Structural Characteristics Of Organizations Research Articles

Comparative Analysis of the Fine Structure of Four Isolates of Trypanosomatids of the Genus Phytomonas1

ABSTRACTThe fine structure of trypanosomatids from the plants Euphorbia hyssopifolia, E. characias, E. pinea, and Manihot esculenta, cultivated under axenic conditions, was compared. All parasites had a structural organization characteristic of members of the Trypanosomatidae. The organization of the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) varied according to the isolate. In Phytomonas francai (isolated from M. esculenta), the ER cisternae form parallel rows. In Phytomonas sp. from E. characias, a para‐crystalline array of the ribosomes attached to the ER membranes was observed. The ER membranes found in Phytomonas sp. from E. pinea seemed to originate from the central portion of the protozoon, branching in all directions. The peroxisome‐like organelle (glycosome) found in Phytomonas sp. from E. hyssopifolia and E. characias occasionally showed an organized array. Taken together, the morphological observations make it possible to distinguish the four isolates of Phytomonas.

Pitfalls in planning: Contrasting perspectives on mental health and corporate planning

Planning is a management activity that has been linked to high quality services, organizational growth, and m austere times, to organizational survival. The present study was undertaken to identify the critical barriers that inhibit or derail effective planning. It was predicted that human service and corporate managers would generally agree about the most and least important planning pitfalls in their systems. Discrepancies would be related to differences in the structural characteristics of organizations in the two sectors. Rankings made by 57 senior mental health administrators of the most and least important pitfalls in planning were contrasted with those of 159 corporate executives. Substantial agreement between the two groups of executives was found.

FORMAL STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANIZATIONS AND SUPERIOR-SUBORDINATE COMMUNICATION

This study attempted to determine the effects of several structural characteristics of organizations (i.e., organizational size, organizational level, and span of control) on subordinates' perceptions of openness in superior-subordinate communication. Data were collected from 15 different organizations and over 800 subordinates. While not accounting for a large amount of variance, results indicate that subordinates in the lowest levels of their organizational hierarchies perceive significantly less openness in superior-subordinate communication than subordinates at the highest levels of their hierarchies. In addition, although not statistically significant, the findings of the investigation suggest that subordinates in very large organizations perceive less openness than subordinates in small organizations. Implications of findings are discussed and recommendations for future research provided.

Women in School Administration: A Review of the Research

The research area of women in administration, management and leadership is receiving increasing attention. This review focuses on research published since 1974. The dominant approach has explained women’s underrepresentation in administration in terms of socialization to sex role stereotypes. In the past decade, other theories have been applied to explain women’s experiences in organizations. The processes of career socialization and structural characteristics of organizations maintain inequalities. Theories of devaluation of women and social power and status have been advanced to explain the behavior of men and women in organizations and in the larger society. The review examines research on minority women in school administration and discusses changes directed at improving women’s access to leadership positions.

The Structure of Organizational Careers

A model of careers as structural characteristics of organizations was developed. Actual career patterns in a public school system administrative hierarchy were identified usingflows of people between positions as measures of connection between positions. Goodman's log-linear effect parameters were used to measure the strength of the connections. Two of the career patterns that were identified led to the Superintendency, one via central office administration and one via secondary school supervision. The third career pattern was located within elementary education and was essentially isolated from the others. The three career patterns were discussed in terms of the content of constituent positions, the functions of these positions for training and socialization of administrators, and the apparent stratification process operating within the hierarchy.

Genesis of different components of evoked response in the associative parietal cortex of the cat's brain

The responses evoked in the associative parietal region of the brain by different peripheral stimuli constitute a complex reaction. An early short-latent component of the associative response (ECAR) is formed as the result of specific afferentation, whereas the long-latent late component that follows it is evoked by pulsations from nonspecific, reticular, and associative nuclei in the thalamus or by pulsations arriving from specific nuclei by indirect routes. The cortical mechanisms whereby ECAR arise may be provided by the structural-organization characteristics of interneuronal connections, in particular by the presence in all cortical layers of the terminals of afferent fibers, which establish contact that are mainly axodendritic.

Organization Size, Individual Attitudes and Behavior: An Empirical Study

This research investigates the impact of certain structural characteristics of organization upon employee attitudes and behavior. It was formulated for two reasons: (1) the need recently suggested by administrative theorists to re-evaluate organization structure as a determinant of organization behavior, and (2) the need to provide suggestions to administrators of growing enterprises. Three hypotheses were formulated on the basis of theoretical speculations. These hypotheses describe the expected impact of organization size upon employee attitudes and how these, in turn, affect employee behavior. The areas investigated were: (1) the direction and extent to which size affects employee attitudes and the related mechanisms mediating this effect, (2) the area of work most affected by increasing size, and (3) the direction and extent to which employee attitudes at work influence behavior in the organization.' Sergio Talacchi is a faculty member at the Instituto Post-Universitario Per Lo Studio Dell'Organizzazione Aziendale and at the University of Turin, Italy.