PERCEIVED FAIRNESS OF LAYOFFS AMONG INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE BEEN LAID OFF: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

This longitudinal study examined 3 layoff-specific (explanation, correctability, and severance benefits) and 2 person-centered (negative affectivity and prior organizational commitment) variables as predictors of layoff victims' judgments of layoff fairness, willingness to endorse the terminating organization, desire to take the previous employer to court, and willingness to commit to future employers. In addition, this study assessed how reemployment moderated these relationships. The results highlighted the importance of receiving an explanation from organizations about how and why layoffs were conducted. Explanation was associated with higher perceived fairness of the layoff, higher willingness to endorse the terminating organization, and less desire to sue that organization, even after reemployment. Four predictor-outcome relationships were moderated by reemployment status.     

Creative Problem Solving and Problem Finding in Young Adults: Interconnections with Stress,Hassles, and Coping Abilities

This study examined the relationship among creative problem solving (PS) and problem generation (PG) abilities, stress and daily hassles, and coping skills in a sample of college undergraduates. Heirarchical regression analyses indicated that separate sets of both PS and PS task scores were predictive of scores on certain coping scales even after the variance accounted for by indices of stress and hassles was removed. Specifically, PG and PS abilities were negatively related to such coping processes as confrontation, distancing, escape-avoidance tendencies, and excessive acceptance of responsibility, and positively associated with more general adaptive qualities. The findings strongly suggest that PS and PG abilities are important components of an individual's overall capacity to cope with both major and minor stresses of life.     

EXPLAINING U.S. COURTS OF APPEALS DECISIONS INVOLVING PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: ACCURACY, FAIRNESS, AND VALIDATION

Accuracy and due process perspectives were used to extend policy-capturing research concerning employment discrimination case law. Two-hundred ninety-five usable U.S. Circuit Court decisions concerning performance appraisal were located from 1980–1995. In both chi-square and multivariate LOGIT analyses, decisions were explained by: use of job analysis, provision of written instructions, employee review of results, and agreement among raters. Contrary to hypotheses, appraisal frequency and type (traits vs. behaviors or results) were unrelated to judicial decision. Rater training approached significance in chi-square analysis. Of other variables checked (e.g., type of discrimination claim, statutory basis, class action status, year of decision, circuit court, type of organization, purpose of appraisal, evaluator race and sex), only circuit court approached significance. We conclude that issues relevant to fairness and due process were most salient to judicial decisions; issues pertaining to accuracy were important, yet validation was virtually ignored in this sample of cases.     

Sexual Attraction and Religious Therapists: Survey Findings and Implications

Five hundred Christian therapists returned surveys describing their beliefs and behaviors regarding sexual attraction and sexual expression toward their clients. Four groups of Christian therapists responded: psychologists, licensed therapists, nonlicensed therapists, and lay counselors. Christian therapists' responses are compared with those from a similar survey of 456 psychologists selected without regard to religious values. Most groups of Christian therapists are less likely than previously surveyed psychologists to report sexual attraction and fantasy toward clients, but the differences between Christian psychologists and other psychologists are minimal. Religious factors that may increase the stigma of admitting sexual attraction are considered.     

Synthesizing Results From an Interest and a Personality Inventory to Improve Career Decision Making

This article illustrates how career counselors can integrate the results from two widely used instruments—the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory—to enhance a client's decision-making ability.     

Behavioral Assessment of Job-Related Skills

An important aspect of finding and retaining employment is a person's level of occupational skills. Little information, however, is currently available on the comparative levels of job-related skills among both unemployed and successfully-employed adults. This study, using direct-observation techniques, analyzes the occupational skills of these two groups. The results show that employed adults performed significantly better than unemployed adults on each of 13 job-related skills assessed. These differences were found for both job-finding and job-retention skills. These assessment methods may be useful to employment counselors interested in helping their clients find and retain satisfactory employment.     

Convening Strategies in Family Therapy

Specific strategies for assembling or convening significant and often reluctant family members for family therapy seem undeveloped in the literature. The author develops and organizes specific convening methods and exemplifies these methods for clinical application. Methods adopted from strategic family therapists, including Haley, Selvini Palazzoli, and Watzlawick, are presented.