bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
RETHINKING FEMINIST ORGANIZATIONS
Authors: MARTIN PATRICIA YANCEY
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes feminist organizations as a species of social movement organization. It identifies 10 dimensions for comparing feminist and nonfeminist organizations or for deriving types of feminist organizations and analyzing them. The dimensions are feminist ideology, feminist values, feminist goals, feminist outcomes (for members and society), founding circumstances, structure, practice, members and membership, scope and scale, and external relations (legal-corporate status, autonomy, funding, and network linkages). I argue that many scholars judge feminist organizations against an ideal type that is largely unattainable and that excessive attention has been paid to the issue of bureaucracy versus collectivism to the neglect of other organizational qualities. The varieties of ideology, form, and strategy that feminist organizations embody should be analyzed in relation to outcomes for women, the women's movement, and society. As has recently begun to occur, feminist scholars are encouraged to claim the topic of feminist organizations for themselves.
LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE WORLD CAPITALIST CRISIS
Authors: NASH JUNE
Published: March 2007

This article argues that a gender perspective enables us to better understand the emerging basis for collective organization in the world capitalist crisis. Since women and their children are most threatened by inroads on the subsistence economy, and since welfare provisions are the first budgetary cuts made by governments faced with increasing debt burdens, women are forced to engage in collective action to ensure survival. In Latin American countries, this new political arena is even more dynamic than the workplace as a site for engaging in struggle. This situation contrasts with core industrial countries, where the encounter with bureaucratic agencies in redressing human welfare issues tends to fragment individual actions rather than weld together collective consciousness.
GENDER, SOCIAL REPRODUCTION, AND WOMEN'S SELF-ORGANIZATION:
Authors: BRENNER JOHANNA , LASLETT BARBARA
Published: March 2007

This article argues that changes in the organization of social reproduction, defined to include the activities, attitudes, behaviors, emotions, responsibilities, and relationships involved in maintaining daily life, can explain historical differences in women's political self-organization. Examining the Progressive period, the 1930s, and the 1960s and 1970s, the authors suggest that the conditions of social reproduction provide the organizational resources for and legitimation of women's collective action.
THE MODE OF REPRODUCTION IN TRANSITION:
Authors: GIMENEZ MARTHA E.
Published: March 2007

There is an abundant and growing feminist literature examining the implications of reproductive technologies that separate genetic, physiological, and social motherhood. The literature explains the development of these technologies in terms of the motivations of men (scientists, doctors, lawyers, “pharmacrats,”“technodocs,” etc.), stressing the victimization of women by the medical and legal institutions and the commodification of these technologies. This article examines these technologies from a Marxist-Feminist perspective, locating their sources in the overall development of the forces of production; that is, in structural changes irreducible to their microfoundations. In the process of changing the biological conditions of intergenerational social reproduction, these technologies have established the material basis for the structural separation between the mode of procreation (open to public scrutiny, medical intervention, and state supervision) and the mode of social and physical reproduction (which functions in the privacy of households). These structural changes are generating new identities and forms of consciousness that clash with taken-for-granted ideas about motherhood. These differences are captured in feminist debates about the significance of these technologies.
FEMINIST RAPE EDUCATION:
Authors: FONOW MARY MARGARET , RICHARDSON LAUREL , WEMMERUS VIRGINIA A.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this research report is twofold: First, we analyze a complex of attitudes about rape myths, adversarial sexual beliefs, and gender-role conservatism; and second, we evaluate the impact of rape-education intervention strategies on American college students' attitudes. Using the Solomon four-group design, we randomly assigned 14 classes of Sociology 101 students ( total N = 582) to three different treatment conditions: a live rape-education workshop, a video of the workshop, and a control group. We found significant gender differences in students' attitudes on all the scales, with women being more knowledgeable about rape, less likely to blame the victim, and less accepting of adversarial sexual beliefs and gender-role conservatism. Most important, we found that within the limits of the study, rape-education intervention works in changing some attitudes about rape for both men and women students. We examine the impact of the different educational strategies and explore curricular implications, including the need to teach about rape within a feminist context.
AFTER DIVORCE:
Authors: ARENDELL TERRY
Published: March 2007

On the basis of in-depth interviews with 75 divorced New York fathers, the phenomenon of postdivorce paternal absence is investigated. The accounts provided by the interviewees suggest that father absence is more than a literal practice: it is also a perceived option and a standard of comparison. Father absence is a strategy of action, the objective of which is to control situations of conflict and tension and emotional states. That the majority of the fathers in the study shared common explanations with regard to father absence is an indiction of their participation in a “masculinist discourse of divorce.” A primary theme in the discourse is the rhetoric of rights.
TAKING UP A POSITION:
Authors: LEAHY TERRY
Published: March 2007

