Search

This paper examines ‘alternative institutions’ in a variety of institutional domains as participatory-democratic modes of organization. Grounded in comparative data, it posits structural conditions, both internal to an organization and in its environment, which support or undermine the achievement of its collectivist-democratic ideals. While the literature on social movement organizations well demonstrates the fragility of democratic systems and their tendency toward oligarchization, goal displacement, and organizational maintenance, this work suggests, in propositional form, conditions which militate against these all-too-common transformation patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metaphors may enlighten our theoretical understanding of affairs, and they may be used to mystify and distort our view of social reality. In a recent series of papers, Gareth Morgan has proposed increasing metaphorical usage, to enrich management and organizational theory. This paper argues that Morgan's advocacy of metaphorical usage is too indiscriminate. By favouring a relativist (rather than a rationalist) theory of knowledge, he invites a proliferation of metaphorical ideology. Morgan's preference for an unbridled metaphorical usage is attributed, in part, to what Edgely (1984) describes as 'liberal dogmatism', and also to his neglect of the social processes that generate and disseminate metaphors. The paper uses a variety of previous metaphorical contributions to management thought - cybernetic, psychological, biological, systemic, mechanical, neurological - to argue that, in general, metaphorical usage in organization studies has always been socially partisan, and that Gareth Morgan's proposals will intensify a mode of partisanship that is clearly at variance with his sympathies expressed elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perceived importance of seven power factors to two types of intradepartmental decision are examined: those which a manager takes alone and those which are taken in a group composed of departmental members only. The major findings from this examination are that while formal authority is important in the former situation it is of lesser importance in the latter situation; the reverse is true for personality. We conclude that decision method has a pronounced effect upon the relative importance of power factors. Secondary analysis of the data suggests that group composition also has a marked effect but that issue domain has a negligible effect. Nevertheless, managerial expertise remains dominantly important throughout the whole range of decision-making situations; this finding also concurs with the results from our companion paper (Kenny and Wilson, 1984). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management theorists and practitioners have developed various rationales for the adoption of participative management. In recent years empirical evidence has pointed to the increasing importance of the lateral dimension in the managerial role. The growing emphasis on a manager's lateral interactions provides new justification for the use of participative management. This article examines the relationship between participation and lateral relations and establishes a new rationale for the adoption of participative management. Participative management has been described variously as "a subtle means of having employees think they are a more important part of the organization" or as "group decision-making." The exact dimensions of this concept are not of major importance for this paper; but, for purposes of clarity, participative management is defined as the participation of employees in the managerial role. This includes decision-making, planning, controlling, and any of the other management functions. A possible side benefit of a more judicious use of the participative style of management is the reduction of time spent interacting horizontally in the organization. The participative approach can also get the subordinate involved in some aspects of lateral relations.

This paper examines dominant sources of social power and influence that affect the degree to which patients adhere to recommended regimens for prevention or treatment and their rate of recovery. Referent power of health-care practitioners, as contrasted with their expert, coercive, reward and legitimate power, is expected to he most effective when internalization of medical recommendations by the patients is essential. The paper explores specific ways that a health-care professional can gain referent power, using weight control treatment as an example. It presents a conceptual framework that provides a rationale for a number of relationship-building techniques and offers evidence that referent power is effective in promoting adherence to treatment and more healthful behavior, and in influencing critical outcome measures such as weight loss. Analysis of the relative efficacy of various methods of building and using referent power and the possible limiting conditions on its effectiveness are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the transactions cost approach (TCA) is used to define organizations and to predict their forms under certain conditions. Next, Aaron Wildavsky's approach is used to define