A Comparison of Ethical Practices of Russian and American Managers

This study examines perception of various business practices of Russian and American managers. Using data collected from 136 Russian managers and 252 American managers we found that cross-national differences account for many differences between perceptions of business practices. Implications for managerial practice are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Estimation of Location Parameters Under Nonnormal Errors and Quadratic Loss

Assuming a statistical model in which the joint distribution of the unobservable errors is drawn from independent univariate Student t's that are identically and symmetrically distributed, the sampling performance of traditional robust estimators and a family of Stein-like estimators are compared and evaluated. These results suggest that under thick-tailed distributions, the relative sampling performances and risk characteristics for a range of nonconventional Stein estimators remains approximately the same as in the case of their normal counterparts. The empirical risk implications of misspecifying the error distribution are investigated.     

Building capacity for urban management in Ghana: some critical considerations

Severe capacity gaps continue to constrain effective urban management in Ghana, despite numerous donor-supported training programmes. This paper examines the nature of these capacity gaps and analyses specifically the factors contributing to the low attraction and retention of local government staff: politicisation of the bureaucracy, excessive use of external experts, excessive state intervention in skill development and low remuneration of local government staff. Against this background, the paper reviews critically a recent capacity building initiative: the establishment of the (new) Institute of Local Government Studies in Accra. Suggestions to improve capacity building for urban management in Ghana are offered. These include the need to prepare a coherent strategy to guide and co-ordinate stakeholder inputs in capacity building; to place training in the context of institutional development; and encourage the development and use of local expertise in donor assisted projects; and, promote merit-based remuneration of local government staff.     

“情景伦理”行不通

企业的商业伦理应该在全球范围内保持一致，还是应该根据具体的经营环境进行调整呢？许多人认为，企业的伦理准则应该与经营地的实际情况相契合，推崇“情境伦理”，即根据复杂多变的实际环境，灵活采取相应的实用性伦理准则。     

Putting the First Audience First: Conducting Useful Evaluation for a Risk-Related Government Agency

The risk communication practitioner in a government agency has two essential, interdependent tasks. One is to help develop and monitor effective communication programs with various external public audiences. The other task is to do the same thing for the senior government managers whose support is a prerequisite to addressing the first audience. Hence, the second audience–the manager–is really the first. This paper addresses ways in which communication practitioners can satisfy this crucial audience. A profile of these managers suggests that they would find it highly beneficial to have more control over the public problems they encounter, especially in view of the growing pressures to do more with less and demonstrate "customer satisfaction." They would rather avoid crises than manage them. And they would rather have their bosses praise their successes than challenge their budgets or punish their perceived difficulties or failures. Communication practitioners who can help them attain such benefits will find their efforts in great demand. They would be helpful team members who provide timely insights that can make and show agency success. We offer ten ways for communication practitioners to be more useful which focus their current strengths on satisfying senior managers'needs by becoming more valuable members of the program team. By becoming more useful to the senior manager they serve both the agency and its publics.     

Civic Epistemologies: Constituting Knowledge and Order in Political Communities

How do we know things? The question of epistemology – which drives both the sociology and philosophy of science – is also a crucial question for political sociology. Knowledge is essential to even the most basic and foundational of political processes and institutions. In 2000, for example, the transition of power in the US presidential election hung for 36 days on uncertainty over a seemingly simple question of fact: who won the most votes in Florida? A few years later, disputed factual claims about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction unraveled, calling into question key justifications of the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and significantly weakening perceived US legitimacy. Yet, surprisingly, sociologists and political scientists know relatively little about how knowledge gets made in political communities, nor how the making of knowledge is tied to other key aspects of political life, such as identity, authority, legitimacy, and accountability.