Mixed Results, Lousy Process: the Management Experience of Organizational Change

This paper reports the findings of a survey of 92 managers, from 14 public and 14 private-sector organizations. The aim was to explore the experience of change, extending the findings of a previous study (Buchanan, Claydon and Doyle, 1999). The survey addressed six themes: communication, evaluation, learning, attitudes and relationships, implementation and change and continuity. Overall, the results present a bleak picture of the process and outcomes of contemporary change. Most managers claim that change responsibility affords valuable personal learning. However, recent change has also been accompanied by stress, work intensification, command and control and management–employee distrust. A comparison of public and private–sector responses suggests that the experience of change in the public sector has been more pressured than in the private sector. Comparison of responses by management level indicates that senior managers are more likely to hold positive views of the change process and its outcomes. Explanations for these differences in experience and perception are considered, along with the implications. It is concluded that an adequate theory of organizational change must address the contradictions and tensions in the lived experience of those implicated, and that effective practice should consider the linkage of change implementation with organizational learning mechanisms which, on this evidence, are absent.     

A DISCRETE-IN-TIME PROBABILISTIC INVENTORY MODEL FOR DETERIORATING ITEMS

A probabilistic scheduling-period inventory model continuous in units and discrete in time is developed for deteriorating items where deterioration is assumed to be a constant fraction of the on-hand inventory. The model is developed under the conditions of instantaneous delivery and no shortages. An example followed by sensitivity analysis is given to illustrate the derived results.     

INTERGENERATIONAL EFFECTS OF WELFARE REFORM: ADOLESCENT DELINQUENT AND RISKY BEHAVIORS

This study investigates effects of welfare reform in the United States on the next generation. Most previous studies of effects of welfare reform on adolescents focused on high‐school dropout of girls or fertility; little is known about how welfare reform has affected other teenage behaviors or boys. We use a difference‐in‐difference‐in‐differences framework to identify gender‐specific effects of welfare reform on skipping school, fighting, damaging property, stealing, hurting others, smoking, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs. Welfare reform led to increases in delinquent behaviors of boys as well as increases in substance use of boys and girls, with substantially larger effects for boys. (JEL K42, I12, I31, I38)     

Fishermens blues: Factors related to accidents and safety among Newfoundland fishermen

Abstract

The fisheries is one of the most dangerous industries in Canada. Possible contributory causes of the high rate of injuries are a fatalistic attitude to accidents and safety, and a high level of anxiety and worry among fishermen. These characteristics would be expected to lead to less attention to safety procedures and a consequent greater risk of accidents. The purpose of this study was to explore fishermen's levels of fatalism and anxiety; to consider the relationship of these factors to the frequency of accidents and extent of safety precautions; and to explore fishermen's explanations of and suggested solutions to the high rate of injuries at sea. The study was conducted among a sample of inshore fishermen who fished in the waters around Newfoundland. Fifty-five fishermen completed a questionnaire that requested basic demographic details, information on injuries obtained, safety precautions taken, perceived locus of control over accidents, anxiety, worries and explanations for accidents and possible measures to reduce them. Analysis of their replies revealed that the fishermen reported a high level of anxiety and that those who reported most anxiety reported more injuries and fewer safety precautions.     

Reflections on Living with Illness, Impairment and Death

This short article calls for new understanding of the experiences of living with illness, impairment and death. It shows clearly, and often painfully, the tensions and contradictions between theory and experience, offering unique insights that hold great potential to help shift the landscape of familiar preoccupations with life, impairment and death.     

Psychological Aggression by American Parents: National Data on Prevalence,Chronicity, and Severity

This article describes the prevalence of psychological aggression in a nationally representative sample of 991 parents. By child‐age 2, 90% reported using one or more forms of psychological aggression during the previous 12 months and 98% by age 5. From ages 6 to 17, the rates continued in the 90% range. The rate of severe psychological aggression was lower: 10%–20% for toddlers and about 50% for teenagers. Prevalence rates greater than 90% and the absence of differences according to child or family characteristics suggests that psychological aggression is a near universal disciplinary tactic of American parents. Finally, this article discusses the implications of the findings for the conceptualization of psychological “abuse,” and for understanding the origins of the high level of psychological aggression between intimate partners.     

Using Multinomial Mixture Models to Cluster Internet Traffic

The paper considers the clustering of two large sets of Internet traffic data consisting of information measured from headers of transmission control protocol packets collected on a busy arc of a university network connecting with the Internet. Packets are grouped into 'flows' thought to correspond to particular movements of information between one computer and another. The clustering is based on representing the flows as each sampled from one of a finite number of multinomial distributions and seeks to identify clusters of flows containing similar packet‐length distributions. The clustering uses the EM algorithm, and the data‐analytic and computational details are given.     

Pretesting Experimental Instructions

Laboratory experiments, well established in sociology and social psychology, are alternate realities constructed for assessing derivations from theories. Experiments instantiate a theory's scope and initial conditions, and that information is usually delivered through instructions to participants. Because experiments often use video and computer technology and often test very precise predictions of new theories, we suggest developing objective means to assess information delivery. We illustrate these points by reference to a widely used standard experiment to assess theories of status processes. We first describe elements of good experimental design with their justifications. Next, we describe new techniques we have developed and illustrate their usefulness, showing results of a first use of the new techniques. While the assessment still relies somewhat on judgments, we find the technique useful and suggest further developments that might improve it for experimental and other research uses.     

FAMILIES’ CARE OF THEIR CHILDREN WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES IN AUSTRALIA

In Australia, from the 1980s, the processes of de-institutionalization and non-institutionalization have resulted in most children with severe disabilities being cared for at home. Current Australian government policy suggests that care increasingly will be undertaken in the home. The needs of families, then, is an area that requires attention. The findings in this paper are drawn from a series of qualitative in-depth interviews with parents of children with severe disabilities and, in particular, I highlight issues raised in relation to income, work, leisure and social relationships. Typically, despite the provision of formal (and informal) support services, participation in the wider community is limited. I argue that the provision of support services has been inadequate to enable engagement in activities that other families take for granted and that greater social policy attention is warranted.