bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Environmentalism of African Americans
Authors: Parker Julia Dawn , McDonough Maureen H.
Published: July 2003

Although studies of environmentalism proliferate, questions still exist regarding the environmentalism of African Americans and other ethnic minorities. The objectives of this study included (a) assessing the differences between African Americans’ and Euro-Americans’ environmental attitudes, (b) determining preferences for, and frequency of participation in environmental behaviors of African Americans and Euro-Americans, and (c) testing the influence of feelings of powerlessness as barriers to environmental behavior. Both African Americans and Euro-Americans showed environmental concern in their attitudes and reported participating occasionally to frequently in environmentally responsible behaviors. The relationship of powerlessness to environmental behavior was stronger for African Americans than Euro-Americans. This study challenges earlier works that suggest African Americans show little concern about the environment and gives limited support to the theory that feelings of powerlessness create a barrier to positive environmental behavior or participation.
Emotional Affinity toward Nature as a Motivational Basis to Protect Nature
Authors: Kals Elisabeth , Schumacher Daniel , Montada Leo
Published: July 2003

Nature-protective behavior cannot be sufficiently explained using a pure rational/cognitive approach. Therefore, in a questionnaire study ( N = 281), the focus was on emotional motivations of this behavior, especially on a newly conceptualized construct: emotional affinity toward nature. All constructs were measured by reliable and valid scales. Multiple regression analyses reveal that (a) emotional affinity is as powerful to predict nature-protective behavior as indignation and interest in nature and together these three predictors explain up to 47% of variance of the criterion variables, and (b) 39% of emotional affinity toward nature traces back to present and past experiences in natural environments. The resulting integrative path model is discussed. Theoretical conclusions are drawn, and options for practical intervention are derived.
The Motivation and Social Orientation of Visitors Attending a Contemporary Zoological Park
Authors: Morgan J. Mark , Hodgkinson Marlana
Published: July 2003

Zoological parks are considered to be the most important source of contact between people and animals in modern society. Charged with the dual responsibility of caring for animals and people, zoos need information regarding both aspects of their mission statement. This article describes zoo visitors in relation to their primary motivation (educational vs. recreational) and social orientation (intrinsic vs. altruistic). These components were isolated and compared using t tests for dependent measures. Educational, recreational, intrinsic, and altruistic reasons were found to be statistically significant, thus yielding multiple satisfactions associated with a zoological park. Contemporary zoos may not recognize the value of conducting social research or the importance of meeting visitors’ needs. However, in order to broaden their base of political and financial support, zoos should attempt to increase public benefits.
Aging on the Old Frontier and the New
Authors: Norris-Baker Carolyn
Published: July 2003

Roger Barker identified three life-shaping characteristics of the American Frontier and its settings—being unfinished (lacking many physical-social structures), being undermanned, and being imbued with uncertainty, with conditions that were poorly understood or unknown to the residents. Today, dramatic changes in the social and economic landscape of the rural Midwest that threaten the survival of many small communities and their behavior settings have created circumstances not unlike those of the 1800s, except that many of the pioneers are elderly. This research uses an experiential field approach to explore the applicability and impacts of Barker’s frontier conditions to the behavior settings that comprise three small Kansas communities today and the historical context from which they have evolved. The implications for the future of these communities and their residents, as well as the potential for intervention within existing behavior settings, are discussed.
Wilderness
Authors: Lutz Allison R. , Simpson-Housley Paul , Deman Anton F.
Published: July 2003

Seventy-five urban and 75 rural residents participated in a study of attitudes toward and perceptions of wilderness. Results of an attitude questionnaire indicated that both rural and urban respondents expressed a positive attitude toward wilderness and a relatively high degree of environmental concern. However, the findings of a photo task demonstrated that the two populations responded to the questionnaire on the basis of a different understanding of what constitutes wilderness; that is, respondents from the two areas perceived the same environment in different ways.
Environmental Locus of Control, Sympathy, and Proenvironmental Behavior
Authors: Allen James B. , Ferrand Jennifer L.
Published: July 2003

Geller hypothesized a mediational model of environmentally responsible behavior. Specifically, Geller proposed that “actively caring,” a component of altruism, mediated the relation between environmentally responsible behaviors and personality factors related to self-affirmation (i.e., self-esteem, belonging, and personal control). The present study tested this hypothesis. Participants completed a lengthy questionnaire that assessed their levels of self-esteem, belonging and personal control, dispositional levels of actively caring (i.e., sympathy for others), and environmentally friendly behaviors. Results were largely consistent with Geller’s model. Specifically, sympathy, the proxy measure of actively caring used in this study, mediated the relation between personal control and environmentally friendly behaviors.
Determinants of Trust Perceptions among Residents Surrounding the Savannah River Nuclear Weapons Site
Authors: Williams Bryan L. , Brown Sylvia , Greenberg Michael
Published: July 2003

