Dealing with clients' diversity in test situations: Client categorisations in psychologists' accounts of their practices

Reducing a test administration to standardised procedures reflects the test designers' standpoint. However, from the practitioners' standpoint, each client is unique. How do psychologists deal with both standardised test administration and clients' diversity? To answer this question, we interviewed 17 psychologists working in three public services for children and adolescents about their assessment practices. We analysed the numerous "client categorisations" they produced in their accounts. We found that they had shared perceptions about their clients' diversity, and reported various non-standard practices that complemented standardised test administration, but also differed from them or were even forbidden. They seem to experience a dilemma between: (a) prescribed and situated practices; (b) scientific and situated reliability; (c) commutative and distributive justice. For practitioners, dealing with clients' diversity this is a practical problem, halfway between a problem-solving task and a moral dilemma.

Early clarification processes in clients presenting with borderline personality disorder: Relations with symptom level and change

Clarification-Oriented Psychotherapy (COP), an integrative treatment form with a basis in process-experiential psychotherapy, is particularly relevant for clients with Personality Disorders (PDs). We argue here that two related core therapeutic COP principles, "dual action regulation" and "interactional games" have consequences for symptom severity and therapeutic outcome for clients with PDs. A high quality COP clarification process requires that client's interactional games may be quickly assessed and treated in all (preferably early) therapy sessions. These processes can be observed and measured using the observer-rated Bochum Process and Relationship Rating Scales (BPRRS) which measure both clients' and therapists' contributions to the quality of the clarification processes engaged in therapy. This measure has been successfully applied to COP-therapies, but not, as yet, to therapies other than experiential, nor to specific client populations such as borderline personality disorder. The present study is a first attempt to evaluate the application of COP processes to other therapies and populations. We measured action regulation and interactional games using the BPRRS during intake sessions of a 10-session psychodynamic treatment of borderline personality disorder for a total of N = 30 clients and N = 8 therapists. Significant relationships were found between the client's degree of interactional games and both pretherapy symptom level and symptom change across therapy. These results are discussed in the context of Clarification-Oriented Psychotherapy, and more generally Person-Centered and Process-Experiential Psychotherapies. The potential relevance of the findings for psychodynamic psychotherapists are explored as well as the potential usefulness of taking into account a detailed analysis of interactional games for the training of psychotherapists working with any model of therapy working with clients presenting with BPD.

Health consultation : jet gas spill site, Lowell, Henry County, Iowa (2004)

An attorney representing seven property owners in Lowell, Iowa, requested the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) Hazardous Waste Site Health Assessment Program to perform a health consultation for the Jet Gas Spill Site. The attorney asked the IDPH to provide comments concerning the potential and likely health effects to her clients due to exposure from the spill. The specific issues to be addressed are listed in this health consultation. The information in this health consultation was current at the time of writing. Data that emerges later could alter this document’s conclusions and recommendations.

Ethnic sensitive substance abuse work : services for non-Finnish speaking clients in substance abuse treatment units in Finland today

The purpose of this study was to examine the current situation in substance abuse treatment units in Finland in taking non-Finnish speaking clients into consideration. The initiative for this research came from the Development of Alcohol and Drugs Intervention group at Stakes (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health). Their aim was to gather information about the functioning and relevance of the quality assessment forms based on the quality recommendations for substance abuse work, filled in by substance abuse treatment units. The ethnic issue was chosen as the main approach in the study. The aim of this research was to answer the following questions: what is the readiness and competence in substance abuse treatment units in Finland to receive and encounter non-Finnish speaking clients, how is the quality of these services assessed and/or developed in the units, and what has been the role and functioning of the quality recommendations and quality assessment forms in working with non-Finnish speaking clients. The research methods used in the study were both quantitative and qualitative. The information concerning language services provided in the units was gathered from the quality assessment forms and basic information forms found in the database maintained by Stakes. The total amount of units found in the database was 267. In addition to that, semi-structured theme-interviews were carried out in four substance abuse treatment units in order to get a more deep understanding of how the services function in practice. The few number of non-Finnish speaking clients in the units may explain to a certain degree the results of the research. The results however showed that there is still space for improving the services. In the light of quality recommendations, the degree of language options provided in substance abuse treatment units in Finland today is low. Also the quantity of interpreter services provided in the units is scarce. There could also be unified guidelines specially tailored for substance abuse treatment units on how to work with ethnic minorities, as the knowledge is currently adopted from several different instances. The quality recommendations as well as quality assessment forms were valued and applied in the units appropriately and were also perceived to have an effect on the functioning, and quality, in the units.

