bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The correlates of phone‐in frequency, duration and the number of suggesdtions made in live supervision
Authors: Moorhouse Adele , Carr Alan
Published: March 2003

The relationship between the parameters of live supervisory phone‐ins and particular supervisory and therapy processes were examined in this study. The frequency of phone‐ins and the number of suggestions made by supervisors were associated with specific therapist, supervisor and client behaviours. Less frequent phone‐ins (five or fewer per session) were associated with greater client cooperation, greater supervisor collaboration and, surprisingly, less therapist collaboration with clients. There was also a trend for client cooperation to occur more frequently following phone‐ins in which four or more suggestions were made. The duration of phone‐in events was not significantly associated with the supervisory and therapy processes examined in this study.
Text and context: narrative, postmodernism and cybernetics
Authors: Bertrando Paolo
Published: March 2003

Currently, the systemic view in family therapy is being substituted by a postmodern narrative approach, while cybernetics tends to be considered an outdated perspective and its contribution to therapy overlooked. This paper proposes an epigenetic view for the evolution of theories, according to which a narrative therapy without systems is incomplete. The paper lists the implicit and explicit prescriptions to which a postmodern narrative therapist is subjected, and reviews some criticisms of the systemic perspective made by postmodern authors. Some internal inconsistencies of postmodern narrative therapies are considered, and some ways forward suggested.
The Beavers Systems Model of Family Functioning
Authors: Beavers Robert , Hampson Robert B.
Published: March 2003

Family competence and family style are the two main dimensions of the Beavers Systems Model of Family Functioning. The competence dimension ranges from optimal through adequate, midrange and borderline to severely dysfunctional. The style dimension ranges from centripetal to centrifugal. When the two dimensions are combined, they diagramatically define nine distinct family groupings, three of which are relatively functional and six of which are thought to be sufficiently problematic to require clinical intervention. A family's status on the competence and style dimensions may be established with the Beavers interactional scales. The self‐report family inventory may be used to evaluate family members' perceptions of their status on the competence dimension. The reliability and validity of the self‐report instrument and observational rating scales have been documented in over thirty papers and books published by the Beavers research team since 1970. The model has proved useful in training, research and clinical work.
The Darlington Family Assessment Sytem: clinical guidelines for practitioners
Authors: Wilkinson Ian
Published: March 2003

The Darlington Family Assessment System (DFAS) consists of a framework of widely accepted concepts, a semi‐structured family interview and rating scale, and a detailed account of how to use the system in clinical practice. The model views health issues within a family life‐cycle (developmental) framework. It assesses problems at four systemic levels: the child perspective, the parental perspective, the parent‐child perspective, and the whole family perspective. The semi‐structured interview is designed to see how family members perceive problems and to map out other possible problems, and is a useful basic training tool. Empirical work suggests that the framework of key concepts and the rating scale offer a powerful method for describing and differentiating families. There is evidence that the model is useful as a training method for health professionals undergoing basic training. Detailed clinical guidelines have also been developed, to show how the model can be applied in practice. The advantage of the model is that it can be used with a variety of therapeutic approaches, and to inform choices about which interventions are likely to be successful or not.
Working systemically with family violence: risk, responsibility and collaboration
Authors: Vetere Arlene , Cooper Jan
Published: March 2003

In this article we describe a project which aims to ensure prevention and continued protection from violence for family members. We outline our theoretical approach to assessment and working with violence in family relationships and the associated ethical problems. We identify three recurrent themes: risk, collaboration, and responsibility. We focus on our work with couples, where the man is violent towards the woman. Within this discussion we identify other important clinical issues.
Knowing the unknowable: what constitutes evidence in family therapy?
Authors: Roy–Chowdhury Sim
Published: March 2003

Contemporary family therapy theorists have shown an interest in narrative metaphors and sought to situate systemic therapy within the terms of postmodernist, and specifically social constructionist discourses. By this fact a challenge is presented to the researcher: how to rigorously evaluate theoretical propositions while employing a methodology that is congruent with the assumptive base of family therapy. This paper represents an attempt to rise to this challenge. A research study is presented that seeks to subject family therapy theory to systematic scrutiny while avoiding the importation of a philosophical framework that is out of step with the roots that sustain this theory. Transcripts of family therapy sessions are subjected to a discursive analysis in order to demonstrate the actual enactment of theoretical premises in therapy and the effects upon all participants. The findings are discussed in relation to the adequacy of available explanatory frameworks and the implications for the researching of this form of psychotherapeutic activity are explored.
Predatory Care: The Imperial Hunt in Mughal and British India
Authors: Pandian Anand S.
Published: March 2003