the policy process and to predict its form in particular organizations. Two assertions follow: namely, that the most efficient organizational form may be predicted from knowledge of underlying transactions costs, and that the form of the policy process in an organization can be predicted from knowledge of the organization's form (regardless of whether it is the most efficient form). Recent natural gas policy in the U.S.A. is used to illustrate these propositions, and several conclusions are offered about 1) the potential applicability of the TCA to the public sector and to the policy process and 2) about the potential applicability of Wildavsky's version of the policy process to differing organizational forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isolation of the influences behind neutral responses is the chief concern of this paper. A sample of 416 assembly-line operators were asked to rate their supervisors according to an instrument which contained a list of positive supervisory traits and behaviors. Three rating options were provided: agree, don't know and disagree. It was hypothesized that over-all dissatisfaction with the subjects would be a significant influence behind neutral responses. Several methods of classifying raters into satisfied/dissatisfied groups were experimented with. The results generally supported the hypothesis, with some qualifications. Dissatisfied raters were found to give significantly more neutral responses than satisfied raters. However, rater nationality and age were also found to be significant influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze a unique and innovative appraisal and development system. The Performance Management System (PMS) is the formal vehicle used by Corning Glass Works managers to measure and improve the performance and potential for advancement of approximately 3,000 managerial and professional employees. The current design of PMS is the result of several years of research and development work by staff psychologists and personnel specialists at Coming along with applied psychological research conducted in other organizations. PMS is distinguished from most appraisal systems by the following characteristics: (1) Its emphasis on both psychometric accuracy and practical utility; (2) Its emphasis on development as opposed to evaluation; (3) Its use of ipsative measurement; (4) Its integration of results with behavior centered appraisal. This paper is comprised of an introduction, reports on the initial research, the design and introduction, the evaluation and revision of PMS, and an overall summary. The strategies, results, and problems encountered at each phase of PMS development will be described and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the study of human communication processes in organizations has progressed considerably in the past two decades—with important developments in predictively fruitful concepts and useful methods—much of the work remains isolated and unintegrated. The purpose of this paper is to describe important concepts for analyzing communication processes in organizations, and to point out some of the methodological developments related to these concepts. At the conclusion of the paper we discuss some of the major research topics which should be major foci of organizational communication inquiry. These comments are given within the context of certain dimensions of organizational communication which should increase coherence in a diversified and uncoordinated body of knowledge. Our approach to the study of communication in organizations rests on two basic related tasks for the generation of knowledge in a relatively undeveloped area. First is the crucial task of explicating concepts that permit description and analysis of communication and/or information systems in organizations. While this task is underway, we also seek to establish correlational or causal relationships between communication concepts and other organizational variables. To clarify our intent in specifying these two tasks, we begin by providing a brief description of the terms "organization," "information," "communication," and "other organizational variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on mobility in temporary society. In the search for the temporary organization, capable of and eager to innovate and adapt, high rates of personnel mobility may work against organizational change. The article discusses a case analysis which is based upon a paper which the author initially prepared for a reunion of current and past faculty members of the Federal Executive Institute (FEI), held in Charlottesville, Virginia, in February 1973. The main theme of the paper on the relationship between personnel and leadership mobility on the one hand and innovation and adaptiveness on the other scented to me a significant challenge to some of the assumptions in the current and predictive literature about organizations, with implications far beyond that altogether unique institution known as the FEI. Several concepts current among public administrators and organizational theorists set the organizational mold for the FEI. Each of these concepts was selected to neutralize what was perceived as dysfunctional aspects of traditional bureaucratic organizations.

