Ralph S Brower
Biographic Data
| ID | 4400025 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ralph S Brower |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ralph S |
| FAMILY NAME | Brower |
| SIGNATURE | BROWER R S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Florida State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 142 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Sexual Misconduct
The Effects of Diverse Feedback Dynamics on Performance Improvement
This article illustrates managerial responses to different performance feedback signals in decision-making processes for improving performance. First, we conceptualize and illuminate distinctive dimensions of feedback signals—internal feedback, external feedback, and comparative feedback signals. Then, we test how these different feedback signals improve performance of public-sector programs based on a 10-year panel data set from the Korean Perfo…
Extending the Present Understanding of Organizational Sensemaking
Despite a growing literature on the topic, our understanding of organizational sensemaking remains somewhat fragmented, and discussions have not yet fully integrated related ideas into a conceptual framework that includes the contextual terrain in which these activities occur. This article offers such a model. We begin with a story from a Korean fire inspector, delineating the process of his sensemaking into three stages: noticing, interpretation…
Organizational Fields and the Diffusion of Information Technologies Within and Across the Nonprofit and Public Sectors
This qualitative-inductive study examines the diffusion of information technologies across service providers that contract to provide public services for a state human service agency. The researchers were struck by extensive data that illustrated salient “ruptures,” inconsistencies, and contradictions in the information systems that stand in stark contrast to the touted characteristics of the ostensible systems. The analysis draws attention to th…
When Practice Matters More Than Government Plans
This study examines the disparity between formal plans and actual networks in practice for emergency services in a local government setting. This study found that the accuracy of participants'collective perception of the network has a strong positive relationship with the centrality of the lead agency within each emergency support function. In addition, the centrality of influence within and collective accuracy about the network may be key indica…
Three Traditions of Network Research
This article identifies and describes the development of three parallel streams of literature about network theory and research: social network analysis, policy change and political science networks, and public management networks. Noting that these traditions have sometimes been inattentive to each other's work, the authors illustrate the similarities and differences in the underlying theoretical assumptions, types of research questions addresse…
On Improving Qualitative Methods in Public Administration Research
What do exemplary qualitative accounts look like, and how do they convince readers of their correctness? What sort of standards can be used to assess qualitative research accounts for public administration? To address these questions, the authors examined 72 recent qualitative research journal articles. Proceeding from a set of preliminary guidelines, they worked iteratively between articles and the emergent template to produce refined guidelines…
How agency conditions facilitate and constrain performance-based program systems
This paper examines how administrators in two very different Florida state agencies implemented performance-based program budgeting. It identifies the key organizational conditions that facilitate and inhibit implemen-tation and propose implications for generalizing these observations to other settings. The study concludes that agency variables make implementation much more difficult in some settings and that a one-size-fits-all approach may cont…
Procedural Entrepreneurship
What do administrators do when established procedures get in the way of getting work done? They change the procedures. Because procedures, however, may have been originally installed to impose controls that ensure neutrality and obedience to political masters or equity in the delivery of public services, such procedural entrepreneurship tends to be hidden. To what extent to administrators engage in procedural entrepreneurship? What are the conseq…
A piece of lost history
Three Traditions of Network Research
This article identifies and describes the development of three parallel streams of literature about network theory and research: social network analysis, policy change and political science networks, and public management networks. Noting that these traditions have sometimes been inattentive to each other's work, the authors illustrate the similarities and differences in the underlying theoretical assumptions, types of research questions addresse…
On Improving Qualitative Methods in Public Administration Research
What do exemplary qualitative accounts look like, and how do they convince readers of their correctness? What sort of standards can be used to assess qualitative research accounts for public administration? To address these questions, the authors examined 72 recent qualitative research journal articles. Proceeding from a set of preliminary guidelines, they worked iteratively between articles and the emergent template to produce refined guidelines…
When Practice Matters More Than Government Plans
This study examines the disparity between formal plans and actual networks in practice for emergency services in a local government setting. This study found that the accuracy of participants'collective perception of the network has a strong positive relationship with the centrality of the lead agency within each emergency support function. In addition, the centrality of influence within and collective accuracy about the network may be key indica…
Organizational Fields and the Diffusion of Information Technologies Within and Across the Nonprofit and Public Sectors
