Administrative Reform Policy: The Challenges of Turning Symbols into Practice

Administrative reform policies are often characterized by a large number of reform symbols. While these are generally aimed at furthering the legitimacy of the political leadership, they can have the opposite effect and generate problems in implementing reform practice. This paper starts by discussing the theory of reform symbols and relates it to theories of instrumental, negotiation and cultural features of reforms. We illustrate this discussion by analyzing interview data collected among the central political and administrative elite in Norway. The analysis shows the relevance of reform symbols even in Norway, a country with a reluctant reform tradition and few incentives for reform. The respondents often perceived reform symbols as negative, something that creates problems for the political leadership in reconciling symbols with practice and leads it to engage in double-talk. Political and administrative leaders on different levels have differing attitudes towards administrative reform symbols, reflecting different roles and perspectives. The conclusion is that symbols are a main feature of administrative reform but also that reforms are not only symbols. Symbols matter, but turning symbols into practice is not an easy task to do.     

The union wage effect in Canadian manufacturing industries

Data for Canadian manufacturing industries, at the two-digit level, are used to examine the component elements of the union wage effect. The results show that absence of compulsory union membership for all employees in the bargaining unit served by a union does not significantly impair the ability of the union to negotiate wage gains. That is, our results imply that there is little reason for unions to devote much effort to negotiating the stronger forms of union security — union or closed shops. A second implication of our results is that significant bargaining advantages may accrue to unions with an international (U.S.) link, relative to Canadian national unions.     

Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

The quality of the relationships between volunteers and paid staff can have far‐reaching consequences for organizations that utilize volunteer programs to support service delivery. We utilize a mixed methods case study design to explore volunteer and staff perceptions of their mutual interactions within a large library system in the southeastern United States. We consider which areas of these interactions might be vulnerable to conflict. Our findings suggest that conflict is likely to arise due to communication problems, behavioral or attitudinal issues, perceptions of job vulnerability, divergent expectations, lack of trust, and workflow integration hurdles. We argue that to avoid these tensions and promote effective service delivery, staff members must have appropriate training and preparation to interact successfully with volunteers.     

All risk-taking is not the same: examining the competing effects of firm risk-taking with meta-analysis

Although researchers have vigorously studied organizational risk-taking for over 35 years, relatively little emphasis has been placed on theoretically differentiating the unique relationships between the many risk-taking choices organizations make and firm risk or firm performance. In this research, we propose a new framework that builds from March’s exploration–exploitation model to argue that different risk-taking choices can have substantially different influences on firm outcomes. We use meta-analysis to examine the unique and at times competing effects of four of the most commonly studied risk-taking choices on firm risk and firm performance. Results from a meta-analysis of 257 unique studies (N = 499,808) demonstrate support for our proposed framework and cast significant doubt on the idea that commonly studied firm risk-taking choices theoretically aggregate into one overarching risk-taking construct.     

Loneliness,immigration background and self-identified ethnicity: a nationally representative study of adolescents in Denmark

Migration is an increasing worldwide phenomenon that creates multicultural societies with a growing number of adolescents who have experienced a process of migration or who have an ethnic background other than that of the majority. Migration may lead to loss of social relations and create challenges related to acculturation in the new country. These experiences may induce feelings of loneliness. Research on ethnic and migrant disparities in loneliness among adolescents is limited and inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to examine how adolescents’ immigration background and self-identified ethnicity are associated, independently and combined, with loneliness. We used data from the Danish 2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey which included a representative sample of 3083 13- and 15-year-olds. The results suggest that immigrants but not descendants of immigrants have an increased risk of loneliness compared to adolescents with a Danish origin. The results also suggest that adolescents’ self-identified ethnicity plays an essential role but differently for immigrants and descendants: identifying with the Danish majority was protective against loneliness among immigrants, whereas identifying with an ethnic minority group was protective against loneliness among descendants.     

Coordination Quality in Central Government – the Case of Norway

Public Organization Review - This article focuses on perceived coordination quality among Norwegian civil servants. It explains how they assess the quality of coordination in their own field of...     

Present-but-online: How mobile devices may harm purposeful co-presence in organizations (and what can be done about it)

The introduction of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets), to the workplace has had many positive effects. While research also indicates that mobile devices may lead to the misallocation and depletion of attention, the negative effects, particularly on interactions in organizations, remain less well understood. We draw on micro-sociology to analyze the use of mobile devices in situations of purposeful co-presence, such as meetings and settings that require a joint effort to solve one or more problems. In these situations, the use of mobile devices is likely to de-energize actors and lead to behaviors that are contrary to the aims of establishing situations of purposeful co-presence. We identify ways in which organizations can avoid the negative consequences of mobile devices (while keeping the positive consequences), ranging from building norms regarding the use of such devices to restructuring work processes (e.g., making activities less interdependent and making less use of purposeful co-presence).     

Lack of fit tests based on sums of ordered residuals for linear models

Christensen & Lin ( 2015 ) suggested two lack of fit tests to assess the adequacy of a linear model based on partial sums of residuals. In particular, their tests evaluated the adequacy of the mean function. Their tests relied on asymptotic results without requiring small sample normality. We propose four new tests, find their asymptotic distributions, and propose an alternative simulation method for defining tests that is remarkably robust to the distribution of the errors. To assess their strengths and weaknesses, the Christensen & Lin ( 2015 ) tests and the new tests were compared in different scenarios by simulation. In particular, the new tests include two based on partial sums of absolute residuals. Previous partial sums of residuals tests have used signed residuals whose values when summed can cancel each other out. The use of absolute residuals requires small sample normality, but allows detection of lack of fit that was previously not possible with partial sums of residuals.     

Modeling the mental health service utilization decisions of university undergraduates: A discrete choice conjoint experiment

Objective: We modeled design factors influencing the intent to use a university mental health service. Participants: Between November 2012 and October 2014, 909 undergraduates participated. Method: Using a discrete choice experiment, participants chose between hypothetical campus mental health services. Results: Latent class analysis identified three segments. A Psychological/Psychiatric Service segment (45.5%) was most likely to contact campus health services delivered by psychologists or psychiatrists. An Alternative Service segment (39.3%) preferred to talk to peer-counselors who had experienced mental health problems. A Hesitant segment (15.2%) reported greater distress but seemed less intent on seeking help. They preferred services delivered by psychologists or psychiatrists. Simulations predicted that, rather than waiting for standard counseling, the Alternative Service segment would prefer immediate access to E-Mental health. The Usual Care and Hesitant segments would wait 6 months for standard counseling. Conclusions: E-Mental Health options could engage students who may not wait for standard services.