Organizational decline and effectiveness in private higher education

The central purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between organizational decline and three domains of effectiveness (i.e., academic, morale, and external adaptation) in private colleges and universities. The study differed from earlier inquiries in terms of its measurement of the organizational decline construct and its reliance on faculty perceptions of organizational effectiveness. The results clearly demonstrate that the relationship between decline and effectiveness is not uniform across the three types of private institutions (i.e., Research Universities, Comprehensive Colleges, Liberal Arts Colleges). For example, organizational decline has a negative effect on effectiveness in the academic domain only at Liberal Arts Colleges. Similarly, the magnitude of decline necessary to have a negative effect on effectiveness varies among the three institutional types. The implications of these findings for future research and for the management of decline in private higher education are discussed.     

Growth in written academic word use in response to morphology-focused supplemental instruction

Reading and Writing - The aims of the current project were to: (1) describe average change in the use of academic words across the school year in writing and (2) examine potential predictors of...     

The emergent academic self-image of first graders: its response to social structure

One aim of this investigation was to determine the kinds of information a large and racially diverse sample of urban first-grade children take into account in forging their image of an academic self, especially the extent to which evaluations of significant others versus self-evaluations are influential. Another aim was to determine whether the nascent academic self-image affects the school achievement of these first-grade children. There was no difference in children's academic self-image according to race or parent background, but children of the 2 sexes defined their images differently. Girls' images strongly reflected stereotypic sex-role notions; boys' images reflected instrumental role concerns. Math performance was relevant only for boys. Boys depended more on self-evaluations than girls did, while girls depended more on parents' evaluations. Black girls were the only group for whom the academic self-image was a significant influence on achievement gains over first grade. The discussion points up the correspondence between these findings and what has been found for adolescents.     

Organizational responses to the labor market

Shifts in the labor market require adaptive responses on the part of formal organizations. Such organizational responses are shown in changes in recruitment strategies. This study examines how departments in comprehensive colleges and universities formulate their faculty recruitment strategies and set standards for new faculty personnel. Comprehensive institutions are neither research universities nor liberal arts colleges. Even though most offer graduate degrees at the master's level in such areas as teacher training and business programs, they are predominantly devoted to undergraduate education. Lacking strong ties to distinctive beliefs and identities, these institutions have become increasingly vulnerable to environmental changes.Based on extensive fieldwork at four institutions, this paper focuses on twenty faculty searches conducted over a period of substantial changes in academic labor markets. Several common search episodes are identified.The general pattern of recruitment strategies is shaped by the rule of status competition in a prestige hierarchy: less prestigious organizations compete for institutional legitimacy by adopting the norms of more prestigious organizations. Search-related practices in these comprehensive institutions are, therefore, organized around the institutional rituals that conform to the standards of more prestigious research universities and elite liberal arts colleges. Search and recruitment practices often reflect a ritualized form of preoccupation with credentials, specialities, and procedures. Despite their initial emphasis on specific goals, those involved in the search were less concerned about search outcomes than about processes.     

Improved estimation of academic cheating behavior using the randomized response technique

Academic cheating behavior by university students was surveyed using the randomized response technique (RRT) and by conventional anonymous questionnaire methods. RRT is a survey method that permits sensitive information to be collected but that precludes associating the respondent with a particular response to a survey item. The estimated proportions of students who have engaged in cheating behaviors were, in general, larger using RRT. Moreover, this result is consistent with earlier findings for other sensitive behaviors. That underreporting is a serious problem with anonymous questionnaires is supported by the fact that the anonymous questionnaire estimates ranged from 39% to 83% below the RRT estimates. Furthermore, using a covariate modification of RRT, there was a distinct inverse relation between students' estimated grade-point average and the tendency to engage in cheating behavior. While these results have direct implications for estimating cheating behavior in higher education, more broadly, they raise serious concerns about the use of anonymous questionnaires when survey topics are sensitive.     

博士生学术道德意识建构及学术道德教育的启示

在道德问题日益凸显的今天,违反学术道德的现象也成为备受社会瞩目的现实问题.本研究利用数字化教学平台,以学术研究后备群体——博士研究生为研究对象进行实证分析,发现该群体对学术不端行为的认识,包括学术底线、学术正义和学术自觉三个层面.因此今后在构建博士生的学术道德教育体系时,应该以该群体对学术不端行为的三个层面的认知架构为基础,逐步纠正博士生对学术不端行为的认识,以降低他们未来实施学术不端行为的可能性,为社会培养具有高尚学术道德水平的学术队伍.     