The relationship between mainstream femininity and resistance to it has been theorized in a number of ways. In one approach, mainstream femininity is identified as a patriarchal set of public texts that women accept, negotiate, or resist in practice. Another view sees mainstream femininity as a dominant cultural practice to which there are resistant subcultural responses. Taking a poststructuralist view, this article offers an alternative to these models. The focus of the article is the differing ways in which a set of interviewees validated their participation in a type of relationship that is socially constructed as a departure from mainstream femininity, namely, a voluntary sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent girl.
WIVES' AND HUSBANDS' PERCEPTIONS OF WHY WIVES WORK
Authors: SPADE JOAN Z.
Published: March 2007

Reasons husbands and wives give for why wives work and the structural factors related to reasons given are examined along with the impact of these reasons on husbands' and wives' personal well-being and quality of marital relationships. Although financial and other structural factors are important in understanding why wives work, interpretations using gender and family roles also explain the findings. Working for financial reasons is related to neither wives' nor husbands' personal well-being and quality of marital relationships; however, working for reasons that bring rewards to the wife alone has positive consequences for women and mixed results for men. These findings point to the need to assess both structural and interpretive explanations when examining the impact of work on the family.
“BUDDIES” OR “SLUTTIES”
Authors: STOMBLER MINDY
Published: March 2007

Fraternity little sister organizations are a relatively unexplored aspect of the contemporary college campus culture. This article examines the construction of the collective sexual reputation of fraternity little sisters and how fraternity little sisters interpret and resist it in an effort to maintain their individual sexual reputations. Further analysis shows how fraternity men contribute to the collective sexual reputation and control women in little sister organizations by sexually objectifying and commodifying them, by sending them purposefully vague and conflicting messages about sexual expectations, and by sexually abusing them.
EXHUMING WOMEN'S PREMARKET DUTIES IN THE CARE OF THE DEAD
Authors: RUNDBLAD GEORGANNE
Published: March 2007

This research provides a history of women's domestic duties in the care of the dead prior to its transformation into a male-dominated market activity. The author presents data on the position of importance women held in the premarket care of the dead as well as on the knowledge necessary to prepare the body for burial. Both the positions and the knowledge women held were later appropriated into the more “advanced” practices by the newly developing funeral industry in the mid-19th century; moreover, the position women held as “shrouding women” was largely unacknowledged by the emerging funeral industry.
GENDERED RELATIONS IN THE MINES AND THE DIVISION OF LABOR UNDERGROUND
Authors: TALLICHET SUZANNE E.
Published: March 2007

This article focuses on how men's sexualization of work relations and the workplace contributes to job-level gender segregation among coal miners. The findings suggest that sexualization represents men's power to stigmatize women in order to sustain stereotypes about them as inferior workers. In particular, supervisors use stereotypes to justify women's assignments to jobs in support of and in service to men. Once in these jobs, men's positive evaluations of women workers become contingent upon their fulfillment of men's gendered expectations. These processes foster the gender typing of jobs and lead to the gendered division of labor underground.
WOMEN'S MILITARY ROLES CROSS-NATIONALLY
Authors: SEGAL MADY WECHSLER
Published: March 2007

This article outlines a theory of what affects the degree and nature of women's participation in the armed forces throughout history and across nations. Examining national security situations, military technology, military accession policies, demographic patterns, cultural values regarding gender, and structural patterns of gender roles, the article proposes a systematic theory of the conditions under which women's military roles expand and contract. The theory is then applied to analyze women's likely future role in armed forces. The military's need for personnel has been the driving force behind expansion of women's military roles through history and across nations, but cultural values supporting gender equality also contribute and seem likely to have increased influence in the future.
GENDER IN THE CULTURE OF MEXICAN AMERICAN CONJUNTO MUSIC
Authors: VALDEZ AVELARDO , HALLEY JEFFREY A.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the role of gender in the culture of conjunto music, a Mexican American musical genre. It describes how gender is articulated with factors of ethnicity and class in the context of the conjunto setting and performance. The authors examine the structure of gender relations, socialization, and resistance, and they attempt to identify the effects within patriarchy on the forms of adaptation and power available to women in conjunto settings. Conjunto is an arena in which conventional gender identity and gender inequality are reproduced, reinforced, and contested.
THE PALESTINIAN WOMEN'S AUTONOMOUS MOVEMENT
Authors: ABDULHADI RABAB
Published: March 2007

This article examines the Palestinian women's autonomous movement that emerged in the early 1990s, emphasizing changes in the sociopolitical context to account for the movement's emergence, dynamics, and challenges. Using interviews obtained during fieldwork in Palestine in 1992, 1993, and 1994, and employing historical and archival records, I argue that Palestinian feminist discourses were shaped and influenced by the sociopolitical context in which Palestinian women acted and with which they interacted. The multiplicity of views voiced by the women I interviewed attests to the impossibility of homogenizing and flattening women's experiences, while the range of actions and strategies employed by different groups and organizations calls attention to contextual limitations on social action.
CHILD REARING AS A MECHANISM FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
Authors: WARNER REBECCA L. , STEEL BRENT S.
Published: March 2007