Voluntary organizations have long been believed to have important effects on the attitudes of their members, but the relatively few attempts to investigate such effects have produced inconsistent results. This paper uses a statewide proportional sample to investigate relationships between (a) membership and participation in ten types of voluntary organizations and (b) two types of attitudes about the community. After individual and community characteristics were controlled, experience with voluntary organizations was found to explain about five percent of the variance in respondents' perceptions of their ability to influence community affairs, but relationships with willingness to leave the community were considerably weaker. Somewhat stronger relationships were found when the analysis was confined to respondents for whom voluntary organizations or community participation was particularly salient. Overall, this paper indicates that the impact of voluntary organizations on community attitudes is weaker than earlier theoretical statements have suggested. However, it also shows that the relationship varies according to type of organization, salience of participation for the respondent, respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, and the specific community attitude being investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a case study to explore a basic dilemma: can the people who control organizations develop ideologies which simultaneously facilitate stability and change? This dilemma is likely to become most apparent when people set out to improve an organization within its current ideological context but the consequences implicit in the improvements are poorly understood. The meaning and value of the improvements are then likely to be assessed differently by superiors and subordinates, and by loyal members and heretics. The case study illustrates how resources are mobilized to constrain improvement attempts in such a way that the consequences reconfirm the preexisting organizational ideologies and halt the improvement attempts [1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of comparative evaluation research on organizational-effectiveness models is the primary focus of this discussion. Problems in conceptually and operationally defining evaluation models, such as those in the goal and system model classes, are the proposed reason for this lack of comparative research. In this paper, goal and system models are formally defined in terms of their historical origins, underlying criteria and differing methods of application. A goal and system model classification continuum is also presented. Five comparative evaluation research questions are proposed and their implications for research are discussed. From a theoretical perspective this paper attempts to go beyond the sound foundation laid by Campbell (1997) in his discussion of these two schools of thought on organizational effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores two issues in the formation of expectations in hierarchically ordered organizations -- the estimates of events made by individuals at one level and the coupling of these estimates to those made at the next level in the organization. Data from two field studies are used to illustrate the changes in risk bearing imposed by close coupling of estimates at two different levels and the potential reinforcement of bias in estimation which coupling may engender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Part I of this paper we examined the possibility that certain managerial and organizational characteristics were associated with company performance under a wide range of operating conditions. Part II now turns to an alternative theory of performance which has attracted more attention in recent years. This is contingency theory, which identifies as the means to superior performance those attributes which enable a company to cope better with its particular operating conditions. In other words, the factors associated with high performance are expected to vary along with differences in a company's context - especially with differences in its environment, size and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most theory and research on organizations assumes that the great diversity of organizational attributes reflects variation in implementation of a relatively small number of forms. Modern conceptions of organizational form concentrate on discontinuities in distributions of either attributes or relationships with other organizations. We argue that this approach be supplemented with an explicitly dynamic one that focuses on processes that create and erode boundaries in the organizational world. This paper discusses some of the advantages of this approach and specifics a number of processes that create and erode boundaries around organizational populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratic social engineering was a method of social control utilizing the small group, discussion, leadership, and participation of the objects of control. Grounded in late 19th-century progressive education, pragmatic philosophy, and the social sciences, the technique was especially prominent between 1917 and 1945. Case studies of the foremen's clubs, the Golden Age clubs, pediatrician Benjamin Spock, and Kurt Lewin describe and analyze the practice of democratic social engineering. They serve as a backdrop for a concluding discussion of alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of obedience is usually considered on an individual level, although typically acts of obedience are committed by an individual who is acting within an organizational framework. This paper discusses how the structure and function of the hierarchical organization alters the perspective by which individuals view their actions, and changes an individual's perception of his or her role and responsibility. Organizational dehumanization and act fragmentation and their function in the facilitation of evil acts are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intense involvement with clients required of professional staff in various human service institutions includes a great deal of emotional stress, and failure to cope successfully with such stress can result in the emotional exhaustion syndrome of burn-out, in which staff lose all feeling and concern for their clients and treat them in detached or even dehumanized ways. This paper focuses on the role that clients themselves play in staff burn-out. Important client factors include the type and severity of the clients' problems, the prognosis of change or cure, the degree of personal relevance for the staff member of the clients' problems, the rules governing staff-client interaction, and the clients' reactions to the staff themselves. Changes in the structure of the staff-client interaction and changes in client expectations about staff can alleviate staff burn-out. It should be recognized that clients can dehumanize staff just as staff can dehumanize them, and that steps to humanize the staff-client relationship must focus on both participants in this interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a study of the bureaucratic processing of emotionally