Do norms matter for firm boundaries?

Even though norms have been integrated in the formal theory of the firm, we have not seen a clear-cut relationship between norms and firm boundaries. In a simple game of relationship specific investments, I show that the parties’ reputation for being trustworthy may be decisive for optimal asset ownership.     

A matter of culture

Abstract

The nature of culture as the symbolic expression of inarticulate matter is explored from a range of different cultural perspectives. Raymond Williams's work on culture, especially his ideas on material and symbolic production, serves to introduce an analysis of matter and its place in cultural production. The mutable nature of matter is explored through the modern physics of quantum theory as well as modern art, especially the work of Jasper Johns. Late‐modern culture is viewed in terms of a mutable space of matter that resists meaning and location. The implications of this resistance for understanding the cultivation of knowledge and subject‐object relations are then pursued in the contexts of art history (Michael Baxandall), the ‘social body’ (Jean‐Frangois Lyotard), the society of generalized communication (Gianni Vattimo), multi‐media culture (J. Hillis Miller), and computerization.     

Professional education for correctional nurses. A community-based partnership model.

Advanced, professional education is the key to shift the correctional health nursing role from isolated practice behind bars to a seamless community-based, managed-care approach. From a public health perspective, the state of health or illness of the correctional population reflects the state of health or illness of the community of which they are a part. The aim of correctional health is to close the health-trauma cycle and to restore the inmate's health to a state and a process of being, and the inmate to an integrated and whole person within the community.     

Professional culture and organizational morality: an ethnographic account of a therapeutic organization

An ethnographic exploration of the social reality of a counselling and training institute points to the profound impact of the therapeutic paradigm on the 'patterned regularities', the general principles, rules and daily practices, in other words, the organizational morality. The limited house-rules or practices emerged mainly as 'enabling conditions' to let professional autonomy prevail and to maintain the game rather than to prescribe behaviour. Organizational rules, structures, mechanics served as a platform for negotiations among different groups of 'provinces of meaning'. These negotiations do not necessarily show any sense of organizational logic or administrative rationality. Perhaps the opposite is true. Loosely coupled interactions and consensual validation rather than goal-oriented thinking appeared to be the predominant organizational occupation. The irrational, at times even ironic dynamics operative in organizational morality are nevertheless meaningful. They function as 'mapping' and sense-making devices and can be seen as vehicles for reflecting and ordering underlying meanings.     

A framework for the therapeutic use of group activities.

An understanding of phase development in groups is the basis of this framework for the therapeutic use of program activities for emotionally disturbed children.     

Extending the boundaries of climate change research: A discussion on agriculture

Global environmental change is one of the most significant research and policy issues facing humankind. Although vast financial and human resources are being allocated to climate change research, there are numerous knowledge gaps between understanding climate variations and human responses, particularly in the area of farm adaptation. In this paper, we argue that four issues need to be addressed, in order to narrow these gaps. First, greater attention needs to be directed towards impact assessment. Second, future researchers should consider critical methodologies and theories clearly articulated in cognate disciplines. Third, we need to have an improved understanding of how present agriculture adapts to both climatic and societal forces. Lastly, we need to have an improved understanding of the decision-making process. We address these issues by drawing upon three areas of research: (i) the climate change and impact assessment literature; (ii) the natural hazards literature; and (iii) the agricultural restructuring literature, drawn primarily from the disciplines of rural geography and rural sociology. From a review of this literature, we argue that each area provides an incomplete assessment of the relationship between climate change and agriculture in developed countries. Consequently, we conclude that an approach which situates farm-level decision making in relation to both broad structural (including biophysical) and internal forces, provides for a greater understanding of the nexus between climate change and farm adaptation.     

A Quality-of-Play Model of a Professional Sports League

Assuming that consumers value both the absolute and relative quality of play, I compare the choice of ticket prices, team qualities, and number of games played in a noncooperative outcome versus that chosen by a social planner. I find that the nature of consumer preferences regarding the quality of play determines whether the demand for talented players are strategic complements or substitutes. A strong preference by fans for a superior team makes players strategic substitutes, and a concern for a high quality of play and competitive balance make players strategic complements. Moreover, when fans only value the relative quality of play, there is an overemployment of talented players in the noncooperative outcome versus the socially optimal outcome; when they only value the absolute quality of play then there is an underemployment of talented players in the noncooperative outcome.     

Mapping the boundaries of courtship disorder

The courtship disorder hypothesis maintains that voyeurism, exhibitionism, toucheurism‐frotteurism, and the preferential rape pattern are expressions of the same disorder (courtship disorder). Earlier studies had shown that with the exception of the preferential rape pattern these paraphilias co‐occur to a reasonably high degree. The present study (1) demonstrated that the preferential rape pattern co‐occurs with the above reasonably well established expressions of courtship disorder to a higher degree than other main paraphilic activity patterns do and (2) supported the conjecture that in addition to an erotic preference for unfamiliarity of target person‐or‐object (noted by earlier authors), three other paraphilic target‐person or object preferences may be connected with courtship disorder, though they are not at all virtually obligatory as is erotic unfamiliarity. These are choosing children and adults alike as target persons of the paraphilic activities, non‐gender dysphoric transvestism, and fetishism.     

