Managing strategic change--strategy, culture and action

One of the major problems facing senior executives is that of effecting significant strategic change in their organizations. This paper develops a number of explanatory frameworks which address the links between the development of strategy in organizations, dimensions of corporate culture and managerial action. In considering such linkages, and by illustrating them with examples from work undertaken in companies, the paper also seeks to advance our understanding of the problems and means of managing strategic change.     

Who signs China's one-child certificate,and why?

A policy of 1 child/family was initiated in China in 1979 to help control population growth. An estimation model is presented using 1985 fertility survey data to estimate characteristics associated with deciding to comply with the policy. After accounting for place of residence, woman's education, husband's occupation, marriage duration, presence of a son, family structure, and house size were found to significantly influence compliance. Age, child mortality experience, husband's education, and woman's occupation, however, did not. No conclusions could be made on the influence of income and wealth in adhering to policy.     

A case study in defining developmental costs for quality assurance in mental health center programs

Issues related to the state-of-the-art of ambulatory mental health care review as well as to the resources necessary for planning and operating a quality assurance program may be hampering development of such programs in community mental health centers nationwide. Faced with the problem of responsible and prudent program management, it has become increasingly difficult for CMHC directors to implement innovative, but unproven, and often unpriced programs which have the potential to draw scarce professional resources away from direct service delivery. Pressure to implement CMHC program requirements that are not ordinarily considered revenue-producing in nature, for example, consultation and education services and quality assurance activities, may further create anxiety for mental health program directors, especially during periods when they are ostensibly confronted with the need to maximize CMHC revenues. Before mental health professionals and administrators of mental health programs can be expected to introduce quality assurance programs, they need to have some idea how much the system costs. The figures reported from three North Carolina mental health centers may offer some indication of what other mental health centers might expect to spend in developing a quality assurance program. Salary expenses for multidisciplinary staff participation in quality assurance activities are presented.     

Bystander behavior and kinesics: The interaction between the helper and victim

One hundred eighty subjects participated in a factorial field experiment designed to study the effects of body orientation, eye contact, and sex upon helping behavior in a situation where a male victim fell. An eye-contact x x body-orientation interaction and a sex x body-orientation interaction were found. Eye contact raised the rate of help; and women helped more often than men, but only when the victim andS were approaching each other. A severe fall produced more help than did a mild fall. The cue value of the front side of a person, eye contact acting as a plea for help, and the salience of responsibility norms were discussed. The study was interpreted as indicating the necessity of accounting for the effects of the interaction between bystanders and victims.The research for this study was supported by a grant from the Central Fund for Research, College of Liberal Arts, The Pennsylvania State University.The authors would like to thank Joseph Primavera, III, for serving as their victim.     

CREATING HEALING RELATIONSHIPS FOR COUPLES DEALING WITH TRAUMA: THE USE OF EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED MARITAL THERAPY

Emotionally focused marital therapy (EFT), a marital therapy that particularly focuses on the creation of secure attachment, has proven in empirical studies to be effective for distressed couples. This paper discusses the application of EFT in couples where one or both of the partners have experienced significant trauma. EFT, in this context of trauma, incorporates the nine steps of conventional EFT and also encompasses the three stages of the "constructivist" self development theory of trauma treatment. This paper illustrates how the integration of EFT and trauma treatement can prove effective in treating not only relationsip distress but also the individual symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).     

The Adaptive Success Identity Plan (ASIP): A Career Intervention for College Students

The Adaptive Success Identity Plan (ASIP) uses the construct of success identity as the core of a career intervention program. Three empirical studies (N > 2,000) explored the success identity construct and its application in a structured career intervention. Study 1 provided reliability and validity evidence of the measures. Study 2 indicated that programming efforts targeting family involvement, self-efficacy, and stress and time management should enhance a number of college outcomes. Study 3 found that students who received the ASIP intervention were more likely to use the success identity construct in defining their role in college success.     

Drinking patterns, problems, and motivations among collegiate bisexual women

OBJECTIVE AND PARTICIPANTS: The authors compared the drinking behaviors, motivations, and problems of collegiate bisexual women with those of heterosexual women (N = 2,788; n = 86 bisexual women). METHODS: Data came from the 2003 Student Life Survey, a random population-based survey at a large midwestern university. The authors explored the hypothesis that bisexual women would be more likely than heterosexual women to report drinking motivations related to stress and coping as a result of sexual identity stigma. RESULTS: They found that bisexual women drank significantly less than did heterosexual women. There were few differences between the 2 groups in drinking motivations and problems. Bisexual women reported a comparable number of problems related to their drinking but were significantly more likely to report contemplating suicide after drinking than were heterosexual women. CONCLUSIONS: More research is needed to understand the finding that despite lower levels of alcohol consumption, bisexual women reported a comparable number of drinking problems. College health educators and health care providers need to be aware of findings related to heightened suicidal risk among bisexual women.     

Emotional Reactivity and Emotional Regulation Strategies as Predictors of Social Behavior with Peers During Toddlerhood

Fifty-six mothers and their 24-month-old toddlers were observed on two occasions in a series of laboratory procedures designed to assess relations between emotional functioning (emotional reactivity and emotion regulation) in an individual assessment and social behavior with a same-sex peer. Emotional reactivity was assessed using two frustration tasks designed to elicit distress. Emotional regulation was assessed by examining the child's behaviors (venting, distraction, focal-object focus, self-orientation, and mother-orientation) when confronted by the two distress-eliciting tasks. Peer play behaviors were coded for social participation and peer-directed conflict (aggressive) behavior. The results indicated that both emotional reactivity and emotion regulation were important predictors of at least two types of social behavior: conflict and cooperation. Distress to frustration, when accompanied by high venting or high focal-object focus, was significantly related to conflict with peers but not when accompanied by distraction, mother-orientation or self-focused behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive value of emotion regulation skills in early development, and the importance of identifying the causal relations between child regulation and early social competence.