disturbed children. It focuses on the components of bureaucratic decisionmaking and evaluation which determine the biographical documentations of clients constructed by mental hospital staff. Specifically, bureaucratic practioners of child psychotherapy engage in co-deviant labeling: a labeling process which places responsibility for the child's pathology on the parents and casts the parent into the role of "co-patient," Institutional evaluation ostensibly designed for the recipient of service-the child-is extended to the child's parents, most often without their knowledge, Co-patient labeling is shown to affirm the ideological assumptions of institutional staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences in activity, influence, and task orientation between males and females have been noted in small group research and have been attributed to differences in sex-role socialization. Similar differences in behavior are predicted from the formal theory of status characteristics and expectation states; methods for improving the imbalance in power and prestige between males and females in work groups are also derivable from the theory. This paper characterizes sex as a status characteristic, presents data supportive of the characterization, and offers suggestions for remedying the noted imbalance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a theory of sex-role stereotyping and power use in terms of how people interact in daily life situations. Power use is proposed to be affected by sex-role stereotypes on three major dimensions: direct-indirect, concrete-personal, and competent-helpless. It is demonstrated that women have less access, in reality and in expectations, to concrete resources and competence, leaving them with indirect, personal, and helpless modes of influence. Power use is examined in terms of sex-role stereotypes, and data are presented which support the hypothesis that people expect males and females to use different bases of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the methodology and an application of a dialectical approach to research and development planning. The methodology features a structured debate followed argumentation analysis. The argumentation analysis in turn is followed by an assessment of the plausibility of the arguments. The application involved using the methodology to assess the level of funding for research and development for a transportation system that would employ advanced technology. The Dialectic Inquiry process, and specifically, the plausibility rating activity, were seen as valuable aids for policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of a behaviorally based performance appraisal system. Blanz and Ghiselli's Mixed Standard Scale was used as the basis for developing the performance appraisal system for assessing the performance of highway patrol personnel. However, the particular developmental procedures described here differ in some respects from those reported in the literature. Rather than developing rating items describing general traits such as "diligence," "initiative," or "enthusiasm" in behavioral terms, the items in the present scale were developed to describe proficiency levels of specific job tasks. This characteristic is expected to enhance the objectivity of the evaluation system for both appraisal and job counseling purposes. The appraisal instrument was subjected to a series of reliability and validity tests that demonstrated its high reliability and validity. Although the content of the appraisal system described here included highway patrol tasks, a similar system could be developed using the procedures described for a wide variety and level of jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do black supervisors manage differently than white supervisors? Do black supervisors solve problems in the same way as white supervisors? To investigate these issues a group of 21 blacks and 56 whites in a supervisory training program conducted by the College of Business, University of Georgia, were studied using a take-home paper and pencil exercise. Certain independent variables were first identified which included biographical data, employment experience and personality factors. The exercises attempted to measure the way they Solved role conflict situations and handled disciplinary problems--two important duties of supervisors. The most outstanding finding from the study was the paucity of differences in all measures except in attitudes toward received discipline. Blacks were less willing to accept harsh punishment for violation of organizational rules than whites, especially where there was a history of high performance. We conclude, however, that organizational acculturation may substantially offset any minority subcultural influences in organizational situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a field experiment designed to test the effects of manipulating several elements of an operative level performance appraisal system. First, the multipurposive nature of appraisal in formal organizations will be discussed. This is followed by a brief overview of the literature on performance appraisal. The design and results of the study at hand are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores ways in which policy makers think about the value of information in the policy process. Close to 200 federal, state, and local policy makers gave us their Judgments about information systems which were mandated by the federal government in elementary and secondary education. We predicted that the value they reported would be influenced by their structural location in the educational policy system and by the policy theories about education which they embraced. These predictions were confirmed. Knowledge of a policy maker's structural location and policy theories facilitates understanding of how much he or she will value federal data on education. The results point toward a clearer understanding of the political context in which federal information systems must operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on open and closed systems of decision making. This paper analyzes how toxic waste management issues move from a position where they are decided by a small, narrowly constituted elite to one where they are now influenced by a more diverse set of actors. In the U.S., until the mid-1970s the issue of toxic waste sites was not on the systemic or institutional agendas of most local and state governments, nor on the federal government's agenda. Government leaders and the public then became aware of the issue through incidents such as Love Canal, and it was pushed onto the systemic agenda of many local, state, and federal agencies. As more people became concerned about the health and environmental dangers associated with toxic waste dumps, the scope of conflict expanded and the problem began moving from a closed to an open decision-making context, and from a systemic agenda to an institutional one. The problem that public officials now face is how to combine the core democratic values of accountability and representativeness with the tenets of administrative efficiency, e.g., increasing demands for technical expertise, economy, and efficiency.

