Knowledge that Transforms

Kenneth W. Thomas, Walter G. Tymon, Jr., Necessary Properties of Relevant Research: Lessons from Recent Criticisms of the Organizational Sciences, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Jul., 1982), pp. 345-352

A review of empirical literature on the determination of structural dimensions reveals conceptual and methodological shortcomings that may have predetermined the outcomes of such research. To further the investigation of the structure domain, Q-analysis is proposed as an alternative research perspective. This procedure enhances the importance of the organizational participant in construct definition and reduces researcher biases in the resulting empirically derived dimensions.

A comparative framework is used to assess the present understanding of the motivational context in public organizations. Comparative public-private research on individual, job, work environment, and external variables affecting motivation is reviewed. In light of this research, the efficacy of four motivational techniques—monetary incentives, goal setting, job design, and participation—is discussed. An agenda is offered for future research, focusing on topics such as the measurability of performance, goal clarity, and job security.

Although organizations invest heavily in training programs to enhance managerial effectiveness, little attention is paid to the transfer of such training from the workshop to the workplace. This paper describes a cognitive-behavioral model that offers a systematic approach to the maintenance of behavior. Relapse prevention strategies are discussed, and implications for management training and research are considered.

A typology of leadership research utilizing an attributional paradigm is presented. Studies are typed according to three pertinent questions: (1) What is to be studied? (2) Whom do you ask? and (3) What is the purpose of the research? The typology reveals that most of the research using the attribution paradigm is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Moreover, there is a serious lack of prescriptive-process research. Future research matching superior and subordinate attributional tendencies is suggested.

The ideas and techniques of Frederick W. Taylor are examined with respect to their validity and their acceptance in modern management. With respect to the principle of scientific decision making and techniques such as time study, standardization, goal setting, money as a motivator, scientific selection, and rest pauses, Taylor's views were fundamentally correct and have been generally accepted. Most of the major criticisms that have been made of Taylor are unjustified. Taylor's genius has not been appreciated by many contemporary writers.

The article reviews the book ?Measurement for Management Decision,? by Richard O. Mason and E. Burton Swanson.

The use of plots of multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) results and the use of discriminant function rotations to improve interpretability of findings in organizational research applying MDA are examined and illustrated. A simple, innovative plotting procedure, which depicts overlaps of groups in MDA combined with the traditional depiction of differences among groups, is discussed and illustrated. An example taken from a health care administrative application is presented for illustrative purposes.

This paper suggests that despite the current renaissance of interest in organizational power and politics, organization theory neglects individual political behavior within organizations. The need for a concern for individual political behavior is explored, and three key dimensions of political behavior are suggested: internal-external, vertical-lateral, and legitimate-illegitimate. A typology based on these dimensions is proposed, and predictions about the different types of political behavior are offered.

Despite the widespread adoption of Management by Objectives (MBO) and its extensive coverage in the literature, few questions have been raised regarding the ethical issues involved in this form of management. Points in the MBO process that are particularly likely to create ethical problems for organizational members are identified, and some means that management can use to increase the likelihood that its MBO program will be conducted in an ethical manner are suggested.