Taking the hunt as both metaphor of rule and political practice, this paper compares the predatory exercises of two imperial formations in India: the late British Raj and the sixteenth‐century Mughal empire. The British pursuit of man‐eaters confronted feline terror with sovereign might, securing the bodies and hearts of resistant subjects through spectacles of responsible force. The Mughal hunt, on the other hand, took unruly nobles and chieftains as the objects of its fearful care, winning their obedient submission through the exercise of a predatory sovereignty. Both instances of ‘predatory care’ shed light on the troubling intimacy of biopolitical cultivation and sovereign violence.
‘It’s not Cricket’: Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Inequalities
Authors: Malcolm Dominic
Published: March 2003

Cricket has been historically significant in defining notions of English national identity and continues to feature in debates over the inclusion/exclusion of immigrants in British society. British‐African‐Caribbean players are well represented in the English game but participation appears mediated by ethnic group membership. This contemporary pattern can only be understood when contextualized within the historical development of cricket in the Caribbean and, in particular, the struggles between whites and blacks and between the white elites. Over‐representation in certain cricketing roles has been an ever‐present feature of this negotiation; contemporary inequality is, therefore, largely a consequence of the legacy of British Imperialism.
A Comparitive Study of the Use of Financial Graphs in the Corporate Annual Reports of Major U.S. and U.K. Companies
Authors: Beattie Vivien , Jones Michael John
Published: March 2003

The use of graphs to disclose information in corporate annual reports represents a significant dimension in financial disclosure management. Surprisingly, no inter‐country comparative analysis of this area of voluntary disclosure has been conducted. This study compares the graphical reporting practices in the 1990 annual reports of 176 leading U.S. and U.K. industrial companies. Ninety‐two per cent of U.S. companies use graphs compared with 80% of U.K. companies; the mean number of graphs per company being 13.0 and 7.7, respectively. Sales, an earnings measure, earnings per share and dividends per share are the four most frequently graphed aggregate financial performance variables in both countries. Significant differences in several of the variables graphed are found and explained in terms of environmental factors. In both countries, evidence of graphical information manipulation exists in the form of selectivity, measurement distortion, and presentational enhancement. Moderate evidence supports the hypothesis that U.K. companies are more likely than U.S. companies to adopt interpretative shading. Regulators need to clarify the responsibilities of directors and auditors by setting graphical guidelines.
The Determinants of External Audit Costs in the New Zealand Life Insurance Industry
Authors: Adams Mike , Sherris Mike , Hossain Mahmud
Published: March 2003

The contracting theory literature suggests that auditors’ pricing decisions reflect the efficacy of contracting arrangements in firms. Drawing a framework from this literature, we test empirically the simultaneous effect of six firm‐specific variables on external audit costs using 1988–1993 data drawn from New Zealand’s (NZ) life insurance industry. These variables are: assets‐in‐place, reinsurance, internal governance, firm size, product‐mix and organizational form. Consistent with expectations, our results indicate that audit fees are influenced by product‐mix and firm size. However, the other variables are found not to be statistically significant. The empirical results thus provide mixed support for contracting theory.
Derivative Usage by Nonfinancial Firms in Sweden with an International Comparison
Authors: Alkebäck Per , Hagelin Niclas
Published: March 2003

This paper provides survey evidence on the use of derivatives among Swedish nonfinancial firms. The evidence is compared with the findings by Bodnar et al. (1995, 1996) and Berkman et al. (1997) for the USA and New Zealand, respectively. By comparing firms in Sweden with firms in New Zealand and the USA differences in derivative usage can be related to differences in their underlying economies and history of trading in derivatives. Among other issues, the results showed that (1) 52% of the nonfinancial firms in Sweden used derivatives compared with 53% in New Zealand and 39% in the USA; (2) the usage of derivatives was more common among larger than among smaller firms; (3) the principal use of derivatives was for hedging purposes and those firms that engaged in speculative activity tended to be larger rather than smaller firms; and (4) lack of knowledge about derivatives within the firm was the issue of most concern for financial directors. The latter was in contrast with the USA where lack of knowledge was the issue of least concern.
A Study of Corporate Disclosure Practice and Effectiveness in Hong Kong
Authors: Ho Simon S. M. , Wong Kar Shun
Published: March 2003

