Concepts of friendshipmay reflect the collectivism or individualismof societies or differences in their social structures. We asked Canadian ( N = 300) and Cuban ( N = 294) adolescents to write essays about the features that distinguish their best friends. Acceptance and loyalty were frequent features in the essays from both countries. Despite many cross-national similarities, there were significant differences in the frequency of responses referring to the intimacy potential of the friendship. These responses, which are of particular theoretical importance, were more common in the Cuban data. The Cuban participants also emphasized reciprocal help and admiration of their best friends’characters more frequently than did the Canadian participants. Shared pastimes and a shared history of prior social interaction were more frequent in the Canadian essays. These results provide some confirmation that friendship reasoning reflects the collectivism or individualism of the surrounding society.

El presente estudio se realizó en la Empresa de Servicios del Níquel “Comandante Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán” con el objetivo de analizar la motivación y diseñar un programa de intervención psicosocial para su fortalecimiento. Se desarrolló desde el paradigma socio-crítico, enfoque mixto, método investigación-acción; se trabajó con una muestra no probabilística de ocho trabajadores que se preparan para la actividad directiva-gerencial, a los cuales se les aplicó una escala de motivación que consta de tres dimensiones: psicológica, laboral y organizacional. Se encontró que la motivación tuvo un comportamiento bajo (en las dimensiones psicológicas y organizacional), y medio en la dimensión laboral; se pudo constatar una relación significativa entre las dimensiones. Para potenciar la motivación se diseñó un programa fundamentado en la indagación apreciativa y la dinámica de intervención psicosocial en las organizaciones, evaluado por expertos como notablemente adecuado, al tener potencialidades para fortalecer la motivación desde la potenciación del sentido de pertenencia con la actividad gerencial, la gestión de expectativas positivas hacia la gerencia y la proyección social del puesto gerencial.

Managing people well is paramount to achieving goals and objectives at work. This paper investigates and provides a deeper understanding of what positive effects knowledge and application of the concepts of attitude and behaviour can have on managers and therefore the people they manage. The results show that people skills are positively affected by the attitudes and behaviours managers develop and apply. The outcome of a literature review suggests that social psychology plays an important role in establishing how attitudes and behaviours are formed at work and the effects these have on how people think, feel and ultimately act. Outputs from a focus group meeting with practising social psychologists suggest an effective attitude, behaviour and competence skills set that, when applied appropriately, could make the difference between average and superior performance. It is suggested that people skills on their own are no longer adequate to improve the performance levels of people. The outcome of this research is applicable and relevant to managers in any working environment such as Construction, IT, Finance or Consultancy. The proposed skills set of what makes an effective attitude, behaviour and competence (ABC) manager can be universally applied although some modifications may be necessary to meet the needs of cultural diversities.

The findings suggest that ADHD has major consequences on the family and peer functioning of Cuban children, which may lead to their referral for treatment.

The ability to influence and persuade others at work has become an increasingly important managerial skill to achieve work goals and objectives to drive businesses forward in today's demanding and competitive work environments. This paper investigates and provides a deeper understanding of what positive effects knowledge and application of the concepts of influencing amd persuasion can have on managers, the people they manage and the organisations they work for. The results show that the performance of managers is positively influenced by how they influence and persuade people at work. The outcome of a literature review suggests that there is no conclusive evidence of what makes an effective manager at work that is good at influencing and persuading others. Outputs from face to face and a focus group meeting with final year social psychology students from the Universidad de Oriene in Santiago de Cuba closed this gap by suggesting an effective influencing and persuasion skills set that, when applied appropriately, could guide managers how to influence and persuade others successfully.The outcome of this research is applicable and relevant to managers in any working environment such as Telecommuncations, Utilities, Banking or Automotive. The proposed skills set of what makes an effective influencing and persuading manager at work can be applied globally although the prevailing cultural diversities in different countries should be considered.