The public is becoming increasingly distrustful of hazardous waste management activities. However, public trust is a requisite condition for effective environmental management of hazardous waste sites. Without trust, it is unlikely that such institutions can effectively convince the public that a site is safe and can be reused. The authors of this article conducted a study of the social, economic, psychological, demographic, and political factors that may affect environmental risk assessment and communication at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Nuclear Weapons Site (SRS). Public trust was a central focus of this study. A population survey was conducted to evaluate the level of public mistrust and correlates of public mistrust among residents living near the SRS. In this sample, several groups of respondents demonstrated high levels of trust. Respondents living upriver from SRS and respondents whose county was economically dependent on SRS voiced high levels of trust. Respondents who were predisposed toward accepting additional hazardous waste or accepting public health risks for economic gain also showed high levels of trust. Findings suggest that public trust is influenced by a variety of factors including personal traits, experiences, and economic needs.
Attitudes and Inaction
Authors: De Oliver Miguel
Published: July 2003

The public’s disposition with respect to conservation is predominantly ascertained by surveys. Rarely are these attitudes contrasted directly against manifested behavior from an independent source. This article analyzes the response to a residential urban water conservation program by using municipal water consumption data at the census tract level in San Antonio, Texas. A selection of demographic variables (i.e., income, education, and political affiliation, among others) are analyzed with respect to general consumption response and to voluntary and mandatory measures. These results are contrasted against stated attitudes/preferences by the local population in a survey prior to the program. Results reveal substantial disparities between survey responses and manifested actions. They also indicate that well-accepted patterns of conservation response ascribed to various demographic segments in the survey format need to be more precisely qualified before equating them to performance.
Impact of Space and Color in the Physical Environment on Preschool Children’s Cooperative Behavior
Authors: Read Marilyn A. , Sugawara Alan I. , Brandt Jeanette A.
Published: July 2003

Design elements within child care facilities are thought to have important effects on children’s behavior. Empirical studies that examine features of the physical environment, such as color, wall surfaces, and vertical space, and how they affect development are sparse. Using Gibson’s Ecological Theory of Visual Perception, this study investigated the impact that differentiated space, including changes in ceiling height and wall color, has on children’s cooperative behavior. Thirty preschool children experienced four different spatial conditions in small groups. Multivariate repeated-measures analyses of variance indicated that differentiation in ceiling height or wall color were related to higher levels of cooperative behavior among preschool children. As well, developmental level and gender were significant predictors of children’s cooperative behavior between spatial conditions. Findings from this study can benefit preschool administrators and designers concerned with developing children’s environments that encourage cooperative behavior in preschool children.
A Postoccupancy Evaluation of Workplaces in São Paulo, Brazil
Authors: Ornstein Sheila Walbe
Published: July 2003

This article is based on a comparative postoccupancy evaluation (POE) carried out during the years of 1995 and 1996 in four office buildings located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, and discusses the methodological issues, analyses, and recommendations of the study. In this study, emphasis was placed on (a) the relation between the socioeconomic profile and the behavior of users of the buildings, and (b) the level of satisfaction with the quality of urban life and with the work environment. The case studies were carried out on two buildings with centralized environmental controls with some information technologies and two conventional buildings. This study concludes that during the planning and the design phases, performance criteria should be developed involving not only the desired satisfaction and productivity of workers but also the quality of business, services, leisure, and other benefits related to the urban environment of the neighborhood in which these buildings are located.
Interindividual Relationships in Groups of Young Children and Susceptibility to an Environmental Constraint
Authors: Legendre Alain
Published: July 2003

It was investigated whether the behavioral reactions of young children to modifications of the playroom arrangement were modulated as a function of their relationships with peers. Interpersonal relationships between 21-month-old and 36-month-old children were observed in three groups. Hierarchical cluster analysis led to seven types of dyadic relationships among peers. In each group, the arrangement of the furniture was modified to compare visually open to visually restricted playroom arrangements. The type of arrangement did not change the joint use of play areas and the social interactions for the peers whose relationships were weak. In contrast, for children showing an emerging relationship, the playroom arrangement affected the quantity and the quality of their social interactions. The presence of major visual obstacles also markedly hindered their joint use of adult-distant areas, except for some children showing a particularly tight relationship. Results are discussed with regard to the development of relationships among young children.
Environmental Correlates of Negative Emotions in Children
Authors: Thurber Christopher A. , Malinowski Jon C.
Published: July 2003

