Theory W 872
Chapter 15 - Experimental modeling
Texts viewed
Other literature
The testing instrument
Work-unit validity
Review. Part 3 displayed
a triangular hierarchy
representing an authority of purpose. Part 4 provided many
Theory W applications in both the business and education
arenas.
Summary. The word research
appears in both the
business and education arenas. However, research means
different things to different people.
Next. A pre- and post- testing
instrument to measure
the experiment.
Texts viewed
Within a doctoral program in higher
education
administration there exists recognition of understanding.
Yet the words are different.
Both approaches - positivistic/scientific
and
subjective/artistic - contribute to knowledge about
education. (211 28)
The emphasis changes from the
"understanding" of
situations to "I contribute." The I's being the professors
leading the assistance - the assistance of the formal
organization.
Taking another view, see the diachotomization
of an
issue, artistic in its self, yet seemingly scientific.
Experiment Theory W 873
Figure 89 - Research approaches
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: Table 1.3 titled "Differences between scientific and
artistic approaches to research."(211 28)
Avoid dichotomy. In item 6 above,
the artistic
purpose is to understand - the scientific purpose is to
predict and control. That puts science in a controlling
light - not an informative nor inquisitive light.
Experiment
Theory W 874
Prediction and control then comes to be the exemplified by
the following.
Figure 90 - Behavior training
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: Figure 5.3 adapted from D.Sgh (1956) Dark
adaptation in the pigeon. In Journal of Comparative and
Physiological Psychology no.49 p.424-30. American
Psychological Association. (116 99)
Interesting that the assistance
behavior comes from
the formal organization and, at times, can be seen as
dysfunctional. Or the assistance behavior can be seen as
extinctive - not subject to self motivation. In any case,
Experiment
Theory W 875
the study can be seen as animal behavior, passed off as
human behavior.
Figure 91 - Worker resemblence?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: Figure 5.2 from D.Sgh (1957) Spectral sensitivity
in the pigeon. In Journal of the Optical Society of America
no.47 p.827-33. (116 98)
The statistics of a pigeon are
a far reach, and
potentially an infinite reach, to the statistics of an
expert worker as a member of their organization.
Humans think - they are artistic
and scientific at the
same times. They are capable of logical choice - versus
instinctive choice. However, they are influenced by the
formal organization first - we are born into it. Then,
as
the individual's lifetime progresses, functional authority
continues to be influenced by formal authority.
Experiment
Theory W 876
Org influence. Then in the end,
and hopefully before
each individual's physical death, there comes to be an
uncertainty of influence (245 159). The young child's Why
question becomes to be a serious topic. Answers can be
had
from various influences but they do not best answer the
fundamental Why question.
influence by fear
influence by tradition
influence by blind faith
influence by rational faith
influence by rational agreement
influence by joint and self determination
(245 144-53)
Hopefully, the focus of science
can be shifted from
prediction and control to an understanding of Why. Then
self action will follow, along with social exchange and
mutual control (245 155). There comes to be socially mutual
control over our intertwining lifetimes.
Lifetime can then be translated
into Theory W workwebs
and mutual weekly self-performance reviews.
Experiment Theory W 877
Figure 92 - Another research approach
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: Figure 2.1 titled "Differentiated research training."
Source: J.H.Andrews (1963) Differentiated research training
for students of administration. In J.A.Culbertson &
S.P.Hencley, eds. (1963) Educational research: New
perspectives. Danville IL: Interstate. p.361.
(284 16)
Simplification.
Science extends from the
search for knowledge for its
own sake to problems concerned with immediate needs
of
man. The latter end of the spectrum, applied
science, is
distinguished from common-sense investigation by
its
methods and by its roots in basic science.
(284 19)
Common-sense investigation has
no pattern of methods.
Methods are not communicated, analyzed, or improved.
Nonscientific methods are simply a function of the
particular investigator.
Scientific methods develop and
use concepts in the
development of complex theories. While common-sense
Experiment Theory W 878
methods do employ concepts, such concepts are usually
at
the first level of abstraction.
Scientific researchers carefully
document their
methods and results. Failures as well as successes
become part of the written record of science.
(284 20)
Theory W science.
Science is the outcome of
research.
Research seeks to answer the questions
and major
affairs of life by means of careful, formal, systematic
inquiry, investigation, and study.
One definition of research requires
that the
investigation satisfy the final four criteria below.
