Improving Leadership Skills in Physicians: A 6‐Month Retrospective Study

The complex medical environment of today calls for physicians to have an array of leadership skills in addition to a thorough knowledge of their specific practice areas. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) Robert C. Cefalo National Leadership Institute is a 3.5‐day intensive leadership development course targeted to physician leaders. A group of 37 physicians completed the ACOG National Leadership Institute in spring of 2013. At course completion and 6‐month postcourse, participants were asked to complete a retrospective pre‐ and posttest of perceived skill levels in 10 targeted competency areas. Course completion and 6‐month postcourse scores indicated statistically significant improvements in scores on all 10 competency areas, which was supported by a Wilcoxon signed‐rank test of median score difference. Qualitative data gathered at the 6‐month postcourse survey provide examples of how participants had applied their skills. The data presented in the current study suggested that intensive, “short‐burst,” experiential leadership training is an effective approach for leadership skills development in physicians.     

Collective Leadership,Career Concern,and the Housing Market in China: The Role of Standing Committees

Despite an emerging literature on political determinants of economic performance, little is known about whether standing committees of the Communist Party, an institution of collective leadership, matter for economic development. Using Chinese provincial‐level panel data, we find that a higher ratio of new members in the standing committee of the local Communist Party is correlated with a higher housing sales/gross domestic product (GDP) ratio. Moreover, more new members in the standing committee are also associated with a lower level of GDP per capita and a lower manufacturing output growth rate. The results on the size of the real estate sector are robust to dealing with the endogeneity of the ratio of new standing committee members. Our findings suggest that career incentives of party leadership affected real estate development at the expense of manufacturing growth in the locality, and that the structure of collective leadership has important economic consequences.     

Investigating the impact of guilt and shame proneness on consumer ethics: a cross national study

Studies show that emotions of guilt and shame significantly influence how people live their daily lives when it comes to making ethical decisions. Nonetheless, individuals’ proneness toward guilt and shame has received limited attention in consumer behaviour literature. The study focuses on the impact of anticipated emotions (i.e. guilt and shame) on various consumers’ ethical and unethical behaviours. Using a combination of a panel data sample and a university sample, the overall results between the two countries (i.e. Australia and Indonesia) reveal more similarities than differences. Consumers with high guilt‐proneness are less likely to agree on those unethical behaviours. This study has important theoretical implications for understanding the similarities and differences between both nations and the impact of guilt and shame proneness on consumer ethics.     

Assessing visitor preferences in the management of archaeological and heritage attractions: a case study of Hadrian's Roman Wall

Managing archaeological and heritage sites requires information on visitor preferences to guide displays of cultural exhibits. A choice experiment is used to investigate visitor preferences in the management of Vondolanda Roman fort, within Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site. It assesses visitor preferences, utility and value of attributes of the site: excavation and research, interpretation information, museum displays, reconstructions, visitor amenities and admission price. Interaction effects between attributes are analysed. The analysis reveals a preference for the status quo and greater choice uncertainty associated with alternative hypothetical attribute bundles. Neighbouring substitute Roman forts affect the price that visitors are willing to pay for entry. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Participation and communication in virtual teams using representational avatars

The study examined how quantitative formative assessment tools may be applied to virtual team communication and provide quality and progress metrics to virtual team leaders. Representational avatars benefit virtual team communication and productivity. Organizational leaders need measurement tools to assess avatar innovation and monitor progress in virtual teams. A goal of this research was to supply a suite of tools to evaluate the potential for avatars to improve as well as monitor and measure virtual team participation and communication. The virtual teams were composed of students (N= 97) at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand and Uppsala University in Sweden. Students enrolled in the Intelligent Business Systems (IBS) course formed teams by country and were randomly assigned to a text‐only or avatar‐enriched communication format. Survey results indicated that text‐based teams were perceived as efficient but lacking in inspired participation. Avatar‐enriched teams noted frustration with software but rated their experience as enjoyable. No significant difference in communication quality between teams was indicated, but avatar‐enriched teams posted significantly more words on weekly logbooks than text‐based teams. Recommendations include a model for data disaggregation that may be of value to improve assessment, productivity, and administrative costs of technology‐enhanced virtual teams.     

Consistency vs Flexibility: The Impact of Employee Voice in Rule-Based and Discretionary Decision Procedures

Consistency and flexibility are desirable, but incompatible, features of decision-making procedures. A comparison of a rule-based decision procedure (maximizing consistency) with a discretionary decision procedure (maximizing flexibility) was conducted. Employee voice was predicted to interact with decision procedure in impacting fairness perceptions. Student participants (N = 128) in a 2 × 2 laboratory simulation viewed videotaped depictions of a supervisor discussing a positive drug test result with an employee. The employee was given, or not given, an opportunity to explain; the supervisor was permitted discretion in determining the consequence or was completely bound by company policy. The proposed advantages of each decision procedure were obtained under contrasting levels of employee voice. Voice was desirable when the supervisor had discretionary authority; voice was unnecessary or even detrimental when a rule-based procedure was used. No overall preference between these two decision procedures was evident.     

Who Owns the Land? Perspectives from Rural Ugandans and Implications for Large-Scale Land Acquisitions

Rapidly growing demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property-rights systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Rapid and large-scale demands from outsiders are challenging patterns of gradual, endogenous change toward formalization. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. However this contribution, based on a 2008–09 study of land tenure in Uganda, analyzes how different definitions of land ownership – including household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land – provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of land ownership and rights. While many households report husbands and wives as joint owners of the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, and have fewer rights. A simplistic focus on “title” to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure and could have an adverse impact on women's land rights.     

Understanding rural household behavior: Beyond Boserup and Becker

New data and new methods have provided many new insights into rural households in the past 50 years. We analyze what we have learned from household models since Boserup and Becker, using this to frame more recent findings about household behavior from three types of studies: observational studies, experimental games, and impact evaluations. More sex-disaggregated data, as well as data that are collected at smaller units, such as agricultural plots, have allowed us to better understand agricultural productivity, risk sharing, and spousal cooperation. However, the focus on bargaining within households has often led us to ignore the cooperation that occurs within households. Many resources are owned and managed jointly by household members and many decisions are made jointly, although not all parties necessarily have equal voice in these decisions. Research demonstrating that households often do not reach efficient outcomes suggests that we still have much to learn about rural household behavior. Understanding both individual roles within households and the levels of cooperation, including joint decision making and ownership of resources, is essential to analysis of households, especially in rural areas where households engage in both production and consumption.     

From ‘start-up’ to ‘re-boot’: Product lifecycle strategies and competitive advantage in the computer industry

The PC sector, following the packaging and car manufacturing industries, will increasingly be forced to acknowledge and account for its product base throughout the commodity's life, and beyond. The environmental problems being posed by electronic waste have been recognized and both the EU and the individual Member States are discussing solutions which may or may not include legislative action. In anticipation, product take-back programmes are beginning to emerge within the industry and the economics and logistics of re-use and recycling are at the forefront of this debate. The issues in store for this sector are examined and specific initiatives by organizations considered. It is asked whether a ‘closing of the product loop’ will generate a competitive advantage for these companies and what impact an industry-led ‘consortia’ initiative may have.     

Local Government Distorts Industrial Development

Does the Government's right hand know what its wrong hand is doing? Ken Willis of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne argues that it is spurring nationalised industries to increased efficiency in investment while allowing local and regional authorities to squander their resources.