17,706 research outputs found
Engineering Bureaucracy: The Genesis of Formal Policies, Positions, and Structures in High-Technology Firms
[Excerpt] This article examines the impact of organizational founding conditions on several facets of bureaucratizationâmanagerial intensity, the proliferation of specialized managerial and administrative roles, and formalization of employment relations. Analyzing information on a sample of technology start-ups in California\u27s Silicon Valley, we characterize the organizational models or blueprints espoused by founders in creating new enterprises. We find that those models and the social composition of the labor force at the time of founding had enduring effects on growth in managerial intensity (i.e., reliance on managerial and administrative specialists) over time. Our analyses thus provide compelling evidence of path dependence in the evolution of bureaucracyâeven in a context in which firms face intense selection pressuresâand underscore the importance of the logics of organizing that founders bring to new enterprises. We find less evidence that founding models exert persistent effects on the formalization of employment relations or on the proliferation of specialized senior management titles. Rather, consistent with neo-institutional perspectives on organizations, those superficial facets of bureaucracy appear to be shaped by the need to satisfy external gatekeepers (venture capitalists and the constituents of public corporations), as well as by exigencies of organizational scale, growth, and aging. We discuss some implications of these results for efforts to understand the varieties, determinants, and consequences of bureaucracy
The Surface Chemical Composition of Lunar Samples and Its Significance for Optical Properties
The surface iron, titanium, calcium, and silicon concentration in numerous lunar soil and rock samples was determined by Auger electron spectroscopy. All soil samples show a large increase in the iron to oxygen ratio compared with samples of pulverized rock or with results of the bulk chemical analysis. A solar wind simulation experiment using 2 keV energy alpha -particles showed that an ion dose corresponding to approximately 30,000 years of solar wind increased the iron concentration on the surface of the pulverized Apollo 14 rock sample 14310 to the concentration measured in the Apollo 14 soil sample 14163, and the albedo of the pulverized rock decreased from 0.36 to 0.07. The low albedo of the lunar soil is related to the iron + titanium concentration on its surface. A solar wind sputter reduction mechanism is discussed as a possible cause for both the surface chemical and optical properties of the soil
Inertia and Change in the Early Years: Employment Relations in Young, High Technology Firms
[Excerpt] This paper considers processes of organizational imprinting in a sample of 100 young, high technology companies. It examines the effects of a pair of initial conditions: the founders\u27 models of the employment relation and their business strategies. Our analyses indicate that these two features were well aligned when the firms were founded. However, the alignment has deteriorated over time, due to changes in the distribution of employment models. In particular, the \u27star\u27 model and \u27commitment\u27 model are less stable than the \u27engineering\u27 model and the \u27factory\u27 model. Despite their instability, these two blueprints for the employment relation have strong effects in shaping the early evolution of these firms. In particular, firms that embark with these models have significantly higher rates of replacing the founder chief executive with a non-founder as well as higher rates of completing an initial public stock offering. Some implications of these findings for future studies of imprinting and inertia in organizations are discussed
Determinants of Managerial Intensity in the Early Years of Organizations
This paper examines how founding conditions shape subsequent organizational evolutionâ specifically, the proliferation of management and administrative jobs. Analyzing quantitative and qualitative information on a sample of young technology start-ups in Californiaâs Silicon Valley, we examine the enduring imprint of two aspects of firmsâ founding conditions: the employment blueprints espoused by founders in creating new enterprises; and the social capital that existed among key early members of the firmâtheir social composition and social relations. We find that the initial gender mix in start-ups and the blueprint espoused by the founder influence the extent of managerial intensity that develops over time. In particular, firms whose founders espoused a bureaucratic model from the outset subsequently grew more administratively intense than otherwise-similar companies, particularly companies whose founders had initially championed a âcommitmentâ model. Also, firms with a higher representation of women within the first year subsequently were slower to bureaucratize than otherwise-similar firms with a predominance of males. Our analyses thus provide compelling evidence of path-dependence in the evolution of organizational structures and underscore the importance of the âlogics of organizingâ that founders bring to new enterprises. Implications of these results for organizational theory and research are discussed
Feasibility of an Incoherent-scatter Radar Aboard the Space Shuttle
The results of a preliminary study to investigate the feasibility of conducting an incoherent scatter radar experiment on board the space shuttle are presented. The results indicate that such an experiment is technically feasible. The more difficult questions to answer are whether the system can be made flexible enough to justify the problems and costs involved. The design parameters and the tradeoffs that are available in the consideration of these questions are evaluated. Some of the more serious limitations pertain to: (1) the presence of ground clutter and F region auroral clutter; (2) available average power; (3) weight and volume associated with required antenna size, transmitter, and energy storage devices; and (4) antenna breakdown associated with high power transmitter problems
High-overtone Bulk-Acoustic Resonator gravimetric sensitivity: towards wideband acoustic spectroscopy
In the context of direct detection sensors with compact dimensions, we
investigate the gravimetric sensitivity of High-overtone Bulk Acoustic
Resonators, through modeling of their acoustic characteristics and experiment.
The high frequency characterizing such devices is expected to induce a
significant effect when the acoustic field boundary conditions are modified by
a thin adlayer. Furthermore, the multimode spectral characteristics is
considered for wideband acoustic spectroscopy of the adlayer, once the
gravimetric sensitivity dependence of the various overtones is established.
Finally, means of improving the gravimetric sensitivity by confining the
acoustic field in a low acoustic-impedance layer is theoretically established.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures in J. Appl. Phys. 201
Supernova Resonance--scattering Line Profiles in the Absence of a Photosphere
In supernova spectroscopy relatively little attention has been given to the
properties of optically thick spectral lines in epochs following the
photosphere's recession. Most treatments and analyses of post-photospheric
optical spectra of supernovae assume that forbidden-line emission comprises
most if not all spectral features. However, evidence exists which suggests that
some spectra exhibit line profiles formed via optically thick
resonance-scattering even months or years after the supernova explosion. To
explore this possibility we present a geometrical approach to supernova
spectrum formation based on the "Elementary Supernova" model, wherein we
investigate the characteristics of resonance-scattering in optically thick
lines while replacing the photosphere with a transparent central core emitting
non-blackbody continuum radiation, akin to the optical continuum provided by
decaying 56Co formed during the explosion. We develop the mathematical
framework necessary for solving the radiative transfer equation under these
conditions, and calculate spectra for both isolated and blended lines. Our
comparisons with analogous results from the Elementary Supernova code SYNOW
reveal several marked differences in line formation. Most notably, resonance
lines in these conditions form P Cygni-like profiles, but the emission peaks
and absorption troughs shift redward and blueward, respectively, from the
line's rest wavelength by a significant amount, despite the spherically
symmetric distribution of the line optical depth in the ejecta. These
properties and others that we find in this work could lead to misidentification
of lines or misattribution of properties of line-forming material at
post-photospheric times in supernova optical spectra.Comment: 37 pages, 24 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ Supplement
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