Physician career development: toward building a model

Virtually no managed care organization provides a comprehensive and integrated program for physician career development. That's the principal finding of a survey we carried out in Spring 1994 in which we interviewed several individuals who have proven instrumental in the creation of career development programs at their managed care organizations. We started our research with the hypothesis that career development programs for physicians--frequently the most highly paid category of employees and the ones often most directly involved in the delivery of health care--should parallel the mission of the organization. In many of the organizations we surveyed, the mission included clinical excellence, managerial competence, research, teaching, community service, and building shareholder equity. While each organization offered some component of career development--usually clinical improvement and management development--very few offered programs that fostered the continued professional development of physicians in other aspects of their missions. In most cases, even in organizations with stronger career development agendas, the programs were passive and were rarely linked to the overall "corporate" goal of the managed care institution. This critical disconnect makes it extremely difficult for health care organizations to develop a workable system of accountability for their career development programs.     

Effectively addressing mental health issues in child welfare practice: the family connection

Nonprofit family-run organizations, such as Tennessee Voices for Children (TVC), are providing leadership in advocating for and delivering services to children and families in need. Utilizing a family-driven approach and a staff partially comprised of parent-professionals, TVC's Nashville Connection and Family Connection programs have strengthened families by providing alternatives to state custody for children and families living with serious emotional or behavioral problems. TVC's Nashville Connection and Family Connection programs did this by coordinating support services, building community bridges, and providing comprehensive in-home services.     

Firm-specific human capital, job matching, and turnover: evidence from major league baseball, 1900–1992

The two dominant labor market turnover hypotheses, the firm-specific human capital model (FSHCM) and the job-matching model, suggest different patterns of player mobility in major league baseball. The matching hypothesis predicts greater mobility of players in positions that require substantial team production. A better match may offer large productivity gains. Alternately, the FSHCM predicts players in positions requiring the greatest amount of teamwork will benefit from specific knowledge, making them less likely to change teams. We examine the frequency distribution of trades by player position from 1900–1992 and find the FSHCM provides the best explanation for turnover in this industry.