In this article, the authors argue that having daughters has the potential of sensitizing parents to issues of gender equity. Because parents invest a significant amount of themselves in their children, anticipated and actual struggles that their children face, and the public policies addressing those struggles, take on increased salience. We find that both fathers' and mothers' support for public policies designed to address gender equity increases when parents have daughters only. The findings are stronger for men, suggesting that child rearing might provide a mechanism for social change whereby fathers' connection with their daughters undermines their commitment to patriarchy. At the same time, when men have sons only, they show the least support for gender equity public policies, suggesting that wanting what is best for their children may keep men from challenging their patriarchal dividend.
Metrifonate Enhances the Ability of Alzheimer's Disease Patients to Initiate, Organize, and Execute Instrumental and Basic Activities of Daily Living
Authors: Gélinas Isabelle , Gauthier Serge , Cyrus PamelaA.
Published: March 2007

The objective of this analysis was to evaluate comprehensively the efficacy of metrifonate, a long-acting acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, in improving the ability of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). Alzheimer's disease patients with Mini-Mental State Examination scores of 10 to 26 were enrolled in three 26-week trials to receive once-daily placebo (n = 430) or metrifonate 30 to 60 mg (by weight, n = 650) or 60/80 mg (by weight, n = 197). Metrifonate efficacy was assessed using the Disability Assessment for Dementia scale. Data from the three studies were pooled and analyzed retrospectively. The intent-to-treat analysis (last observation carried forward) at 26 weeks demonstrated that metrifonate significantly improved the ability of AD patients to perform ADLs when compared with placebo (30-60 mg dose, Δ = 3.03; P = .002; 60/80 mg dose, Δ = 5.25; P = .0002). Metrifonate significantly improved the ability of the AD patients to perform instrumental ADLs, those abilities typically lost first during the disease process (30-60 mg dose, Δ = 3.88, P = .002; 60/80 mg dose, Δ = 5.79, P = .003). Metrifonate also tended to improve, relative to placebo, the ability of AD patients to use three levels of executive skills when performing ADLs: initiation (30-60 mg dose, Δ = 3.45, P = .001; 60/80 mg dose, Δ = 5.44, P = .003), planning/organization (30-60 mg dose, Δ = 4.50, P = .004; 60/80 mg dose, Δ = 4.89, P = .014), and effective execution (30-60 mg dose, Δ = 1.80, P = .076; 60/80 mg dose, Δ = 4.06, P = .030). These results indicate that metrifonate has a beneficial effect on the ADLs in mild-to-moderate AD patients. ( J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2000; 13:9-16).
Unrecognized Dementia in Elderly Patients Admitted to Hospital with Psychiatric Symptoms
Authors: Bekkelund Svein Ivar , Kujala Ilkka , Rosenvinge Berit
Published: March 2007

In this study, we hypothesized that elderly patients with first admission to a psychiatric hospital commonly suffer from dementia but did not have such a diagnosis on admission. Over a period of 5 years, we surveyed all medical journals from patients treated for the first time at the Department of Psychogeriatrics. By selecting all inpatients treated at the only regional psychiatric hospital within a defined geographic area, the selected patients became rep resentative of this geographic area. After a diagnostic work-up at the hospital, 72 of 239 patients satisfied clinical criteria of dementia. Of these patients, 7 had Alzheimer's disease and 7 had evidence of vascular dementia. We iden tified 51 of 72 patients (71%) with an endpoint diagnosis of dementia made at the hospital without any clinical information suggesting dementia at the time of hospitalization. Nonspecific psychosis (35%), depression (15%), and behavioral disturbances (8%) represented the most common diagnoses proposed by the referring doctor. In conclu sion, dementia may be a difficult diagnosis in elderly patients with psychiatric symptoms. This study reminds clinicians that dementia should be considered in these patients. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2001; 14:7-10).
Nortriptyline in Geriatric Depression Resistant to Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors: Case Series
Authors: Weintraub Daniel
Published: March 2007

