Rationalization .

• Rationalization

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Airline - Rationalization

1 By the early 1920s, small airlines were struggling to compete, and there was a movement towards

increased rationalization and consolidation


Operationalization

1 'operationalization' is a process of defining the measurement of a phenomenon that is not directly

Measurement|measurable, though its existence is indicated by other

phenomena


Operationalization

1 The concept of operationalization was first presented by the British physicist N


Operationalization - History

1 Operationalization is used to specifically refer to the scientific practice of operational definition|

operationally defining, where even the most basic concepts are defined through the operations by which we

measure them


Operationalization

1 The importance of careful operationalization can perhaps be

more clearly seen in the development of Introduction to

general relativity|General Relativity


Operationalization - Operationalization in the social sciences

1 Operationalization is often used in the social sciences as part of the

scientific method and psychometrics.


Operationalization - Tying operationalization to conceptual frameworks

1 For a detailed discussion of operationalization extending the

example above see Shields Rangarajan pp



1 Most serious empirical research should involve operationalization that

is transparent and linked to a conceptual framework.



1 To use an oversimplified example, the hypothesis Job satisfaction reduces job

turnover is one way to connect (or frame) two concepts — job satisfaction and job turnover.

The process of moving from the idea job satisfaction to the set of questionnaire items

that form a job satisfaction scale is operationalization. For most of us,

operationalization outside the larger issue of a research question and conceptual

framework is just not very interesting.



1 The researcher asks - Is the evidence sufficient to 'support' the working

hypothesis? Formal operationalization would specify the kinds of evidence needed to support the hypothesis as well as evidence

which would fail to support it.Patricia M



1 They also show how to make conceptualization and

operationalization more concrete by demonstrating how to form

conceptual framework tables that are tied to the literature and

operationalization tables that lay out the specifics of how to operationalize the conceptual framework (measure

the concepts).https://store.theartofservice.com/the-rationalization-toolkit.html


1 To see examples of research projects that use conceptual framework and

operationalization tables see http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/


Rationalization (making excuses)

1 Rationalization encourages irrational or unacceptable behavior, motives,

or feelings and often involves ad hoc hypothesizing



1 People rationalize for various reasons. Rationalization may

differentiate the original deterministic explanation of the behavior or feeling in question.

Sometimes rationalization occurs when we think we know ourselves

Introspection illusion|better than we do.



1 It is also an informal fallacy of reasoning.[http://www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy/#Rationalizati

on]


Rationalization (making excuses) - DSM definition

1 According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders|DSM-IV, rationalization occurs when the individual deals with

emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by concealing the true motivations for his or her own

thoughts, actions, or feelings through the elaboration of reassuring or self serving but incorrect explanations.


Rationalization (making excuses) - Examples

1 * Rationalization can be used to avoid admitting disappointment: I

didn't get the job that I applied for, but I really didn't want it in the first

place.



1 Rationalizations often take the form of a comparison. Commonly this is done to lessen the perception of an

action's negative effects, to justify an action, or to excuse culpability:



1 Egregious rationalizations intended to deflect blame can also take the

form of ad hominem attacks or Denial#DARVO|DARVO.



1 Based on anecdotal and survey evidence, John Banja states that the

medical field features a disproportionate amount of

rationalization invoked in the cover up|covering up of Medical errors|

mistakes. Common excuses made are:


Rationalization (making excuses) - Psychoanalysis

1 Ernest Jones contributed the term rationalization to psychoanalysis in

1908, defining it as the inventing of a reason for an attitude or action the

motive of which is not recognized'.Adam Phillips, On

Flirtation (London 1994) p



1 The term was taken up almost immediately by Sigmund Freud to

account for the explanations offered for neurotic symptoms - 'a process

which (borrowing a useful term from Ernest Jones [1908] we may describe

as rationalization'Sigmund Freud, Case Histories II (London 1991) p.

184 - and was later developed further by his daughter Anna Freud.



