Knowledge that Transforms

Fiedler, Murphy, and Gibson (1992) raise a variety of objections to my 1990 study (Vecchio, 1990), which addressed the seven propositions of cognitive resource theory. Their objections, which are essentially based on reservations offered in the article itself, reflect overstatement and are largely unfounded. This article examines each of their objections and reiterates areas that deserve further refinement. Future research related to cognitive resource theory will benefit from a consideration of the original points raised in my earlier article

According to the positive-findings bias hypothesis, there is a negative relationship between the methodological rigor of evaluations of organization development interventions and the reported success of those interventions. We performed three basic analyses of this issue. The first indicated no differences in rigor across intervention categories. The second indicated no significant negative correlations between rigor and reported success, for the overall sample or for any category of intervention or outcome variable. The third analysis indicated that the rigor measure used in the first two analyses, and in previous research, is problematic