This study dealt with the problem of training selected basic interviewing skills to beginning counselors. The purposes of this investigation were 1) to assess the effectiveness of microcounseling for training the skills of open-ended questioning and verbal minimal encouraging; 2) to assess the influence of microcounseling on counselor verbal participation; 3) to determine whether training in these skills via the microcounseling model will generalize to the actual counseling setting and be maintained over time; and, 4) to determine whether microcounseling is a practical method of teaching therapy skills to practicum students.

Research into choosing individuals to fill positions at or near board level in organisations is scarce; however we know that interviewing is the dominant selection practice. The research into selection interviewing at junior and middle levels is extensive. Overwhelmingly it takes the form of scientific (typically psychological) studies of independent, interacting individuals understood in either rational agent or stimulus-response modes. This research narrates the author’s involvement as an expert adviser to the board of a UK non-profit in the selection of their chief executive. The narrative material is interrogated using the concepts of habitus and practice as developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. This work builds on explorations of power, skill and intuition which use further narratives of the author’s experience as an interviewer and a leader, and also a participant in the management doctorate programme at the University of Hertfordshire. Previously the author worked for eighteen years in executive search. The author argues that both the practice of senior selection interviewing and its theorisation are damaged by too narrowly scientific a discourse which neglects substantial strands of relevant scholarship (for example within broader management studies, sociology, critical theory and philosophy). Behavioural competencies and transferable skills – bedrock concepts in contemporary human resource ‘best practice’, including selection – are called into question. The author experiences the practice of senior selection interviewing as stuck, caught between cynical and scientific interpretations of itself (that is, self-interested power play and disinterested measurement). Neither perspective yields a productive dialectic. The ideas of habitus and practice open a different understanding which does not simply reject the preceding perspectives but attempts to advance beyond them.

The interview is considered to be a critical technique in the therapeutic process. The effective (and by implication, the ineffective) use thereof determines to a great extent the outcome of the therapeutic process. Training in therapeutic interviewing forms an integral part of the training of counsellors and therapists. This study was prompted by BEd (Specialisation in Guidance and Counselling) students' need for a structured and systematic approach to training in therapeutic interviewing skills. A literature study of the phenomenon therapeutic interviewing revealed firstly that the skills needed for effective therapeutic interviewing can be identified and operationally defined and secondly that these skills can be systematically trained. Having a repertoire of interviewing skills is however not a guarantee that therapy or counselling will have a positive outcome. The therapist must be able to create a therapeutic relationship with the client and in this regard the therapist's personality and attitudes, including empathy, warmth, respect, genuineness and unconditional positive regard for the client, are of major importance in helping to create an atmosphere wherein the client can feel free to discuss his problems and innermost feelings and thoughts. In the design of a model to train therapeutic interviewing, consideration must be given to both content and procedure. Not only were interviewing skills addressed in this model, but also skills to communicate empathy, warmth, respect, genuineness and unconditional positive regard. For the purposes of this study, the therapeutic interview was divided into six stages. Skills used in each stage were identified, defined and discussed. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the training model. Subjects were trained in accordance with the proposed training procedure. In order to evaluate the subjects' progress and thus also the effectiveness of the training procedure, each subject's pre- and post-training interviews were compared. An evaluation scale was designed for this purpose. The results of the pilot study indicated an improvement in the subjects' interviewing skills. It is hoped that this study will pave the way for innovation in the training of counsellors and therapists in therapeutic interviewing. / Die onderhoud word as 'n kritieke tegniek in die terapeutiese proses beskou. Die effektiewe (en by implikasie, die oneffektiewe) gebruik daarvan bepaal tot 'n groot mate die uitkoms van die terapeutiese proses. Opleiding in terapeutiese onderhoudvoering vorm 'n integrale deel van die opleiding van terapeute en voorligters. BEd (Spesialisering in Skoolvoorligting)studente het 'n bepaalde behoefte aan 'n gestruktureerde en sistematiese benadering tot die opleiding van terapeutiese onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede uitgespreek. 'n Literatuurstudie oor die fenomeen terapeutiese ondemoud het eerstens aan die lig gebring dat vaardighede onderliggend aan die terapeutiese onderhoud geidentifiseer en operasioneel gedefinieer kan word en tweedens dat hierdie vaardighede sistematies aangeleer kan word. 'n Repertoire van onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede is egter nie 'n waarborg dat terapie 'n positiewe uitkoms sal he nie. Die terapeut moet 'n terapeutiese verhouding met die klient kan stig en in hierdie opsig is die terapeut se persoonlikheid en sy houding van empatie, warmte, respek, egtheid en onvoorwaardelike agting van kritieke belang in die skep van 'n atmosfeer, waarbinne die klient vry kan voel om sy probleme, diepste gevoelens en gedagtes te kan bespreek. In die ontwerp van 'n model vir opleiding in terapeutiese onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede moet aandag aan beide inhoud en opleidingsprosedure geskenk word. In hierdie model word nie net die vaardighede vir terapeutiese onderhoudvoering aangespreek nie, maar ook vaardighede om empatie, warmte, respek, egtheid en onvoorwaardelike positiewe agting aan die klient te kommunikeer. Vir die doeleindes van hierdie studie is die terapeutiese onderhoud in ses fases verdeel. Vaardighede wat in elke fase gebruik word, is gerdentifiseer, gedefinieer en bespreek. 'n Loodsondersoek is ondemeem om die effektiwiteit van die opleidingsmodel te evalueer. Proefpersone is aan die hand van die voorgestelde opleidingsprosedure opgelei. Ten einde die proefpersone se vordering en so ook die effektiwitieit van die model te evalueer, is elke proefpersoon se voor- en naopleiding onderhoude vergelyk. 'n Evalueringsskaal is vir hierdie doel ontwerp. Die resultate van die loodsondersoek het getoon dat die proefpersone se onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede verbeter het. Die hoop word uitgespreek dat hierdie studie die weg sal baan vir vernuwing in die opleiding van voorligters en terapeute in terapeutiese onderhoudvoering. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

