlet "Experience Eastern Europe, An Educational Study Tour and Public Policy 497: Special Topics," Continuing Education Department, PSH.
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