Critical incident debriefing in groups: a group analytic perspective

This paper looks at providing critical incident debriefing in groups. It outlines key group analytic concepts that are relevant to debriefing, including mirroring, group dynamics and supervision. It details how these concepts, along with the facilitator's and supervisor's free-floating attention, can help in thinking about the group and the organizational impact on the individual and the group. Using examples of debriefing, suggestions are made about how to use these concepts within the debriefing session and the impact of the dynamics of the organization on the debriefing.

The paper emphasizes the importance of supervision for debriefers and how the dynamics of the debriefing and the organizational context can be mirrored in the supervision. It illustrates the interplay between the individual, the group and the organization through commentary on vignettes, which include a debriefing session and the subsequent supervision session for debriefers.     

‘And if not now,when?’: Spirituality,psychotherapy, politics

Abstract

Without collapsing distinct discourses into each other, the paper considers the linkages between spirituality, psychotherapy and politics. Changes are taking place in all three areas. Therapists who focus on the spiritual dimension as part of their ordinary work still tend to be marginalized. Similarly, the political dimensions of the client's experience often receive insufficient attention. The author offers an initial sketch of a new ‘anatomy of spirituality’: into social spirituality, democratic spirituality, craft spirituality, profane spirituality and spiritual sociality. He criticizes the practice of ‘safe therapy’, meaning therapy based on an object relations paradigm that represses the (incestuous) sexuality that lies at the heart both of the therapy encounter and the domain of spiritual values. The paper concludes with some thoughts about justice and an account of pertinent grassroots political developments.     

The political pluralisation of American evangelicals: how old media built a movement,and why the Internet is poised to change it

Although religious movements are a powerful force in politics, there has been relatively little work that adequately analyses the relationship between communication technologies and Christian political mobilisation in the United States. In addressing this deficit, this article has three interrelated objectives. First, it traces the impact of media technology on the evangelical project, paying specific attention to radio and television, and argues that these two media have had a largely unifying influence. Second, it seeks a better understanding of the impact of the Internet upon evangelical organisations by reviewing relevant academic literature in the context of on-the-ground developments. In doing so, the authors argue that instead of working to facilitate greater unity among evangelicals, as radio and television did in the past, the Internet is instead fragmenting and polarising them. Third, and more speculatively, they discuss implications for a fragmented evangelical community, and call upon scholars to conduct more research into recent developments in communications technology as it relates to Christian political mobilisation in the United States. Combined, these goals work to illustrate the complex relationship between media, religious organisations, and mass political mobilisation.     

The labor of Job: The biblical text as a parable of human labor

This paper addresses how religion is playing an increasingly important role in empowering anti-nuclear protests at Gongliao in Taiwan. It begins by describing how the anti-nuclear movement in Taiwan was originally dependant on the opposition political party, and then examines how growing disaffection with party politics at Gongliao has resulted in a local temple dedicated to the goddess Mazu coming to the forefront of the struggle. This paper frames the dispute as a struggle between three different ways of generating power (and implicitly, of losing power): first, the generation of nuclear power by bureaucrats and scientists working through the industrial sector; second, the generation of political power by opposition politicians and elite campaigners; and third, the generation of religious power by people rooted in local communities, creating an alliance between religious power and secular protest.     

Ripples in the pond: A qualitative study of graduates' perceptions of the impact of counselling training upon their work within the core professions

A small-scale qualitative study was conducted in order to examine the value of counselling training when incorporated into a person's established professional role. Questionnaires were sent to graduates from an MA/diploma in counselling course in order to identify those who had continued working within their core profession. This was followed by in-depth exploration of the issues through a focus group and interviews. Twelve respondents, from a variety of work settings, took part in this second stage. Results indicated that counselling training had impacted on all aspects of their work role and that there can be a benefit of such training in the workplace. Participants developed a tripartite understanding with regard to the self, clients and the organization, and change was experienced in each of these three dimensions. A larger-scale study, among graduates from a number of courses and also among employers, is indicated.     

