A HIERARCHICAL CONSTRUCT OF SELF-MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND PERCEIVED WORK GROUP EFFECTIVENESS

This study validates the self-management leadership theory as operationalized by the Self-Management Leadership Questionnaire (Manz & Sims, 1987) in a large telephone company. The sample for this study is 390 self-managing and 412 traditionally managed employees and 94 external leaders from 58 self-managing and 60 traditionally managed teams. Results support Manz and Sims' 6-factor pattern at the first-order level, and in addition, identify a common second-order factor. The hierarchical factor structure is invariant in employee and leader samples drawn from both self-managing and traditionally managed work teams, suggesting that the construct of self-managing leadership is similar for members and leaders of both types of teams. Respondents perceive slightly more self-management leadership behaviors in the self-managing than the traditional work teams. Respondents evaluate self-managing work teams as more effective than traditional work teams, and this difference is moderate in size. Self-managing leadership behaviors are positively associated with QWL (mainly employee satisfaction) and self-rated effectiveness for both self-managing and traditional teams. In general, self-managing work teams are not that different from traditionally managed groups in the relationship of self-managing leadership to outcomes. We conclude that self-management leadership is a hierarchical concept, constituted of specific strategies as well as a general orientation toward empowering employees. These leadership behaviors are applicable to managing both traditional and self-managing work teams.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONS AMONG TRAINING CRITERIA

An augmented framework for training criteria based on Kirkpatrick's (1959a, 1959b, 1960a, 1960b) model divides training reactions into affective and utility reactions, and learning into post-training measures of learning, retention, and behavior/skill demonstration. A total of 34 studies yielding 115 correlations were analyzed meta-analytically. Results included substantial reliabilities across training criteria and reasonable convergence among subdivisions of criteria within a larger level. Utility-type reaction measures were more strongly related to learning or on-the-job performance (transfer) than affective-type reaction measures. Moreover, utility-type reaction measures were stronger correlates of transfer than were measures of immediate or retained learning. These latter findings support recent concurrent thinking regarding use of reactions in training (e.g., Warr & Bunce, 1995). Implications for choosing and developing training criteria are discussed.     

EFFECTS OF RATER TRAINING AND PARTICIPATION ON COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY: AN EXPLORATION OF SCHNEIER'S COGNITIVE REINTERPRETATION

Schneier (1977) proposed that rater cognitive complexity interacts with format to affect the psychometric soundness of ratings. He also speculated that cognitive complexity may be enhanced by having raters participate in training and/or scale construction programs. This study was designed to test these latter hypotheses, while also providing a partial replication of Schneier's original research. Ninety-six undergraduate students were assigned to four groups. One participated in the construction of a set of BARS and was trained in their use, a second participated in BARS construction only, a third received training only, and the fourth served as a control group. All subjects were administered a measure of cognitive complexity before and after the experimental treatments. Also, all subjects evaluated five simulated ratees using the BARS. A training × participation (2 × 2) ANOCOV indicated no change in cognitive complexity scores as a result of the experimental treatments. A training × participation × (nominalized) cognitive complexity (2 × 2 × 2) MANOVA on mean ratings for the five stimuli found no effects on leniency error. A similar MANOVA on variances of ratings provided little evidence for effects on halo error. These results, taken in conjunction with those of other investigators who have failed to replicate Schneier's findings, suggest that the cognitive reinterpretation should be accepted with caution at best.     

Merit in the Midst of Grace: The Covenant with Adam Reconsidered in View of the Two Powers of God

Abstract:  The position of Barth and others, that the covenant with Adam is thoroughly legalistic, is based on the incorrect assumption that grace and works cannot coexist as covenant principles. However, the difficulty of seeing the harmony between these principles is real. This article reconsiders the covenant with Adam in light of the medieval concept of the two powers of God, or as we shall argue here, the two perspectives on God's power. These two perspectives, part of the original intellectual milieu in which covenant theology arose, demonstrate that the divine covenant with humanity may include aspects of both God's grace and human merit simultaneously. God's grace is apparent de potentia absoluta , from the perspective of God's absolute power, and God's justice and the possibility of Adam's merit are apparent de potentia ordinata , from the perspective of God's ordained power. Both perspectives, what God could do and what he has in fact chosen to do, are valid and necessary perspectives for understanding God's covenant dealings.     

Spoken word recognition by eye

Spoken word recognition is thought to be achieved via competition in the mental lexicon between perceptually similar word forms. A review of the development and initial behavioral validations of computational models of visual spoken word recognition is presented, followed by a report of new empirical evidence. Specifically, a replication and extension of Mattys, Bernstein & Auer's (2002) study was conducted with 20 deaf participants who varied widely in speechreading ability. Participants visually identified isolated spoken words. Accuracy of visual spoken word recognition was influenced by the number of visually similar words in the lexicon and by the frequency of occurrence of the stimulus words. The results are consistent with the common view held within auditory word recognition that this task is accomplished via a process of activation and competition in which frequently occurring units are favored. Finally, future directions for visual spoken word recognition are discussed.     

LITURGICALLY TRAINED MEMORY: A READING OF SUMMA THEOLOGIAE III.83

Drawing on Ciceronian rhetorical tropes, Thomas Aquinas treats the rite of the Eucharist in terms of the classical ars memoriae. The Eucharist, for Aquinas, is the schooling in desire whereby we are trained to order the associations of our memory to their proper objects in terms of their relations to God. He thus conceives of the liturgy of the Mass as rhetoric proper, which truly teaches, moves and delights. Since memory is the condition of all thought, as both Thomas and Augustine claim, the Eucharist is the “site” of all theological production, and therefore the liturgy is the art of memory of which all other similar arts are derivative.