Posts tagged PhD

Copying Off Yourself

Meandering Genius

I am in a PhD program and obviously copying and pasting someone else’s work is bad.  However, it’s ok to essentially copy someone else’s work as long as you totally rewrite it in another way, but then cite it so people know where it came from.

So this makes sense right…essentially no one has an original thought and basically we should simply cite every sentence we write, but they don’t want that. They actually want you to not cite every sentence and provide original thought. However, when you do, you get graded down for not citing sentences. And only use two or three actual quotes … anything more is too much.

On top of this craziness, you can’t even copy and paste something you’ve already written … how’s that for a zinger. You literally have to rewrite what you already said and then cite yourself.

Oh, and here’s a real zinger for you, you are only supposed to cite the written word that has been reviewed by professors and referencing actual experiences and the real world is frowned upon.

As most who have taken a Master’s or PhD lately know, Wikipedia is not considered peer reviewed, even though it is 100% peer reviewed (just not by PhDs), so it is not allowed as a reference ever. However, I was reading in the Handbook of Psychology, Volume 12, and low and behold if there wasn’t a reference from–you guessed it–Wikipedia.

I’m sure all of this makes complete sense in an acedemic world where using an “&” sign instead of “and” in a in-text citation is more critical than actually learning something.

I’ll be honest with you, I am really worried about the quality of actual knowledge that is coming out of doctoral programs. Call me crazy!

Gaps in Literature Regarding Employee Engagement

Meandering Genius

Almost a year ago I started a PhD program with Walden University specializing in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Since about 2002, I have been actively studying leadership and motivation and in 2005 I did an in depth study in Organizational Commitment.

Since then, employee motivation has evolved into a concept of Employee Engagement, which goes beyond Employee Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment.

Over the last ten years, Gallup has conducted their employee engagement survey (Q12) and what they have discovered is that about 70% of employees are consistently disengaged at work. This is costing U.S. businesses alone, from $450 to $550 billion a year in productivity and revenue losses.

Based on experience, I have seen that organizations that have a strong purpose always seem to drive strong employee engagement or organizational commitment. My work in early 2000s focused on why people in the military and nonprofits tended to be more committed or engaged.

Now, in my PhD, I am focusing on employee engagement and the concept of organizational purpose. I’ll be examining the literature in this area in the coming months for a potential dissertation. If anyone has input on this topic, I would love their input.