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The concepts of joint optimization and socio‐technical systems have been in the literature for over 40 years. However, efforts to operationalize these concepts for managerial practice have not progressed at the same pace as the theory on joint optimization has advanced. This paper represents an effort to turn the theoretical concept of joint optimization into managerial practice by introducing the concept of system equivalence. In this paper system equivalence (the level at which all three systems (social, technical, and environmental) are mutually equivalent in value (is described to indicate how it should be used. This paper then discusses the usefulness of this concept for managerial practice.

How do you evaluate the implementation of large‐scale organizational change? As more organizations are implementing large‐scale improvement efforts, this has become a vital question for organizations. The importance of this question is underscored by the fact that the literature is filled with articles that suggest that many of these projects fail. In this paper, we provide a tool that can be used to measure the implementation of large‐scale improvement efforts and then we demonstrate how we used this tool to assess the implementation of a performance management system in the government of Botswana. We end with three benefits of using a large‐scale evaluation survey tool: (1) it provides hard data on large‐scale implementation; (2) it helps to de‐politicize situations caused by the stress of undergoing a large change; and (3) it provides management with a tool to help them understand how their organization is functioning.

In recent years, the issue of human trafficking has become a key component of a growing number of corporate social responsibility initiatives, in which multinational corporations have furthered the pursuit of “market based solutions” to contemporary social concerns. This essay draws upon in-depth interviews with and ethnographic observations of corporate actors involved in contemporary anti-trafficking campaigns to describe a new domain of sexual politics that feminist social theorists have barely begun to consider. Using trafficking as a case study, I argue that these new forms of sexual politics have served to bind together unlikely sets of social actors – including secular feminists, evangelical Christians, bipartisan state officials, and multinational corporations – who have historically subscribed to very different ideals about the beneficence of markets, criminal justice, and the role of the state.

Megachurches represent an interesting empirical and conceptual phenomenon. Empirically, megachurches (Protestant churches with average weekly attendance of greater than 2,000 members) are growing at a time when overall church participation in the United States is steady or declining. Conceptually, megachurch pastors can be viewed as institutional leaders who attempt to reconcile new technologies and large congregations within a highly institutionalized setting. While many of these megachurches have a denominational affiliation, some do not. In this essay, we describe the literature on megachurches and offer observations about the megachurch as an institution. Drawing from preliminary analysis of a sample of over 1,400 megachurches (identified from the Hartford Institute for Religious Research), we also draw tentative conclusions about the characteristics of the pastors of megachurches, and one growing institutional maintenance practice: writing texts. We propose that examining megachurches can help extend the current research on institutional leadership, institutional work, and institutional support mechanisms.

The United States government is the world's largest publisher. Its presses churn out thousands of items annually, covering every conceivable subject. Even though most of the items deal with present day concerns, the United States government is responsible for the publication of a large number of histories. Unfortunately, these works, with the possible exception of the Department of Defense's Military History Series, have received little exposure and limited use. In an effort to bring this valuable resource to light, the following bibliography presents annotated citations to nearly 150 histories published from mid‐1977 through mid‐1979.

Bobbie Scull's bibliography of federal government bibliographies was begun in 1971 as an annual informational publication primarily intended for the faculty at Louisiana State University. Later she distributed it to libraries all over the state of Louisiana. In 1973 RSR began to publish these lists on an annual basis. This is the fourth such appearance. In the meantime these bibliographies were cumulated and published in two volumes: Bibliography of U.S. Government Bibliographies 1968–73 and 1974–76. (Pierian Press, 1975, 1979). RSR is proud to continue the annual supplements which are now computer produced at LSU. Although this supplement appears in Volume 8:1 (1980) in the future they will appear in the final issue of the year.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the issue of market redefinition through an examination of a unique industry that has met with multiple obstacles: online gambling. The main research question is how markets get redefined when quantum technological change occurs, despite the lack of formal support and a highly fragmented industry structure, typical in online industries.

This industry lends itself to the analysis because of the intense competition for reconstruction of the field among state powers, professional associations, and global forces. The paper provides an archival and qualitative overview of the industry and identify the various forces competing for dominance in the market. It examines the competing logics in this industry and identify the sources and implications of such competition for emerging markets.

Both broad and specific contributions of this paper are discussed, namely the important role of professional and interest associations in industries without clear geographical boundaries, as well as the growing role for global moderating agencies.

The paper provides a timely example of the ways in which firms organize in the modern business environment. In addition, it discusses the volatile and complex power structure in a global economy. While the research is necessarily processual and does not provide for multiple settings, the extent of legal implications here can be generalized to much smaller differences in global markets.

This paper provides support for the idea that, contrary to many concepts of industry acceptance and growth, legitimacy is not a requisite condition for an industry to prosper.

Real estate researchers have suggested that the law of diminishing marginal utility applies not only to consumption of property but to the characteristics of the properties consumed as well. Employs a unique data set to empirically model the functional form of the price effects of marginal additions to lot size and view. Shows that the relationships between lot price, size and view are non‐linear, and that marginal price effects diminish as lot size and view quality increase. The results imply that traditional valuation models allow only for the existence of view, rather than the quality of view, and are too simplistic and imprecise. Appraisers should be cognizant of this implication, and devise valuation techniques which allow them to consider differences in the quality of view from property to property.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between managers' understanding of a specific organizational change process and their attitudes towards implementing the change.

After a review of the current literature on the link between organizational change, knowledge of the change, and attitudes towards implementing the change, limited research was found that examined the relationship between knowledge of change and resistance to change. Then original empirical research was conducted by administering a survey to 296 managers from the Botswana Government.

The results of the regression models suggest that managers who understand the change effort are more likely to be less resistant to change. Specifically, the more a manager understood the change, the more likely they were to be excited about the change, the less likely that they would think the change effort would fail, and the less likely they were to state that they wished their organization had never implemented the change.

The major limitation of our research is that the data are self‐reported. The managers themselves rated their knowledge of the change and their resistance or lack of resistance to the change. However, because the question is one where social desirability bias (a major concern of self‐reported data) would lead to no variance (all managers should have said that they understood the change) and the self‐report bias is minimal. The research implications are that a link between knowledge of the organizational change has been found, and resistance to change, adding to the literature on why individuals resist change.

The practical implications is that senior managers need to focus more on developing checks to ensure that managers understand the change program and the implications of the change program as a way of ensuring that they, and their subordinates, understand the change program.

The value of the study is that it is one of the first studies to empirically show a link between knowledge of change and resistance to change. The originality of the study is the dataset (managers from the public sector in Botswana) and the application (managers attempting to implement total quality techniques in a large‐scale bureaucracy).

Rigid environments, those with exceptionally strong cultural and traditional barriers to change, present unique challenges for institutional entrepreneurs attempting to initiate change. We utilize such a setting to examine what support mechanisms, both individual and contextual, have been utilized when attempting change in rigid environments. We examine the case of successful and unsuccessful attempts to make golf more inclusive to women. Our research supports the claim that rigid environments require more complex combinations of support mechanisms than other settings, illustrating the importance of institutions in both enabling and constraining change in such settings.