The recent economic turmoil in Asia has led to a wider recognition of the importance of corporate transparency and disclosures in financial dealings. The objective of this study is to provide comprehensive and up‐to‐date evidence of current practice and perceived effectiveness of corporate disclosure of listed companies in an emerging economy—Hong Kong. The study compares the perceptions of chief financial officers (CFOs) and financial analysts about a variety of information flow, disclosure and capital market efficiency issues. It also seeks to determine whether there is a perceived need for increased financial reporting regulations and to what extent this and other alternative means might improve market functioning. While both subject groups believed that a majority of firms only adopt a conservative one‐way disclosure strategy and the existence of a communication gap, analysts perceived a much higher need than CFOs for increased financial reporting regulations. Neither group thought that enhancing disclosure requirements alone would suffice to close this gap. Instead, they suggested an improvement in the quality of the communication and disclosure processes through means such as choosing more appropriate communication media, formulating a more proactive disclosure strategy, enhancing investor relationship, and voluntarily reporting more information desired by users.
Relative Value Relevance of R&D Reporting: An International Comparison
Authors: Zhao Ronald
Published: March 2003

This study examines the relative value relevance of R&D reporting in France, Germany, the UK and the USA. France and the UK allow conditional capitalization of R&D costs, whereas Germany and the USA (except for the software industry) require the full and immediate expensing of all R&D costs. The relative value relevance of R&D reporting under different R&D accounting standards are compared while controlling for the reporting environment. Test results suggest that the level of R&D reporting has a significant effect on the association of equity price with accounting earnings and book value. The reporting of total R&D costs provides additional information to accounting earnings and book value in Germany and the USA (expensing countries), and the allocation of R&D costs between capitalization and expense further increases the value relevance of R&D reporting in France and the UK (capitalizing countries), including firms in the US software industry.
Canadian Manager Perceptions of the US Exchange Listings: Recent Evidence
Authors: Houston Carol Olson , Jones Roberta Ann
Published: March 2003

This study reports recent evidence of Canadian manager perceptions of the benefits and costs of listing in US markets, their attitudes toward listing in the US market, and their opinions regarding the importance of using alternative reporting and disclosure requirements, such as Canadian GAAP or international standards, in lieu of US GAAP for US listings. Manager perceptions of firms listing in the US (“listers”) are compared to those of firms that have not listed in the US (“nonlisters”) as well as to listers’ perceptions collected prior to the implementation of the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System (MJDS). Our results do not unambiguously support expectations that implementation of the MJDS would result in cost savings for Canadian listers. We find strong similarities in the perceived benefits of listing as previously reported, but in a significantly higher proportion of our post–MJDS sample. Responses from listers and nonlisters reflect differences between the two populations. Listers appeared concerned with US GAAP reconciliations and disclosure requirements while non–listers are more concerned with the overall difficulty of listing, the costs of listing, and US litigation. Most strongly, however, nonlisters perceive it as unnecessary to list in the US market. Contrary to expectations, we find that US accounting disclosure and reporting requirements are not perceived to be barriers to US market entry for Canadian firms, but instead appear to be post–entry irritants. Finally, we also find evidence that perceptions of nonlisters differ between those firms that list on the Vancouver Stock Exchange and those that list on the Toronto Stock exchange. This suggests that future studies may require finer partitions than on a national basis.
Why Must Legal Ideas Be Interpreted Sociologically?
Authors: Cotterrell Roger
Published: March 2003

Sociology of law and socio‐legal studies are sometimes declared unable to give insight into the nature of legal ideas or to clarify questions about legal doctrine. The idea that law has its own ‘truth’– its own way of seeing the world – has been used to deny that sociological perspectives have any special claim to provide understanding of law as doctrine. This paper tries to specify what sociological understanding of legal ideas entails. It argues that such an understanding is not merely useful but necessary for legal studies. Legal scholarship entails sociological understanding of law. The two are inseparable.
Plea Bargainings: Ethics and Politics
Authors: McConville Mike
Published: March 2003

This article argues for a re‐orientation of the debates concerning plea bargaining in the light of a process of re‐legitimation currently under way in which professional codes of ethics are given new importance. In the new rhetoric, plea bargaining is claimed to be in line with rather than contrary to traditional adversarial principles. The focus of this paper is to argue for a re‐affirmation of deep‐seated principles which contextualize professional ethics in the wider domain of the politics of criminal justice.
The Human Rights Act and Legal Culture: The Judiciary and the Legal Profession
Authors: Hunt Murray
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this article is to consider the effect the United Kingdom’s currently prevailing legal culture is likely to have on the realization of cultural change presaged by the Human Rights Act. The article is in five parts. The first two address the preliminary questions: what is meant by ‘legal culture’ for these purposes, and what type of ‘human rights culture’ does the Human Rights Act envisage? The answers define the scope of the remainder of the article’s inquiry into the ways in which the Act itself and the culture of the United Kingdom legal profession and judiciary are likely to interact. The third part of the article identifies some examples of the sorts of culturally specific aspects of current legal practice which are likely to operate as serious practical constraints on the emergence of a human rights culture worthy of the name, before the fourth part considers what sorts of cultural changes will be required of judges and lawyers for the presaged cultural transformation to come about. Finally, the article asks whether there is any reason to believe that courts and lawyers can find from within their present culture the resources to bring about the necessary shift.
Classification and the Crisis of the Common Law
Authors: Campbell David
Published: March 2003