Research on treatment-resistant depression in the elderly has been limited, and recommendations for clinical man agement have often been extrapolated from studies using nongeriatric patients. This report describes a series of 10 elderly patients with refractory depression who were treated with nortriptyline after failing to respond to an ade quate trial of a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Seven (70%) of the patients responded to the addition or substitution of nortriptyline. All seven of the responders have remained on nortriptyline for maintenance therapy, none of whom have experienced recurrence of their depression after an average treatment duration of 1 year. Response to nor triptyline occurred in about 4 weeks in most patients. The mean daily dose of nortriptyline was 54 mg, and the mean plasma level was 97 ng/mL. Minor side effects occurred in three patients. No patients developed significant electrocardiogram changes. Nortriptyline, possibly due to its different mechanism of action, may be effective as either an adjunctive or replacement antidepressant in some cases of geriatric depression that are resistant to sero tonin reuptake inhibitors. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2001; 14:28-32).
Characteristics of Geriatric Patients Seeking Medication Treatment for Pathologic Gambling Disorder
Authors: Grant Jon E. , Won Kim Suck , Brown Eric
Published: March 2007

This study was constructed to compare geriatric patients seeking medication treatment for pathologic gambling disorder (PGD) with younger pathologic gamblers. This comparison study assessed three groups with PGD accord ing to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition: 16 subjects over the age of 60 years, 11 subjects between the ages of 20 and 30 years, and 46 subjects between the ages of 40 and 50 years. All subjects were evaluated in terms of demographic characteristics, clinical features of PGD, and treatment history. Geriatric gamblers had a later age of onset of gambling and developed pathologic gambling over a longer period of time. Geriatric subjects were more likely to play slot machines and demonstrate less variety in their choice of gam bling activity. Geriatric gamblers were also more likely to gamble secondary to boredom. Geriatric subjects were as likely as the other age groups to report slight or no response to nonpharmacologic treatment. There appear to be some differences in the clinical features of PGD among geriatric subjects, and these differences may have treat ment implications. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2001; 14:125-129).
Greater Daytime Sleepiness in Subcortical Stroke Relative to Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Bliwise Donald L. , Rye David B. , Dihenia Bhupesh , Gurecki Paul
Published: March 2007

Deficits in daytime alertness in the elderly may reflect, in part, deterioration of the critical neural systems modu lating circadian control of sleep and wakefulness. In this study, 47 patients with subcortical stroke (n = 9), Alzheimer's disease (n = 6), and parkinsonism (n = 32) underwent a 24-hour in-laboratory evaluation consisting of overnight polysomnography and next-day evaluation of daytime sleep tendency with the Multiple Sleep Latency Test. Patients with stroke were significantly sleepier during the daytime relative to the Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease patients. Nocturnal sleep parameters did not account for these differences. In the stroke patients, some infarcts occurred in the vasculature, impacting blood supply to the hypothalamus. We interpret these effects as represent ing functional interruptions of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). These results are also compatible with a wake-promoting function of the human SCN. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2002; 15:61-67).
Age-Related Changes in the Neurologic Examination of Healthy Sexagenarians, Octogenarians, and Centenarians
Authors: Nichols M.E. , Meador K.J. , Loring D.W. , Poon L.W. , Clayton G.M. , Martin P.
Published: March 2007

Although numerous studies have focused on age-related changes in the nervous system, few have systematically assessed global neurologic examination changes, and even fewer have included the most elderly population, ie, the centenarians. To perform such a study, we developed a quantitative assessment that includes the major components of a standard bedside neurologic evaluation, with special emphasis on cognitive function. First, we demonstrated that the quantitated examination could correctly classify healthy controls and patients with stroke or dementia based on discriminant analysis. This examination was then applied to healthy community-dwelling elderly ranging from 60 to 108 years of age. Significant age-related neurobehavioral changes were apparent across even these most “successfully” aged groups. Analysis of the full pattern of cognitive and neurologic findings provided the most accurate assessment. Pathologic reflexes, reportedly associated with normal aging, occurred infrequently in this healthy geriatric population, suggesting that age-related changes in the neurologic examination may be more accurately interpreted when assessed in conjunction with cognitive status. This quantitative examination may be useful in future population-based studies of neurologic function in the aged.
Reliability and Validity of the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire Administered by Telephone
Authors: Roccaforte William H. , Burke William J. , Bayer Barbara L. , Wengel Steven P.
Published: March 2007

Effective, economical, and reliable means of screening subjects for cognitive impairment when personal contact is not feasible could facilitate epidemiologic studies and longitudinal assessment. The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) is a 10-item examination that has been found reliable and valid in distinguishing demented subjects from cognitively intact subjects when given face to face. The current study assessed the utility of a telephone version of the SPMSQ in patients evaluated in an outpatient geriatric assessment program.

