Fear Of Criticism Research Articles

Balancing basic and applied research

Traditionally, basic and applied research were seen as activities of a different nature, carried out by different institutions and financed from different sources. But in the 1970s and 1980s, the information and communication technologies (ICT)—later reinforced by biotechnology—started a trend in which it became increasingly important to turn scientific research into concrete products. Whole industries were built around the notion of developing new commodities and services from basic research as quickly as possible. As a result of these new economic developments, the strict division between basic and applied research in those fields has weakened, until the boundaries have become obsolete and sometimes artificial. > Whole industries were built around the notion of developing commodities and services from basic research Consequently, the way in which researchers co‐operate and forge partnerships with industry, as well as the regional importance of academic research and its role in the local economic setting, changed dramatically during the 1990s. While universities were predominantly government funded with the logical consequence that research results were made fully available to society as a whole, more recently they have evolved into institutions funded through a variety of sources and with different stakeholders, who expect the knowledge generated to be protected and exploited in an appropriate way. Of course, these changes have been more prevalent in fields such as biomedical research or ICT where basic research can be translated fairly rapidly into viable applications, unlike in other domains such as astronomy or particle physics. But the ‘intrusion’ of private enterprises and funding into the academic world is not to everybody's liking. Some critics fear that financial dependence on private sources will diminish the independence of the university and its scientists ( Nature , 2001). Others see conflicts of interest in publishing results that can be developed into potential products, and fear that private …

EMU: Experiences to date and challenges for the future

Have the first two years of European Monetary Union fulfilled the expectations of its supporters? Or have the fears of the critics been confirmed? What challenges will EMU have to face in the years ahead?

Pending resolution: the question of who owns DNA.

With the emergence of the Human Genome Project and its private counterparts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has begun receiving applications for the patenting of genes and genetic sequences. Earlier patent decisions regarding similar scientific advances limited patents to organisms "made by the hand of man," which would seem to remove discovered genes from patent protection. But many applicants have been successful in attaining patents for genes based on their ability to demonstrate the ultimate utility of the gene, for instance in medicine. One controversy regarding genomic patenting, however, is that patents apparently have been granted for mere gene fragments devoid of much demonstrable utility. Furthermore, critics fear that gene patenting will retard research by squelching scientists' ability to share findings freely.

Can it be a "sin" to understand disease? On "genes" and "eugenics" and an "unconnected connection".

Particularly, but not exclusively, in Germany, concerns are uttered as to the consequences of modern biotechnological advances and their range of applications in the field of human genetics. Whereas the proponents of this research are mainly focussing on the possible knowledge that could be gained by understanding the causes of developmental processes and of disease on the molecular level, the critics fear the beginnings of a new eugenics movement. Without claiming a logical relationship between genetic sciences and eugenics movements, it is nevertheless suggested in this article that a connection between both can become established when the distinction between scientifically validated statements on one hand and guiding hypotheses and assumptions on the other hand is blurred, as is observed particularly when scientists report their results to the public. This claim is demonstrated in comparisons between the current state of scientific knowledge on the role of genes in development and causation of diseases, and the way this is presented to the public. It is required that a debate on biotechnology should include reflections on the validity of claims made by scientists.

The Rise of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs in the United States

