Creating a new organizational culture: the key to total quality management in the public sector

Total Quality Management (TQM) as a business strategy has been recognized by managers in the public sector since the late 1980s. While much has been written about the need for TQM and its strategies such as quantitative measurement and statistical analysis, team work and worker participation, few empirical and theoretical studies have been carried out or published on the connection of organizational culture to the implementation of TQM. Many leaders in the field have asserted that significant organizational cultural change will be required to ensure the success of TQM. This paper examines the changes that may be required in the process, and presents a synopsis of the need to (perhaps) reexamine the definition of organizational culture and the perspective of management, public or private, to make the culture of an organization more compatible with desired values.     

Stress and Somatic Complaints in Low-Income Urban Adolescents

The present study examined (1) rates of somatic complaints and (2) the association between stress and somatic complaints in low-income urban youth. Participants were 1030 low-income urban 6th–8th grade adolescents. Results indicate that, for both boys and girls, somatization was the most commonly reported internalizing symptom in this sample, and that heightened rates of urban stress predicted heightened rates of somatic complaints. In addition, a significantly higher percentage of youth in this sample reported clinically elevated levels of somatic complaints (17%) relative to that reported by normative samples (5%). The 2 most common somatic complaints were stomachaches and headaches, and females reported higher rates of somatic complaints than males. These findings suggest that somatic complaints are the most common expression of internalizing symptoms among low-income urban youth, and that exposure to heightened rates of stress places low-income urban adolescents at heightened risk for somatization. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

The lost generation of french feminists? anti-fascist women in the 1930S

This article examines the “lost generation” from French feminism, women who were young in the 1930s and 1940s. It takes a sample of 44 women active in anti-fascist politics in the 1930s, whose life histories are known from the Maitron biographical dictionary, and surveys their backgrounds and circumstances, concluding that this generation had assimilated feminist demands while explicitly giving priority to anti-fascist politics over issues such as the right to vote.     

Marijuana But Not Alcohol Use During Adolescence Mediates the Association Between Transmissible Risk for Substance Use Disorder and Number of Lifetime Violent Offenses

Aim

This study determined the extent to which alcohol and marijuana use during adolescence mediates the relation between transmissible risk for substance use disorder (SUD) and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses.

Methods

The transmissible liability index was administered to 359 10-12 year old youths who were tracked to 22 years of age. Past year frequency of alcohol and marijuana consumption was longitudinally tracked to age 22 at which time lifetime violent offenses was recorded.

Results

Rate of increase in marijuana use mediated the association between transmissible risk and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses. No association was found between past year frequency of alcohol use and violent offenses.

Conclusions

Prevention directed at lowering the psychological characteristics associated with transmissible risk for SUD may also reduce violent offending.     

The Ultra Secret and Churchill's War Memoirs

Ultra was one of the best-kept secrets of World War Two, concealed for nearly 30 years. A major reason, this article argues, was the precedent set by Churchill's war memoirs, published in 1948–54. The intelligence authorities feared that, if Churchill disclosed anything about Ultra, this would be a green light to those who had worked at Bletchley Park. Using documentation from the Churchill Archives and the Cabinet Office files, the article examines the pressure they successfully put on Churchill and the way Ultra was edited out of his memoirs, looking particularly at big stories such as the battle for Crete, operation Barbarossa, Pearl Harbor and the D-Day deception campaign.