Mean scores for both test versions decreased with dementia severity and correlated significantly. Mean score differences between the two versions were not affected by reports of hearing impairment or the time interval between test administration. Both test versions correlated significantly with the Mini-Mental State Examination. In distinguishing demented “from nondemented subjects, sensitivity and specificity were .74 and .79 for the telephone test and .74 and .91 for the face-to-face test, respectively.
Stress Analysis of a Rectangular Plate with a Circular Hole under Uniaxial Loading
Authors: Hayashi T.
Published: March 2007

The author reported stress analysis of infinite amsotropic plate with a hole at CCM-3 1986 [1]. The present report deals with rectangular anistropic plate with a circu lar hole under uniaxial loading on the basis of theory of anisotropic plane elasticity [2] Series of circular hole stress function are used, which unknown coefficients are deter mined by Least Square Method with rectangular boundary integration Stress distribution of isotropic plate, cross-ply and angle-ply laminates, which aspect ratio is 2 and ratio of hole radius to the half width is 0 5, are shown by the analysis, test and FEM with good coincidence Stress concentration factor around hole is also presented for variation of the above parameters.
A New Technique to Improve Adhesion of Polyaramid Fibers to Thermoplastic
Authors: Pitt William G. , Lakenan John E. , Brent Strong A.
Published: March 2007

A novel technique has been developed to increase interfacial adhesion be tween organic fibers and thermoplastics. The technique consists of exposing the fiber to a radio frequency plasma discharge and then immediately coating the fiber with thermo plastic while still in the vacuum environment of the plasma reactor. Increased adhesion has been shown using a polyaramid fiber (Kevlar 49) and a polycarbonate resin (Lexan 121). An oxygen plasma exposure of 4.1 seconds at 24 Watts increased interfacial shear strength by 18 % as evaluated using the critical filament length technique. The plasma ex posure had no measurable effect on the filament tensile strength or the surface roughness. It is thought that the enhanced adhesion is due to the presence of covalent bonds formed at the interface when free radicals on the fiber are quenched by the thermoplastic.
Thermal Characterization of the Laser-Assisted Consolidation Process
Authors: Agarwal Vivek , Guçeri S.I. , Mccullough R.L. , Schultz J.M.
Published: March 2007

The laser-assisted consolidation process is a novel technology to produce thermoplastic composite parts of excellent quality and structural integrity. It combines the advantages of the traditional thermosetting filament winding technology with the faster processing times of thermoplastic composites in using automated tape laying processes based on on-line consolidation of the prepreg tape with the substrate The maximum sur face temperature and the time that the resin remains above the melt temperature are critical factors in determining the consolidation quality of the part. A thermal analysis of the fila ment winding process utilizing a CO2 laser beam is presented. Comparison of experimen tal process temperatures, measured using very fast response thermocouples, with tempera tures computed using a heat transfer model proposed by Beyeler and Güçeri, suggests that only 20% of the laser energy is absorbed by the composite material in the process con figuration used in these experiments. It is hypothesized that the low absorption of the laser energy is a result of the high incidence angle at which the laser beam strikes the material. This model implies that the temperature at the surface of the prepreg tape and substrate are sensitive to factors such as process geometry and surface roughness. Experiments also showed that using a narrow infrared laser beam as the sole heating source produces rapid cooling rates at the surface in excess of 1000°C/s resulting in very short melt times of less than 0.1 second. Experiments showed that the addition of a preheater alters the tempera ture profile significantly, producing smaller cooling rates and longer melt times.
The Evaluation of the Interfacial Behavior of LaRC-TPI/Graphite Composites
Authors: Ogden A.L. , Wilkes G.L. , Hyer M.W. , Loos A.C. , Muellerleile J.T.
Published: March 2007

Discussed are the results of several approaches recently considered for im proving the interfacial adhesion of LaRC-TPI/graphite composites. Two approaches were investigated, namely altering the matrix and altering the fiber. As a result, three types of LaRC-TPI laminates were produced: amorphous/AS-4, amorphous/XAS, and semicrystal line/AS-4. The laminates were characterized using the transverse tensile test, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and thermal analysis.
Cyclic Plasticity in AS4/PEEK Composite Laminates
Authors: Rui Y. , Sun C.T.
Published: March 2007

The cyclic stress-strain behavior in notched and unnotched [±45]3s AS4/ PEEK thermoplastic composite laminates was studied. A plasticity model for cyclic deformation developed for unidirectional thermoplastic composites was used to describe the behavior of each lamina, and the laminate behavior was obtained by using the classical lamination theory. Model predictions of stress-strain curves were compared with ex perimental results.
Knowledge Management and Professional Work
Authors: Heaton Lorna , Taylor James R.
Published: March 2007

