Building an innovative organization

Morton L. Mandel, CEO of Cleveland-based Premier Industrial Corporation, with brothers Jack and Joe, started selling automotive fasteners out of garage 50 years ago. Today, Premier's sales are running at a record $650m clip. The market value of the Mandel brothers' publicly-traded Premier shares earns all three a place on Forbes' list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. The family still holds about 60 per cent of the stock. Mort Mandel believes that gives the company independence and the ability to concentrate on nuts and bolts rather than politics. Mandel's nuts and bolts approach to managing has created stunning success—after-tax margins twice the average of Premier's industry, return on assets of 24 per cent, return on investment above 30 per cent, earnings per share compounded in excess of 17 per cent for the past 5 years, shareholders' equity that has grown close to 10 per cent annually for 20 years, and debt of less than 3 per cent of net worth. Mandel says it's simple: Treat customers as though they have the ‘right’ to superior service. Behave ethically, professionally and personally. Do good. Invest in people. Execute, execute, execute. What he calls Management 101. We suspected it wasn't quite that simple, and we wanted to know how he created a company that repeatedly outperforms its industry and many others, how he sustains a culture that generates 5000 written profit improvement ideas a year from Premier's 5400 employees. So we asked him some questions about his views on management and leadership that produced refreshing insights into the power, purity and timeless applicability of ‘management basics’. This interview was conducted at Premier's unpretentious executive offices, located in the Midtown Corridor of Cleveland, Ohio, a privately-sponsored urban renewal project inspired by Mort Mandel, who practices his preachings about ‘doing good’.     

Beyond expectancy theory: an integrative motivational model from health care

Expectancy theory has been criticized for its omission of normative, habitual, and other motivational elements. This paper describes the sources and features of an integrative motivational model from the field of preventive health care that combines expectancy/valence factors with habitual, normative, and conative motivational elements. The model is viewed as having implications for work motivation as well.     

Some quantitative concepts of value and utility from a utilitarian point of view

This paper clarifies and interprets some basic quantitative concepts of value, utility and utility function from a utilitarian point of view. First, I discuss the question as to whether value is objective or subjective. I hold that value is subjective and statistical in nature (although from the various subjective values of a certain object a norm can usually be obtained). Second, I emphasize the distinction between use value and exchange value in relation to utility. Third, I propose a law of diminishing incremental interest, which refers to the incremental (marginal) utility of money. Fourth, I identify the utility of money with the von Neumann-Morgenstern utility. Fifth, I question the necessity of the usual normalization of utility functions and the restricted linear transformation (and the consequent concept of strategic equivalence). Sixth, I discuss in detail the terminal values and utilities of a utility function from a philosophical rather than mathematical point of view, particularly the boundedness of a utility function and the magnitudes of V ₀ and U ₀. Finally, I conclude that, in order to be able to have interpersonal comparisons of utility, utility should have the same dimension as value rather than no dimension, and the normalization problem should be reconsidered in the light of terminal values and utilities.     

The impact of Chilean migration on employment in Patagonia

This paper discusses the employment situation of Chilean migrant workers, their impact on labor markets in Patagonia, Argentina, and the government's past and projected responses to this phenomenon. In 1980, Chilean inhabitants of patagonia comprised 11% of the area's population. Chilean migration to patagonia was closely linked to economic activities that began to flourish in the 20th century, such as livestock raising, fruit and vegetable cultivation, and mining for coal and petroleum. No Chilean migrants work in a wide range of sectors. In Patagonia's southern provinces availability and ability to withstand rigorous climate conditions are the main factors which account for the prevalence of Chilean manpower. Chilean migrants do not in general displace local manpower. Legislation and the permeability of the border ensure that most workers enter the country as tourists. Clandestine migration is not an issue. Illegal migrants have provoked negative reactions for several reasons: 1) they comprise a marginal population without formal citizenship; 2) being employed as clandestine workers, they pay no social security, nor do their employers; 3) being illegal, they are obliged to accept lower wages and inferior working conditions which creates unfair competition within labor markets; and 4) as a result of these conditions, xenophobic and endophobic attitudes in relations with Argentine nationalists are reinforced. The government has attempted to solve these problems through various measures. Beginning in 1934, most foreigners entered Argentina with a tourist visa, becoming illegal when they stayed beyond authorized limits. Several measures over the years provided amnesty to illegal migrants. Currently, the law promotes immigration, monitors the admission of foreigners to the country and stipulates their rights and obligations. The law lists 115 articles on immigration promotion and on regulation of the movements of foreigners. Because of the present economic crisis in Argentina, authorities are investigating the effect of Chilean manpower on Argentine labor markets.     

