Showing papers on "Situational ethics published in 1979"

Superior–subordinate communication: The state of the art.

Abstract: Based on a review of the literature, empirical research in the area of superiorsubordinate communication is classified into nine topical categories and critically examined. Inspection of this literature suggests that researchers have focused the majority of their attention on studying (a) the effects of power and status on superior-subo rdinate communication, (b) trust as a moderator of superior-subo rdinate communication, and (c) semantic-information distance as a source of misunderstand ing in superior-subo rdinate communication. It is concluded that future research should increasingly be developmental and longitudinal in nature and should take into greater consideration the effects situational variables have on communication in the superior-subordinate dyad. Status hierarchy is inherent in the nature of purposeful organizations. As Redding (1972) observes, within organizations "there are 'superiors' and 'subordinates'—even though these terms may not be expressly used, and even though there may exist fluid arrangements whereby superior and subordinates roles may be reversible" (p. 18). How superiors and subordinates interact and communicate to achieve both personal and organizational goals has been an object of investigation by social scientists for most of the 20th century. Empirical research examining superior-subordinate communication is diverse, is strewn across a multitude of disciplines, lacks coherent organization and classification, and in general, has not received sufficient review and interpretation as a body of literature. The present article attempts to alleviate this confusion by reviewing, classifying, interpreting, and providing directions for future research in the area of organizational communication that is loosely termed superior-subordinate communication. This article focuses on empirical research solely in the domain of organizationa l communication. To avoid generalizations from communication research outside of the orga

An Investigation of Situational Variation in Brand Choice Behavior and Attitude

Abstract: Empirical evidence is presented which supports the explicit consideration of situational factors in the study of consumer behavior. Situational variation of brand choice behavior and attitude is id...

Why did he do it? attribution of obedience and the phenomenon of dispositional bias

Abstract: Two studies are reported which demonstrate the influence of perceptual or ‘perspective’ variables in mediating attribution processes. In both studies subjects first observed a re-enactment of Milgram's (1963) experiment of obedience in which a ‘teacher’ obeys an experimenter's request to deliver dangerously high levels of shock. They were then asked to make judgements concerning the magnitude of situational forces acting upon the teacher and also to make inferences about his personality dispositions. Study I showed that passage of time can lead observers to assume more situational control when they were required to think and write about the witnessed re-enactment of the Milgram situation compared with observers who had no time to contemplate or who were prevented from doing so. Study II did not support the notion that focus of attribution is a simple function of what one pays attention to, or a function of the differing perspectives which actors and observers employ. Both of these results seriously challenge Jones and Nisbett's (1972) contention that the differences in attribution tendencies between actors and observers arise from the difference in perspective, Moreover, considerable evidence suggests that changes in situational and dispositional attributions may not follow a simple ‘zero-sum’ model, and that subjects seem to be unwilling to treat the two sources of control as if they were inversely correlated.

Situational Determinants of Supervisor Attributions and Behavior

Abstract: Forty subjects, randomly assigned to a supervisory role in either a reward power only or penalty power only condition, supervised two successful subordinates, one closely and one generally, and two...

Learning Disabilities Research: Defining Populations

Abstract: This article emphasizes the need of a uniform format for defining the populations selected for research, particularly with disabled individuals. It is maintained that if researchers describe their subject populations according to certain criteria, other researchers would be better able to replicate their efforts and practitioners, in turn, would be more apt to implement their recommendations. It is suggested that researchers explain populations consistently within at least the four following categories: situational variables, demographic variables, instructional variables, and motivational level. The population descriptions from three articles are presented and scrutinized in terms of the four categories.

A behavioral continuum synthesizing Neutralization Theory, situational ethics and juvenile delinquency.

Abstract: This paper develops some ideas in Matza's Neutralization theory into a continuum containing four categories ranging from extreme goodness to rebellion. We labeled these categories as Moral Absolute, Situational Ethic, Neutralization, and Rebellious Absolute. We discuss the percentages expected in each category and hypothesize that involvement in delinquency will increase progressively across these four categories. The rationale behind this hypothesis is that youth in the United States are viewed as being socialized to accept absolute norms but also to allow exceptions to these norms for particular situations, and that delinquent youth extend these exceptions to zones wider than are tolerated by law officers and wider than are generally accepted. A modified version of the Nye-Short self-reported delinquency scale and measures of normative oreintation which we constructed were used in a mail-out questionnaire to public school students (N = 351). We view our findings as being basically consistent with these expectations.

