Mary Higgins Clark: …and her later novels included A Stranger Is Watching (1977), While My Pretty One Sleeps (1989), We’ll Meet Again (1999), Daddy’s Gone a Hunting (2013), and I’ve Got My Eyes on You (2018). Several of Clark’s novels and stories were adapted into films.

Will Ferrell: …Internal Revenue Service agent in Stranger than Fiction (2006) and an alcoholic selling his possessions in Everything Must Go (2010), an adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story.

Jim Jarmusch: His next movie, Stranger than Paradise (1984), established his reputation as a new voice in independent cinema. Jarmusch continued to earn acclaim for films such as the offbeat comedies Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), and Night on Earth (1992).

Millie Bobby Brown: …role on the Netflix series Stranger Things. The role popularized Brown as an actor among mainstream audiences, propelling her to stardom. On the show Brown played the part of Eleven, a young girl with psychokinetic powers who is experimented on by scientists who are trying to create a superhuman weapon.

Paul Simon: Later work and assessment: Stranger to Stranger (2016) was an experimental mélange of rhythmic instruments and textures that drew inspiration from eclectic composer Harry Partch. On In the Blue Light (2018), Simon reworked several of his lesser-known songs through a jazz lens.

Orson Welles: Films of the later 1940s: The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai, and Macbeth: The Stranger (1946) was a thriller about a Nazi, Franz Kindler (Welles), who is hiding out as a schoolteacher in a small New England town. His impending nuptials with a fellow teacher (Loretta Young) are interrupted when a war-crimes investigator (Edward G. Robinson) tracks him…

Katherine Mansfield: …the Bay,” “The Voyage,” “The Stranger” (with New Zealand settings), and the classic “Daughters of the Late Colonel,” a subtle account of genteel frustration. The last five years of her life were shadowed by tuberculosis. Her final work (apart from unfinished material) was published posthumously in The Dove’s Nest…

Maria Kuncewiczowa: Cudzoziemka (1936; The Stranger) is a psychoanalytic study of alienation in an ethnically foreign country. Her novel Dni powszednie państwa Kowalskich (1938; “The Daily Life of the Kowalskis”) was broadcast by radio in Poland before World War II.

Anna Karina: >The Stranger) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Chinesisches Roulette (1976; Chinese Roulette), it is for her work with Godard that she is most remembered. In 1973 she tried her hand at screenwriting and directing; the result, Vivre ensemble (Living Together), met with limited success. That same…

The Stranger, enigmatic first novel by Albert Camus, published in French as L’Étranger in 1942. It was published as The Outsider in England and as The Stranger in the United States. The title character of The Stranger is Meursault, a Frenchman who lives in Algiers (a pied-noir). The novel is famous

Billy Joel: Piano Man to The Stranger: …and set the stage for The Stranger (1977). Featuring four U.S. hit singles (one of which, “Just the Way You Are,” won Grammy Awards for song of the year and record of the year), it sold five million copies, surpassing Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water to become Columbia

English literature: Fiction: Snow’s earnest 11-novel sequence, Strangers and Brothers (1940–70), about a man’s journey from the provincial lower classes to London’s “corridors of power,” had its admirers. But the most inspired fictional cavalcade of social and cultural life in 20th-century Britain was Angus Wilson’s No Laughing Matter (1967), a book that…

Berthold Kaempfert: …with the love song “Strangers in the Night,” made popular by Frank Sinatra.

H. Bruce Humberstone: …helmed his first feature film, Strangers of the Evening. Although largely forgettable, the comedy-horror movie launched Humberstone’s career as a prolific and versatile director.

Strangers on a Train, American thriller film, released in 1951, that was produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. Raymond Chandler cowrote the film’s screenplay. (Read Alfred Hitchcock’s 1965 Britannica essay on film production.)

Patricia Highsmith: In 1950 she published Strangers on a Train, an intriguing story of two men, one ostensibly good and the other ostensibly evil, whose lives become inextricably entangled. The following year the novel was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, using a screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde.…

Modest Mouse: …prolonged hiatus, Modest Mouse released Strangers to Ourselves in 2015. The Golden Casket, their seventh album, appeared in 2021.