The Future of Television: the marketplace model

In the specially written paper the author considers the background to the current White Paper on Broadcasting, and examines the principles that underlie it. The author then considers alternative views to those in the White Paper     

Student response to tuition increase by academic majors: empirical grounds for a cost-related tuition policy

This study explored the responses of students in different academic majors to tuition increase, with a particular focus on the relationship between tuition increase, and future earnings and college expenditures. We analyzed effects of tuition increase on enrollment in six academic majors—Engineering, Physics, Biology, Mathematics, Business, and Education—where disciplinary enrollment data were available. The main findings are that students are elastic to tuition level in Physics, Biology, and Business, but not in Engineering, where the rate of return is the highest among the six majors and the college expenditure are the highest. The findings suggest that student enrollment in various academic majors is affected differentially by tuition. Further, the findings support a cost-related tuition policy, one designed to charge students higher tuition for higher-cost majors and lower tuition for lower-cost majors.

Executive impairment determines ADHD medication response: implications for academic achievement

Methylphenidate (MPH) often ameliorates attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) behavioral dysfunction according to indirect informant reports and rating scales. The standard of care behavioral MPH titration approach seldom includes direct neuropsychological or academic assessment data to determine treatment efficacy. Documenting "cool" executive-working memory (EWM) and "hot" self-regulation (SR) neuropsychological impairments could aid in differential diagnosis of ADHD subtypes and determining cognitive and academic MPH response. In this study, children aged 6 to 16 with ADHD inattentive type (IT; n = 19) and combined type (n = 33)/hyperactive-impulsive type (n = 4) (CT) participated in double-blind placebo-controlled MPH trials with baseline and randomized placebo, low MPH dose, and high MPH dose conditions. EWM/ SR measures and behavior ratings/classroom observations were rank ordered separately across conditions, with nonparametric randomization tests conducted to determine individual MPH response. Participants were subsequently grouped according to their level of cool EWM and hot SR circuit dysfunction. Robust cognitive and behavioral MPH response was achieved for children with significant baseline EWM/SR impairment, yet response was poor for those with adequate EWM/ SR baseline performance. Even for strong MPH responders, the best dose for neuropsychological functioning was typically lower than the best dose for behavior. Findings offer one possible explanation for why long-term academic MPH treatment gains in ADHD have not been realized. Implications for academic achievement and medication titration practices for children with behaviorally diagnosed ADHD will be discussed.     

以团队化发展为方向提高实验室组织绩效

本文从组织管理的视角出发,寻找在"软件"建设上限制"临时工场"式的科研实验室发展的问题并加以分析,对提高实验室整体工作绩效的方法作了初步探索,指出重视并做好实验室团队建设是有效途径之一.     

客家山歌保护传承中的组织建构与组织嵌入

通过对客家山歌保护传承中的组织研究,分析了三种文化精英、组织建构的两条路径和组织嵌入的四个系统。研究认为,无论是政府主导的组织,还是民间社会组织的自身演化形成,都能够为客家山歌的传承与发展提供稳定的整合性基础平台。客家山歌保护与传承通过嵌入到政府、市场、教育、网络技术四个系统之中,才能够与外界形成一种动态开放的资源与服务交换,进而维续组织的可持续发展与运行。     

Monetary returns to academic ability in the public teacher labor market

Previous research has established the returns to academic ability in the general labor market, and this paper investigates such returns in the teacher labor market. Using a nationally representative sample of public school teachers, I find that teachers who graduate from the most selective undergraduate institutions have salaries that are between 7% and 14% higher than those who graduate from the least selective colleges. An empirical investigation of the source of these returns reveals that the majority of this difference is due to high-ability teachers sorting into higher paying districts, though a non-trivial amount arises from within-district deviations from the salary schedule.     

试论消除组织冲突的人性化管理措施

消除冲突的人性化措施是一个复杂的系统化过程,在组织发展过程中,建立人性化管理机制和利益的人性化分配等形武的管理机制,将极大程度地消除组织冲实,并最终促进组织目标的实现。