Jon M. Shepard

Max weber revisited: Some lessons from East Asian capitalistic development

Webers thesis of the incompatibility of the Confucian ethos and rational entrepreneurial capitalism has been challenged by the “economic miracles” of many East Asian countries. One thesis presented here is that Confucianism is compatible with and has facilitated Asian capitalism by its influence on managerial values and practices. According to Weber, the release of tensions created by Calvinism was an important motivating force in the development of capitalism in the Occident. Confucianism offers a parallel mechanism to the profit-seeking drive in Western capitalism. We show that, in Confucian societies, there also exists tensions — in this case, between ideals and reality. These tensions are released through the Confucian concept of a “ceaseless pursuit of renovation”, a motivational mechanism for the development of capitalism in East Asian societies that parallels the West. Weber held that the classic model of bureaucracy, with impersonality at its core, is essential to the development and continuation of capitalism. Our second thesis is that humanism is an important element in Confucian bureaucracy and that humanistic bureaucracy can be both effective and efficient for the development of capitalism.

The Salary Differential between Male and Female Administrators: Equal Pay for Equal Work?1

This article presents information on a study which examined the salary differential between male and female administrators in higher education institutions in the United States. The focus of resear...

Voluntarism and the Manager: The Impacts of Structural Pressure and Personal Interest on Community Participation

The extent to which participation in voluntary organizations reflects autonomous decisions by individuals, rather than a less than fully voluntary response to social pressure, has been a matter of debate in the voluntary action literature. Middle- level managers of manufacturing companies are particularly likely to experience pressures regarding the extent and nature of their participation in local organiza tions. For this reason, a nationwide sample of production managers is used to explore the relative usefulness of personal interest in community affairs, of socio- demographic and structural characteristics known to be related to participation, and of company policy for predicting participation in local voluntary organizations. Participation is shown to reflect a number of factors, including company policy. However, the importance of community interest suggests that membership and participation in many organizations continue to be perceived as voluntary.

On Alex Carey's Radical Criticism of the Hawthorne Studies

This paper attempts to provide perspective for Alex Careys self-admitted “radical” criticism of the Hawthorne Studies. Contrary to Carey, it is contended that the Hawthorne researchers did not min...

Relationship between work and nonwork satisfaction: Is it changing and does occupational prestige make a difference?

This paper examines the relationship between work and nonwork satisfaction based on data from the General Social Surveys, 1972–1980, of the National Opinion Research Center. The research revealed that a moderate positive relationship exists between job satisfaction and satisfaction in nonwork areas such as family, friends, marriage, hobbies, and place of residence. In addition, higher job satisfaction was associated with perceptions of life as exciting and people as helpful, fair, and trustworthy. These relationships show no significant changes over time. Not surprisingly, job satisfaction as well as satisfaction in nonwork realms of life were higher among the higher‐prestige occupations. However, the original associations between work and nonwork satisfaction remained unchanged when controls were introduced for occupational prestige. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Organizational Effects On Mentally Retarded Adults A Longitudinal Analysis

Normalization has gained wide acceptance as a goal that residential institutions for the mentally retarded should strive to achieve, but many organizations have been shown to have difficulty achieving the goal. Theo ries developed from the organizational contingency perspective suggest that or ganizations with bureaucratic structures will have particular difficulty accomplish ing the nonroutine tasks associated with normalization Our major purpose was to test the usefulness of such theories for the evaluation of mental retardation facilities by ascertaining whether a less bureaucratic organization for the mentally retarded would achieve greater success than a more bureaucratic organization. The closing of a large public hospital and the subsequent transfer of most of its residents to two new facilities (one of which was more bureau cratic than the other) allowed us to exam ine bureaucracys effect on treatment A s predicted, the analysis showed that the less bureaucratic organization produced a greater average positive change in behavior than did the more bureaucratic organi zation A number of clinical and demo graphic characteristics of the residents which could have influenced the observed changes in behavioral level were identified and controlled. They were not found to ex plain the differences between facilities Other factors, which could not be con trolled in this study, provide suggestions for future research.