Rule Bending Research Articles

Estimation of Short-and Long-Term Probability Distributions of Wave-Induced Loads Acting on a Cruise Vessel in Extreme Seas

A time domain code based on strip theory is applied to calculate the probability distributions of relative motions and bending moments of a cruise ship in a set of extreme seas. The code includes two levels of complexity. The simpler one combines linear radiation and diffraction forces with nonlinear Froude–Krylov forces, hydrostatic forces, and shipping of green water on the bow. Cummins formulation is used to represent the radiation forces. The second approach is a generalization of the first one and, although the formulation is based on the linear assumption (of the radiation forces), the effects of body nonlinearity are considered by a simplified method: the memory functions, infinite frequency added masses, and the radiation restoring coefficients are assessed at each time instant as function of the instantaneous wetted surface. A similar procedure is used to calculate the diffraction forces. The code is used to analyze the responses of a cruise ship in a set of extreme sea conditions. The short-term nonlinear responses are represented by empirical probability distributions, obtained from the nonlinear time domain simulations, and the quality of the predictions is assessed by comparing with model tests experimental data. Finally, the long-term value of the bending moment is calculated from the short-term distribution of the nonlinear loads in a few extreme sea states selected based on coefficient of contribution method, and the results are compared with the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) rule bending moment.

ETHICAL CLIMATE AND RULE BENDING: HOW ORGANIZATIONAL NORMS CONTRIBUTE TO UNINTENDED RULE CONSEQUENCES

AbstractRules help ensure consistent employee behaviour, yet rule bending occurs in public organizations every day. Previous research indicates that rule bending is influenced by organizational structure and personal characteristics (DeHart‐Davis 2007). This present study considers the influence of organizational norms on rule bending by exploring the impact of ethical climate, which signals to employees the best course of action when faced with situations that are ethical in nature (Victor and Cullen 1987, 1988). To investigate this relationship, survey data from employees of a large American local government are analysed. Results from a structural equation model show that three ethical climates – ‘organization interest’, ‘team interest’, and ‘rules/SOP’ – significantly influence rule bending. Findings suggest that organizational norms play a critical role for employee behaviour and public managers can consider rule bending and ethical climate as impetuses for organizational change.

To bend or not to bend? Rule adherence among staff at an eating disorder unit

ABSTRACTOn inpatient eating disorder units, resolving under-nutrition and reestablishing normal eating behavior are key treatment aims. Consequently, the provision of support at mealtimes is a core work task for patients with severe eating disorders. The purpose of this study was to explore staff deliberations and actions, as observed during staff-patient interactions at mealtimes on an inpatient eating disorder unit (EDU). We specifically aimed to characterize how and why staff members intervene during staff-patient interactions in which a refeeding script is activated. This exploratory qualitative study combined non-participant observation and in-depth interviews. Content analysis was used to categorize and abstract the data material. Through the described analysis, we identified two main types of patterns which were categorized as rule adherence and rule bending, describing how staff chose how to intervene in situations where refeeding scripts were activated. The current findings may contribute to enhanced insight and awareness regarding staff behavior and deliberations when providing meal support, and thus help staff members to better understand how meal time support is practiced on inpatient EDUs.

Inhabiting Infrastructure: Exploring the Interactional Spaces of Urban Cycling

Contemporary cities are thick with infrastructure. In recognition of this fact a great deal of recent work within urban studies and urban geography has focused on transformations in the governance and ownership of infrastructural elements within cities. Less attention has been paid to the practices through which urban infrastructures are inhabited by urban dwellers. Yet in all sorts of ways infrastructures are realised through their use and inhabitation. This paper argues for the importance of attending to the ways that infrastructures are reinterpreted through use. Focusing on a case study of commuter cyclists in London, it explores the ways in which cyclists accommodate themselves to (and are in turn accommodated by) the infrastructural orderings of London's streets. Confronted by the obduracy of a road infrastructure designed primarily for motorised traffic, cyclists show a diverse range of approaches to negotiating movement through the city on bikes. The paper describes how this negotiation can be understood in terms of the more or less skilful processes of navigation, rule following, rule making, and rule bending. This involves a polymorphous mix of practices, some common to driving, others to walking, and yet others unique to cycling. In conclusion, the paper suggests that transformations of infrastructures found within cities need to be understood as much through emergent changes between their elements, and that close attention to how infrastructures come to be inhabited offers productive avenues for thinking about ways to improve them.

