Consultation: A New Strategy For CETA

Program changes inherent in the CETA concept have markedly decreased the effectiveness of previous program management and liaison strategies. Some reasons for this decrease and a new set of skills for working at the interface between prime sponsors and subcontractors and/or the regional offices are presented. These skills, formulated within a consultation model and based on solid behavioral strategies, are one way to increase CETA program effectiveness.     

Privacy and the new technology

Technology has been charged with destroying personal privacy. Some look to technology itself for solutions and countermeasures to the threat; others seek to control the threat by laws. But protection by control of human incentives holds most promise. Schools, for example, suffer from datamania, which might be alleviated by proper control of incentives. This article suggests several steps we can take to avoid any individual gain from acquiring information about others.     

The Future of Cross-Cultural Counseling: A Delphi Poll

The probable future of cross-cultural counseling, for the next 10 years, was predicted using the Delphi Method—the best available forecasting tool. A panel of 53 identified experts in the field of cross-cultural counseling completed a 49-item questionnaire that addressed future developments in the areas of theory and research, training and preparation, and social organization. Results indicated many probable changes in all areas and several areas that remain unclear for the next decade. Nominations for the current top cross-cultural training programs, journals, and books were also solicited, resulting in a strong consensus.     

WHY DO ASSESSMENT CENTERS WORK? THE PUZZLE OF ASSESSMENT CENTER VALIDITY

The finding that assessment centers are successful in making valid predictions of managerial success is well established in the literature. Unfortunately, it is not clearly understood why assessment centers work. For example, construct validity of assessment center dimensions is rarely obtained. In this paper we affirm the evidence for predictive validity of assessment centers and conclude that assessment centers can work for a variety of purposes and in numerous contexts. But we also assert that we do not know why they work. The bulk of the paper goes on to raise possible explanations for the predictive validity observed in assessment centers and raises implications for practice and guidance of future research.     

PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES: CONSTITUENCY PERSPECTIVES AND PREFERENCES

The multiple constituency approach is proposed as a meaningful framework for analyzing the activities of the personnel department. A basic hypothesis on the differences in constituency preferences was empirically tested in 150 organizational units of three large organizations. Four constituencies were found to desire significantly different activities from the department. Minor contextual effects on the pattern of differences were also observed across the three organizations. Future research agendas and implications for practice based on the multiple constituency approach are discussed.     

Job Satisfaction Among Married Working Women

Data from a recent national opinion survey were used to evaluate an array of work and nonwork variables in terms of their relationships to reported job satisfaction of married working women. Women's job satisfaction was found to be related to such variables as life satisfaction, age, and importance of job income but unrelated to such indices as race, educational level, occupational prestige, income level, and attitude toward women working.     

THE COMPARATIVE VALIDITY OF SELECTED LEADERSHIP SCALES RELATIVE TO SUCCESS IN PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

For 113 managerial personnel, a new supervisory judgment test, the Leadership Evaluation and Development Scale (LEADS) was found to be the best (r = .36) of four predictors of salary corrected for age and length of service. Other predictors were a verbal comprehension measure and the two Leadership Opinion Questionnaire scores. The R involving all four predictors was .39. LEADS was also found to be the best predictor of personnel department ratings on performance in the employee relations area. None of the predictors was significantly related to supervisors' ratings. Meaningful dimensions of supervisory performance not indicated by the other predictors appear to be measured by LEADS.     

Employee Reactions to the Physical Work Environment: The Role of Childhood Residential Attributes1

This study examines the possibility that 2 employee background attributes, childhood residential density and childhood community type, moderate relations between characteristics of the physical work environment and employee responses. Administrative employees (N= 75) from 25 offices of a university participated in the research. Results demonstrate that employees from high-density childhood residences and urban communities exhibited more positive responses as adults (i. e., higher performance and lower crowding) to high-contact work environments (i. e., those characterized by few enclosures, high spatial density, and close interpersonal distance) than employees from other combinations of childhood residential density and community type. Results also suggest that the contributions of residential density and community type were somewhat accounted for by individual differences in social avoidance tendencies and noise sensitivities.