Communication, Relationships, and Religious Difference in the Northern Ireland Workplace: A Study of Private and Public Sector Organizations

Four large organizations, two each from the private and public sectors of the Northern Ireland economy, were selected for this study which, first, explored the effects of religion-based workforce difference on intergroup relationships, second, investigated the contribution of organizational sector to communicative differences, and third, gauged the effects of group-based negativity on the flow and distribution of functional information within the organization. Little evidence of intergroup conflict was found although employees expressed a desire for greater quantity and quality of outgroup contact. Significant differences between the private and public bodies emerged in this respect. Contrasts were consistent with general organizational differences typifying the sectors. Findings are discussed in relation to diversity management and the characteristics of organizational sectors.     

Assimilating newcomers into an organization: A cultural perspective

This study investigates the differences and similarities in communication practices between the public and private sectors. Through a survey of 976 government and corporate communicators, 12 organizational attributes previously identified in research on the government communication decision wheel (Liu & Horsley, 2007; Liu & Levenshus, 2008) were tested. The results indicated differences between the two groups in budgets, political influence, communication frequency, public pressure, interaction with other organizations, media coverage frequency, media coverage evaluation, and impact of legal frameworks as they relate to communication practices. No significant differences in diversity of publics, opportunities for professional development, participation in organizational leadership, or management support for communication between the two groups were found. The findings allowed for refinement of this developing model of government communication.     

Electronic government: information management capacity,organizational capabilities,and the sourcing mix

The information systems-related sourcing literature currently emphasizes a portfolio approach combining homegrown, hybrid, and outsourced (contracted) systems. This study found similar approaches in the sourcing for electronic government (e-Government, e-Gov). E-Gov-related sourcing mixes potentially create high switching costs and path dependency. They may also severely impact governments' information management capacity and organizational capabilities. Further, e-Government leads to business process change, all of which necessitates an increased understanding of e-Gov-related sourcing and its integration with traditional public management information systems (PMIS). In the absence of an e-Gov-specific sourcing theory, this study explores current sourcing practices and uncovers overlaps in sourcing concepts and also significant differences between private and public sourcing practices. E-Gov sourcing portfolios were found not systematically managed potentially compromising the public information management capacity. To help public managers design and manage e-Gov sourcing mixes, the article proposes framework for e-Government sourcing for further testing.     

A comparison of the strategic priorities of public and private sector information resource management executives

This article reports on a study that asked chief information officers (CIOs), or their equivalents, from the public (U.S. Federal Government) and private (Fortune 1000) sector their perceptions about the biggest challenges that face their respective organizations. The study accomplished this task by examining the priority assigned to information resource management (IRM) critical success factors (CSFs) (via rank ordering) by these high-ranking executives. Contrary to the literature, the research revealed no statistically significant differences between these sectors. The article explores the implications of these findings and avenues for future research.     

面向融合利用目标的公共部门信息组织策略

公共部门在履行公共任务过程中产出了海量信息资源。这些信息资源涉及法律、政治、文化、教育、人口、社会等与公共生活密切的领域,具有重要社会价值与经济价值。但长期以来,这些资源游离于图书馆信息组织之外。三网融合为图书馆对这些资源进行增值开发创造了条件。文章着重从信息组织的视角,对公共部门信息资源的开发利用策略进行了探讨。     

Mediated Intergroup Contact: Concept Explication,Synthesis, and Application

This article had an overarching goal of paving a foundation for the scholarship on intergroup contact in the field of media research. This goal was approached from three different directions: concept explication, synthesis, and application. First, selective reviews of literature on intergroup contact research and media effects research were conducted to identify a term that can best represent existing terminology on intergroup contact via media consumption and elaborate on its definition. A synthesis of intergroup contact literature and existing studies of mediated intergroup contact revealed potential moderators and mediators of mediated contact effect. Last, current practices of media production and consumption in the United States were analyzed through the lens of intergroup contact to provide an assessment of the current state of mediated contact. Based on these reviews and syntheses, suggestions for future research and practice were made.     

Factors affecting openness of local government websites: Examining the differences across planning,finance and police departments

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public organizations increasingly holds the potential to improve transparency, accountability, and public participation, by providing a more effective and efficient disclosure of information to the citizens and organizations and by providing channels for interaction with the government. While transparency and interactivity features of government websites constitute two critical elements for public participation and democracy facilitated by web-based technologies, little research has been done to explain why some public organizations choose to deploy website technology more openly with these features. This paper aims to examine the managerial, organizational, and environmental factors that are related to variation in transparency and interactivity features of local government websites, which we believe are key dimensions to governmental website openness. The paper first develops a literature informed conceptual model of governmental website openness and then tests this model using data from a national survey of 850 government managers in 500 cities. The model results are compared across three different departments: community development, finance, and police department. Overall findings indicate that higher website openness is positively related to increased frequency of public participation in agency decision making and civil society influence, increased technical capacity, lower organizational control, and higher perceived usefulness of website technology. In addition, due to differences in the operating contexts of the departments, the effects of organizational control, technical capacity, environmental influences, and perceived usefulness of website technology on governmental website openness tend to differ by the type of department.     