When personality meets situation: Exploring influences on choice of business major

Abstract: Students who self-select a business school education are exposed to many situational influences (teachers, courses, grades, peers, information about job market and salaries) which further affect their career choices. A model of personal specialization distinguishing individuals' affective predispositions toward persons and things in the environment provided four categories of person/thing orientation: person specialist, thing specialist, generalist and non-specialist. The possibility that person/thing orientation interacts with situational influences to affect choice of business major was tested by examining specific correlations, using as a dependent variable the extent to which the chosen major involves dealing with persons (as opposed to things). Although most correlations were low, the findings support a positive relationship between combinations of situational factors with person/thing orientation and the person involvement of chosen field.

Egocentrism and Inefficiency in the Communication of Families Containing Schizophrenic Members

Abstract: Conceptual and methodological shortcomings of research on family and interactional psychopathology are owing mainly to the use of vague and ill-defined concepts of communication. Based on a theory of language use and communication within general social and cognitive psychology (e.g., Heider, Mead, Piaget, Rometvet) Blakar has outlined a methodology by which interaction is analyzed in terms of how and to what extent the participants (families) manage or fail to cope with the various prerequisites for successful communication under varying situational conditions. A study illustrating this program is presented: The interaction of twelve families, six with (Group S) and six without (Group N) a schizophrenic member, is analyzed in Blakar's communication conflict situation with respect to the members' ability to decenter and take the perspective of each other. Group S proved significantly more egocentric, their egocentric attitudes resulting, as would be expected, in very inefficient communication. Moreover, Group S were not able to adapt their pattern of communication to the changing situational requirements. Finally, the subtle interplay between the capacities and behavior of the individual members and the family system is illustrated: the egocentrism of the members resulted in "closed systems," and the closed systems hindered adequate feedback, forcing the members to decenter.

Context Effects for Attributions of Ability

Abstract: Subjects watched a videotape of an actor engaged in a game of billiards and then made inferences about the actor's billiards ability. The level of skill demonstrated in the billiards performance and the situational demands (context) surrounding the performance were systematically varied. Results indicated that inferences based upon a skillful performance were less affected by situational demands than were inferences based upon an unskillful performance. Ratings of observers' uncertainty were also consistent with these findings.

What Will a Three-year-old Say?: An Experimental Study of Situational Variation

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses about an experimental study that examined one situational contrast for effects upon child discourse. The subjects were 52 children between three and four years. All attended a nursery school in Warsaw, Poland, and were monolingual native speakers of Polish. The general procedure for the story telling sessions was uniform across children. Formal analyses included a word count to establish discourse length and calculations of the ratio of compound and complex sentences to simple clauses and juxtaposed word sequences. Failure to meet role requirements by the various adult listeners within and across situational variants would obviously contaminate the discourse product. The choice of reference situations are defined as a unit by identifying the subject or element in terms of which the situation takes on a given configuration at a given moment in time.

Which Leadership Style--From the Head or Heart?.

Abstract: Attempts to better understand the nature of leadership over the last two decades have fre quently stressed the importance of leadership style. According to theorists, the most appropriate style must demonstrate equal concern for people and production (Blake and Mouton), or initiate structure and consideration behavior as in the Ohio State studies. Fred Fiedler has demonstrated that goal complexity is an important style deter minant, as has Bill Reddin in his work analyzing the technology of the work itself. More recently, Hersey and Blanchard 1 have refined the situational model by suggesting that the maturity level of a group is the most important factor in selecting the appropriate leadership style for a given task. There is much similarity in these different ways of stressing the need for flexible leader be havior. They have all made a contribution to the rich lore in this field. Few would argue there is one best conceptualization, although some theo rists such as Rensis Likert have assembled con siderable evidence to demonstrate that t heir model is most efficacious (for example, System 4). However, attempting a comprehensive ex planation of leadership with broad application to the realities of the practicing school leader's role is troubling. Can or should leaders be taught ("trained") to change a basic style or recurring mode of behavior? They can be trained to be more sensitive to the alternatives they have among styles, but evidence is limited that a very strong,

Environmental Satisfaction in High- and Low-Rise Residential Settings: A Lewinian Perspective