Richard Quine: Quine examined adultery in Strangers When We Meet (1960), with the cheating couple played by Kirk Douglas and Novak. In the romance The World of Suzie Wong (1960), William Holden was cast as an aspiring artist anguishing over a prostitute (played by Nancy Kwan). The Notorious Landlady (1962), which…

Stephen Colbert: … (1995–96) and the bizarre sitcom Strangers with Candy (1999–2000), both on the Comedy Central cable network. Colbert worked on several other television projects before joining in 1997 Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, which was hosted by Jon Stewart. For eight years he was a correspondent and writer on the news…

the Smiths: …last album for Rough Trade, Strangeways, Here We Come (1987), the group broke up unexpectedly.

Strangford Lough, inlet of the Irish Sea between the Ards and North Down district and the Newry, Mourne and Down district, Northern Ireland. The lough (lake) is about 16 miles (26 km) long and 4 miles (6 km) wide and has a very narrow entrance, which cuts across the northeast-southwest trend of the

Strangford Treaty, (1810), agreement between the Portuguese government, then in exile in its Brazilian colony, and Great Britain, represented by its ambassador, Lord Strangford. The treaty provided for the importation of British manufactures into Brazil and the exportation of Brazilian agricultural

James Jesse Strang: …led him to found the Strangite sect.

strangler fig, any of numerous species of tropical figs (genus Ficus, family Moraceae) named for their pattern of growth upon host trees, which often results in the host’s death. Strangler figs and other strangler species are common in tropical forests throughout the world. Although a strangler fig

Ficus: Major species: obtusifolia and F. nymphaeifolia, are known as strangler figs. The seeds of strangler figs germinate on a host tree and grow around its trunk in a strangling latticework, eventually killing the host tree. One freestanding New World species, F. insipida, has the highest photosynthetic rate of any…

strangler fig, any of numerous species of tropical figs (genus Ficus, family Moraceae) named for their pattern of growth upon host trees, which often results in the host’s death. Strangler figs and other strangler species are common in tropical forests throughout the world. Although a strangler fig

Ficus: Major species: …species, including the New World F. obtusifolia and F. nymphaeifolia, are known as strangler figs. The seeds of strangler figs germinate on a host tree and grow around its trunk in a strangling latticework, eventually killing the host tree. One freestanding New World species, F. insipida, has the highest photosynthetic

strangles, horse disease caused by Streptococcus equi, a bacterium that invades nasal and throat passages and forms abscesses in lymph nodes and other parts of the body. It is also called distemper of horses. Young horses are most susceptible to it, and outbreaks of the disease usually occur where

hernia: A strangulated hernia is one in which the circulation of blood through the hernia is impeded by pinching at the narrowest part of the passage; congestion is followed by inflammation, infection, and gangrene. The tighter the constriction, the more rapidly these events take place; unrelieved strangulation…

Anna Karina: >The Stranger) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Chinesisches Roulette (1976; Chinese Roulette), it is for her work with Godard that she is most remembered. In 1973 she tried her hand at screenwriting and directing; the result, Vivre ensemble (Living Together), met with limited success. That same…

Joseph Anton Stranitzky was an actor and manager of the indigenous Austrian popular theatre, who developed the improvisational character Hanswurst. Stranitzky began his career as an itinerant puppeteer. After his arrival in Vienna (c. 1705) he formed his own company, which performed burlesques and

Mikhail Lermontov: Life: His drama Stranny chelovek (1831; “A Strange Man”) reflected the attitudes current among members of student societies: hatred of the despotic tsarist regime and of serfdom. In 1832, after clashing with a reactionary professor, Lermontov left the university and went to St. Petersburg, where he entered the…

nanotechnology: Communications: …layers, by a process called Stransky-Krastanov growth. They arise because of the lattice mismatch stress and surface tension of the growing film. Improvements in ways to control precisely the resulting quantum dots to a more uniform single size are still being sought.

