Journal of Applied Behavioral Science最新文献

Policy makers and administrators have become frustrated with single-subject designs because these designs appear unable, at first blush, to provide them with essential information that they can use in planning or change at the organizational or institutional level of management. Practitioners have become frustrated with prior exclusive reliance on traditional group experimental designs because they fail to provide useful information for conducting therapy or delivering services. The following article by Professor Gingerich makes a large and important contribution toward mitigating these two apparently divergent needs. Gingerich describes how meta-analysis can provide useful information for managers through aggregations of data obtained from single-subject, time-series designs. The article also discusses the use of meta-analysis of time-series data as a basis for improving the quality of scientific investigations.

This article describes the characteristics of a Personal Management Interview (PMI) and reports the results of its implementation in 16 different organizational contexts. Based upon Group Behavior Inventory and personal interview data collected from 208 participants (135 experimental and 71 comparison group members), the results show that the implementation of regular PMIs can prevent the regression or fade-out which often occurs after off-site team-building sessions.

The author has examined the five lines of research started at a mental hospital between 1957-61 to determine their immediate effects upon practice and subsequent citations in the literature. Three lines of research combining basic and applied studies affected practice and research as measured by literature citations. One line of basic studies of perception and psychopathology influenced research but not practice. Applied studies of perception and psychopathology influenced research but not practice. Applied studies of staff organization had immediate application but disappeared from the professional literature in a short time.

The term "burnout" represents a significant perspective on how people respond to their work, but the attention paid to this phenomenon has largely been clinical and often anecdotal. In this article, the authors seek to expand the analysis of burnout in ways that permit comparative analysis, especially in large populations. This study specifically addresses three questions. First, does a paper-and-pencil instrument isolate domains of burnout that are relatively consistent between people-intensive work and the broader range of activities found in a commercial enterprise? Second, can we develop phases of progressive burnout? Third, can we test the efficacy of the burnout phases by searching for regularities in a panel of 22 variables commonly thought to tap the important facets of the work site? The author's analysis shows that we can answer these three central questions affirmatively, though occasionally with complex and potentially significant qualifications. The results of the analysis provide further evidence of the usefulness of a convenient instrument for measuring burnout and also suggest that behavioral scientists will find valuable a phase model that distinguishes regular and robust covariation by using a panel of variables thought to tap the important aspects of organizational life.