the Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management

Summer/Fall, 2001                                                                    Vol. 3  No. 1

Abstracts

Comparison Of Campus And Distance Undergraduate Leadership Students’ Attitudes
Susan Fritz
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Terri Jo Bek
Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture
David L. Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

ABSTRACT

Among the many questions faculty pose about distance delivery are concerns about the quality of students’ learning experiences.  Specifically, when comparing distance delivery to classroom delivery, is the education as effective, is satisfaction as high, and can distance delivery accommodate all types of learning styles, classes, and subjects? This study explored some of these questions by comparing the pre and post-test attitudes of students enrolled in a satellite-delivered, undergraduate leadership course and experiencing the course at a distance or on the campus. The results indicate that overall students in the distance class reported less attitudinal change, were less satisfied with their interaction with the instructor and peers, felt the majority of the teaching methods were less effective, and their course evaluations were lower than their peers in the campus class. Recommendations were made for student orientation to distance technologies and instructional design expertise to vary interaction strategies. Go to Article

Toward Collaboration and Inclusion:
The Electronic Portfolio and Outcomes Assessment
Anthony F. Chelte
Western New England College

ABSTRACT

The need to move away from autonomous academic endeavors toward a more inclusive process involving all stakeholders in higher education provides the backdrop for this article.  The introduction of the Paradigm of Autonomy and arguments for moving away from this view to one of collaboration and inclusion is framed within the context of educational outcomes and assessment.  Research has shown that limited work has been done across institutions in developing “shared” outcomes and assessment across curriculum and “values.”  The Electronic Portfolio (utilization of the Internet as a platform for wide distribution and discussion of materials) is introduced as a mechanism to harness information technology for achieving the objectives of developing discourse on achieving acceptance of wide-ranging outcomes and assessment measures.  The involvement of all stakeholders in the process, particularly those beyond the academy, is seen as an integral part of building an emerging paradigm of collaboration and inclusion in the development of shared outcomes and assessment metrics.  The use of the Electronic Portfolio as the information technology vehicle is described in some detail. Go to Article

Small Firm Innovation and Strategic Competitiveness:
The Role of Firm Infrastructure
Richard A. Menger
St. Mary's University

ABSTRACT

This investigation found that a firm’s infrastructure--its operating policies and procedures, human resource management practices and compensation strategy-- and the attitudes of its leadership play a critical role in determining whether or not innovation will occur in small firms. An investigation of 13 firms in the services industry indicates that leaders and other top-level managers must establish infrastructures that enable innovation and also must encourage innovation for it to exist and for the firm to be strategically competitive. Findings indicate that innovation initially was externally imposed under conditions of little to no organizational slack. By encouraging innovation with a supportive infrastructure--operating policies and procedures, human resource management practices and compensation strategy--a firm’s top-level managers ensure that it continues in a self-generating mode. Go to Article

A Framework for Training Students as Evaluators of Instructor Performance
Linda S. Hartenian
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

 ABSTRACT

Student evaluations of instructor performance are important tools for instructor development and assessment. A framework for training students as evaluators of instructors is presented, incorporating four themes from the performance evaluation research—rating errors, rater accuracy, cognitive processes, and tangential factors. Goals and methods for the training program, as well as administrative issues, are presented. Finally, evaluation of benefits and costs of the training program is discussed. Go to Article

How is Strategy Formed in Organizations? A Multi-Disciplinary Taxonomy of Strategy-Making Approaches
John E. Barbuto, Jr.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an integrative framework for understanding organizational direction and the strategy-making process, developed primarily from the roles of top managers and employees in the strategy-making process. The paper offers a multi-disciplinary taxonomy of several themes from historical models of strategy formulation and implementation in the organization theory, political science, public policy, and strategic management literatures.  Five approaches to strategy making are identified: autocratic, transformational, rational, learning, and political.  Descriptions of each strategy-making approach, roles of top managers and employees of the organization for each, and proposed contingent factors for prevalence and effectiveness of each approach are discussed. Go to Article

Market Entry Decisions In An Experimental Game Setting
Darryl A. Seale
University of Nevada at Las Vegas
David E. Olson
California State University at Bakersfield

Abstract

Combining perspectives from population ecology and strategy research, this paper examines the effects of legitimation, heterogeneity among players, and uncertain capacity on market entry decisions in an experimental game setting.  We find that heterogeneity and uncertain capacity did little to impair the high levels of coordination between aggregate entry decisions and market capacity. However, introducing legitimation made it difficult for entrants to coordinate their entry decisions at or near threshold values.  We also find substantial individual differences in entry strategies - a necessary condition to achieve equilibrium - and no movement away form equilibrium predictions in the direction of Pareto optimal outcomes. Go to Article