Improving access to Japanese scientific and technical literature in the United States: The role of the Federal government

Currently, the United States lacks a clear and consistent information policy defining and regulating the Federal role in collection and dissemination of Japanese scientific and technical information (STI) to users in the public and private sectors. One long-term consequence of this situation involves negative impacts on American scientific and technological innovation and on competitiveness in the global economy.After a discussion of the existing legislative and regulatory environment shaping the Federal government's approach to Japanese STI activities, the article presents five policy options, each of which describes a different role for the Federal government. Finally, the article recommends a combination of two options that will create the basis for a Federal information policy designed to support a self-sustaining STI infrastructure in the United States. That infrastructure will efficiently access and disseminate Japanese STI to public and private sector users.     

“We Do It, but They Don't”: Multiple Categorizations and Work Team Communication

The present study adopted an intergroup approach to information sharing and ratings of work team communication in a public hospital (N = 142) undergoing large-scale restructuring. Consistent with predictions, ratings of communication followed a double ingroup serving bias: while team members reported sending about the same levels of information to double ingroup members (same work team/same occupational group) as they did to partial ingroup members (same work team/different occupational group), they reported receiving less information from partial ingroup members than from double ingroup members and rated the communication that they received from partial ingroup members as less effective. We discuss the implication of these results for the management of information sharing and organizational communication.     

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand: Problematizing Public and Private in Organized Religion

Poll results consistently reveal Americans' high interest in spirituality, yet also point to a dearth of participation in religion. I position organized religion's waning attractiveness as an organizational communication issue as I analyze the discourse of an alternatively organized housechurch. Utilizing feminist principles, I position the organization and notions of church within a context of scholarly and societal notions of public and private. I qualitatively explore what motivates this group to adopt and maintain alternative patterns and practices that both enable and constrain members. Moreover, I draw attention to paradoxes and tensions that arise and are navigated as members negotiate traditional applications of public and private and enact alternative ways of organizing within the tradition-laden domain of Christianity.     

Transitions in Public Library Management: From the International Perspective of Strategy,Organizational Structure,and Operations

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research is to elucidate changes in strategy, organization, and operations in the field of public library management. It uses research methods based on detailed case analysis. This research focuses on cases involving U.S. public libraries and the Tokyo Metropolitan Library in Japan from the 1960s to the 2010s. It analyzes documents related to strategic management, organization, and operations collected through surveys and interviews with library directors and managers. This research illustrates (1) 11 core operations of public libraries, (2) transitions of basic organizational structures, (3) elements that cause differences between the U.S. and Japanese public libraries, and (4) primary elements that have impacts on public library management.     

Public sector information system project failures: Lessons from a New Zealand hospital organization

Information system (IS) project failures are so common as to be almost expected by planners. There is an expanding literature on IS project failures including both theory and case studies. This literature, however, is largely derived from private sector IS failures, despite the fact that the likelihood of failure appears higher in the public sector. This article seeks to fill the public sector case study void. It details the failure and abandonment of a large New Zealand public hospital IS development. The case corroborates findings from the private sector literature, namely that ill-planned and managed, large and multifaceted projects are more likely to fail and that contextual issues are highly influential. It also shows how much more complex project commissioning and development is in situations of public governance where political and organizational elements come to the fore. Finally, the article offers lessons for public sector IS planners.     

Determinants of cyber-incidents among small and medium US cities

Cyber-incidents threaten the confidentiality, efficiency, and integrity of digital information systems, causing privacy risks, economic losses, and reputational damages, and exposing managerial limitations. Although these phenomena are becoming more frequent in public agencies, research to date has mainly focused on private sector organizations and individuals. In this study, we contribute to the broader literature on cyber-incidents by exploring the drivers of both security breaches and unauthorized data disclosures in public organizations. Drawing from routine activity theory, we develop hypotheses on the determinants of cyber-incidents in departments in small and medium-sized US cities and test them using data from a national survey of public managers. Our findings suggest that both environmental and organizational factors are key determinants of cyber-incidents in city government. The results demonstrate the application of routine activity theory to public sector organizations and identify external and internal elements related to cyber-incidents in city government departments.     