Studies of the place uses and place preferences of young people have often disregarded the effects of negative and positive emotions. Conversely, studies of emotional disorders in young people have used a narrow definition of environment in describing the etiology and sequelae of depressive and anxious symptoms. This study explored the relations between emotions and environment in a group of 322 boys, aged 8 to 16, who attended a residential summer camp for 2 or 4 weeks. Self-reported negative emotions were associated with low overall environmental satisfaction. In addition, boys with higher levels of negative emotions were more likely to choose favorite places where they could be alone, whereas happier children chose places where they could socialize. Contrary to expectations, there was some evidence that negative emotions increased environmental exploration. Children’s negative emotions may be both a cause and a consequence of unsatisfactory interactions with novel environments and may result in compensatory behavioral withdrawal or perseverative exploration.
Roads on the U.S. National Forests
Authors: Bengston David N. , Fan David P.
Published: July 2003

Public attitudes, beliefs, and underlying values about roads on the U.S. national forests expressed in more than 4,000 on-line news stories during a 3-year period are analyzed by using computer methods. The belief that forest roads provide access for recreation was expressed most frequently, accounting for about 40% of all beliefs expressed. The belief that roads cause ecological damage was the second-most prominent belief. The volume and nature of media debate about forest roads changed in the third quarter of 1997 due to narrowly defeated proposals in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to make major cuts in spending on roads. During this quarter, the belief that road building on the national forests is a subsidy to the timber industry was expressed most frequently. Implications for developing a transportation policy for the national forests that more accurately reflects current social attitudes, beliefs, and values are discussed.
Further Studies of Preferred Tree Shapes
Authors: Summit Joshua , Sommer Robert
Published: July 2003

Three studies examine preferred tree shapes in relation to theories of landscape aesthetics. Study 1 found a preference for trees with acacia-like characteristics and also showed that size preference was related to environmental context. Using different stimulus figures, Study 2 elicited a preference for trees with large canopies and short trunks. Study 3 found that preferred trees were high in value and strength on the semantic differential and also that the semantic profiles of tree forms were similar to those of geometric figures with the same underlying shape. The results add support to functional and evolutionary theories of landscape preference.
Reexamining the Theory of Planned Behavior in Understanding Wastepaper Recycling
Authors: Cheung Shu Fai , Chan Darius K.-S. , Wong Zoe S.-Y.
Published: July 2003

Using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TOPB), this study examined wastepaper-recycling behavior among college students in Hong Kong. Two hundred and eighty-two college students completed a questionnaire designed to measure various constructs related to recycling behavior. The results reveal that TOPB significantly predicted both behavioral intention and subsequent wastepaper-recycling behavior self-reported a month later. Perceived difficulty predicted behavioral intention and moderated the intention-behavior link, whereas perceived control had no significant effect. These findings cast doubt on the unidimensional conceptualization of perceived behavioral control. By controlling for the TOPB constructs, general environmental knowledge significantly predicted behavior. Past behavior had a sizeable effect on predicting subsequent behavior, suggesting that TOPB plus knowledge are insufficient to predict recycling. Future studies should investigate the difficulty-control distinction and the differential effects of general versus specific knowledge on predicting wastepaper recycling.
The Impact of Norms and Assumed Consequences on Recycling Behavior
Authors: Bratt Christopher
Published: July 2003

Given the aim to motivate consumers to behave in an environmentally friendly manner, there is a need to understand how consumers’ environmental behavior can be influenced and what variables predict environmental behavior. This article applies structural equation models (path analyses) to investigate these issues, with experienced social norm, assumed consequences of behavior and personal norm as independent variables of recycling behavior. The study is based on a Norwegian survey. As predicted, the social norm revealed no direct link to behavior. Rather, the effect of the social norm seemed to depend on an intervening personal norm. The possible social pressure exercised by family members was investigated. Assumed environmental consequences of behavior and reported behavior were found to be only loosely connected. Furthermore, assumed consequences of behavior revealed no mediating effect on the link between personal norm and behavior, which is contrary to what Schwartz’s theory on altruistic behavior would imply.
The Use of Answering Machines and Caller ID to Regulate Home Privacy
Authors: Crabb Peter B.
Published: July 2003

