Knowledge that Transforms

This paper describes the research process – from planning to presentation, with the emphasis on credibility throughout the whole process – when the methodology of qualitative content analysis is chosen in a qualitative study. The groundwork for the credibility initiates when the planning of the study begins. External and internal resources have to be identified, and the researcher must consider his or her experience of the phenomenon to be studied in order to minimize any bias of his/her own influence. The purpose of content analysis is to organize and elicit meaning from the data collected and to draw realistic conclusions from it. The researcher must choose whether the analysis should be of a broad surface structure (a manifest analysis) or of a deep structure (a latent analysis). Four distinct main stages are described in this paper: the decontextualisation, the recontextualisation, the categorization, and the compilation. This description of qualitative content analysis offers one approach that shows how the general principles of the method can be used.

This study extends and updates a review published in the Academy of Management Review in 1984. First the external forces that have shaped Japanese management practices are reviewed. Next a description of the practices that have traditionally been viewed as Japanese management practices is presented. This section includes a discussion of overlapping Japanese organizations, long term planning horizons, decision making and control, just-in-time manufacturing, TQC, QCs and continuous improvement, aggressive R&D, lifetime employment, generalists career paths, company unions, and women as temporaries and support groups. The last section, focusing on the future of Japanese management, critiques the effectiveness of Japanese management practices, reviews the changes taking place in Japanese management, presents a model which conceptualizes the Japanese management system of the future, and identifies eleven propositions describing projected changes in this system. Finally, the problems inherent in the research reviewed are summarized and some needs for future research are discussed.

The issue of workers displaced because of plant closings gained prominence in the 1980’S because of their growing numbers. With the increased attention focused on plant closings, the topic of advance notice has also gained prominence. This paper examines the issue of advance notice for plant closings and its effect on firm value. The findings of this study indicate that longer periods of advance notice have significant negative effects on firm value.

The idea that person–environment (P–E) fit is an important moderator of outcomes is a central theoretical construct and the subject of empirical scrutiny in vocational, counseling, educational, social, industrial/organizational, and management psychology. For the most part the research reveals that the P–E fit model is valid. Indeed, the research evidence may understate the efficacy of P–E fit models because of sampling inadequacies, the use of fit indices to evaluate the models, and the lack of commensurate measurement, but these design flaws are offset to some extent by the confirmatory bias that has characterized P–E fit research. The literature also demonstrates that hexagonal congruence is not related to satisfaction or other important vocational outcomes and that Holland's (1997) circumplex hypothesis lacks validity. The lack of support for Holland's theory is not due to design flaws involving the sample size, the validity of the instruments used in the research, nor the validity of the fit indices used, but the lack of commensurate measurement in research investigating Holland's theory may be a contributing factor. The needs for further conceptual development, research using longitudinal designs, and the use of conceptually sound approaches to data analysis are discussed.

Few studies have evaluated the use of perhaps the most dominant analytic technique in organization studies-linear regression models. In this research, we investigate the extent to which researchers understand the assumptions and verify the appropriateness of linear regression modeling techniques prior to using them. After examining regression usage in leading journals and two samples of researchers in organization studies, we find that the assumptions and requirements of regression modeling are commonly neglected. We discuss consequences of disregarding these assumptions, the role of researchers' beliefs and understanding in not using diagnostics, and various diagnostic tools and statistical software which may be employed to assess regression assumptions. We conclude with a call for greater recognition of the importance of diagnostic checking and an increased application of diagnostics in organization studies.

Two samples of managers are used to demonstrate that environmental and technological variables affect the frequency of managerial roles as defined by Mint&erg (1973). Environmental complexity increases the frequency of informational roles while complexity and dynamism increase the frequency of decisional roles. The interpersonal roles are predicted by an interaction between complexity and dynamism. Overall routineness decreases the frequency of all roles. The presence of rules increases the frequency of decisional and interpersonal roles. The findings suggest that environmental dimensions and technology need to be taken into account in future research and future theories of managerial work.

A Multitrait-Multimethod(MTMM) matrix was used to evaluate the effect of item wording (i.e., comfort versus stress-worded) on measures of role conflict and role ambiguity. The results indicated that wording factors explained a significant amount of item variance. Moreover, several substantive correlations between role conflict, role ambiguity, and other constructs (e.g., role overload) were reduced when wording factors were taken into account. These findings point to the need to more fully consider and understand item wording. Future research should determine the cause of wording factors, which may be due to cognitive influences (e.g., carelessness), or may represent unmeasured substantive constructs, such as negative affectivity (NA) or social desirability.