The
latter two are said to be desirable:
1. An orderly investigation to a defined problem.
2. Appropriate scientific methods be used.
3. Adequate and representative evidence be gathered.
4. Logical reasoning be employed in drawing conclusions.
5. Demonstrate or prove the validity of conclusions.
6. Cumulative results yield general principles or
laws that may be applied with confidence in the
future.
(284 15)
Some alternatives to the scientific
method are
tradition, intuition, authoritarianism, judgement,
and
revelation. (284 25)
Whenever possible, quantitative
definitions are used,
and ordering, counting, and numerical measuring
techniques are sought. Steps in the scientific
method:
1. Observation or perception through a searching process.
2. Why done, what is supposed to be accomplished.
Why a cause-and-effect relationship exists.
The way a certain goal is accomplished.
Alternatives to be pursued and reasons.
3. Formulation of a research plan.
4. Gathering data and acts.
Testing the hypothesis or evaluating the concept.
5. Formulation of a new hypothesis, decision rules, or
generalizations in the form of conclusions.
6. Documenting the research project.
Research must go beyond the trial-and-error
method of
fact gathering alone [experience and experiment].
In reasoning, the mind passes
from one or more
accepted concepts in a series of steps. There
are no
infallible methods of reasoning to the truth.
If
progress is to be made, then, some stretch of the
Experiment Theory W 879
imagination is required to piece together new concepts
from data and known concepts. (284 194)
Methods of reasoning or drawing
inferences are
deductive and inductive. Deduction reasons
from the
general to the specific - the conclusion is drawn
from
principles and premises. The laws of logic
have been
developed by philosophers of science.
Induction reasons from a set of
particular cases to a
general principle - working with samples of data,
most
research is founded upon developing conclusions
on the
basis of induction. (284 195)
Reasoning by analogy may be either
deductive,
inductive, or a combination of both. (284
202)
In rudimentary sciences where
it is difficult or
costly to set up rigorous procedures for obtaining
data
which permits tightly knit reasoning to conclusions,
other means must be used to establish belief.
Triangulation reasons from separate sets of data
and
assumptions towards the truth or falsity of some
concept.
(284 203-4)
Problems of definitions and semantics
in the present
state of applied sciences make vagueness and ambiguity
obstacles to providing proofs. (284 205)
Theory W proof. The foregoing
chapters have presented
much definition and semantical illumination. Perhaps some
obstacles have been removed.
Many separate sets of data have
been presented in this
student learning exercise in documenting a concept that
encompasses, or better, brings together the concepts of
strategy, functionalism, productivity, and structure - under
the umbrella of functional authority.
In opposition to the attemted
scientification of
functional authority, or organization, stands the tradition
and authoritarianism of the formal organization. The
challenge to the formal organization can be seen as using
the definition of function to fulfill the responsibility of
Experiment
Theory W 880
the formal organization.
Thus Theory W separates the formal
and functional
organization charts - eliminating the matrix structure for
clarity of the functional structure. Thus the formal and
functional structures more strongly stand in their own
right.
The annual report mission statement,
whatever its
equivalent, can then be linked to job descriptions. Job
descriptions, in turn, can be brought into weekly
self-performance review perspective. Validity of the
functional structure can happen at this
job-description/expert-worker level. The mission statement
now links to each worker, productivity becomes clearer, and
a functional organization can be validated with weekly
dynamics.
The Theory W key words - why,
way, work, wholehours,
who, where, will....
There can be seen to be truth
in function - the
alternative is dysfunction. Strategy has established status
in all societal segments - why not carry the strategy
tactics right to the work place and validate the functional
task work with worktime reconciliation? Each worker then
assures the support of the functional organization.
Other literature
Under Theory W the worker causes
support of the
Experiment
Theory W 881
organization's aim - in definitive and documentable terms.
Theory W provides a system which fits all the functional
operating parts together in a valid way. The validity being
time reconciliation in wholehours.
Action science.
1. The ultimate purpose of
action science is to
produce valid generalizations about how [the WAY]
individuals and social systems, whether groups,
intergroups, or organizations, can (through their
agents)
design AND implement their intentions in everyday
life.
The generalizations should lead the users to understand
reality and to construct and take action within
it.
2. A complete description of reality
requires not only
a description of the universe as it is but a description
of its potential for significantly reformulating
itself
(its potential being part of what it is).
