Examines the effects of communication distortion on the task perceptions of subordinates working in goal-setting programs. Concludes that (1) effective superiors who communicate openly, supportively, and with little distortion are better able to clarify their subordinates' work environment, and (2) distortion negates a goal-setting program. (PD)

Reducing Aldrich's codification of organizational task environments from six to three dimensions--munificence (capacity), complexity (homogeneity-heterogeneity, concentration-dispersion), and dynamism (stability-instability, turbulence), the authors use interim and factor analytical techniques to explore each dimension's viability and draw…

Within the large range of potential theoretical perspectives on fractions, this paper considers one particular interpretation: fractions' duality as process and object. By considering the number-fractionbar-number composite symbol as simultaneously representing division and rational, some process-object theories imply that fraction-as-process and…

To prepare instructional materials for training specialized accounting clerks, teachers must visit offices and make task analyses of these jobs utilizing the systems approach. Described are models developed for training these types of accounting clerks: computer control clerks, coupon clerks, internal auditing clerks, and statement clerks. (SC)

R.S. Lazarus's theory of coping was used to investigate appraisal and reappraisal of threat in repressors and sensitizers. Two indexes of stress, self-report ratings of affect and palmar skin conductance, were measured prior to performance on a reaction time task, after one-third of the task was completed and after two-thirds of the task was…

The process of writing and using performance goals, will bring a number of side benefits in its wake, among them ultimately, a more realistic view of what is needed to meet existing shortages in the health services. (Editor)

Explains how to develop a cost comparison that shows housekeeping costs for each type of area. (Author)

Piagetian tasks varying in complexity were administered to elementary school children in grades K-3. Differences between the attainment of similar concepts occurred when the tasks required different types of inference patterns, had different goals, or involved different percepts. Discusses curriculum implications. (AL)

To deal with questions arising from the increased use of paraprofessionals a project was initiated entitled A Task Analysis System for Educational Personnel Development." (MB)

A conceptual and methodological framework is described which provides a statistical referent for the components of acquisition and application of task knowledge in complex inference tasks and which facilitates their disentanglement. (Authors/RY)

A factorial experiment which combined solution-word frequency, pre-problem-solving tasks, and S's spelling ability. (Author)

The proposed three-step strategy for research on human information processing--concept hierarchy analysis, analysis of example sets to teach relations among concepts, and analysis of problem sets to build a progressively larger schema for the problem space--may lead to practical procedures for instructional design and task analysis. Sixty-four…