Book reviewed in this article:

P. Birks (ed.), The Classification of Obligations
Risking Housing Need
Authors: Cowan Dave , Gilroy Rose , Pantazis Christina
Published: March 2003

It is commonly suggested that social housing is allocated on the basis of ‘need’. The authors, however, suggest that the concept of risk provides a much better explanation of the complex interplay of interests involved in the allocation process. In particular, risk explains developing allocation methods in low‐demand areas. The thesis is exemplified by drawing upon data derived from the authors' original research on the rehousing of sex offenders.
Institutional Racism in Bureaucratic Decision‐Making: A Case Study in the Administration of Homelessness Law
Authors: Halliday Simon
Published: March 2003

This article reports findings from an ethnographic research project which investigated the influence of judicial review experiences on the decision‐making processes of three heavily litigated local government agencies. The research focused on the administration of homelessness law in local government in England. However, the particular findings which emerged from fieldwork and which are discussed in this article concern institutional racism. ‘Institutional racism’, of course, is a much‐used and contested concept and may refer to a number of sources of discrimination. The aim of this article is both modest and particular. It presents a case study of how systemic discrimination may be socially produced within the bureaucratic processes of organizational decision‐making.
Children at Risk: Legal and Societal Perceptions of the Potential Threat that the Possession of Child Pornography Poses to Society
Authors: Ost Suzanne
Published: March 2003

This article examines legal and social discourses surrounding the phenomenon of child pornography, considering the legal responses to child pornography (particularly when an individual is found to be in possession of such material), and the way in which such material, the child, and the possessor of child pornography are socially constructed.

The article raises the question of whether there has been a moral panic regarding child pornography and the possession of such material, but also considers whether there are real reasons to consider that the possession of child pornography should remain illegal. Research studies which aim to establish the existence of a causal link between possessing child pornography and the act of committing child sexual abuse are examined, as is the argument that criminalizing the possession of child pornography reduces the market for such material. Finally, there is an analysis of the possible impact of social constructions of the child as innocent.
‘What Happens when the Phone goes Wild?’: Staff, Stress and Spaces for Escape in a BPR Telephone Banking Work Regime
Authors: Knights David , McCabe Darren
Published: March 2003

This paper explores the experiences of staff working under a business process re‐engineering (BPR) work regime. We examine the nature of work within a team‐based, multi‐skilled and empowered environment within financial services. Despite mixed responses our case study indicates that for those employees who remain in employment after ‘re‐engineering’, working conditions may become more stressful and intensive. Although some staff may welcome those elements of a BPR work regime that facilitate a more varied work experience, the possibilities for satisfaction are often curtailed due to management$apos; preoccupation with productivity and ‘bottom line’ results. In practice BPR is neither as simple to implement nor as ‘rational’ in its content as the gurus would have us believe. Partly for these reasons it is also not as coercive in its control over labour as some critics fear. While managers may only want to encourage employee autonomy that is productive to its ends, we identify a number of occasions where autonomy is disruptive of corporate goals. The paper seeks to add to our understanding of ‘stress’, ‘resistance’ and management ‘control’ by considering the ways in which staff engage in the operation of BPR so as to maintain and reproduce these conditions. This dynamic cannot be understood, however, outside of the relations of power and inequality that characterize society and employment.
Organizational Learning Activities in High‐hazard Industries: The Logics Underlying Self‐Analysis
Authors: Carroll John S.
Published: March 2003

Organizational learning takes place through activities performed by individuals, groups, and organizations as they gather and digest information, imagine and plan new actions, and implement change. I examine the learning practices of companies in two industries – nuclear power plants and chemical process plants – that must manage safety as a major component of operations, and therefore must learn from precursors and near‐misses rather than exclusively by trial‐and‐error. Specifically, I analyse the linked assumptions or logics underlying incident reviews, root cause analysis teams, and self‐analysis programmes. These logics arise from occupational and hierarchical groups that work on different problems in different ways – for example, anticipation and resilience, fixing and learning, concrete and abstract. In organizations with fragmentary, myopic and disparate understandings of how the work is accomplished, there are likely to be more failures to learn from operating experience, recurrent problems, and cyclical crises. Enhanced learning requires ways to broaden and bring together disparate logics.
The State of Collective Myopia in Japanese Business Communities: A Phenomenological Study for Exploring Blocking Mechanisms for Change
Authors: Chikudate Nobuyuki
Published: March 2003

