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The aim of the paper is to discuss the concept of cross‐cultural social intelligence (CCSI), its relevance for both selecting and developing expatriates and other employees working in cross‐cultural contexts, the development of a situational judgment test to assess CCSI, and practical “lessons learned” in each of these areas.

The four phases of the development and validation of the CCSI measure (using a total of 184 cross‐cultural SMEs) were developing the scenarios and the response alternatives, the content analysis, and establishing construct validity.

The results from the content analysis and construct validation provide support for the use of the CCSI in cross‐cultural situations.

The CCSI has not yet been validated in a criterion‐related way (i.e. based on relations to job performance). This should be done before using for selection.

Possible uses for the CCSI in organisations include selection and/or promotion of expatriates and other employees in cross‐cultural contexts and several types of training and development initiatives. This instrument is offered (free of charge) to any interested managers or HR practitioners.

Despite the expressed need for instruments of this sort, nothing similar currently exists (especially not a theoretically grounded and empirically sound instrument). In addition, the “lessons learned” provide practical advice to others engaged in similar undertakings.

Peer evaluations of performance increasingly are being used to make organizational decisions and to provide individuals with performance related feedback. Using Kenny’s social relations model (SRM), data from 14 teams of undergraduate students who completed performance ratings of themselves and other team members were analyzed. Results indicated a significant target variance effect for the majority of performance dimensions and a significant perceiver variance effect for all performance dimensions. Results further indicated that, in general, how individuals see themselves is not congruent with how others see them, how individuals see themselves is congruent with how they see others, how individuals are seen on a particular dimension is related to how they are seen on other performance dimensions, and, how a person is seen by others does not relate to how that individual sees others. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research using the SRM are discussed.

Previous work has suggested that the adhesion between oil and metallic surfaces of an engine could be an important factor in determining crankcase cleanliness. It can be shown that it is only necessary to measure the spreading pressure of an oil on metal in order to get a direct measure of the work of adhesion, Surface tensions of lubrictaing oils vary very little and it can be assumed that the critical film pressure (C.F.P.) obtained with a given apparatus is an acceptable measure of the work of adhesion as well as of the spreading pressure. Oils of similar properties may vary tenfold in their C.F.P's. The addition of additives influences the spreading pressure, the largest increments in C.F.P. being given by dispersant and detergent additives.

THROUGHOUT the summer and early autumn, small piles of white bore dust on the surface of the bark of ash, English or imported, are a common sight in timber yards and dispersal sites. As the Forest Products Research Laboratory receives a number of inquiries every year on this type of insect attack, the following information may be useful to all who may be alarmed by its presence in their stock.

The season of mass holiday treks for the multitude is upon us. Since the new year, the newspapers and magazines have carried pages of advertisements and travelogues and each year the holiday horizon is pushed farther and farther away; now it includes Bulgaria, Rumania, remote islands, countries beyond the Iron Curtain and even China. Tourism has become big business. In the U.K., with a million or more visitors, it is considered a major industry. But what of Italy with eight million visitors, Spain running her very close, France with a mere two millions, Switzerland, Austria and other countries in between? All these countries may be geared to meet big invasions of foreign people during the tourist season, but understandably there are inevitable health risks and the most important of these are undoubtedly water‐ and food‐borne infections. Dietary disturbances due to the change of food and drink, especially of wine, by people who are unaccustomed to it, are of a transitory nature, and remedied by simple measures which include abstinence from rich and indigestible foods.

The term “medical” will be interpreted broadly to include both basic and clinical sciences, related health fields, and some “medical” elements of biology and chemistry. A reference book is here defined as any book that is likely to be consulted for factual information more frequently than it will be picked up and read through in sequential order. Medical reference books have a place in public, school, college, and other non‐medical libraries as well as in the wide variety of medical libraries. All of these libraries will be considered in this column. A basic starting collection of medical material for a public library is outlined and described in an article by William and Virginia Beatty that appeared in the May, 1974, issue of American Libraries.

The coatings industry is based on a large number of scientific principles. To be sure, it developed both in ancient and modern times without regard to these. But once an empirical body of knowledge was built up, it became obvious that theoretical underpinnings were not only desirable but necessary if progress were to be made. What are some of the scientific principles which govern coatings technology? Film formation is certainly one. What causes a film to form, and what affects the properties of a film such as cohesion, adhesion, gloss, flexibility, permeability, impact resistance, and a dozen other characteristics? The problem of understanding film formation became all the more important with the advent of waterborne paints, for polymer particles suspended in water are not nearly as prone to form films as are polymer solutes in a solvent.

A survey of employed workers was conducted at two time periods to assess relationships between work‐family conflict, well‐being, and job and family satisfaction, along with the role of social support from work colleagues and family members. Levels of work‐to‐family interference (WFI) were found to be uniformly higher than family‐to‐work interference (FWI). However, at each time period FWI showed more consistent negative relationships with well‐being and satisfaction, indicating that family‐to‐work interference may have a greater bearing on employees’ affective reactions. There were few cross‐time relationships between work‐family conflict and these reactions, which suggests that the association of work‐family conflict with well‐being and satisfaction may be time‐dependent. Although there was some evidence that social support from work colleagues moderated the relationship of WFI with psychological strain and family satisfaction, family support did not display a consistent moderator influence. Instead, both forms of support tended to exhibit direct (rather than moderator) relationships with the outcome variables. Implications of the findings for research and interventions are discussed.

SOME BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN TECHNICAL EDUCATION. British commentators on the American educational scene have often commented on the apparent absence of a network of centres corresponding to the London Polytechnics and the provincial technical colleges. Although such comments may be largely correct, the conclusions drawn are not infrequently fallacious.

TECHNOLOGICAL progress is a scythe which cuts ever deeper swathes in the familiar fields of the world's industrial and commercial life. It finds its justification in words like productivity, competition, modernization and similar emotive terms. This is no matter of tired waves seeking a painful inch to gain, but a flood tide sweeping forward with irresistible momentum despite Canute's command or Mrs Partington's mop.