baking: Ovens: … that carries pan assemblies (called straps) along a roughly spiral path through an insulated baking chamber. The straps are automatically added to the conveyor before it enters the oven and then automatically removed and the bread dumped at the conveyor’s exit point. Although the conveyor is of a complex design,…

hand tool: Drilling and boring tools: Such a strap, or thong, drill could be applied to drilling either with an abrasive or with a tool point hafted onto the end of the stick. The upper end of the shaft required a pad or socket (drill pad) in which it could rotate freely.

beaked whale: Natural history: In the strap-toothed whale (M. layardii), these two tusklike teeth are remarkable in that they curve upward out of the mouth, holding the jaws partially shut. Shepherd’s beaked whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi) is unusual in having numerous small functional teeth.

Gianfrancesco Straparola was an Italian author of one of the earliest and most important collections of traditional tales. Straparola’s Piacevoli notti (1550–53; The Nights of Straparola) contains 75 novellas (short prose tales) that were later used as source material by William Shakespeare,

inertial guidance system: In a strapdown inertial navigation system the accelerometers are rigidly mounted parallel to the body axes of the vehicle. In this application the gyroscopes do not provide a stable platform; they are instead used to sense the turning rates of the craft. Double numerical integration, combining the…

Alejandro Lerroux: …to recover politically from the “Straperlo” scandal in late 1935, in which several of his relatives and Radical Party associates were charged with corruption involving gambling concessions. In the elections of February 1936 he lost his seat in parliament in the midst of a Radical electoral debacle. He went to…

David Hare: …the films Wetherby (1985) and Strapless (1989), for which he penned the screenplays. He wrote and directed Page Eight (2011), Turks & Caicos (2014), and Salting the Battlefield (2014), a trilogy of television films about aging MI5 agent Johnny Worricker (played by Bill Nighy). He also penned the miniseries Collateral…

Homo erectus: African fossils: …more complete skeleton named “Turkana Boy” (KNM-WT 15000) was found nearby at Nariokotome, a site on the northwestern shore of Lake Turkana. The remains of this juvenile male have provided much information about growth, development, and body proportions of an early member of the species.

art conservation and restoration: Wall paintings: …are not always clearly distinguishable, strappo, the more radical procedure, consists of gluing canvas firmly to the surface of the fresco and then pulling and easing away a thin layer of the plaster containing the pigment particles of the fresco. The bond between the facing and the fresco must be…

strapwork, decorative motif, in flat relief, consisting variously of interlaced scrollwork, braiding, shield forms, or cross-hatching, often pierced with circular or oval holes. At times strapwork is bordered with a raised fillet (band). The whole design is usually formed of connected units, all on

Lee Strasberg was a theatre director, teacher, and actor, known as the chief American exponent of “method acting,” in which actors are encouraged to use their own emotional experience and memory in preparing to “live” a role. Strasberg’s family emigrated to the United States when he was seven, and

Strasbourg, city, capital of Bas-Rhin département, Grand Est région, eastern France. It lies 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the Rhine River on the Franco-German frontier. The city was originally a Celtic village, and under the Romans it became a garrison town called Argentoratum. It was captured in the

Strasbourg: The contemporary city: Strasbourg’s 11th–15th-century Cathedral of Notre-Dame, damaged in 1870 and again in World War II, has been carefully restored. Built of red Vosges sandstone, it is a harmonious edifice despite the variety of its architectural styles. It has an asymmetrical facade (mainly 13th century) with fine sculptured portals…

Lunéville faience: …green camaïeu—and is reminiscent of Strasbourg faience. But the Chinese figures on Lunéville are “Chinois distingués” (“refined Chinese gentlemen”), while on Strasbourg they are simple folk such as fishermen. Lunéville produced large faience dogs and lions that were used as garden ornaments.

University of Strasbourg, autonomous state-financed institution of higher learning in Strasbourg, France. The original university was founded by Protestants in 1537 as a German gymnasium (secondary school for the study of the classics) when Strasbourg was under German rule. The gymnasium became an

Strasbourg ware: …overglaze painting in France, and Strasbourg colour schemes were often dominated by an intense carmine.

