Discrepancy between human resource research and practice: Comparison of industrial/organisational psychologists and human resource practitioners' beliefs

There is a large and growing body of research to show that human resource (HR) practices affect individual performance, organisational productivity and organisational performance. Academic findings about effective HR practices, however, have not readily been adopted by practitioners. A variety of theoretical and practical explanations have been advanced about the research–practice gap. Research by Rynes, Colbert, and Brown (2002) suggested that the research–practice gap is due to a lack of knowledge, but the extent to which these findings apply to the Australian context is unknown. The sample consisted of 102 industrial/organisational (I/O) psychologists and 89 HR practitioners. The main aim of the present study was to replicate and extend the work of Rynes et al. by examining and comparing the knowledge of I/O psychologists and HR practitioners. It was found that overall I/O psychologists were better informed about HR research than HR practitioners; in particular, they were more knowledgeable about management practices and recruitment and selection. In both groups, of the five content areas examined (Management Practices; General Employment Practices; Training and Development; Recruitment and Selection; and Compensation and Benefits), the greatest gaps were in Recruitment and Selection.     

“Becoming”: A Method for Expanding Systemic Thinking and Deepening Empathic Accuracy

The method of “becoming,” as an approach to increasing empathic ability, promoting exploratory dialogue, and heightening consciousness, is described. The method is seen as applicable across theoretical orientations. It is a way to operationalize Martin Buber's concept of “inclusion,” which he defined as a “bold swinging” into the consciousness of another person. Details are given about the method's application to resistance, confusion, defensiveness, criticalness, and other barriers to awareness, relationship, and the co-creation of shared meanings. Case examples are provided to illustrate the use of the method in a variety of contexts.     

The Significance of Political and Economic Change in Two Generations of Slovaks and Hungarians

Two generations of Slovaks and of Hungarians responded to a short questionnaire sampling their opinions about recent political and economic changes in their respective countries. The younger generation were aged 18–23 and the older generation 40–45. In general, Slovaks expressed a higher degree of freedom of choice compared to Hungarians in various areas of their lives. Hungarians reported themselves to be more interested in politics at all levels (national, European and international) than their Slovak counterparts. These and other significant effects (relating to generational differences and differences in levels of education) are discussed in relation to recent changes in the political economies of the two countries. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)     

HOW AFRICAN AMERICAN MOTHERS ASSIST THEIR EARLY ADOLESCENT DAUGHTERS WITH READING TASKS

Three African American mothers and their daughters participated in three, 30-minute reading sessions. During each session, daughters read narrative text for 15 minutes and expository text for the other 15 minutes. Categories of interaction emerged from those reading sessions. Results revealed nine mother interaction reading categories and seven daughter interaction categories. Irrespective of the type of reading, the categories were linked to the transmission, maturational, and transactional points of view. Implications provide suggestions for helping parents develop reading experiences that foster positive reading behaviors for their children.     

The Meanings of the Community and of the Individual in Slovakia and in Scotland

The purpose of this paper was to examine meanings of the terms ‘individual’, ‘the community’ and ‘local community’ in Slovakia and Scotland. The social, cultural, political and economic histories of these two small European nations are quite different. Slovakia is one of the post-communist countries in which rapid changes have recently taken place. In contrast, Scotland has enjoyed a relatively stable parliamentary democracy within the UK. Two groups of respondents, 200 from Slovakia and 200 from Scotland, were presented with a word association task which included 38 political and economic terms and with two scales containing the same list of terms. They rated phenomena referring to these terms with respect to their importance for the well-being of the individual and to the well-being of the community. The results suggest that for Scots but not for Slovaks, the term ‘local community’ evokes positive associations and that local community is a meaningful concept. The data suggest that local attachments and loyalties were destroyed in Slovakia during communism. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)     

Impact of Group Settings and Gender on Meals Purchased by College Students

This study examines the impact of social context and perception of weight on calories purchased by college students in a natural setting. Not only did women in mixed‐gender groups purchase fewer calories than did women in same‐gender groups, but significant interaction effects exist among the gender composition of groups, perception of being overweight, and gender of respondents. Men modified calories purchased across mixed‐gender and same‐gender groups, purchasing more when in mixed‐gender groups. The study helps address theoretical and methodological gaps in prior research and frames the findings in terms of variation of gender salience across social relational contexts.     

After the Shooting Stops

Five pupil service personnel in a small, midwestern school system combined their efforts in responding to student, teacher, and parent needs after a 14-year-old boy wounded two teachers and a student and killed the principal in a shooting spree. It is suggested that schools develop tactical plans for responding to catastrophic situations.     

Is Expressed Emotion an Index of a Transactional Process? I. Parents' Affective Style

The degree to which expressed emotion (EE) attitudes in key relatives reflect ongoing transactional processes in families is a topic of controversy. The associations between EE attitudes, as measured during an acute hospitalization (using the Camberwell Family Interview) and during the aftercare period (using 5-minute speech samples), and interactional behavior in parents of recent-onset schizophrenics (this article) and in patients themselves (second article), were investigated. In the first study, EE attitudes manifested by parents during the aftercare period were stronger correlates of their interactional behaviors during the aftercare period than were EE attitudes measured during the inpatient period, despite the frequent correspondence between the two EE measures. The pattern of attitudes shown between the inpatient and outpatient periods also predicted transactional styles in parents during the outpatient period, findings not accounted for by clinical attributes of patients. When high-EE attitudes persist during the aftercare period and are reflected in transactional behaviors, the risk for subsequent patient relapse may be enhanced.