Status of guidance in the elementary school: 1968–69

This study investigated some aspects of elementary school guidance and counseling in the 50 states and the 4 territories of America. Specifically such matters as number of counselors employed, their sources of financial support, professional background, certification, and state standards were examined. Counselors now working in elementary schools in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands total 6,041. The majority are supported in part by federal funds, with 36 percent supported locally. Eighty to 90 percent of the counselors are trained in guidance and counseling. To date, 23 states indicated certification requirements specifically for counselors at the elementary level.     

Research on Family Interaction I: Static and Dynamic Models

A static and dynamic model of family structure are presented and illustrated in clinical application to a pilot study. The basic measure is a content-free assessment of the sequence of states of interaction in family sessions. Using Markov process concepts, certain parallels between the behavioral variables (state transitions) and the more abstract clinical concepts of family structure can be identified. By subsuming the latter structural concepts under a framework of "balance theory" (Heider; Cartwright and Harary) considerable reduction in complexity is achieved without sacrificing clinical relevance.
Still to be explored are the applications to the study of therapist-family interaction and of treatment-related changes in structural and behavioral measures.     

Work Classification in Ancient Times

The divisions of labor and the classifications of work in ancient times are described, and an early four-part classification is compared with that of the present Dictionary of Occupational Titles.     

VOLUNTEERING FOR JOB ENRICHMENT: A TEST OF EXPECTANCY THEORY PREDICTIONS

In order to test predictions derived from an expectancy theory model developed by Lawler, measures of higher-order need satisfaction, locus of control, and intrinsic motivation were obtained from 252 female assembly line workers. Also, each employee was asked whether or not she wished to volunteer for a job enrichment project. Enriched jobs were described as having greater autonomy, variety, task identity, and feedback than typical assembly line jobs. Both locus of control and intrinsic motivation were found to serve as effective moderators of the relationship between higher-order need satisfaction and volunteering for job enrichment, in that significantly higher negative relationships were obtained for persons high in locus of control and intrinsic motivation than for persons low in these measures. These results are seen as supportive of applicable portions of Lawler's model. Also, implications of the results for placement of individuals in enriched jobs are discussed.     

Education for Manpower Staff

Undergraduate education for manpower staff was reviewed in relation to concern for need, curriculum content, and program design within the university. This article describes new curricula being developed for areas of manpower specialization, complemented by more traditional majors and offerings in economics, political science, psychology, public administration, and sociology.     

Perception of Cognitive Ability in Families of Adolescents

The families of 20 hospitalized adolescents were compared with a control group of 20 non-pathological families on the accuracy with which family members could predict each others' performance on two tests of intellectual ability. Accuracy of prediction was measured by the discrepancies between actual scores obtained by each family member and the scores other family members predicted he or she would obtain. The control and experimental groups were found to differ significantly on socioeconomic status and intellectual ability, and when these variables were controlled, a covariance analysis revealed no significant difference between the groups on accuracy of predictions. The results suggest that variables other than psychopathology must be taken into account in explaining apparent differences between healthy and disturbed families on measurements of interpersonal judgments. Implications for research and family therapy are discussed.     

Theater as a guidance technique

Guidance counselors and drama specialists work side by side in many school settings but rarely harness their singular skills in joint efforts toward a mutually compatible educational goal—the elucidation of human interaction. Guidance-drama activity provides (a) crisp definitions of selected issues; (b) potent modeling from the characters in the play, the students actively engaged in the play, and the students involved in the discussions that follow the play; and (c) a technique for peer-led discussions on sensitive issues. Here the author gives more precise definition to the technique of guidance-theater.     

SENIORITY: A REVIEW OF ITS LEGAL AND SCIENTIFIC STANDING

Though an important and widespread industrial relations concept, seniority has been a neglected subject of study by behavioral scientists. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the topic by reviewing seniority's legal status in the management of human resources. Further, while there is little research on seniority per se, conjecture and empirical study on the concept's salient behavioral dimensions, viz., tenure and reward, were reviewed. Suggestions were offered for the methodological and theoretical aspects of future research on seniority.     

NEGOTIATING QUALITY OF WORKLIFE, PRODUCTIVITY AND TRADITIONAL ISSUES: UNION MEMBERS'PREFERRED ROLES OF THEIR UNION

Recognizing the importance of the union in successfully implementing quality of worklife programs, numerous commentators have called for union-management collaborative programs. In response to these pleas, recent studies have addressed union activists'perceptions of their unions'roles in negotiating quality of worklife as well as other issues. Although important, these studies have focused on the union leadership and have generally failed to consider the rank and file union members' views. The primary objective of the present study was to examine union members'preferred roles of their union in negotiating quality of worklife, productivity, and traditional bargaining issues. A second purpose was to explore the correlates of their views concerning the union's role in dealing with these issues. Using data collected from 171 members of a railroad, union, the results showed that members' support for union involvement tended to vary depending upon the type of issue in question. They strongly preferred collective bargaining when dealing with traditional union concerns and joint union-management efforts when quality of worklife issues were involved. In predicting preferred union-management cooperation, the importance of the individual predictors varied across the types of negotiation issues. However, attitudinal measures were generally found to be more important in explaining members'preferences than demographic or union participation measures. The results are discussed in terms of implications for implementing joint union-management programs.