Developing a multidimensional scale of customer-oriented deviance (COD)

Although frontline employees' bending of organizational rules and norms for customers is an important phenomenon, marketing scholars to date only broadly describe over-servicing behaviors and provide little distinction among deviant behavioral concepts. Drawing on research on pro-social and pro-customer behaviors and on studies of positive deviance, this paper develops and validates a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional construct term customer-oriented deviance. Results from two samples totaling 616 frontline employees (FLEs) in the retail and hospitality industries demonstrate that customer-oriented deviance is a four-dimensional construct with sound psychometric properties. Evidence from a test of a theoretical model of key antecedents establishes nomological validity with empathy/perspective-taking, risk-taking propensity, role conflict, and job autonomy as key predictors. Results show that the dimensions of customer-oriented deviance are distinct and have significant implications for theory and practice.

ART AS WORK

This paper uses empirical work on a piece of performance art to think through the relation between ‘work’ and ‘art’, and by implication, ‘culture’ and ‘economy’. Beginning with the idea that the intelligibility of both is produced through similar forms of rule following and rule breaking, I suggest that this throws into question the empirical and historical novelty of the idea of the creative worker. As institutionalists have argued, the work of art is produced through its relation to various organizations, just as work organizations rely on creative rule bending and elaboration. Examples of contemporary art are enrolled in the argument along the way in order to suggest that we can find many insights into the nature of work, culture and economy in comparing the practices of artists with the practices of workers.

Rule bending by morally disengaged detectives: an ethnographic study

Rule bending is a well-known practice in policing worldwide, often linked to ‘noble cause corruption’. This ethnographic study shows how police detectives sometimes consider to creatively bend rules when rule abidance would lead to other values being jeopardized. This paper illustrates that the theory of role strain and moral disengagement could deepen our understanding of underlying mechanisms that explain rule bending practices. The mechanism of ‘insulation from observability’ in role strain theory and the mechanisms of ‘moral justification’ and ‘displacement of responsibility’ in moral disengagement seem to be applied often. However, these findings need further testing in future research.

Rule Bending by Nurses: Environmental and Personal Drivers

Rule Bending by Nurses: Environmental and Personal Drivers

The development and application of the Explanatory Model of School Dysfunctions

This article develops the Explanatory Model of School Dysfunctions based on 80 essays of school principals and their representatives in Gauteng. It reveals the degree and kinds of school dysfunctions, as well as their interconnectedness with actors, networks, and domains. The model provides a basis for theory-based analyses of specific dysfunctions, and for context and culture-sensitive interventions. The main dysfunctions relate to rules (dysfunctional rules, rule bending, and rule breaking), competences (management, finances, and conflict resolution), and roles (role confusion and conflict, abuse of power). The model was developed to invite researchers to explore these and other dysfunctions in relation to their antecedents, motivations, and consequences, as well as to formulate evidence-based interventions and policies.

Dictatorships, disasters, and African soccer: reflections on a moment in Zimbabwean soccer

This article is a reflection on a particular moment in Zimbabwean soccer, the National Sports Stadium disaster of July 2000. Reading the soccer stadium as a dense semiotic site with many slippages of symbols and meanings, the article draws links between the game of football and that of politics. Both games offer narratives of the nation that constantly collide and merge as they share the same features. Complex rules regulate both games but there is always a potential for dictatorship, subversion, and disaster. Using the trope suggested by the novelist, poet, and cultural critic, Chenjerai Hove, on dictatorship in soccer and politics, the article attends to areas of rule bending and flouting that diminish fair play and justice. The article uses the football stadium disaster genre to argue for a redemptive politics and politics of the human in the practices and ideologies of both ZANU PF and MDC, the arch-rivals in the political struggles in Zimbabwe.

Constitutional rule bending: When angry citizens push back and fight for democracy

Constitutional rule bending: When angry citizens push back and fight for democracy

Russian Entrepreneurship: A Question Of Ambiguity Or Certainty, Risk Taking Or Risk Averse?

