Powerline Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields: A Pilot Study of Risk Perception

The perception of the potential risk arising from human exposure to 50/60 Hz electric and magnetic fields was studied with a quasi-random sample of 116 well-educated, opinion leaders using the risk perception framework previously developed by Slovic, Fischhoff, and Lichtenstein. These individuals rated exposure to fields from transmission lines and electric blankets on a variety of scales that have been found useful in characterizing people's risk attitudes and perceptions. These judgments allowed us to conjecture about the likely desire for regulation of these potential hazards and the likely response to a publicized problem (e.g., an accident or ominous research finding) involving these two sources of exposure. Various forms of detailed information about 50/60 Hz fields were supplied to respondents. The provision of information produced modest, but statistically significant, changes in perceptions in the direction of greater concern about the risks. In response to questions of public policy, participants desired modest regulatory control of field exposure from transmission lines and little or no control of field exposure from appliances like electric blankets.     

Small Group Studies of Regulatory Decision-Making for Power-Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields

Three groups of lay opinion leaders were used in a group role-playing decision exercise designed to explore problems in public risk management decision-making. The application domain was possible risks from the 60 Hz electric and magnetic fields associated with high-voltage power transmission lines. While there were differences in the make-up and dynamics of the three groups, the structure and substantive content of the tasks undertaken dominated intergroup variation in terms of the factors that were most important to group members' decisions. The groups displayed sophistication in their identification of decision attributes and in many of the arguments they advanced, but experienced difficulties in structuring and making trade-offs and decisions. The groups were not good at normalizing or otherwise manipulating quantitative information, and used it largely in the form it was received. Upper-bound risk estimates were treated operationally in most group discussions as expected values. Several kinds of strong framing effects were observed in the use of cost and risk information. Specific quantitative results obtained must be treated with care but may provide a starting place for further work on the acceptable level of transmission line risk.     

The free rider argument for compulsory union dues

This paper examines the free rider argument for compulsory union dues. The contemporary theory of collective goods does not support the union argument because a free rider problem is not a sufficient condition to rationalize the private use of coercion. The paper evaluates quantitative data on union security and applies the theory of local public goods to union services. The focus is on efficiency aspects of security arrangements.     

Completing projects on-time: how project acceleration affects new product development

How do accelerated time goals affect the execution and completion of new product development (NPD) projects? This research addresses this question as it relates to project content, project leadership, and aspects of design integration. Research data were drawn from a survey of 131 completed NPD projects from firms representing a wide variety of manufacturing industries. The results of an analysis of both intentionally accelerated and normally-paced projects suggest that project acceleration interacts with project content, leadership, and integration variables to affect on-time performance differently across NPD project types, sometimes in surprising ways. Two primary effects are posited to explain these inconsistent effects. First, NPD acceleration tends to increase the difficulty of the project by introducing new procedures and by reducing schedule slack. These changes are thought to exacerbate project content factors and to raise the value of NPD leadership and integration techniques. At the same time, an intentional acceleration strategy is thought to signal increased priority for the project, causing development personnel to make more careful decisions, and to more effectively implement new technologies and techniques. The article discusses the implications of the findings for future research and practice.     

Market-based Organizational Learning and Market Performance Gains

Building upon the market orientation-performance thesis, many investigators are now concerned with broader organizational learning considerations and the antecedents that underlie the analytical properties of learning about competitors and markets. Described as a process of market-based organizational learning, an empirical test of a model is provided which indicates that: when organizations exhibit more favourable learning values (three value-based constructs), their market information processing behaviours and analytical capabilities improve (three knowledge-based constructs), which thereby directly impacts upon market-based outcomes (a market performance construct) that the organization is able to generate. This model is tested with a path-analytic approach from data generated in the UK financial services industry. Discussion of these findings is made in the light of pertinent literature streams, and several implications for future research are provided.