Theorizing Managerial Work: a Pragmatic Pluralist Approach to Interdisciplinary Research

Management research is especially open to the benefits of using insights from a variety of social science disciplines but it should not use these indiscriminately. A strategy of pragmatic pluralism is proposed as a way of ensuring that concepts taken from different social science paradigms or disciplines are drawn together into a single coherent perspective to shape the particular study to which they relate. This is illustrated with reference to an ethnographic study of managerial work carried out by the author.     

On the effectiveness of cognitive feedback from an interface agent

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of task information (TI) provided by an interface agent during the idea evaluation and integration step of the problem formulation stage of the problem solving process. The effectiveness assessment was based on solving diagnostic decision problems in the domain of complex industrial machinery. Ten domain experts participated in this study. Decision support was provided by a case-based reasoning system. Findings suggest that TI provided by the interface agent had no effect on the decision maker's performance, nor on the associated cognitive effort. However, a verbal protocol analysis revealed that the ten subjects used the interface agent to verify their decision processes. The results and their implications are discussed with respect to current findings in the area of decision support systems.     

Profession and Workplace Expectations of Social Workers: Implications for Social Worker Subjective Well-Being

The expectations people have of social workers, and those that social workers hold of themselves, can negatively affect social worker's perceived well-being, via work stress and strain and other negative workplace experiences. This qualitative research presents findings that help to better understand what aspects of these expectations have the greatest impact on the well-being of a sample (n = 19) of social workers with reported low levels of workplace and profession satisfaction. Our data support a conceptual framework of social worker's expectations that relate to outcomes of practice, social worker roles, the perceived functioning by other health-related professionals, conflict in direct practice with social worker identity and having to work in adverse situations, as all contributing to the well-being of social workers. Findings are discussed in relation to social work practice and the role and function of professional associations and educational programmes in addressing these issues that emerge in practice.     

Workgroup interdependence and satisfaction from a developmental perspective: the moderating role of the group’s life cycle stage / Interdependencia y satisfacción en el grupo de trabajo desde la perspectiva del desarrollo: el rol moderador de la fase del ciclo de vida grupal

From a developmental perspective, workgroups adjust and modify the way they function over time. The present study aims to test, at the group level, the moderating role of the group’s life phase in the relationship between workgroup interdependence ties in terms of task, outcome and functions, assessed by social network density and group satisfaction. A sample of 84 teams from various companies participated in this research. The results showed that the group’s development phase determines the way that outcome interdependence density in teams is associated with satisfaction and reveal the existence of differences between the second and fourth development stages. Therefore, the group’s life cycle stage should be considered as a relevant variable in research and intervention with groups in the workplace.     

Normes,théorie des jeux et pratiques participatives: le poids réel des travailleurs dans les économies libérales

Les auteurs analysent l'effet de la directive européenne relative à l'information et à la consultation des travailleurs sur les pratiques participatives en entreprise au Royaume‐Uni et en Irlande. Dans une analyse conceptuelle et empirique, qui fait appel à la théorie des jeux, ils formulent trois hypothèses explicatives, qu'ils cherchent à vérifier avec des données qualitatives recueillies auprès de seize entreprises. La démonstration permet de comprendre pourquoi la coopération, gage de gains mutuels, n'est pas la solution qui l'emporte dans les pays examinés, et elle nous en dit un peu plus sur l'effet des normes sur la gestion participative dans les économies de marché libérales.     

An Explanatory Model of Dating Violence Risk Factors in Spanish Adolescents

Dating violence is a serious public health issue that needs further understanding in terms of risk factors that may be involved in it. The main goal of this study was to test a mediational model of dating violence risk factors. The sample was composed of 477 secondary and college students from Spain (59% females). A dynamic developmental explanatory model considering aggressiveness, insecure attachment, interparental conflict, and peer dating violence was tested using a multigroup structural equation model. Aggressiveness partially mediated the relation between anxious attachment and dating violence and fully mediated the association between interparental conflict resolution and dating violence. Furthermore, perceived peer dating violence was a direct predictor of dating violence. Implications for prevention and intervention plans are discussed.     

Physiological Responses to Near-Miss Outcomes and Personal Control During Simulated Gambling

Near-miss outcomes during gambling are non-win outcomes that fall close to a pay-out. While objectively equivalent to an outright miss, near-misses motivate ongoing play and may therefore be implicated in the development of disordered gambling. Given naturalistic data showing increases in heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) during periods of real gambling play, we sought to explore the phasic impact of win, near-miss and full-miss outcomes on physiological arousal in a controlled laboratory environment. EDA and HR were monitored as healthy, student participants (n = 33) played a simulated slot-machine task involving unpredictable monetary wins. A second gambling distortion, perceived personal control, was manipulated within the same task by allowing the participant to select the play icon on some trials, and having the computer automatically select the play icon on other trials. Near-misses were rated as less pleasant than full-misses. However, on trials that involved personal choice, near-misses produced higher ratings of ‘continue to play’ than full-misses. Winning outcomes were associated with phasic EDA responses that did not vary with personal choice. Compared to full-misses, near-miss outcomes also elicited an EDA increase, which was greater on personal choice trials. Near-misses were also associated with greater HR acceleration than other outcomes. Near-miss outcomes are capable of eliciting phasic changes in physiological arousal consistent with a state of subjective excitement, despite their objective non-win status.