Technical standards and performance standards in the pursuit of quality

The concept of standards lacks clarity because it is applied both to concrete specifications and to the assessment of quality. Confusion is reduced by introducing the notion of interchange expectancy. distinguishing transfer, coupling, and market success as components. Transfer expectancy depends upon the products to be transported or exchanged, but when there is a need to estimate transfer expectancy, a combination of technical standards and performance standards must be applied. Though performance standards are intended to produce quality, the quality of the instrumentation to measure performance standards is often neglected. The development of high-quality performance standards first requires the delineation of the relevant dimensions of performance quality. The process of giving precision to performance standards may lead to the emergence of more acceptable technical standards. To illustrate some of these points, data is presented from the CONDUIT system for quality evaluation of computer-based curriculum materials. The performance quality of these products includes the dimension of transfer expectancy, as well as educational and scientific merit. Increased specification and impact of technical standards may provide greater incentives to authors and hence lead to the invention of products which have higher educational and scientific quality.     

Psychological organizations in the United States

The organizations to which psychologists belonged at the turn of the 20th century were identified. The attributes of the meetings and the membership of those organizations were compared and discussed. In addition to the American Psychological Association, psychologists belonged to the American Philosophical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science as well as to local and regional organizations. In addition, some psychologists belonged to the Society of Experimental Psychology, but membership in that organization was by invitation only. The topics presented at the meetings of the psychological and philosophical associations often were identical or very similar, and the clear disciplinary separation that is typical in 2000 was rare in 1900.     

Leadership and the fate of organizations

This article concerns the real-world importance of leadership for the success or failure of organizations and social institutions. The authors propose conceptualizing leadership and evaluating leaders in terms of the performance of the team or organization for which they are responsible. The authors next offer a taxonomy of the dependent variables used as criteria in leadership studies. A review of research using this taxonomy suggests that the vast empirical literature on leadership may tell us more about the success of individual managerial careers than the success of these people in leading groups, teams, and organizations. The authors then summarize the evidence showing that leaders do indeed affect the performance of organizations--for better or for worse--and conclude by describing the mechanisms through which they do so.     

Succession and survival in psychotherapy organizations

Abstract: This paper examines the world of psychotherapy by applying a systemic and psychodynamic understanding of the family business as a way of understanding the dilemmas and challenges of leadership succession. Oedipal factors are explored as an important theme within the succession process. This exploration is set within the context of what function psychotherapy has performed in society over the last thirty years. The hypothesis is that the first generation of leaders aimed to provide containment for the individual citizen at a time of failed dependency in society. The suggestion is that this gave way to the primary task for the second generation, which has been to focus on the therapist in training. The challenge for the third generation is to develop a meaningful role for psychotherapy today and to ensure survival at a time when other shorter therapies such as CBT are gaining ascendancy over longer term psychoanalytic psychotherapy.     

Decision participation in public and private organizations

In recent years, there has been a convergence of democratic theory and management theory regarding the importance of participation in strategic decision making. In both the public and private sectors, the goal of increasing participation has been sought as a means to: (1) enhance the wisdom and effectiveness of decision-makers in crafting policy, and (2) secure the support of key actors in an organizations environment. Reform efforts, such as reinventing government and re-engineering the corporation, often have a goal of increasing participation by changing the structure of the organization. Despite the apparent enthusiasm for participation, it is not as easy to achieve as it might seem. Studies of the strategic decision-making process suggest that structural adaptations are not a particularly effective route to increase participation. In this study I examine participation in the strategic decisions of public and private organizations. A survey of 368 senior managers in public and private organizations is used to examine a model that relates participation to the decision type, the structure of the organization and the environment in which the decision is made. In doing so, I also examine the influence of internal (employees) and external (elected officials) participation in the decision processes of public and private organizations. The degree to which a decision falls under public and legal scrutiny, and the amount of “red tape” found in the organization prove to be critical factors influencing the amount of participation.     

Pathological organizations and psychic retreats in eating disorders

A set of characteristic symptoms allow for the relatively straightforward diagnosis of eating disorders. Simultaneously and paradoxically, underlying the eating disorders are a wide variety of personality organizations/disorders, stretching from the neurotic to the borderline and narcissistic, and even to conditions approaching psychosis. This paper will argue that the inherent commonalities can be ascribed to pathological organizations of a similar nature and quality, operational across the spectrum of eating disorders and functioning in a particular, sadomasochistic way. The typical forms that eating disorders take are based on the specific ways that food and the body are used, that is, symptom manifestation. These distinctive symptom manifestations appear to be related to Steiner's (1982, 1993) notion of a psychic retreat. Pathological organizations and psychic retreats are latent until called upon either sporadically or continuously. When activated, these defensive structures operate like a complex psychic skeleton around which the unique psychodynamics of each patient become rearranged and thereby transformed.     

