DO BLACK AND WHITE SUPERVISORY PROBLEM SOLVING STYLES DIFFER?*

Do black supervisors manage differently than white supervisors? Do black supervisors solve problems in the same way as white supervisors? To investigate these issues a group of 21 blacks and 56 whites in a supervisory training program conducted by the College of Business, University of Georgia, were studied using a take-home paper and pencil exercise. Certain independent variables were first identified which included biographical data, employment experience and personality factors. The exercises attempted to measure the way they resolved role conflict situations and handled disciplinary problems–two important duties of supervisors. The most outstanding finding from the study was the paucity of differences in all measures except in attitudes toward received discipline. Blacks were less willing to accept harsh punishment for violation of organizational rules than whites, especially where there was a history of high performance. We conclude, however, that organizational acculturation may substantially offset any minority subcultural influences in organizational situations.     

An Examination of the Variables Related to Minority Youth Employment

This study involves an examination of the postprogram experiences of youth in the National Urban League Youth Career Development Project. It seeks to identify those factors responsible for helping some participants secure and maintain employment. Likewise, it attempts to determine impediments for participants who either never found employment or found employment but were unable to retain their jobs.     

Behavioral Treatment of Test Anxiety in a Drug Abuse Vocational Rehabilitation Day Program

Anxiety is one of the critical factors present in initiating and maintaining a drug-dependent pattern of behavior. This study examines test anxiety. The objective was to determine if a behavioral approach can be applied to the treatment of test anxiety in a vocational rehabilitation program for drug abuse clients. A case history is presented. Procedural details for applying behavioral techniques are discussed. The results of the study indicate that the treatment strategies selected were effective in reducing test anxiety. One of the side effects of using an approach that puts the technology of behavior change into the hands of the client is that the skills learned during treatment can be used to cope with problems other than those discussed with the counselor.     

The Fully Functioning Employment Service Counselor

Fully functioning employment service counselors are individuals who feel personally and professionally significant and who use personal and professional competencies to foster an accurate image of themselves with clients and other professionals within the employment service. They are aware of the changing demands and the expanding scope and goals of employment counseling occurring over the past 10 years, although many others in the employment service, including training and supervising counselors, are not. These counselors must take the responsibility for bringing others into their scope of awareness: They must define, through their own actions, their developing identity.     

Gestalt therapy interventions for group counseling

Much interest has been focused on Gestalt therapy in recent years. Many counselors, however, are unfamiliar with this style of therapeutic intervention. The author offers a brief introduction to some of the basic tenets of Gestalt therapy, noting goals that are similar to those in counseling theories. He also suggests several interventions from Gestalt therapy to be considered for group counseling and discusses their applications.     

Developing Partnerships to Meet Clients' Needs in Changing Government Organizations: A Consultative Process

The article outlines the development of partnerships across 3 employment‐related government ministries, in a context of organizational restructuring and downsizing. The article describes a consultation process conducted with workers from 2 provincial ministries and 1 federal government ministry regarding effective collaboration to assess unemployed clients' employability needs. In individual and focus group meetings, the workers developed a process that involved the cooperation and involvement of those from all 3 ministries in offering and monitoring the effectiveness of a needs assessment program.     

'NOLI ME TANGERE': WHY JOHN MEIER WON'T TOUCH THE RISEN LORD

John Meier distinguishes ‘the real Jesus’ from ‘the historical Jesus’. Meier claims that whatever happened to the real Jesus after his death, his resurrection cannot belong to the historical Jesus because that event is in principle not open to the observation of any observer. But why think that the resurrection is not observable in this way? Meier finds justification in Gerald O'Collins' view that although the resurrection of Jesus is a real event, it is not an event in space and time and hence should not be called historical, since a necessary condition of historical occurrences is that they are known to have happened in our space‐time continuum. Is this a good argument for the resurrection's being in principle excludable from the historical Jesus? A close examination of the argument reveals that it is not and that Meier's adoption of such a procedure contradicts Meier's own historical methodology.