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER(DTC)ADVERTISING OF PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS has rapidly become one of the most contentious issues facing the medical profession in the United States. Prior to the early 1980s, pharmaceutical companies promoted their prescription products exclusively to physicians, who were expected to act as “learned intermediaries” interpreting drug information for the general public. During the past 2 decades, however, changes in the political and regulatory climate, cultural shifts emphasizing the patient’s role in making medical decisions, and expanding profits from drug sales have encouraged the industry to pursue more direct marketing strategies. Today, advertisements for prescription drugs dot the pages of popular magazines and punctuate television programs. A survey of 18 diverse laymagazines from1989to1998revealeda totalof320distinctDTCads, representing 101 brands and 14 categories of medical conditions. This year, pharmaceutical companies will spend more than a billion dollars marketing their drug products directly to consumers, compared to only $55 million in 1991. According to a recent survey, more than one third of patients have asked their physicians for information on drugs they have seen in a DTC ad, and nearly one fourth have asked for the drug itself. Perhaps more significantly, three quarters of the patients requesting drug prescriptions received them from their physicians. Proponents argue that DTC promotion provides a service by increasing public awareness of medical conditions and encouraging informed communication between patients and providers. Furthermore, DTC ads encourage consumers to act as autonomous decision-makers, able to weigh the benefits and risks of their health choices. At the same time, critics fear that drug companies will trade on the public’s lack of medical knowledge to obscure products’ risks and adverse effects. Physicians complain that they must devote increasing amounts of scarce time to dissuading patients from taking drugs that advertising has led them to believe are unproblematic. This month, MSJAMA explores some of the issues raised by the growth of DTC advertising of pharmaceutical products in the United States. How does DTC marketing affect the relationship between patients and physicians? What is the role of the government in ensuring that DTC advertisements are accurate and complete? Should the rise of DTC advertising change physicians’ liability in suits brought by drug consumers? How does the rise of DTC advertising change our perspective on drug companies’ traditional practice of marketing drugs to physicians?

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered: The meaning and experience of teamworking for employees in an automobile company

Recent managerial discourses share similar assumptions about organizations and the means to their greater efficiency. One of these is a faith in teamworking as a method of ensuring that human resources are effectively mobilized to achieve the unquestioned benefits of any specific technology or prescriptive programme. In this article we will explore what teamworking means for employees' lives within an automobile manufacturing company. We question the taken-for-granted assumption within managerialist accounts that teamworking will simply be welcomed by, and is beneficial for, employees. We also offer a ray of hope to those critics who warn of the normalizing effects of teamworking. We argue that, just as there is no single form of teamworking, there is also no single experience of teamworking. We broadly identify the reactions of three types of employees as a heuristic device. First, there are those who seem `bewitched' by the discourse of teamworking and who internalize its norms and values. Second, there are those who are `bothered' by the ideology in the sense that they are disturbed by its incessant intrusion into their lives and by the reactions of colleagues who seem enthralled by the team discourse. Finally, there are employees who are `bewildered' by teamworking mainly because of its attack upon established ways of doing things. There are, of course, overlaps and variations between and within these categories but we believe that they provide a useful way of presenting a complex set of research findings. Overall, we argue that employees are not nearly as convinced by the discourse of teamworking as its advocates presume or its critics fear

The Knowledge Adventure

The Knowledge Adventure

The Sociotropy–Autonomy Scale: Structure and Implications

The Sociotropy Autonomy Scale (SAS), especially the Autonomy Scale, has demonstrated inconsistent results concerning its relationship to depression and psychopathology. We hypothesized that these inconsistent findings may be related to the factor structure of the SAS. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the SAS were conducted in two separate samples of psychiatric outpatients (n = 1033, n = 1034). The results revealed a two-factor solution for sociotropy: Preference for Affiliation and Fear of Criticism and Rejection. The second factor, Fear of Criticism and Rejection, had a stronger association with psychopathology than the first factor. The results also indicated a two-factor solution for autonomy: Sensitivity to Others' Control and Independent Goal Attainment. Although the Sensitivity to Others' Control factor had a positive correlation with psychopathology, the Independent Goal Attainment factor had a negative correlation with psychopathology. We speculate that Independent Goal Attainment may be associated with resilience or hardiness and functions as a buffer against stress. Implications for revising the SAS as well as employing these factors in future studies are discussed.