This study aims at incorporating the reasoning generated from phenomenology and sociology of knowledge into the conception of judgement on policy‐ and decision‐making for changing management practices. The objectives include: (1) to show how the reasoning generated from phenomenology and sociology of knowledge can be applied to the ‘trapped’ situation of management, and (2) to identify blocking essences to initiate changes within the framework of these disciplines. Several phenomenological essences extracted from the interviews in Tokyo are illustrated
Remember Re‐engineering? The Rhetorical Appeal of a Managerial Salvation Device
Authors: Case Peter
Published: March 2003

This paper subjects a contemporary managerial doctrine, business process re‐engineering (BPR), to rhetorical scrutiny. Finding analytical inspiration from the writings of the American literary critic Kenneth Burke and adopting an anthropological attitude towards ‘history’, it seeks to demystify the appeal of BPR rhetoric as represented in various published and unpublished texts. The analysis makes extensive use of ‘sacred’ motifs in order to gain ‘perspective through incongruity’ and expose the secular motives at work in BPR literature. An analogy is drawn between ethnographic examples of ‘amnesia’ drawn from the author's study of a computer installation and ‘amnesia writ large’ through BPR. On the basis of this comparison, it is suggested that BPR can be read as offering cathartic absolution of the collective guilt associated with information technology mismanagement. Any ‘doubts’ that a managerial public may be harbouring are rhetorically harnessed by BPR protagonists in their attempts to acquire secular converts. The popularity of BPR may now be on the decline but there will be other similarly instrumental agendas to replace it in the future to which students of management need to be alert.
‘We Are All Managers Now’; ‘We Always Were’: On the Development and Demise of Management
Authors: Grey Christopher
Published: March 2003

The existence of an identifiable group of people who are labelled ‘managers’ has been one of the most significant aspects of the organization of work and society for well over a century. This separation of managers from others has been questioned for some years by critical writers, not least because it ignores the many managerial activities performed by non‐managers both in and outside the workplace. This argument suggests that the development of the ‘special’ status of managers is a construction which requires explanation. Accepting this, three broad types of explanation are reviewed in the paper: technical, elite and political approaches. Notwithstanding these explanations, in recent years the logic – although not necessarily the actuality – of organizational change programmes, and especially of the concept of empowerment, has been suggestive of the ‘demise’ of management, most especially middle management. This demise has implied an erosion of the distinction between managers and managed. Now, organizational members are told that ‘we are all managers’, and the three approaches have various ways of explaining this, which are reviewed. Critics may reply that ‘we always were’, thus welcoming a more democratic notion of management, but this paper argues that such a reply reflects an inadequate, and potentially oppressive, understanding of management
To Come of Age: The Antecedents of Organizational Learning
Authors: Harvey Charles , Denton John
Published: March 2003

The twin ideas of organizational learning and the learning organization have recently fired the imagination of many academics, consultants and practising managers. There is, however, a pressing need for empirical research to examine the origins and development of these closely related concepts. The qualitative research underpinning this paper was conducted over a three‐year period (1994–97) and involved detailed examination of organizational learning aspirations and practices within the UK operations of five major manufacturing companies. Sixty‐six interviewees were classified into three groups – strategy, human resources, and research and development – and the data gathered were analysed using the conceptually clustered matrix technique. This led to the identification of a set of six antecedents which together explain the rise to prominence of organizational learning. These six antecedents are: the shift in the relative importance of factors of production away from capital towards labour, particularly intellectual labour; the ever more rapid pace of change in the business environment; widespread acceptance of knowledge as a prime source of competitive advantage; the greater demands being placed on all businesses by customers; increasing dissatisfaction, among managers and employees, with the traditional, command‐and‐control, management paradigm; and the intensely competitive nature of global business. A model is unfolded which explains the ready acceptance and rise to prominence of the organizational learning phenomenon. A valuable feature of the model is that it demonstrates the interplay of thoughts and feelings between management practitioners and theorists.
Theorizing TQM: An Austrian and Evolutionary Economics Interpretation
Authors: Chiles Todd H. , Choi Thomas Y.
Published: March 2003