This paper suggests that the use of rulemaking as an alternative means of implementation can have policy consequences and, as a result, can have significant political implications. In the case of the Federal Trade Commission, the balance of forces in the agency's political environment has proved dominant to determining its willingness to rely on rulemaking. Similarly, the commission's emphasis on rulemaking in recent years has significantly altered its relationships with key members of its environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although sociologists have studied for decades the process whereby citizens make emergency decisions in response to disaster warnings, very little attention has been given to understanding the role of ethnicity m this process. Data derived from fatality and injury counts following disasters, though sparse, documents that minority group citizens tend to suffer disproportionately high negative consequences in connection with the impact of disasters. On the basis of this information, it is inferred that differences exist between the emergency decision-making processes of minority and majority citizens. This paper lays the theoretical groundwork for beginning to revise existing conceptual models of warning response behavior to more adequately address the variation associated with minority group status. This goal is accomplished through pursuing three general tasks: (1) examining the process through which personal emergency decisions are made, (2) delineating social factors which impinge upon the outcomes of this decision-making process, and (3) integrating into an existing model of warning response behavior, additional variables which are related to minority status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author arranges some of the major treatments of alienation within a coherent framework. He introduces a distinction between disassociation (certain specified objective conditions) and alienation (a specified experience) and articulates the relationship between these two by presenting a series of intervening psychological issues. A typology of human association is presented, and it is argued that especially two types of disassociation (i.e., marginality and subordination) and, to some extent, another (i.e., privilege) may be productive of alienation These conditions are considered at the cultural, social, and psychological levels of analysis. Variables connecting these conditions and alienation include the perception of the condition, evaluation, integration, blame, and response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘conflict school’ in contemporary sociology emerged in large part as a critique of the theory of social change that Talcott Parsons developed during his middle period, which began with the empirically-oriented essays that appeared after The Structure of Social Action (Parsons, 1937), and extended through the simultaneous publication of Towards a General Theory of Action (Parsons and Shils, 1951) and The Social System (Parsons, 1951). The conflict critique, now enshrined in textbook lore and highbrow writing alike, accused Parsons of a static, idealist bias that ignored issues of process, conflict, and change. While Parsons's attitude toward change, during this and later periods of his development, was complex and often ambiguous, this evaluation was certainly incorrect. I will demonstrate, in fact, that in this middle period Parsons actually produced a more systematic and compelling approach to conflict and change than the theories produced by the conflict critics themselves. In the first part of this paper, I will present the formal elements of Parsons's change theory. The second part will add substance to this theory by showing how Parsons applied it to the empirical problematics of recent Western development. In the third section, I will relate this formal and substantive theorizing to the vastly misunderstood deviance paradigm from The Social System. In conclusion, I will return to the question with which I began: What is the real relationship between the conflict theorists and their very useful straw man, ‘Talcott Parsons’? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt is made to construct an ideal type of informal youth organization having the following components: an active, expressive pattern of action, multi-dimensional patterns of performances, symmetric relationships among participants, a dual structure, and the principle of moratorium; all these are based on a high degree of voluntary participation. These components are related (in an organizational framework) to such outcomes as the generation of value commitment, the integration of various strata, and mediation between childhood and adulthood. The paper exposes a dilemma: how to semi-institutionalize these organizations in an attempt to diminish the risk of developing antisocial commitment and at the same time to preserve their unique properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asserts that organizations process different types of strategic issues in systematically different ways, proposing that organizational decision-makers expend greater resources, centralize authority and generate a greater volume of causal explanations during the processing of crisis versus non-crisis strategic issues. Data from comparative tracings of several crisis and non-crisis issues in a single organization lend preliminary support to the propositions. By conceptualizing the process of issue resolution both from an instrumental and symbolic perspective, this type of response to crisis issues can be interpreted. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terms proactive and reactive are frequently used to describe managers. This paper examines the proactive-reactive behaviour patterns of 16 top-level managers and compares their behaviour patterns with conceptual views from the literature. The usefulness of the proactive-reactive dichotomy is evaluated and issues are raised concerning the proactive-reactive label. It is concluded that the dichotomy is overly simplistic for describing complex managerial behaviour and a more complex model is proposed for examining the proactive dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politics and conflict sometimes capture an organization in whole or significant part, giving rise to a form we call the Political Arena. After discussing briefly the system of politics in organizations, particularly as a set of 'political games', we derive through a series of propositions four basic types of Political Arenas: the complete Political Arena (characterized by conflict that is intensive and pervasive), the confrontation (conflict that is intensive but contained), the shaky alliance (conflict that is moderate and contained), and the politicized organization (conflict that is moderate but pervasive). The interrelationships among these four, as well as the context of each, are then described in terms of a process model of life cycles of Political Arenas. A final section of the paper considers the functional roles of politics in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the formal communication system of science has become less able to supply information with the rapidity that scientists require, increasing attention has been paid to the structure of communication in science. Three types of studies have been conducted in this area. Firstly, studies of the scientific literature itself. Secondly, studies of the way scientists obtain the information which they need for their research and finally, studies of the relationships between scientists who conduct research in the same areas. For the most part, studies of formal communication and information gathering have been conducted in the absence of all but the most rudimentary theoretical models. The lack of theory can be attributed partly to the highly practical orientation of many studies and also to the fact that an adequate model cannot be based on any one of these types of studies alone. A useful theory must integrate knowledge from all three types. In this article, the author reviews these studies and will describe a theoretical model which has been designed to fill this purpose.