论政府信息开发利用的商业模式

国际上政府信息开发利用的商业模式主要有两种：政府部门主导型和私营部门主导型。私营部门主导型比政府部门主导型更有利于政府信息的开发利用。我国政府信息开发利用应采取私营部门主导型。私营部门主导型在我国的建立离不开政府信息公开法、著作权法、反不正当竞争法、反垄断法、政府信息开发利用法的修改或制定。     

The roles of ingroup identification and implicit bias in assessing the effectiveness of an online diversity education program

ABSTRACT

Diversity education is increasingly recognized as important to the health of a university, however, little empirical work has examined the intergroup processes at play and the effectiveness of online diversity education on college students. This research utilized a repeated-measures mixed factorial design to examine the implicit and explicit effects of online diversity education delivered at a large public university during the course of a semester. The study design was informed by intergroup contact, social identity, and computer-mediated communication research. Findings contribute to theorizing about intergroup processes in the reception of and learning from diversity education and point to practical avenues for employing online diversity education in higher education. Recommendations are made for practitioners interested in designing and delivering diversity training online in an interactive learning environment.     

公共图书馆的效率研究

公共图书馆效率地位、效率责任、效率衡量具有不同于私营部门的特殊表现。公共图书馆体制性浪费、读者需求难以把握、监督激励不足是导致效率低下的特殊成因。因此,优化资源配置、建立治理结构、打破垄断地位、开展绩效评估、完善激励机制,是提高公共图书馆效率的针对性措施。     

Examining how AI capabilities can foster organizational performance in public organizations

Developing the capacity to digitally transform through AI is becoming increasingly important for public organizations, as a constantly growing number of their activities is now becoming AI-driven. This prompts an understanding of how public organizations should organize in order to derive value from AI, as well as in which forms can value be realized. Against this background, this paper examines how AI capabilities can lead to organizational performance by inducing change in key organizational activities. Using a survey-based study, we collected data from European public organizations regarding the indirect effect AI capabilities have on organizational performance. Data was collected from 168 municipalities from three European countries (Norway, Germany, and Finland) and analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. Our findings show that AI capabilities have a positive effect on process automation, cognitive insight generation, and cognitive engagement. While process automation and cognitive insights are having a positive effect on organizational performance, we found that cognitive engagement negatively affects organizational performance. Our findings document the key resources that constitute an AI capability and showcase the effects of fostering such capabilities on key organizational activities, and in turn organizational performance.     

The Mitigating Effects of Intergroup Contact on Negative Stereotypes,Perceived Threats,and Harmful Discriminatory Behavior Toward Asian Americans

This study examined the ameliorating effects of intergroup contact with Asian Americans on negative stereotypes, perceived threats, and harmful discriminatory behaviors toward them. The results of multivariate regression analyses indicated that intergroup contact with Asian Americans adversely predicted negative stereotypes (i.e., excessive competence and deficient sociability), perceived realistic and symbolic threats, and active and passive harmful discriminatory behaviors toward them. The findings highlighted the utmost importance of intergroup contact in improving intergroup attitudes and behaviors.     

Resisting by workarounds: Unraveling the barriers of implementing open government data policy

All public values (transparency, accountability, civic participation, and collaboration) of open government could be difficult to achieve without administrators' good implementation. This paper raises concern that perceived risks to OGD accountability lead to undesired strategic resistance. Using a nation-wide government survey data of Taiwanese public servants, this study empirically tests for differences in OGD behaviors between two types of perceived risks (individual accountability vs. organizational accountability). Results find the existence of perceived risks to accountability in the process of data release and positive effects on inducing strategic workaround when implementing OGD policies. These findings shed light on the understanding of practices of open government and contributes to knowledge of administrative behavior.     

Technology in government: How organizational culture mediates information and communication technology outcomes

The adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public organizations promises to better connect managers with citizens, increase public participation in government decision making, improve the efficiency of service delivery, decrease uncertainty, and improve information dissemination. While each of these outcomes is important for both public managers and citizens, we know little about how organizational culture mediates the effectiveness of ICTs on producing these outcomes. This research, using data from two points in time, investigates the relationships between ICTs and managerial outcomes (e.g. improved decision making and public participation) and how they are mediated by organizational culture such as centralization and routineness. Technology variables include technology use and capacity. Models will control for other organizational and technological factors such as size, structure, task and department to investigate the mediating effects of organizational culture on ICT outcomes for local governments. The data come from two national surveys of 2500 local government managers in the United States in 2010 and 2012. The results are important for understanding how organizational mechanisms, in particular organization culture, mobilize ICTs in ways that affect managerial outcomes.