Leadership in entrepreneurial organizations: context and motives

Although organizational contexts have an influence on leadership, and some of their characteristics may facilitate (through weak structures) or inhibit (through strong structures) the leaders' behaviors, the extent of their influence has rarely been studied. Indeed, research of the influence of some types of contexts (entrepreneurial vs. non-entrepreneurial) on the emergence of certain variables (leaders' motives) is even scarcer. This paper analyses this influence in 40 companies, interviewing their leaders to obtain a qualitative register of their motives, and administering questionnaires to members of their respective management teams. The hypothesis considered was that, in 'weak' contexts (entrepreneurial), the leaders' motives would be more salient than in 'strong' contexts (non-entrepreneurial). The results largely confirm this hypothesis with respect to behaviors that are directly related to three main motives (power, affiliation and achievement). These results are discussed, and practical suggestions are provided for future research.     

On the determination of autistoid organizations in non-autistic adults

Psychogenic autistic phenomena occurring in non-autistic adults are being increasingly discussed in the psychoanalytical literature. The author endeavours to determine autistoid organizations, which are understood to be a particular form of pathological retreat. Together with the use of autistic objects, two-dimensional levelling out, the failure of unconscious communication, and of projective identification, a characteristic of these retreats is that they are meant to afford protection against paranoid-schizoid fears of the external and unintegrated states of the internal world. The formation of such autistic reactions should be sought not only in traumatic separations and the inadequate containment of primary objects, but also in constitutional weakening. Intolerance accompanying projective identification and damage to primal fantasies/preconceptions are discussed. In conclusion, a clinical illustration with autistoid and hypochondriacal retreats clarifies some of the aspects discussed.     

how organizations should respond to rape in the workplace

Each year, approximately 51,000 incidents of rape and sexual assault occur in the workplace. If an incident of rape occurs in the workplace, management can adopt several procedures for both the assaulted victim and the organization. First, encourage coworkers to show support for the victim. Second, plan the employee's return to work. Third, provide career and other forms of counseling and assistance for the victim. Fourth, and most important, show concern for the employee. An organization can use a variety of administrative controls and environmental designs as preventive measures to help protect employees from being raped or sexually assaulted in the workplace.     

Controversy and consensus regarding the use of cognitive ability testing in organizations

Seven hundred three members of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology indicated agreement or disagreement with 49 propositions regarding cognitive ability tests in organizations. There was consensus that cognitive ability tests are valid and fair, that they provide good but incomplete measures, that different abilities are necessary for different jobs, and that diversity is valuable. Items dealing with the unique status of cognitive ability were most likely to generate polarized opinions. A 2-factor model, classifying items as those reflecting societal concerns over the consequences of ability testing and those reflecting an emphasis on the unique status of "g," fit the data well, and these factors proved especially important for predicting responses to the more controversial items.     

How perpetrators and targets construe knowledge hiding in organizations

Research has begun to document the negative organizational consequences of knowledge hiding, or the intentional attempt to conceal knowledge, among employees. However, different knowledge hiding behaviours exist, and we explore whether some types of knowledge hiding are more harmful than others. Although theory would suggest that knowledge hiders rationalize their behaviours and fail to anticipate the negative consequences of their behaviours, we found that they did anticipate harmed relationships and retaliation. In addition, targets of knowledge hiding did not always construe the behaviour as harmful or as necessitating retaliation. Overall, our research suggests that not all knowledge hiding is equally harmful. Some types of knowledge hiding may actually enhance the relationships between colleagues and might break the cycle of knowledge hiding in organizations.     

Conflict resolution and procedural fairness in Japanese work organizations

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine short‐term and long‐term effects of perceived fairness, and to examine relational factors’ effects of procedural fairness in organizational conflicts between employees and supervisors among the Japanese. We asked 154 Japanese employees working in companies to rate their perception of conflicts as well as attitudes towards their own companies. We found that both perception of procedural and distributive fairness produced short‐term effects (satisfaction with outcome of conflicts) and long‐term effects (positive organizational attitudes). Perceived procedural fairness was increased by appropriate treatment of the supervisors, but our prediction that this effect would be moderated by the employees’ identification with organizations was not supported.     

Affect- and role-based loyalty to supervisors in Chinese organizations

A study conducted in a Taiwanese financial services company revealed that affect- and role-based loyalty are two distinct types of loyalty to supervisors. The ethical behaviour of supervisors, perceived supervisor support, interpersonal justice, and respect for hierarchy predicted affect-based loyalty, whereas only interpersonal justice and respect for hierarchy predicted role-based loyalty to the supervisor. Affect-based loyalty had a more positive correlation with supervisory satisfaction than did role-based loyalty, and role-based loyalty had a more positive correlation with extra-role performance and attendance than did affect-based loyalty.