The impact of multiple source feedback on management development: findings from a longitudinal study

Despite the rapid uptake of multi‐source multi‐rater (MSMR) feedback systems by UK organizations, comparatively little research exists describing the actual impact on participant managers, in terms of changes in management competence. Ratings of 104 target managers (by self assessments, bosses‐, first‐ and second‐level subordinates) were investigated within the context of a developmental feedback programme in operation within an organization. The study compared ratings over two administrations (with two years between administrations) to determine: (1) changes in co‐workers' perceptions of their target manager's competence, (2) changes in target managers' development needs over time, (3) factors influencing a target manager's revised self‐assessment and co‐workers ratings, (4) changes in congruence between self and co‐workers ratings and (5) the relationship of feedback to the organization's formal performance appraisal process. Significant increases in managers' competence were perceived by the managers' themselves and by their subordinates, development needs were seen to reduce and self and co‐workers ratings were largely seen to become more congruent. However, polynomial regression analyses revealed co‐workers feedback at Time One was not predictive of targets' self‐assessments at Time Two. The implications of these findings with regard to the utility of MSMR feedback as a tool for management development are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prenatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis by methylumbelliferylguanidinobenzoate protease titration in amniotic fluid

Amniotic fluids were obtained from 19 mothers who had previously given birth to a child with cystic fibrosis. Measurement of methylumbelliferyl guanidinobenzoate (MUGB) reactive proteases suggested that all 19 would have unaffected babies. Amongst the first 10 cases to come to term there were 5 infants with cystic fibrosis. It is concluded that MUGB protease titration is not suitable for the early prenatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis.     

Design conditions for learning in community service contexts

In this study, we investigated team‐based community service projects as action learning initiatives designed to facilitate two learning outcomes: community learning (knowledge of social, cultural, or economic issues) and personal learning (self‐awareness of managerial attitudes and abilities). We developed hypotheses to predict critical input conditions for action learning that promote community and personal learning. We tested these hypotheses with data collected from 381 MBA students and their team leaders who participated in a variety of community service projects. Results demonstrated that design conditions (task characteristics, social interactions, and affective responses) influenced community and personal learning differently. We supplemented survey results with interview and observational data from a subset of participants and conclude with a discussion of the theoretical implications for action learning and practical recommendations for designing community service programs. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Significant rainfall decreases and variations of the atmospheric circulation in the Mediterranean (1950–2000)

This paper aims at identifying the link between significant rainfall decreases (1950–2000) in the Mediterranean basin and the atmospheric circulation at the 500 hPa level. The months and seasons of the subregions with significant rainfall decrease during this period have been identified previously (Norrant and Douguédroit, Theor Appl Climatol 83(1–4):89–106, 2006): October in the Mediterranean Iberia, March in the Atlantic Iberia, January and winter in Greece, and winter in the Near East. Canonical Correlation Analyses based on the monthly and daily data records from 62 rainfall stations and 138 grid points at the 500 hPa level over a Euro-Atlantic window were first calculated to define the TeleConnection Patterns explaining significant regional rainfall decreases. Then, 500 hPa level weather types (ZWTs) of the rainy days with important or little rainfall associated with each Teleconnection Pattern were identified in each subregion. Rainfall-causing disturbances from the Atlantic reach Iberia directly; some of them are regenerated if they reach the Mediterranean. Other disturbances are generated locally near Greece and the Near East (Meteorological Office in Weather in the Mediterranean I: general meteorology, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1962). The relationship between significant rainfall decreases and the corresponding 500 hPa level appears to be a nonlinear phenomenon. In all of the studied subregions, a break during the 1970s separates two subperiods differing significantly from each other. Rainfall decrease is due to the higher frequency of important rainfall ZWTs over low rainfall ZWTs, during the first period, which the opposite is true during the second period. Such an inversion could be partially linked with the prevailing North Atlantic Oscillation-positive phase during the last quarter of the twentieth century.     

Whose values count: is a theory of social choice for sustainability science possible?

If sustainability science is to mature as a discipline, it will be important for practitioners to discuss and eventually agree upon the fundamentals of the paradigm on which the new discipline is based. Since sustainability is fundamentally a normative assertion about tradeoffs among values, how society chooses the specifics among these tradeoffs is central to the sustainability problem. Whose values should count in making social decisions and how should the multiplicity of values that exist be known and used in that decision process? Given the vast spatial domains and temporal domains at work in the sustainability problem, we need some means of reconciling the inevitably divergent choices depending on whose values we count, how we know what those values are, and how we count them in making social decisions. We propose an approach to dealing with these questions based on Rawls (A theory of justice. Belknap Press, Cambridge, 1971) and explore the problems inherent in a social choice theory for sustainability science.     

Planning routes around the world: International evidence for southern route preferences

Three studies test whether the southern route preference, which describes the tendency for route planners to disproportionately select south- rather than north-going routes, can be attributed to regional elevation patterns; specifically, we ask whether this effect replicates in three topographically disparate international regions, one of which is characterized by higher elevations to the north and lower to the south (Padua, Italy), and two characterized by higher elevations to the south and lower to the north (Enschede, Netherlands; Sofia, Bulgaria). In all cases, we found strong evidence that route planners disproportionately select south- rather than north-going routes at rates exceeding chance. We conclude that the southern route preference is driven by strong associations between canonical direction and perceived effort of route traversal; these effects are somewhat perplexing given that such associations are not founded in the reality of physical space.     

Blood markers among residents from a coal mining area

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Coal extraction and processing generate environmental contamination, which has several negative impacts on human health. Hematological and biochemical...     

COVID-19: From health crises to food security anxiety and policy implications

Like the rest of the world, African countries are reeling from the health, economic and social effects of COVID-19. The continent’s governments have responded by imposing rigorous lockdowns to limit the spread of the virus. The various lockdown measures are undermining food security, because stay at home orders have among others, threatened food production for a continent that relies heavily on agriculture as the bedrock of the economy. This article draws on quantitative data collected by the GeoPoll, and, from these data, assesses the effect of concern about the local spread and economic impact of COVID-19 on food worries. Qualitative data comprising 12 countries south of the Sahara reveal that lockdowns have created anxiety over food security as a health, economic and human rights/well-being issue. By applying a probit model, we find that concern about the local spread of COVID-19 and economic impact of the virus increases the probability of food worries. Governments have responded with various efforts to support the neediest. By evaluating the various policies rolled out we advocate for a feminist economics approach that necessitates greater use of data analytics to predict the likely impacts of intended regulatory relief responses during the recovery process and post-COVID-19.