Making organizational punishment work: The effects of social accounts and punishment severity

Punishment continues to be used by organizations as one method to eliminate unwanted employee behaviors. Bennett (1998) argued that managers must be aware of two aspects of the punishment situation: (a) the punishment intensity and (b) the negative consequences of the punishment. Previous research indicates that strong punishments are most effective at changing unwanted behaviors, but strong punishments are also more prone to producing negative attitudes in the punished individual. One way managers may be able to reduce the negative impact of punishment is by using explanations regarding the need for punishment. These explanations are called social accounts. Not all social accounts have the same effectiveness; therefore, both ideological and causal accounts were examined in this research to evaluate their effectiveness in mitigating the negative impact of punishment. Using a 3x3 between-subjects design, the effect of punishment severity (low, moderate and high) and social account type (ideological, causal, and redundant) on performance, fairness of punishment, Interactional Justice, satisfaction with the experiment, anger, and intentions to retaliate was assessed. One hundred eighty undergraduate students from a Midwest university participated in the study. Participants were given an opportunity to win lottery tickets for a $150 gift certificate based on their performance on two simple tasks. Participants were told that lottery tickets would be removed (low, moderate, or high punishment) if they did not perform satisfactorily on Task 1. After the punishment, participants were given one of three social accounts and a set of questionnaires examining their attitudes. Task 2 was completed to determine the behavior change from Task 1 to Task 2. A significant main effect of punishment severity was found for punishment fairness, satisfaction with the experiment, anger, and intentions to retaliate. A significant main effect of account type was found for Interactional Justice and satisfaction with the experiment. Finally, a significant interaction of punishment severity and account type was found for performance such that a moderate punishment with a social account produced greater task 2 performance after accounting for task 1 performance. Despite lacking significance, other conditions produced high task 2 performances. This research indicates that punishment severity and account type have a simple relationship with the attitudinal variables and have a complex relationship with task performance. Future research should examine the characteristics and presentation of social accounts in punishment situations that maximally reduce the negative impact of punishment incidents

Perception of Affordances for Dribbling in Soccer:Exploring Children as Architects of Skill Development Opportunity

This study examined affordance perception for soccer dribbling using a mixed-methods approach in male grassroots soccer players. We examined how children construct and perceive skills practices for dribbling in soccer. Fourteen boys aged 10–11 years (Mean ± SD = 10.8 ± 0.4 years) who were regularly engaged in grassroots soccer participated in the present study. Children were provided with ten soccer cones and asked to create their own soccer dribbling pattern that would enable them to maximise the number of touches with a football and then dribble the ball in the pattern they had created for a 1 min period. Children were interviewed to explore their perception of affordances for soccer dribbling. The test of gross motor development-3 was used to assess fundamental movement skills (FMS), and the UGent soccer dribbling test was used to assess soccer dribbling skills. Children self-rated their own ability for soccer dribbling, as did their coaches. Pearson’s correlations were employed to examine the associations between quantitative variables, and thematic analysis was used to explore qualitative data. Results of the present study suggest that those children who created patterns with less space between cones accrued more touches of the football in their dribbling task (r = −0.671, p = 0.03). Children with a higher perception of their own dribbling ability had higher scores for FMS (r = 0.604, p = 0.049). Those children who scored better in actual soccer dribbling had higher scores for FMS (r = −0.746, p = 0.012) and were rated as better dribblers by their coaches (r = −0.67, p = 0.03). Interview data suggest a feedback loop between perception of ability and actual ability, which influenced the dribbling patterns that were created. This suggests that dribbling performance is scaled to the (perceived) action capabilities of the children, and children can act as architects in their own skill developmen

Calibration and Cross-Validation of Accelerometery for Estimating Movement Skills in Children Aged 8-12 Years

This study sought to calibrate triaxial accelerometery, worn on both wrists, waist and both ankles, during children’s physical activity (PA), with particular attention to object control motor skills performed at a fast and slow cadence, and to cross-validate the accelerometer cut-points derived from the calibration using an independent dataset. Twenty boys (10.1 ±1.5 years) undertook seven, five-minute bouts of activity lying supine, standing, running (4.5kmph−1) instep passing a football (fast and slow cadence), dribbling a football (fast and slow cadence), whilst wearing five GENEActiv accelerometers on their non-dominant and dominant wrists and ankles and waist. VO2 was assessed concurrently using indirect calorimetry. ROC curve analysis was used to generate cut-points representing sedentary, light and moderate PA. The cut-points were then cross-validated using independent data from 30 children (9.4 ± 1.4 years), who had undertaken similar activities whilst wearing accelerometers and being assessed for VO2. GENEActiv monitors were able to discriminate sedentary activity to an excellent level irrespective of wear location. For moderate PA, discrimination of activity was considered good for monitors placed on the dominant wrist, waist, non-dominant and dominant ankles but fair for the non-dominant wrist. Applying the cut-points to the cross-validation sample indicated that cut-points validated in the calibration were able to successfully discriminate sedentary behaviour and moderate PA to an excellent standard and light PA to a fair standard. Cut-points derived from this calibration demonstrate an excellent ability to discriminate children’s sedentary behaviour and moderate intensity PA comprising motor skill activity.N/

