COORIENTATION ON COMMUNICATION RULES IN MANAGERIAL DYADS

This field study compared the effects of three dimensions of supervisor-subordinate coorientation regarding two communication rules (initiation and termination) on satisfaction with supervision and performance evaluations. For supervisors accuracy and perceived agreement on rules had positive effects on performance ratings of subordinates, even after controlling for frequency of contact. For subordinates, only perceived agreement on rules had an impact on satisfaction with supervision. For both supervisors and subordinates agreement on communication rules was not a significant predictor of evaluations.     

Rape as an Essentially Contested Concept

Because “rape” has such a powerful appraisive meaning, how one defines the term has normative significance. Those who define rape rigidly so as to exclude contemporary feminist understandings are therefore seeking to silence some moral perspectives “by definition.” I argue that understanding rape as an essentially contested concept allows the concept sufficient flexibility to permit open moral discourse, while at the same time preserving a core meaning that can frame the discourse.     

Communicating Distressful Information: A Video Training Program in a Special Education Setting

The authors developed and evaluated a videotape training program on teaching process and problem-solving skills specifically related to issues associated with the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. Results indicated that exposure to the training program reduced anxiety specific to the targeted issues. Feedback about the program was positive. Development and evaluation issues are discussed.     

Effects of Community Service on Adolescent Personality Development

Community service programs have been implemented to promote positive personality development in adolescents. Theoretical and anecdotal evidence suggests that such programs are important in instilling values and nurturing development of positive personality and behavioral characteristics. The study sought to determine the effects of participation in community service activities on the personality development of high school students. We used quantitative and qualitative analyses to evaluate the research question. Quantitative analyses yielded limited evidence of positive change, but qualitative analyses indicated that community service produced strong positive effects for participants. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

A gift from the ghetto

Counselors and their clients must communicate effectively. Because the trained counselor is not always able to relate to the problems of his clients who are both black and poor, this article examines the significant role that paraprofessionals, or indigenous counselors, can play in the ghetto.     

The child development consultant: an experiment

The effects of a new type of practitioner in elementary schools—the Child Development Consultant—were evaluated in contrast to the effects of persons carrying out typical functions of the elementary school counselor and social worker. This two-year project shows trends but no significant differences favoring one type of worker over the other. Evidence suggests the value of a pupil services practitioner in a school, and indicates that although such practitioners were prepared informally and relatively briefly, their effects are the same as those who engage in full, formal preparation programs.