Current theories of knowledge management postulate a cycle of knowledge creation, refinement, and implementation that hinges on the transformation of tacit, or practical, into explicit, or discursive, knowledge. Using field research in Denmark and Japan as illustration, the authors argue for a richer view of knowledge than simply the conversion of individual knowledge into a form susceptible to transmission. Knowledge, they show, is relative to what Lave and Wenger call communities of practice. The key to understanding the generation and sharing of knowledge, the authors argue, is the role of text as both knowledge representation (product) and the means by which communities sustain organization (process). The modern organization, because it is characterized by diverse local practices, and by the increasing salience of professional work, is thus a complex mosaic of situated knowledge, grounded in process. The authors consider the implication of this diversity for managerial practice in a knowledge-based society.
Someone’s Going to Hear about This
Authors: Kassing Jeffrey W. , Armstrong Todd A.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine how the nature of dissenttriggering events influenced to whom employees chose to express dissent. This was accomplished by asking respondents to report the frequency with which they expressed upward dissent to managers and supervisors, lateral dissent to coworkers, and displaced dissent to people external to their organizations (i.e., family and nonwork friends) in response to different dissent-triggering events. Structural equation models were employed. Results revealed that employeeswere more likely to express dissent to supervisors and coworkers about issues related to their coworkers and about organizational functions such as decision making and organizational change than they were to express dissent about ethical practices and preventing harm to employees. Employees did not appear to differentiate the amount of dissent they expressed to people outside of their organizations as a function of dissent-triggering events.
Assessing the Putnam-Wilson Organizational Communication Conflict Instrument (OCCI)
Authors: Wilson Steven R. , Waltman Michael S.
Published: March 2007

The OCCI moves from a stylistic to a strategic conceptualization of conflict by assessing communicative tactics that individuals use in organizational situations. The OCCI consists of items that refer to verbal and nonverbal behaviors and to situational factors that shape choice of conflict behaviors. It also employs three rather than five modes of conflict. Although the article acclaims the internal reliability of the scale, it quibbles with the decision to combine collaborating and compromise and with the apparent item desirability bias inherent in the OCCI and other measures of interpersonal conflict.
Assessing the Ross-Dewine Conflict Management Message Style (CMMS)
Authors: Ross Roseanna G. , DeWine Sue
Published: March 2007

This article presents original data on the conceptualization, item development, reliability, and validity of the Conflict Management Message Style (CMMS) instrument. This instrument consists of communicative messages used with recalls of critical incidents that typify three distinct styles for handling interpersonal conflicts in organizations: concern for self, concern for issue, and concern for other. In tests with 1,500 subjects, the CMMS demonstrates low to moderate internal reliability, good convergent validity, and positive correlations between peer and self-ratings. These findings, however, are confounded in part by the social desirability of the three styles.
Variations in Voice Pertaining to Dissatisfaction/Satisfaction with Subordinates
Authors: Gorden William I. , Infante Dominic A. , Izzo John
Published: March 2007

A review of organizational literature pertaining to performance appraisal, voice, and superior-subordinate communications provides little understanding of the variations of voice superiors may associate with subordinates' satisfactory/dissatisfactory performance. Interviews and questionnaires were administered to 146 superiors who were each asked to assess a subordinate whose performance she or he was dissatisfied/satisfied with or uncertain about. These three types of subordinates were found to be identifiable from reasons given by superiors. A discriminant function of reasons emphasized the categories of job quality, dependability, and interpersonal skills. It is not only the quality of one's work and one's dependability that influence assessments of job performance by superiors but also how one communicates. The study's hypothesized findings were that subordinates seen as possessing constructive rather than apathetic or complainer disagreement styles were higher in argumentativeness and lower in verbal aggressiveness, and they tended to have superiors who were satisfied with the subordinate's job performance. Support was observed for the counterintuitive prediction that complainers would be low in argumentativeness.
The Emergence of the Memo as a Managerial Genre
Authors: Yates JoAnne
Published: March 2007

This article traces the historical evolution of the memorandum as a genre of written communication in American business during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It draws on published and unpublished materials from the period, including archival materials from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and Scovill Manufacturing Company. The historical analysis shows that the memo developed from the letter, not for reasons related to rhetorical theory, but as a practical response to two sets of developments: (1) the emergence of new managerial theory and techniques, and (2) innovations in the technology of written communication. The study also reveals a significant lag between the actual emergence of the genre and its recognition in instructional materials in communication.
Proposal Writing at Atherton Jordan, Inc.
Authors: McIsaac Claudia MonPere , Aschauer Mary Ann
Published: March 2007

This study analyzes the proposal-writing environment and the practices of seven engineers at Atherton Jordan, Inc. (a pseudonym), a Silicon Valley engineering firm that does government defense work. The following questions are addressed in our research: What are the characteristics of the proposal-writing environment at AJI, an organization that relies primarily on military contracts? What traits do AJI proposals exhibit? To what extent, if any, do organizational conventions influence the writing of AJI proposals? Finally, how can we characterize the proposal-writing process of AJI engineers? Using an ethnographic approach, the authors triangulated data through formal and informal interviews, a questionnaire, and company documents. Findings indicate that AJI engineers, working in a high-stress environment, write proposals collaboratively and have a highly structured composing process. Early drafts of proposals exhibit both macro- and micro-problems resulting partly from engineers' training and the nature of their jobs. Faced with an increasingly competitive environment, AJI has set up a Proposal Operations Center to help engineers write better proposals. The result has been not only a dramatic improvement in the final drafts of proposals, but a shift in engineers' attitudes toward writing, as well.
A Reassessment of Clarity in Written Managerial Communications
Authors: Suchan James , Dulek Ronald
Published: March 2007

