AWARD WINNING PAPER: 1989 ALPHA KAPPA DELTA UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION

This paper analyzes the influence of television sports media on the socialization of the black male youth by integrating data drawn from the comprehensive literature on both subjects. It is argued that sports media creates mistaken illusions for impressionable black youths and produces a false sense of potential career success. As a consequence of the media's distortion, the emphasis that blacks pay to athletics tends to impede their socialization and academic performance.     

A Piagetian approach to social work practice with children and adolescents

While the field of social work is heavily committed to the treatment of children and adolescents with behavior problems, it has given little attention to the application of Piaget's egocentrism theory to these problems. This paper outlines the theory proposed by Piaget and reviews subsequent empirical validation and clinical applications of his theory. The role of social work in developing more sophisticated applications of Piaget's theory is discussed.     

Objectives, missions and performance measures in multinationals

This article examines performance evaluation systems of fifteen multinationals — five German, five UK and five US — and how they relate to corporate strategy or mission statements in each case. The technique of analysis used is the multilayered case study approach, and includes ‘face-to-face’ interviews.The results, by authors Jeffrey Coates, Edward Davis, Stephen Longden, Raymond Stacey (Aston University) and Clive Emmanuel (University of Glasgow), are very instructive. The cases show a consistent use of missions/strategies, objectives and performance measures within the companies, but wide variation between them. Detailed tables are presented which show clearly the range of variation between the companies and countries concerned.     

What gives? Cross-national differences in students’ giving behavior

This study is targeted to understanding the giving of time and money among a specific cohort - university students across 13 countries. It explores predictors of different combinations of giving behaviors: only volunteering, only donating, neither, as compared to doing both. Among the predictors of these four types of giving behavior, we also account for cross-national differences across models of civil society. The findings show that students predominantly prefer to give money than to volunteer time. In addition, differences in civil society regimes provide insights into which type of giving behavior might dominate. As expected, in the Statist and Traditional models of civil society, students consistently were more likely to be disengaged in giving behaviors (neither volunteering nor giving money) in comparison to students in the Liberal model who were more likely to report doing ‘both’ giving behaviors. An important implication of our findings is that while individual characteristics and values influence giving of time and money, these factors are played out in the context of civil society regimes, whose effects cannot be ignored. Our analysis has made a start in a new area of inquiry attempting to explain different giving behaviors using micro and macro level factors and raises several implications for future research.     

Physiological Regulation and Fearfulness as Predictors of Young Children's Empathy‐related Reactions

Indices of physiological regulation (i.e., resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] and RSA suppression) and observed fearfulness were tested as predictors of empathy‐related reactions to an unfamiliar person's simulated distress within and across 18 (T1, N = 247) and 30 (T2, N = 216) months of age. Controlling for T1 helping, high RSA suppression and low fearfulness at T1 predicted T2 helping. In a structural model, empathic concern was marginally positively related to resting RSA at both assessments whereas personal distress was related to RSA suppression within time (marginally positively at T1 and significantly negatively at T2). Fearfulness was associated with self‐oriented, distress‐related reactions within time. Comfort seeking (an index of personal distress) declined in mean level with age whereas helping increased, and both behaviors exhibited differential continuity (as did resting RSA). Individual, as well as developmental, differences in the types of reactions that young children exhibit when witnessing others' suffering and distress were discussed.     

Two Sides of the Same Coin? The Differing Roles of Assets and Consumer Debt in Marriage

This study examines whether assets and consumer debts relate to change in marital satisfaction and conflict in opposing ways or in independent ways. It also tests whether these relationships are direct or mediated. Using a nationally representative longitudinal sample, the results indicate that assets and consumer debt influence change in marital outcomes in mostly independent rather than complementary ways. Consistent with prior literature, assets work indirectly by decreasing feelings of economic pressure. Consumer debt, however, directly predicts changes in marital conflict, even after controlling for variables in the family stress model. Debts also act indirectly by decreasing depression once economic pressure is included in the model. This unexpected suppressor effect suggests that the meaning of debts may not be straightforward.     

Corporate planning in small companies— a survey

The current state of research on corporate planning is directed at investigations of actual practices within specific industries. It is believed that by so doing, a more generally applicable theory of corporate planning will ultimately be developed. Within this broad framework, the study reported upon in this article was undertaken so that a determination could be made of the current level of actual planning by small businesses. More specifically, it focuses upon the corporate planning process within small and medium sized companies located in New England, U.S.A.     

Expatriate adjustment and effectiveness: The mediating role of managerial practices

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of relations-oriented managerial behaviors on the relationship between two modes of expatriate adjustment—role innovation and personal change—and contextual performance. Using data from 194 expatriates and 505 of their subordinates, we found evidence of full mediation for the role innovation–performance relationship. For ratings of expatriate effectiveness, recognizing and team building behaviors appear to fully mediate the role innovation–performance relationship. For ratings of supervisor satisfaction, inspiring, supporting, and team building appear to fully mediate the role innovation–performance relationship. No significant results were found for the personal change–performance relationship. The results provide insights for extending current models of the expatriate adjustment process, and understanding the means by which expatriates fulfill their responsibilities.     

Leadership in Collaborative Community Health Partnerships

This article examines key leadership issues in community health partnerships. We assert that leadership in a partnership is differentiated from that in a traditional, hierarchical organization in that participation is voluntary and egalitarian and often entails cooperation by organizations with different cultures and agendas. Partnership leaders, accordingly, often lack formal control over members and their actions. Using qualitative analysis of 115 site‐visit interviews of participants in four partnerships in the Community Care Networks demonstration program, we identify and discuss five themes of collaborative leadership: systems thinking, vision‐based leadership, collateral leadership, power sharing, and process‐based leadership. We then discuss the multiple challenges that collaborative leadership faces in a community health partnership.