Role consensus and job satisfaction in the educational organization : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education at Massey University

A theory of social exchange was used as the framework for investigating role consensus between the Head Teacher and his staff on expectations of teacher and Head Teacher role and relating consensus to teacher job satisfaction. Association between job satisfaction and a number of personal variables was also hypothesised. The sample consisted of 147 intermediate school teachers in the ten intermediate schools in a New Zealand city. Only one of two central hypotheses proved significant. Role consensus between the Head Teacher and his staff on expectations of Head Teacher behaviour was positively related to job satisfaction, in that the greater the role consensus the greater the job satisfaction. No relationship was found between role consensus on expectations of teacher behaviour and job satisfaction. Only one of the personal variables, sex, proved to be related to job satisfaction, in that female teachers expressed greater job satisfaction than male teachers

Phase transitions, memory and frustration in a Sznajd-like model with synchronous updating

We introduce a consensus model inspired by the Sznajd Model. The updating is synchronous and memory plays here a decisive role in making possible the reaching of total consensus. We study the phase transition between the state with no-consensus to the state with total consensus.Comment: to be published in the IJMP

Communicability Angles Reveal Critical Edges for Network Consensus Dynamics

We consider the question of determining how the topological structure influences a consensus dynamical process taking place on a network. By considering a large dataset of real-world networks we first determine that the removal of edges according to their communicability angle -an angle between position vectors of the nodes in an Euclidean communicability space- increases the average time of consensus by a factor of 5.68 in real-world networks. The edge betweenness centrality also identifies -in a smaller proportion- those critical edges for the consensus dynamics, i.e., its removal increases the time of consensus by a factor of 3.70. We justify theoretically these findings on the basis of the role played by the algebraic connectivity and the isoperimetric number of networks on the dynamical process studied, and their connections with the properties mentioned before. Finally, we study the role played by global topological parameters of networks on the consensus dynamics. We determine that the network density and the average distance-sum -an analogous of the node degree for shortest-path distances, account for more than 80% of the variance of the average time of consensus in the real-world networks studied.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

The Social Epistemology of Consensus and Dissent

This paper reviews current debates in social epistemology about the relations ‎between ‎knowledge ‎and consensus. These relations are philosophically interesting on their ‎own, but ‎also have ‎practical consequences, as consensus takes an increasingly significant ‎role in ‎informing public ‎decision making. The paper addresses the following questions. ‎When is a ‎consensus attributable to an epistemic community? Under what conditions may ‎we ‎legitimately infer that a consensual view is knowledge-based or otherwise ‎epistemically ‎justified? Should consensus be the aim of scientific inquiry, and if so, what ‎kind of ‎consensus? How should dissent be handled? It is argued that a legitimate inference ‎that a ‎theory is correct from the fact that there is a scientific consensus on it requires taking ‎into ‎consideration both cognitive properties of the theory as well as social properties of ‎the ‎consensus. The last section of the paper reviews computational models of ‎consensus ‎formation.

Approximate Consensus in Highly Dynamic Networks: The Role of Averaging Algorithms

In this paper, we investigate the approximate consensus problem in highly dynamic networks in which topology may change continually and unpredictably. We prove that in both synchronous and partially synchronous systems, approximate consensus is solvable if and only if the communication graph in each round has a rooted spanning tree, i.e., there is a coordinator at each time. The striking point in this result is that the coordinator is not required to be unique and can change arbitrarily from round to round. Interestingly, the class of averaging algorithms, which are memoryless and require no process identifiers, entirely captures the solvability issue of approximate consensus in that the problem is solvable if and only if it can be solved using any averaging algorithm. Concerning the time complexity of averaging algorithms, we show that approximate consensus can be achieved with precision of $\varepsilon$ in a coordinated network model in $O(n^{n+1} \log\frac{1}{\varepsilon})$ synchronous rounds, and in $O(\Delta n^{n\Delta+1} \log\frac{1}{\varepsilon})$ rounds when the maximum round delay for a message to be delivered is $\Delta$. While in general, an upper bound on the time complexity of averaging algorithms has to be exponential, we investigate various network models in which this exponential bound in the number of nodes reduces to a polynomial bound. We apply our results to networked systems with a fixed topology and classical benign fault models, and deduce both known and new results for approximate consensus in these systems. In particular, we show that for solving approximate consensus, a complete network can tolerate up to 2n-3 arbitrarily located link faults at every round, in contrast with the impossibility result established by Santoro and Widmayer (STACS '89) showing that exact consensus is not solvable with n-1 link faults per round originating from the same node