Current thinking about effective written communication does not systematically assess the complex role that language plays in organizations. This article calls for a contingency view of communication clarity and effectiveness based on the impact that an organization's language customs have on perceived effectiveness. To justify this need for a contingency approach, we examine the psychological-social function of organizational language and discuss the role that language has in creating new knowledge in organizations.
Measuring Telephone Apprehension
Authors: Reinsch N. L. , Steele Cam Monroe , Lewis Phillip V. , Stano Michael , Beswick Raymond W.
Published: March 2007

This article introduces the concept of telephone apprehension, argues that the concept is potentially useful to management scholars, and reports a series of five studies that yield a reliable and valid self-report instrument for measuring telephone apprehension, the Telephone Apprehension Measure (TAM). The first two studies demonstrate the reliability and validity of the TAM for college undergraduates. The third study uses the TAM to explore a possible etiology of telephone apprehension among employed adults. The fourth study combines and reanalyzes data from the earlier studies to rigorously evaluate the TAM, exposing both strengths and weaknesses and yielding a more efficient version of the test. The final study demonstrates the ability of the TAM to predict telephone use among practicing managers.
Organizational Newcomers' Acquisition of Information from Peers
Authors: Comer Debra R.
Published: March 2007

Two studies focused on the particular processes by which organizational newcomers acquire information from their peers. Analysis of semistructured interviews with 30 nonsupervisory professional new hires at one organization and of questionnaires completed by 73 new hires from a variety of organizations and occupational groups indicated the types of information newcomers acquire from peers, the channels through which they acquire it, and the relationship between type and channel. Results also suggested that information acquisition is affected by type of organization entered, newcomer-peer work interactions, and newcomer occupation and experience level, but not by organizational size. Directions for future research on organizational entry processes and implications for practitioners are discussed.
Being “in the Know” in a Participative Management System
Authors: Marshall Alicia A. , Stohl Cynthia
Published: March 2007

A primary advantage of employee involvement groups is assumed to be the development of knowledgeable workers who are better performers. Little research, however, has explored the processes by which involvement in participatory groups is related to the acquisition of organizational knowledge. This study, of a manufacturing plant using a sociotechnical system design, hypothesized that two factors (involvement in the communication system and leadership experience) directly influence the level of workers' knowledge. Surprisingly, involvement in the overall communication system did not contribute to the degree to which workers were informed about specific production and organizational issues. However, the development of strong links with managers was associated with the acquisition of organizational knowledge. Furthermore, the data indicated that hourly workers' leadership experience was associated with greater level of knowledge. The implications of these findings for participatory designs are discussed.
Accounting Resources for Organizational Communication and Individual Differences in Their Use
Authors: Corman Steven R. , Krizek Robert L.
Published: March 2007

Findings in the network literature suggest self-reports are poor indicators of observable communication behavior. As researchers traditionally have studied organizational communication behavior through self-reports, a rather large body of findings is rendered equivocal because it is not known what self-reports actually measure. In this study, the authors conceptualize self-reports of communication as a type of account, and conduct interviews based on Simon's protocol analysis technique with participants in an organizational simulation. Descriptive content analysis of the responses shows that participants use a wide variety of resources to account for their communication with others, and focus these resources on a variety of social units. Loglinear analysis of coded resource-use patterns shows that resource use is significantly idiosyncratic, and that individual differences are partially related to personality and cognitive style traits of the participants. Implications for the use of self-report data for future organizational communication research are discussed.
Close Relationships in Task Environments
Authors: Dillard James Price , Hale Jerold L. , Segrin Chris
Published: March 2007

This article reports on the impact of the perceived motivations of participants of organizational romances, the illicitness of the relationship, and the power of the relational participants upon individual and group performance. Interviews conducted with 128 observers indicated that (a) only certain types of relationships showed associations with either category of organizational effectiveness indexes, (b) illicitness was generally associated with negative outcomes in the work group, but not in the involved individuals, and (c) neither the power of the participants nor the differences in power between them was reliably associated with declines in either individual performance or work group functioning.
Perceived Facilitators and Inhibitors of Effectiveness in Organizational Work Teams
Authors: Hirokawa Randy Y. , Keyton Joann
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the factors that members of organizational work teams believe facilitate and inhibit group performance effectiveness. This objective was pursued via two research questions: (1) What do group members identify as facilitative and inhibitive influences on group progress? and (2) Are these perceived factors associated with actual group effectiveness? The study found that compatible work schedules, motivated group members, adequate informational resources, competent group leadership, and organizational assistance were the factors that best distinguished volunteer-based, work-team effectiveness. The findings of this study suggest that management must pay attention to a variety of individual, group, and organizational factors in order to facilitate the progress and effectiveness of organizational work teams.
Let's Bring Structure Back
Authors: Kolb Judith A.
Published: March 2007

