Assessment in Organisations

Cet article aborde les pratiques actuelles et les tendances émergentes de l’évaluation dans les organisations. Une attention particulière est accordée a l’évaluation en vue du recrutement et de la selection, là où l’apparition de la méta‐analyse a fondamentalement changé la conception que l’on pouvait avoir des tests psychologiques et autres techniques de sélection. On analyse aussi l’impact d’Internet sur les pratiques de sélection. En ce qui concerne l’évaluation post‐embauche, l’obligation pour les organisations d’assumer des changements rapides est raportée à l’importance de la modélisation des compétences. Quelques points‐clés de l’évaluation post‐embauche sont passés en revue (leadership, feedback à 360°). Des perspectives pour la nouvelles recherches sont esquissées; il s’agit de créer des théories et des modèles plus pertinents, mais aussi de progresser dans les études de validitéà partir les données existantes. Finalement, on s’aperçoit que l’essentiel de la littérature actuelle s’appuie sur des recherches réalisées aux Etats‐Unis, un peu au Royaume Uni ou dans d’autres pays d’Europe. Beaucoup de ces recherches sont limitées dans leurs possibilités d’application en ce sens qu’elles ont été men?es sur de grandes organisations. On insiste sur le manque de travaux interculturels et sur la nécessité de s’intéresser à l’ensemble des organisations de travail (des grandes aux petites, des enterprises locales aux multinationals, aux secteurs public et privé). The article considers current practice and merging trends in assessment in organisations. Particular attention is paid to assessment for recruitment and selection, where the use of meta‐analysis techniques has radically changed the way in which psychological tests and other selection techniques are viewed. The impact of the Internet on selection practice is also discussed. For post‐hire assessment, the impact of the need for organisations to undergo rapid change is considered in relation to the importance of competency modelling. Some key areas (leadership, 360‐degree feedback) of post‐hire assessment are reviewed. Issues for future research are outlined. These include the need for better theory and models, together with the need to move ahead of a reliance on old data sets. Finally, it is noted that much of the current literature is based on research in the United States (with some from the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe). Much of the research is also limited in applicability in that it is based on large organisations. The need for more cross‐cultural studies and the need to cover the full range of work organisations (large to small; local to global; private to public sector) is emphasised.     

'Coping' and the Crisis Counsellor

In the last decade the theory of coping strategies and the development of coping-skills-training and stress-management programmes have been a major innovative feature of British and American developments in relation to stress and crisis counselling. This paper-reviews the available coping literature of relevance to crisis counselling practice. The theory of psychological reversals is used to provide a link with crisis theory.     

Migrant Organisations in Humanitarian Action

This article applies the term ‘migrant humanitarianism’ for the hitherto neglected humanitarian activities of migrant organisations (MOs). First, it assesses the state-of-the-art on MOs in migration research and recognises common shortcomings within the existing literature. Second, it reviews humanitarian studies literature on aid actors and shows that local or non-Western forms of aid, as well as MOs have so far received only limited attention. Third, it presents the development studies on MOs’ role in their members’ country of origin, which focus mainly on remittances and the migration-development nexus. Fourth, it examines organisational studies which offer frameworks for analysing MOs in multiple countries and crises. Fifth, it discusses how neo-institutional and associational theory, as well as the transnational approach, can help fill gaps in research on MOs in humanitarian action. It then applies these theories to the Islamic Community Milli Görüs (IGMG) as a case study of MOs in humanitarian action. It shows that IGMG is a strong, autonomous actor, despite the fact that it does not fully adhere to the traditional humanitarian principles. Finally, it indicates themes for further research.     

Counsellor communicative control and client-perceived rapport

The relationship between counsellor verbal control and client-perceived rapport during 12 initial interviews conducted by counsellor trainees was investigated. Minute-by-minute client ratings of rapport were collected and used as the dependent variable. Counsellor verbal behaviour was coded into Topic-Initiation, -Following, and -Reintroduction responses and these were analyzed for their relationship with rapport. Data indicated that there were significantly more Topic-Following responses during minutes rated low in rapport than in minutes rated high in rapport. Examination of the relationship between counsellor verbal control and rapport during interviews suggested that the effective use of communicative control by counsellors may be time-relevant to the stage of the interview.     

Counsellor facial expression and client-perceived rapport

The effects of counsellors’ facial expressions upon the degree of rapport experienced by a Standardized Client (STC) was assessed via examination of 59 counselling interviews conducted by graduate students in counselling. Izard's (1971 Izard, CE. 1971. The face of emotion, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.  [Google Scholar]) Affex system of classifying facial expressions was used to operationalize the independent variable of facial expression, with STC ratings of rapport on a five-point scale each minute of the interviews constituting the dependent variable. Data indicated that there was significant more (in seconds/minute) counsellor facial expression of the categories “Interest-excitement” and “Enjoyment-joy” during minutes rated as high in rapport than in minutes rated as low in rapport, but that there was significantly less of the counsellor facial expression “Hypothesized Interest” in high rapport minutes. Implications for the development of effective training procedures for counsellors, plus the need to emphasize the building of emotional engagement between counsellor and client are discussed.     

Multiple Organisations of Events in Memory

Theories of memory organisation propose that activity knowledge organises autobiographical memory globally. According to these views, memories that share a participant, location, or time are only organised together if they also share an activity. If they do not, they are nested within their respective activity organisations locally rather than being organised together globally. Two experiments that assessed people's clustering of laboratory events consistently obtained findings that contradict this view. Both experiments found that people organise event memories globally in non-activity clusters, cross-classify events into multiple organisations, and pivot between activity and non-activity clusters. Consistent with studies of naturalistic events, these studies of laboratory events indicate that people crossclassify event memories simultaneously into multiple global organisations.     