The role of antibiotics in the treatment of chronic prostatitis: A consensus statement

Practical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic prostatitis are presented. Chronic prostatitis is classified as chronic bacterial prostatitis (culture-positive) and chronic inflammatory prostatitis (culture-negative). If chronic bacterial prostatitis is suspected, based on relevant symptoms or recurrent UTIs, underlying urological conditions should be excluded by the following tests: rectal examination, midstream urine culture and residual urine. The diagnosis should be confirmed by the Meares and Stamey technique. Antibiotic therapy is recommended for acute exacerbations of chronic prostatitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis and chronic inflammatory prostatitis, if there is clinical, bacteriological or supporting immunological evidence of prostate infection. Unless a patient presents with fever, antibiotic treatment should not be initiated immediately except in cases of acute prostatitis or acute episodes in a patient with chronic bacterial prostatitis. The work-up, with the appropriate investigations should be done first, within a reasonable time period which, preferably, should not be longer than 1 week. During this period, nonspecific treatment, such as appropriate analgesia to relieve symptoms, should be given. The minimum duration of antibiotic treatment should be 2-4 weeks. If there is no improvement in symptoms, treatment should be stopped and reconsidered. However, if there is improvement, it should be continued for at least a further 2-4 weeks to achieve clinical cure and, hopefully, eradication of the causative pathogen. Antibiotic treatment should not be given for 6-8 weeks without an appraisal of its effectiveness. Currently used antibiotics are reviewed. Of these, the fluoroquinolones ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin are recommended because of their favourable antibacterial spectrum and pharmacokinetic profile. A number of clinical trials are recommended and a standard study design is proposed to help resolve some outstanding issues

MPs' attitudes to welfare: a new consensus?

The post-war ‘consensus’ on welfare was based largely in the perceived agreement of leading politicians of Conservative and Labour parties on the role of the mixed economy and the welfare state. However, from the late 1970s economic and demographic pressures and ideological challenges, particularly from the New Right, led to cuts in spending on welfare, increased private involvement and an emphasis on more individualistic and selectivist approaches to provision. Recently some scholars have begun to discuss the emergence of a ‘new liberal consensus’ around welfare provision. Drawing upon interviews with ten per cent of the House of Commons, this article examines the extent to which a new political consensus upon welfare can be identified. In addition to analysing responses to questions upon welfare issues it considers the extent to which MPs themselves believe there to be some degree of consensus in approaches to welfare. It also considers whether any consensus exists merely in the political language used in relation to welfare issues, or whether there is a more substantive convergence

Industrial policy after the East Asian crisis - from"outward orientation"to new internal capabilities?

Before East Asia's financial meltdown in the second half of 1997, there appeared to be prospects for an uneasy consensus on the East Asian"miracle", a consensus that recognized the role of the entrepreneurialstate in accelerating industrial development but emphasized the"market-friendly'nature of the state's interventions. After the financial crisis, East Asian policies and institutions are once again under scrutiny - for their failures rather than for their miracles. The author finds that the prospects for a consensus that incorporated the East Asian experience were ill founded. East Asian policymakers emphasized growth through quantitative targets; price signals played a significant but secondary role. The author illustrates these propositions by examining trade policy, industrial conglomerates, and the provision of physical infrastructure. The evolving international consensus on industrial policy, which predates the Asian crisis, emphasizes a hands-off approach in which an activist government plays a reduced role and competition policy plays an important role. But policies emphasizing greater competition and a level playing field - implicitly thought to require less government action - may require more government expertise, not less. If implementing a ten percent export subsidy is difficult, consider the difficulty of determining whether a firm is exercising market power or restraining trade. So the prospect of governments stepping back may be unrealistic. The new consensus also proposes"deep integration", or the adoption of uniform standards in such areas as competition policy and labor and environmental standards. For East Asia, the shift to the international consensus may be appropriate because government-driven growth has declined in intellectual respectability. Also, it may be time to consolidate the gains from the rapid trade-led growth by focusing on creating a stronger incentive structure for efficiently using resources. The current consensus is based on strong priors rather than on solid empirical evidence, however, and the dangers of international uniformity in policy are evident.Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Economic Theory&Research,Decentralization,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Achieving Shared Growth