What to Do When Stakeholders Matter: The Case of Problem Formulation for the African American Men Project of Hennepin County, Minnesota

We propose a series of stakeholder analyses designed to help organizations—especially governments—think and act strategically during the process of problem formulation in order to advance the common good. Specifically, we argue that at least five sets of analyses are necessary, including the creation of (1) a power versus interest grid; (2) a stakeholder influence diagram; (3) bases of power–directions of interest diagrams; (4) a map for finding the common good and structuring a winning argument; and (5) diagrams indicating how to tap individual stakeholder interests to pursue the common good. What the analyses do is help to transform a seemingly "wicked problem"—for example, how to produce better outcomes for African American men aged 18–30—into something more tractable, and therefore amenable to collective action. In other words, stakeholder analysis can be used to link political rationality with technical rationality so that support can be mobilized for substantive progress.     

Intersectoral differences in public affairs: the duty of public reporting in public administration

Public reporting is a requirement for public affairs practitioners in public administration because of the democratic context in which government operates. By reporting to the public‐at‐large on agency activities, government agencies contributed to an informed citizenry, the essential foundation of a democracy. For public affairs in business administration and non‐profit administration, public reporting is desirable rather than mandatory. Public reporting was traditionally accomplished indirectly, through news media coverage of government. However, recent research suggests a diminution of interest by the media in fulfilling its role as an instrument of democracy. This means that the public reporting obligation of public affairs professionals in public administration needs to shift to direct reporting, through such products as annual reports, newsletters, TV programmes, Internet websites etc. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Pharmacopoeia – a collaboration between the textile artist Susie Freeman and the general practitioner Liz Lee

In this article I describe the development of my collaboration with the textile artist Susie Freeman in the production of the visual arts project Pharmacopoeia. Over the last 3 years we have created a body of work that aims to provide information about common medical treatments in a way that engages the public imagination. The work is dominated by the use of active pharmaceuticals, both pills and capsules, which are incorporated into dramatic fabrics by a process known as pocket knitting. These fabrics are then made into clothing and accessories, making their individual messages easier to ‘read’. The work aims to encourage people to think about their own medical and pharmacological history, and to reflect on their relationship with commonly prescribed drugs. It also reveals how dependent our society is on pharmaceuticals, how ambivalent we feel about them and yet how casually we use them.     

The Recruitment of Women Cabinet Ministers in the Canadian Provinces

Although there have been several studies of women in legislatures in Canada, a cabinet position is a much stronger position from which to wield power in an executive-centered and party-disciplined parliamentary system. In the past decade, the increase of women's share of legislative seats, for majority parties as well as others, has led to more women being appointed to cabinet portfolios. This article utilizes data from the ten Canadian provinces over an 18-year period, from 1976 to 1994, to assess patterns of such appointments by province, party, percentage of women in the governing party, and percentage of women in the legislature. The proportion of women in the governing party far outweighs other variables in its impact on the percentage of women in the cabinet, in contrast to a previous study of West European cabinets which found that more women in the legislature was of greater importance. Although a high level of multicollinearity indicates caution in attempting to distinguish between the impact of these two variables, the differences in these studies may be due to Canadian provinces having single-party majority governments while West European cabinets are often coalitions.     

Dimensions of self-esteem and psychological symptoms among chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

Self-esteem and psychological symptoms were assessed in a sample of 1082 Chinese adolescents who responded to the Chinese versions of Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire. Three dimensions of self-esteem, interpreted as Family Acceptance/Rejection, Self-Depreciation, and Peer Affirmation/Disaffirmation, were found to relate substantially to general psychological symptoms and particularly to specific symptoms of anxiety, social dysfunction, and depression as reported by these adolescents. The implications of the relative importance of appraisal from internal feedback as sources of self-esteem as opposed to the external feedback from family and peers were discussed in relation to self-esteem enhancement in adolescents.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1978. His research interests include self-esteem, stress, coping, health and psychopathology.Received her Ph.D. from the University of South Dakota in 1983. Her research interests include stress, coping and health, and geriatric psychology.     

Review Article

Book reviewed in this article:
Neal Blewett, A Cabinet Diary: A Personal Record of the First Keating Government     

Age estimation by occlusal tooth wear

The purpose of the present investigation was to test the accuracy of a new scoring system in recording tooth wear for age estimation. The material consisted of dental stone casts of 383 volunteers who had sound premolars and molars with normal occlusion. The degree of occlusal wear for all premolar and molar teeth was scored with the new system. The high intra- and inter-examiner concordances showed that the new score system was very reliable. The degree of tooth wear showed a significant positive correlation with age in each and every examined tooth of both males and females. Tooth wear scores of males were higher than those of females. Calculating tables for age estimation were designed and the accuracy of age estimation was obtained with the General Linear Models procedures. Our system could provide estimation of an individual's age within +/-3 years in 42.4% of males and 49.4% of females, within +/-5 years in 61.8% of males and 63.3% of females. When the subjects were divided into two age groups and data were re-treated, the accuracy of age estimation was increased. Collectively, it was shown that our new system for scoring tooth wear is a reliable and accurate method for age estimation.     

The statistical variability of blood alcohol concentration measurements in drink-driving cases

Like many other places in the world, Hong Kong has drink-driving legislation which prohibits a driver from having in his blood alcohol exceeding a prescribed limit while in control of a motor vehicle. The accuracy of measuring this alcohol concentration is obviously of prime concern as an erroneous result can avert the administration of justice. The common practice is to deduct all errors from the measured value and compare the deducted value with the prescribed limit, so that the benefit of all errors of the measurement is given to the driver. It is therefore important for any laboratory responsible for measuring blood alcohol concentrations to identify and quantify all errors associated with the measurement. The present study examined 900 blood alcohol determinations carried out by the Hong Kong Government Laboratory (HKGL) on cases of suspected drink driving. The determinations were performed by 5 different analysts with two different sets of instruments during 1995-1997. Statistical analysis indicated that the instruments had no bearing on the random error or variability and that even though analyst was a significant factor on variability, the deviation from the mean so caused was only 0.3% and of no practical significance. When the systematic error introduced by the tolerance limits of the certified alcohol standards (purchased from the Laboratory of Government Chemists, UK) was taken into account, the total uncertainty (random plus systematic errors) of an alcohol determination at 99.5% confidence level was found to be 4%. It is recommended that laboratories engaged in blood alcohol determination should adopt similar statistical treatment of their analytical results to find out the error and to ensure that the results are independent of analyst and instrument used.