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Research relying on laboratory protocol and case studies has demonstrated positive effects from cognitive conflict and controversy. Reported benefits have included better judgments, improved strategic decisions and a better understanding of others' positions. This study develops and assesses the psychometric properties of an instrument designed to examine decision conflict in field settings. This instrument was administered on site to 63 managers. Factors identified in the instrument were disagreement, openness, and control. Interestingly, the openness dimension was positively associated with job commitment. The control factor was inversely associated with job satisfaction.

Although there has been a good deal of prior research on differences between Asian (i.e., Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea) and American business practices, few studies have dealt with comparisons of approaches to decision making in the various cultures. This paper addresses how levels of openness, conflicting advice, centralized control, and disagreement across different countries may affect decision making. It may be that the “common wisdom” which suggests Japanese decision making exclusively involves cooperation ignores the existence of conflict in Japanese decisions. In fact, Japanese decision makers may be more open, resolve conflict prior to reaching consensus, and exert less centralized control than decision makers in the U.S. and Hong Kong. This could help explain their abilities to make effective business decisions in Japan.

The appropriate use of decision strategies can be of marked benefit to effective decision making. The challenge of decision making under uncertain conditions and the absolute necessity of decision aids for the practising manager at nearly any level of the organisation are examined. Specific strategies are developed for making effective decisions based on the amount of information available and the degree of environmental uncertainty and a framework for selecting the correct strategy put forward, since these strategies are only appropriate given certain conditions.

This chapter considers viable and nonviable methods for corruption and ethics reform. Among the different types of methods considered are: vision and values based methods; win-win incentive and ethics networking methods; power-based top-down compliance and bottom-up whistle-blowing methods; alternative institution building methods; and, social movement methods. The chapter analyzes how the different types of methods can be more and less viable depending upon the specific multilevel situational factors related to micro individual, meso organizational, and macro institutional level, political-economic, and cultural obstacles to corruption and ethics reform.

Multicore Solders Ltd have appointed Richard Hart (38) as marketing manager. Prior to accepting his new position, Mr Hart was responsible for marketing at DEK where his career spanned 11 years. During this time he travelled extensively for that company organising, as part of his role, major seminars in India, Singapore, USSR, Israel and the Republic of Ireland, as well as the United Kingdom.

‘ARE WE all here? Good — well, I've no need to ask why your customary sorrowful countenances are so sickeningly smug this wet and windy a.m. You and your cosy libraries are not, after all, to be subjected to the rough and tumble of profit and loss. You've been spared a fate worse than work, haven't you?

This study investigated the unpad of culture on styles of handling interpersonal conflicts. The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory was used to collect data on the conflict management styles of integrating, obliging, avoiding, dominating, and compromising. Two regions of the world were chosen: Middle Eastern countries and states (n = 913) and the United States (n = 144). MANCOVA was used to analyze the data. The results indicate that Arab Middle Eastern executives use more of an integrating and avoiding style in handling interpersonal conflict while U.S. executives use more of an obliging, dominating, and compromising style. Implications of the findings and future research are discussed.

It is undoubtedly the case that advertising plays a significant part in modern economic life in most societies and many view it as an essential part of the operation of a free market system. Yet it is also the case that our knowledge of how exactly it works and whether the vast amounts spent on it are justified is still uncertain. Lord Leverhulme, the founder of Lever Brothers, is credited with the famous aphorism — ‘one half of advertising does not work but nobody knows which half’ and that perhaps sums up the situation very well. One thing that is generally accepted is that some protection must be provided both to consumers and trade competitors from false or misleading advertising which can lead to market distortions and economic loss to purchasers. Increasingly controversial, however, is the scope and extent of legal and voluntary controls on advertising. In the advertising industry fears are rising about the volume of both national and EEC proposals to restrict or limit advertising and as we move from the '80s, a decade of conspicuous consumption in which advertising flourished, to the caring '90s where environmental issues are to the fore, the advertising industry faces major challenges. Advertising as a whole is facing severe economic and legal challenges after the massive expansion of the 1980's — it is estimated that there was a 4% fall in real terms in UK advertising expenditure in the first quarter of 1990 and an estimated 5% fall in the second quarter. Clients are becoming more demanding and the cosy cartel arrangement whereby advertising agencies made a 15% standard commission on a client's expenditure has gone — commissions are down to 12%‐13% or being replaced by fixed fees. It has been estimated by the Advertising Association that proposed legal restrictions could lead to a loss of £1 bn in revenue for the industry. Multi‐farious pressure groups are campaigning against drink advertising, cigarette advertising and sexism in adverts. The advertising industry's concerns are reflected in a recent report by the Advertising Association — ‘A Freedom Under Threat — Advertising in the EC’. The report indicates a number of areas where legislative controls have been introduced or are proposed to be introduced over the next few years and expresses the fear that controls may be going too far in limiting freedom of ‘commercial speech’. Martin Boase, chairman of the Advertising Association writes in his introduction to the report:

Bruce Lloyd, Professor of Strategic Management, South Bank University in discussion with Richard Koeh, author of the recent book The 80/20 Revolution. The author argues that the 80/20 Revolution is designed to encourage people to realise the power that they have as individuals, and to realise the creativity that I believe, is inherent in everyone – and that most people can develop to a much greater extent than is currently the case. The book explores the reason why things are changing and what we all need to do to keep ahead of the game; it also discusses the role of outsourcing and the changing relationship between individuals and the corporation, as well as the renewed emphasis on “The search for meaning.” The author concludes that individuals need to take more control of their lives and to recognise that we all find meaning and happiness from doing things for other people that they feel good about.