Uncertainty,story-telling and transformative learning: An instructor’s experience of TEFI’s Walking Workshop in Nepal

ABSTRACT

This article recounts three stories from TEFI’s walking workshop in Nepal: the construction of a road through what was once a trekking path; a dance-floor encounter at a Himalayan party; and the arrival of one participant, fatigued by jet lag and disoriented by the new surroundings. These stories of confusion, discomfort and fear are linked by one common theme: the potential of uncertainty to foster deep reflection and nuanced conclusions. The premise that uncertainty is to be valued and even cultivated has been explored in educational theory, spiritual traditions, and research on transformative learning. These sources affirm the role of uncertainty in the process of knowledge creation. However, accepting this role can be challenging for educators because it requires they assume a new identity, one which they may perceive as being at odds with their status as “teacher” the identity of learner. One way for the educator to address this challenge may be through recounting their own stories of uncertainty. Stories of being immersed in unfamiliar situations that challenge, confuse and even frighten – stories, in other words of being a tourist – can foster reflection on an intellectual, emotional and spiritual level, engaging the “whole” person, and thus initiating the educator/learner’s transformative journey.     

Assessing the growth-inducing impact of the Appalachian Development Highway System in southern Ohio: Did policy promote change?

The concept of “inducing growth” is typically considered an adverse consequence of a project on the land use system. In certain instances, however, the desire to induce growth and foster land use change is a focus of land use policy. Such is the example of the Appalachian Highway Development System (AHDS) program initiated by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) during the late 1960s. With the goal of providing highway infrastructure to improve assess to a geographically isolated and historically impoverished region, the ADHS has added nearly 3000 miles of highway to the Appalachian landscape. The degree to which highway investment has contributed to regional growth remains a controversial point and tractable methods to quickly assess landscape change given a project of this magnitude are elusive. In this paper a portion of the AHDS trending through southern Ohio is examined using data acquired from the Landsat series of satellites. Beginning with a pre-highway condition in 1976, a 26 year time horizon, concluding in 2002, was analyzed based on a post-classification change detection methodology. Results of this investigation revealed slight, yet significant, levels of urban expansion within a 10 km corridor along the path of AHDS Corridor D/State Route 32. Beyond this buffer zone the land use system evidenced more stability, suggesting that as distance increased from Corridor D/State Route 32, reduced accessibility also reduced the attractiveness of land for urban uses. Relating these results back to the infrastructure investment policies of the ARC demonstrates that growth did result from the construction of Corridor D and supports previous findings that land development based on highway construction is extremely time-sensitive.     

Significant Issues for the Future of Product Innovation

Product innovation management, by definition, requires that we become comfortable dealing with change. As this journal enters its eleventh year of publication, the editor-in-chief asked each member of the editorial board to reflect upon changes and opportunities that they see influencing our profession during the coming decade. In our first installment of these essays, George Day, Bela Gold and Thomas Kuczmarski discuss the value of managing ideas, embracing a longer-term view of development opportunities, and creating a senior executive position charged with developing such opportunities. Each of these short essays is designed to introduce new perspectives. It is not essential that you agree with the recommendations, but we hope that you are stimulated as you reflect on the issues they present.     

Status Implications of the Employment of Married Women in the United States

Abstract: The working wife as a factor in the determination of family status has been universally ignored by students of stratification. In this plea for investigation, it is suggested that the employment or married women could affect the system of stratification in the following ways: (1) making possible greater access to symbols of status; (2) implying that the husband has been unsuccessful in his own career; (3) identifying the wife with a particular occupation; and (4) identifying certain occupations with wives of high status.     

The effects of supportive management and job quality on the turnover intentions and health of military personnel

To be competitive in today's increasingly complex and rapidly changing envi‐ronment, organizations must retain personnel and promote the well‐being of employees. We examine the relationship of both support provided to person‐nel and job quality with employee health and turnover intentions among a sample of 450 military personnel. Factors involving the supportive manage‐ment of personnel (i.e., supervisory support, organizational support, and work‐life balance) and factors pertaining to job quality (i.e., work stimulation and job clarity) were indirectly related to health and to turnover intentions through the mediating influence of job satisfaction. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Reserve ratios: A proposal for change

The paper addresses the problem of Fed control of the money supply and the inherent instability of a fractional reserve banking system which Friedman covered in A Program for Monetary Stability. While Friedman proposed a 100 percent reserve requirement as a solution, this work suggests a change from imposing legal reserve ratios on specific liabilities to one of imposing them on total bank liabilities. Reserve ratios are compared to tax rates. Friedman's proposal is to increase the tax rate to 100 percent on specific liabilities and pay interest on reserve balances at the Fed. The proposal of this paper is to keep the tax rates (present reserve ratios) but change the tax base. It is shown that the Fed would gain control over the maximum expansion of banks, but would lose direct control over specific liabilities. The Fed would not tax some liabilities and subsidize others. The Fed could concentrate on setting the tone of the money market and allow the public to use whatever set of bank liabilities it desires as money without specific penalty.     

