In this article, interviews with eight managers and questionnaires from 75 practitioners are analysed to explore their perceptions of the role of pacifiers (or dummies) within the nursery. Managers and practitioners source their knowledge from the media, family/friends, and short professional speech and language courses; however, their perceptions…

This article discusses the use of observation for reflective practice with older people, particularly the benefits and challenges of this learning tool. It outlines a study with 26 third-year Bachelor of Social Work students who undertook an elective course on reflective practice with older people. Using qualitative document analysis, the authors…

Power, powerlessness, and empowerment have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. Traditional applications of power tend to be autocratic and autocratic power continues to be accepted extensively in society. Increased use of alternative kinds of power is hindered by lack of skills, lack of opportunity for use, and inappropriate norms…

The central cause of the present sorry state of governance in many institutions is an historical misunderstanding as to the real nature of a college or university. Most institutions have inherited a formal organizational structure founded on the concept of hierarchy, a concept that is totally unsuitable to the needs of an institution of higher…

This article analyzes Dale's attempt to reconstruct a classical version of Marxist ideology and finds its onesided. Dale replies in an immediately following article. (MT)

Examined the effects of organizational context on subordinates' use of power tactics in upward influence attempts. Subjects (N=36) were assigned one of two forms of an organizational scenario. Results showed respondents to the positive scenario were more likely to choose rational power tactics over political power tactics. (JAC)

This research examines the following hypotheses: (1) that members of organizations with low power have one of four ways of balancing power as a preferred power-balancing style, (2) that such styles have biographical correlates, and (3) that certain styles will be overrepresented in organizations. (Author)

Examines the utilization of staff conferences within the large industrial organization and finds that for the 680 supervisors and managers surveyed, hierarchy of authority is strongly related to staff conference utilization; while contingency exposure is found to be only weakly related to holding staff conferences. (Author/JH)

Problems of academic governance are best handled function by function. (DB)

Criticizes the assumption that participation of the less powerful in decisionmaking processes results in a reduction of power differences between the more powerful and the less powerful. (Author)

Data indicate that controllers do not have the same authority in all their functions nor in the various decisions within those functions. (Author)