Employee development in a downsizing environment

This paper explores the meaning of employee development in a corporation experiencing force reductions. In this environment, development takes the form of enhancing employees' contributions on their present jobs and preparing them to meet the future needs of the business. The paper describes the personnel psychologist's role in establishing and communicating directions for skill development, maintaining opportunities for high potential managers, tracking employee attitudes about development opportunities, implementing lay offs, retraining survivors, and generally trying to stimulate a corporate development ethic.Manny London is a district manager in charge of employee development and organization effectiveness at AT&T. He is a consulting editor for theAcademy of Management Journal and a member of the editorial boards ofPersonnel Psychology and theJournal of Management Development.     

Positive and negative social ties among older adults: Measurement models and the prediction of psychological distress and well-being

The factor structure of positive and negative social ties was studied among 246 older adults who were either recently physically disabled, recently conjugally bereaved, or matched controls. Covariance structure analyses were carried out on a network measure to determine whether positive and negative social ties represent independent domains of social experience, and to assess the degree to which their structure is invariant across groups undergoing major loss transitions. Positive and negative social ties were found to be independent and there was substantial similarity in their factor structure across the three groups. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, whereas positive social ties were related to psychological well-being, negative social ties were predictive of both psychological well-being and distress. These results demonstrate the importance of assessing both positive and negative ties in explaining the psychological adjustment of older adults.     

TEST ANXIETY AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE: THE ROLE OF MUSCULAR AND ATTENTIONAL DEMANDS*

In experiment 1, the attentional demands of two fine (finger movements) and two gross (arm movements) motor tasks were empirically determined. In experiment 2, the effects of test condition (stress) and anxiety trait on motor performance were analyzed. A significant interactive effect appeared: the performance of high-trait-anxious subjects was impaired under evaluative conditions in fine and/or attentionally demanding tasks, but not in gross and attentionally simple tasks. As test conditions and anxiety trait have proved to arouse physiological alterations and aversive cognitive representations, the selective performance impairment found can be attributed to interferences on finger effectors or proprioceptors and to attentional overload, respectively.     

Crisis prevention and intervention training for psychiatric hospital staff

A 5-day course designed to train psychiatric hospital staff verbal and physical methods of preventing violence and injury when dealing with upset patients was taught to 89 staff from maximum and less secure wards. Compared to no-treatment controls, experimental subjects improved significantly on four tests of crisis-related tests and knowledge. Questionnaire and self-report measures from staff and patients on the training wards also indicated positive course effects. Assault frequencies decreased immediately after the course and staff injuries on experimental wards were reduced after the course relative to control wards.     

Effort,aversive representations and performance in test anxiety

The effects that effort and attention to aversive representations have on performance are analysed. Effort is manipulated by monetary incentives, and aversive representations are provoked by test and failure conditions. The most difficult items of the task—an inductive non-verbal reasoning test—are performed more poorly by high-trait-anxious Ss under test conditions with reward than by low-anxious Ss, but they do not differ under test instructions without reward. And there are no differences in the less difficult items. These results lend support to Eysenck's conceptualization on the effects of anxiety on performance effectiveness and on processing efficiency. Alternative interpretations are discussed.     

Body Covering and Body Image: A Comparison of Veiled and Unveiled Muslim Women,Christian Women,and Atheist Women Regarding Body Checking,Body Dissatisfaction,and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Although Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide, only few studies have investigated body image in Muslim women, and no study has investigated body checking. Therefore, the present study examined whether body image, body checking, and disordered eating differ between veiled and unveiled Muslim women, Christian women, and atheist women. While the groups did not differ regarding body dissatisfaction, unveiled Muslim women reported more checking than veiled Muslim and Christian women, and higher bulimia scores than Christian. Thus, prevention against eating disorders should integrate all women, irrespective of religious affiliation or veiling, with a particular focus on unveiled Muslim women.     

Sociopolitical Control for Immigrants: The Role of Receiving Local Contexts

This study examines the individual and contextual factors associated with sociopolitical control expressed by immigrants in southern Spain. We used hierarchical linear modeling to evaluate the relations between individual (community participation, social connectedness, and perceived cultural competence of receiving community services) and municipality characteristics (city community participation, city social connectedness, and city community services’ cultural competence) and immigrants’ feelings of sociopolitical control. Data were analyzed using a two‐level model based on 707 Moroccan immigrants in 25 municipalities. After adjusting for gender, educational level, and psychosocial confounding factors, we observed a positive association between social connectedness and sociopolitical control at the individual level. At the contextual level, we observed a positive association between (a) city community participation, (b) city social connectedness, and (c) city community services’ cultural competence, and sociopolitical control. Indeed, living in a municipality where there are community services with high levels of cultural competence and where, on average, many people participate in organizations and neighbors are connected, was associated with higher levels of perceived control in the sociopolitical domain for immigrants. We also discuss implications for community‐based research and practice.