Residential telephone service can be conceptualized as a permeable boundary surrounding the home territory through which both desired and unwanted interactions can penetrate. Since the deployment of answering machines and caller ID, callees can screen calls to identify callers before answering. The screening capabilities of these technologies were hypothesized to afford privacy-regulating patterns of answering calls. The hypothesis was supported when undergraduates chose to answer hypothetical calls from desirable and undesirable callers identified using an answering machine or caller ID (Study 1). The subjective social distance of callers from callees was found to systematically influence callees’ normative approval of screening and then not answering calls (Study 2). The results support the notions that people will regulate residential telephone interactions when given the technological means and that they will form new norms that govern use of these technologies to control privacy.
Visual Preferences in Urban Signscapes
Authors: Nasar Jack L. , Hong Xiaodong
Published: July 2003

This research looked at the role of sign obtrusiveness and complexity in the perception and evaluation of urban signscapes. It obtained independent scores for features of 19 signscapes. One group of 30 persons judged physical features of 19 color photographs of retail sign scenes. One opportunity sample of 56 persons sorted the scenes into groups and then scored the groups for preference. A random cluster sample of 50 persons sorted the scenes for preference and rated each scene on several evaluative scales. From the two Q-sorts, the authors derived similarity scores between scenes and used them in a nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis to find the dimensions of perception. Sign obtrusiveness related to Dimensions 1 and 2, and sign complexity related at a marginally significant level to Dimension 4. The study also looked at the relation of these two variables to preference. It found preference associated with reductions in sign obtrusiveness.
Active Exploration of a Virtual Environment Does Not Promote Orientation or Memory for Objects
Authors: Wilson Paul N.
Published: July 2003

Active participants explored a desktop three-dimensional computer-simulated environment, whereas observer participants passively watched the screen. The ostensible task for all participants was to remember as many objects as possible that were encountered during the course of exploration. In a test, all participants were asked to indicate the direction of test locations from a position where these were not directly visible. Contrary to the hypothesis of superior orientation performance in the active group, the error scores for the two groups were found to be statistically equivalent. There were no significant differences between the scores of the active and passive groups on three tests of memory for objects. The results suggest that the failure to find a beneficial effect on orientation of active exploration in a virtual environment is not due to high levels of attention to the spatial aspect of the task in the passive condition.
Communicating Behavioral Research to Campus Design
Authors: Abu-Ghazzeh Tawfiq M.
Published: July 2003

This article focuses on the study of outdoor spaces at the University of Jordan located in Amman, the capital of Jordan. The objective is to assess user perceptions and patterns of outdoor space use. This researcher used a qualitative approach to gain insights into aspects of human-environment intersections. The present study analyzed a qualitative data set on decision choices to visit an outdoor campus area. The aim was to determine whether meanings and significance existed. A total of 140 participants including students, faculty, and administrative staff made a series of choices concerning outdoor spaces that they would visit. Following the interviews, this researcher inspected the most frequented 10 open spaces, as mentioned by the participants, and recorded the physical features that were noted to be related to use of the space. Findings of this study revealed that outdoor spaces between university buildings are focal points in student everyday behavior. Designers of outdoor spaces need to keep abreast of current research in the area of environmental behavior and environmental perception, and many design principles need to be formulated in terms of current knowledge in these fields.
The Correlates of Small-Town Upkeep
Authors: Rice Tom W. , Miller Douglas N.
Published: July 2003

Although small towns in America differ significantly in terms of how well they are maintained, there has been little scholarly work on what community factors relate to upkeep. In this research, we search for the correlates of town maintenance using data from a unique study of 99 small Iowa towns. The data include visual assessments of the towns, citizen responses to random sample attitudinal surveys, and U.S. census information. When these data are analyzed, the results show that better kept towns are associated with (a) higher median family incomes, (b) larger populations, (c) higher percentages of elderly, (d) fewer commuters, (e) stronger psychological attachment to the community, and (f) more community improvement activity. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Non-Linearity and Response-Ability: Emergent Order in 21st-Century Careers
Authors: Lichtenstein Benyamin M. Bergmann , Mendenhall Mark
Published: July 2003

Over the past two decades there has been a shift in the career literature from the view of a career as being a linear progression of job responsibilities within an industry, to that of a ‘boundaryless’, competency-based exploration that evolves in unexpected ways. This article argues that core constructs from ‘new science’ (non-linearity, interdependence and emergence) can provide a useful theoretical foundation for understanding the current dynamics of career behavior. The article also discusses implications of these constructs for career development practice and its contexts.
The Learning Organization: Foucauldian Gloom or Utopian Sunshine?
Authors: Driver Michaela
Published: July 2003