In our desire to rid our corporations of excessive structure, we may have gone too far. Some elements of structure are essential if organizations, and teams working within these organizations, are to achieve their goals. This commentary provides an overview of two aspects of structure that are necessary in team-centered organizations: an internal facilitative structure appropriate for each team's specific needs and an organizational framework that supports teamwork in general. Managers and team leaders should be proactive in ensuring that essential structural components are in place.
Modeling the Organization as a System of Communication Activity
Authors: Van Every Elizabeth J. , Taylor James R.
Published: March 2007

A conversation with a group of computer system designers from the Netherlands introduces what is called the Language/Action Perspective (LA P) on modeling business workflow and communication processes. Basing their conceptualization of the human-computer interface on Winograd and Flores's (1986) critique of the formalization of meaning and language, on Searle's (1969, 1979) speech act theory and on Habermas's theory of communicative action, they describe their attempts to develop system models that go beyond data flow to incorporate the communicative actions or transactions that result in the creation of a commitment. To be useful in the context of organizational communication processes, computer systems must support communication and embody the social dimensions ol authority and responsibility.
Neuman Systems Model-Based Research: An Integrative Review Project
Authors: Fawcett Jacqueline , Giangrande Sandra K.
Published: March 2007

The project integrated Neuman systems model-based research literature. Two hundred published studies were located. This article is limited to the 59 full journal articles and 3 book chapters identified. A total of 37% focused on prevention interventions; 21% on perception of stressors; and 10% on stressor reactions. Only 50% of the reports explicitly linked the model with the study variables, and 61% did not include conclusions regarding model utility or credibility. No programs of research were identified. Academic courses and continuing education workshops are needed to help researchers design programs of Neuman systems model-based research and better explicate linkages between the model and the research.
Using Conceptual Models of Nursing to Guide Nursing Research: The Case of the Neuman Systems Model
Authors: Fawcett Jacqueline , Gigliotti Eileen
Published: March 2007

Conceptual models of nursing inform thinking and give meaning and direction to nursing research. The Neuman systems model is used to exemplify the following five steps, which provide specific direction for conceptual modelbased research: (a) Develop a comprehensive understanding of the substantive content and research rules of the conceptual model, (b) review existing research guided by the conceptual model, (c) construct a conceptual-theoretical empirical structure, (d) clearly communicate the conceptual-theoretical-empirical structure, and (e) conclude the report with an evaluation of the empirical adequacy of the middle-range theory and the credibility of the conceptual model.
The Nurse Theorists: 21st-Century Updates—Jean Watson
Authors: Fawcett Jacqueline
Published: March 2007

This edited transcript of an interview with Jean Watson presents Watson’s recent thoughts about the current state of the discipline of nursing and the emergence of new perspectives; the contributions of her theory of human caring; and her other work on the advancement of the discipline of nursing, complementary and alternative therapies, nursing research, and nursing education.
Parental-Fetal Attachment and Couvade: A Study of Patterns of Human-Environment Integrality
Authors: Schodt Carolyn M.
Published: March 2007

The general purpose of the study was to address the difficulty of explaining fathers' prenatal attachments to their unborn children and the difficulty of explaining the phenomenon of couvade. Rogers' principle of integrality was used to derive a theory of the nature of the interactions between fathers and their unborn children as being a human-environment energy field process. The theory held the possibility of fathers having a relationship with their unborn children which was not wholly derivative of their relationship with their pregnant partners; it posited the possible association of fathers' attachment, mothers' attachment, and fathers' couvade experiences. Couvade experiences, previously studied as male pregnancy-like symptoms, were conceptualized as fathers' recognition of changes in themselves and their environments which included their emerging children. Measures of fathers' and mothers' attachments and fathers' ratings of their couvade experiences were obtained during the third trimester for 110 couples' pregnancies. The hypothesized relations among parents' fetal attachments and couvade were not supported. An inverse relation (r = -0.47, p < 0.001) between fathers' and mothers' attachment scores led to revisions of the interpretation of integrality as used in this study.
Interpersonal Relations: A Theoretical Framework for Application in Nursing Practice
Authors: Peplau Hildegard E.
Published: March 2007

Peplau discusses major features of the theory of interpersonal relations. She describes her theory as among the most useful to apply during nursing practice in order to understand nurse-patient interactive phenomena. Peplau addresses how she derived constructs from clinical data and identified their congruence with nursing practice. She further addresses the specific concepts of her theory and their relations, and specific uses of the theory in practice.