Search results

Examines how to successfully apply one theoretical model of organizational development (OD) and organizational culture, the cognitive model, through theoretically consistent, i.e. cognitive, interventions to solve the organizational problem of downsizing. Reports a case study on use of a variety of such interventions. Summarizes what can be gained from such an approach. The cognitive model of OD as schemata change found to be a viable and useful approach to organizational downsizing.

The purpose of this study is to identify the association between risky sexual behaviors and migration intentions among adolescents living in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Data were collected by self‐administered questionnaires to students enrolled in an alternative schooling system in Guanajuato, Mexico, during the school year of 2006‐2007. The sample size for this study includes 538 unmarried students, 35 percent male, ages 14‐19. Ordinal logistic regression is used to estimate the odds of engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

The results reveal that male adolescents with higher intentions to migrate have significantly higher odds of engaging in risky sexual behaviors than both males who are less interested in migrating and females, regardless of their migration intentions.

Interventions on both sides of the US/Mexico border are needed in order to address this concern particularly among males who express a desire to migrate to the US someday.

These findings highlight the importance of examining risky sexual behaviors even before migration to the US occurs. By engaging in high risk sexual behaviors prior to migrating, adolescents are putting themselves and both their sexual partners in Mexico and their future sexual partners in the US at increased risk of contracting STIs and HIV.

The study examined risky sexual behavior of adolescents in Mexico prior to migration. Knowledge about risky sexual behaviors prior to departure is vital for policy makers and researchers as they seek to design and implement interventions aimed at quelling this growing public health concern.

I argue that the official story about the collapses of the Twin Towers and building 7 of the World Trade Center, according to which the collapses were caused by fire – combined, in the case of the Twin Towers, with the effects of the airplane impacts – cannot be true, for two major reasons. One reason is that fire has never, except allegedly three times on 9/11, caused the total collapse of steel-frame high-rise buildings. All (other) such collapses have been produced by the use of explosives in the procedure known as “controlled demolition.” The other major problem is that the collapses of all three buildings had at least 11 features that would be expected if, and only if, explosives had been used.

I also show the importance of the recently released of 9/11 Oral Histories recorded by the New York Fire Department. With regard to the Twin Towers, many of the firefighters and medical workers said they observed multiple explosions and other phenomena indicative of controlled demolition. With regard to building 7, many testimonies point to widespread foreknowledge that the building was going to collapse, and some of the testimonies contradict the official story that this anticipation of the building's collapse was based on objective indications. These testimonies further strengthen the already virtually conclusive case that all three buildings were brought down by explosives.

I conclude by calling on the New York Times, which got the 9/11 Oral Histories released, now to complete the task of revealing the truth about 9/11.

Wages have been spreading out across workers over time – or in other words, the 90th/50th wage ratio has risen over time. A key question is, has the productivity distribution also spread out across worker skill levels over time? Using our calculations of productivity by skill level for the United States, we show that the distributions of both wages and productivity have spread out over time, as the right tail lengthens for both. We add Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries, showing that the wage–productivity correlation exists, such that gains in aggregate productivity, or GDP per person, have resulted in higher wages for workers at the top and bottom of the wage distribution. However, across countries, those workers in the upper-income ranks have seen their wages rise the most over time. The most likely international factor explaining these wage increases is the skill-biased technological change of the digital revolution. The new artificial intelligence (AI) revolution that has just begun seems to be having similar skill-biased effects on wages. But this current AI, called “supervised learning,” is relatively similar to past technological change. The AI of the distant future will be “unsupervised learning,” and it could eventually have an effect on the jobs of the most highly skilled.

This paper aims to investigate whether preferences for certain types of privacy predict the frequency and duration of social media usage as well as the moderating role of gender on these relationships.

An e-mail-based survey among the faculty, staff and students of a medium-sized mid-western university is used to gather data regarding preferences for privacy and social media usage. Using 530 respondents, structural equation modeling explores the relationship between the various privacy types, gender and social media usage.

Evidence supports a relationship between four types of privacy preferences and social media usage. A positive relationship exists between frequency of social media usage and a preference for not neighboring. Duration of social media usage shows a negative relationship with preferences for seclusion and reserve, and surprisingly, a positive relationship with a preference for anonymity. Gender moderates the relationship between preference for privacy and social media usage, offering evidence that intimacy, seclusion and reserve predict social media usage for males, while not neighboring and anonymity predict usage for females.

The study extends the privacy literature through investigating differential impacts of privacy preferences. The marketing literature examines privacy as a general concept, without allowing for differences in consumers' preferences for types of privacy. Additionally, the study shows that gender moderates the relationship between preferences for privacy and social media usage. A second contribution is investigating the relevance of a scale, developed in an age without social media, to an era permeated in social media.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a boundary spanning, interprofessional collaboration between advanced practice nurses (APNs) and junior doctors to support junior doctors’ learning and improve patient management during the overtime shift.

