Knowledge that Transforms

Markov Analysis (MA) may be used to examine the movement of personnel into, within, and out of the organization. After briefly reviewing and illustrating MA, specific applications to human resource administration are suggested. Potential limitations of MA applications may place rather stringent constraints on their appropriateness and usefulness in human resource administration.

In this article the authors examine the high rate of manuscript rejection in the field of management research and offer suggestions on how to improve the quality of management research and the resulting manuscripts. They note that most work that has examined manuscript rejection has focused on the need for more extensive review systems; however, they suggest that inadequately planned research may be a more significant problem. They contend that new mechanisms need to be put in place that would provide researchers with feedback and advice while they are still in the developmental stage of their work. They outline how an independent review system could function to provide this service to researches and discuss some of the potential difficulties and benefits that may arise.

Applications of behaviorism to practical problems in organizations are critically analyzed. Examination of four behavior mod techniques commonly used in organizations indicates that they are neither behavioristic nor new. The behavioristic model is not a valid or useful guide for the manager who desires to improve employee skills and motivation.

A review of research on worker responses to shift work emphasizes identification of workers' problems. Theoretical analysis suggests that many shift-related problems are a function of lack of community orientation toward shift work schedules.

Literature pertaining to the structural influence of size, technology, and environment is reviewed. Results indicate similar structural predictions are offered by each of the three contingency variables. The roles of measurement, unit and level of analysis, variable and effect independence, and variable dominance in research inconsistencies and future research directions are considered.

The article presents a review of the book ?Increasing Leadership Effectiveness,? by Chris Argyris.

The article examines the role of values in business education and proposes a philosophy of education with respect to value positions. The author notes that due to increasing political and ethical issues being raised in business there has become a growing interest to include a value-oriented aspect in the business education curriculum. He examines how values play a role in areas such as conflict management and discusses some of the conflict-handling modes which include; competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating. He closes by discussing the need to develop teaching strategies that take into account differences in strengths and weaknesses between students in order for students to get the most out of their individual skills.

Productivity improvement has a role in holding down escalating costs of hospital services. A research model is developed for obtaining higher levels of productivity and quality in hospital departments. A challenge is issued to the management community for more research on hospital productivity.