Leader behaviors and career derailment potential: A multi-analytic method examination of rating source and self–other agreement

Based on extensive research that views leadership as a multi-faceted phenomenon, we examined how the relationships between task-oriented and relationship-oriented leader behaviors and career derailment potential vary by observer perspective. We present findings using three different analytical techniques: random coefficient modeling (RCM), relative weight analysis (RWA), and polynomial regression (PR). RCM findings suggest that self-, direct report, peer, and supervisor ratings of leader behaviors differ and are associated with career derailment potential. RWA results indicate that self-ratings matter the least, whereas peer ratings of leader behaviors typically matter the most in predicting career derailment potential. PR analyses indicate that career derailment potential is lowest when self-ratings are lower than other ratings of leader behaviors and/or when self–other ratings converge on higher, rather than lower, ratings of leader behaviors. Implications for leadership and self–other agreement research and professional practice are discussed.     

Participatory Organizational Research: Examining Voice in the Co‐production of Knowledge

This paper advances participatory methods in management research. We propose the term participatory organizational research to describe this adjunct to action research. We illustrate the potential of the method to allow sometimes unheard organizational members to generate alternative perspectives that can offer the potential for the co‐production of new forms of knowledge that are locally relevant. Participatory methods originate from work with marginalized groups and have been used more commonly in community and organizational development. The aim of such research is, generally, to change the social and organizational conditions within which participants operate by using their perspectives as active participants to develop alternative possibilities. As such, this research method has significant potential for management researchers in providing the means for unheard organizational members to voice their perspectives: a central component, we argue, in knowledge co‐production. Based on a participatory study of care quality in elder care institutions, we examine in detail how participatory organizational research can enable voice and explore some of the structural limitations particularly in respect of research ethics.     

RFID‐Enabled Visibility and Retail Inventory Record Inaccuracy: Experiments in the Field

Accurate inventory records are key to effective store execution, affecting forecasting, ordering, and replenishment. Prior empirical research, however, shows that retailer inventory records are inherently inaccurate. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) enables visibility into the movement of inventories in the supply chain. Using two different field experiments, the current research investigates the effectiveness of this visibility in reducing retail store inventory record inaccuracy (IRI). Study 1 used an interrupted time‐series design and involved daily physical counts of all products in one category in 13 stores (8 treatments and 5 controls) of a major global retailer over 23 weeks. Results indicate a significant decrease in IRI of approximately 26% due to RFID‐enabled visibility. Using an untreated control group design with pre‐test and post‐test, Study 2 expands the number of categories to five and the number of stores to 62 (31 treatment and 31 control stores). Results show that the effectiveness of RFID in reducing IRI varies by category (ranging from no statistically significant improvement to 81%). Results also suggest that RFID ameliorates the effects of known determinants of IRI and provide the key insight that the technology is most effective for product categories characterized by these determinants.     

Application of classification trees to the habitat preference of upland birds

This paper investigates the application of classification tree methodology to the bird habitat associations of the red grouse in the south Pennines of England. The effectiveness of this classification will be investigated using the kappa coefficient. Although the results for these data are disappointing, the methodology seems to have potential for this kind of problem.     

UPPER BOUNDS FOR LATINIZED DESIGNS

Upper bounds axe derived for the efficiency factor of a class of resolvable incomplete block designs known as latinized designs. These designs are particularly useful in glasshouse and field trials, and can be readily extended to two-dimensional blocking structures. Existing bounds for resolvable designs axe also reviewed and a comparison is made between the third moment bounds discussed by Jarrett (1989) and the second moment bounds of Tjur (1990).     

The strengths and limitations of demography,and the works of W.D. Borrie

This lecture examines the nature of demography and how the work of W.D. Borrie relates to it. The principal topics are: the meaning of ‘demography’, changes in the discipline, the uniqueness of demography, population theories and ideologies, and the writings of W.D. Borrie.     

Interaction ism and the Child: Cahill,Corsaro, and Denzin on Childhood Socialization

Socialization is one of the defining concepts of symbolic interactionism. This essay redirects attention to that area by reviewing the works of Spencer E, Cahill, William A. Corsaro, and Norman K. Denzin, three scholars who have had little attention paid to their work on childhood socialization. Under the rubrics of (a) stages: automatic or contingent?, (b) play and games, (c) peer groups and cultures, (d) gender identity, and (e) public behavior, it is argued that these scholars have advanced symbolic interaction theory on childhood socialization by featuring the constructive, communal, and collective aspects of socialization. A summary of similarities and differences among these authors is made, especially noting Corsaro's conceptualization of “interpretive reproduction.” A critique focuses on some inadequacies in their work along with suggestions for future research.     

Continuity and change in contemporary Ulster Protestantism*

This paper explores current trends in religious practice, observance and belief in Ulster Protestantism for elements of continuity and change. Using historical and survey data it is clear that there are strong elements of both. However, Protestant religiosity is not changing to the point that it constitutes secularisation, as sociologists of religion understand it. Nor are new trends in religiosity weakening ethno‐national identities in Northern Ireland. This is because political identities are socially reproduced in ways that are independent of their religious roots and are thus unaffected by patterns of religiosity. Likely changes in Protestant religiosity in the future therefore offer no immediate panacea for altering the dynamics of Northern Irish politics.     

Adorno und die autoritäre Persönlichkeit

“The Authoritarian Personality” is a milestone study in social science research. Based on a series of research and investigations, the study, conducted in 1945/46, had to pass controversies and delays until its publication in 1950. Theodor W. Adorno’s involvement in this research appears to be less central than has frequently been assumed. Gradually, the importance of Erich Fromm’s contribution to the theoretical foundation and methodology of the study was recognized. Nevertheless, in many publications it is still acceptable to neglect the major contribution of Erich Fromm and Adorno’s further co-authors, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson and R. Nevitt Sanford. During the fifties, the Frankfurt Institut für Sozialforschung (IfS) conducted only two large-scale interview-and questionnaire-based studies pertaining to authoritarian personality issues. However, in further studies innovative research perspectives were not evident, and the most obvious task, to investigate former perpetrators and supporters of National Socialism, was not realized. The most probable of these deficit motives were based on Adorno’s dismissive view of empirical social psychology and differential psychology. However, the expertise of both are indispensable for such research programs. This historical review of “The Authoritarian Personality” demonstrates why there has been so little innovative and comprehensive research on the subject in postwar Germany.