The interview is considered to be a critical technique in the therapeutic process. The effective (and by implication, the ineffective) use thereof determines to a great extent the outcome of the therapeutic process. Training in therapeutic interviewing forms an integral part of the training of counsellors and therapists. This study was prompted by BEd (Specialisation in Guidance and Counselling) students' need for a structured and systematic approach to training in therapeutic interviewing skills. A literature study of the phenomenon therapeutic interviewing revealed firstly that the skills needed for effective therapeutic interviewing can be identified and operationally defined and secondly that these skills can be systematically trained. Having a repertoire of interviewing skills is however not a guarantee that therapy or counselling will have a positive outcome. The therapist must be able to create a therapeutic relationship with the client and in this regard the therapist's personality and attitudes, including empathy, warmth, respect, genuineness and unconditional positive regard for the client, are of major importance in helping to create an atmosphere wherein the client can feel free to discuss his problems and innermost feelings and thoughts. In the design of a model to train therapeutic interviewing, consideration must be given to both content and procedure. Not only were interviewing skills addressed in this model, but also skills to communicate empathy, warmth, respect, genuineness and unconditional positive regard. For the purposes of this study, the therapeutic interview was divided into six stages. Skills used in each stage were identified, defined and discussed. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the training model. Subjects were trained in accordance with the proposed training procedure. In order to evaluate the subjects' progress and thus also the effectiveness of the training procedure, each subject's pre- and post-training interviews were compared. An evaluation scale was designed for this purpose. The results of the pilot study indicated an improvement in the subjects' interviewing skills. It is hoped that this study will pave the way for innovation in the training of counsellors and therapists in therapeutic interviewing. / Die onderhoud word as 'n kritieke tegniek in die terapeutiese proses beskou. Die effektiewe (en by implikasie, die oneffektiewe) gebruik daarvan bepaal tot 'n groot mate die uitkoms van die terapeutiese proses. Opleiding in terapeutiese onderhoudvoering vorm 'n integrale deel van die opleiding van terapeute en voorligters. BEd (Spesialisering in Skoolvoorligting)studente het 'n bepaalde behoefte aan 'n gestruktureerde en sistematiese benadering tot die opleiding van terapeutiese onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede uitgespreek. 'n Literatuurstudie oor die fenomeen terapeutiese ondemoud het eerstens aan die lig gebring dat vaardighede onderliggend aan die terapeutiese onderhoud geidentifiseer en operasioneel gedefinieer kan word en tweedens dat hierdie vaardighede sistematies aangeleer kan word. 'n Repertoire van onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede is egter nie 'n waarborg dat terapie 'n positiewe uitkoms sal he nie. Die terapeut moet 'n terapeutiese verhouding met die klient kan stig en in hierdie opsig is die terapeut se persoonlikheid en sy houding van empatie, warmte, respek, egtheid en onvoorwaardelike agting van kritieke belang in die skep van 'n atmosfeer, waarbinne die klient vry kan voel om sy probleme, diepste gevoelens en gedagtes te kan bespreek. In die ontwerp van 'n model vir opleiding in terapeutiese onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede moet aandag aan beide inhoud en opleidingsprosedure geskenk word. In hierdie model word nie net die vaardighede vir terapeutiese onderhoudvoering aangespreek nie, maar ook vaardighede om empatie, warmte, respek, egtheid en onvoorwaardelike positiewe agting aan die klient te kommunikeer. Vir die doeleindes van hierdie studie is die terapeutiese onderhoud in ses fases verdeel. Vaardighede wat in elke fase gebruik word, is gerdentifiseer, gedefinieer en bespreek. 'n Loodsondersoek is ondemeem om die effektiwiteit van die opleidingsmodel te evalueer. Proefpersone is aan die hand van die voorgestelde opleidingsprosedure opgelei. Ten einde die proefpersone se vordering en so ook die effektiwitieit van die model te evalueer, is elke proefpersoon se voor- en naopleiding onderhoude vergelyk. 'n Evalueringsskaal is vir hierdie doel ontwerp. Die resultate van die loodsondersoek het getoon dat die proefpersone se onderhoudvoeringsvaardighede verbeter het. Die hoop word uitgespreek dat hierdie studie die weg sal baan vir vernuwing in die opleiding van voorligters en terapeute in terapeutiese onderhoudvoering. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)