Multidisciplinary Grant Program

Carrie Leana, Professor in the Katz Graduate School of Business, reported on the status of her URC multidisciplinary small grant project. The project is entitled “Work Discretion, Job Crafting, and Turnover in the Child Care Industry.” Professor Leana has compiled data on childcare providers in five types of preschool institutions in Allegheny County. She has used focus groups, surveys, and interviews to gather information from childcare center directors, teachers, and teachers’ aids.

Professor Leana has determined that

teachers possess little flexibility in their employment arrangements, but they possess much discretion in how they perform their jobs;
job crafting is more pronounced when employees possess greater flexibility in employment arrangements, work less overtime, or work in centers whose directors engage in a participative management style; and
collaborative job crafting is more likely in higher quality centers, and retention is higher among employees who engage in job crafting.

Professor Leana is working with researchers at Rutgers University to expand the scope of the study within and possibly beyond the United States.

Report from the Office of Research

Allen DiPalma, Director of the Office of Research, discussed the University’s internal grants management program, which uses InfoEd software. The Office released InfoEd’s proposal-tracking module during the summer. This module captures all relevant pre-award and immediate post-award information. The second module will support electronic reporting and tracking capabilities. The Office of Research is developing this module.

Mr. DiPalma also discussed:

Multiple PIs on NIH R01 grants
Office of Research Grants.gov training sessions

Miscellaneous

Members of the Council also discussed:

Central Research and Development Fund
The modeling and simulation group
The energy group