Expanding the boundaries of sex research

Sex researchers come from a vast array of disciplines, and sexual science is advanced through interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. Today, a greater number of academic disciplines are involved in this scientific network. In addition, our research has become more global in focus. This cross‐cultural study of sexuality has challenged some of our most basic assumptions and theoretical formulations. We have recognized that so many of our concepts, models, and theories are culturally bound (Herdt, 1989). The boundaries of topics of sex research are also expanding. We have moved beyond the scientific paradigm of reproductive biology and have begun to recognize that sexuality has many more purposes. Research on attraction, communication, types of relationships, gender, sex roles, sexual attitudes and values becomes a part of sexual science. In addition, our methodologies have been expanding beyond empirical research, and we have recognized the value of humanistic and phenomenological scientific methods. As we approach the next decade and the next century, we will find a new era of sex research—exploring and expanding the boundaries of sex research.     

Establishing therapeutic alliance across cultural barriers.

1. The therapeutic alliance is a mutually defined helping relationship that encompasses mutual respect and acceptance of ethnocultural variance, predicated upon empathic rapport. 2. Sensitivity to two psycholinguistic phenomena may help establish a transcultural relationship: the detachment effect (limited expression of affect and reduced access to developmental events between languages) and code switching (a complete or partial change of language or dialect within a single utterance or conversation). 3. Issues related to differing sociocultural expectations of nurses and clients will be increasingly encountered as ease of travel combines with economic and political unrest to produce increasing numbers of displaced persons.     

A therapeutic social work team in practice

In 1996, as a result of interagency collaboration between social services and health, Leeds Social Services Department brought together three groups of social workers undertaking therapeutic work into a centrally managed team. Continued inter-agency working together has ensured that the Therapeutic Social Work Team has become an established service for children and families. This paper describes the work of the team by focusing on four areas: the context of interagency collaboration, therapeutic work in the child protection process, managing different theoretical approaches in one team, and evaluating practice.     

The art of therapeutic drawing. Helping chronic trauma survivors.

1. Survivors of chronic trauma, who may have survived hundreds of episodes of battering and abuse, have no gauge of what is normal and continue to live in the same emotional climate. 2. The coping patterns that are a result of chronic trauma are below the level of awareness and prevent healthy adaptation. 3. The inclusion of expressive techniques, such as therapeutic drawing, can be used to facilitate the emotional work of chronic trauma issues.     

A Conceptual Framework for the Professional Socialization of Social Workers

With the Council on Social Work Education revised Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards, professional socialization has become a matter of policy. The social work literature is characterized by a dearth of conceptual models and systematic research regarding professional socialization. The conceptual framework for the professional socialization of social workers presented herein provides a discrete definition and clarifies what was formerly an ambiguous understanding of the elements of professional socialization. Potential applications of this framework include its use as a foundation for systematic research and a bridge between competencies and signature pedagogy and in informing field instructor training and the integration of theory and practice for students and practitioners.     

Professional standards in public relations: A survey of educators

A survey instrument operationalizing twenty-four elements of professional performance was administered to 291 public relations educators across the nation, yielding a 43.6 percent response rate. Respondents assessed the extent to which a standard of professionalism currently exists for each of the twenty-four items. Educators tended to view writing/editing and graphics/production skills, ethical guidelines, accreditation, and “public relations as advocacy” as enjoying well-established standards. Licensing, location of public relations on the organizational chart and inclusion of public relations in the dominant coalition were viewed as most lacking in a standard of professional performance.The twenty-four items factored into six dimensions. Assessments of professionalism along these six factors differed significantly as a function of sex, region, tenure of teaching, size of institution, and whether the educator was accredited by PRSA. Comparing educators' assessments with practitioners' views expressed in an earlier national survey, it is clear that professional standards in public relations have yet to have coalesced among educators or practitioners. Given the influence that educators have on the future of the field, it is imperative that educators work to elevate the profession by promulgating professional standards among their students.This study, conducted under the auspices of the Yarbrough Public Relations Laboratory, is a followup to results of a survey of practitioners reported in the article titled “Developing Standards of Professional Performance in Public Relations” published in Public Relations Review in 1996.All three authors are with the Department of Advertising/ Public Relations, Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens. Dr. Lynne M. Sallot, APR, is Assistant Professor. Dr. Glen T. Cameron is Associate Professor and Director of Research, James M. Cox, Jr. Institute for Newspaper Management Studies. Dr. Ruth Ann Weaver Lariscy is Associate Professor.