Abstract: Lewin’s classic formula, B = f (P,E), has for almost 40 years remained a keystone in the framework of social psychological theory. The formula serves less as a precise mathematical function than as a working definition of a broad sphere of research and inquiry. Yet, despite its generality, it affords a conceptual backdrop for a broad spectrum of contemporary research concerned with investigating personal versus situational effects in predicting social behavior. The results of this research have consistently demonstrated that both personal and situational variables and, especially, the interaction between personal and environmental factors are of importance in accounting for the total behavioral variance (cf. Bern & Allen, 1974; Ekehammer, 1974; Endler & Hunt, 1968; Mischel, 1973; Raush, Dittmann, & Taylor, 1959; Raush, Farbman, & Llewellyn, 1960). The present study was concerned with applying such an interactional framework in investigating environmental satisfaction in high- and low-rise student housing.

Procrastination: the Personality and Situational Correlates of Procrastination Behavior for Achievement Tasks.

Abstract: Atkinson's Theory of Achievement Motivation . . . 21 Achievement Motivation and Motive to Avoid Failure . 28 Perceived Instrumentality .............................. 39 Locus of C o n t r o l ............................................54 M E T H O D ........................................................ 69 R E S U L T S ........................................................ 78 Data Analysis................................................78 M o t i v a t i o n ................................................ 82 Perceived Instrumentality .............................. 92 Locus of C o n t r o l .......................................... 106 Phenomenological Experience of Procrastination . . 119 D I S C U S S I O N ................................................... 127 A P P E N D I C E S .................................. 150 R E F E R E N C E S ................................................... 176 VITA 182

Control in industrial relations: regulation and decision-making in a Singapore enterprise

Abstract: This thesis approaches .the study of industrial relations from a very basic feature of social and organisational behaviour. Because the various activities, relationships and phenomena in industrial relations are essentially manifestations of control, the concept of control, it is argued, has tremendous potential for substantive theorising. At a theoretical level, the research has developed a definition of the field of industrial relations and proposes the integration and balance of the 'action' and 'environmental' schools of thought, via the notion of the 'industrial relations setting'. The concept of control developed in the thesis brings together various ideas and theories developed in industrial relations and the other behavioural areas of the social sciences. The method proposed for research, investigation and practice is situational, i.e. using concepts as they apply to the situation being considered. The primary purpose of the exercise, however, was to investigate a practical issue. The practical investigation focuses on the nature of control in the Singapore situation, in particular, the issues relating to job control in Singapore's shipbuilding and repairing industry. The study scans the environmental factors and closes in on the local factors - objectives, perceptions, motivation, power and influence, held by the various actors: State, management, union and the workers. While at the macro-level the study shows a picture of peace and stability between the powerful entities - State, management and union, the research also uncovers the not-so-healthy implications of problems on the shopfloor. The thesis concludes with suggestions and points to the challenges of the future.

Children's Situational Competence: Two Studies

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses acquisition of the set of skills necessary to generate effective communicative behavior seems dependent upon processes of socialization by which the developing child learns to master conversational skills first in the family and later in the classroom. If situational competence is seen as dependent upon the socialization process, it becomes crucial to examine the ecological environment surrounding that process as it occurs in an agency of socialization. The importance of studying situational competence in the natural setting of the classroom has to do with the outcomes attached by their classroom teachers to children's performance of the range of social skills that constitute this competence. The importance of the speech situation or milieu to children's social behavior including their conversational behavior is beginning to be apparent to investigators.

Situational Referents of an Academic Setting and Locus of Control.

Abstract: The study was designed to answer the following questions: whether the various situational influences of the school environment were perceived differentially by the student with regard to his locus of control, and which situational influence was most related to the academic achievement of the student? These questions were answered by administering the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire and two achievement tests to 1192 sixth and seventh grade students. Results indicated that those referents which were most perceptually distinct were parents/ teachers, peer/others, and achievement situations in which the tasks or goals were well defined. Overall, the situational influences most related to achievement were those which referenced parents, parental interaction, or the home environment.

Situational Exercises in Cross-Cultural Awareness Richard Nitsche and Adele Green. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill, 1977, 101 pp. $3.95

Abstract: on objects and seeing how they react; 2. acting on objects to produce a desired effect; 3. becoming aware of how one produced the desired effect, and 4. explaining causes. These levels may, according to the authors, suggest types of physical knowledge activities and also be one framework for judging the difficulty of a specific activity. In summary, their educational theory is excellent. It provides an explicit framework for educational practice, consistent with constructivism.