Based on Coopey’s critical review of the terms ‘Utopian sunshine’ and ‘Foucauldian gloom’ with regard to the learning organization (Coopey, 1998), this article explores the learning organization from two opposing perspectives. While researchers agree that the learning organization concept is an important one for organization science, two seemingly irreconcilable research communities are arguing about whether the learning organization is a dream or a nightmare for its members, particularly with regard to three critical dimensions: control, ideology and potentially painful employee experiences. The purpose of this article is to review and critically examine both the optimistic view of the learning organization as positive ideal and the more critical view of the learning organization as negative ideology. Based on this examination, the article aims to synthesize a new middle-ground perspective on the learning organization, referred to as the ‘fluorescent light’ view, incorporating elements from both optimistic and critical views in hopes of generating a dialog between them that will provide new research questions on control, ideology and potential pain in learning organizations.
From ‘I’ to ‘We’: The Role of Putdown Humor and Identity in the Development of a Temporary Group
Authors: Terrion Jenepher Lennox , Ashforth Blake E.
Published: July 2003

Participant observation of a 6-week Executive Development Course suggests that humor provides a key mechanism for enacting a sense of community for group members. Specifically, the study examines the process through which putdown humor helps foster group identity and cohesion in a temporary group. Putdowns followed a pattern of development that signaled increasing trust and inclusion, and was regulated by implicit rules that incubated the emergent solidarity. The meaning of certain humorous episodes was equivocal, but the act of laughing together glossed over the equivocality so that the sense of community was reaffirmed. Further, social identity dynamics appeared to strongly affect perceptions of the appropriateness of humor. The authors conclude that shared putdown humor and the implicit set of rules regarding its use may facilitate solidarity, and they attempt to reconcile why ‘inclusionary putdowns’ were found here when ‘exclusionary putdowns’ are usually reported in the literature.
Why School Systems Resist Reform: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
Authors: Baum Howell S.
Published: July 2003

School reformers have proposed various innovations to improve education, but school systems have adopted few proposals. Three perspectives offer different interpretations of this resistance. The rational perspective views educators as rejecting proposals because they are not based in solid knowledge. The social-political perspective holds that conflicting interests prevent consensus about directions for change and concerted action. A psychoanalytic perspective, introduced in this article, calls attention to the ways in which inadequacy of knowledge and conflicts of interest, compounded by the psychological structure of teaching, arouse anxiety for school system members and lead them to defend themselves by resisting outsiders, new ideas, and innovative practices. The article examines paranoid and obsessive-compulsive patterns in school systems’ thinking, culture, and structure. These patterns lead systems to avoid relations with other entities and to constrain their own members from acting. Reforming schools and improving education depend on connecting schools to other social institutions to develop a realistic division of responsibility for children’s education for adulthood.
Toward Diversity and Similarity Curves: Implications for Theory, Research and Practice
Authors: Ofori-Dankwa Joseph C. , Julian Scott D.
Published: July 2003

Curvilinear models have been proposed to reflect the simultaneous consideration of both differences and similarities. We build on these models and propose a heuristic model of diversity and similarity curves based on supply and demand curves from economics. We use the curves to graphically show how changes in demographic differences (diversity) and value congruence (similarity) can affect the extent of competition/cooperation, which will subsequently affect the extent of creativity in an organization. We capture this graphically by flattening or steepening the slopes of the diversity and similarity curves. We conclude by discussing the advantages of using diversity and similarity curves and explore the implications for theory, research, and practice.
The Organizational Benefits of Teams
Authors: Glassop Linda I.
Published: July 2003

This study presents an analysis of the benefits of two team structures - quality circles and self-managing work groups - for Australian work organizations utilizing the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey for 1995. The analysis indicates that firms with team structures have higher labor productivity, a flatter management structure and reduced employee turnover. The presence of team structures in Australian firms indicates a decrease in industrial harmony. The findings were inconclusive regarding absenteeism and profitability.
Multiparadigm Inquiry: Exploring Organizational Pluralism and Paradox
Authors: Lewis Marianne W. , Kelemen Mihaela L.
Published: July 2003

