Eric Patton

The case for case studies in management research

It is commonly asserted that qualitative research in the organizational sciences lacks the rigor and objectivity of the quantitative approach. Case studies, while commonly used for educational purposes, have been viewed in a less favorable light in terms of research. This paper suggests that case studies represent an important research track in organizational science, not only as a method of generating hypotheses for quantitative studies, but for generating and testing theory. The paper will develop arguments in support of case study research, will highlight particular issues and constraints relating to case study research, and will offer recommendations for the use of this method.

Women's absenteeism in the popular press: Evidence for a gender-specific absence culture

This study explores the societal expectations surrounding womens absenteeism from work by means of a content analysis of newspaper articles that have appeared in the New York Times over the last 100 years. The results suggest that a distinct absence culture exists for women that might legitimize their absenteeism, but might also perpetuate gender stereotypes and lead to gender discrimination.

The early retirement incentive program: a downsizing strategy

The literature on downsizing and downsizing through early retirement programs lead to a clear conclusion: managers must take a very thoughtful approach to downsizing. Poor planning, knee‐jerk reactions, miscommunication with employees and the mishandling of remaining employees can lead to failure. Despite all the benefits, early retirement incentive programs have received harsh criticism on a number of fronts. The legal, societal, and individual implications of early retirement incentive programs are numerous. The key to reducing this uncertainty and potential negative outcomes is the ability to predict beforehand which employees will accept the early retirement packages. Many factors influence the decision to retire and are examined. Predicting who or why someone will retire is extremely difficult. One of the missing ingredients for the success of these programs can be found in the Human Resources Department and its activities. This is the linking pin for all training, development and education efforts intended to socialize the existing management team responsible for this activity and its success as well as failures to deal with the new changes and culture of a downsized organization. Attention is given to the role and major issues of this intervention.

Context and the social representation of absenteeism: Absence in the popular press and in academic research

This study explores contextual issues surrounding absenteeism through a content analysis of 2847 articles from the New York Times that have featured absence from work. Our analysis focuses on two issues related to context. First, how does the representation of absence from work compare between the contextual domains of academic research and of the popular press? Second, how can event-specific news stories in the press deepen our understanding of how absence is shaped by contextual factors? Our results highlight both similarities and differences between the press and academic research, suggest several ideas from news stories that could lead to interesting future research, and underline management implications from this source commonly read by business leaders.

The Devil is in the Details: Judgments of Responsibility and Absenteeism from Work

This paper presents and tests a model suggesting that individual episodes of absenteeism, and the circumstances surrounding these events, are an important avenue for research and can help us understand the outcomes related to this behaviour. Through an experimental design using vignettes describing the absence of a co-worker, this paper tests how reason for absence and context (i.e., work demands related to deadlines) surrounding an episode influences judgments of responsibility, emotional reactions, and behavioural intentions. The findings indicate that reasons for absence and context are important determinants of the reactions of others following an absence episode.

Downsizing the university: bonne chance!

While downsizing is often automatically associated with for‐profit organizations, many of the pressures that have led businesses to downsize over the last 20 years have also affected public‐sector organizations, including universities. The primary focus of this article is to underline the particular issues and problems facing universities when confronted with pressures to downsize. Begins with a general overview of downsizing and its outcomes, followed by an analysis of downsizing in higher education with an emphasis on three major points: the factors causing universities to consider downsizing; the special nature of universities that makes downsizing particularly difficult; and the downsizing methods used by universities.

When groups fall apart: the Donner Party disaster

Purpose – The Donner expedition to California in 1846‐1847 is one of the darkest tales of the great migrations west. While much has been written about the tragedy, a group analysis based on business research has not been undertaken. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the story of the Donner Party is primarily a group failure, with implications for practicing managers employing temporary groups in uncertain situations.Design/methodology/approach – Group theories concerning the nature of temporary work groups, interdependence, diversity, social identity, and leadership are employed to explain how negative group processes likely contributed to the disaster.Findings – Based on books and a film about the incident, the Donner Party suffered a social breakdown based on: the changing nature of the goals of the expedition in mid‐course, which is difficult for temporary teams to handle; destructive forms of diversity based on cultural background and social status; and a lack of critical skills and effecti...

When Social Identities Collide: Commentary on “Gender in the Management Education Classroom”

This commentary to “Gender in the Management Education Classroom” (Bilimoria, O’Neil, Hopkins, & Murphy, 2010) employs social identity and self-categorization theory to analyze the incident described in the article. In any MBA classroom, students are dealing with multiple group memberships. Similar to workplace settings, when the focus is on diversity, categorization processes can lead to challenging situations in the classroom. Practical considerations and institutional influences in dealing with diversity-based conflict in the classroom are also discussed.