Born out of management practice, the principles of TQM (total quality management) have had a profound and unparalleled impact on modern business history. However, as a body of practical knowledge, TQM has been largely atheoretical. As a consequence, this important management philosophy has remained amorphous and shrouded in considerable conceptual haziness and ambiguity. Recent theorizing, primarily emphasizing the application of organizational behaviour theories to TQM, has begun to provide greater clarity, but much work remains to be done. This paper attempts to contribute to this nascent theory‐building literature by employing theory from market process economics (MPE), namely, Austrian and evolutionary economics, which explains how processes of dynamic change, adaptation, and learning are driven by entrepreneurial creativity. We contend that the patterns in this body of theory match, to a remarkable degree, the patterns of practical knowledge contained in the TQM literature. We demonstrate this ‘pattern‐matching’ by showing that MPE effectively provides the theoretical underpinnings of TQM’s three main principles — customer focus, continuous improvement and teamwork — as well as the respective TQM topics of customer perceptions, adaptation in dynamic environments, and knowledge creation. Having established MPE as a credible theoretical lens for interpreting TQM, it can be used to clarify fuzzy areas that have remained in the TQM literature with the potential to take us beyond what we know now. We illustrate this with three examples that show how we can resolve debates in TQM over incentive systems, recognize that TQM embraces methodological pluralism in the collection and analysis of data, and highlight hidden dangers that attend benchmarking. While MPE has no monopoly on theoretical interpretations of TQM, it is unique in its ability to comprehensively cover the incredible breadth of this practical body of knowledge, and in its interpretation of TQM as a dynamic economic endeavour.
Determinants of a Relational Exchange Orientation in the Marketing‐Manufacturing Interface: an Empirical Investigation
Authors: Ruyter Ko De , Wetzels Martin
Published: March 2003

During the last decade, both marketing managers and researchers have focused heavily on interorganizational exchange relationships. In this paper we apply the concept of relational exchange to the intra‐organizational exchange relationship between the marketing and manufacturing functions. We apply a relational exchange instrument consisting of four dimensions (trust, bonding, empathy and reciprocity) to the marketing‐manufacturing interface and conduct an empirical investigation in order to validate the use of such an instrument in this setting. We find that the relational exchange scale consists of four components of a relational exchange orientation that are both theoreticallymeaningful and empirically discrete. In addition, we identify five determinants(resource dependence, communication difficulties, procedural fairness,interfunctional rivalry and interfunctional distance) and explore how these determinants influence the individual dimensions of the relational exchange orientation. We report a number of differences between the marketing and manufacturing functions with regards to the impact of aforementioned determinants and relational exchange orientation dimensions.
The Strategy/Structure Debate: An Examination of the Performance Implications
Authors: Harris Ira C. , Ruefli Timothy W.
Published: March 2003

The relative importance of strategy and structure lies at the heart of the strategic management field, yet little is known about the associated performance implications of such changes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the financial performance impact of strategy and structure changes. We conducted an examination of 259 firms over a 36‐year period using a quasi‐experimental design. No significant change–performance relationships were found for tandem changes (i.e. when both strategy and structure were changed). But, we found that singular structure changes were associated with the highest performance. This finding was consistent with the theory: though strategy is important, proper deployment of firm uniqueness is paramount to performance enhancement.
Social Indentity And The Problem of Loyalty In Knowledge‐Intensive Companies
Authors: Alvesson Mats
Published: March 2003

This paper treats the significance of organization‐based social identity for loyalty versus exit reactions with special reference to knowledge‐intensive companies. The centrality of network relations and close contact with clients in combination with the sometimes drastic consequences of knowledge workers defecting in many knowledge‐intensive companies makes social identification and loyalty crucial themes for management. The paper discusses different kinds of and modes of accomplishing loyalty and also addresses post‐exit management, how companies may deal with employees that have left the company.
The Interpretation And Resolution Of Resource Allocation Issues In Professional Organizations: A Critical Examination Of The Professional‐Manager Dichotomy*
Authors: Golden Brian R. , Dukerich Janet M. , Fabian Frances H.
Published: March 2003

Professional organizations have long been depicted as rife with conflict between professionals, who are assumed to represent the interests of their profession, and managers, who are assumed to represent the potentially competing interests of the organization. This study examines the validity of this assumption. Based on past research on both professional organizations and knowledge structure development, we predict that to the extent that professionals and managers conflict, they may do so because they interpret ‘identical’ issues differently. The results of a study of resource allocation decision preferences with 350 chief financial officers, chief medical officers, and physicians revealed strong support for our issue interpretation predictions, and virtually no support for the simple professional–manager dichotomy. Specifically, using structural equation modeling, we found that: (1) single resource allocation issues could be interpreted in multiple ways; (2) issue interpretations were strong predictors of decision preferences; (3) professionals and managers tended to interpret issues differently, although many of the differences were not consistent with past theorizing about professionals; (4) the interpretations and decision preferences of professionals who occupied management positions were like those of other professionals but different from those of managers; and (5) decision maker status (i.e., professional and/or manager) was only modestly related to decision preference. Our findings suggest that the sources and manifestations of a professional–manager dichotomy are more complex than previously reported.
The Risk Taker As Shadow: A Psychoanlytic View Of The Collapse Of Barings Bank*
Authors: Stein Mark
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the collapse of Barings Bank in 1995 as a consequence of the activities of Nick Leeson, a 27‐year‐old trader. It seeks an explanation for this event using psychoanalytic concepts and their application to organizational dynamics. It is argued here that the anxiety associated with ‘Big Bang’– the deregulation of the UK financial sector – drove Barings’ senior executives to engage in primitive basic assumption thinking which involved the seeking out of a ‘saviour’ who could be depended on to ‘rescue’ the bank. Further, their concerns about their own conservatism led these senior executives to create as ‘saviour’ an opposite or ‘shadow’ to themselves. They therefore set up the highly risky ‘Baring Securities’ operation, unwittingly creating a damaging cultural split between it and the conservative heart of the bank. Then – in choosing Nick Leeson to embody the ‘shadow’ role within Baring Securities – they selected an extreme risk taker least able to ‘save’ the bank. In the event, Leeson’s fraud ruined the bank. It is further argued that Leeson was burdened with unconscious guilt, thus leaving clues about his activities with the hope that someone would halt him. However, basic assumption thinking within Barings prevented this from happening.
Strategic risk behaviour and its temporalities: between risk propensity and decision context
Authors: Das T. K. , Teng Bing‐Sheng
Published: March 2003

