When the “Stakes” are Communicative

Stakeholders seek to have their “stakes” met by organizations. Organizations assess those requests and sometimes grant stakes to stakeholders. This study examines this critical function of organizations by investigating the stakeholder communication of 66 nonprofit organizations undergoing change. Implementers' self‐reports of frequency, timing, approaches, and topics of communication with 10 stakeholder groups were examined. Results indicate that implementers generally follow a quid pro quo “matching rule” wherein stakeholders' resource importance serves as the basis on which they are awarded communicative attention. However, observance of this rule was not predictive of implementers' assessments of successful change outcomes. Further, results also show that “internal” stakeholders receive the most and earliest communication, compared to stakeholders external to the organization or near the organization's boundary, and that “information dissemination” is the most prevalent communicative approach taken.     

The effect of feedback training on distance estimation in virtual environments

It is often noted that distances are significantly underestimated in computer‐simulated (virtual) environments. Two experiments examine observers' ability to use error corrective feedback to improve the accuracy of judgments of egocentric and exocentric distances. In Experiment 1, observers viewed objects in an immersive virtual environment and estimated their distance through a blindfolded walking task. Different groups received feedback on either egocentric, exocentric or none of these judgments. Receiving feedback improved observers' ability to estimate only those distances for which feedback was provided. These effects persisted for at least 1 week. In Experiment 2, observers estimated egocentric distance by means of both a direct and indirect walking task. Receiving feedback on the direct walking task predominantly improved direct estimates and not indirect estimates. These findings suggest that although feedback training offers a relatively straightforward and immediate way of overcoming problems of distance estimation, its effects are specific to both the type of judgment and the type of response. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sources of Tension in Teaching the Psychology of Women

This article examines sources of tension in teaching the psychology of women. The essential conflict is a clash of values between the traditional academic setting and a revolutionary, nontraditional curriculum area. The first major source of conflict identified involves the knowledge base of the field and includes debate over the definition of the field and the appropriateness of diverse processes of knowledge acquisition. The second major source of conflict discussed concerns the roles of teacher and student in the classroom context and the larger role of the teacher as a faculty member in a traditional academic institution. In each of these cases the issue of power is critical. Such conflicts are irreconcilable, for reconciliation would either do irreparable damage to the nature of the study of the psychology of women or would cut the field off from potential benefits to be gained from the academic discipline of psychology. However, several courses of action in the face of conflict and tension are presented.