Incumbent audit firm-provided tax services and the clients with low financial reporting quality

This study investigates whether incumbent audit firm-provided tax services enhance or impair the likelihood of acknowledging client companies’ low financial reporting quality. In particular, we examine the association between tax-related fees and the likelihood of timely restatements, and internal control weakness disclosures among a sample of US companies that all have misstatements in financial information. The empirical findings indicate that companies paying higher tax-related fees are less likely to disclose SOX 404 internal control weakness disclosures, implying that underlying control problems are unacknowledged when incumbent audit firm provided tax-related fees are higher. However, the findings suggest that just providing both audit and tax-related services does not have an impact on audit quality per se, but rather it is the magnitude of the tax-related fees in particular that counts. We also find some evidence suggesting that companies paying higher tax-related fees have higher likelihood of restatement lags, whereas companies paying smaller tax-related fees to their audit firm restate financial statements in a timelier manner. Overall, the findings suggest that audit scrutiny of client companies with low quality financial reporting is weaker when the magnitude of tax-related fees is higher.

Disseny i implementació d'un sistema de control del grau de satisfacció dels clients dels serveis de restauració

Diseño de un sistema de control de la satisfacción a partir de las valoraciones a distintas empresas de restauración emitidas por clientes, inspectores y recopiladas de otras aplicaciones externas, que calcula una puntuación mensual a partir de una fórmula matemática que puede ir variando. Permite realizar consultas estadísticas relacionadas con las distintas valoraciones emitidas y las puntuaciones mensuales.

Anàlisis d'implantació i gestió d'un telecentre emprant clients lleugers

En aquest projecte es realitza un estudi per a la implantació d’un telecentre i la seva gestió utilitzant equips a mode de clients lleugers amb estructura client-servidor. S’analitzen les alternatives disponibles de software lliure que permeten disposar d’eines prou madures per aconseguir una bona experiència d’usuari i optimitzar-ne el seu manteniment a l’administrador.

KIBS-yrityksen konsultin ja asiakkaan väliseen hiljaisen tiedon jakamiseen vaikuttavat tekijät

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää ja ymmärtää, mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat hiljaisen tiedon jakamiseen asiakkaan ja KIBS-yritystä edustavan konsultin välillä. Tutkimusongelmaa lähestyttiin näkökulmasta, missä hiljaisen onnistuneen jakamisen merkitys nähtiin rekrytointipalvelun onnistumisen edellytyksenä. Sekä kirjallisuuskatsauksessa että tutkimuksen empiirisessä osuudessa pyrittiin selvittämään, miten motivaatio, kykytekijät ja luottamus vaikuttavat hiljaisen tiedon jakamiseen. Tutkimuksessa pyrittiin myös kuvaamaan niitä mahdollisuuksia ja haasteita, mitä hiljaisen tiedon jakaminen synnyttää rekrytointiprosessin määrittelyvaiheessa. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa tarkasteltiin teorioita tiedosta ja hiljaisen tiedon jakamisesta, sekä määriteltiin pääkäsitteet hiljainen tieto, motivaatio, mahdollisuus, kyvykkyys, luottamus, KIBS-yritys, sekä joukko niiden alakäsitteitä. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osuus toteutettiin laadullisilla menetelmillä tapaustutkimuksena. Aineisto kerättiin kuuden puolistrukturoidun teema-haastattelun kautta. Tiedon jakamiseen vaikuttaviksi ja edistäviksi tekijöiksi tunnistettiin vuoro-vaikutustilanteessa olevien henkilöiden välinen luottamus, motivaatio ja asiantuntemus. Haasteina hiljaisen tiedon jakamisessa nähtiin sen strateginen, sekä toimintaan ja asiantuntemukseen sidoksissa oleva muoto.

Actively crafting customer value or merely representing a solution? Linking value-based selling to salesperson performance

Value-based selling is a salesperson behavioral mode which concentrates on generating superior customer value. Although service dominant logic emphasizes customer value as a central tenet for achieving strategic objectives, sales management literature has predominantly circumvented the subject matter of customer value. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the distinctiveness and positive sales performance outcomes of value-based selling. Additionally, performance outcomes of value-based selling are contrasted with other key sales behaviors, selling skills and motivational orientations. As a part of this thesis, large-scale survey of 730 respondents was collected. The survey was tailored for the needs of a value-based selling research group led by Ph.D. Harri Terho. The research group used convenience sampling to select the salespeople of 25 medium- and large-scale companies in Finland which currently either practice value-based selling or consider developing these activities. This thesis contains three key findings: value-based selling is established as a distinct sales behavior, it relates directly and positively to salesperson performance and it explains the link between customer-oriented selling and salesperson performance. Value-based selling relates to salesperson performance especially in the following GICS-sectors: energy, industrials and materials. However, relationship selling relates to performance strongest in the energy sector and adaptive selling in industrials sector. In sum, it is evident that actively crafting customer value is a successful sales behavior in many business-to-business marketing environments while other sales behaviors, excluding customer-oriented selling, still uphold their significance.

Taxis attendant les clients : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 58461