Franchisee leadership traits vs. manager leadership traits an exploratory study comparing hope, leadership, commitment and service quality delivery

In order to add to the understanding of the role of franchising in entrepreneurship and to help franchise systems improve efficiency, the constructs of organizational leadership, hope, organizational commitment, and service quality perceptions of franchised managers and franchisees are differentiated in the current study. For scholars and practitioners, the dynamic relationship between entrepreneurship, franchisees, and management is an important triangle which merits further investigation. While the results offered only that managers and franchisees differed statistically in service empathy, differences were noted across all areas which approached significance but was limited due to the small sample size. Implications for future research are discussed.     

The value of project management to organizations in Canada and Germany,or do values add value? Five case studies

Five case studies have been conducted: four in Canada and one in Germany. The authors of this article were particularly interested in understanding the value of values and meaning in the context of project management implementation and project environments. The article first summarizes the authors' particular approach. It then discusses the five case studies and their findings. These findings will be grouped around the concepts of value of project management and meaningful work. In conclusion, the findings of this study will be summarized across all five case studies and based on a comparative content analysis.     

An experimental study of blind proficiency tests in forensic science

We conducted a series of sender?Creceiver experiments to study the consequences of implementing a regime of blind proficiency tests in forensic science to reduce error rates and improve the criminal justice system. Senders are our surrogate for forensic laboratories and receivers, for the judge or jury. Our experimental surrogate (random audits with a penalty) for blind proficiency tests reduced sender error rates by as much as 46% depending on the level of experimentally induced bias. When penalties improve information quality, receiver error rates fell by as much as 26% depending on the level of the sender bias. We also find that the penalty must be large relative to the payoff to induce the reduction in errors. Our results suggest that a regime of blind proficiency testing has the potential to reduce forensic science errors.     

Citizen participation through computer conferencing

As American society grows more diverse and the issues that must be decided grow more complex, the need for new forums and better forms for public debate increases. Is computer conferencing likely to meet this need because of its potential for facilitating public participation in government? To shed light on this question, we constructed, ran, and observed a computer conference on recombinant DNA among four participants with no previous experience in using computers and no scientific training. Results indicate that not only was this topic successfully discussed by lay people in this way, but that the conferencing mode of discussion was preferred by certain types of people. Our experience also gave us insights that may improve management of computer conferences for inexperienced users.