Physician-nurse migration to the United States: regional and health status origins in relation to legislation and policy

This article examines the origins of physicians and nurses who were admitted as permanent immigrants to the US from 1962-1979. Data are mainly from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Countries used in the developmental analysis are only those whose population was estimated at 1 million or more as of mid-1979, encompassing 99% of the physicians and 97% of the nurses. Life expectancy at birth is the criterion used to differentiate origin countries by developmental dimension of health status. During the study period, health workers constituted about 30% of immigrants admitted to the US; of these, nurses and physicians constituted 72-82% throughout the study period. The period 1962-1979 has 4 distinct phases, marked by important legislative and/or policy changes; 1) 1962-1965, when the McCarran-Walter Act prevailed; 2) ending in 1968, the 2nd phase covers the transition mandated under the 1965 Immigration Act, which encouraged physician immigration; 3) the 3rd phase, 1969-1976, covers the transition to the 1976 Immigration and Nationality Act amendments; and 4) the 4th stage is 1977-1979. Results show that 1) under the McCarran-Walter Act, North America became the dominant physician source; 2) from 1966-1968, Asia attained dominance as the physician source and became even more predominant after 1968; 3) North America produced relatively few physicians in the early 1970s; 4) Europe produced substantially fewer physicians in the 1970s than in the 1960s; 5) South America, Africa, and Oceania were the lowest contributors of physicians; 6) during the McCarran-Walter years, North America and Europe produced almost 90% of nurses admitted into the US; 7) the 1965 Immigration Act and its aftermath resulted in Asia becoming the dominant source of nurses; 8) prior to the 1965 Immigration Act, Canada generated 20% of the aggregate number of physicians; 9) the Philippines surpassed Canada during the transition and India led after the transition; and 10) Canada supplied 30% of the nurses up through the transition, with the Philippines in the lead 1969-1979. Low health status countries were a relatively minor nurse source. Health status at the origin was a far less significant determinant of physician immigration than that of nurses. English language high and low health status country groups produced substantially more physician and nurse immigrants that their corresponding non-English language counterparts. The US attracted more physicians and nurses from less developed countries than more developed countries after 1968.     

The employment contract: A test of the transaction cost theory

This paper tests some predictions derived from Williamson's transaction cost theory of the organization of work, which holds that the form of the employment relationship is determined largely by the idiosyncrasy of work—that is, the nature of skills and knowledge used in production. It examines the occurrence of theoretically relevant provisions in collective bargaining agreements in the United States and finds they are related to a contract-level proxy for idiosyncrasy (based on bargaining structure) as predicted by the theory. An analysis of an individual-level variable, the difficulty of finding a comparable job, provides some additional support. Finally, several alternative explanations of the results are considered, and it is argued that none are consistent with the evidence. The analysis thus finds strong, if necessarily provisional, support for the theory.     

Update on medications for the treatment of anxiety

It is interesting to note that antidepressants are widely represented in the medications used to treat the anxiety disorders. This has led to speculation about the role of depression, particularly subclinical forms being manifested as anxiety disorders. The specificity of diagnostic categories suggests that, at least for the moment, medications have a very specific and circumscribed role in the treatment of anxiety. This suggests that the difficulties of many anxious patients are not effectively treated with medication or that medication has only a short-term role at best. The next column will review health problems associated with psychotropic treatments for anxiety and discuss strategies for creating a "wedge," ie, introducing adjunct learning experiences along the anxiety gradient in conjunction with pharmacotherapy.     

Training with o (observing) and T (treatment) teams in live supervision: reflections in the looking glass*

Working with a treatment and observing team at the same time, behind the oneway mirror, offers a variety of ways to: (a) generate multiple realities; (b) work with two different models of family therapy simultaneously; and (c) provide feedback on the teams' own roles, rules and group process. The process that 6 trainees and two supervisors used with T and O teams to examine their own coevolution as a therapeutic system using the Milan model of family therapy and Ericksonian hypnotherapy is described. The article concludes with a discussion of the advantages and pitfalls of this type of dual supervision.     

INTERVIEWING OLDER ADULTS: MODE COMPARISON USING DATA FROM A FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY AND A TELEPHONE RESURVEY

A face-to-face survey conducted in 1984 with a sample of 1491residents of the Detroit metropolitan area (including an oversampleof older adults) and a reinterview of a random subset of theserespondents by telephone were used to compare the two modesof data collection across two age levels. Except for a tendencytoward a disproportionately large number of DK answers and adisproportionately large amount of interviewer assistance onthe telephone, respondents 60 years of age and older did notexhibit larger mode differences than did respondents under 60.For both age groups, response distributions were rather similar,suggesting little effect of mode. Likewise, response style differedlittle by mode, while a higher proportion of missing data (i.e.,"I don't know" answers) was given on the telephone. The responserate for the telephone reinterview was 90%, somewhat lower forolder than younger persons. The findings support the feasibilityof using the telephone for reinterviewing older adults.