Five phases of sociologists' approaches to education in society are identified. A discussion of the analysis of internal problems of education systems is followed by a more detailed consideration of education and the values-consensus of social classes as it arises particularly in the work of French, Eastern European and Latin American sociologists. In conclusion, the sociological approach to education is set in historical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article cites a study concerned with the reactions of industrial workers to certain organizational demands in an environment of increasing work pressure. The result found that the application of work pressure by the manager and feelings of work pressure by the employee are not as highly related as it was expected. These two variables emerge on separate though marginally correlated factors which suggests that there is variability in the way work pressure is applied that in turn produces variability in the employee's responses to it. There are undoubtedly many things that contribute to this variability in relationship between applied work pressure and felt work pressure. By examining the relationship of the decision-making power in the department within the context of total organizational power, researchers can explain part of the dynamics that occur on the manufacturing floor and, in fact, better understand the relationship between the supervisor and the employees. It can be said because there is evidence that the distribution of power radically affects the manager's behavior vis-a-vis the employee.

Many studies have been carried out of the occupational goals and satisfactions of special professional groups. Studies that look across the entire American work force, however, are rare. One such study was carried out by the Brookings Institution as part of a larger effort to determine how Americans viewed the federal service (Kilpatrick, et al., 1964). Personal interviews were conducted with a probability sample of all regularly-employed Americans. Many of the questions focused on work. The purpose of this paper is to indicate the general goals Americans expect to fulfill through work, the factors that influence satisfaction and dissatisfaction in their present jobs, how these matters vary by level of education, and finally what significance these findings have for understanding American society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests several ways in which policy studies instructors can seek to develop communication skills in their students. The problem of effective communication of concepts and data to decision makers is closely related to the process of informing the public of policy deliberations and decisions. Effective and sensitive communications between analysts and decision makers, in other words, sets the stage for effective communications with the public at large. Efforts to improve communications are likely to be successful only to the extent that these factors are given attention.