1 637 By the 1940s Otto Fenichel|Fenichel could distinguish 'various types of

rationalization...Emotional attitudes become permissible on condition that they are

justified as reasonable', but equally 'Defensive attitudes and resistances, which seem irrational because their real purpose is unconscious, frequently are rationalized

by the ego's foisting other secondary purposes upon them'.Fenichel,

Psychoanalytic phttps://store.theartofservice.com/the-rationalization-toolkit.html


1 he takes upon himself the task of finding justifications for

it...rationalization'.Eric Berne, A Layman's Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis (Middlesex 1976) p



1 92 but to object relations theory it could be part of a more sinister

process whereby the mind 'detaches feelings from their true locus and

attaches them to the exact reverse; it falsifies judgement; it splits

intellect from feeling and enslaves reason...a process called

rationalization'.Neville Symington, On Narcissism (London 2003) p


Rationalization (making excuses) - Cognitive dissonance

1 A rather different, but perhaps complementary, approach to

rationalization comes from cognitive dissonance. 'In 1957. Leon

Festinger...argued that when people become aware that their attitudes,

thoughts, and beliefs (cognitions) are inconsistent with one another, this

realization brings with it an uncomfortable state of tension called

cognitive dissonance '.E. R. Smith and D. M. Mackie, Social Psychology

(Hove 2007) p. 277-8



1 One answer to the discomfort of the situation is that 'their minds rationalize it by inventing a

comfortable illusion'.Scott Adams, in Smith/Mackie, Social p. 280 Thus for example 'people who start to smoke

again after quitting for a while perceive smoking to be less

dangerous to their health, compared to their views when they decided to stop' – thereby averting their 'post-

decisional regret'Smith/Mackie, Social p. 283-4 through their new

rationalization.



1 In a similar way, acts of aggression will often be seen as 'reasonable,

well justified, even necessary...rationalizing their self-interest in these ways'; so that, to

cite 'Martin Luther King, Jr....It seems to be a fact of life that human beings cannot continue to do wrong without

eventually reaching out for some rationalization to clothe their act'.Smith/Mackie, Social p



1 Such collective rationalizations come close perhaps to the communal illusions of which

Freud wrote as 'derived from human wishes...Must not the assumptions that

determine our political regulations be called illusions as well? and...may not other cultural assets of which we hold a high opinion and by which we let our lives be ruled be of a

similar nature?'.Sigmund Freud, Civilization, Society and Religion (Middlesex 1987) p. 213

and p. 216


Rationalization (economics)

1 In economics, 'rationalization' is an attempt to change a pre-existing ad hoc workflow into one that is based

on a set of published rules



1 Rationalization aims at an efficiency increase by better use of existing

possibilities: A same effect can with fewer means, or with same means to be obtained. In the industry thereby

frequently the replacement of manpower is designated by machines (rationalization

investment). It is the reasonable, appropriate organization of

operational conditions under changing conditions to increase with the goal, productivity and economy.



1 Julien Freund defines rationalization as the organization of life through a

division and coordination of activities on the basis of exact study of men's relations with each other, with their tools and their environment, for the

purpose of achieving greater efficiency and productivity.Freund, Julien, 1968. The Sociology of Max Weber. New York: Vintage Books.



1 Rationalization is the guiding principle behind bureaucracy and the increasing division of labour|division

of labor, and has led to an increase in both the production and distribution

of goods and services



1 Change in human character is expected to be part of the process;

rationalization and bureaucratization promote efficiency, and economic materialism|materialism, both of which are subsumed under Max

Weber|Weber's concept of zweckrational.


Rationalization (sociology)

1 In sociology, 'rationalization' refers to the replacement of traditions, values,

and emotions as motivators for behavior in society with reason|

rational, rationality|calculated ones. For example, the implementation of bureaucracies in government is a kind of rationalization, as is the

construction of high-efficiency living spaces in architecture and urban

planning.https://store.theartofservice.com/the-rationalization-toolkit.html

Rationalization (sociology)

1 Many sociologists, critical theorists and contemporary philosophers have argued that rationalization, as falsely assumed progress,

has a negative and dehumanization|dehumanizing effect on society, moving

modernity away from the central tenets of Enlightenment in Western secular tradition|

enlightenment.Habermas, Jürgen, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, Polity Press (1985), ISBN 0-7456-0830-2, p2 The

founders of sociology were acting as a critical reaction to rationalization:


Rationalization (sociology) - Rationalization and capitalism

1 Rationalization formed a central concept in the foundation of classical sociology, particularly with respect to the emphasis the discipline placed – by contrast with anthropology – on

the nature of modern Western societies. The term was presented by

the profoundly influential German antipositivist, Max Weber, though its

themes bear parallel with the critiques of modernity set forth by a number of scholars. A rejection of

dialectism and sociocultural evolution informs the concept.



