BACKGROUND, NEEDS, JOB PERCEPTIONS, AND JOB SATISFACTION: A CAUSAL MODEL

Data concerning sex, social status, need strength, job perceptions and job satisfaction were collected from 411 people who were entering the work force for the first time at the time they obtained their jobs and approximately 10 months later. Using maximum likelihood path analysis, support was obtained for the following causal sequence: Background → Need Strength → Job Perception → Job Satisfaction. As in other studies, growth need strength was related to job dimensions. However, relatedness needs also appear to play a significant role in determining perceptions of jobs and job satisfaction. Sex and social status determined to some extent the subjects' initial level of need strength and indirectly their job perceptions.     

COMPARISON OF EARLY RETIREES AND NON-RETIREES

A group of 250 early retirees and a similar group of 422 nonretired Civil Service employees were compared on demographic, experience and job attitude variables. Consistent with earlier published studies, demographic, health, and income variables accounted for approximately three times as much variance in the retirement status variable as did the motivational and attitudinal variables. Retirees reported that their jobs afforded less Autonomy, Skill Variety, Opportunity to Deal with Others, and less intrinsic satisfaction, but more Feedback from Others relative to nonretirees. Analysis of the demographic variables indicated retirees were more likely to be female, have less financial commitments, and have had more jobs in their career. It is suggested that the retirement decision may represent a positive attempt on the part of individuals to pursue more challenging, interesting activities, and that longitudinal research be initiated to explore in more detail the determinants of the retirement decision and subsequent retirement satisfaction.     

Dear diary: logs in group counseling

Logs written by group members after a session can be a powerful tool in group counseling. This article explores the uses of logs and suggests how they can further the success of group counseling in all settings. If used properly they heighten the awareness of personal and group dynamics and smooth the flow of communication.     

Defining and Assessing Problem‐Solving Style: Design and Development of a New Tool

VIEW: An Assessment of Problem Solving Style (Selby, Treffinger, & Isaksen, 2002) is a new instrument for assessing problem‐solving style, for use with individuals from ages 12 through adult. It measures three dimensions of style relating to creative problem solving and change management. In this article, we discuss the construction of the instrument, the initial evidence supporting the instrument's reliability and validity, and a very brief overview of the instrument's foundations. Our reliability data involve both stability and internal consistency. We report evidence for the criterion‐related validity, based on correlational studies with relevant measures of learning style, cognitive style, and psychological type. We also conducted principal components factor analyses that support our three‐factor structure. Researchers and practitioners studying and applying Creative Problem Solving and change management methods can use VIEW in several ways. Finally, we identify several research directions that will contribute to the refinement and development of the instrument as well as to a better understanding of the “problem‐solving style” construct.     

FORMATIVE EVALUATION: AN INTEGRATIVE PRACTICE MODEL AND CASE STUDY

Training evaluation research and practice has been dominated by a focus on outcomes of completed training programs, or on methods used to assess these outcomes. This focus has largely neglected formative evaluation, which involves evaluating training during design and development. The purpose of this paper is to review existing models of formative evaluation and suggest an integrative practice model that is specifically targeted at improving training delivered in work organizations.     

Social Group and Moral Orientation Factors as Mediators of Religiosity and Multiple Attitude Targets

Although there is a tradition of examining generalized discrimination against multiple targets, recent studies have tended to consider race and homosexuality as separate targets without considering their relationship with each other. Recent studies have also argued for a moral dimension in attitudes to homosexuality, but this has not yet been explicitly modeled as an explanation for patterns of social attitudes. In a questionnaire study of practicing Australian Christians (N= 143), we examined the relationship of religious orientation and ideology (intrinsic, extrinsic, fundamentalism, orthodoxy, and quest) with four attitude targets (Aboriginal Australians, women, homosexual persons, and abortion). Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we develop a two‐factor model, incorporating group and moral orientation factors, which completely mediates the relationships between the religiosity variables and the social attitudes. Religiosity variables exhibit different patterns of correlation with the two factors. The two‐factor model provides a useful framework for further exploration of socially and politically contested attitudes.     

A Pentecostal Way of Doing Theology: Method and Manner

Abstract:  Pentecostalism as a Christian religious movement has been given much attention by historians, sociologists and even biblical scholars yet little attention has been given to the development of a Pentecostal theology. This article emphasizes the necessity of doing Pentecostal theology by means of an integrative methodology and in a narrative manner that flows out of Pentecostal identity. Pentecostal theology must move beyond the impasse created by subsuming its identity under the rubric of 'Evangelical' in order for it to articulate a vibrant fully orbed mature Pentecostal theology. This can be accomplished only when 'Pentecostal' is taken seriously as an authentic Christian tradition with its own view of reality. I argue that one very important way of articulating a Pentecostal theology in keeping with its identity is to ground it pneumatologically and organize it around the Five-fold Gospel.