This article stems from a case study based on a series of in-depth interviews carried out on the All Russia Association of the Blind (VOS). It traces how two of the most successful VOS enterprises, Enterprise 13 in Moscow and Revda in the Urals, responded to the dynamic changes (both economic and social) that confronted them after the introduction of the free market economy. It examines the strategies, developed and emergent, created since 1991 by these two enterprises. In particular it traces the emergence of the entrepreneurial manager and his adaptation to the catalyst of change - growth, through the development of creative and proactive solutions to these environmental changes. In essence the contention is that in a period of flux where turbulence is high and change inevitable strategic leadership, driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, comes to the fore as a natural consequence of market forces. Risk taking and high tolerance of ambiguity mark the innovative leader.For hundreds of years the Russians had lived under centralising, autocratic regimes. In April 1985 Gorbachevs Perestroika changed this. Perestroika introduced the seeds of a democratic political system and the beginnings of a market economy which was to supplant the failing Marxist model.Inevitably, the outcome was a situation of unparalleled complexity. Perestroika broke the Russian business mould. It created uncertainty by introducing ambiguity in the form of competition. The environment became increasingly unstable and the future uncertain. Enterprise directors had to take a step into the unknown. It was a period which started in 1991 with great expectations and aspirations but by 1997 had, through the erosion of the economic base, progressed to fear and trepidation as earlier dreams were unfulfilled. Finally, after the currency collapse of 1998, came the unexpected windfalls of import substitution and enhanced exchange rate benefits which led to the re-emergence of hope in the future as the expected economic deterioration failed to materialise.By 1998 the relationship between strategy, structure and performance was rewritten to capitalise on the emerging opportunities. But this entailed a deliberate destruction of the old business methodologies and relationships, the bending of rules, and the creation of a new culture based on risk. In essence it meant the emergence of a new set of core competences driven by a strategic leadership geared to handling ambiguity and oriented towards risk taking. A breed not readily found in Russia or the VOS enterprises.

Rule Breaking, Sociological Citizenship, and Organizational Contestation in Microfinance

This article explores how loan officers enact and adapt organizational policies within Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Some loan officers frequently bend or choose not to enforce written rules in an effort to better address client needs, while others enforce the rules strictly. These differences in enforcement styles are analyzed to explore the structural characteristics that generate and sustain rule-bending behavior. In microfinance, the pressures to standardize and automate lending decisions challenge loan officers' ability to manage clients because context uncertainty cannot be fully captured by centralized policies. The paper shows that officers exercise discretion productively, as measured by the organization's own criteria to (a) better serve client needs when policies can lead to bad outcomes, b) purposefully improve the rules themselves, and c) defend loan officer status within the organization. The paper unveils two inherent tensions in microfinance. First, increased efforts to centralize and enforce policies in fact only increase the motivation for loan officers to work outside the organizations' regulations. Second and ironically, the value of the productive rule bending displayed by some loan officers is best captured when other officers are strict enforcers.

Rule bending, sociological citizenship, and organizational contestation in microfinance

AbstractThis article explores how loan officers enact and adapt organizational policies within microfinance institutions. Some loan officers frequently bend or choose not to enforce written rules in an effort to better address client needs, while others enforce the rules strictly. These differences in enforcement styles are analyzed to explore the structural characteristics that generate and sustain rule‐bending behavior. In microfinance, the pressures to standardize and automate lending decisions challenge loan officers' ability to manage clients because context uncertainty cannot be fully captured by centralized policies. The article shows that officers exercise discretion productively, as measured by the organization's own criteria to (i) better serve client needs when policies can lead to bad outcomes; (ii) purposefully improve the rules themselves; and (iii) defend loan officer status within the organization. The article unveils two inherent tensions in microfinance. First, increased efforts to centralize and enforce policies in fact only increase the motivation for loan officers to work outside the organization's regulations. Second and ironically, the value of the productive rule bending displayed by some loan officers is best captured when other officers are strict enforcers.

Orders is orders . . . aren’t they? Rule bending and rule breaking in the British Army

In common with all professional armies, the British Army is a disciplined force. There is a sharply stratified rank structure and formal rules abound. There is a prima facie case therefore that when formal rules are broken or bent the individuals involved are taking part in acts of ‘resistance’ or ‘misbehaviour’ or ‘dissent’, implying a binary opposition of interests between junior and senior. However, in this article I seek to provide a more nuanced approach to identify a range of rule bending and rule breaking processes embedded in the organizational culture at unit level, through a small number of case studies. To assist in the process, Goffman’s model of ‘underlife’ is adopted and extended for the British Army case, but only as a framework to assist in locating the observed events in the rich cultural milieu in which they take place. Viewed in this way, rule bending/breaking activities can be seen as complex and intricate events involving both those who break or bend the formal rules and the agents of authority in a continuing social process, part of the weft and warp of everyday life at regimental duty.

