Professional-Bureaucratic Conflict and Intraorganizational Powerlessness among Social Workers

Since Max Weber\u27s classic writings on bureaucracy, the relationship between professionalization and bureaucracy has been a central focus of organization theory and research (e.g., Parsons, 1947; Goulduer, 1954; Blauner, 1964; Blau, 1968, Meyer, 1968b; Blau and Schoenherr, 1971). Some research suggests that professionalization and bureaucratization are alternative or conflicting modes of organization (Udy, 1959 ; Stinchecombe, 1959; Litwak, 1961; Burns and Stalker, 1961; Thompson, 1961; Hall, 1963; Rage, 1965). While other research suggests that professionalization and bureaucratization are actually congruent because structural accommdation minimizes dissension between professionals and bureaucrats (e.g., Blau, 1968; Meyer, 1968b; Kirsch and Lengermann, 1972). However, the resolution of professional bureaucratic discord does not always occur and may vary depending on the status or legitimation of the profession. In the case of an emerging profession or semi-profession, like social work (Scott, 1969; Toren, 1969), this conflict may remain unresolved and produce alienation and work dissatisfaction. This research investigates the impact of bureaucratic constraint and professionalism on one aspect of alienation among social workers: powerlessness, or disaffection regarding one\u27s participation in organizational decision-making. This research treats powerlessness as an organizationally - specific phenomenon. With some exceptions (e.g., Blauner, 1964; Clark, 1959; Lefton, et.al., 1959; Segal, 1969), powerlessness has been dealt with in a societal context (Lystad, 1972). In most research, powerlessness (or any form of alienation) has been viewed as a generalized manifestation of person-toworld or person-to-society relations. Intraorganizational powerlessness has been of interest primarily because of its alleged ramifications beyond the organizational context in which it is generated. Seeman (1967) found little support for this generalization hypothesis , and suggests that this is due to persons\u27 propensity to segmentalize different spheres of life. In this vein, the present research treats powerlessness as an organizationallyspecific phenomenon, not as a diffuse aspect of a person\u27s relation to his social world

A strategy for analysis of idea innovation networks and institutions

Die Studie geht von der Annahme aus, dass kommerziell erfolgreiche radikale Produkt- und/oder Prozessinnovationen in den wissenschaftsbasierten industriellen Sektoren am besten durch die Fokussierung auf die Netzwerke der Ideeninnovation erforscht werden können. Netzwerke der Ideeninnovation bestehen aus sechs Arenen, die in folgenden Forschungsformen reflektiert werden: Grundlagenforschung, angewandte Forschung, Produktentwicklungsforschung, Produktionsforschung, Qualitätskontrollenforschung und Marktforschung. Bei der Analyse der Interdependenzen zwischen diesen Forschungsformen stützen die Autoren sich auf die Literatur zu organisatorischen Innovationen und zum Lernen von Organisationen. Für ihren Ansatz insgesamt ist folgende These grundlegend: Je enger die Kopplungen zwischen diesen Forschungsformen und je größer die Gemeinsamkeiten der Forschung hinsichtlich dieser Formen in den verschiedenen Industriesektoren sind, desto innovativer und wettbewerbsfähiger ist das industrielle System eines Landes.The perspective of this paper is that variation in commercially successful radical product/ process innovations among science-based industrial sectors can be explored by focusing on idea innovation networks. Idea innovation networks have six arenas reflecting research - basic research, applied research, product development research, production research, quality control research, and commercialization/ marketing research. The paper develops two interrelated hypotheses. The first is that the greater the diversity of competencies or knowledges that are connected with frequent and intense communication within an arena and the greater the size of the arena, the greater the likelihood that radical innovations will emerge. The second hypothesis involves the same kind of logic: if radical solutions are to occur in more than one arena, there must be intense and frequent communication among the different arenas involving radically new ways of thinking. Radical research solutions in one arena usually involve tacit knowledge and to be effectively communicated to another arena, both tacit knowledge and codified knowledge must be communicated across arenas. But the communication of tacit knowledge is more likely to occur when there is frequent and intense communication across arenas. In analyzing connectedness, the authors draw on the literatures about organizational innovation and organizational learning. As well, they recognize that institutional environments shape the size of research arenas and the connectedness within and among them. The suggestion is that the more similarity there is across sectors in the patterns of research arena size and connectedness, the greater the support for a national system of innovation interpretation. Contrariwise, less similarity of network arena characteristics across sectors may mean more support for the strong role of globalization forces in affecting innovation