A mixed methods evaluation of an intervention in an adult tertiary referral hospital, to enhance interprofessional collaboration on overtime shifts. Phase 1 compared tasks and ward rounds on 86 intervention shifts with 106 “regular” shifts, and examined the effect on junior doctor patient management testing a model using regression techniques. Phase 2 explored the experience of the intervention for stakeholders. 91 junior doctors participated (89 percent response rate) on 192 overtime shifts. Junior doctors, APNs and senior medical professionals/administrators participated in interviews.

The intervention was associated with an increase in self-initiated ward rounds by junior doctors, partially explained by junior doctors completing fewer tasks skilled nurses could also complete. The intervention significantly reduced doctors’ engagement in tasks carried over from day shifts as well as first year (but not more experienced) junior doctors’ total tasks. Interviews suggested the initiative reduced junior doctors’ work pressure and promoted a safe team climate, situation awareness, skills, confidence, and well-being.

Junior doctors overtime shifts (5 p.m. to 11 p.m.) are important, both for hospitals to maintain patient care after hours and for junior doctors to learn and develop independent clinical decision making skills. However, junior doctors frequently report finding overtime shifts challenging and stressful. Redesigning overtime shifts to facilitate interprofessional collaboration can improve patient management and junior doctors’ learning and well-being.

The purpose of this paper is to demystify the meaning of the term “consequential loss” in relation to the practice of construction law. Parties may have different understandings of the term and typically an exclusion clause will not solely relate to consequential loss, but will also include other heads of losses for which the party will not be liable for, such as loss of profit, loss of revenue and loss of business.

The question emerges as to whether the term consequential loss has a definitive legal meaning in its own right. This study seeks to ascertain the definition of the term consequential loss within the construction industry through a review of the legal position regarding liability for breach of contract and consequential loss through the consideration of the case law relating to this topic and the associated secondary sources of information.

The study concludes by elucidating a clear interpretation of the term consequential loss and guidance of how it should be used in contract law.

Recent cases and established authorities are considered together for the first time in this work which assists in the development of legal principles of direct and indirect losses and the determination of how they apply to the built environment.

Perspective-taking is a social competency to consider the world from other viewpoints (Galinsky, Maddux, Gilin, & White, 2008); it “allows an individual to anticipate the behavior and reactions of others” (Davis, 1983, p. 115) and helps to balance attention between self- and other-interests (Galinsky et al., 2008). Though often used interchangeably with the term empathy – “an other-focused emotional response that allows one person to affectively connect with another” (Galinsky et al., 2008, p. 378), clear evidence exists that demonstrates that the two concepts are distinct (Coke, Batson, & McDavis, 1978; Davis, 1983; Deutch & Madle, 1975; Hoffman, 1977; Oswald, 1996). Although both concepts refer to a social competency of taking another's perspective, empathy tends to be more affective while perspective taking leans toward the cognitive (Galinsky et al., 2008). For example, perspective taking is associated with personality characteristics such as high self-esteem and low neuroticism as opposed to emotionality (Davis, 1983). Perspective-takers are more capable of stepping outside the constraints of their own immediate, biased frames of reference (Moore, 2005) to reduce egocentric perceptions of fairness in competitive contexts (without it being at the expense of their own self-interest; Epley, Caruso, & Bazerman, 2006). Perspective taking has also been shown to be a more valuable strategy than empathy in strategic interactions because it helps negotiators find the necessary balance between competition and cooperation, between self- and other-interest (Galinsky et al., 2008). Achieving such a balance facilitates creative problem-solving (Pruitt & Rubin, 1986). For instance, in negotiation, a focus only on self-interests is associated with excessive aggression and obstinacy whereas a focus only on other-interests encourages excessive concession making to the detriment of one's own outcomes (Galinsky et al., 2008). In contrast, perspective takers have the capacity to uncover underlying interests to generate creative solutions when an obvious deal is not possible (Galinsky et al., 2008). Consequently, the cognitive appreciation of another person's interests is capable of facilitating economically efficient outcomes by acting as a discovery heuristic that reveals hidden problems or solutions and as a tool that enables individuals to capture more value for themselves (Galinsky et al., 2008).

The growing use of teams in the workplace has led to an increasing number of incentive systems designed to motivate team performance. The present paper reviews such incentive systems, including: team gainsharing/profit‐sharing incentive systems; team goal‐based incentive systems; team discretionary bonus systems; team skill incentive systems; team member skill incentive systems; team member goal‐based incentive systems; and team member merit incentive systems. Evidence regarding the effectiveness of each team incentive system is reviewed. Generally, two factors affect the usefulness of a given team incentive system: team interdependence (both within and between teams) and team type (i.e., full‐ or part‐time). Based upon these factors, guidelines for the implementation of each team incentive system are provided.