Heuristic methods for the analysis of managerial problems

Problem analysis is a critical element of managerial problem solving that has not been included in or explicated by traditional stage models of the process. This paper argues that an analysis stage is needed to develop the implications of a problem's definition and to direct the selection and pursuit of solution strategies. Problem analysis is a beuristic activity. The paper explains and applies seven heuristic methods of analysis to a classic management case, generating a richer understanding and broader set of solution alternatives. Strategies for future research on problem analysis are discussed.     

Integrating Theory and Research on the Institutional Determinants of Fertility

This article links recent conceptual theories regarding the determinants of fertility with research designs appropriate for testing those theories. The most important causal factors in these theories--typically social or cultural institutions, occasionally emergent properties of the collective behavior of individuals--are properly conceptualized at the macro level. Research designs must therefore feature variation at this level and are at a minimum comparative. Noncomparative micro-level research designs will be misspecified from the standpoint of theory. A case is also made for continuing to incorporate the observation of individual-level behavior into any comprehensive research design. A focus on macro determinants of fertility does not imply that fertility outcomes are determined at the institutional level. Instead, there remains some process whereby systemic properties are translated into individual behaviors. Recommendations for comparative community-level studies are discussed. The multilevel analysis framework is reviewed as a paradigm for the conceptual features of cross-contextual analysis.     

On Robust Analysis of a Normal Location Parameter

Pericchi and Smith considered a normal location parameter problem with double-exponential and Student t prior distributions. These two prior distributions both belong to the class of scale mixtures of normal distributions and are useful in providing a robust analysis of the normal location parameter problem. In this paper we extend the analysis to other scale mixtures of normal distributions, such as the exponential power and the symmetric stable distributions.     

Parent-perceived Attitudes of Professionals: Implications for Service Providers

While parents' reactions to a diagnosis of disability in their child have been well documented, less is known of parents' reactions to the professionals who provide the diagnostic and support services used by parents. This study identified four major parameters within which the attitudes of professionals are perceived by parents of children/teenagers diagnosed as intellectually disabled. Comments of the 131 mothers and fathers interviewed helped to shed light on what they have expected of service providers, and suggest adjustments that may need to be made by professionals to the attitudes they convey in interaction with parents.     

“I've been independent for so damn long!”: Independence, masculinity and aging in a help seeking context

This paper draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with 36 older men to examine how older men's understandings of independence relate to their help seeking behaviours and health service use. We argue that discourses of masculinity and successful aging are both represented in men's talk about independence. Recognising that these discourses are intertwined is important for understanding how older men seek help and use health services. We outline the practice and policy implications of viewing older men's help seeking behaviours in this way, and how it might be useful for promoting older men's health.     

Back to Normal: Gender and Disaster

Our earlier studies of Hurricane Andrew focused on the destruction of everyday life during the crisis itself and the reconstruction of a taken-for-granted world during the recovery period; this paper examines the significance of gender in these processes. The abrupt loss of taken-for-granted reality occasioned by the storm involved only a slight and momentary disruption of gender roles. The resilience of these roles can be understood only if gender is seen as a property of social organization that shapes not only interactional expectations and pressures, but also cultural and institutional processes, as well as bodily experiences.     

Consensual partnering in Australia: A review and 1991 census profile

This paper is the first part of a two-part examination of consensual partnering in Australia. It reviews the Australian literature on consensual partnering, summarizing evidence of its proliferation since the mid-1960s and also the findings of investigations into its nature and the personal attributes that predispose some people more than others to adopt it. It then discusses the shortcomings of Australian census data as a source for studying consensual unions, before using data from the 1991 Census to present the first elements in a comprehensive profile of the cohabiting population. These cover the basic demography of consensual partnering: the ages, marital statuses and family type distributions of those involved. The second author contributed to this paper while a student of Graduate Studies in Demography, The Australian National University. Views expressed are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.     

The contribution of non-profit organisations to the management of HIV/AIDS: A comparative study

This article elaborates a typology of organisational responses during the first decade of AIDS/HIV in a dozen Western European countries.Welfare mixes: that is, the division of task between all producers of welfare (both private and public), and the processes at work in these policies, are analysed. Three types are identified, presenting unexpected variants in respect to general typologies of Western welfare states. They underline the importance of non-profit actors and also argue that new forms of co-operation between those actors and public ones can lead to renewed management of the main social issues currently facing Western welfare states.     

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Strategic Giving: The Art and Science of Philanthropy, by Peter Frumkin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. 458 pp., $39.00 cloth.