Do government incentives attract and retain international investment? A study of foreign-owned firms in North Carolina

In an era of strong global competition, national, state, and localgovernments are vying to attract and retain investment by international firmsby increasing the range and value of public incentives for businesses toinvest in their jurisdictions. A survey of executives in 118internationally-owned firms in North Carolina reveals that they rank stateincentives low in a list of factors that they believe attract foreign-ownedcompanies and retain them in the state. Labor force, transportation, qualityof life, and overall business climate factors are consistently ranked highestby business executives, and state tax, finance, plant services, and marketingassistance are consistently ranked low. Questions concerning theeffectiveness, appropriateness, and equity of such incentives and theirimpacts on influencing domestic and international firms to choose locationsin a state or locality continue to be debated. Why do governments persist insuch questionable policies? Often perception offsets reality in publicpolicy-making. The political need to `do something' even if it is ineffective,a `follow the herd' mentality, fear of political criticism, and anunwillingness to `disarm' unilaterally all seem to explain the persistence ofstate incentive policies that even the intended beneficiaries claim are of lowpriority in their decisions.

Environmental Effects of SO2 Trading and Banking

The widely acknowledged innovation of Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments is sulfur dioxide allowance trading, which is designed to encourage the electricity industry to minimize the cost of reducing emissions. Few studies have examined the environmental effects of trading, and none have explored the effects of banking. We used an integrated assessment computer model, the Tracking and Analysis Framework, to evaluate changes in emissions of SO2, atmospheric concentrations of sulfates and deposition of sulfur, and public health benefits from reduced exposure to SO2 and particulate matter. We assessed geographic and temporal changes at the state level that result from trading and banking and compared them with estimated cost savings. Our findings are not consistent with the fears of the program's critics. In the East and Northeast including New York State, an area of particular concern, we found that health benefits increase and sulfur deposition decrease slightly as a result of trading. Nationally, trading results in health-related benefits in addition to significant cost savings. Banking changes the timing of emissions, but the geographic consequence of banking is varied.

Dreams and Designs on Strategy: A Critical Analysis of TQM and Management Control

Any management discourse, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), has power effects that can transform individuals into subjects who secure some sense of their own identity through participating either as managers or employees in the practices it embraces. The central argument of this paper, however, is that despite these power effects, TQM is not nearly as effective or rational in controlling employees as its gurus exhort or its critics fear. These arguments are explored empirically through a case study of a major UK retail bank. In particular we illustrate how power and identity relations can intervene to undermine feedback to employees and prevent the upward flow of information to management necessary to ensure that TQM operates effectively. These dynamics are seen to reflect the cost conscious and short-term profit demands endemic within British industry. Just as these `bottom line' considerations have limited the effectiveness of management innovations in the past, they have also created problems for the TQM programme in our case study here. No doubt this will continue to be the case with future management innovations not least because organisational life is always `messy', given its political character. In the form of both career competition and opportunities for resistance to the totalising demands of TQM this paper provides further evidence of the political obstacles to effective innovation.

DREAMS AND DESIGNS ON STRATEGY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF TQM AND MANAGEMENT CONTROL

Any management discourse, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), has power effects that can transform individuals into subjects who secure some sense of their own identity through participating either as managers or employees in the practices it embraces. The central argument of this paper, however, is that despite these power effects, TQM is not nearly as effective or rational in controlling employees as its gurus exhort or its critics fear. These arguments are explored empirically through a case study of a major UK retail bank. In particular we illustrate how power and identity relations can intervene to undermine feedback to employees and prevent the upward flow of information to management necessary to ensure that TQM operates effectively. These dynamics are seen to reflect the cost conscious and short-term profit demands endemic within British industry. Just as these ‘bottom line’ considerations have limited the effectiveness of management innovations in the past, they have also created problems for the TQM programme in our case study here. No doubt this will continue to be the case with future management innovations not least because organisational life is always ‘messy’, given its political character. In the form of both career competition and opportunities for resistance to the totalising demands of TQM this paper provides further evidence of the political obstacles to effective innovation.

