Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment

\"What are your assumptions (implicit as well as explicit) about the most effective way to manage people?\" So began Douglas McGregor in this 1960 management classic. It was a seemingly simple question he asked, yet it led to a fundamental revolution in management. Today, with the rise of the global economy, the information revolution, and the growth of knowledge-driven work, McGregor's simple but provocative question continues to resonate-perhaps more powerfully than ever before. Heralded as one of the most important pieces of management literature ever written, a touchstone for scholars and a handbook for practitioners, The Human Side of Enterprise continues to receive the highest accolades nearly half a century after its initial publication. Influencing such major management gurus such as Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, McGregor's revolutionary Theory Y-which contends that individuals are self-motivated and self-directed-and Theory X-in which employees must be commanded and controlled-has been widely taught in business schools, industrial relations schools, psychology departments, and professional development seminars for over four decades. In this special annotated edition of the worldwide management classic, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Senior Research Scientist in MIT's Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems Division, shows us how today's leaders have successfully incorporated McGregor's methods into modern management styles and practices. The added quotes and commentary bring the content right into today's debates and business models. Now more than ever, the timeless wisdom of Douglas McGregor can light the path towards a management style that nurtures leadership capability, creates effective teams, ensures internal alignment, achieves high performance, and cultivates an authentic, value-driven workplace--lessons we all need to learn as we make our way in this brave new world of the 21st century.

The Human Side of Enterprise.

According to the side-bet theory of organizational commitment, commitment (referred to here as continuance commitment) increases with the accumulation of side bets or investments. Two studies were conducted to demonstrate that both the instruments used to measure commitment (viz , Ritzer-Tnce, R-T, and HrebimakAlutto, H-A, scales) and the side-bet indexes (viz., age and tenure) used in previous tests of this theory are inappropriate for that purpose In Study 1 subjects read scenarios in which an employee was described as being high or low in continuance commitment and high or low m affective commitment (i.e., emotional attachment) and responded to several commitment instruments as they felt the employee would respond. As expected, the continuance commitment manipulation accounted for a relatively small portion of the variance in the R-T and H-A scale scores, whereas the affective commitment manipulation accounted for a substantially larger portion The continuance manipulation did, however, account for large a portion of the variance in scores on an author-developed continuance commitment scale (CCS). In Study 2, 130 employees from several administrative departments of a large university completed the same commitment instruments. As predicted, the R-T and H-A scales correlated significantly with measures of affective commitment but not with the CCS. Also as predicted, age and tenure correlated with the R-T and H-A scales and with the affective commitment measures but not with the CCS. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for future investigation of the side-bet theory.

Testing the "Side-Bet Theory" of Organizational Commitment: Some Methodological Considerations

We advance here a neighborhood-level perspective on racial differences in legal cynicism, dissatisfaction with police, and the tolerance of various forms of deviance. Our basic premise is that structural characteristics of neighborhoods explain variations in normative orientations about law, criminal justice, and deviance that are often confounded with the demographic characteristics of individuals. Using a multilevel approach that permits the decomposition of variance within and between neighborhoods, we tested hypotheses on a recently completed study of 8,782 residents of 343 neighborhoods in Chicago. Contrary to received wisdom, we find that African Americans and Latinos are less tolerant of deviance -including violence- than whites. At the same time, neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage display elevated levels of legal cynicism, dissatisfaction with police, and tolerance of deviance unaccounted for by sociodemographic composition and crime-rate differences. Concentrated disadvantage also helps explain why African Americans are more cynical about law and dissatisfied with the police. Neighborhood context is thus important for resolving the seeming paradox that estrangement from legal norms and agencies of criminal justice, especially by blacks, is compatible with the personal condemnation of deviance.

Legal Cynicism and (Subcultural?) Tolerance of Deviance: The Neighborhood Context of Racial Differences

Social media use by government: From the routine to the critical

Social media (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube) and other services with user-generated content have made a staggering amount of information (and misinformation) available. Government officials seek to leverage these resources to improve services and communication with citizens. Yet, the sheer volume of social data streams generates substantial noise that must be filtered. Nonetheless, potential exists to identify issues in real time, such that emergency management can monitor and respond to issues concerning public safety. By detecting meaningful patterns and trends in the stream of messages and information flow, events can be identified as spikes in activity, while meaning can be deciphered through changes in content. This paper presents findings from a pilot study we conducted between June and December 2010 with government officials in Arlington, Virginia (and the greater National Capitol Region around Washington, DC) with a view to understanding the use of social media by government officials as well as community organizations, businesses and the public. We are especially interested in understanding social media use in crisis situations (whether severe or fairly common, such as traffic or weather crises).

/pdf/social-media-use-by-government-from-the-routine-to-the-105wjiomm2.pdf

Social media use by government: from the routine to the critical

A multivariate analysis of social bonding theory of delinquency is presented which includes a comparison by rural-urban location. Findings indicate the bonding scales to be a stronger explanation o...

Social Bonding and Delinquency: A Comparative Analysis

Measures of organizational and occupational commitment, as operationalized by Ritzer and Trice, and Alutto et al. were obtained from 120 park and forest rangers working in state and federal organizations in Virginia. Findings yield partial support for Becker's original side-bet hypothesis, especially with respect to organizational commitment. Stronger support, however, is found for an alternative social psychological explanation of commitment, offered by Ritzer and Trice. Since neither explanation of organizational or occupational commitment is totally supported by the data, future research should take into account the various fields and levels of those surveyed. Since first reported, some controversy has arisen about the validity of Howard Becker's concept of "side bets," or investments, as important factors in the development of organizational or occupational commitment. Becker argues (34 et seq.) that over a period of time certain costs accrue which make it more difficult for the person to disengage from a course of activity, such as working for a particular organization or pursuing a certain occupational career. The greater the costs and investments which accrue, the more difficult disengagement becomes. Furthermore, the investments tend to yield additional costs, often unrelated to the original investment.

Toward a Further Clarification of Becker's Side-Bet Hypothesis as Applied to Organizational and Occupational Commitment

Self-report data were obtained from male and female students in a coastal city in the southern Philippines. Analyses reveal higher rates of delinquency among males. Delinquency is regressed on several independent variables, including peer relations, social bond measures, age, and father's occupation. Peer relations and attitudinal constructs are significantly associated with delinquency, particularly among males. Interestingly, sons of higher-status fathers are more delinquent than are juveniles from lower-status backgrounds. Among girls, the collective influence of the independent variables is negligible. The results of the study are discussed relative to various theoretical explanations but with an emphasis on Philippine social structure and values. Attention is given to the family context and to the influence of peer groups, or the barkada, on delinquency, especially among middle-class males. The lack of explanation of female delinquency in this data set is addressed relative to the status of women in ...

Donald J. Shoemaker

Papers

Social media use by government: From the routine to the critical

Social media use by government: from the routine to the critical

Social Bonding and Delinquency: A Comparative Analysis

Toward a Further Clarification of Becker's Side-Bet Hypothesis as Applied to Organizational and Occupational Commitment

Male-Female Delinquency in the Philippines: A Comparative Analysis