Moral Intensity and Managerial Problem Solving

There is an increasing interest in how managers describe and respond to what they regard as moral versus nonmoral problems in organizations. In this study, forty managers described a moral problem and a nonmoral problem that they had encountered in their organization, each of which had been resolved. Analyses indicated that: (1) the two types of problems could be significantly differentiated using four of Jones' (1991) components of moral intensity; (2) the labels managers used to describe problems varied systematically between the two types of problems and according to the problem's moral intensity; and (3) problem management processes varied according to the problem's type and moral intensity.     

The ultimately accountable job: leading today's sales organization

In recent years, sales leaders have had to devote considerable time and energy to establishing and maintaining disciplined processes. The thing is, many of them stop there--and they can't afford to, because the business environment has changed. Customers have gained power and gone global, channels have proliferated, more product companies are selling services, and many suppliers have begun providing a single point of contact for customers. Such changes require today's sales leaders to fill various new roles: Company leader. The best sales chiefs actively help formulate and execute company strategy, and they collaborate with all functions of the business to deliver value to customers. Customer champion. Customers want C-level relationships with suppliers in order to understand product strategy, look at offerings in advance, and participate in decisions made about future products--and sales leaders are in the best position to offer that kind of contact. Process guru. Although sales chiefs must look beyond the sales and customer processes they have honed over the past decade, they can't abandon them. The focus on process has become only more important as many organizations have begun bundling products and services to meet important customers' individual needs. Organization architect. Good sales leaders spend a lot of time evaluating and occasionally redesigning the sales organization's structure to ensure that it supports corporate strategy. Often, this involves finding the right balance between specialized and generalized sales roles. Course corrector. Sales leaders must watch the horizon, but they can't take their hands off the levers or forget about the dials. If they do, they might fail to respond when quick adjustments in priorities are needed.     

Incorporating Service-Learning into the Economics Curriculum

Service-learning courses provide students the opportunity to apply and relate economic concepts and theories to real-world experiences within the community and to reflect on the relationship between theory and practice. One form of service-learning is student-based instruction, which involves college students teaching economics in the neighboring community, such as to high school students. The author provides a detailed application of the student-based instruction model of service-learning to an Economics of Race and Gender course at a liberal arts college. Upon completion of the project, students completed a survey about their service-learning experiences. The results indicated that the service-learning project enhanced student learning and created a more enriching course experience.

Occupational Segregation by Race and Sex in Brazil, 1989-2001

Race and sex differentials in labor market outcomes in Brazil appear substantial, phenomena often tied to occupational segregation. This paper presents an array of Duncan indices of dissimilarity to investigate the magnitude and contours of occupational differentiation in Brazil, as well as changes in the recent past, constructed from Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios (PNAD) microdata for 1989 and 2001. Findings include the facts that measurable occupational differentation by sex is over twice as high as that by race and that differentiation on both counts is highest among people 35 and older and outside the Northeastern region. Occupational differentiation by race appears comparable among women and men, but may be higher among women if accurately measured. Racial differentiation grows with education, while sexual segregation declines. Differentiation has declined modestly since 1989 in almost all categories except by race among younger people, men and the most educated.

An assessment of the proximity of clothing to self scale for older persons

Sontag and Lee developed the Proximity of Clothing to Self (PCS) Scale, an objective measure of the psychological closeness of clothing to the self, and validated a 4‐factor, 24‐item scale with adolescents. The research reported here extends their work by validating a 3‐factor, 19‐item PCS Scale for use with older persons, age 65 and over. A mail survey was sent to a national random sample of 1700 older persons in the United States resulting in 250 respondents in the final sample. Three analytical rounds of confirmatory factor analysis to test the construct validity of the PCS Scale were conducted by using a structural equation modelling programme. The validated three PCS dimensions (i.e. factors) are clothing in relation to: (1) self as structure – process; (2) self‐esteem – evaluative and affective processes; and (3) body image and body cathexis. The researchers recommend using this 19‐item PCS Scale for future consumer behaviour research on older persons when investigating the importance of dress, clothing needs or clothing involvement to meet basic human needs, self‐esteem, life satisfaction and successful aging.     

Gambling as a Base for Hypothecated Taxation: The UK's National Lottery and Electronic Gaming Machines in Australia

Gambling is now a large revenue source for many governments due to its ease of implementation, popular appeal and the high real tax rate it can bear (up to 40%). It is often promoted by spending on 'good causes' designated as 'additional' to existing government activity. This article examines the UK's National Lottery and Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) in Queensland, Australia and shows that, in both cases, gambling taxes are often diverted into education, health and social and economic development and therefore potentially substitute for taxation raised elsewhere in the economy. In addition, there is evidence that gambling's taxation implications (against income) are doubly regressive, taking disproportionately from lower income groups and giving to those better off.     

Improving marketing channel control through power and exchange

Effective channel management control is necessary to marketing planning. The flow of power and exchange in distribution systems has received extensive attention in the literature in recent years, however, internal structuring patterns precipitating these interactions have received cursory attention. This paper presents an initial conceptualization of a social systems model which illustrates why power phenomena exist and how these phenomena flow through role interactions among members of a channel of distribution. Implications for managerial action are presented in which managers utilize sources of power which have the greatest possibility of achieving control.