Lessons of burography
Article Abstract:
A burography is a description and analysis of the intersections of biography and bureaucracy that articulates the organizational experience and meaning from the actor's perspective. In this burography, the author discusses his experiences with and/or participant-observer study of bureaucracies in the U.S. Navy, public welfare agencies, evangelical organizations, movements on behalf of abused children and battered wives, and academia. Within the context of an organization, using biased or false reports in constructing official information is often considered a feature of organizational competence, based on one's understanding of the context. The process of critical reflection on the author's career has revealed to him that the motives for and results of his actions are more complex - and less completely altruistic - than previously imagined, both practically and morally. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0021-8863
Year: 1989
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The vertical construct validity of business economic performance measures
Article Abstract:
Organizational research has had problems with the concept of business economic performance because this concept has not been adequately developed theoretically, and little attention has been paid to measurement issues. This article discusses a study that formally assessed the performance construct, including the issues of dimensionality and convergent and discriminant validity. The research used data on the performance of 110 organizations, and the guiding hypotheses were that operating and market performance constitute two separate but correlated dimensions of the financial performance construct, and that indicators of operating performance would be highly correlated with and significantly related to that dimension, as would indicators of market performance with that dimension. The study's results supported the multidimensional nature of the construct. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0021-8863
Year: 1988
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Schooling and learning: the place of learning in social theories of education
Article Abstract:
Educational theory has developed in a fragmented fashion, with perspectives on the structure and organization of schooling developing in isolation from theories of cognition and learning. In this article, the author argues that for educational theory to have coherent policy implications, these two strands of thought must be integrated. Following an analysis of three major views of the role of schooling - the functionalist, Marxist, and cultural Marxist theories - the author reviews the 'constructivist' framework and suggests how this could be used for such integration when augmented by examination of the contextual grounding of learning. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications for theory, research, and educational policy. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0021-8863
Year: 1988
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