What are the determinants of strategic risk behaviour? Are they the dispositional characteristics of decision makers or the situational constraints? Or both? The empirical evidence is on all sides. We believe the issue has not been satisfactorily resolved so far because of the continued neglect of the fundamental role of time in risk behaviour. Given that risk is embedded in time, we need to recognize two critical aspects of the temporal dimension. The first is concerned with risk horizons, as in short‐range and long‐range risk horizons. The second temporal aspect relates to individual future orientations of the top managers, as in near‐future and distant‐future orientations. We propose in this article a temporal framework of strategic risk behaviour in which the two temporalities are integrated with risk propensity and perceived decision context. We then develop, based on this temporal framework, the contingent answers for the relative roles of dispositional characteristics and situational constraints in determining strategic risk behaviour.
Complexities and Controversies in Linking HRM with Organizational Outcomes
Authors: Truss Catherine
Published: March 2003

Our understanding of the way in which human resource management (HRM) is linked to organizational performance is still limited, despite recent advances that use a quantitative approach to argue for a strong positive relationship between ‘High Performance Work Practices’ and firm financial performance. These studies are limited by their reliance on a single informant in each organization, and their emphasis on financial performance at the expense of a broader range of outcome variables. This paper contributes to the debate by analysing in detail the human resource policies and practices of one case‐study organization over a two‐year time period, using a variety of methodologies and drawing on a broad range of informants across the organization. Instead of devising a list of ‘best practice’ HRM from the literature and testing its impact on performance, we instead invert the question and take a firm that is financially successful and ask what HR policies and practices it uses. We also examine the way in which these policies are enacted. This methodology enables us to show that even successful organizations do not always implement ‘best practice’ HRM, and that there is frequently a discrepancy between intention and practice. Outcomes at the individual and organizational levels are complex and often contradictory; we question the extent to which is it possible or meaningful to attempt to measure the interrelationship between HRM, at the level of the formal system, and organizational performance, without taking into consideration the role played by the informal organization in the process and implementation of HR policies.
Top Teams and Strategy in a UK University
Authors: Jarzabkowski Paula , Wilson David C.
Published: March 2003

This paper reports on the results of an in‐depth study of how a top management team (TMT) puts strategy into practice in a UK university. A study of the top team in Warwick University was conducted to analyse how strategy was formulated and implemented. The results suggest that a combination of two broad theoretical lenses provides useful analytical insight. These are strategy as practice and strategy as process. The main elements of this university’s strategy result from an interplay of localized routines and patterns of action within an organizational context, which both produces and is a product of such actions. The TMT itself was found to be clearly identifiable and stable in composition. The team exhibited identifiable patterns of strategic thinking and acting. However, the role of organizational structure was also found to be a key influence on the actions and processes of the TMT with strong central control tendencies in the team being counterbalanced by devolved operational control to individual departments. The data also reveal inter‐relationships between organizational structures and the TMT in four key areas: direction‐setting, monitoring and control, the alloca‐ tion of resources, and processes of interaction. The overall conclusion is that to understand how strategy is practised, analysis needs to focus on how patterns of action are associated with the characteristics of both the team and the wider organization. The nature and characteristics of these patterns can be related to how strategy is put into practice.
The Partner‐Specific Investment Inventory: An Evolutionary Approach to Individual Differences in Investment
Authors: Ellis Bruce J.
Published: March 2003

