Community participation in bureaucratic organizations: Principles and strategies

The present paper points out that there are tasks that primary groups perform better than bureaucracies and those that bureaucracies perform better than primary groups. Both types of tasks are very interdependent so that sometimes primary group tasks must be performed within the boundaries of the bureaucratic organization. The argument is made that when primary groups intervene in bureaucracies, they can do so directly in non-expert tasks without lowering the effectiveness of the bureaucratic organization. When they intervene in expert aspects, they should do so indirectly through an expert advocate. However, in all intervention the primary group must take into account that its structure is contradictory to that of the bureaucracy and, therefore, it must keep as much distance as possible—consistent with its ability to intervene. From this analysis we derive a series of hypotheses suggesting when the community might ideally use the bureaucracy's own experts, when the community must hire its own experts, when the community should use mass media, strikes, indigenous workers, etc. It is suggested that the multitudinous possibilities for linkages can all be derived from a few basic underlying dimensions of the situation.

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Résumé Cet article montre qu'il existe certaines tâches que les groupes primaires accomplissent mieux que les bureaucraties, et certaines autres qu'accomplissent mieux les bureaucraties. Les deux sortes de tâches sont interdépendentes; donc parfois les tâches des groupes primaires doivent s'accomplir parmi les organisations bureaucratiques. Les auteurs soutiennent que les groupes primaires peuvent intervenir dans les bureaucraties en complétant les tâches non-expertes sans réduire l'efficacité de l'organisation bureaucratique. Quands ils participent à certains sujets experts, ils devraient se munir d'un agent expert. Mais dans toute intervention le groupe primaire doit se rendre compte que sa structure contredit celle de la bureaucratie et que, par conséquent, il doit se tenir autant à distance que possible par rapport à sa compétence d'intervention. De cette analyse proviennent des hypothèses qui indiquent quand une communauté peut se servir le mieux du personnel expert d'une bureaucratie, quand la communauté doit engager des experts, quand la communauté doit se servir des mass média, des grèves, des ouvriers indigènes, etc. Les nombreuses possibilités de liaisons proviennent toutes de quelques dimensions fondamentales de la situation.

     

Science teachers and scientific argumentation: Trends in views and practice

Current research indicates that student engagement in scientific argumentation can foster a better understanding of the concepts and the processes of science. Yet opportunities for students to participate in authentic argumentation inside the science classroom are rare. There also is little known about science teachers' understandings of argumentation, their ability to participate in this complex practice, or their views about using argumentation as part of the teaching and learning of science. In this study, the researchers used a cognitive appraisal interview to examine how 30 secondary science teachers evaluate alternative explanations, generate an argument to support a specific explanation, and investigate their views about engaging students in argumentation. The analysis of the teachers' comments and actions during the interview indicates that these teachers relied primarily on their prior content knowledge to evaluate the validity of an explanation rather than using available data. Although some of the teachers included data and reasoning in their arguments, most of the teachers crafted an argument that simply expanded on a chosen explanation but provided no real support for it. The teachers also mentioned multiple barriers to the integration of argumentation into the teaching and learning of science, primarily related to their perceptions of students' ability levels, even though all of these teachers viewed argumentation as a way to help students understand science. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1122–1148, 2012     

The Impact of Alumni Status on Institutional Giving by Faculty and Staff

This study explores the association between propensity toward giving and personal and positional characteristics of faculty and staff across 3 years within a large, public, multi-campus higher education institution. Informed by the literatures on organizational identity and commitment, faculty and staff giving, and the higher education workforce, the study employs a hurdle analysis to estimate the predictors of likelihood of donating (the hurdle) and the amount given among those who donate. Following up on earlier research by the authors that demonstrated that academic employees and employees who are institutional alumni are more likely to give, the present study explores the interaction between these roles and offers a more powerful model for predicting the amount given. The results of this study have implications for understanding how organizational commitment and identification may be relevant in addressing giving, for institutional fundraising, and for building institutional loyalties.     

European Mass Media

John Sandford's The Mass Media of the German-Speaking Countries (London: Oswald Wolff; and Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1976---price not given, paper)

Publizistik. Vierteljahreshefte fur Kommunikationsforschung (= subtitle, meaning Quarterly for Communication Research)

Rundfunk und Fernsehen (Broadcasting and Television)

Femselsen und Bildung (Television and Education)

Communicatio Socialis

Broadcast Receiving Fees in France, by Eugene Pons (EBU Monograph No. 7, 194 pp., 1969, 20 Swiss francs or about $5.00, paper)

German Radio and Television: Organization and Economic Basis, by Hans Brack (EBU Monograph No. 6, 68 pp., 1968, 8 Sw. Fr. or about $2.00, paper)

Broadcasting in the Space Age, by Olaf Rydbeck and Edward W. Ploman (EBU Monograph No. 5, 53 pp., 8 Sw. Fr. or about $2.00, paper)

Advertising on Radio and Television (EBU Monograph No. 4, 37 pp., 1966, 5 Sw. Fr. or about $1.00)

Financial Aspects of Broadcasting, by Bruno Vasari (EBU Monograph No. 3, 45 pp., 1965, 4 Sw. Fr. or a bit less than $1.00, paper)

Television for Children and Young People, by J.D. Halloran and P.R.C. Elliott (134 pp., 1970, 10 Sw. Fr. or about $2.50, paper)

Annual Seminar for Producers and Directors of Adult Education by Television (12th Seminar, 1974, 79 pp., 5 Sw. Fr. or about $1.00)

Annual Seminar for Producers and Directors of School Television (11th Seminar, 1973, 79 pp., 5 Sw. Fr. or about $1.00, paper)

Workshops for Producers and Directors of Television Programs for Children (4th Workshop, 1974, 48 pp., 8 Sw. Fr. or about $2.00, paper)

International Forum of Light Music in Radio (1971, 1973, and 1975 editions available, 5 Sw. Fr. each or about $1.00 each, paper)

The Evolution of the EBU through its Statutes from 1950 to 1976 (EBU Monograph No. 11, 1977, 25 Sw. Fr. or something over $5.00, paper)

International Conference of States on the Protection of Phonograms (Paris: Unesco; and New York: Unipub, 1975---$34.75, paper)     

Sergius Yakobson in Europe and America

This article is devoted to the career of Sergius Yakobson, a librarian, historian, and educator. Its first part focuses on his role in the development of the Slavic collections of the Library of Congress in the 1940s to 1950s after his emigration to the United States. In the second part, the author compares ways in which Slavica, Rossica, and Sovetica developed in America and France during and after World War II, using materials from Yakobson's survey of Paris Slavic collections made in 1953. The final part briefly discusses his work as a Sovietologist.