The Effects of Progressively Thinning High-Preference Item Delivery on Responding in Employees

The use of mixed-preference reinforcer delivery (i.e., the random delivery of a set of items with varying degrees of preference for each individual) with employees has been found to produce moderate levels of responding in an analog setting; however, mixed reinforcer delivery may not conform to the recommendations made by some popular writers in organizational behavior management. The current investigation used a progressively thinning high-preference stimulus delivery procedure to investigate the use of mixed reinforcer delivery with 5 employees. Results indicated that most participants did not reliably complete work when the percent chance of earning a high-preference item dropped below 100%. These results do not support the use of varied reinforcers in applied settings.     

"In My Opinion . . .": Justices' Opinion Writing in the U.S. Supreme Court, 1946–1997

Objectives . We develop hypotheses to explain the opinion writing by justices on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1946–1997. Methods . We use data from the U.S. Supreme Court Database, Phases I and II, to examine the proportion of cases in which a justice writes an opinion each term as well as the differences between writing majority, dissenting, and concurring opinions. OLS regression with robust standard errors is the estimation procedure. Results . We find that a justice's position as Chief Justice, professional and education background, reputation ranking, and tenure on the Court can explain a justice's opinion writing. At the same time, we discover that particular variables have different affects on writing majority, dissenting, or concurring opinions. Conclusions . This study demonstrates the importance of both structural and personal background variables in explaining judicial behavior. It also shows the importance of analyzing different kinds of judicial opinions when explaining the justices' opinion writing.     

Ethical guidelines and codes in operations research

We review past endeavors by ORSs to establish ethical guidelines or codes to which their members must subscribe to. We contrast such activities with those of the international community of related professional societies. It is clear that ORSs world-wide do not exhibit the important basic characteristic of a profession, that is, the adoption of and adherence to ethical guidelines and codes. Such adoptions by OR professional organizations are rare.     

Unions as value-adding networks: Possibilities for the future of U.S. unionism

VII. Conclusions The decline in private sector union density in the U.S. coincided with increased innovation at the local level. One trend in particular, value-adding unionism, may offer some hope for those who believe that workers, the economy, and the nation benefit from strong, independent trade union movement. Unions that can add value to firm performance while at the same time fulfilling their responsibilities to represent the collective and individual interests of their membership have greater appeal to potential union members seeking opportunities for both representation and participation. Since they add economic value to firms, they may also reduce the level of managerial resistance that we have seen in recent history. Farber and Western (2001) argue that the overall U.S. decline in union density is almost entirely due to falling employment in unionized firms and increases in nonunion firms. This value-adding approach offers one strategy to preserve and expand union employment in firms where it is already established, thus slowing or reversing the decline. Moreover, as structural changes in the economy have led to shifts away from sectors with high levels of union density, they have at the same time put a premium on the ability of firms to respond quickly to changes in the marketplace and the competitive environment. Value-adding unions can provide the infrastructure for organizational networks that facilitate the communication and coordination necessary to adjust to such changes. Thus, new forms of representation that provide unions and their members with greater opportunities in decision making, management, and governance can add value to both management and labor. I thank Charles Heckscher and Bruce Kaufman for comments on earlier drafts of the paper and the National Science Foundation, Rutgers University, and MIT for financial support.     

Assessing the Barriers to Achieving Genuine Housing Choice for Adults with a Learning Disability: The Views of Family Carers and Professionals

It has been reported that the capability of adults with a learningdisability to choose their housing is too often impeded by theviews and actions of their family carers and involved professionals(McGlaughlin and Gorfin, with Saul, in press). This study furtherexplores these apparent barriers to providing genuine housingchoice for adults with learning disabilities. It discusses findingsfrom a series of focus groups which explored family and professionalviews about housing and choice. The views expressed indicatethat risk is a fundamental concern for both professionals andfamilies when considering more independent housing for thisgroup. Although opportunities for choice were generally supported,many argued for the need to assess the ability to make informeddecisions. There were also examples of problematic relationshipsbetween professionals and carers, creating a barrier to choice.Carers need involvement, information and support during thedevelopment of housing plans if the needs of the primary serviceusersare to be met. The barriers identified have to be removed ifservice-users are to truly become the focus of decisions andbe enabled to make genuine informed choices.