Relational scaffolding of school motivation: developmental continuities in students' and parents' ratings of the importance of school goals.

The authors investigated whether parents and students are consistent, over grade levels, in the importance they assign to school goals. Elementary and high school students (n = 178) and their parents (n = 130) completed a questionnaire addressing the personal importance of students' school goals, defined in terms of school success. Parent-child consistencies in the rating patterns of school goals over grade levels were more common than were inconsistencies. These developmental consistencies support the position that students' school goals are embedded within the parent-child relationship (J. Youniss, 1980; J. Youniss & J. Smollar, 1985) and are scaffolded within it (J. S. Bruner, 1975; L. S. Vygotsky, 1978). Potential sources of relational and phenotypic influences on school goals are discussed, as is the need for effective friendship management and school performance in high school.

On the assessment of children in suspected child sexual abuse in light of Daubert and Frye: limitations of profiles and interviews as scientifically grounded evidence.

Practice with children and families entails the higher probability of encountering forensic issues of child sexual abuse (CSA) assessments for which relatively few psychologists, allied mental health and legal practitioners are sufficiently well equipped. The current paper reviews some of the key psycholegal issues bearing on the assessment of suspected CSA in the contexts of: (a) recent psycholegal precedence and common law rules of reliability and admissibility of CSA profile evidence; (b) the empirical problems with CSA syndromes; and (c) the problems with children's interviews as evidence, and suggestions for valid interviewing guidelines supporting free recall. These psycholegal issues are presented in terms of the Frye standard for expert testimony and the Federal Rules of Evidence, with recent American and Canadian case illustrations, such as Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Hadden v. State of Florida (1997), Bighead v. The United States of America (1997), Diocese of Winona v. Interstate Fire & Cas. Co. (1994), and R. v. Simpson (1996).

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

For decades, the hospital environment has been described as turbulent and hostile. At the same time, the transfer of business practices into hospitals has been advocated, accompanied by the largely untested assumption that these practices are crucial to performance and even survival. As this pattern became entrenched, the accumulated knowledge gained within the industry of managing in a hostile and turbulent environment has been overlooked. We argue that it is time to question the pattern.

In their own words: how hospitals present corporate restructuring in their annual reports.

Hospitals operate in an environment with strong institutional pressures, in which legitimacy is critical to an organization's access to resources. In such an environment, organizations can increase their legitimacy by engaging in activities or discussing them in a manner that signals that the organization adheres to values held by its costituents. One important symbol of organizational actions or intentions is the formal organizational structure. When hospitals began to adopt a corporate structure in the early eighties, the way in which they presented this decision to the public was as important as the technical merits of the decision itself. This study investigates, through an analysis of annual reports, what hospitals signaled about their adoption of a corporate structure. The findings suggest that through restructuring, hospitals signaled that they were in line with practices advocated in the industry and literature (e.g., adhering to business values, protection of assets, or increasing patient services). By presenting multiple reasons for restructuring, hospitals could signal their attention to the needs of various constituents, and by touching only briefly on each reason, they could ignore the potential conflict between demands such as lower hospital cost and increased services. The findings also suggest that the first hospitals to adopt a corporate structure sought to educate constituents about restructuring by devoting a greater share of their annual report to the topic than later adopters and by enumerating a larger number of anticipated benefits from the structure, which would have enhanced the innovation's legitimacy in the early years.

Reengineering: deja vu all over again.

There is growing interest among hospitals in reengineering. It promises dramatic improvements in performance: Costs will be reduced while work processes, productivity, and patient care will all improve. A review of the health care literature on reengineering shows that little evidence exists to support its claims. This article critiques the existing literature on reengineering and addresses the conundrum hospital executives encounter when faced with the decision to adopt a new management technique--such as reengineering--in the absence of proof of its efficacy.

Corporate political strategy: incorporating the management of public policy issues into hospital strategy.

Hospitals engage in a variety of strategies designed to anticipate, shape, and respond to public policy issues. This article describes corporate political strategy and argues for its need throughout a public policy issue's life cycle.

Benefits and disadvantages of corporate restructuring--the hospital view.

Many hospitals have adopted a corporate structure to improve management and gain economic benefits. Our study of Massachusetts hospitals found that for only a few had these anticipated advantages materialized, while many found that the new structure entailed added bureaucracy and other disadvantages. The findings suggest that hospitals adopt or keep the structure not only for possible economic reasons but also to sustain their legitimacy in the eyes of important stakeholders.

The adoption of corporate restructuring by hospitals.

This study investigates factors associated with the adoption of corporate restructuring by hospitals in Massachusetts, where restructuring occurred much more rapidly than it did nationally. Drawing on studies of management innovation in hospitals, this article hypothesizes that early adopters will differ from those that adopt later on the basis of individual and organizational factors, and that institutional forces will explain later adoption. The findings show no differences between early and later adopters but do show that after an intense period of restructuring, hospitals became less likely to adopt the innovation. The article concludes with a discussion of the impact of reimbursement laws on the adoption pattern and the implications for the diffusion of management innovation, particularly under health care reform.

Total quality management: field of dreams?

Total quality management promises to reconcile cost/quality conflicts, increase customer satisfaction, and improve hospitals' competitiveness as well as operational and financial performance. This article reviews the hospital literature on TQM and concludes that there is little evidence to substantiate these claims. The article concludes with implications for research and management.

The implementation of total quality management in hospitals: how good is the fit?

Total quality management has become popular among hospitals because of its promise to reconcile trade-offs between cost and quality. However, assumptions inherent in TQM may not translate to the hospital environment: hierarchical management control over the technical core and the dominance of rational decision making. This article considers these two assumptions and suggests that the application of TQM to hospitals take them into account because they may compromise its success.

Ambulatory care centers: are they a competitive advantage?

A common assumption found in literature about hospital-sponsored ambulatory care centers is that they increase inpatient admissions and market share. However, little empirical evidence exists to substantiate these assumptions, and it is reasonable to question their accuracy given the nonemergency, routine nature of many of the visits to ambulatory care centers. This study of hospitals in four Massachusetts markets in which at least one hospital sponsored an ambulatory care center questions whether inpatient admissions and market share are affected. The findings indicate that at least in these four markets, ambulatory care centers do not have the desired effects, relative either to past performance or to competing hospitals.

An extension locus mosaic Labrador retriever dog.

A mosaic male Labrador retriever with coat color of black and yellow areas is described. Matings of this dog to black, chocolate, and yellow Labrador bitches were consistent with his producing only yellow (e) gametes at the extension locus. His phenotype could have resulted either from somatic mutation of E to e or e to E early in development; or from fusion of Ee and an ee male zygotes to form a chimera.