A multilevel, identity-based approach to leadership development

A frontier of leadership development is examined involving the respective roles of levels-of-analysis and identity in constructing an integrated development system. An approach is described in which individual and relational leadership identities are the focus of developmental efforts at lower organizational levels (e.g., individual contributor and first-level supervisor) but collective identities become the focus at higher levels (e.g., general manager and above). The separate areas of levels-of-analysis and leader identities are first discussed in terms of their respective relevance to leadership development. These are then discussed jointly in elaborating on a proposed development approach that integrates across organizational levels as well as levels of development (i.e., leader development and leadership development). In developing collective leadership identities, processes that involve participants in engaging across boundaries (functional, hierarchical, geographical) are recommended.     

The World money supply: Concept and measurement

Zusammenfassung Die Geldversorgung der Welt: Konzept und Messung. — Der Aufsatz erarbeitet zuerst die theoretischen Grundlagen für ein Konzept der Geldversorgung der Welt und legt dann die relevanten Zahlen vor. Es wird die Ansicht vertreten, da\ das zweckm?\ige Konzept der Welt-Geldversorgung von dem Wechselkurssystem abh?ngt. Bei einem System flexibler Wechselkurse mit exogenem Geldangebot sollte ein geeignetes Me\konzept gleitende Gewichte auf der Basis der Volkseinkommen benutzen, um das Welt-Geldangebot zu errechnen. Bei festen Wechselkursen und endogenem Geldangebot sind stattdessen gleitende Gewichte auf der Basis der Geldmengen am besten geeignet. In der Arbeit werden die neuen Zeitreihen des Welt-Geldangebots für 1958–1975, für W?hrungsreserven und für Geld im engeren und im weiteren Sinne berechnet. Au\erdem werden Zeitreihen für Industriel?nder, entwickelte und weniger entwickelte L?nder vorgelegt. Die beiden neuen Zeitreihen werden mit vorhandenen Reihen verglichen, bei denen die Geldmengenaggregate unter Verwendung von festen BIP-Gewichten und den jeweiligen Wechselkursen berechnet werden.

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Résumé L’offre d’argent mondiale: Le concept et le mesurage. —Au premier lieu cet article dérive un fondement théorique pour le concept de l’offre d’argent mondiale et puis présente les données essentielles. Hous arguons que le concept approprié de l’ofire d’argent mondiale est dépendant du système de taux de change. Sous les conditions d’un système de taux de change flexible avec des offres d’argent exogènes un système de poids approprié utilise des poids mouvants de revenu national pour venir à l’offre d’argent mondiale. Sous les conditions des taux des changes fixes et des offres d'argent endogènes les poids mouvants de stock d’argent sont appropriés d'autre part. L’article calcule les nouvelles séries de l’offre d’argent mondiale dérivées pour la période 1958–1975 pour l’argent de reserve, l’argent en sens étroit et l’argent en sens vaste. Nous présentons aussi des séries pour les pays industriels, développés et développants. Nous faisons des comparaisons entre les deux nouvelles séries et les séries existantes en utilisant des poids fixes de PIB et des taux des changes courants pour venir aux agrégats mondiaux.

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Resumen La oferta mundial de dineroxoncepto y medición. —El présente Artículo dériva en primer lugar una fundación teórica para el concepto de la oferta mundial de dinero y en seguida presenta los datos relevantes. Se argumenta que el concepto apropiado para la oferta mundial de dinero dépende del sistema cambiario. Bajo un sistema cambiario flexible con oferta de dinero exógena, el sistema de ponderaciones apropiado utiliza ponderaciones móviles para el ingreso nacional para llegar a una oferta de dinero mundial. Con tipos de cambio fijos y ofertas de dinero endógenas, el sistema adecuado consiste, en cambio en la utilización de ponderaciones móviles para el stock de dinero. En el artículo se estiman las nuevas series de oferta de dinero mundial para moneda de reserva, moneda limitada y moneda amplia derivadas del periodo 1958–1975. Se presentan además series para países industriales, desarrollados y en desarrollo. Se hacen comparaciones entre las series nuevas y las series existentes utilizando ponderaciones fijas para el PIB y las tasas de cambio corrientes para llegar a los agregados mundiales.

     

Homeownership as a Constraint on Asset Allocation

Personal preferences and financial incentives make homeownership desirable for most families. Once a family purchases a home they find it impractical (costly) to frequently change their ownership of residential real estate. Thus, by deciding how much home to buy, a family constrains their ability to adjust their asset allocation between residential real estate and other assets. To analyze the impact of this constraint on consumption, welfare, and post-retirement wealth, we first investigate an individual’s optimal asset allocation decisions when they are subject to a “homeownership constraint.” Next, we perform a “thought experiment” where we assume the existence of a market where a homeowner can sell, without cost, a fractional interest in their home. Now the housing choice decision does not constrain the individual’s asset allocations. By comparing these two cases, we estimate the differences in post-retirement wealth and the welfare gains potentially realizable if asset allocations were not subject to a homeownership constraint. For realistic parameter values, we find that the homeowner would require a substantial increase in total net worth to achieve the same level of utility as would be achievable if the choice of a home could be separated from the asset allocation decision. The robustness of the analysis is evaluated with respect to the model’s parameters and initial state variables. We find that changes in the values of the constraint (i.e., the value of the home) and the expected real rate of home value appreciation are the only state variables or parameter that is associated with a large change in asset allocation and/or the burden imposed by the housing constraint. This finding suggests the importance of a detailed examination of the impact of inter-regional differences in home prices and expected rates of appreciation on asset allocation and post-retirement wealth.