1 In these works he alludes to an inevitable move towards rationalization.Macionis, J., and

Gerber, L



1 Weber described the eventual effects of rationalization in his Economy and Society as leading to a polar night of

icy darkness, in which increasing rationalization of human life traps

individuals in an iron cage (or steel-hard casing) of rule-based, rationality|rational control.



1 Jürgen Habermas has argued that to understand rationalization properly requires going beyond

Weber's notion of rationalization and distinguishing between instrumental rationality, which involves

calculation and efficiency (in other words, reducing all relationships to those of means and ends), and

communicative rationality, which involves expanding the scope of mutual understanding in

communication, the ability to expand this understanding through reflective discourse about communication, and making social and political life

subject to this expanded understanding.


Rationalization (sociology) - The Holocaust, modernity and ambivalence

1 For Zygmunt Bauman, rationalization as a manifestation of modernity may be closely associated with the events

of the Holocaust


Rationalization (sociology) - Consumption

1 Modern food consumption typifies the process of rationalization



1 Rationalization is also observable in the replacement of more traditional stores, which may offer subjective advantages to consumers, such as what sociologists consider a less

regulated, more natural environment, with modern stores offering the

objective advantage of lower prices to consumers



1 The sociologist George Ritzer has used the term McDonaldization to refer, not just to the actions of the

fast food restaurant, but to the general process of rationalization. Ritzer distinguishes four primary components of McDonaldization:


Rationalization (sociology) - Human body

1 In these cases, we see how rationalization does produce

meaning and is not just simply a way to speed things up, i.e., a fat person is said to have poor self-control and

discipline and thus you can now make personal judgments about

them.


System justification - Rationalization of the status quo

1 To this extent theorists have provided specific hypotheses|hypothesis in which the rationalization of the

status quo can manifest


Post-purchase rationalization

1 'Post-purchase rationalization', also known as Buyer's Stockholm Syndrome, is a cognitive bias whereby someone who has

purchased an expensive product or service overlooks any faults or defects in order to justify their purchase. It is a special case of

choice-supportive bias.


Post-purchase rationalization - Causes

1 This rationalization is based on the Principle of Commitment and the

psychological desire to stay consistent to that commitment.

Some authorities would also consider this rationalization a manifestation of

cognitive dissonance.


Rationalization

1 *Rationalization (economics), an attempt to change a pre-existing ad hoc workflow into one that is based

on a set of published rules. Also, business jargon for a reduction in

numbers


Rationalization

1 *Rationalization (making excuses), a psychological defense mechanism in

which perceived controversial behaviors are logically justified


Rationalization

1 *Post-purchase rationalization


Love's Labour's Lost - Reckoning and rationalization

1 Similar to reckoning is the notion of rationalization, which provides the basis for

the swift change in the ladies' feelings for the men. The ladies are able to talk themselves into falling in love with the men due to the

rationalization of the men's purported flaws. Lewis concluded that the proclivity to

rationalize a position, a like, or a dislike, is linked in Love's Labour's Lost with the

difficulty of reckoning absolute value, whose slipperiness is indicated throughout the play.


Deadliest Catch - Rationalization: derby vs. quota

1 The subsequent seasons have been set after the change to a quota

system as part of a process known as rationalization


Deadliest Catch - Rationalization: derby vs. quota

1 The rationalization process put many crews out of work because the

owners of many small boats found their assigned quotas too small to

meet operating expenses. During the first season run under the IFQ

system, the fleet shrank from over 250 boats to about 89 larger boats

with high quotas.


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