Structure of the public relations/communication department: Key findings from a global study

This paper reports on some of the core findings from a program of research focused on examining the structure of public relations/communication departments. It draws on a recent major global study that was sponsored by the former Research Foundation of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Analyzing the results from interviews with 26 Chief Communication Officers (CCOs) located in each of the five continents and from a survey sample of some 278 CCOs based in organizations headquartered across the globe, the study found quite notable variations in the type of departmental structures. No one dominant structural model emerged. In effect, each organization appeared to adopt a structural design to suit their individual circumstances, although there were nevertheless some reasonably common component functional elements within each department. CCOs identified those variables that they believed most influenced the design of the public relations department structure. While recognizing department structure is situation dependent, the evidence suggests that CCOs create hybrid structures unique to the circumstances. What was perhaps most surprising was that department structure did not appear to be strongly influenced by department size, other than in terms of the vertical structural design. In short, there do not appear to be any common formulas or prescribed solutions for how organizations should or do orchestrate the design of the public relations department structure, rather CCOs appear to be able to exercise a degree of latitude in determining what works best for them.     

Mapping Discrimination Experienced by Indonesian Trans* FtM Persons

This work sought to document how Indonesian trans* FtM persons experienced discrimination across the interlinked domains of social networks, religious and educational institutions, employment and the workplace, and health care institutions. Objectives were (1) to map the discrimination experienced by trans* FtM individuals in Indonesia, and (2) to establish the specific priorities of the Indonesian trans* FtM community. In-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation was used involving 14 respondents. Findings revealed that respondents experienced othering through rejection, misidentification, harassment, “correction,” and bureaucratic discrimination across the five preestablished domains. Health care and a lack of information emerged as areas of particular concern for respondents. This work calls for health care that is sensitive to the needs of trans* FtM people coupled with high-quality information to alleviate the cycles through which discrimination is sustained.     

Simplifying the Water Poverty Index

In this paper, principal components methodology is used to derive simplified and cost effective indexes of water poverty. Using a well known data set for 147 countries from which an earlier five-component water poverty index comprising of Resources, Access, Capacity, Use and Environment was constructed, we find that a simplified three-component composite index comprising of Access, Capacity, and Environment, with unequal weights, or its two-component counterpart comprising of Capacity and Environment with equal weights, would be more cost-effective to construct without much loss of information. These simplified indexes have high positive and negative correlations with the Human Development Index and the Human Poverty Index, respectively.     

Gender, racial, and ethnic disclosure in NIH K-Award funded diabetes and obesity clinical trials

In 1993, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) passed The Revitalization Act (Subtitle B) which mandated that all NIH funded clinical trials have "appropriate representation" of minority and women subjects. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of the mandate by examining the reporting and inclusion of minority and female subjects into NIH K-Award funded clinical trials, addressing the minority predominant diagnoses of diabetes and clinical obesity. Using the CRISP search engine and PUBMED, we selected publications published by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) K-grant recipients during 1989-2004, associated with all the diabetes and obesity clinical trials. Studies were stratified into three timeline categories (1989-1993, pre-mandate; 1993-1996, post-mandate, and 1997-present, well past mandate) to evaluate trends in the recruiting of minorities and women before, during, and after the passing of the Revitalization Act. Of the 165 papers, only 37% disclosed race, a number that did not improve over time (p=.15), whereas 92% disclosed gender. Clinical trials that focused on females increased across the 3 timeframes (p < .001) for diabetes studies but not obesity studies. Overall, disclosure of race declined over the 3 timeframes whereas individually, the disclosure of African Americans improved.     

The Euclidean distance classifier: an alternative to the linear discriminant function

The sample linear discriminant function (LDF) is known to perform poorly when the number of features p is large relative to the size of the training samples, A simple and rarely applied alternative to the sample LDF is the sample Euclidean distance classifier (EDC). Raudys and Pikelis (1980) have compared the sample LDF with three other discriminant functions, including thesample EDC, when classifying individuals from two spherical normal populations. They have concluded that the sample EDC outperforms the sample LDF when p is large relative to the training sample size. This paper derives conditions for which the two classifiers are equivalent when all parameters are known and employs a Monte Carlo simulation to compare the sample EDC with the sample LDF no only for the spherical normal case but also for several nonspherical parameter configurations. Fo many practical situations, the sample EDC performs as well as or superior to the sample LDF, even for nonspherical covariance configurations.     

Public Intimacy: Dynamics of Seduction in Male Homosocial Interactions

Male‐to‐male (homosocial) friendship bonds extend from the public to the private sphere. Relying on in‐depth interviews from a sample of thirty Israeli men sharing a common background of military socialization, this article analyzes how male friends communicate intimacy in public spaces with diverse social and organizational settings. In contrast to the common depiction of men's joking‐relationship as an attempt to maintain autonomy, the author suggests that the homosocial performance is a semi‐arbitrary, ambivalent language of relatedness endorsing closeness. The men participate in humorous interactions involving idioms, nicknames, curses, nonsense talk, aggressive gestures, and embraces. These verbal and bodily expressions send an unclear message that teases the participants and draws them to engage deeper in the interaction, generating a dynamic of seduction. The men's expressive interactions are staged publicly under the guise of instrumental action. It is suggested that although this homosocial staging attempts to erase hints of homoeroticism, it is this very erasure that produces desire as its emergent outcome. Set against the backdrop of instrumental activity, this performance of pleasure serves to empower and privilege male social and organizational networks.     

Tales of Hidden Lives: a critical examination of life history research with people who have learning difficulties

This paper explores the use of life history research with people who have learning difficulties. [1] A number of strengths and weaknesses associated with the life history as a method of imparting life experiences are examined. Particular emphasis is given to the dilemmas that researchers may face in explicating the life histories of informants labelled as having learning difficulties. With reference to literature on narrative-based research and by drawing upon my own research experiences, I will argue that life histories reaffirm the personal in social theorising, whilst providing a methodology in which individual and social worlds may be drawn together. In addition, eliciting life histories may promote a vivid sense of the research process, thus demystifying the often over technical and jargonised nature of social scientific study. On the down-side, I will suggest that images of the 'imaginative researcher' and 'articulate informant' portrayed in much life history literature, threaten to stifle researchers' concerns with the inclusion of people with learning difficulties. Furthermore, I will draw attention to dilemmas that arise in making links between an individual's life history and social theory. Finally, problems relating to issues of bias and power are explored. In research involving people with learning difficulties, it is concluded that life histories cogently expose the experiences of people so-labelled and therefore deserve further usage albeit with critical assessment.