Coping with the Stresses of Travel as an Opportunity for Improving the Quality of Work and Family Life

The relationship between the working lives and family lives of people in our society is little explored. This article describes a case in which heavy business travel created problems both for the industrial organization and the families of the employees involved. To cope with the problem, the family perspective was brought into the organization by means of a husband-wife workshop. The workshop used structure to fit privacy norms of industry, to help couples explore aspects of their relationships that determined their individual and joint response to organizational and family stress, and to develop collaborative resources for coping with those stresses. The benefits to the families and the organization went beyond coping with the stresses of business travel and extended to other important aspects of both business and family life.     

Linking the Physical Work Environment to Creative Context

Creative achievement of teams is increasingly recognized as an organization's most valuable production. With dramatically advancing technology producing an almost unlimited amount of available information, the crucial challenge to many corporate and government organizations is how to use that information most creatively. While little expense is spared on identifying and training teams to enhance their potential for creative achievement, little is known about how, or if, the physical designed environment of these organizations supports creative achievement of teams. This review of literature across the disciplines of creativity, organizational behavior, and environment and behavior studies advocates a position for the physical environment in the context of creativity. Creative team characteristics and social influences are linked to properties and attributes of the physical office environment.     

The Impact of Poor Performers on Team Outcomes: An Empirical Examination of Attribution Theory*

We test assertions that attribution theory (AT) can explain the responses of peers to the characteristics of a poor performing team member. Study 1 assessed the processes used to interpret the behavior of a poor performer and found that behavioral manifestations of cognitive ability (g) and Conscientiousness were associated with causal attributions (locus, controllability, and stability), emotional and cognitive reactions, and behavioral intentions to help or punish a fellow team member. Building on Study 1, Study 2 focused on team level responses to the lowest performer. It assessed the impact of g/Conscientiousness of a poorly performing team member on involving others, communication, feedback, and citizenship behaviors of team members at the team level. Both studies converged in finding that individual team members' intentions to help or punish were related to poor performer traits.     

Women's Postrape Sexual Functioning: Review and Implications for Counseling

The authors present a literature review concerning the effects of rape on sexual functioning and suggestions for facilitating sexual recovery of rape survivors in counseling.     

A Sort Card System for Therapists of Working Women

The author discusses the use of a system of sort cards that focus on the dilemmas of working women. The cards are used as a basis for therapy to help women focus on and come to terms with their ambivalences.     

MANAGEMENT TURNOVER: EXPERIENTIAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FORMER AND CURRENT MANAGERS

Potential experiential determinants of managerial turnover were investigated based on questionnaire responses from 140 former managers and 143 current managers within the same organization. To assess these experiences, measures were developed from four different areas of literature that consider the turnover phenomenon. Results indicate that, compared to current managers, former managers describe their managerial experiences in terms of (1) less satisfying job characteristics, (2) greater degrees of adjustment and socialization difficulties, (3) more unmet job expectations, and (4) greater degrees of job stress. Furthermore, it was discovered that all four areas of literature actually give very similar advice on reducing turnover, but each area differs in terms of intended applications and time perspective. Recommendations are provided for reducing management turnover.     

A Conversation With Donald H. Blocher

Donald H. Blocher has been a major contributor and advocate in the field of counseling psychology for more than 30 years. He has written six books, more than 60 book chapters and journal articles, and has had several publications translated into international journals. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from Harvard University, and a Fulbright Lecturer in the United Kingdom. Donald Blocher was interviewed on the occasion of his retirement after a distinguished career. In this conversation he discusses a wide range of provocative ideas as he looks back at his life as a developmental psychologist.     

Justice,Care, and Questionable Dichotomies

Throughout the development of an “ethic of care” different from an “ethic of justice,” the relationship between the two has been problematic. Are they theories between which one must choose? Are they complementary? Are they domain-specific? In support of my view that neither is adequate by itself, I here examine the private domain of care of the dying by intimates, and find there important issues both of care and of justice.     

A Multivariate Analysis of Relationships Between Personality Traits and Value Choice

A canonical analysis disclosed significant relationships between personality traits and value choice. These relationships were interpreted in terms of their usefulness in understanding human behavior.