(106 469)
3. All actions that have intended
consequences are
based on reasoning. (106 470)
4. People's ability (1) to design
and implement their
actions or (2) to understand the actions of others
is
dependent first on being able to see accurately
the
relatively directly observable data (rung 1 on the
ladder
of inference) and to infer correctly the cultural
meaning
embedded in these data (rung 2). Second, in
order to do
this under real-time conditions, people must have
theories-in-use that they use to organize what they
see
and to infer causal patterns. (106 471)
5. The theories that action scientists
produce to
understand action, as well as to design and implement
it,
should be directly usable by individuals and
organizations. (106 472)
6. Basic research in action science,
as in normal
science, requires methodology to make certain that
social
scientists are not deluding themselves or others
and
hence that (1) their propositions are testable and
falsifiable, which requires that (2) propositions
containing causal statements and (3) accomplishing
this a
elegantly as possible (that is, with the minimum
number
of concepts and axioms). Action science differs
from
normal science in its commitment to produce knowledge
under conditions in which (1) the knowledge being
produced is designed to be usable by those producing
the
knowledge (subjects and action scientists) [EXPERT
WORKERS] and (2) precision is in the service of
producing
Experiment Theory W 882
accurately, in the noncontrived world, the consequences
embedded in the propositions.
The two conditions imply some
very important
consequences. First, the knowledge produced
should be
stated in a form in which people can use it in everyday
life, where they seldom have great control over
the
environment or other people. I other words,
the
propositions should not require that users have
the
unusually high unilateral control over others that
researchers have when they conduct experiments.
The
conditions of unilateral control, though rarely
mentioned
in most normal science generalizations, are a part
of
them.
Second, the knowledge should be
stated precisely
enough so that the user can produce the consequences
embedded in the propositions without inhibiting
the
outcome. If generating the precision requires
conditions
that will be counterproductive to implementing the
consequences embedded in the proposition, then the
precision is itself counterproductive. (106
473)
Action science proof. Theory W
promotes the
measurement of tasked lifetime in whole hours. Time on
task
is part of educational literature. Allocating time to
clients and projects is part of business practice.
Budgeting by project/task as well as by center has a
practiced history. Wholehour lifetime tasks, either project
or routine, can be seen as a basis of scientific
measurement.
Once measured, the wholehours
of lifetime tasks can be
directed functionally127 - that is, functional authority
as opposed to dysfunction. Functional authority is not
opposed to formal authority - rather the functional task
organization separates from the formal organization at the
chart level of understanding. In other words, the separate
Experiment
Theory W 883
functional authority organization chart replaces the matrix
organization chart concept.
The functional organization structure
in the form of
job descriptions assigned to formal organization members
integrate the functional and formal concepts - at the job
description level, not at the organization chart level.
At
the chart level, the functional and formal structures are
separate. Adding the informal and technology organization
structures, there can be seen a three-sided pyramid as
representative of the concept of organization.
Functional organization validity
can be demonstrated
with weekly self-reviews at the job-description/member
structure level by reconciling with the number of clock
wholehours worked in that week.
With statistical validity and
weekly reliability the
functional organization can be seen to be optimizable by the
efforts of the human calculus.
Research methods.128 The following
items which are
____________________
127 Associated press (1995) Record
breaking feat
takes 120 years of living. Kansas City MO: KC Star.
"On
Tuesday, after 120 years and 238 days on the planet, Jeanne
Calment was listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the
oldest living person whose date of birth can be
authenticated. There have been numerous reports from
various countries of people claiming to have lived up to
twice as long, but with little or no proof of their birth
dates. Asked at her 120th birthday bash Feb.21 to describe
her vision of the future, she replied mischievously: Very
brief."(p.1)
Experiment Theory W 884
annotated have been the focus of this dissertation.
Table 132 - Theory W research
____________________________________________________________
Method Purpose
______________ ____________________________________________
historical to reconstruct the past objectively
and
accurately, often in relation to the
tenability of a hypothesis
descriptive to describe systematically a situation
or
area of interest factually and accurately
developmental to investigate patterns and sequences of
growth and/or change as a function of time
case & field to study intensively the background,
current
status, and environmental interactions of a
given social unit: an individual, group,
institution, or community
correlation
causal-comparative
true experimental
quasi-experimental
action to develop
new skills or new approaches and
to solve problems with direct application to
the classroom or other applied setting
____________________________________________________________
Note: Notes of D.T.Campbell & J.C.Stanley (1994)
Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research,
were directly discarded after the above analysis.
The testing instrument
When pre- and post- tests are
appropriate in research,
a testing instrument must be created or found. A valid
and
reliable test should be verified. The chosen testing
instrument if needed by Theory W is FIRO-B as detailed in
the following chapter.
