Olof Lundberg

Effect of Background and Organizational Position on Executive Planning

Abstract This study examines the premise that differences in background and organizational position affect the way decision makers approach planning. A group of 171 executive planners in the United States were asked to indicate how likely they would be to use each of eight planning aids. Demographic and organizational information, including type of planning usually performed, type of organization (service or manufacturing), level in the organization, and gender, was collected and used in a factorial design. The results suggest that background variables influenced how the decision makers approached planning problems.

Personality and job satisfaction in the public health sector.

Vocational choice theory asserts that an individuals career choice will be based on that persons anticipated satisfaction from working in a particular field and that the persons personality will determine which field will be most satisfying. This study measured personalities and job satisfaction among public health workers to determine if public health work is satisfying to individuals with particular personality types. The study was performed on 47 public health workers in the Southeastern region of Louisiana. These workers were given a questionnaire consisting of the Big 5 personality profile, the Job Descriptive Index, several open-ended questions, and a demographic survey. The findings indicate that emotional stability is a personality characteristic associated with satisfaction from public health work. Possible reasons for this finding and its implications are discussed.

The processing of information by students and business planners

Abstract Evidence that students and practitioners in business organizations approach problems differently has raised questions concerning the validity of using students as subjects in research. This issue was addressed by presenting both students and practitioners with planning problems differing in environmental volatility, system adaptation, and planning requirements. Different combinations of these factors produced 12 distinct planning situations. Eight information-processing strategies were identified that have been described in the literature as planning tools. Each aid has been prescribed as being more appropriate for use in some planning situations than in others. The present study tested hypotheses that planners would use the information-processing aids prescribed for specific situations and that students and practitioners would approach the problems differently. Results indicated that the use of information-processing aids did not correspond closely to the theoretical prescriptions. Other implici...

Cognition and the Planning Process: An Investigation of Stability of Effects and Decision Makers' Insights

ABSTRACT According to Hartman, White, and Crino (1986), planning situations differ in environmental volatility, system adaptation, and the nature of planning requirements, different combinations of which can generate 12 distinct planning situations and 8 information processing aids to be used as planning tools. Each information processing aid has been prescribed to be more appropriate for use in some planning situations than in others (Hartman et al.). In the first part of this study, we tested the hypothesis that a planner in a specific situation would prefer to use the information processing aid(s) prescribed for that situation. We developed 12 different cases and used 456 student subjects. Results indicated that preference did not correspond closely to the Hartman et al. theory but that some other form of implicit theory may be operating. The second part of the research replicated the first part and also examined how 57 subjects viewed their planning problems and weighed the factors involved. Part 2 wa...

Employment Skills in the Basic Business Communication Course

The traditional domain of business communication involves the structural components of correct letter writing, writing style, grammar, and report formats. Beginning in the 1960s, as the international economic environment began to take shape, U.S. firms were forced to take into account the effects of that environment. Increasing interdependencies and uncertainty increased the need for information sharing and required systemic analysis of the organization and its environment. As a result, organizational communication, with its systems orientation, emerged as a serious field of study 1

Business college administrators: organizational networking activities

This study examines how deans and associate deans of a group from similar universities use networking. Specifically, we consider whether the deans, traditionally considered to perform boundary‐spanning functions, make more use of external networking than do the associate deans, who are their subordinates. We examine the relationship between accuracy in perceiving a network and influence in the network. Finally, we consider the relationship between reports of networking outside the sample and influence within the sample. We find support for our first two propositions and raise several issues related to our final one.