Contrasting perspectives on the evaluation of industrial modernization: Introduction to the symposium

This paper examines the experience of the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Alliance (GMEA) in implementing an evaluation of its industrial extension services. As part of the U.S. Manufacturing Extension partnership, GMEA provides assistance to manufacturers to resolve industrial and business problems and upgrade technology, training, and business performance, focusing primarily on firms within the state of Georgia. The program has established an evaluation component along with other assessment and review mechanisms. Several evaluation methods are employed, including customer surveys, economic analyses of benefits and costs, controlled studies, and logic-based case studies. The article examines the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches, reviews the insights each method offers, and discusses how the resulting evaluative information is used. The views expressed in this paper are the authors' and not necessarily those of the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Alliance or its sponsoring organizations.     

Evaluating industrial modernization: Methods, results, and insights from the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Alliance

This paper examines the experience of the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Alliance (GMEA) in implementing an evaluation of its industrial extension services. As part of the U.S. Manufacturing Extension partnership, GMEA provides assistance to manufacturers to resolve industrial and business problems and upgrade technology, training, and business performance, focusing primarily on firms within the state of Georgia. The program has established an evaluation component along with other assessment and review mechanisms. Several evaluation methods are employed, including customer surveys, economic analyses of benefits and costs, controlled studies, and logic-based case studies. The article examines the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches, reviews the insights each method offers, and discusses how the resulting evaluative information is used.     

Coordinating industrial modernization services: Impacts and insights from the U.S. Manufacturing Extension Partnership

This study examines how programs sponsored through the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) have influenced the organization and delivery of industrial modernization services to small and medium-sized manufacturers in regions in the United States. The study found that increased service coordination has occurred and that this, in turn, has mostly improved the quality and comprehensiveness of assistance delivered to firms. But there are also some costs and drawbacks associated with multi-partner service delivery approaches. The study identifies and examines best practices that can help MEP centers increase the effectiveness of service coordination. This paper draws upon research supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology under award 50SBNBC8305. The views expressed are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the research sponsor.     

Compensation for industrial accidents and incentives for prevention: a theoretical and empirical perspective

This paper examines the compensation systems for industrial accidents in Belgium, Germany and Great Britain, thereby taking into account some recent empirical data on industrial accident rates and (although hardly available) amounts of compensation paid out to employee victims. The key question of this paper, derived from past research in law and economics, is whether these particular compensation systems include elements that may contribute to the prevention of industrial accidents. While the three countries examined here all have at least some incentive-based elements, notably in the way those systems are financed, there appears to be room for improvement both in Belgium and Great Britain. The German case study leads to the proposition that giving an organisation the responsibility for both compensation and prevention may have a beneficial effect on the accident rate.     

Seclusion: The perspective of nurses

Knowledge of how nurses experience the process of secluding a patient can be useful in improving the quality of patient care and in the prevention of work related stress in nurses. This study describes personal experiences of nurses throughout the seclusion process. The emotions which came to surface in semi-structured interviews with 8 nurses were categorized in three main themes (Tension, Trust and Power) and a stress response curve was identified in the seclusion process, with specific feelings in each phase. Feelings denied in former studies such as feeling superior, anger and disgust were found in the interviews in this study.     

Policing: The patrol sergeants’ perspective

Implementing community policing is a complex and difficult task for police departments. Patrol sergeants are essential in accomplishing any organizational change and so their observations should be used to modify and finetune community policing efforts. A group of twenty patrol sergeants were interviewed regarding the change strategies which helped or hurt implementation of community policing. Several statistical analyses are discussed with age being the only factor which was significantly related to supervisor’s attitudes toward community policing.     

Regulating online gambling: The Indian perspective

In India, the government has perniciously ignored the issue of internet gambling. Unfortunately, there is no specific legislation in place that addresses internet gambling, nor has there been any consistent policy professed with regard to internet gambling. Thus, online gambling operators, both domestic and offshore, are allowed to operate with impunity in India. Spurred on by factors like inadequate legislation, a lack of enforcement, and an indifferent judiciary, online gambling in India is unregulated, untaxed, and most of all, unclear. This paper posits that there is an urgent need for legislative clarity in India's policy towards internet gambling.     

中国现代化进程中和谐治理的意义及对策

本文以我国现代化进程中政府管理必须面对的挑战为切入点,结合当代治理理论,从多个维度透视和谐治理内在的管理理念及现实意义,在分析我国现代化进程中存在的各种不和谐因素的基础上,提出了实现和谐治理的对策建议.     

Organization and environment: The case of correctional personnel training programs

An intensive field study of 17 correctional personnel training programs was conducted to assess the organization-environment context in which these programs emerged and operated. Content analysis of site visit data revealed that correctional training programs less often served specific organization goal achievement purposes, and more often served as general strategies for coping with external environmental demands and pressures. A theoretical framework for examining organization-environment relations is described, and then used to analyze correctional training programs as a boundary-spanning activity that relates correctional organizations to environmental conditions. Organizational responses to environmental demands are placed along a continuum of adjustment ranging from survival, to adaptation, and innovation. Organizational responses to environmental demands, in turn, are related to training patterns that dovetail with the major needs of organizations and their personnel in efforts to adjust to the environment.     

Job satisfaction: The gender perspective among police officers

Although women constitute more than 50% of the United States’ population, their percentage among police officers is approximately 9%. Despite being relatively new to policing as fully accepted officers, their growth in numbers should be higher. Nevertheless, such growth may be stagnant. The reasons for this phenomenon are still under examination, and any research that can shed light on this quandary is useful. This article examines job satisfaction among police officers and whether there is a difference by gender. The belief is that if job satisfaction among women police officers is low, this could reflect why more women are not entering law enforcement. However, the data analyzed from a purposive sample of 2,309 male and 309 female officers suggest that there is little difference in job satisfaction solely by gender.