Called to Medicine: Physicians’ Experiences of Career Calling

Using consensual qualitative research methodology, the authors explored physicians’ (N = 17) career calling experiences through semistructured interviews. Eight domains emerged: definition of calling, development of calling, calling's fit with career, maintenance of calling, emotional well‐being, relationships, recreation, and future. Within these domains, 17 general and 40 typical categories emerged. Results suggest physicians’ callings were influenced by others, met with both support and barriers, and chosen because of fit with interests, prosocial motivation, or religious/spiritual influences. Calling positively and negatively influenced emotional well‐being, relationships, and recreation and was expected to continue after retirement. Counselors are encouraged to use a narrative lens to conceptualize clients’ calling development, use job crafting techniques to support calling maintenance, and prepare clients for postretirement career calling development. Future research might examine when and why a medical calling's strength may change over time.     

Affectionate Communication Is Associated With Emotional and Relational Resources in the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship

Grounded in affection exchange theory (AET; Floyd, 2006), this study examined the extent to which affection received from grandparents is associated with grandchildren’s perceptions of their grandparents and their grandparent-grandchild relationship (in the form of emotional closeness, shared family identity, and perceived availability of social support). Young adult grandchildren (N = 171) completed several instruments in reference to their relationship with a specific grandparent. The results of multiple regression analyses generally supported the hypotheses that received affection is associated positively with grandchildren’s perceptions of their grandparents and their grandparent-grandchild relationship. These findings support AET’s utility in the grandparent-grandchild relationship and the notion that grandparents often influence their grandchildren’s perceptions of their family.     

Non‐governmental organisations and informal associations in service delivery for African migrants in China: Evidence of voluntary sector failure?

As the Chinese government has purposefully built economic, social and political links with several African states in recent decades, new patterns of international migration have emerged. Notably, mixed‐race families are increasingly visible in southern China, particularly Guangzhou, where there is a concentration of African traders. The few existing studies on this population have failed to pay attention to how, in the absence of state provision of or support for key public resources including health care and education, African‐Chinese families are raising their children. We examined factors contributing to NGO successes and failures in facilitating these families’ wellbeing and integration into mainstream society, drawing on the theory of voluntary sector failure. Mixed‐raced families are relatively isolated from mainstream society as well as formal/informal civil society organisations. We found select features of philanthropic paternalism, philanthropic amateurism, and what we term philanthropic mistrust, with implications for understanding voluntary sector growth in the Chinese context.     

A Comparative Analysis of the Relative Effectiveness of Four Dynamic Lot-Sizing Techniques on Return on Investment

The relative performance of dynamic lot-sizing techniques has been of considerable interest to researchers in recent years. While research has addressed performance in terms of cost-effectiveness, researchers have not determined the impact of dynamic lot-sizing techniques on return on investment (ROI) as it applies to finished goods' schedules. The purpose of this research is to explore the relative performance of four dynamic lot-sizing techniques with regard to ROI, namely the Wagner-Whitin, Incremental Part Period, Silver-Meal, and Groff techniques. Computer graphics are employed to analyze the relative ROI effectiveness.     

Talking about work stress: Discourse analysis and implications for stress interventions

This study used discourse analysis to explore the way in which employees understand work stress. Twenty-two female clerical workers in a Canadian city participated in focus group meetings where they talked about and made sense of their experiences of work stress. The women's accounts were analysed using discourse analysis methods (i.e. an examination of how talk is constructed). The findings revealed that talking about being stressed provides a socially acceptable way of expressing discomfort and regaining a sense of importance that is lost through feeling under-valued and under-appreciated in the organization. In contrast, admitting to being unable to cope with stress was considered to be 'abnormal'. The stress discourse fosters a sense of helplessness and ambiguity by not acknowledging external influences on clerical workers' experiences, such as their place within the power structure of the organization, and by limiting their sense of agency and control over problems experienced at work. The implications of these findings for organizational culture and interventions are discussed. For example, employers are encouraged to be conscious of the messages being sent to employees about how negative emotions or distressing experiences at work are to be addressed (i.e. how 'stress' is to be managed). Recommendations are made for future research using discourse analysis, such as the examination of alternative discourses that aim to improve conditions at work.     

Evaluation of auditor decisions: Hindsight bias effects and the expectation gap

Hindsight bias is said to exist when individuals overestimate the extent to which an outcome could have been anticipated prior to its occurrence. Ex post, litigants tend to blame auditors in hindsight for failing to foresee and anticipate subsequent financial problems of their audit clients. However, it is not known whether the blame attributed in hindsight is due to hindsight bias or other factors such as the generally hypothesized user-preparer expectation gap. A behavioral experiment was conducted with 65 federal and state general jurisdiction judges and 58 auditors from one of the Big-Six public accounting firms. Results indicate that judges provided significantly lower evaluations of auditors' performance than did auditors, reflective of an expectation gap. Of greater importance, our results reveal that evaluative judgments of auditors' performance are subject to hindsight bias. Additional analysis revealed that our results are consistent with a cognitive interpretation of hindsight bias.     

Designing and facilitating collaboration in R&D: A case study

This case study aims to highlight the strategic decisions and managerial practices in the formation and operation of a co-located research unit within a national laboratory. The empirical evidence is based on interviews with members of the research unit as well as responses from a research environment survey. The findings of the case study suggest specific strategies that are conducive not only for the co-location of research units but also for research management in general. Principal among these are the need to balance increases in diversity and complexity with mechanisms of integration and the use of specific management practices and leadership qualities that support these activities.     

Moral Values, Moralism, and the 2004 Presidential Election

The "moral values vote" in the 2004 American presidential election should be interpreted more broadly than as a reflection of concerns about same-sex marriage and abortion. Instead of specific hot-button social policy issues, a general personality trait of moralism—the tendency to perceive a moral dimension in everyday decisions—may have contributed to the election outcome. Specifically, we hypothesize that some Bush supporters shared Bush's high level of moralism (as reflected in his rhetoric) and that this moralism motivated their votes. Consistent with our hypothesis, a preliminary empirical investigation suggests that Bush voters were, indeed, higher in moralism than were Kerry voters. Plans for further research and political strategy implications are discussed.     

Psychotherapy and Schizophrenia: The Mirror of Countertransference

The relationship between psychotherapy and schizophrenia has undergone pronounced changes over the last several decades. The advent of psychiatric medication led to remarkable breakthroughs that obscured the existential issues inseparably tied to the lived experience of illness and overshadowed the role of psychotherapy in the treatment of schizophrenia. Recent years have brought renewed scrutiny of the place of psychotherapy in the treatment of persons with major mental illness but much less attention has been shown to matters of countertransference. The complex legacy of loss and grief assumes a special dimension in the therapeutic relationship and touches the lives of client and clinician alike. Both travel a common path and share privileged moments. It is the intersection of these life experiences, and how their confluence shapes the course of therapy that is the focus of this essay.