Occupational bladder cancer: a cross section survey of previous employments, tasks and exposures matched to cancer phenotypes

Objectives Up to 10% of Bladder Cancers may arise following occupational exposure to carcinogens. We hypothesised that different cancer phenotypes reflected different patterns of occupational exposure. Methods Consecutive participants, with bladder cancer, self-completed a structured questionnaire detailing employment, tasks, exposures, smoking, lifestyle and family history. Our primary outcome was association between cancer phenotype and occupational details. Results We collected questionnaires from 536 patients, of whom 454 (85%) participants (352 men and 102 women) were included. Women were less likely to be smokers (68% vs. 81% Chi sq. p<0.001), but more likely than men to inhale environmental tobacco smoke at home (82% vs. 74% p = 0.08) and use hair dye (56% vs. 3%, p<0.001). Contact with potential carcinogens occurred in 282 (62%) participants (mean 3.1 per worker (range 0–14)). High-grade cancer was more common than low-grade disease in workers from the steel, foundry, metal, engineering and transport industries (p<0.05), and in workers exposed to crack detection dyes, chromium, coal/oil/gas by-products, diesel fumes/fuel/aircraft fuel and solvents (such as trichloroethylene). Higher staged cancers were frequent in workers exposed to Chromium, coal products and diesel exhaust fumes/fuel (p<0.05). Various workers (e.g. exposed to diesel fuels or fumes (Cox, HR 1.97 (95% CI 1.31–2.98) p = 0.001), employed in a garage (HR 2.19 (95% CI 1.31–3.63) p = 0.001), undertaking plumbing/gas fitting/ventilation (HR 2.15 (95% CI 1.15–4.01) p = 0.017), undertaking welding (HR 1.85 (95% CI 1.24–2.77) p = 0.003) and exposed to welding materials (HR 1.92 (95% CI 1.27–2.91) p = 0.002)) were more likely to have disease progression and receive radical treatment than others. Fewer than expected deaths were seen in healthcare workers (HR 0.17 (95% CI 0.04–0.70) p = 0.014). Conclusions We identified multiple occupational tasks and contacts associated with bladder cancer. There were some associations with phenotype, although our study design precludes robust assessment

Effects of point-count duration on estimated detection probabilities and occupancy of breeding birds

Increasingly, point-count data are used to estimate occupancy, the probability that a species is present at a given location; occupancy accounts for imperfect detection, the probability that a species is detected given that it is present. To our knowledge, effects of sampling duration on inferences from models of bird occupancy have not been evaluated. Our objective was to determine whether changing count duration from 5 to 8min affected inferences about the occupancy of birds sampled in the Chesapeake Bay Lowlands (eastern United States) and the central and western Great Basin (western United States) in 2012 and 2013. We examined the proportion of species (two doves, one cuckoo, two swifts, five hummingbirds, 11 woodpeckers, and 122 passerines) for which estimates of detection probability were 0.3. For species with single-season detection probabilities 0.3, we compared occupancy estimates derived from 5- and 8-min counts. We also compared estimates for three species sampled annually for 5yr in the central Great Basin. Detection probabilities based on both the 5- and 8-min counts were 0.3 for 40% 3% of the species in an ecosystem. Extending the count duration from 5 to 8min increased the detection probability to 0.3 for 5% +/- 0.5% of the species. We found no difference in occupancy estimates that were based on 5- versus 8-min counts for species sampled over two or five consecutive years. However, for 97% of species sampled over 2yr, precision of occupancy estimates that were based on 8-min counts averaged 12% +/- 2% higher than those based on 5-min counts. We suggest that it may be worthwhile to conduct a pilot season to determine the number of locations and surveys needed to achieve detection probabilities that are sufficiently high to estimate occupancy for species of interest

Requirement for PBAF in transcriptional repression and repair at DNA breaks in actively transcribed regions of chromatin

Actively transcribed regions of the genome are vulnerable to genomic instability. Recently, it was discovered that transcription is repressed in response to neighboring DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). It is not known whether a failure to silence transcription flanking DSBs has any impact on DNA repair efficiency or whether chromatin remodelers contribute to the process. Here, we show that the PBAF remodeling complex is important for DSB-induced transcriptional silencing and promotes repair of a subset of DNA DSBs at early time points, which can be rescued by inhibiting transcription globally. An ATM phosphorylation site on BAF180, a PBAF subunit, is required for both processes. Furthermore, we find that subunits of the PRC1 and PRC2 polycomb group complexes are similarly required for DSB-induced silencing and promoting repair. Cancer-associated BAF180 mutants are unable to restore these functions, suggesting PBAF's role in repressing transcription near DSBs may contribute to its tumor suppressor activity

Run, Jump, Throw and Catch: How proficient are children attending English schools at the Fundamental Motor Skills identified as key within the school curriculum?

