Turning plans into action— A case study

This article focuses attention on the shorter term and on improving financial performance. The author puts forward familiar arguments that planning and action should be a continuous process involving line management and the major staff functions, the whole process directed by the Chief Executive.

The effectiveness of a Corporate Planning system is very much influenced by the extent to which it is seen to improve short term results and medium term potential for the business as a whole. The Corporate Plan should be conceived and used as a working document. The article illustrates how Simon Engineering set about meeting these criteria.     

The use of constructive-developmental theory to advance the understanding of leadership

Constructive-developmental theory is a stage theory of adult development that focuses on the growth and elaboration of a person's ways of understanding the self and the world. In this article we review how the constructive-developmental frameworks of Kegan [Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press], Torbert [Torbert, W. R. (1987). Managing the corporate dream: Restructuring for long-term success. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.], and Kohlberg [Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In D. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization: Theory and research. New York: Rand McNally] have been applied in the theoretical and empirical literature on leadership and management. Although the literature has produced a number of propositions, the notion that a leader's order of development should impact his or her leadership effectiveness or managerial performance has generated the most research. We found mixed support for this proposition as well as a number of limitations in the research in general. To have a greater impact on the leadership field, constructive-developmental theory needs to generate more robust research, to link more clearly with on-going streams of leadership research, and to explore the contribution of aspects of the theory beyond individual order of development.     

Family expressiveness styles and nonverbal communication skills

The relationship between family norms and practices of emotional expression and nonverbal communication skill was investigated in two studies and a meta-analysis. Based on the general socialization hypothesis presented in the literature, specific predictions were for (a) better non-verbal judging skill in individuals whose families inhibit expressiveness, relative to individuals whose families value expressiveness, and (b) better nonverbal sending skill in individuals whose families value expressiveness, relative to individuals whose families inhibit expressiveness. In the two studies, family expressiveness styles, measured by college students' retrospective self-reports, was related to the skills of sending and judging emotional communications via voice tone and judging emotional communications via facial expression.This research was conducted while the author was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship at the John Hopkins University. Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, MD 1982. Many thanks are due to Judith A. Hall, Cynthia Rand, Marylee Taylor, and Miron Zuckerman, who shared their unpublished data. Additionally, the helpful suggestions of Judith Hall and the reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.     

The influence of rural-urban migration on migrants' fertility in Korea,Mexico and Cameroon

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the relationship between rural-urban migration and fertility in Korea, Mexico, and Cameroon. Using an autoregressive model, the results show a significant rural-urban migration adaptation effect in Korea and Mexico, a reduction of 2.57 and 1.45 children during the entire childbearing period, respectively, when compared to a rural stayer, even after the effect of selection has been controlled. Rural-urban migration has a very small impact on fertility in Cameroon. The unexpected result for Cameroon is due to the fact that the fertility-increasing effect of urban residency on the improved supply conditions of births, such as reduced infertility, offsets the fertility-depressing effect of urban residency on the demand for births. As a result of the adaptation to urban fertility norms, the number of country-wide births was reduced significantly in Mexico and Korea over the time periods studied.