Organization studies is a robust field, replete with diverse, often contentious perspectives that may enrich understandings of pluralism and paradox. Yet polarization of modern paradigms and ruptures between modern and postmodern stances may inhibit researchers from tapping this potential. In response, this article delves into a provocative alternative - multiparadigm inquiry. First, we juxtapose modern, postmodern and multiparadigm approaches to contrast their underlying assumptions. We then review three multiparadigm strategies, exploring their objectives, exemplars and limitations. Our conclusion addresses how multiparadigm inquiry fosters greater reflexivity, while posing considerable challenges.
Nothing Serious? Candidates’ Use of Humour in Management Training
Authors: Grugulis Irena
Published: July 2003

This article explores the use made of humour in three different private sector organizations. It draws on observations of managers working towards a management qualification and, from the jokes they exchange, it argues that studying humour may offer insights into sentiments not easily articulated in ‘serious’ conversation. Humour’s ambiguity enables contentious statements to be made without fear of recrimination. Equally, constructing jokes by juxtaposing two different frames of reference provides a glimpse of alternative (and shared) perceptions of ‘reality’. This sensitivity to complexity makes humour a particularly appropriate vehicle for conveying ambitions, subversions, triumphs and failures and this article considers some of the ‘serious’ messages underlying the jokes.
Time and Innovation in Independent Technological Ventures
Authors: Hellström Tomas , Hellström Christina
Published: July 2003

This article explores the process of small-scale technological innovation through the concept of experienced and enacted time. By conducting a series of semi-structured, deep interviews with 10 entrepreneurial innovators around issues of time and their ventures, we were able to construct four higher order concepts: time as a force, time as a flow, time as relations and time as a personal, cognitive resource; as well as 12 subcategories depicting ways in which time and innovation are weaved together. The study concludes with a number of suggestions as to how previous research on innovation may be extended in the light of the present findings. Especially important in this respect is the call for a stronger emphasis in innovation research on intentionality, uncertainty creation, vision and social action as being significant denominators of this phenomenon.
What Makes Whistle-Blowers Effective? Three Field Studies
Authors: Miceli Marcia P. , Near Janet P.
Published: July 2003

Organization members face difficult choices when they encounter situations which they consider illegitimate, immoral, or unlawful, but lack corrective power. They can ‘blow the whistle’ to authorities, but often, their organizations do not change the objectionable practice. Circumstances under which whistle-blowers succeed in terminating perceived wrongdoing have not been studied, so this study tests portions of a preliminary model of effectiveness derived from power theories. Results from three field studies show that whistle-blowers perceive that wrongdoing is more likely to be terminated when: (i) it occurs less frequently, is relatively minor in impact, or has been occurring for a shorter period; and (ii) whistle-blowers have greater power - reflected in the legitimacy of their roles and the support of others. Implications for research and for would-be whistle-blowers, their organizations, and policy makers, are discussed.
‘Waiting for Dead Men’s Shoes’: Towards a Cultural Understanding of Management Innovation
Authors: McCabe Darren
Published: July 2003

Managers are often represented as exercising power over others through different discourses such as strategy, total quality management and reengineering. This article seeks to add to our understanding of innovation by considering how managers are also constituted through power relations such that their subjectivity becomes embedded within a particular cultural context that in turn imbues the innovations they adopt. A case study of an insurance company is drawn upon so as to explore how managers may resist new discourses that seem to threaten established ways of thinking and acting. It is argued that innovations reflect and reproduce the past, while simultaneously reshaping it, in ways that are intended and unintended.
The Corruption of Managerial Techniques by Organizations
Authors: Lozeau Daniel , Langley Ann , Denis Jean-Louis
Published: July 2003

Public sector organizations are under pressure to adopt private sector tools to sustain legitimacy despite uncertainty about the compatibility of the techniques with this context. We explore the consequences of the misfit between the theories underlying two widely adopted managerial techniques (strategic planning and quality management) and the pluralistic power structure and values of public hospitals. We identify four scenarios of adaptation and use qualitative data to examine their empirical prevalence. We suggest that when the compatibility gap is large, there is greater likelihood that formalized techniques will be captured by and integrated into existing organizational dynamics (corruption of the technique) than that the technique will change these dynamics in a way consistent with its objectives (transformation of the organization). We examine the implications of our observations for understanding the role of managerial techniques in organizational change.
Understanding Savings, Pensions and Life Assurance in 16-21-Year-Olds
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Goletto-Tankel Martin-Pierre
Published: July 2003

