National Defence College, India

About: National Defence College, India is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Poison control & European union. The organization has 96 authors who have published 157 publications receiving 2367 citations.

Narcissism and emergent leadership in military cadets

Abstract: Some 200 military cadets rated themselves and other members of their platoons on a variety of variables, including the quality of their leadership behaviors. They also completed standardized personality questionnaires measuring the positive and negative aspects of narcissism. Strong predictions were found for variables related to the two sides of that construct. The best rated leaders exemplified the bright side of narcissism while suppressing the dark side-emergent leaders were measured to be high in egotism and self-esteem but low in manipulativeness and impression management. Big Five personality factors were only marginally successful in predicting emergent leadership in this study. The data are discussed in terms of their relevance to identifying potentially destructive leaders in a group.

Development of a short form of the Quality from the Patient's Perspective (QPP) questionnaire

Abstract: Patients' views on the quality of care are important and it is desirable that these can be assessed using short, yet valid and reliable instruments. The aim of the work reported here was to develop and test a short version of an established questionnaire: Quality from the Patient's Perspective (QPP). Patients (n=162, 79% response rate) receiving care at medical and surgical departments in two Swedish hospitals responded to the original QPP as well as to a newly developed short version. An ethical research committee approved the study. Pearson correlations were computed between the long and short forms and differences between means were analysed with t-tests. Reliability was estimated by computing Cronbach alpha coefficients. Correlations of acceptable size were found between the short form and the original QPP. The short form also had acceptable reliability coefficients. The strengths of the work are that the items in the short version are derived from a patient perspective and are formulated in words used by patients; the items still have a theoretical foundation, which makes the interpretation of results more meaningful; global formulations such as "What do you think about your care?" have been avoided; the short format should make the questionnaire more attractive for many patients to respond to. Limitations are that results indicate that the short form does not fully measure what the long form does. Therefore, when the short form is used in practice, a two-step procedure is suggested, where a follow-up is done with a selection of items from the original long form. This selection could be restricted to areas where problems may be suspected, based on the results from the short form.

Distributed Cognition in an Emergency Co-ordination Center

Abstract: *Formerly at the Department of Communication Studies, Linko¨ping University, Sweden. Most of this work was conducted during the author’s employment at the Department of Communication Studies. Recent research concerning the control of complex systems stresses the systemic character of the work of the controlling system, including the number of people and artefacts as well as the environment. This study adds to the growing body of knowledge by focusing on the internal working of such a system. Our vantage point is the theoretical framework of distributed cognition. Through a field study of an emergency co-ordination centre we try to demonstrate how the team’s cognitive tasks, to assess an event and to dispatch adequate resources, are achieved by mutual awareness, joint situation assessment, and the co-ordinated use of the technology and the physical arrangement of the co-ordination room.

Dimensional analysis of sense of coherence using structural equation modelling

Abstract: The sense of coherence (SOC) concept has been criticized on conceptual and psychometric grounds. The aim of this study was to develop the concept using structural equation modelling. The short 13-item version of the SOC questionnaire was used and data were collected from two different samples. Each sample consisted of about 2000 individuals, selected to be representative of the Swedish population. A model with a general factor and two subordinate specific factors yielded a satisfactory solution in both samples. The two factors were labelled Social Comprehension and Commitment and Unpleasant Emotions and Inner Tension respectively. It was concluded that the 13-item SOC scale could to a certain degree be regarded as a measure of negative affectivity and that the suggested model makes the SOC concept more theoretically coherent. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.