Developing criteria for healthy organizational change

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify criteria for healthy change in organizations and to develop practical guidelines for intended change. We aimed to explore how change processes at the shop floor level can be better informed by consultants and labour inspectors. A total of 180 interviews were conducted with managers and employees in 90 units of public and private organizations in Norway. The interviews were analysed through four steps representing an expansion of grounded theory, and converted to qualitative analysis using QSR and N6 software. We found that organizational change processes were better managed by more attention to awareness of the local norms and diversity among employees in the perception and reactions to change efforts. An inspector or consultant should be aware of these phenomena in any change effort and tell the organization how to deal with them. The other three factors identified were early role clarification, manager availability, and using constructive conflicts to deal with change. They are all important coping mechanisms at the organizational level that will bring change processes onto a more optimal track if correctly managed. A healthy process empowers individuals instead of making them insecure and defensive in times of change. This will help them restore perceived control and promote job security, which benefits both them and the organization.     

On the foundation and early development of domestic and international new ventures

The founding and early development of Domestic New Ventures and International New Ventures is examined based upon a large scale survey of Danish manufacturing firms. The firms are classified into five different categories and compared with regard to their foundation and development within the first 3?years. The article contributes with a demonstration of differences between these categories of firms with regard to the number and mindset of founders, the growth of the firm, and the networks of firm.     

On measuring sensitivity to parametric model misspecification

In settings where parametric inference is inconsistent under model misspecification, the discrepancy between correct and misspecified inferences is compared with the discrepancy between correct and misspecified models. To make the comparison tractable, large sample and small misspecification approximations are employed. The ratio of the approximate discrepancy between inferences to the approximate discrepancy between models is regarded as a relative measure of sensitivity to model misspecification. The maximum ratio over a family of correct distributions is determined as a measure of worst case sensitivity. As well, the distribution producing this maximum can be examined, to see how a particular combination of a parametric family and estimand is susceptible to model misspecifications.     

Emotional Empathy and Facial Feedback

We studied if emotional empathy is related to sensitivity to facial feedback. The participants, 112 students, rated themselves on the questionnaire measure of emotional empathy (QMEE) and were divided into one high and one low empathic group. Facial expressions were manipulated to produce a happy or a sulky expression. During the manipulation, participants rated humorous films with respect to funniness. These ratings were the dependent variable. No main effect of facial expression was found. However, a significant interaction between empathy and condition indicated that the high as compared to the low empathic group rated the films as being funnier in a happy condition and a tendency to be less funny in a sulky condition. On the basis of the present results we suggest emotional empathy to be one important and previously ignored factor to explain individual differences in effects of facial feedback.     

Modelling and simulation to improve decision‐making in clinical development

Modelling and simulation are buzz words in clinical drug development. But is clinical trial simulation (CTS) really a revolutionary technique? There is not much more to CTS than applying standard methods of modelling, statistics and decision theory. However, doing this in a systematic way can mean a significant improvement in pharmaceutical research. This paper describes in simple examples how modelling could be used in clinical development. Four steps are identified: gathering relevant information about a drug and the disease; building a mathematical model; predicting the results of potential future trials; and optimizing clinical trials and the entire clinical programme. We discuss these steps and give a number of examples of model components, demonstrating that relatively unsophisticated models may also prove useful. We stress that modelling and simulation are decision tools and point out the benefits of integrating them with decision analysis. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enacting Blind Spaces and Spatialities: A Sociological Study of Blindness Related to Space,Environment and Interaction

Lack of eyesight generates blind spaces. Blind spaces often enacted together with sighted are different from visual spaces in important ways. Sharing physical and social space with sighted may imply special challenges for blind persons with regard to interaction order and social identities. The article is based on ethnographic data with the purpose to describe enactment and management of physical and social spaces for blind born persons in different settings. It focuses on the physical and social plasticity of blind spaces and the mediated, practiced and often toolic relationship between body, self and physical and social environments.     

On the simultaneous effects of model misspecification and errors in variables

Model misspecification and noisy covariate measurements are two common sources of inference bias. There is considerable literature on the consequences of each problem in isolation. In this paper, however, the author investigates their combined effects. He shows that in the context of linear models, the large‐sample error in estimating the regression function may be partitioned in two terms quantifying the impact of these sources of bias. This decomposition reveals trade‐offs between the two biases in question in a number of scenarios. After presenting a finite‐sample version of the decomposition, the author studies the relative impacts of model misspecification, covariate imprecision, and sampling variability, with reference to the detectability of the model misspecification via diagnostic plots.     

Service Provision for an Independent Life

How is an independent daily life possible for disabled people when relying upon professional service provision and the bureaucratic gate-keeping systems of the welfare state? This article discusses this question in relation to an interview study. Eighteen mobility disabled and 20 service providers in one local setting in Norway were interviewed. We point out at least three categories regarding how independence is interpreted among the disabled: the super-normal, the independent living activists, and those experiencing powerlessness and lack of support. The analysis points out how these categories are constructed in relations between the disabled person, professional service providers and the gate-keeping systems of the welfare bureaucracy.