This article examines the relationship between demographic variables (age, sex, education), knowledge of, and attitudes towards, savings, pensions and life assurance in a sample of British 16-21year-olds.In all 452 young people from a variety of backgrounds completed a questionnaire, divided into three knowledge and three attitude sections. A factor analysis of each of the attitudes towards savings, pensions and life assurance scales revealed clearly interpretable factors. A correlational analysis showed participants’ knowledge of each of the three economic issues to be positively correlated. Regression analysis showed that age, education, amount of money saved and knowledge of savings, pensions and life assurance were among the most important predictors of attitudes towards the three economic issues.
Overcoming Aesthetic Muteness: Researching Organizational Members’ Aesthetic Experience
Authors: Taylor Steven S.
Published: July 2003

Direct questioning about the ‘felt sense’ of organizational actions or artefacts is an accepted way to explore organizational members’ aesthetic experience. However, this requires organizational members to be able to talk about their aesthetic experience, to translate that felt sense into language. I suggest this is often difficult due to aesthetic muteness, which is a significant problem, not just for research but for organizational practice in general. I use empirical data to illustrate how this aesthetic muteness is manifested in the research process as organizational members’ difficulty in approaching their experience from an aesthetic perspective, reframing from ‘feeling’ to ‘thinking’, inability to recall aesthetic experience and denial of aesthetic experience. I then speculate that aesthetic muteness might be caused by threats to harmony, efficiency and images of power and effectiveness and that the consequences of aesthetic muteness are aesthetic amnesia, a narrowed conception of organizational aesthetics and aesthetic stress.
Sensations, Bodies, and the ‘Spirit of a Place’: Aesthetics in Residential Organizations for the Elderly
Authors: Martin Patricia Yancey
Published: July 2003

This article uses data collected in the 1970s and 1980s from old people’s homes (OPHs) in the United Kingdom to explore how aesthetics are organized in residential organizations for the elderly. The analysis reviews the sensations to which OPH members are subjected and reveals the role of power in organizing aesthetic experiences. Paradoxes associated with framing residential organizations as homes and with controlling residents’ bodies are explored. I focus on the senses of smell, sight, touch, and sound with attention to staff and residents’ views of residents’ bodily messes and their constructions of residents’ death and dying. In exploring the ‘spirit of a place,’ I differentiate homey from institutional facilities (as ideal types) by noting their physical, cultural, and social attributes. In a section on socially constructing residents’ bodies, I explore how homey (more than institutional) OPHs use power to enhance residents’ dignity and rights. Conclusions affirm the value of placing the ethnographer and her bodily sensations inside the story and the need for more research on smells and power’s role in creating a positive spirit in residential organizations for the elderly.
When Both Similarities and Dissimilarities Matter: Extending the Concept of Relational Demography
Authors: Tsui Anne S. , Porter Lyman W. , Egan Terri D.
Published: July 2003

The current study extends the concept of relational demography by considering both demographic similarities and demographic dissimilarities in supervisor-subordinate dyads. We further examined the effects of relational demography on both basic task performance and extra-role behaviors of the subordinates. We propose that demographic similarity, which engenders attraction, will be associated with extra-role behavior but not with basic task performance. We further propose that demographic dissimilarities that are consistent with relational norms will be associated with both types of performance. We tested these ideas on 335 supervisor-subordinate dyads in 10 US companies and found reasonable support for both hypotheses. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research on organizational demography and management of demographic differences that are inconsistent with social cultural norms.
The Important Role of the Maintenance Workforce in Technological Change: A Much Neglected Aspect
Authors: Cooke Fang Lee
Published: July 2003

Existing studies of maintenance skills mainly follow one of two traditions: that within the framework of the labour process debate and that of the need for (new) maintenance skills for organizational and national competitiveness. This article intends to broaden the framework of analysis concerning maintenance skills which has so far been fragmented and narrowly focused. Drawing on findings from an indepth case study of five manufacturing firms through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey, this article argues that maintenance workers have a more important role to play in technological change than is commonly assumed by their managers and by writers on maintenance work. Instead of being passive recipients of, or a source of resistance to, technological change, they can, and are willing to, facilitate and initiate technological change in their organizations. However, this enabling role is conditioned by organizational factors such as management style, product market, organization of maintenance work, human resource practices, and type of technological/equipment to be maintained. This article concludes that the valuable potential of maintenance employees is rarely appropriated by firms, many of which are enthusiastically seeking additional competitiveness.
From Marginalization to (Dis)Empowerment: Organizing Training and Employment Services for Refugees
Authors: Tomlinson Frances , Egan Sue
Published: July 2003