This research advances an evolution‐based model of the function and content of investment in romantic relationships. In developing this model, theory testing has proceeded concurrently with the validation of a multidimensional measure of partner‐specific investment (PSI). Ten strategies of investment were identified through factor analysis and scaled to form the PSI Inventory. These scales form a diverse set of investment measures that are reasonably independent, internally consistent, and reliable across raters. Both gender and sociosexual orientation predict use of specific PSI strategies. Overall PSI scores correlate positively with partner’s feelings of love and felt security in the relationship, correlate negatively with degree of sexualizing of others by partner, and do not correlate with the self’s performance of mate retention behaviors. It is concluded that the PSI Inventory possesses adequate psychometric properties and satisfactory convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity, thus suggesting that it constitutes a viable means of assessing individual differences in investment. These investigations show how a multidimensional, adaptationist approach to investment can further our understanding of these individual differences.
Explaining Premature Mortality Across Fields of Creative Endeavor
Authors: Cassandro Vincent J.
Published: March 2003

It has been established that eminent creative writers tend to die younger than their counterparts in other creative‐achievement domains. The present study replicates these findings using a data set of 2102 eminent historical subjects from seven different disciplines, and reviews three extant explanations for this phenomena. Each explanation was tested using an indicator of versatility. None of the life‐span hypotheses extended from each explanation to the interaction of achievement domain × versatility was supported. In particular, no models were able to account for the precipitous decrease (2.7 to 8.6 years) in the life spans of versatile scientists when compared to nonversatile scientists. Consequently, a new explanatory model was proposed that draws on psychopathology, vocation choice, and personality characteristics as factors underlying the apparent differences in life span across achievement domains and versatility.
Egoistic and Moralistic Biases in Self‐Perception: The Interplay of Self‐Deceptive Styles With Basic Traits and Motives
Authors: Paulhus Delroy L. , John Oliver P.
Published: March 2003

The literature on personality traits and defense mechanisms suggests individual differences in two self‐favoring tendencies, which we label “egoistic bias” and “moralistic bias.” The two biases are self‐deceptive in nature and can be traced to two fundamental values, agency and communion, that impel two corresponding motives, nPower and nApproval. The two sequences of values, motives, and biases form two personality constellations, Alpha and Gamma. Associated with Alpha is an egoistic bias, a self‐deceptive tendency to exaggerate one's social and intellectual status. This tendency leads to unrealistically positive self‐perceptions on such traits as dominance, fearlessness, emotional stability, intellect, and creativity. Self‐perceptions of high Alpha scorers have a narcissistic, “superhero” quality. Associated with Gamma is a moralistic bias, a self‐deceptive tendency to deny socially deviant impulses and to claim sanctimonious “saint‐like” attributes. This tendency is played out in overly positive self‐perceptions on such traits as agreeableness, dutifulness, and restraint. The Alpha‐Gamma conception provides an integrative framework for a number of central issues in personality psychology.
Individual Differences in Emotional Creativity: Structure and Correlates
Authors: Averill James R.
Published: March 2003

The structure and correlates of emotional creativity were explored in a series of six studies, using a specially constructed measure of individual differences—the Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI). Analyses of the ECI suggest that three facets of emotional creativity can be distinguished empirically as well as theoretically, namely, preparedness (understanding and learning from one’s own and others’ emotions), novelty (the ability to experience unusual emotions), and effectiveness/authenticity (the skill to express emotions adroitly and honestly). Women score higher than men on emotional preparedness and effectiveness/authenticity, but not on the novelty of their responses. People who score high on the ECI are considered by their peers to be more emotionally creative, presumably on the basis of everyday behavior. Associations between emotional creativity as measured by the ECI and a variety of other personality variables (including the Big Five personality traits, mysticism, self‐esteem, authoritarianism, locus of control, alexithymia, and ways of coping) are examined, as is the relation between emotional creativity and prior traumatic experiences.
Looking at Body Image: The Organization of Self‐Knowledge About Physical Appearance and Its Relation to Disordered Eating
Authors: Showers Carolin J. , Larson Birgit E.
Published: March 2003

This study examined the organization of self‐knowledge, with special attention to beliefs about physical appearance, in three groups of college‐aged women: high body dissatisfaction with symptoms of disordered eating; high body dissatisfaction with no symptoms of disorder; and low body dissatisfaction. In the nondisordered, dissatisfied group, negative beliefs about physical appearance were organized in the self‐structure in a way that isolated those beliefs and might minimize their impact and importance. This group also displayed adaptive types of self‐concept organization (evaluative integration for those with important negative self‐beliefs and compartmentalization for those with important positive beliefs) and effective coping strategies. Features of self‐structure that characterize the nondisordered, dissatisfied group may provide a useful model for helping individuals with disordered eating cope with their negative physical appearance beliefs.