Procedures for periodizing history: determining eras in the histories of Britain, France, Germany and Italy

Die Autoren entwickeln anhand konkreter Untersuchungen Vorschläge zum Problem der Periodisierung historischer Zeitabschnitte. Die theoretischen und methodischen Implikationen dieses Problems werden im Rahmen der Untersuchung des Wachstums der staatlichen Ausgaben für Erziehung, Gesundheit, Wohlfahrt und soziale Sicherung in den Ländern Großbritannien, Frankreich, Deutschland und Italien von 1870 bis 1965 dargestellt. Dieser Gegenstandsbereich wurde ausgewählt, weil sich an den Wandlungen in diesem Sektor auch die gesellschaftlichen Wandlungen ablesen lassen. Die Darstellung der Untersuchung umfaßt neben konkreten Ergebnissen die Analyse der methodischen und theoretischen Probleme, insbesondere die Behandlung der Daten und die alternativen Möglichkeiten der Periodisierung anhand einer Variable und mittels multipler Zeitläufe. Die Untersuchung ergibt, daß die traditionelle Chronologie nur in Einzelfällen zur Periodisierung ausreicht. (BG

New directions in the use of network analysis in research and product development evaluation

In recent years, the use of social network analysis (SNA) has received increased attention in R&D evaluation. While SNA provides insights into communication and knowledge flows, its efficacy in evaluation methodology remains unclear. A

A New Evaluation Strategy for Measuring the Returns on Investments in Medical Research

Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 2009This presentation was part of the session : Methods, Measures, and DataAs part of the continued efforts of the Center for Innovation to develop new evaluation strategies, we developed a new framework and proposed this in an invited white paper for a major assessment called for by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. What makes this framework new is that is focuses on the treatment sector because this is where the greatest variations in both research investments and potential returns are concentrated. By focusing on the treatment process, a very fine-grained evaluation is possible, which then can be aggregated to the macro level, the level of policy makers. But since it starts with the treatment process, it can pinpoint where either too much money in research has been invested or not enough. This is a very important question for policy-makers. One critical component of this framework is that it provides precise definitions of what is the treatment process as distinct from the research process, the differences in where treatments are provided and where research is conducted, and the distinctions between the micro, meso, and macro levels of evaluation. These definitions are important because of the mismatch among them. The specific metrics of the framework are: 1. Metrics of health care impact by stage in the treatment process; 2. Metrics of research investment by arenas within the production of medical knowledge within the specific treatment sector; 3. Metrics of contributions to scientific knowledge; 4. Metrics of network gaps in the production of innovative treatment protocols; 5. Metrics of economic and social benefits of medical research. The key starting point is the treatment process, which is defined by the differences in the nature of the illness, injury or health care problem that is being treated. The metrics for this are groups according to the four stages: prevention, intake and assessment, treatment, and post-treatment including long term care. Carefully specifying the stages in the treatment process associated with a particular morbidity allows for a fine-grained set of health care impact metrics or indicators. One could make additional distinctions within these four stages. For example, one might want to distinguish between diagnosis and prognosis. In addition to the four stages of the treatment process, we have added a category, knowledge about the health care problem, because a major part of biomedical and population research focuses on the development of understanding about the health care problem that eventually can lead to either prevention or treatment. Two to three indicators are suggested for each stage. The problem of actual vs. potential benefits--an issue that plagues many evaluations--is also discussed. To place the evaluation in its proper context, the kinds of investments made in medical research, both human and capital, are classified according to the specific stages of the treatment process. This highlights gaps. Another set of measures deals with detecting gaps in the idea innovation network (Hage and Hollingsworth, 2000) associated with a specific treatment sector. This is particularly important given the presence of a valley of death between medical research and the development of industrial innovations perceived to exist, again illustrating the advantages of selecting the sector level in the health care delivery system. A special section on metrics for knowledge contributions is suggested as well, given the importance of this for most academics. In this, a special emphasis is placed on the international impact of these contributions. Metrics for economic benefits flow naturally from the specific indicators for each stages of the treatment process. Examples include value of illness days saved from decline in morbidity incidence, reduction in the costs of tests for diagnosis, reduction in the patient's costs of waiting, value of days saved in hospitalization, value of days saved in rehabilitation and after care, etc. Surprisingly, focusing on the stages in the treatment process, which would seem to involve more work, simplifies the task of specifying the specific benefits of a particular kind of research finding. Finally a number of societal benefits are indicated as well including such things as increased equality in health care and duration of life by class and gender

Theories Of Organization

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