Recently, performance appraisal researchers have adopted a cognitive approach to analyzing judgment processes in performance appraisal. While this approach allows researchers to tap a wealth of knowledge applicable to the appraisal context, this line of research is likely to widen the already existing gap between research and practice. We argue that coordination of the talents of researchers and practitioners is essential for narrowing the gap. Specifically, we suggest researchers focus their research on the best methods of ensuring use of relevant and valid data in appraisal, given organizational constraints. We also suggest practitioners focus on determining observable and measurable aspects of performance, and thus, specify appropriate appraisal content. We also note that cognitive process research has promise for increasing raters' ability to judge accurately, but that this approach does not necessarily address the rater's willingness to provide accurate ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the strategy literature has largely focused on business firms, public agencies also engage in strategic management, as reflected in a variety of policy- making and administrative activities. This paper extends the emerging literature on strategic management in public organizations by reporting the results of field studies in four Ohio agencies and providing a preliminary classification of public organization strategies. Also, characteristics of four distinct strategies (developmental, transformational, protective, and political) are identified and described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models of management in public administration are of three dominant types. One, neutral competence, emphasizes neutrality and objectivity. A second, termed responsive competency here, stresses political responsiveness. A third model, which focuses on managerial competence, relies heavily on private sector practices. This paper utilizes data from the Federal Employee Attitude Survey, Phases I and II, and personal interviews with career federal executives to examine the relevance of these models to contemporary management needs. A public service model is proposed as an alternative conceptualization for the practice of federal management. This model calls for informed management skills for both career and political executives. It also emphasizes managing in the public interest and, therefore, the need for widespread commitment to competent and effective management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores statistical models that may be useful to an organization during its formalization and control stage. These models may provide useful information as a part of an organization's management control system. Two essential elements of a management control system are: (I) information about how the organization is operating, and (2) standards against which to compare this information to judge how well the organization is operating. Identifying problem areas requires comparing operations information to standards or benchmarks. Possible sources of such standards for public sector organizations include an organization's goals, objectives, or targets; standards established by relevant professional associations; the performance of similar organizations; the organization's own historical performance record; and optimal or technically efficient performance levels. This paper discusses statistical models that managers can use to develop standards based on three of these sources: the organization's own objectives; the optimal level, given specified environmental and technical constraints; the performance of other organizations. The article presents a model, illustrates its usage with examples for probation agencies, and discusses the model's advantages and disadvantages.

Note has been made about the budgetary impact of judicial decisions. This paper looks at the budgetary effect of federal district court decisions across the states in the area of corrections. The study shows that (a) courts have affected state spending on prisons, (b) the levels of per prisoner spending in states that have had court cases are, in general, lower than in states that have not experienced prisoner rights litigation, (c) the level of per prisoner spending has not been affected by judicially mandated prison reform because of the steady increase in the prison population. The implications of the analysis are discussed. These include: (a) bureaucratic behavior, (b) redistributive aspects of judicial decisions, and (c) the erosion of the budget as a tool of popular control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the development and operation of a policy analysis unit within the central headquarters of the New York City public school system in 1981. The implementation strategy used to establish this unit was informed by the rules of conventional wisdom. The unit in this case study, however, was conceived under a particular set of circumstances with specific goals in mind. The fact of the matter is that the only real constituency for an analytic unit in an agency is that found within the bureaucracy itself.

During the past six years a considerable debate has taken place on the notion of orientation to work. The controversy, for indeed, such it appears to be, has spread over at least 2 journals and involved several eminent writers on the subject. Whilst the debate tends to be rather complex — especially as it develops — it would appear to be concerned with two apparently simple issues; namely, (1) are a worker's priorities “fixed” by forces external to the working situation; and (2) do these priorities remain constant over a period of time? An understanding of these issues is of vital importance to management for a number of reasons. For example, if it is true that external influences are of considerably greater importance in determining an individual's set of priorities, then little effort need be placed on trying to design organizational structures, technologies, and payment systems, or to modify managerial style in such a way as to allow greater opportunities for diverse priorities to be satisfied. Furthermore, if such priorities did remain relatively constant over time, selection would become very much easier and the need for any form of appraisal rendered virtually non‐existent. Incentives would always continue to stimulate effort, and training would be reduced to a minimum. Naturally, such “utopian myopic” speculation is exceedingly dangerous. Author Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, after considering the need for effective techniques for policy evaluation, develops a model for the evaluation of urban public policy. The model consists of five separate components and includes a time variable. The final section of the paper uses the component model and resulting variables to evaluate two hypothetical urban programs. The problems encountered in single- and multi-program evaluation attempts are discussed. Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning the limitations and utility of evaluation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confrontation, accompanied by violence and vandalism, is interfering with the ability of administrators of public institutions to discharge their responsibilities with rationalism and efficiency. Universities, secondary schools, government, and social agencies, in varying forms and degrees, are challenged by the militancy of student, minority, and client activist groups. Some of their demands seem unreasonable and unrealizable, and the methods used appear to leave little room for negotiation or compromise. Under pressure from these militants, and from political and public demands for law and order, public administrators find it difficult to develop a professional, rational, and consistent pattern of response. This paper discusses some of the sociological and psychological effects of organizational conflicts, and suggests some operational principles to guide administrators of public institutions in meeting the confrontation tactics of activist groups.