Team Evaluation: Solutions for Hotel Management and Productivity

Employee performance appraisal systems are controversial, especially when accomplished by a single rater. The authors, who have had experience with team evaluation systems, present evidence from that experience for over- coming obstacles to moving to a less-biased system of rating employees

Developmental and Social-Ecological Perspectives on Children, Political Violence, and Armed Conflict

An increasing number of researchers and policymakers have been moved to study and intervene in the lives of children affected by violent conflicts (Masten, 2014). According to a United Nations Children's Fund (2009) report, over 1 billion children under the age of 18 are growing up in regions where acts of political violence and armed conflict are, as Ladds and Cairns (1996, p. 15) put it, “a common occurrence—a fact of life.” In recent years, the United Nations Children's Fund, advocacy and human rights groups, journalists, and researchers have drawn public attention to the high rates of child casualties in these regions, and to the plights of those children still caught in the crossfire. It has thus become clear that both the challenges and the stakes are higher than ever to promote the safety and well-being of affected children around the world (Masten &amp; Narayan, 2012; Tol, Jordans, Kohrt, Betancourt, &amp; Komproe, 2012).</jats:p

Seguridad emocional y relaciones familiares de estudiantes universitarios españoles

[Abstract] This study is grounded on Systems Theory and Emotional Security Theory, and aims at extending past work by examining relations among children’s emotional security in the family system and the quality of family relationships among college students, a population scarcely addressed by the Emotional Security Theory. Participants were 236 female and male students attending a public Spanish University (meanage = 20.13 years old). We used the Security in the Family System Scale (SIFS), the Family Stress Scale, the Family Satisfaction Scale, the Bidirectional Parent-Adolescent Relationships Scale (BiPAR), and measures of destructive and constructive interparental conflict. The variables “living with family” and “parental divorce” were also studied. Results showed that parental divorce related to higher family stress, less interparental conflict resolution and worse bidirectional relationships with fathers. There were not significant differences in any of the variables under analyses between students who lived with their families while at college compared to those who did not live with their families. Emotional security in the family explained 52% of the variance of family satisfaction. This study has theoretical implications as it applies Emotional Security Theory to study young adults from divorced and intact families and who either live or not with their families while attending college. Our results agree and support this Theory. It also has practical implications for mental health and counselling services pointing to potential risk and protective family variables in college students.[Resumen] Este trabajo tiene como base teórica la Teoría Sistémica y la Teoría de la Seguridad Emocional, y su objetivo es ampliar estudios previos al analizar las relaciones entre la seguridad emocional en el sistema familiar y la calidad de las relaciones familiares de los estudiantes universitarios, una población poco estudiada desde la Teoría de la Seguridad Emocional. Participaron 236 hombres y mujeres que estudiaban en una universidad pública española (mediaedad = 20.13 años). Se usó la Escala de Seguridad en el Sistema Familiar (SIFS), La Escala de Estrés Familiar, La Escala de Satisfacción Familiar y la Escala de Relaciones Bidireccionales Padres-Hijos (BiPAR), así como medidas de conflicto interparental constructivo y destructivo. También se consideraron las variables “vivir con la familia” y “divorcio de los padres”. Los resultados indicaron que el divorcio de los progenitores se relacionó con mayor estrés familiar, menos resolución constructiva de los conflictos y peores relaciones bidireccionales con los padres. No se hallaron diferencias significativas entre los estudiantes que vivían con sus familias y los que no. La seguridad emocional explicaba el 52% de la varianza de la satisfacción familiar. Este trabajo tiene implicaciones teóricas al aplicar la teoría de la Seguridad Emocional al estudio de jóvenes adultos de familias intactas y con padres divorciados, y que vivían o no con sus familias mientras estudiaban en la Universidad. Los resultados se ajustan y sustentan dicha Teoría. Igualmente tiene implicaciones prácticas para los servicios de apoyo al señalar variables familiares de riesgo y protectoras de los universitarios.

Emotional Insecurity about the Community: A Dynamic, Within-Person Mediator of Child Adjustment in Contexts of Political Violence

AbstractOver 1 billion children worldwide are exposed to political violence and armed conflict. The current conclusions are qualified by limited longitudinal research testing sophisticated process-oriented explanatory models for child adjustment outcomes. In this study, consistent with a developmental psychopathology perspective emphasizing the value of process-oriented longitudinal study of child adjustment in developmental and social–ecological contexts, we tested emotional insecurity about the community as a dynamic, within-person mediating process for relations between sectarian community violence and child adjustment. Specifically, this study explored children's emotional insecurity at a person-oriented level of analysis assessed over 5 consecutive years, with child gender examined as a moderator of indirect effects between sectarian community violence and child adjustment. In the context of a five-wave longitudinal research design, participants included 928 mother–child dyads in Belfast (453 boys, 475 girls) drawn from socially deprived, ethnically homogenous areas that had experienced political violence. Youth ranged in age from 10 to 20 years and were 13.24 (SD= 1.83) years old on average at the initial time point. Greater insecurity about the community measured over multiple time points mediated relations between sectarian community violence and youth's total adjustment problems. The pathway from sectarian community violence to emotional insecurity about the community was moderated by child gender, with relations to emotional insecurity about the community stronger for girls than for boys. The results suggest that ameliorating children's insecurity about community in contexts of political violence is an important goal toward improving adolescents' well-being and adjustment. These results are discussed in terms of their translational research implications, consistent with a developmental psychopathology model for the interface between basic and intervention research.</jats:p

Complexity of Risk: Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Youth Risk and Insecurity in Postconflict Settings

In settings of intergroup conflict, identifying contextually relevant risk factors for youth development is an important task. In Vukovar, Croatia, a city devastated during the war in former Yugoslavia, ethno-political tensions remain. The current study utilized a mixed-methods approach to identify two salient community-level risk factors (ethnic tension and general antisocial behavior) and related emotional insecurity responses (ethnic and nonethnic insecurity) among youth in Vukovar. In Study 1, focus group discussions (N = 66) with mothers, fathers, and adolescents of age 11 to 15 years old were analyzed using the constant comparative method, revealing two types of risk and insecurity responses. In Study 2, youth (N = 227, 58% male, M = 15.88, SD = 1.12 years) responded to quantitative scales developed from the focus groups, discriminate validity was demonstrated, and path analyses established predictive validity between each type of risk and insecurity. First, community ethnic tension (i.e., threats related to war/ethnic identity) significantly predicted ethnic insecurity for all youth (β = .41, p < .001). Second, experience with community antisocial behavior (i.e., general crime found in any context) predicted nonethnic community insecurity for girls (β = .32, p < .05) but not for boys. These findings are the first to show multiple forms of emotional insecurity at the community level; implications for future research are discussed