Interim Managers: Distinguishing Personality Characteristics of Managers on Short-term Contracts

The use of interim managers by companies is increasing, and reasons for this trend are discussed. A study is reported in which the normative personality make-up of a group of interim managers is compared with that of a general sample of UK managers. Ninety-four interim managers completed the revised PA Preference Inventory (PAPI-N) and the results are compared with those from a general UK managerial sample. Statistically significant differences are reported for 12 out of 20 scales, with nine of the effect sizes ≥ 0.5. Results are also compared with a priori job expert predictions. Of nine predictions that interim managers would differ from the general management norm, seven are consistent with the statistical findings. Practical and methodological implications of the findings, and their relation to the ‘Big Five’, are discussed, together with broader implications for the study of workers in new and emerging forms of employment. The findings are also interpreted in the particular context of interim management roles.     

Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Review of 112 Cases

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) was first recognized by Mesulam in 1982. Although dozens of cases have since been described, it has been difficult to place these cases into a coherent framework due to the wide variation in measures which have been reported. We review 170 contacts with 112 patients to provide a clinical, neuroanatomical, and neuropsychological profile of patients with the disorder. The progression of the disease is analyzed over a 10-year reporting period starting from symptom onset to show how progression affects five general linguistic skills: oral and written naming, reading, repetition, and general comprehension. The pattern of functional and neurological deficits in PPA is heterogeneous. Differences in the distribution of neurological anomalies between patients with bilateral and unilateral changes suggest that there may be two separate disease processes involved.     

Ajātasattu and the future of psychoanalytic anthropology. Part I: The promise of a culture

Conclusion Thus, we can see that Obeyesekere’s notion and usage of some psychoanalytic concepts is at variance with Freud’s formulations and with those of standard psychoanalytic theory. This divergence is also evident in Obeyesekere’s formulation of the concept of disconnection, which is arguably the most important construct in the first chapter of The work of culture. Space constraints prevent us taking-up this concept here. So let me now conclude this first part of the essay, and begin part 2 with an examination of ‘disconnection’ in the context of a discussion of Obeyesekere’s accounts of two South Asian ecstatics.     

First-person thoughts and embodied self-awareness: Some reflections on the relation between recent analytical philosophy and phenomenology

The article examines some of the main theses about self-awareness developed in recent analytic philosophy of mind (especially the work of Bermúdez), and points to a number of striking overlaps between these accounts and the ones to be found in phenomenology. Given the real risk of unintended repetitions, it is argued that it would be counterproductive for philosophy of mind to ignore already existing resources, and that both analytical philosophy and phenomenology would profit from a more open exchange.     

Self‐reported emotional intelligence: Construct similarity and functional dissimilarity of higher‐order processing in Iran and the United States

This study employed the Trait Meta‐Mood Scale (TMMS) to assess self‐reported emotional intelligence cross‐culturally as an input (attention to emotions), process (clarity of emotions), and output (repair of emotions) information‐processing system. Iranian (N = 231) and American (N = 220) university students responded to the TMMS along with measures of alexithymia, public and private self‐consciousness, depression, anxiety, self‐esteem, and perceived stress. Negative correlations with alexithymia and expected linkages with all other variables documented the validity of the TMMS in both cultures. Most of the other measures correlated similarly in the two samples. However, private and public self‐consciousness displayed a stronger positive association in Iran. These two scales were also more predictive of adjustment in Iran and of maladjustment in the United States. This difference perhaps reflected a poorer integration of the two dimensions of self‐consciousness within a presumably more individualistic American society. Confirmatory factor analyses and measurement invariance procedures revealed cross‐cultural similarities in the fit of an a priori higher‐order factor structure to the obtained data, but subsequent structural equation modelling techniques uncovered cross‐cultural dissimilarities in the actual processing of emotional information. Specifically, the higher‐order factors of emotional intelligence were similar, but the interrelationships among those higher‐order factors were not. As expected, Iranians displayed positive relationships among the input, processing, and output activities of the information‐processing model. For the Americans, however, greater input was associated with diminished processing and output. This unanticipated relative contrast seemed congruent with speculation that the historical American emphasis on the self and individualism promotes positive, optimistic thinking. Overall, these data most importantly suggested that subtle cultural differences might exist in the processing of emotional information.     

The Influence of Income Level and Ethnicity on Coping Strategies

The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) by S. Folkman and R. S. Lazarus (1988) has been used widely; however, few studies have evaluated this assessment tool in research concerning populations from different income levels and ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to compare the endorsement of the 8 coping strategies as outlined by Folkman and Lazarus's original research with Caucasian, middle class participants to the endorsement of coping approaches in a low income, primary care sample. Results suggest that low income individuals report utilizing greater rates of coping strategies overall and specifically employ emotion-focused coping strategies more than Folkman and Lazarus's original sample. Ethnic differences within the present study's low income sample were also examined and suggest that even within this low income sample, African Americans use certain emotion-focused coping strategies significantly more than Caucasian participants.     

Alternatives to traditional mentoring in fostering career success

Researchers have called for an examination of the roles that alternatives to traditional mentoring play in individuals’ career success. This study tests how important, but less examined factors, such as employees’ direct leader, personal and work factors such as ability and the formality of the organization, and employees’ engagement in career management strategies relate to career outcomes. Mechanisms intervening in the relationship between mentoring alternatives and career success were examined, including the moderating effect of individual differences (e.g., proactive personality, career motivation, and career stage) and the mediating role of employees’ career self-efficacy. We discuss how our results continue the examination of alternative sources of mentoring and contribute to existing theory. Finally, we elaborate on the practical importance of our results for situations where alternatives to traditional mentoring are needed.