Factors Underlying Supervisors' Perceptions of Their Own Listening Behavior

The study reported here is an exploratory factor analysis of supervisors' perceptions of their own listening behavior. A forty item questionnaire was developed to assess supervisors' perceptions of their on the job listening behaviors. Seven first order factors were identified as underlying these perceptions: attending, clarifying, responding, discriminating and evaluating, recalling, affiliating and accomodating. In addition, two second-order factors were found to undergird the seven factor structure: listening to gain information accurately and listening to create a supportive interpersonal environment     

Quantitative models for optimal rest period scheduling

Mathematical and simulation models studying work-rest schedules in a production process are developed to arrive at an optimal rest policy to maximize work output per unit time. A CSMP simulation study is used to test the sensitivity of the results for different specific cases.     

The right to be understood: Conceiving the multi‐ethnic public sphere

The article deals with the role of mass communications in multi‐ethnic societies and proposes a model for a multi‐ethnic public sphere. Following Young's strictures on the role of an active state in guaranteeing equity of participation through the creation of state institutions capable of enabling diversity, the author advocates a third generation of human rights framework which recognizes the integrity and solidarity of peoples and which then presents itself as a necessary expansion of the right to communicate to incorporate the right to be understood. The communication environment consequently outlined as being adequate to service this multi‐ethnic public sphere is itself diverse, and operates under a tension between first generation freedom of action and second generation regulation to guarantee equality of expression and service.     

Recognising diversity and developing skills: The proper role of transcultural communication

This paper opens by identifying the different historical routes European countries have followed in becoming multi-ethnic, and the consequent very different understandings that underpin contemporary national approaches to managing diversity. A discussion of the politics of equal recognition, and of difference, provides the basis for a critique of liberal universalism and of the discourse of 'tolerance'. A model of transcultural communicative competence is presented. It is argued that the introduction of training in transcultural communication into social work education can too easily slip into an individualistic acquisition of interpersonal skills. Referring back to the earlier discussion of the politics of multiculturalism, it is argued that effective social work requires both individual and institution learning.