Testing How Management Matters in an Era of Government by Performance Management

Public administration finds itself in an era of government byperformance management, which is reflected in the widespreadassumption that management is a key determinant of performance,and that it is reasonable to expect managers to measurably improveorganizational effectiveness. This article joins a growing literaturein seeking to conceptualize and empirically test how externalenvironmental influences and internal management factors combineto create performance, relying on data from the 2002–2003National Administrative Studies Project (NASP-II) survey ofstate government health and human services officials. We categorizemanagerial efforts to facilitate organizational performanceas determined either through their interactions with the organizationalenvironment, or through employing workable levers to changeinternal organizational culture, structure, and technology.Among the external environmental variables we find that thesupport of elected officials and the influence of the publicand media have a positive impact on effectiveness. Among internalmanagement choices, the ability to create a developmental organizationalculture, establish a focus on results through goal clarity,and decentralize decision-making authority are all positivelyassociated with organizational effectiveness.     

Asymptotic bias in the linear mixed effects model under non-ignorable missing data mechanisms

Summary.  In longitudinal studies, missingness of data is often an unavoidable problem. Estimators from the linear mixed effects model assume that missing data are missing at random. However, estimators are biased when this assumption is not met. In the paper, theoretical results for the asymptotic bias are established under non-ignorable drop-out, drop-in and other missing data patterns. The asymptotic bias is large when the drop-out subjects have only one or no observation, especially for slope-related parameters of the linear mixed effects model. In the drop-in case, intercept-related parameter estimators show substantial asymptotic bias when subjects enter late in the study. Eight other missing data patterns are considered and these produce asymptotic biases of a variety of magnitudes.     

解决我国农业剩余劳动力就业问题的思路

农业剩余劳动力的就业问题 ,是我国经济中的一个重要问题。要解决好这一问题 ,就需要制定引导农业劳动力转移的战略 ,多方寻求劳动力转移的途径 ,努力提高农业劳动力素质 ,建立健全劳动力市场 ,营造有利于农业剩余劳动力就业的制度环境 ,控制人口过快增长     

林业发展阶段研究概述

阶段性是事物发展必须遵循的一个客观规律,林业的发展同样也具有阶段性.只有充分认识各个时期林业发展所处的历史阶段和相应特征,才能更好地制定政策和发展战略.该文将以往的林业方面的阶段性研究加以综述,以期获得收益和启发,并为以后的研究打下基础.     

The Impact of Question and Respondent Characteristics on Comprehension and Mapping Difficulties

Behavior coding is one technique researchers use to detect problemsin survey questions, but it has been primarily explored as apractical tool rather than a source of insight into the theoreticalunderstanding of the cognitive processes by which respondentsanswer survey questions. The latter is the focus of the currentinvestigation. Using data from a large study in which face-to-faceinterviews were taped and extensive behavior coding was done,we tested whether sets of respondent behavior codes could beused to distinguish respondent difficulties with comprehensionof the question from difficulties associated with mapping ajudgment onto the response format provided, and whether characteristicsof the survey questions and respondents could be used to predictwhen and for whom such difficulties would occur. Sets of behaviorcodes were identified that reflected comprehension and mappingdifficulties, and these two types of difficulties were associatedwith different question and respondent characteristics. Thisevidence suggests that behavior coding shows promise as a toolfor researchers studying the cognitive processes involved inanswering survey questions.     

Goal Ambiguity and Organizational Performance in U.S. Federal Agencies

In spite of numerous observations that government organizationshave high levels of organizational goal ambiguity that exertmajor influences on their other characteristics, few researchershave measured goal ambiguity and tested these frequent assertions.In previous research, we developed measures of four dimensionsof goal ambiguity: mission comprehension ambiguity, directivegoal ambiguity, evaluative goal ambiguity, and priority goalambiguity. Confirming hypotheses developed from the literatureon public organizations, the latter three variables showed relationsto such organizational characteristics as organizational age,financial publicness (proportion of funding from governmentallocations), and regulatory status. This article reports asecond analytical step of examining the relations between thegoal ambiguity dimensions and indicators of organizational performancebased on responses to the 2000 National Partnership for ReinventingGovernment Survey of federal employees. The performance variablesincluded managerial effectiveness, customer service orientation,productivity, and work quality. Regression analyses with numerouscontrol variables found that directive, evaluative, and prioritygoal ambiguity related negatively to managerial effectiveness.All four performance indicators showed significant negativerelationships with evaluative goal ambiguity and directive goalambiguity. The results provide further evidence of the viabilityof the new measures of goal ambiguity, support theory-basedbut previously untested hypotheses, and further indicate thefeasibility and value of analyzing goal ambiguity of governmentorganizations.     

人居环境·古典园林·水

该文在查阅古文献的基础上 ,对我国古代在城市水资源合理利用与开发的同时 ,如何与改善人居环境、城市景观相结合进行了分析研究。古人的这种做法对于如何改善我国目前日益恶劣的城市生态环境以及如何使人居环境工程建设与城市景观建设密切结合 ,给予了很好的启示作用     

我国优秀女子背越式跳高运动员力量水平评价

本文通过对我国 45名优秀女子背越式跳高运动员力量训练手段进行分析研究 ,找出影响专项成绩的关键因素 ,为检查评定运动员的力量训练水平提供准确、易行的检查性项目。通过R型因子分析和逐步回归分析 ,得到各项检查性指标与运动成绩的数学模型 ,制定出评定运动员力量训练水平的评定标准和评定方法 ,从而给教练员提供了评价力量训练水平的量化标准     

传习中国书法的两个创议

该文依据分类学的原则 ,剖析了沿用一千多年的“永字八法” ,减撇加折 ,构成了“新永字八法”。同时推出了“方圆米格” ,不仅适用于楷书 ,也可传习行、草、隶、篆诸种书体。改进后的“大小多用方圆米格” ,既可写大小多种字体 ,又能提高利用率。