Passage to Union: How the Railroads Transformed American Life, 1829-1929 (review)

Exploring the social, economic, and legal impact of the growth of the railroads, Sarah Gordon has written a richly informed narrative history of an American icon-with surprising conclusions. Where the railroads and their entrepreneurs are ordinarily celebrated for drawing together the vast geographical reaches of the union, Ms. Gordon finds that this accomplishment was achieved at high cost. Conflicts of interest-at local, state, and regional levels-characterized railroad growth at every stage. Despite the stated aims of government and the railroad corporations to promote settlement and commerce, Ms. Gordon explains, the states lost control and lost the economic benefits of the roads that ran through them. Smaller towns withered as people and money flowed to larger cities. By 1900 the union that had emerged reflected the worst fears of railroad critics. The South and West had been settled, but wealth had become so concentrated in cities that rural life had lost its attraction. Drawing from a wide variety of sources, including literature, diaries, and memoirs, Sarah Gordon has constructed an absorbing story of apparent triumph and real loss.

Passage to Union: How the Railroads Transformed American Life, 1829-1929.

Exploring the social, economic, and legal impact of the growth of the railroads, Sarah Gordon has written a richly informed narrative history of an American icon-with surprising conclusions. Where the railroads and their entrepreneurs are ordinarily celebrated for drawing together the vast geographical reaches of the union, Ms. Gordon finds that this accomplishment was achieved at high cost. Conflicts of interest-at local, state, and regional levels-characterized railroad growth at every stage. Despite the stated aims of government and the railroad corporations to promote settlement and commerce, Ms. Gordon explains, the states lost control and lost the economic benefits of the roads that ran through them. Smaller towns withered as people and money flowed to larger cities. By 1900 the union that had emerged reflected the worst fears of railroad critics. The South and West had been settled, but wealth had become so concentrated in cities that rural life had lost its attraction. Drawing from a wide variety of sources, including literature, diaries, and memoirs, Sarah Gordon has constructed an absorbing story of apparent triumph and real loss.

‘What Happens when the Phone goes Wild?’: Staff, Stress and Spaces for Escape in a BPR Telephone Banking Work Regime

This paper explores the experiences of staff working under a business process re‐engineering (BPR) work regime. We examine the nature of work within a team‐based, multi‐skilled and empowered environment within financial services. Despite mixed responses our case study indicates that for those employees who remain in employment after ‘re‐engineering’, working conditions may become more stressful and intensive. Although some staff may welcome those elements of a BPR work regime that facilitate a more varied work experience, the possibilities for satisfaction are often curtailed due to management$apos; preoccupation with productivity and ‘bottom line’ results. In practice BPR is neither as simple to implement nor as ‘rational’ in its content as the gurus would have us believe. Partly for these reasons it is also not as coercive in its control over labour as some critics fear. While managers may only want to encourage employee autonomy that is productive to its ends, we identify a number of occasions where autonomy is disruptive of corporate goals. The paper seeks to add to our understanding of ‘stress’, ‘resistance’ and management ‘control’ by considering the ways in which staff engage in the operation of BPR so as to maintain and reproduce these conditions. This dynamic cannot be understood, however, outside of the relations of power and inequality that characterize society and employment.

Ethical issues of cardiopulmonary resuscitation: current practice among emergency physicians.

To determine current practice and attitudes among emergency physicians (EPs) regarding the initiation and termination of CPR. An anonymous survey was mailed to randomly selected EPs. Main outcome measures included respondents' answers to questions regarding outcome of resuscitation, and current practice regarding initiation, continuation, and termination of resuscitation for victims of cardiopulmonary arrest. The 1,252 respondents were from all 50 states, a variety of practice settings, and varying board certification. Most (78%) respondents honor legal advance directives regarding resuscitation. Few (7%) follow unofficial documents, or verbal reports of advance directives (6%). Many (62%) make decisions regarding resuscitation because of fear of litigation or criticism. A majority (55%) have recently attempted numerous resuscitations despite expectations that such efforts would be futile. Most respondents indicated that ideally, legal concerns should not influence physician practice regarding resuscitation (78%), but that in the current environment, legal concerns do influence practice (94%). Most EPs attempt to resuscitate patients in cardiopulmonary arrest, regardless of futility, except in cases where a legal advance directive is available. Many EPs' decisions regarding resuscitation are based on concerns of litigation and criticism, rather than their professional judgment of medical benefit or futility. Compliance with patients' wishes regarding resuscitation is low unless a legal advance directive is present. Possible solutions to these problems may include standardized guidelines for the initiation and termination of CPR, tort reform, and additional public education regarding resuscitation and advance directives.

