Turf disputes within federal systems: Leadership amidst enforceable checks and balances

Organizational leadership is a complex set of interdependent processes that occur within specific contexts. This article explores the case of leadership within a federal system where the members have legally enforceable powers, they operate within a system of checks and balances, there is no single “boss,” and the goal is not solely efficiency. Federal systems provide alternative mechanisms for managing change and organizational leadership. Terms are defined to derive a model of turf disputes. This model is applied to the historical case of the “turf war” between a U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the U.S. Senate over his 1937 attempt to “pack” the U.S. Supreme Court. This leads to a more general discussion of turf disputes and their occurrence. They are manifestations of underlying, unresolved authority-task gaps which become virtual-like organizational arrangements. The LAMPE (Leadership, Authority, Management, Power, and Environments) theory of organizational leadership appears to be appropriate for analyzing organizational leadership in federal systems.     

New ways to support specialty inpatient services

Examine how hospitals and specialty groups can design financially efficient alternatives to traditional practice models while maintaining high-quality tertiary services.     

Reinventing a medical specialty. Using anesthesiology as a model for change

In only a decade, anesthesiology has reversed its fortunes from an underrepresented specialty in the 1980 Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee report to "a specialty in trouble" featured in The Wall Street Journal. This article focuses on anesthesiology and its work force dilemma as an evolving specialist model for change. What is happening to anesthesiology will not be unique--managed care competition will affect all physicians. Most specialties will have to reshape curricula and redesign education programs and academic delivery systems concentrating on fewer trainees. What are the options for coping with physicians grieving over lost dreams, such as autonomy and solo practice, while redesigning a medical specialty? The authors untangle fact from fear, mission from myth, and offer strategic thinking and solutions.     

A Passage to India: Altering Tracks through Paternalistic Welfarism for High Performance in India's Public Sector Rail Undertakings

High-performance work practices (HPWPs) enacted within public sector undertakings (PSUs) in emerging economies are a relatively underexplored topic. By employing the theoretical lens of social exchange and the ability, motivation and opportunity paradigm, this paper highlights the mediating effects of knowledge sharing on the relationship between employee perceptions of HPWPs and employee and business unit performance. We provide evidence drawn from both manager- and employee-level voices by applying a qualitative case study design to two large Indian PSUs and taking a reverse/inverse approach in order to delineate the commonly understood conceptualizations of HPWPs. Our findings confirm the presence of a combination of high-commitment, high-involvement and high-performance work systems that increase the ability, motivation and opportunity of employees to share knowledge, and thus help achieve positive employee and financial outcomes. We found that our set of HPWPs exhibit a strong paternalistic welfarism ethos. We also discuss the implications of our study for research and practice.     

Engineering management programs as aids in moving from technical specialty to technical management

Engineers are making the transition from technical specialty to technical management very early in their careers. This transition is gaining an ever increasing importance as the rapidly changing technologies, the severe resource constraints and the strong pressures for high productivity bring engineering and the management of engineering into a sharply focused limelight.As engineers prepare for this transition, they feel the need for a special type of training to provide them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes for their new roles. Engineering education gives them the tools, techniques and concepts for rational decision making in their technical specialties, but does not prepare them to extend their training into the management area. To bridge this gap, universities are now offering formal educational programs designed for engineers and scientists moving into technical management positions while maintaining their background identity. These are rigorous programs blending mathematical approaches, behavioral considerations, organizational concepts and decision-making methodologies in a delicate balance. The strong demand for the Engineering Management programs is evident in the rapid growth pattern followed by these programs. This growth has been particularly visible since the mid-1970s, and shows no sign of a slow-down.This paper is based on a study of the graduate programs in Engineering Management offered throughout the world. It is a comparative analysis of program characteristics, students, faculty and curricula.     

The Aversion to Tampering with Nature (ATN) Scale: Individual Differences in (Dis)comfort with Altering the Natural World

People differ in their comfort with tampering with the natural world. Although some see altering nature as a sign of human progress, others see it as dangerous or hubristic. Across four studies, we investigate discomfort with tampering with the natural world. To do so, we develop the Aversion to Tampering with Nature (ATN) Scale, a short scale that is the first to directly measure this discomfort. We identify six activities that people believe tamper with nature (geoengineering, genetically modified organisms, pesticides, cloning, gene therapy, and nanoparticles) and show that ATN scores are associated with opposition to these activities. Furthermore, the ATN Scale predicts actual behavior: donations to an anti-tampering cause. We demonstrate that ATN is related to previously identified constructs including trust in technology, naturalness bias, purity values, disgust sensitivity, aversion to playing God, and environmental beliefs and values. By illuminating who is concerned about tampering with nature and what predicts these beliefs, the ATN Scale provides opportunities to better understand public opposition to technological innovations, consumer preferences for “natural” products, and strategies for science communication.     

Physician manpower needs under managed care. How to determine the need for MDs by specialty

The concern in the last quarter century in the United States over the shortage of physicians has now been supplanted by the fear of an excess number of doctors, particularly among the subspecialists. This article outlines four methodologies to be used in parallel to determine by clinical specialty whether a predetermined population base has an inadequate, sufficient, or excess number of physicians. Based on various assumptions, physician-population ratios per 100,000 persons for 28 clinical disciplines are supplied. Possibly the most intriguing questions as a result of this study are whether a broad spectrum of HMOs will use general internists or family practitioners as their prime "gatekeepers;" and, whether, in the long-run, the fiscal incentives inherent in the managed care concept will result in a more frugal utilization of physician services.