Although many UK-based refugees have professional qualifications and experience, they experience high unemployment. This article draws on a study of organizations providing employment-related services to refugees. It explores the discourses and narratives of the providers and refugee users of these services in relation to contrasting constructions of refugee identity. Both the official discourse of refugee resettlement and providers’ accounts emphasize the idea of ‘empowerment’, reflected also in refugee participants’ presentation of themselves as active subjects. But, in an environment characterized as largely unfriendly to refugees, enacting such an identity is difficult. Empowerment has become increasingly associated with refugee participation, self-help and the involvement of refugee community organizations. However, the association of ‘community’ with a position on the margins may serve to reinforce refugees’ outsider status. The question is raised, for both individual refugees and refugee organizations, of the possibility and desirability of choosing not to perpetuate a separate refugee identity.
Stressing Academe: The Wear and Tear of the New Public Management
Authors: Chandler John , Barry Jim , Clark Heather
Published: July 2003

In recent years academic commentators have born witness to the emergence of what has been called a New Public Management, or NPM, evident in a number of countries around the world. While the literature has sought to document its appearance and attempt to assess its impact, this article considers an aspect of the NPM which has been little explored: the human cost associated with its introduction. In examining higher education in England, one of the countries where the NPM is thought to have been embraced at least relatively enthusiastically, the article explores research on the experiences and reactions of those working in academe to recent attempts to change working practices through an analysis of the stresses and strains experienced by those subjected to the processes of managerialism. In drawing on published sources and the authors’ own empirical work it is argued that the NPM, not least in intensifying the labour of academics as intellectual workers, has provoked a range of responses which include collusion, resentment and resistance. The consequences of the NPM, it is argued, include blaming of the victim and diverting attention away from processes of control and the action of human agents who initiate stressful conditions of work by implementing the NPM in particularly harsh ways. It is further contended that attempts to encroach on professional autonomy, and operationalize the NPM in English universities in harsh ways, are being mediated by those subjected to the changes who are seeking to preserve elements of collegiality.
Influencing Organizational Identification During Major Change: A Communication- Based Perspective
Authors: Chreim Samia
Published: July 2003

This article argues that the concept of organizational identification can provide new and valuable insights into the dynamics of organizational change and its management. It introduces the notion of shift in identification, which consists of dis- and re-identification states that organizational members experience during change, and proposes a framework for the study of the communication-based influence strategies used by management to induce such shifts. The article introduces the concept of confluence, which involves providing some sense of self-consistency to members during change. Two empirical examples illustrating the influence strategies used by management are analyzed. Implications to the wider discourses on language, identification and change are addressed.
Can Creativity in Conditions of War Trauma be a Danger to Personal Development?
Authors: Kneževicć Mladen , Ovsenik Marija
Published: July 2003

This research study is a result of joint activities carried out by practitioners and scientists with an aim of improving the situation of children affected by the war in the town of Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was divided into two parts and governed by two ethnic communities, Bosnians and Croats. The research shows that the more creative children often reacted negatively to psycho-traumatic events; this type of ‘oppositionality’ was an unacceptable form of reaction in their social community, and as a result, they were less able to develop their creative potential.
Political Correctness and Organizational Nihilism
Authors: Schwartz Howard S.
Published: July 2003

Political correctness represents the attempt to eliminate the father, often referred to as the patriarch, who is seen as having deprived us of our connection to mother and all of her goodness. But what has really deprived us of our connection to mother’s goodness is not the father, but reality itself. Political correctness therefore represents an attempt to destroy reality. This attempt to destroy the father as the representation of reality represents a different way of constructing meaning than we have in the traditional Oedipal arrangement. But the traditional arrangement made organization possible, whereas anti-paternal psychology undertakes to destroy organization. When organizations give themselves to political correctness they therefore reorganize themselves toward self-destruction. I call that process organizational nihilism.
Employed Mothers and the Work-Family Interface: Does Family Structure Matter?
Authors: McManus Kelly , Korabik Karen , Rosin Hazel M. , Kelloway E. Kevin
Published: July 2003

Differences in the experience of work-family (W-F) issues between employed single and married mothers were investigated among women in lower level (Study 1) and higher level (Study 2) occupations. Few differences were found. For both single and married mothers in lower level occupations, higher organizational and supervisor support and greater use of formal policies were related to lower work interference with family (WIF) and higher family and job satisfaction. For women in higher level occupations, results depended upon marital status, family demands and income. Married women with lower family demands and higher incomes reported less informal support, but were more satisfied with formal W-F policies and rated them as more important. This was related to higher WIF, but lower family interference with work (FIW), and higher job and family satisfaction.