Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study assesses to what extent the Dutch electorate was given a pluralistic offer of viewpoints in the media coverage during the election campaign of 2006. Moreover, we looked at the extent to which voting behavior of newspaper readers was a reflection of this offer. The level of pluralism of five traditional newspapers with a partisan history, stemming from pillarization, and two free dailies was measured. Hereby we looked at three forms of bias: Coverage bias, referring to the amount of attention media pay to political actors; agenda bias, focusing on the issues covered in the different newspapers; and statement bias, dealing with media opinions about the political actors in the campaign arena. We combined these date with opinion data collected from a bi-weekly seven wave panel survey. Our study detected two interesting features of the relationship between media and politics. First, the traditional newspapers are, to a certain degree, still characterized by a bias towards the parties they used to be aligned with. Second, news coverage knows a ‘power bias’; incumbent parties receive more attention than opposition parties, although the tone towards incumbent parties is more negative.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper deals with the effective functioning of suggestion systems in organizations that implement lean production, namely the dominant organizing paradigm in the contemporary manufacturing sector. The multilevel model of high-performance suggestion systems proposed in this paper integrates factors that directly influence workers’ participation in the suggestion system (such as personal traits, self-efficacy and rewards) with broader factors (such as job characteristics, job satisfaction, trust, commitment) that satisfy specific pre-conditions for fostering workers’ willingness and ability to improve the organizational performance with their discretionary effort.
This model promises to provide relevant knowledge regarding the maintenance and creation of effective suggestion systems that are able to untap workers’ creativity. Also, this research offers insights and a systematic assessment of the way companies can adequately take advantage of the benefits lean production (productivity increases, quality products, and enhanced efficiencies) with the collaboration of their workforce.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the transition from Fordist mass production, lean manufacturing is the dominant postfordist organizational form. However, in contrast to predictions from mainstream economics and neoinstitutionalist sociology, I try to show that the transformation from Fordism is not leading to a convergence of isomorphic organizational forms. Rather, the transition is resulting in a nontrivial diversity of organizational forms, many of which are (a) relatively inefficient compared with world-class lean yet (b) stable. To explain this enduring diversity of intermediate forms, it is not enough to invoke market and external institutional pressures (imitation, coercion, norms); in many cases, internal organizational processes impede full transformation to world-class lean. I highlight two sources generating organizational heterogeneity: the first, variation in the technical focus and commitment of management, is primarily about satisficing; the second, nondiscretionary differences, is primarily about workplace politics and culture. These broad clusters mechanisms operate as a polymorphic set of institutional forces that generate a heterogeneous range of stable, intermediate organizational forms. These intermediate cases are stable because, although failing to transform into world class lean organizations, the changes they do make are good enough to meet the aspiration levels of satisficing managers and the performance targets of industrial customers.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: We will conduct a survey of US Army Officers at the Command and General Staff College and the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, KS gauging the extent that they have positive or negative attitudes toward the ongoing transformation of the the US military's mission. Since we have not yet been able to implement the survey, the present paper presents our theory, hypotheses, methods, and our draft questionnaire. Our results will provide useful information for a number of different theories and approaches, and will particularly inform the debate about a civil-military gap in the US

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The purported decline in voter turnout over the past forty years has troubled researchers for some time. One hypothesis attributes part of the decline in voter turnout to a decline in personal contact between the parties and voters. Little work has examined whether the decline in voter turnout is related to the increased proportion of individuals who identify themselves as independent leaning partisans rather than weak partisans. I develop a theory about the relationship between the increased proportion of individuals who identify as independent leaning partisans and the decline in contacting. Using National Election Studies Data, I test whether individuals who identify as independent leaning partisans are less likely to be contacted by the parties.