Bittersweet destiny: the stormy evolution of human behavior

Bittersweet Destiny combines discourse on the evolution of human behavior with a philosophical perspective. It explores evolutionary theory aimed at determining human behavior. Del Thiessen presents this material against the broad background of everyday life, allowing the reader to see the theory of evolution as it has shaped his or her own behavior. However, he points out that when evolutionary theory is aimed at human behavior, the critics object, and controversy results. Thiessen argues that nothing in our lives makes sense unless we look at it through a biological lens. We can thereby understand our origin, our affiliation with all animals and plants, and our cultural destination. However, we can also discover a dark side to our destiny--our favoritism to those who share our own genes, our ability to deceive, and our capacity for abuse, rape, and murder. Good, bad, and indifferent, we serve the replication of our DNA. Critics extrapolate evolutionary theory to a wide range of animal species, and even human morphology and physiology, but when the same perspective is applied to human behavior there is strong dissent. What these critics fear, according to Thiessen, is that accepting evolutionary notions about human behavior strikes at the heart of free will, self-determination, and social equality. Bittersweet Destiny describes the heroic efforts of naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace to unlock the secrets of evolution. It continues with a vivid description of our fossil history and our chance beginnings. From there the story implicates disease processes in evolution, highlights our rational and irrational nature, focuses on those characteristics of brain evolution and language that make us distinctive, and illustrates our most basic survival and reproductive mechanisms. Thiessen warns the reader that things are as they are no matter what we might wish; we ignore facts and controversy at our own risk. This book will be significant to anthropologists, psychologists, biologists, and sociologists.

Obsessive-Compulsive Hoarding: A Cognitive-Behavioural Approach

Obsessive-compulsive hoarding can be viewed within personality, neuroethological and cognitive-behavioural frameworks. Three cases of obsessive-compulsive hoarding are described in detail. All cases had some insight (albeit fluctuating) into their problem and were seeking treatment. There was evidence of abnormal risk assessment, fear of criticism, excessive guilt, overconscientiousness and inflated responsibility. Depression, emotional or material deprivation and significant loss during childhood and adolescence were experienced by all cases. The cases are considered to be consistent with a cognitive-behavioural model of obsessive-compulsive disorder emphasizing the importance of learning and cognition. Implications for treatment are discussed.

Social fears in hypochondriasis.

152 students and inpatients of a psychosomatic clinic were divided into a hypochondriacal and a normal group with scores on the Hypochondriacal Beliefs and Disease Phobia scales from the Illness Attitude Scales. Social phobic characteristics were assessed by a clinical questionnaire. Significantly more subjects belonging to the hypochondriacal group scored above clinical cut-offs on measures of fear of criticism and fear of intimacy than subjects belonging to the normal group. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Caring for the ethnic elder: Even when language is not a barrier, patients may be reluctant to discuss their beliefs and practices for fear of criticism or ridicule

Summary Designing appropriate interventions for ethnic or minority elders requires assessment of a wide scope of needs. These include the individual's medical, psychosocial, economic, cultural, and environmental conditions. Nurses who are sensitive to the patient's cultural back-ground and expectations of the health care system will be better able to establish trust, anticipate needs, and preserve the integrity of their ethnic elderly patients.