Richard M. Weiss

Boards of Directors in Nonprofit Organizations: Composition, Activities, and Organizational Outcomes

Analyses of survey responses from the executive directors of 184 human service organizations examined the relationships of board characteristics to board activities, and of board activities to organizational outcomes. Results indicated that board characteristics most predictive of board activities were the numbers of board members who were representatives of the client population, who had expertise in marketing, who were trained in the types of service provided by the agency, and who regularly performed volunteer work for the agency. Although in general board activities had few statistical relationships with agency outcomes, the boards involvement in working to enhance the agencys image in the community was related to a number of outcome measures.

Effects of program characteristics on EAP utilization.

Abstract Various elements of EAPs have been described as crucial to successful program functioning. Using negative binomial regression analysis, this study examined the impact of program features on utilization in a large sample of EAPs. Findings indicated that, among widely recommended features, the existence of a written policy and its broad distribution, adequate staffing levels, and provision of training for supervisors predicted higher levels of program utilization. Other recommended features, including maintenance of client confidentiality, were either unrelated to utilization, or predicted lower utilization.

The Work-Leisure Relationship: Evidence for the Compensatory Hypothesis

Research has generally found positive relationships between work and leisure, such that people choose leisure activities involving the same psychological, social, and behavioral skills as their work. The present study argues, however, that negative relationships may also occur, with individuals sometimes compensating for work deficiencies through leisure activities. Evidence is presented showing that individuals with low occupational status are more likely to stress the importance of prize winning in leisure than individuals with high status. Since low- and high-status individuals did not differ in their abilities actually to win prizes, the results are attributed to the desire of low-status individuals to compensate for lack of occupational status through leisure achievement.

THE SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN MEDICAL EDUCATION: Class, Status, and Party Influences on Occupational Closure, 1902–1919

Applying Webers theorizing on action and stratification, this study examines whether the early 20th-century extinction of half of the medical schools in the United States resulted from actions intended to serve class, status, and party interests by achieving social closure. Analyses reveal closure intentions in the school ratings assigned by the American Medical Association, although not in the recommendations in the 1910 Carnegie-sponsored Flexner report. In contrast to claims that schools failed largely because of economic exigencies, analyses indicate that failures were influenced by the AMAs and Flexners assessments, as well as by state regulatory regimes and school characteristics.

Medical Education Reform Efforts and Failures of U.S. Medical Schools, 1870–1930

The dramatic decline in the number of US medical schools in the early twentieth century has been traced to a medical education reform movement that gained momentum after the Civil War. The major parties to reform—the universities themselves, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), state licensing boards, the American Medical Association (AMA), and Flexner—had different interests and strategies, however, and scholars have continued to debate the impact each had on the decline. To isolate the independent effects that the temporally intertwined forces for reform had on medical school failures, this study applies statistical survival analysis to an extensive and unique data set on medical schools operating in the United States between 1870 and 1930. Contrary to the views of some scholars, the results indicate that schools closed in response to critical evaluations published by the Illinois State Board of Health in the nineteenth century and the AMA and Flexner in the twentieth century. Additionally, the results indicate that schools were less likely to have failed if they adopted certain reforms implemented at leading schools or joined the AAMC, and were more likely to have failed if their state’s licensing regulations mandated lengthier premedical and medical training.

Derridada A Response to Weitzner

Acknowledging that deconstruction had failed to catch on as a research method among management scholars, Weitzner argues for reconsidering Derridas potential contributions to management scholarship—this time as an ethicist, whose core idea is that the hallmark of an ethical decision is that it is not amenable to rational decision processes. Illustrating the Derridean style of academic debate, he responds to criticisms of Derridas ethical position as amoral by noting Derridas declaration that such critics were not serious and by declaring that “in fact” their critique is incorrect. His demonstration of the value of Derridas views consists of the contention that they are not inconsistent with some existing perspectives. This article argues that the Derridean view errs in portraying ethical decisions as necessarily noninstrumental and nonrational and contrasts it with Webers view that noninstrumental action may nevertheless be rational. The very divergent practical implications of these opposing perspectives are examined.Acknowledging that deconstruction had failed to catch on as a research method among management scholars, Weitzner argues for reconsidering Derridas potential contributions to management scholarshi...

Setting Goals in Different Roles: Applying Key Results From the Goal-Setting Literature

Decades of research have demonstrated that managers can effect substantial performance improvements by setting challenging and specific performance goals (Locke & Latham, 2002), providing goal-relevant feedback on a regular basis (Karakowsky & Mann, 2008), and, when appropriate, involving subordinates in goal setting (Stansfield & Longenecker, 2006). This article reviews core findings from the goal setting literature, and presents a collaborative exercise in which teams of students apply these findings to address management problems in five fictitious scenarios. Debriefing tips cite additional research evidence to allow for more nuanced classroom discussion of goal setting. A pretest indicated that prior to completing the goal-setting exercise, only a minority of students had a strong intuitive sense of how to set effective goals; a posttest following its completion demonstrated substantial improvement. Students rated the exercise as both challenging and effective in improving their knowledge of goal setting.

FACTOR ANALYTIC STUDY OF THE AIKEN AND HAGE MEASURES OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

Much work on organizational structure has been based on a set of scales developed by Aiken and Hage to measure centralization, formalization, and technology, yet the scales have been subjected to limited psychometric testing. This paper presents factor analyses of the scales and makes recommendations for their revision and use.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Referral Agents' Conceptions of the Causes and Treatment of Alcohol Dependence

Analyses of general population surveys have suggested that individuals who concur with the view that alcohol dependence is a disease prefer it be treated by physicians, rather than through the techniques advocated by proponents of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) core technology. This study examined relationships between beliefs regarding the causes of alcohol dependence and its effective treatment among a sample of individuals who make treatment referrals for employees with behavioral-medical problems. Analyses presented here indicate that, among these referral agents, support for the disease model is more consistent with treatment modalities favored by long-time EAP proponents.