Does Gender Matter in the Evaluation of Successful Physicians? Examining How Evaluators Use Stereotype-Based Attributions in Determining Outcomes at Work

The purpose of this study was to understand whether physician leaders are subject to gender bias in the form of differential work outcomes. Specifically, the primary goal was to examine whether the gender of a successful physician leader, the medical specialty in which he or she works (surgery or pediatrics), and participant level of social dominance orientation (SDO; level of egalitarianism) influenced the allocation of workplace outcomes (i.e., evaluations of performance, promotion recommendations, and characterizations of ability and effort). This study further explored if ability and effort characterizations mediated the relationship between gender, specialty, and participant SDO on evaluations of performance and promotion recommendations. Attempting to elucidate the atypical but increasing phenomenon in which successful female leaders in male-typed jobs receive higher performance evaluations, but lower rates of promotion as compared to equivalent males; this study drew on attribution theory to explain that characterizations of successful women as “hard workers” (effort) may be seen as deserving of high evaluations of performance but not promotions, while being “brilliant” (ability) may be seen as deserving of promotions and reserved for successful men. Results revealed an unexpected overall boost for female surgeons, awarded especially by participants low in SDO (those most egalitarian) such that female surgeons received significantly better outcomes as compared to female pediatricians and equivalent outcomes as compared to male physicians. Male surgeons and pediatricians were largely awarded equivalent outcomes across all levels of participant SDO. Further, mediation was supported only for female surgeons, such that higher characterizations of effort explained higher evaluations of performance, particularly by those low in SDO. Further research is required to understand why successful women receive higher evaluations of performance, but not promotions

Understanding HR reputation: a study to identify and measure the factors that determine perceptions and judgements of HR.

HR suffers from an on-going negative reputation supported by a variety of criticisms of their support for line managers, lack of business knowledge and failure to adapt to a new business model. Much of the research on HR has been focused on establishing a link between HR practice and business performance. Although arguments for such a link are compelling, HR’s competence to deliver a strategic plan, which balances both the interests of individuals and those of business, is in question. The aim of this study is to identify the components of HR reputation and develop a scale of measurement for HR reputation. There has been little research carried out to date on either HR reputation or its constructs. That which exists suggests that HR reputation is formed by shared perceptions and judgements across the organisation but offers no suggestions as to its constructs or causes. A scale of measurement will enable the HR profession to better understand those perceptions and the expectations of the key stakeholders to identify how their role needs to develop, not only to meet these expectations but also to give them a robust tool to respond to their reputation more effectively. A review of the literature identified a number of factors which potentially impact on HR reputation. These are perceptions of HR service, positioning and leadership of the HR function, skills and abilities of HR professionals, the context in which HR operates, and trust in HR and HR outcomes. These factors were further explored in an exploratory study using a qualitative methodology to gather the views of HR and line managers. The exploratory study confirmed that three factors – perceptions of service, skills and abilities, and trust – are indeed factors that contribute to HR reputation, but found little support for positioning and leadership. The exploratory study also generated a number of questionnaire items within each of these factors, which were combined with items generated from literature and validated scales to develop items for the pilot questionnaire, which refined the factors contributing to HR reputation. The final study consisted of a large-scale survey of UK employees and concludes there are four sub-scales that contribute to HR reputation: expectations of HR, skills, trust, and HR performance. All sub-scales are perception-based and together explain the latent variable of HR reputation, which is multifaceted and needs to be viewed on all four dimensions. Within these sub-scales differences could be found between perceptions made by individuals of the direct impact HR has on them and perceptions of the impact of HR on the business. Finally, the work concludes that different stakeholders may hold different perceptions about HR, and hence HR reputation, which has implications for practice, and that the way in which HR performance is viewed can explain differences in HR reputation

Job design and employee engagement

Engage for Success White Paper no. 2014-0

Effect of Assessment Method on the Discrepancy between Judgments of Health Disorders People Have and Do Not Have: A Web Study

Three experiments on the World Wide Web asked subjects to rate the severity of common health disorders such as acne or arthritis. People who had a disorder (“Haves”) tended to rate it as less severe than people who did not have it (“Not-haves”). Two explanations of this Have versus Not-have discrepancy were rejected. By one account, people change their reference point when they rate a disorder that they have. More precise reference points would, on this account, reduce the discrepancy, but, if anything, the discrepancy was larger. By another account, people who do not have the disorder focus on attributes that are most affected by it, and the discrepancy should decrease when people make ratings on several attributes. Again, if anything, the discrepancy increased when ratings were on separate attributes (combined by a weighted average). The discrepancy varied in size and direction across disorders. Subjects also thought that they would be less affected than others

Redes y vínculos: reconstrucción de la experiencia comunitaria con 8 líderes del sector Bolonia localidad Usme año 2012 en el marco del programa social prosofi en alianza con la Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios

Este documento contempla un proceso de sistematización que recupera y analiza los hechos más significativos que permitieron reconstruir la experiencia comunitaria con 8 líderes del sector Bolonia, realizada durante el año 2012 en la práctica profesional de Trabajo social, ejecutada en la alianza de la Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios con el Programa Social PROSOFI. Este proceso es sustentado en tres líneas de fuerza que son: Primero, Las mesas territoriales, en donde la participación, la comunicación y las políticas públicas son ejes centrales del proceso con la comunidad; Segunda, es directamente la propuesta de intervención, en la que se centra en la participación de los líderes comunitarios y las dinámicas relacionales; y la Tercera línea es el acompañamiento a los proyectos, en donde se centra en el contexto comunitario. La intervención del grupo de Trabajo Social se orientó hacia la identificación y apropiación del territorio, las causas de la fragmentación de las redes y vínculos, también el restablecimiento de redes entre los líderes comunitarios y comunales, fortaleciendo la participación, como mecanismo que posibilita la intervención de los actores en los escenarios donde son sujetos de su propio desarrollo. Reflexionando entre nosotras cómo las teorías dialogan con la práctica profesional e identificando alternativas y estrategias de intervención como Trabajadoras Sociales en formación. Con esta experiencia se esperara dar a conocer los aprendizajes más significativos, que surgieron alrededor de la reconstrucción de la práctica, a fin de que procesos similares tengan un conocimiento inicial antes de iniciar su intervención en este campo de práctica

Defective microtubule-dependent podosome organization in osteoclasts leads to increased bone density in Pyk2−/− mice

The protein tyrosine kinase Pyk2 is highly expressed in osteoclasts, where it is primarily localized in podosomes. Deletion of Pyk2 in mice leads to mild osteopetrosis due to impairment in osteoclast function. Pyk2-null osteoclasts were unable to transform podosome clusters into a podosome belt at the cell periphery; instead of a sealing zone only small actin rings were formed, resulting in impaired bone resorption. Furthermore, in Pyk2-null osteoclasts, Rho activity was enhanced while microtubule acetylation and stability were significantly reduced. Rescue experiments by ectopic expression of wild-type or a variety of Pyk2 mutants in osteoclasts from Pyk2−/− mice have shown that the FAT domain of Pyk2 is essential for podosome belt and sealing zone formation as well as for bone resorption. These experiments underscore an important role of Pyk2 in microtubule-dependent podosome organization, bone resorption, and other osteoclast functions

Airway dilation in bronchiolitis obliterans after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

SummaryRationaleBronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is a late, non-infectious pulmonary complication following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). There is minimal data published on quantitative radiologic characterization of airway remodeling in these subjects.ObjectivesTo examine quantitative measurements of airway morphology and their correlation with lung function in a cohort of patients who underwent HSCT and developed BOS.MethodsAll adult patients who underwent allogeneic HSCT at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women's Hospital (n = 1854) between January 1st 2000 and June 30th 2010 were screened for the development of BOS. Clinically acquired high resolution CT (HRCT) scans of the chest were collected. For each subjects discrete measures of airway wall area were performed and the square root of wall area of a 10-mm luminal perimeter (Pi10) was calculated.Measurements and main resultsWe identified 88 cases of BOS, and 37 of these patients had available HRCT. On CT scans obtained after BOS diagnosis, the Pi10 decreased (consistent with airway dilation) as compared with pre-BOS values (p < 0.001). After HSCT the Pi10 correlated with FEV1% predicted (r = 0.636, p < 0.0001), and RV/TLC% predicted (r = −0.736, p < 0.0001), even after adjusting for age, sex and total lung capacity (p < 0.0001 for both).ConclusionsOn HRCT scan BOS is characterized by central airway dilation, the degree of which is correlated to decrements in lung function. This is opposite of what has been previously demonstrated in COPD and asthma that quantitative measure of proximal airway wall thickening directly correlate with pulmonary function. Our data suggests that the pathologic process affecting the central airways is different from the pathology observed in the distal airways. Further work is needed to determine if such change can be used as a sensitive and specific tool for the future diagnosis and staging of BOS

Silicon carbide absorption features: dust formation in the outflows of extreme carbon stars

Infrared carbon stars without visible counterparts are generally known as extreme carbon stars. We have selected a subset of these stars with absorption features in the 10-13 $\mu$m range, which has been tentatively attributed to silicon carbide (SiC). We add three new objects meeting these criterion to the seven previously known, bringing our total sample to ten sources. We also present the result of radiative transfer modeling for these stars, comparing these results to those of previous studies. In order to constrain model parameters, we use published mass-loss rates, expansion velocities and theoretical dust condensation models to determine the dust condensation temperature. These show that the inner dust temperatures of the dust shells for these sources are significantly higher than previously assumed. This also implies that the dominant dust species should be graphite instead of amorphous carbon. In combination with the higher condensation temperature we show that this results in a much higher acceleration of the dust grains than would be expected from previous work. Our model results suggest that the very optically thick stage of evolution does not coincide with the timescales for the superwind, but rather, that this is a very short-lived phase. Additionally, we compare model and observational parameters in an attempt to find any correlations. Finally, we show that the spectrum of one source, IRAS 17534$-$3030, strongly implies that the 10-13 $\mu$m feature is due to a solid state rather than a molecular species.Comment: 13 Figure