A New Model of Job Training for Economic Rebirth

Many current welfare recipients lack the adequate training and education needed to become self-sufficient. Historically, government administered Job training programs have not been successful in efficiently moving people from government assistance to permanent employment, suggesting the need for a new model of job training. This article presents a resiliency model of job training that emphasizes applicant recruitment, assessment and development. Use of a resiliency model is intended to increase program success rates by using psychological assessment and professional development goals of the individual.     

A MULTIPLE LEVEL INVESTIGATION OF PERSONNEL RATINGS

A multiple levels of analysis approach was used to assess whether job performance and skill importance ratings were based on individual differences, incumbent/supervisor dyadic agreement, group membership, or functional department. Data were collected as part of a managerial training needs analysis conducted at a large gold and silver mining organization. Participants included 140 incumbent managers and their immediate supervisors, who were embedded in 140 incumbent/supervisor dyads, 39 managerial work groups, and eight departments of the organization. Results from Within and Between Analysis (WABA) suggested that (a) incumbent ratings of both performance and skill importance were characterized by individual differences, (b) supervisory ratings of both performance and skill importance were primarily characterized by between-groups (supervisors) differences, (c) matched incumbent-supervisory performance ratings displayed individual differences, and (d) matched incumbent-supervisory importance ratings displayed dyadic agreement (i.e., between-dyads differences). Practical implications of these results for interpreting these and other types of personnel-related data are discussed.     

The Death of Resistance

For any conceptual distinction to be useful ( 5 ) within the field of family therapy, it needs to lead to some clear answers to the question: What does this distinction mean for clinical practice? The distinction between (a) the family-as-a-system, and (b) family-therapy-as-a-system leads to a clinical perspective, or stance, that includes a focus on changing. Once this focus is clear, the therapist can help to create the expectation of changing and consequently promote changing. That is, techniques can be developed using positive feedback loops. ¹ 1 It is important to remember throughout this essay that “positive” and “negative feedback loops,”“deviation-amplifying,”“deviation-counteracting processes,” etc., are just heuristic devices or metaphors. Human systems do not have such things. Human systems are described by an observer “as if.”
Moreover, this distinction leads to a therapeutic stance in which not changing is a surprise.     

Tomorrow's Resources are in Today's classroom

The National Consortium for Humanizing Education conducted training and research in 42 states and seven foreign countries. Its procedures were effective in increasing both emotional and academic indexes.     

Sensory Extenders Versus Meters and Predictors: Clarifying Strategies for the Use of Objective Tests in Family Therapy

Cromwell and Peterson's goal of introducing quantitative testing into family assessment and therapy is laudable; the system they propose--the Multisystem-Multimethod (MS-MM) approach is not. MS-MM is confusing, deceptive, and misleading for clinicians who want to use tests to sharpen their diagnostic assessments and predictions. What is needed is specific theory linking various family processes and individual behaviors, as well as equally specific information about the reliability and validity of the tests. Likewise, the MS-MM approach is completely inadequate for clinicians seeking to use tests to enlarge their clinical imaginations. What is needed is a more down-to-earth examination of the influence of testing on the family therapy system.     

Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems: Vl. Theoretical Update

This paper updates the theoretical work on the Circumplex Model and provides revised and new hypotheses. Similarities and contrasts to the Beavers Systems Model are made along with comments regarding Beavers and Voeller's critique. FACES II, a newly revised assessment tool, provides both "perceived" and "ideal" family assessment that is useful empirically and clinically.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RECRUITING SOURCE AND EMPLOYEE SUCCESS: AN ANALYSIS BY RACE

Using a racially mixed sample ( N = 1400) of store clerks, the relationship between recruiting source and employee success was examined. The results suggest that for Whites, informal recruiting sources (e.g., employee referrals, in-store notices) were associated with longer tenure, generally confirming earlier research. For Blacks, more formal sources (e.g., employment agencies, media announcements) were associated with longer tenure. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for practice.     

Rethinking Change in Counseling

The idea of change is one of the most fundamental concepts underlying practice in counseling and guidance. Yet the complexity of change, as it applies to people, is seldom examined in detail by the counseling practitioner. The author discusses the concept of change through its definition and looks at different forms of change, different change tempos, and the value of change for people. He concludes with a change position that attempts to identify the counselor not only as a change agent but also as a preservationist.