HEARING IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE: THE INFLUENCE OF SOURCE, LEADER-RELATIONS, AND LEGITIMACY ON SURVIVORS' FAIRNESS PERCEPTIONS

This study developed and tested a model of survivors' fairness perceptions. Data on leader-member relations and affective commitment was collected from 217 R&D professionals approximately 15 months prior to a major layoff. A second wave of data assessed source of layoff announcement, legitimacy of the organizational account, and procedural and distributive fairness 1 month after the layoff occurred. Results of path analysis confirmed hypothesized relationships, and the variance accounted for in distributive and procedural fairness was 24% and 48%, respectively. Procedural fairness was higher for survivors who were informed of impending layoffs by their managers. However, this effect was stronger for high than for low leader-member exchange (LMX) employees. Legitimacy of the account was positively related to procedural fairness. Distributive fairness was indirectly related to the independent variables through procedural fairness. Affective commitment of 78 of the original respondents was assessed approximately 24 months after the layoff. Post-layoff affective commitment was significantly related to procedural but not to distributive fairness perceptions. The findings underscore the critical role of direct supervisors in layoff announcements as well as providing evidence of the long-term effects of procedural fairness on survivor commitment.     

SIGNIFICANCE TESTS AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS FOR THE ADVERSE IMPACT RATIO

The two most common methods for assessing adverse impact, the four-fifths rule and the z -test for independent proportions, often produce discrepant results. These discrepancies are due to the focus on practical versus statistical significance, and on differing operational definitions of adverse impact. In order to provide a more consistent framework for evaluating adverse impact, a new significance test is proposed, which is based on the same effect size as the four-fifths rule. Although this new test was found to have slightly better statistical power under some conditions, both tests have low power under the typical conditions where adverse impact is assessed. An alternative to significance testing would be to report an estimate of the adverse impact ratio along with a confidence interval indicating the degree of precision in the estimate.     

The impact of imagined audiences on self‐appraisals

The concept of the relational self suggests that simply imagining significant others produces shifts in self‐assessments consistent with one’s roles and experiences with those others. To test relevant hypotheses, college women (from the United States) imagined a significant other as part of a visualization task. After imagining parents as compared to peers, participants described themselves as less sensual, dominant, and adventurous (Experiment 1), a pattern consistent with other women’s ratings of how they actually felt with those others. Supporting the idea that self‐esteem differences emerge in more evaluative contexts, self‐esteem moderated self‐assessments on key dimensions (Experiment 2). After imagining a romantic other but not a best friend, self‐esteem was directly related to women’s self‐ratings of sensuality, physical attractiveness, and being at ease.     

PRESENTISM: THROUGH THICK AND THIN

Abstract: Presentism is the view that whatever exists presently exists. Without defending Presentism, I argue first that Presentists should be Time -Free Presentists – Presentists whose views do not imply that there exist irreducible times . Second, I argue that Presentists should accept Limited Thick Presentism, the view that 'the present' has some extension and is thereby neither durationlessly thin nor unlimitedly 'thick'. Third, before addressing several objections to Limited Time-Free Thick Presentism [LTFTP], I argue that defenders of LTFTP should accept that 'temporal becoming' involves an overlapping succession of present entities, not a 'skipping' from one set of present entities to the next discrete set.     

Stories About Counselors and Computers: Their Use in Workshops

Story-telling has been a traditional method of teaching new ideas and facilitating change. The author presents three fictional dialogues that demonstrate concerns regarding computers and counseling. Evaluation of these dialogues by participants in a computer training workshop is also discussed.     

Multidimensional Scaling in Counseling Research and Practice

The authors briefly describe the use of multidimensional scaling (MDS) in counseling. They discuss types of data that have been analyzed using MDS, kinds of MDS analyses, and the interpretation of MDS results and review MDS research relevant to vocational, family, group, and individual counseling. They also briefly discuss potential applications in counseling practice.     

The Assessment of College Student Need: First Step in a Prevention Response

This article introduces the assessment process, reviews selected assessment studies, and presents a unique procedure for identifying college student needs, leading to a prevention response.