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This study Investigated the question of whether public managers' personal values are related to their decision-making styles. One hundred sixty-one state government managers participated, completing the Rokeach Value Survey and the Rowe Decision Style Inventory. Results indicate that there is an identifiable relationship: Of Rokeach's 14 clusters of values, 12 were significantly related to particular decision-making styles., '[A] decision is a judgment or conclusion reached or given. This definition emphasizes the choice, the selection of a single option based on a variety of factors.... Further, once there [...]

That stress pervades modern organizations is hardly disputed. We see it in a number of dysfunctional behaviors, ranging from absenteeism to frequent visits to medical personnel to suicide. The overall [...]

The results of a research project on deregulation and regulation in the Oregon nursing home industry are examined. The study investigated the 'capture' and 'majoritarian' public policy views of the regulatory process. Issues focused on in the investigation included: patients' rights; complications, duplications, contradictions and inconsistencies of regulation; costs and benefits of compliance with regulation; and whether activities or performance are the measure of compliance. The three groups surveyed were local and national representatives of state and federal regulatory personnel, patient advocates, and nursing-home care providers. These groups' views on the issues are analyzed, patterns of similarity and dissimilarity are discussed, and the implications for competing public-policy views are inferred.

The conventional view of research holds that researchers subscribe to norms of independence and individualism. In turn, these norms help shape the professionals' perceptions, attitudes, and ultimately their behavior. Most of the literature on professionals in organizations has emphasized the inherent incompatibility between professional norms and organizational demands. Despite its attractiveness and popularity, this conventional view may be inaccurate. In particular, research may be undergoing profound changes in its institutional character. There seem to be at least four forces acting to transform research into something primarily concerned with specific material objectives, or missions: i) the nature of research — its goal orientation and administration; ii) the ubiquitous demand for social relevance; iii) the anti-technology, anti-research value stance being assumed by an increasing proportion of our population; and iv) the decreasing challenge and attractiveness of scientific research, as viewed by those entering the R&D community. One of the ways by which the transformation of scientific research will be manifested is in the behavior of the professionals. Specifically, such technical organizations as industrial R&D firms, hospitals, and think tanks will develop norms and behaviors consistent with the traditional organizational demands, and less with the traditional professional ethos. The discussion concludes by identifying and describing several research propositions that merit empirical investigation.

In investigating the proposition that creative ability is crucial to the conduct of successful scientific research, creative ability and scientific research competence were assessed for each member of a total sample of sixty-four scientists. The scientists were selected from a large sub-unit of a state university and an independent research laboratory. The expectation that creative ability would be strongly related to manifest research competence definitely was not met: no direct relationship was found between the two variables. The possible moderating effects of scientist interpersonal competence were then examined. The principal conclusion drawn from this study is that there are additional psychological, social, and organizational variables whose interactive properties affect the translation of inherent creative ability directly into creative performance.