Referential and non-referential (im)politeness

Honorifics are non-referential indices that are generally understood as polite linguistic forms. Why do speakers use honorifics when they express a face-attacking referential message? Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987) explains that the use of honorifics is a negative politeness strategy that mitigates an FTA (face-threatening act). However, the reason why honorifics co-occur with a face-attack probably involves more than mitigating an FTA. This article deals with a case of institutional impoliteness by examining a Japanese company’s new employee orientation discourse. This is a context in which impoliteness is ideologically legitimised and often deployed. At the same time, the goal of the orientation is to train new employees to behave in an extremely polite manner. By qualitatively analysing the speech of the trainer of a new employee orientation, this article concludes that the trainer’s use of honorifics while attacking the positive face of the new employees is a way of resolving the conflicting demands of a Japanese company. This article contributes to (im)politeness research in that it points to the importance of distinguishing referential and non-referential (im)politeness.

Unique Competences of Expatriate Managers

The article reviews the competences of expatriates (specifically expatriate managers), including personality attributes, in the light of the available literature on the subject matter. To-date empirical studies and theoretical investigations demonstrate various competences and sets of personality attributes, as a significant component of the competences expected from the expatriates. These competences including personality attributes are discussed in the context of international selection decisions, new employee orientation programs, development and retention initiatives. Expatriate managers are assigned for specific tasks. Various dimensions of cultures and peculiarity of the tasks assigned determine success factors of the expatriates’ performance. Only expatriates who present unique competences, including unique personality attributes, can face local challenges and become successful.

Drawing conclusions about what co-participants know: Knowledge-probing question–answer sequences in new employee orientation lectures

This study aims to uncover the processes of interaction through which knowledge acquisition in new employee orientation is monitored and controlled. Using video-recordings of orientation lectures as data, the study focuses on question–answer sequences in which the lecturer’s question probes into the state of the employees’ knowledge; in particular, it looks at the third turn of the sequence, in which the lecturer comes to a conclusion concerning the participants’ knowledge. This is shown to be an unavoidably practical accomplishment, which is contingent on both the often ambivalent responses of the participants and the design of the knowledge-probing question. Also, the lecturer orients to being responsible for providing the employees with the necessary knowledge that they do not have. The study contributes to discussion of the interactional organization of knowledge in institutional settings, and it sheds light on the pros and cons of lectures as interactional encounters.

Clinical Simulation for Practicing Labor and Delivery Nurses: Advancing Competency through Simulated Nursing Practice

Nurses new to Maternal-Child units in hospital organizations need reality based in-service education in new employee orientation. Experienced nurses must have current, cutting edge staff development sessions that replicate practice scenarios to facilitate currency in practice. Annual clinical skills reaffirmation and new employee orientation commonly include clinical simulation activities that enhance critical thinking, assess clinical competency and reduce the potential for errors in practice. Practice repetition in the Education Department lab setting is a protected area to learn and refine clinical care skills and procedures. Case scenarios through use of clinical simulation are posed to provide current practice initiatives that enhance the nurses’ ability to provide safe, competent patient care. Keywords: Clinical Simulation, Nurse Educators, Nurse Practice, Staff Development

Penerapan Sistem Rekrutmen untuk Meningkatkan Keterikatan Karyawan

High employee engagement can have a positive effect on the progress of a company's business, including one of them is an insurance company. One of the factors that can shape employee attachment, whether it increases employee engagement, even lowers it, is the existing recruitment system in the company concerned. When an employee is recruited, starting from the first call-up session, until the employee enters the first day of work, the employee must pass through a series of recruitment systems. This research is conducted with the intention to test and know the factors that can increase employee's attachment one of which consists of recruitment system, and also by using work environment as moderation variable. The results show that employee selection and job design have a direct influence in establishing employee engagement, while the new employee orientation will increase employee engagement if moderated or reinforced by the environmental factors in which they work, and has no direct effect on increasing employee engagement. Keywords: employee engagement; health insurance company ; recruitment system; work environment