This study examined proficiency levels in fundamental motor skills (FMS) in children within Key Stage 1 and 2 of the English school system. Four hundred and ninety-two children aged 6–9 Years old (245 boys, 247 girls) from school Years Two (n = 130), Three (n = 154) and Four (n = 208) participated in this study. FMS for the run, jump, throw and catch were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development – 2. The proportion of children who achieved mastery or near mastery of the skills was determined. For the whole sample, 18.5% (n = 91) did not achieve mastery in any of the four skills. A similar proportion (18.7%, n = 92) achieved mastery in all four of the FMS examined in this study. The proportion of children achieving mastery of all four skills was lower for Year Two children (0%) compared to children in years Three (24%) and Four (25%). More boys (25.7%) achieved mastery in all four of the FMS compared to girls (11.7%). Individual behavioural components in skill performance were also examined. The results of the present study highlight that less than one-fifth of children aged 6–9 years old have mastered the four key FMS identified by the physical education (PE) curriculum despite having the developmental potential to become fundamentally competent by six years of age. Fostering positive trajectories of FMS development presents a challenge for PE specialists given the association between FMS mastery in childhood and physical activity, weight status and health.N/

Preparing to work: dramaturgy, cynicism and normative ‘remote’ control in the socialization of graduate recruits in management consulting

online) This paper examines the socialization of graduate recruits into a knowledge intensive labour process and organizational culture. Theoretically the paper draws upon the idea of ‘preparing for work’ to position this early socialization as a crucial moment in the production of subjectivities suited (and booted) for the labour process of management consulting. Empirically the paper reports on a two-day induction session for new graduate recruits joining a global management consultancy and their responses to this training. Particular attention is given to the use of role-play and a dramaturgical workshop used in part of the training process. The paper argues that the utilization of dramaturgy in training is consistent with the overall approach to control developed in the firm in response to the fact that the labour process of consulting is often conducted on client sites, away from any direct supervisory gaze. As such, the consultants were subjected to a form of cultural control that was designed to function independently of direct supervision. This control did not operate directly upon the new employees professed values, however, but at one step removed so that a ‘cynical distance’ from the content of the organization’s culture was accepted so long as a professional ‘ethic of behaviour’ was established. By focusing on an ‘ethic of behaviour’ these young professionals were encouraged to internalize a self-control akin to that of an actor, rather than internalizing the corporate values entirely

Planning for population viability on Northern Great Plains national grasslands

Broad-scale information in concert with conservation of individual species must be used to develop conservation priorities and a more integrated ecosystem protection strategy. In 1999 the United States Forest Service initiated an approach for the 1.2 x 106 ha of national grasslands in the Northern Great Plains to fulfill the requirement to maintain viable populations of all native and desirable introduced vertebrate and plant species. The challenge was threefold: 1) develop basic building blocks in the conservation planning approach, 2) apply the approach to national grasslands, and 3) overcome differences that may exist in agency-specific legal and policy requirements. Key assessment components in the approach included a bioregional assessment, coarse-filter analysis, and fine-filter analysis aimed at species considered at-risk. A science team of agency, conservation organization, and university personnel was established to develop the guidelines and standards and other formal procedures for implementation of conservation strategies. Conservation strategies included coarse-filter recommendations to restore the tallgrass, mixed, and shortgrass prairies to conditions that approximate historical ecological processes and landscape patterns, and fine-filter recommendations to address viability needs of individual and multiple species of native animals and plants. Results include a cost-effective approach to conservation planning and recommendations for addressing population viability and biodiversity concerns on national grasslands in the Northern Grea

The abolition of the General Teaching Council for England and the future of teacher discipline

With the abolition of the General Teaching Council for England in the 2011 Education Act, this article considers the future of teacher discipline in England. It provides a critique of the changes to the regulation of teacher misconduct and incompetence that draws on a Foucauldian framework, especially concerning the issue of public displays of discipline and the concomitant movement to more hidden forms. In addition, the external context of accountability that accompanies the reforms to teacher discipline are considered including the perfection of the panoptic metaphor presented by the changes to Ofsted practices such as the introduction of zero-notice inspections. The article concludes that the reforms will further move teachers from being occupational professionals to being organisational professionals marking them apart from comparable professions in medicine and law