Rock Stars in Academic Medicine

To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of faculty rock stars, a subset of academic health center faculty who greatly enhance the reputation and/or success of their home institution, oftentimes at the expense of a disproportionate share of institutional resources. In 2008, the authors surveyed the deans of 126 U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, using a 13-item instrument consisting of Likert scales, pick lists, and open-ended questions. Sixty-four (51%) surveyed deans responded. Respondents were more representative of public than private institutions (P < .001) but were proportionately representative of institutions of varying faculty size, U.S. New & World Report research rankings, and geographic location. The prevalence of rock stars was 1.42% (range 0.07%-6.42%) of full-time faculty. Over 74% (46/62) of deans felt that these talented faculty contributed to institutional prominence. Most deans were usually willing to offer greater resources to recruit or retain these faculty stars, and 39/62 (63%) believed that these individuals were a good investment. Although 53/64 (82.8%) of deans believed that other faculty are often or almost always aware that these individuals receive preferential treatment, only 37/64 (57.8%) believed that other faculty agree with that treatment. Fifty percent or more of deans (depending on the characteristic) selected self-promotion, a strong work ethic, opportunism, charisma, and political savvy as characteristics that were more common in rock stars. Deans appreciated both the value and the leadership challenges associated with the academic medical center rock star.

Weaving Straw into Gold: Rule Bending, Localism, and Managing Inconsistencies in Organizational Rules

This article explores how microfinance institutions (MFIs) resolve tensions between the creation and the enactment of organizational rules. The study complements rich ethnography with detailed loan data to show that some loan officers frequently bend rules to better address client needs, while others enforce the rules strictly. Differences in enforcement styles are analyzed to explain the structural conditions that generate them. The article shows that officers exercise discretion productively to help clients and improve company policies. Yet, their effectiveness is contingent on being held in check by rule enforcing peers. This is because the same conditions that generate officer discretion also create a fuzzy professional identity. Thus, branch-level interactions between similar loan officers result in “localist” identities decoupled from the firm; while branches with diverse enforcement styles generate professional identities that are integrated with the firm, create amplified learning, and increase the legitimacy of discretion in rule enactment.

End-user strategy programming

Rule-based programming systems can be fragile because they force the user to account for all logical alternatives. If an unconsidered case does arise during execution, program behavior falls through the cracks into unspecified behavior. We investigate rule-based, end-user strategy programming by introducing our Interactive Football Playbook—a domain specific, end-user programming environment to allow American football coaches to create animated football scenarios by associating strategy information with virtual football players. We address the problem of rule explosion through “rule bending” to support a minimalist, scaffolding-driven programming environment. Additionally, we introduce visual language representations for logical and sequential “and” to mitigate end-user confusion with the semantic meaning of these “and” constructs.

Cap Anson 1: When Captaining a Team Meant Something: Leadership in Baseball's Early Years, and: Cap Anson 2: The Theatrical and Kingly Mike Kelly, U.S. Team Sport's First Media Sensation and Baseball's Original Casey at the Bat, and: Cap Anson 3: Muggsy McGraw and the Tricksters: Baseball's Fun Age of Rule Bending, and: Cap Anson 4: Bigger Than Babe Ruth:

Cap Anson 1: When Captaining a Team Meant Something: Leadership in Baseball's Early Years, and: Cap Anson 2: The Theatrical and Kingly Mike Kelly, U.S. Team Sport's First Media Sensation and Baseball's Original Casey at the Bat, and: Cap Anson 3: Muggsy McGraw and the Tricksters: Baseball's Fun Age of Rule Bending, and: Cap Anson 4: Bigger Than Babe Ruth:

The Unbureaucratic Personality

After 60 years of scholarship on the rule‐bound bureaucratic personality, this article turns attention to the unbureaucratic personality. Identified by a willingness to bend rules, the unbureaucratic personality is thought to be influenced by individual and workplace attributes. The individual attributes investigated in this article include nonconformity, risk propensity, and public service commitment, all of which are expected to stimulate the unbureaucratic personality. Workplace attributes include formalization and centralization, which are expected to suppress the unbureaucratic personality, and red tape, which is expected to trigger it. These hypotheses are tested using mail survey data collected from employees of four cities in a midwestern state. The results of ordered probit modeling of the data suggest that nonconformity and risk taking increase the unbureaucratic personality, as do red tape and centralized workplaces. By contrast, the unbureaucratic personality appears to be diminished by public service commitment and workplace formalization. The implications of these results for the normative aspects of rule bending are discussed.