The effect of organizational structure on perceptions of procedural fairness

This study explored the relationship between 3 dimensions of organizational structure--centralization, formalization, and size--and perceptions of procedural and interactional fairness. Data from 11 organizations (N = 209) indicated that, as predicted, centralization was negatively related to perceptions of procedural fairness, and organizational size was negatively related to interactional fairness. However, contrary to predictions, formalization was not related to perceptions of procedural fairness. Results suggest that organizational structure and design should play a more prominent role in our thinking about organizational fairness.     

A longitudinal analysis of organizational fairness: an examination of reactions to tenure and promotion decisions

Most organizational justice research takes a cross-sectional approach to examining the relationship between perceived fairness and individuals' attitudes. This study examines the effect of procedural and distributive justice over time. It is suggested that individuals acquire more information and experience with procedures and outcomes over time. These changes in information and experience affect the influence of procedural and distributive justice on organizational attitudes. Faculty perceptions of tenure and promotion decisions were assessed 3 times (preallocation, short-term postallocation, long-term postallocation) over a 2-year period. Results generally supported the hypotheses. Procedural justice was most influential prior to and soon after outcome decisions were made. Distributive justice was most influential 1 year later.     

Risk Factors Associated with Women’s Marital Infidelity

This study used a qualitative approach to explore the complexity of marital infidelity and understand issues within the marriage that could increase the risk of having a marital affair. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore women’s participation in an extramarital affair(s). The information gathered was audio taped, transcribed, and analyzed using the transcendental phenomenological model (Moustakas in Phenomenological research methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1994). All four of the women described a lack of quality time, inability to resolve conflict, and a lack of attention within the marriage as predisposing factors to the affair(s). Clinical and research implications are discussed.     

Charles Gützlaff: his secret and sacred services

Karl (Charles) Friedrich August Gützlaff (1803–1851) was probably the most controversial and colourful missionary who ever stepped onto the shores of China during the second quarter of the nineteenth century. No one doubted his passion and sincerity in bringing Christianity to China, but many were critical of the way he did it. Thus Gützlaff’s life and work have been vilified and maligned by many scholars. Many critics dismissed him as the archetypal skeleton in the missionary cupboard. Gützlaff was described as a cross between parson and pirate. At the same time, others, such as Alfred Broomhall, regarded him as a heroic and innovative missionary. In this article, I shall attempt to portray a more balanced understanding of Gützlaff.     

Nunca Más

This article highlights efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in Guatemala. One of the reconcilers has been Rigoberta Menchú, receiver of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. The clergy and laity of the Roman Catholic Church have worked to ensure that the atrocities and violence the people suffered in the past would not happen again – nunca más (never again). The murder of Bishop Juan José Gerardi reveals not only the crimes of the military, but also the resolute commitment of the church in the process toward peace, reconciliation, and the healing of the nation.     

Influences of rate, length, and complexity on speech disfluency in a single-speech sample in preschool children who stutter

The purpose of the present study was (1) to determine whether speech rate, utterance length, and grammatical complexity (number of clauses and clausal constituents per utterance) influenced stuttering-like disfluencies as children became more disfluent at the end of a 1200-syllable speech sample [Sawyer, J., & Yairi, E. (2006). The effect of sample size on the assessment of stuttering severity. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15, 36-44] and (2) to explore the interaction of speech rate, length, and grammatical complexity at the beginning (syllables 1-300, Section A) and the end (syllables 901-1200, Section B) of the speech sample. Participants were eight boys and six girls (M=40.9 months) who were selected from the Sawyer and Yairi [Sawyer, J., & Yairi, E. (2006). The effect of sample size on the assessment of stuttering severity. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15, 36-44] study. Mean length of utterance (MLU) in morphemes, the number of clauses, clausal constituents, and articulation rate, measured in syllables per second were analyzed from the children's conversational speech. The median split procedure [Logan, K., & Conture, E. (1995). Length, grammatical complexity, and rate differences in stuttered and fluent conversational utterances of children who stutter. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 20, 35-61; Yaruss, J. S. (1997). Utterance timing and childhood stuttering. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 22, 263-286] was used to study interactions between articulation rate, utterance length, and grammatical complexity across the two sections. The mean number of clauses per utterance, clausal constituents per utterance, and articulation rate revealed no significant differences between Section A and Section B, whereas MLU significantly increased in Section B (p=.013). Clausal constituents and MLU were significantly correlated both in Sections A and B. The median split procedure revealed trends for utterances characterized as high length and low-speech rate to be greater in number in Section B than A, but the differences were not significant. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to: (a) describe the influence of grammatical complexity and mean length of utterance on disfluent speech; (b) compare different procedures for assessing speech rate and determine why the effects of articulation rate have been inconclusive; (c) discuss procedures for comparing length, rate, and complexity across a single-speech sample; and (d) explain why therapeutic methods that emphasize shorter utterance lengths, rather than only slower speech rates, are advisable in establishing fluency in preschool children who stutter.     

Reconciliation and Forgiveness in an Unjust Society

Justification by faith necessarily leads to justice in society. IN post–apartheid South Africa, reconciliation has required truth telling plus confession and, most importantly, land redistribution. Failure at land redistribution in Zimbabwe has reduced the effectiveness of the post–colonial reconciliation program and perpetuated previous injustice.     

The development of awareness of stuttering in preschool children

The development of awareness of stuttering and of fluent speech in preschool children was examined by means of an instrument designed for this purpose. The measure employs a videotape of two identical puppets, one of whom stutters. Twenty stuttering children and twenty normally fluent children were followed for three visits over two years. The effects of group, age, and severity on the awareness score over the three visits were investigated. Results indicated statistical significance for experimental versus control groups, for older versus younger subgroups, and between the first and second, and first and third visits. Differences in stuttering severity were not associated with statistically significant differences in awareness scores. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Sugar ingestion and dichotic listening: Increased perceptual capacity is more than motivation

Participants ingested a sugar drink or a sugar-free drink and then engaged in a pair of dichotic listening tasks. Tasks presented category labels then played a series of word pairs, one in the left ear and one in the right. Participants attempted to identify pairs containing a target category member. Target category words were homonyms. For example, arms appeared as a target in the “body parts” category. Nontargets that played along with targets were related to a category-appropriate version of the target (e.g., sleeves), a category-inappropriate version (e.g., weapons), or were unrelated to either version of the target (e.g., plant). Hence, an effect of nontarget type on number of targets missed was evidence that participants processed nontargets for meaning. In the divided attention task, participants monitored both ears. In the focused attention task, participants monitored the left ear. Half the participants in each group had the divided attention task before the focused attention task; the other half had the focused attention task before the divided attention task. We set task lengths to about 12 min so working on the first task would give sufficient time for metabolizing sugar from the drink before the start of the second task. Nontarget word type significantly affected targets missed in both tasks. Drink type affected performance in the divided attention task only after sufficient time for converting sugar into blood glucose. The result supports an energy model for the effect of sugar ingestion on perceptual tasks rather than a motivational model.