Biotechnology and the New Right: Neoconservatism's Red Menace

Although the neoconservative movement has come to dominate American conservatism, this movement has its origins in the old Marxist Left. Communists in their younger days, as the founders of neoconservatism, inverted Marxist doctrine by arguing that moral values and not economic forces were the primary movers of history. Yet the neoconservative critique of biotechnology still borrows heavily from Karl Marx and owes more to the German philosopher Martin Heidegger than to the Scottish philosopher and political economist Adam Smith. Loath to identify these sources—or perhaps unaware of them—neoconservatives do not acknowledge these intellectual underpinnings or their implications. Thus, in the final analysis, their critique is incoherent and even internally inconsistent. By not acknowledging and embracing their intellectual roots, neoconservatives are left with a deeply ambivalent and often confused view of biotechnology and the society that gives rise to it.     

Validation francophone de l’inventaire des facilitateurs de l’apprentissage organisationnel (IFAO) : étude comparative de l’apprentissage perçu au niveau des individus,des groupes et de l’organisation

IntroductionThe Inventory of Organizational Learning Facilitator (IOLF) developed by Barrette, Lemyre, Corneil, and Beauregard (2012) is a self-report inventory assessing the presence of certain facilitators of organizational learning within an organizational environment. However, this scale is in English, limiting its applications with francophone populations.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to create a French version of the Inventory of Organizational Learning Facilitators (IOLF). Furthermore, this study also aimed to verify the metrological qualities as well as the construct validity of the French version of the instrument.MethodThe instrument was translated and verified by expert translators then administered to two distinct samples (francophone and anglophone) each composed of 476 executive's directors working for the federal government's public service. The respondents also completed a three level of perceived learning measures (i.e. individual, group, and organizational).ResultsAnalyses of the factor structure, internal consistency and the pattern of correlations with external variables indicate that the French version converges with the English one.     

The interactive effects of person-focused citizenship behaviour,task interdependence,and virtuality on team performance

A multifactorial between-groups experiment examined the effects of person-focused organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBP) on the performance of teams characterized by different levels of virtuality and task interdependence. Results reveal in low virtual teams the moderating effects of task interdependence on the OCBP–team performance relationship are positive; however, these effects are reversed in high virtual teams. Using social presence and task–technology fit theories, our results indicate that task context affects how OCBP impacts team performance, particularly across different levels of team virtuality. The implications for research on OCB and the management of virtual teams are discussed.     

The paradox of power sharing: Participative charismatic leaders have subordinates with more instead of less need for leadership

Although charismatic and participative leaders have been noted for their positive effects on criteria such as performance, job satisfaction, and commitment, few studies have looked at the relations with subordinates' leadership needs. In this study, the relations between charismatic and participative leadership, team outcomes, and a team's need for leadership were investigated. The sample consisted of South Pacific CEOs and their top-level management teams from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands. Results showed that charismatic leadership was related to both group-level need for leadership and positive team outcomes. However, team outcomes did not mediate the relations between leadership and a team's need for leadership. Additionally, a moderator effect was found between participative leadership and charismatic leadership in explaining a team's need for leadership, implying that teams of subordinates with participative charismatic leaders need more instead of less leadership from their CEOs.     

Job crafting and job performance: A longitudinal study

In this three-wave study (N = 288), we examined whether job crafting intentions and work engagement led to actual job crafting behaviours and, in turn, to higher levels of prospective work engagement and job performance. We used the Job Demands-Resources model as a theoretical framework and defined job crafting as the self-initiated changes that employees make in their job demands and resources. One month after reporting their job crafting intentions, respondents rated their actual job crafting behaviours. Again one month later, they rated their levels of work engagement, in-role performance, and organizational citizenship behaviour towards individuals (OCBI). Results of structural equation modelling showed that job crafting intentions and work engagement significantly related to actual job crafting, which, in turn, related to higher levels of work engagement, while controlling for job characteristics. Results further showed that engaged employees performed better on their in-role tasks but did not perform more OCBIs. The findings suggest that employees can increase their own work engagement and job performance through job crafting.