Counsellor verbal response mode usage and client-perceived rapport

The effects of usage of eight verbal response modes by trainee counsellors during an initial interview were determined by reference to client-perceived rapport. Data on rapport were gathered via a standardized client's minute-by-minute ratings of his experience of rapport on a five-point scale during the interview. A total of ten counselling interviews were conducted, and data were examinedfor overall effects (i.e. during the interview as a whole) and minute-by-minute effects. Restatements, Minimal Encouragers and Verbosity were significantly dafferent in occurrence in high versus low rated interviews. Minute-by-minute data revealed that these overall differences were not consistent at all stages of the interviews. Implications for counsellor training are discussed.     

Counsellor conflict in managing the frame: Dilemmas and decisions

An essential feature of psychodynamic counselling is a secure frame for the work that holds boundaries as sacrosanct, both to ensure ethical practice and to provide a vehicle through which unconscious processes can be recognized and understood. Conscious or unconscious attacks on the frame are inevitable in any therapeutic relationship, and provide an opportunity for exploration and insight. However such incidents also have an impact on the therapist who must decide how to respond. In order to understand more about the therapist process when there is an attack on the frame, an investigation was carried out into ways in which psychodynamic counsellors manage the difficulties and dilemmas that arise as they try to hold a secure therapeutic frame. Ten counsellors were interviewed using a semi‐ structured interview format during which they were asked about an instance when the frame was challenged and the process by which it was resolved. The resulting dilemmas were categorized using grounded theory. Three categories of dilemmas emerged a) prior to making a decision about how to deal with it, b) after making a decision, and c), as a result of the outcome of the action taken. The nature of the dilemmas and the process of resolving them are reported and discussed.     

Counsellor actions needed for the new career perspective

The perspective of a self-reliant 'new career' can be seen as a positive stimulus for career counsellors to reform their profession. Recommended actions include: (1) making life satisfaction the major goal; (2) advocating open-mindedness rather than decisiveness; (3) assuming a broad role in dealing with client concerns; (4) normalising unplanned events; (5) teaching clients to create beneficial unplanned events; and (6) using increased learning and life satisfaction as outcome measures.     

Group Work in Counsellor Training: Research and Development in One Programme

Group work as an integral part of counsellor training appears to have been under-utilised. Certainly it is the case that empirical evaluations of such group work appear rarely in guidance and counselling journals. An attempt is made to remedy these deficiencies by reviewing studies relevant to counsellor training and to report on 17 years of research and experience with group work within a counsellor training programme at a New Zealand university.     

The Importance of PRI Therapy for the Pastoral Counsellor

It is not always easy for pastoral counsellors to help people change. Often people have become stuck in their ways. Recent developments in the field of brain research help explain why change is difficult. This article discusses Past Reality Integration Therapy (PRI), a psychotherapeutic method that integrates recent findings of brain research and offers an important addition to the work of (pastoral) counsellors and psychotherapists. The use of this approach with Dutch students in their pastoral training is presented. Furthermore the importance of this new method for counsellors themselves, their clients and their work is discussed and some overall conclusions about the method and its practical application are presented.     

The Counsellor as Decision-Maken Role, Treatment and Responding Decisions

As counselling develops as a specialised area, counsellors are confronted with an increasing need to be effective decision-makers. Broadly speaking, counsellor decisions are of three main types: role, treatment, and responding. The need for more rigorous role decision-making has been highlighted by the challenge of the psychological educator as contrasted with the traditional interviewer model of counsellor behaviour. Whether they are operating as interviewers or educators, counsellors need to be sensitive to their treatment and responding decisions, some of which are discussed. Barriers to effective counsellor decision-making include skills deficiencies, theoretical rigidity, and debilitating rather than enabling personal vulnerability. The notion of the counsellor as decision-maker is useful for focusing the content of counsellor training, and also leads inevitably to the notion of the counsellor as an applied scientist.     

Values Espoused by Australian and US Organisations

On a compare´ les valeurs de 132 organisations, 77 australiennes et 55 ame´ricaines, apparie´es selon la branche industrielle. Un logiciel d'analyse de contenu a recense´ les re´fe´rences aux valeurs dans les rapports annuels des anne´es 1986 a` 1990. On a compare´ les fre´quences des re´fe´rences a` neuf valeurs graĉe a` l'analyse de re´gression multiple et a` l'analyse en clusters, ce qui a permis de classer chaque organisation dans l'une de quatre cate´gories the´oriques de´finies par leur profil ou structure de valeurs: Elite, Leadership, Me´ritocratique et Colle´giale (Kabanoff, 1991). Les organisations de type me´ritocratique caracte´risent davantage les organisations ame´ricaines que les organisations australiennes, tandis que l'inverse est vrai pour les organisations de type e´litiste.
Seventy‐seven Australian and 55 US organisations matched by industry were compared in terms of their espoused values by using computer‐aided content analysis to count the value references in their annual reports for the years 1986–1990. Frequencies of reference to nine values were compared using multiple regression and cluster analysis, which assigned organisations to one of four theoretically specified organisational types based on their value structures or profiles—Elite, Leadership, Meritocratic, and Collegial (Kabanoff, 1991). Meritocratic‐type organisations were more prevalent among US than Australian organisations, while the opposite was true for Elite‐type organisations.