Measures of occupational status in a special population

Previous research has shown that indirect measures of occupational status such as the Duncan Socioeconomic Index (SEI) are more valid than direct measures of occupational prestige, such as those developed by the National Opinion Research Center and by Treiman, for analyses of social mobility. The Professional, Technical, and Kindred (PTK) occupations available for the SEI are a biased sample of all PTK occupations. Do findings on the validity of the SEI pertaining to the general population hold for special populations, such as college graduates? Confirmatory factor analysis comparing the validities of four measures of occupational SES—the SEI, a 1960 counterpart of the SEI developed by Siegel and based on all Census occupations, the NORC prestige scale, and the Treiman international prestige scale—showed that the indirect measure developed by Siegel was clearly more valid than the other three measures. Since these findings indicate that the predictors in a regression equation are more valid than the criterion, there is some question as to what the criterion should really be.     

Birth parents’ perceptions of professional practice in child care and adoption proceedings: implications for practice

This paper explores non‐relinquishing birth parents’ experiences of contested child care and adoption proceedings. It highlights the perceptions and voices of birth parents which are rarely prioritized in dominant discourses of professional practice in this area. The paper reviews previous related research and also discusses a small‐scale empirical study which elicited the perspectives of three birth parents whose children had been made subject to care proceedings and placed for adoption in England. Drawing on previous research and this study, the paper makes range of practice recommendations for sensitive professional practice with birth parents during contested child care and adoption proceedings.     

Case studies of technology roadmapping in mining

Mining is a long established art with legacy processes and institutional structures that face rapidly changing technological environments. The perception is that technology planning and forecasting receives priority attention only as far as they may be linked to making production tonnage in the short term, thus giving the impression that new technology may be introduced without developing a culture and operational requirements that influence successful implementation of new technologies. With depleting ore grades of existing mines, and the prevailing global financial crisis making it prohibitive to develop richer sources, mining is considered to be short-term risk averse and this accentuates a more conservative approach towards technology planning and forecasting. Based on surveys and interviews with practicing miners, this paper discusses three case studies on the practice of technology planning and forecasting in mining firms. It is evident that technology planning and forecasting, and particularly the use of the roadmapping approach, is not a ‘culture’ common to mining firms.     

Measuring performance of two-stage network structures by DEA: A review and future perspective

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a method for measuring the efficiency of peer decision making units (DMUs). An important area of development in recent years has been devoted to applications wherein DMUs represent two-stage or network processes. One particular subset of such processes is those in which all the outputs from the first stage are the only inputs to the second stage. The current paper reviews these models and establishes relations among various approaches. We show that all the existing approaches can be categorized as using either Stackelberg (leader-follower), or cooperative game concepts. Future perspectives and challenges are discussed.     

Is philanthropy being used by corporate wrongdoers to buy good will?

While an increasing number of philosophers and community activists argue in favor of corporate philanthropy, the practice is not without its critics. A number of firms that have restated suspect earnings also appear on lists of top corporate givers or are ranked among most ethical firms, prompting the suspicion that companies are using philanthropy as a kind of moral window-dressing. This paper explores whether restating firms are (1) using philanthropy to divert public attention away from suspect financial results; or (2) making donations to buy good will or a better reputation after they have been required to restate suspect earnings. Our results paint a mixed picture of the morality of corporate philanthropy. Firms forced to restate suspect earnings do seem to be using philanthropy either to divert attention away from their lackluster earnings or to elicit good will from the large community after such restatements. However, the reverse is not true. Just because a firm is a top giver, it does not follow that it is more likely to be a restater of earnings. Nor did we find evidence that firms ranked as very ethical are more likely to be restaters than non-restaters. Firms engage in philanthropy for a variety of reasons. We should not uncritically praise them for their giving, but neither should we regard with a cynical eye all corporate reputations for goodness or all corporation donations.     

OR models as tools for the regulation of industry

This paper presents some novel observations and recommendations about the uses and usefulness of operational research models as a tool for regulation of industry. Reference is made to the first use of a model for regulatory analyses by the United States Federal Power Commission in a natural gas proceeding. A criticism is given of this first attempt to use a model for regulatory purposes, and from this criticism a strategy for a more effective use of models is developed. As a part of this strategy the concept of ex post models is introduced. In addition the potential conflict of model use and the guarantee of due process of law is considered. The paper concludes with a set of remarks on the recommended posture that an operational research analyst should assume when working with policy makers.     

The Needle and the Damage Done: Research, Action Research, and the Organizational and Social Construction of Health in the “Information Society”

This paper critically reviews the actionresearch paradigm that has evolved over the last 50years within and outside The Tavistock Insitute, withreference to radical shifts in the social construction of medicine and health that are occurring as aresult of the transition toward the informationsociety. The medical domain has been chosen as anappropriate space within which to review the actionresearch paradigm because it bridges both the past andfuture of the Institute. The paper firstly considers theoriginal conception of action research andsociotechnical systems, and the role of consultants, in relation to Foucualt's analysis of powerrelations, social control, and dividingpractices. It then describes and analyzes recentdevelopments in the field of medicine and healthcareservice provision that, on the one hand, offer opportunities forincreased self-management and control by consumers overphysical, social, and emotional self-hoodand on the other could lead to further socialsurveillance and the domination and subjectification of theindividual. Drawing on recent work using innovativemodels of action research in the field of HIV/AIDS, thepaper concludes by discussing ways in which action research could harness developments ininformation and communication technologies to maximizeindividual and collective engagement in new forms oforganizational and social relations.     

Nonverbal intimacy,sex, and compliance: A field study

The present study was designed to explore further the effects of nonverbal behaviors and sex on compliance. Male and female subjects who had just found a dime in a phone booth were approached by a male or female experimenter and were asked to return the dime that the experimenter had supposedly just lost. In the Eye Contact condition, the experimenter gazed at the subject as the request was made, whereas in the No-Eye Contact condition he/she did not. In addition, the experimenter lightly touched half of the subjects while making his/her request, but did not touch the other half. Replicating previous findings, it was found that both eye contact (significantly) and touching (marginally) produced increased rates of compliance. Extending prior results, these effects were obtained for male experimenters. Furthermore, a Sex of experimenter times Sex of subject interaction effect was obtained, such that subjects were much more willing to comply with the request of an opposite, rather than same sex experimenter. Questionnaire data suggested that: 1) subjects were aware of the touch, but not of the eye contact variable, and 2) the requesters were perceived as much more attractive when they were of the opposite, rather than the same sex as the subjects.