This qualitative-inductive study examines the diffusion of information technologies across service providers that contract to provide public services for a state human service agency. The researchers were struck by extensive data that illustrated salient “ruptures,” inconsistencies, and contradictions in the information systems that stand in stark contrast to the touted characteristics of the ostensible systems. The analysis draws attention to th…
Procedural Entrepreneurship
What do administrators do when established procedures get in the way of getting work done? They change the procedures. Because procedures, however, may have been originally installed to impose controls that ensure neutrality and obedience to political masters or equity in the delivery of public services, such procedural entrepreneurship tends to be hidden. To what extent to administrators engage in procedural entrepreneurship? What are the conseq…
Extending the Present Understanding of Organizational Sensemaking
Despite a growing literature on the topic, our understanding of organizational sensemaking remains somewhat fragmented, and discussions have not yet fully integrated related ideas into a conceptual framework that includes the contextual terrain in which these activities occur. This article offers such a model. We begin with a story from a Korean fire inspector, delineating the process of his sensemaking into three stages: noticing, interpretation…
The Effects of Diverse Feedback Dynamics on Performance Improvement
This article illustrates managerial responses to different performance feedback signals in decision-making processes for improving performance. First, we conceptualize and illuminate distinctive dimensions of feedback signals—internal feedback, external feedback, and comparative feedback signals. Then, we test how these different feedback signals improve performance of public-sector programs based on a 10-year panel data set from the Korean Perfo…
A piece of lost history
Procedural Entrepreneurship
What do administrators do when established procedures get in the way of getting work done? They change the procedures. Because procedures, however, may have been originally installed to impose controls that ensure neutrality and obedience to political masters or equity in the delivery of public services, such procedural entrepreneurship tends to be hidden. To what extent to administrators engage in procedural entrepreneurship? What are the conseq…
How agency conditions facilitate and constrain performance-based program systems
This paper examines how administrators in two very different Florida state agencies implemented performance-based program budgeting. It identifies the key organizational conditions that facilitate and inhibit implemen-tation and propose implications for generalizing these observations to other settings. The study concludes that agency variables make implementation much more difficult in some settings and that a one-size-fits-all approach may cont…
On Improving Qualitative Methods in Public Administration Research
What do exemplary qualitative accounts look like, and how do they convince readers of their correctness? What sort of standards can be used to assess qualitative research accounts for public administration? To address these questions, the authors examined 72 recent qualitative research journal articles. Proceeding from a set of preliminary guidelines, they worked iteratively between articles and the emergent template to produce refined guidelines…
Three Traditions of Network Research
This article identifies and describes the development of three parallel streams of literature about network theory and research: social network analysis, policy change and political science networks, and public management networks. Noting that these traditions have sometimes been inattentive to each other's work, the authors illustrate the similarities and differences in the underlying theoretical assumptions, types of research questions addresse…
Organizational Fields and the Diffusion of Information Technologies Within and Across the Nonprofit and Public Sectors
This qualitative-inductive study examines the diffusion of information technologies across service providers that contract to provide public services for a state human service agency. The researchers were struck by extensive data that illustrated salient “ruptures,” inconsistencies, and contradictions in the information systems that stand in stark contrast to the touted characteristics of the ostensible systems. The analysis draws attention to th…
When Practice Matters More Than Government Plans
This study examines the disparity between formal plans and actual networks in practice for emergency services in a local government setting. This study found that the accuracy of participants'collective perception of the network has a strong positive relationship with the centrality of the lead agency within each emergency support function. In addition, the centrality of influence within and collective accuracy about the network may be key indica…
Extending the Present Understanding of Organizational Sensemaking
Despite a growing literature on the topic, our understanding of organizational sensemaking remains somewhat fragmented, and discussions have not yet fully integrated related ideas into a conceptual framework that includes the contextual terrain in which these activities occur. This article offers such a model. We begin with a story from a Korean fire inspector, delineating the process of his sensemaking into three stages: noticing, interpretation…
The Effects of Diverse Feedback Dynamics on Performance Improvement
This article illustrates managerial responses to different performance feedback signals in decision-making processes for improving performance. First, we conceptualize and illuminate distinctive dimensions of feedback signals—internal feedback, external feedback, and comparative feedback signals. Then, we test how these different feedback signals improve performance of public-sector programs based on a 10-year panel data set from the Korean Perfo…
Sexual Misconduct
Political science (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (6 works) · Politics (5 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Knowledge management (4 works)