Search results

An hypothesis relating comprehensiveness of strategic decision processes to strategic effectiveness was developed and tested using a sample of high technology firms. Results indicate a positive relationship between these two concepts. Implications to theory development and to high technology management are discussed.

If cultural evolution is purposive cities should have improved the quality of human life. City life is examined first in relation to the satisfaction of human needs. The inner areas of giant cities are perceived by their inhabitants as undesirable places to live. But the special problems of giant cities when subject to closer analysis are seen to be rooted in the larger pathology of the thrust for growth and power in modern civilisation.

This study examines the effect of employees' perceptions of political connections on performance measurement systems (PMS) design choice and firm performance. In addition, this study explores the moderating effect of social networking, a very common and widely used factor by domestic and foreign multinational firms operating in China, and its joint effect with political connections or PMS design choice on firm performance. We collected survey responses from a sample of 110 managers from manufacturing firms in China. Our results reveal that highly politically connected managers use nonfinancial measures, leading to improved firm performance. Our results suggest that social networking interacts significantly with political connections, and nonfinancial and financial measures on firm performance. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Transportation planning has conventionally examined mobility from the standpoint of the efficiency of transportation systems, based on trips as units of analysis, overlooking the social needs of excluded groups, such as children. Understanding children’s geographies provides insight into one of the basic social needs of children, intrinsically related to mobility: play. Disadvantages in mobility, along with other social conditions further limit children’s autonomy in their neighbourhood. This chapter proposes the term playability as a concept that intertwines both needs. A case study of neighbourhood analyses the playability needs of children from their perspective and that of the community. Findings suggest that, in a walkable, built environment, issues from criminal activity directly influence children’s playability, even more than automobile presence. Furthermore, community perspective on playability, as mostly limited to structured play in designated spaces and time, separates mobility from play and thus limits opportunities for social inclusion. A change in both, acknowledging children’s need for play and mobility, and their reciprocity, and incorporating measures to improve it, may provide a different framework for transportation and urban planning at the local level, one that seeks greater social inclusion of children.

Middle level teachers, at times, link historical content with relevant English literature in interdisciplinary units. Elementary teachers periodically employ history-themed literature during reading time. Interconnections between language arts and history are formed with developmentally appropriate literature for students. Historical misrepresentations, however, proliferate in children’s literature and are concealed behind engaging narratives. Since literacy and historical thinking are essential skills, children’s literature should be balanced within, not banished from, the classroom. Using America’s peculiar institution of slavery as a reference point, this article examines children’s literature, identifies almost a dozen areas of historical misrepresentation, and proffers rich primary source material to balance the various misrepresentations. We provide teachers with reason for caution when including such literature; but also model how to locate, use, and, at times, abridge primary source material within an elementary or middle level classroom. Such curricular supplements provide balance to engaging but historically-blemished children’s literature and enable educators to attain the rigorous prescriptions of Common Core.

Coaches from both the professional and college ranks are often put forth as archetypal examples of effective leaders – individuals’ whose behaviors, styles, and wisdom provide the ever elusive playbook for how to successfully lead others. While numerous books and articles in the popular press put forth advice from leaders in the sports world, numerous empirical studies of the drivers of successful sports leadership and the factors that contribute to leader success in the context of sports have also been conducted. In this chapter, we first provide a broad review of empirical leadership research conducted within the sports world and examine how research within the sports context provides a suitable and advantageous setting for leadership research in general. Second, we offer a road map of opportunities for future leadership studies within the context of sports. The goal of this chapter is to stimulate and rally more thought-provoking research related to leadership in sports that generates insights for organizational leadership across contexts.

This paper explores the links between economic and social structures and ethical norms for economic life. As such, the essay is a contribution to the more general philosophical discussions on the relation between fact and value in the social sciences. I begin with a brief discussion of ethics which highlights the social character of ethical “value” and draws upon the work of the Canadian philosopher, Bernard Lonergan, to introduce a novel way of understanding social structures. The analyses show how economic structures can be understood as cooperative meaning schemes, how such schemes are embedded within a wider ecology of social meaning schemes, and how the dynimic relations among such schemes reveal ethical goals and make ethical demands upon participants who depend upon them for their living. I illustrate these linkages in a discussion of three examples drawn from economic life: a consumer purchase transaction, an ancient trade scheme drawn from the work of Karl Polanyi, and a rather novel approach to economic development proposed by Jane Jacobs.

Psychological contracts represent unofficial or informal expectations that an individual holds, most commonly applied to an employer–employee relationship. Understanding psychological contracts helps explain the consequences of unmet expectations, including increased budgetary slack and reduced audit quality. This chapter reviews and synthesizes accounting behavioral research that discusses psychological contracts and that was published in academic and practitioner journals in the areas of financial accounting, management accounting, auditing, taxes, non-profit organizations, accounting education, and the accounting profession itself. Despite the prevalence of psychological contracts in the workplace and the applicability to behavioral research, accounting literature remains limited regarding applications of psychological contracts. This chapter aggregates research across all areas of accounting to provide suggestions for use of psychological contracts in future research and thus create a connected research stream.

29th May, 1923. SIR, I am directed by the Minister of Health to refer to Circulars 356 and 362, and to state that representations have been made to him as to the working of the Milk (Special Designations) Orders, and that after consideration it appears to him that certain amendments of the detailed provisions of the Orders are desirable. He has accordingly decided to issue a new Order which embodies these amendments and revokes the existing Orders as from the 1st July next.