Suchergebnisse

With social workers' long tradition of involvement in probation, juvenile court, and the prison system, correctional institutions are a central institutional context in which social work practice occurs. Analyzing the experiences of young women residing in a correctional facility for youth, this study applies Vygotsky's sociocultural theory as a framework for understanding the role institutional contexts play in adolescents' narrative identity construction. Multiple open-ended interviews were conducted with seven young women who had participated in a specialized treatment program during their residence at a correctional training school in the Midwest area of the United States; the specialized treatment program concerned the young women's sexually abusive behaviors towards others. The process of collaborative meaning- and identity-making occurring between residents and staff at the institution can best be framed using Vygotsky's concepts of guided learning and the development of inner speech. Penuel and Wertsch's sociocultural theory of identity formation, which brings together the work of Vygotsky on social learning and Erikson on identity development, is used as a theoretical tool for framing the role that institution staff play in shaping the young women's identities.

AbstractThe number of organizations using teamwork is increasing. The team phenomenon has heightened our need to better understand what makes these groups more or less effective. Unfortunately, methods of assessing dynamic team processes such as group development have been limited. The purpose of this study was to create a simpler quantitative method of measuring temporal changes in group processes. A retrospective questionnaire was developed to measure the constructs of Tuckman's stage development model. Both the reliability and content validity analyses provided evidence that the retrospective method can be used to evaluate group development stages.RésuméLe nombre d'organisations ayant recours au travail d'équipe est à la hausse. Le phénomène de l'«équipe » accroît la nécessité de mieux comprendre ce qui rend ces groupes plus ou mains performants. Malheureusement, les méthodes d'évaluation du type d'interactions au sein du groupe et de la dynamique qui en résulte, restent limitées. Le but de cette étude est de créer une méthode quantitative plus simple pour mesurer les changements temporels dans la dynamique de groupe. Un questionnaire rétrospectif a été élaboré pour mesurer les facteurs du modèle à phases de Tuckman. Les analyses relatives à la fiabilité et celles relatives à la validité, ont montré que la méthode rétrospective peut servir à évaluer les phases du développement du groupe.

Stevens and Campion created the Teamwork Test to be used for the selection of high potential individuals into team situations. The idea of being able to test and select high team performers based on knowledge, skills, and ability (KSA) measures has great appeal. However, methods used to validate the test leave some question as to whether it is measuring capabilities related to teamwork. This study further evaluated the test by measuring the relationship between team levels of KSAs and team effectiveness.

This study examined sources of influence on power displays in mixed-gender work groups. The participants for this study included 216 university students who were randomly assigned to 36 mixed-gender groups for the purpose of case discussions. Measures of individual verbal interruption behavior were used as indicators of power displays among group members. The findings support the assertion that the proportional representation of men and women in a group will influence patterns of interruption behavior, with both men and women exhibiting higher levels of interruption behavior in male-dominated groups. In addition, the results indicate that perceived member competence based on congruence or incongruence with the gender orientation of the group's task has a greater impact on power displays among women compared to men. The use of such power displays was also shown to be negatively correlated with leadership rankings in the group for both men and women.