Legislative ratings as a metric of goal cohesion within interest groups: Business vs. labor

This study investigates the instrumental goals of business and labor by analyzing legislative ratings issued by a number of organizations. Results indicate that the business community is more diverse in its political goals than is the labor community. The methodology employed is as follows. First, a business/labor categorical scheme is validated by using cluster analysis. Next, the degree of cohesion of the goals of business is compared with that of labor. Euclidean distance, which represents the degree of dissimilarity in the evaluation of Congress, is the metric used for this purpose.     

GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN THE NHS: THE INITIAL IMPACT 1983–88

The Griffiths report of 1983 resulted in radical changes (to which the label 'general management' has been applied) to the formalities of organization and management in the national health service. We report the findings of a major study (involving more than 300 interviews) of the impact of these changes up to 1988. Although general management has been widely accepted in the service, and seems to have resulted in some improvements to management processes, there has been no substantial change in organizational culture. We conclude that the impact of the Griffiths model of management has been limited in comparison with the continued influence of medical autonomy and financial limitations.     

Police Occupational Culture: Testing the Monolithic Model*

Since foundational work in the 1950s, researchers have described a variety of dimensions of the occupational culture of police. In an effort to integrate the disparate works, a theoretical model has been constructed depicting the ways in which the stressful features of the police work environment produce coping mechanisms and outcomes. While this model usefully organizes the vast literature on police culture, it has yet to be empirically tested. The current study addresses this void. Path analyses of officer survey data reveal support for several of the propositions set forth by the monolithic model, although the magnitude of the statistical associations was not very powerful and overall model fit was marginal. The implications of these findings are especially relevant given recent concerns over police-community relations and the renewed interest in the police occupational culture expressed by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.     

Does the Charter Form Improve the Fiscal Health of Counties?

The public administration literature has paid attention to the relationship between the structure of a government and its ability to provide public services, reflected by its fiscal health. Although this literature has provided a useful understanding of government structures, it has largely ignored the charter form of government. As a formal written document that grants counties the power of self‐governance, a charter frees the county from state control. Included in this freedom is the ability to establish its own tax policies and services. In this article, the effects of charter adoption on fiscal health are tested using Florida county data from 1980 to 2012. The results show that the presence of a charter can improve the fiscal health of a county, which, in turn, can affect overall service provision.