____________________
128 Chapter two (1986) Guide to
research designs,
methods, and strategies. Handout provided by BGSU PhD
program class. p.13-72
Experiment Theory W 885
Content validity is particularly
important in
selecting tests to use in experiments involving
the
effect of training methods on achievement.
Content
validity is appraised usually by an objective comparison
of the test items with curriculum content.
(211 276)
Predictive validity is the degree
to which the
predictions made by the test are confirmed by the
later
behavior of the subjects. (211 277)
Concurrent validity. The distinction
between
concurrent and predictive validity depends on whether
the
criterion measure is administered at the same time
as the
standardized test (concurrent) or later, usually
after a
period of several months or more (predictive).
(211 279)
Construct validity is the extent
to which a particular
test can be shown to measure a hypothetical construct.
Psychological concepts - such as intelligence, anxiety,
creativity - are considered hypothetical constructs
because they are not directly observable but rather
are
inferred on the basis of their observable effects
on
behavior. (211 280)
Reliability may be defined as the
level of internal
consistency or stability of the measuring device
over
time. If the research project is such that
the research
worker can expect only small differences between
his
experimental and control groups on a variable measured
by
the test, it is necessary that a test of high reliability
be used. (211 281)
Work-unit validity
In 1970, Morse concluded that
industrial work-unit
members felt better and were more effective if the boss
identified the purpose of the work-unit and the work tasks
which the unit needed to actualize the purpose. Theory
W
provides the universal organization work task model to
attain that effectiveness.
Effectiveness and motivation.
Experiment Theory W 886
Basic finding is that when a functional
unit has
formal organization practices and a climate which
fit the
requirements of its particular task, the unit will
be
effective and the members of the unit will be more
motivated. It is the latter point which is
novel and
intriguing, for it suggests that designing and developing
an organization to fit the demands of its environment
may
also provide important psychological rewards for
the
members of the organization. (132 84)
We asked a cross section of about
30 managers and
professionals in each of our study sites to take
short
tests that measured all the attributes...in order
to
determine the degree of fit between the organizational
characteristics and the kind of task being worked
on. We
then used our measurement of the feelings of competence
of the managers and professionals in the units to
investigate our ideas on the link between fit and
sense
of competence motivation. (132 89)
Thus the facilitation of task
work, including simple
task visibility, seems to provide worker motivation. And
the task of providing work-task visibility would seem to be
the responsibility of the administrative work-task. Theory
W provides an experimental model which provides work-task
visibility. That experimental model can be subjected to
pre- and post- tests.
A healthy unit.
Consider an organization to be
healthy if its members
observe certain unstated but quite uniform codes
of
behavior which they accept as normal things to do,
provided these codes produce behavior which allows
all
levels of the organization to meet two basic but
diverse
requirements - maintenance of the status quo, and
growth.
(219 282)
Theory W facilitates health. The
above status quo
requirement can be seen as the maintenance of the formal
organization, and the actualization of growth can be seen as
Experiment
Theory W 887
being evidenced with Theory W performance documentation
which legitimatizes member growth in terms of functional
authority. Thus Theory W provides a complement to the
formal organization, not a replacement for it. To be more
precise then, the Organizational Behavior healthy
organization maintains both formal authority and functional
authority. Theory W focuses on the organization's
functional authority and the resulting individual worker
growth.
Theory W sees the healthy organization
as members
actualizing certain stated codes which evidence member
growth - in regards to both the individual member
organization and the multi-individual organization of the
formal organization. Those organizations have different
missions. The actualization of stated codes replaces the
apparently common rough and ill-defined ways in which an
organization changes and thusly improves.
Industrial managers are fond
of noting that change is
the only thing that remains constant in their work.
Yet
despite the common occurance of organization change,
its
dynamics and underlying processes are understood
in only
rough, ill-defined ways. (235 79)
Theory W aims at facilitating
the two approaches of
the Chin & Benne re-education (113 46).
Theory W not OB or OD. Many organizations
have
developed under the guidance of the author, but he has not
developed organizations in the sense of the French and Bell
Experiment Theory W 888
use of the key words of Organization Development (OD).
[OD] emerged from three basic sources:
(1) the
laboratory training movement, (2) the development
of
survey research and feedback methodology; and basic
to
both of these, (3) the writings, efforts, energy,
and
impetus of the late Kurt Lewin. (112 15)
Nor has the author dealt with organization behavior
(OB), as in training workers to behave.
