Perceived intent of supervisor as a moderator of the relationships between abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviours

This study examined the relationship between perceived intent of supervisors and subordinates' counterproductive responses to abusive supervision. Data were collected in two waves approximately one month apart from 268 full-time employees from the United States and in various occupations. Two forms of perceived intent of abusive supervision were assessed: hostile intent (i.e. abuse believed to be intended to cause harm to the subordinate) and motivational intent (i.e. abuse believed to be intended to motivate good performance from the subordinate). In general, subordinates who reported greater frequency of abusive supervision of both types at Wave 1 were more likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) at Wave 2 than those who reported less abuse. As hypothesized, abusive supervision was more strongly associated with CWBs when perceived hostile intent was high rather than low. Contrary to expectations, abusive supervision was also more strongly associated with CWBs when perceived motivational intent was high rather than low. Our findings show that abuse by supervisors can result in CWBs by subordinates even if those subordinates believe that the abuse is intended to be motivational.     

Handling uncertain decisions in whole process design

In recent years, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries have observed a noticeable decline in economic activity. This has resulted in many companies focusing on innovative research and development as they consider this key to business success. In particular, a number of leading industrial organisations have adopted the principles of Whole Process Design (WPD). WPD considers the optimisation of the entire product development process, from raw materials to end product, rather than focusing on each individual unit operation. The complexity involved with the implementation of WPD requires rationalised decision-making, often with limited or uncertain information. This paper presents the outcomes of two questionnaires that examined the requirements of professionals working within the chemistry-using industries with respect to developing a decision-making support tool. From the findings a methodology is proposed, the outcome of which allows a decision-maker to visually interpret their decision results with associated levels of uncertainty. A chemical route selection case study demonstrates and validates the application of the proposed methodology.     

Leading Asian countries' HRD practices in the IT industry: a comparative study of South Korea and India

In order to examine the relationship between organizational change and organizational learning the authors conducted interviews with managers in 137 Estonian companies concerning changes implemented and learning outcomes. According to this survey, the relationship between organizational change and learning is seen differently in a country in transition.     

Words and actions: Italian ultras and neo-fascism

Over the past two decades the link – perceived and actual – between political extremism and football fans has been the subject of academic, political, and policing debate. It is not rare to witness manifestations of intolerance and ideological statements referring to regional, national and international issues at football stadia. In Italian football stadia, political representation has been evident for decades; politics has been integral to all realms of Italian society and culture since the origin of the nation. As one of the most significant Italian cultural practices, football has not been an exception. This combination of theory and action inspires thousands of young male football supporters. The football stadium might thus be interpreted as a twenty-first century social Agorá, where political opinions – otherwise ghettoized in society – can be freely expressed in pursuit of a wider consensus. This paper explores the under-researched milieu of neo-fascist ideology as displayed in contemporary Italian football stadia. Contributing original material and employing as conceptual frameworks the New Consensus Theory on fascism and the works of Julius Evola and Georges Sorel, this analysis hypothesizes that the neo-fascist tenets manifested by the ideologically-oriented ‘ultras’ fan groups, may be understood as both a consequence of, and a resistance against the dominant socio-cultural and political values of contemporary Italy. The research conducted between 2003–2007 sought to evaluate two internationally renowned ultras groups located in the Italian capital of Rome: the Boys of AS Roma and the Irriducibili of SS Lazio who enact their performances on their respective ‘curve’ [football terraces] of the city's Olympic stadium. Utilizing the ethnographic method, unique access was achieved in a notoriously difficult research milieu bringing the researcher into the social-cultural world of the participants and to the echelons of the extra-parliamentary Italian far right. Research sought to uncover the groups’ social interactions, values, and political beliefs, as a way of contributing to an understanding of both the Italian ultras of the twenty-first century and indeed the wider political milieu of the modern nation-state of Italy.     

Determining Attainment of the Epas Foundation Program Objectives

Building on research related to social cognitive theory and its construct of self-efficacy, this article describes the development of the Foundation Practice Self-Efficacy scale. This measure is designed to assess graduate social work programs' attempts to achieve the educational policy objectives for foundation-year graduate study set by the Council on Social Work Education. Preliminary evidence regarding the reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change of this measure are presented. The authors discuss changes in MSW students' self-efficacy over the course of the foundation year.     

Associations of Mothers' Friendship Quality with Adolescents' Friendship Quality and Emotional Adjustment

Little research has examined the association of parents' friendships with adolescent's well‐being, perhaps because the association was considered too distal. However, developmental theories suggest that contexts in which parents, but not their children, are situated may be related to child development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979 , 1986 ). The current work examined associations between the quality of mothers' own friendships and their adolescent children's friendship quality and emotional adjustment. Fifth‐, eighth‐, and eleventh‐graders (N = 172) whose mothers' friendships were characterized by conflict and antagonism reported having friendships that were high in negative friendship qualities as well as elevated internalizing symptoms. These associations held after controlling for mother–child relationship quality, suggesting that mothers' friendships may have a unique association with adolescents' adjustment.     

Group Treatment for Child Sexual Abuse: Treatment Referral and Therapeutic Outcomes

A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the effectiveness of group (game-based cognitive behavioral) therapy to group-plus-individual therapy for child sexual abuse. The sample consisted predominantly of children from economically disadvantaged, African-American or Latino backgrounds. Pretreatment scores were examined in order to determine which factors influence treatment referral decisions. Results suggest that children who were referred for individual therapy in addition to group therapy report higher pretreatment levels of sexualized behavior. Posttreatment differences were also compared across therapy conditions. Results suggest that individual therapy is needed to address the sexual concerns of survivors but that it may not be needed to augment the effects of group therapy for other symptoms. Implications for treatment are discussed.     

Gonadal steroids and visuo-spatial abilities in adult males: Implications for generalized age-related cognitive decline

The relationship between the gonadal steroids, testosterone and estrogen, and individual and group differences in performance on some cognitive tasks remains unclear but sex differences favoring males on some tests of visuo-spatial ability are large and robust. This aim of this review is to assess evidence for both organizational and activational effects of gonadal steroids as the principle cause of sex difference in visuo-spatial ability. Additionally, the implications of this relationship are discussed in the context of decreasing levels of gonadal steroids in aging males and psychological theories of generalized age-related cognitive decline. Based upon human and non-human research gonadal steroids have organizational effects on visuo-spatial ability in adulthood. Activational effects of gonadal steroids on visuo-spatial ability appear most dominant in older men and are necessary for maintaining optimal visuo-spatial ability; randomized clinical trials show that testosterone supplementation improves performance. Additionally, decreasing gonadal steroid levels in aging males may contribute to generalized age-related cognitive decline. Future supplementation studies in men should attempt to control for constituent abilities related to visuo-spatial task performance, and investigate interactions between dosage levels and baseline gonadal status. Further future animal research is required to investigate changes in gonadal steroid levels and their relationship to neurotransmitter systems, neural plasticity, and behavioral correlates.