Strasbourg ware, pottery made mostly in Strasbourg, Fr., under the direction of members of the Hannong family from 1721 to 1780. The factory was founded by Charles-François Hannong and was later administered (1730–60) by his son Paul-Antoine and then by the latter’s son Joseph-Adam (1762–80).

Germany: The kingdom of Louis the German: …this alliance in the famous Oath of Strasbourg in 842 (an important political and linguistic document that contains versions of the Romance language and Old High German). The success of Charles and Louis against their older brother Lothar led to a formal end to the civil wars in the Treaty…

University of Strasbourg, autonomous state-financed institution of higher learning in Strasbourg, France. The original university was founded by Protestants in 1537 as a German gymnasium (secondary school for the study of the classics) when Strasbourg was under German rule. The gymnasium became an

University of Strasbourg, autonomous state-financed institution of higher learning in Strasbourg, France. The original university was founded by Protestants in 1537 as a German gymnasium (secondary school for the study of the classics) when Strasbourg was under German rule. The gymnasium became an

Washington Nationals: …most-prized prospects in decades: pitcher Stephen Strasburg and outfielder Bryce Harper. The pair joined an existing group of solid players, and in 2012 the Nationals posted an 18-game improvement over the previous season, finished with the best record in the majors (98–64), and won the franchise’s first division title. However,…

Eduard Adolf Strasburger was a German plant cytologist who elucidated the process of nuclear division in the plant kingdom. Strasburger was educated at the universities of Paris, Bonn, and Jena, where he received a Ph.D. in 1866. He taught at the universities of Warsaw (1868), Jena (1869–80), and

Bulgarian literature: …work of such writers as Anton Strashimirov and G. Stamatov, whose cynical stories denigrated Sofia’s society. Strashimirov was an acute observer of the contemporary social scene; one of his best stories of peasant life was “Kochalovskata kramola” (1895; “The Kochalovo Quarrel”), and he also wrote the novels Esenni dni (1902;…

paste: …of this paste are called strass stones.

Strasbourg, city, capital of Bas-Rhin département, Grand Est région, eastern France. It lies 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the Rhine River on the Franco-German frontier. The city was originally a Celtic village, and under the Romans it became a garrison town called Argentoratum. It was captured in the

Gottfried von Strassburg was one of the greatest medieval German poets, whose courtly epic Tristan und Isolde is the classic version of this famous love story. The dates of his birth and death are unknown, and the only information about him consists of references to him in the work of other poets

Germany: Rural settlement: …a single village street (Strassendorf) or an elongated green, on which stood the church (Angerdorf); long unfenced strips of land were allotted at right angles to the road or green.

Gregor Strasser was a German political activist who, with his brother Otto, occupied a leading position in the Nazi Party during its formative period. His opposition to Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitism and unwillingness to make broadscale social reforms eventually brought about Strasser’s demise.

paste: In 1758 the Viennese goldsmith Joseph Strasser succeeded in inventing a colourless glass paste that could be cut and that superficially approached the sparkle of genuine diamond; the products of this paste are called strass stones.

Otto Strasser was a German political activist who, with his brother Gregor, occupied a leading position in the Nazi Party during its formative period. His leftist leanings and opposition to Adolf Hitler caused his downfall shortly before Hitler’s accession to power. Strasser was born into a

phenomenology: In other European countries: In the Netherlands, Stephan Strasser, oriented particularly toward phenomenological psychology, was especially influential. And in Italy, the phenomenology circle centred around Enzo Paci. The Husserl scholar Jan Patocka, a prominent expert in phenomenology as well as in the metaphysical tradition, was influential in the former Czechoslovakia; in Poland,…

Sierra Leone: Civil war: Valentine E.M. Strasser, who cited the poor conditions endured by the troops engaged in fighting the rebels as one of the reasons for ousting Momoh. A National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) was established with Strasser as the head of state. During Strasser’s administration the civil…

Clark University: The Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, which initiated a doctoral degree program in 1998, maintains an extensive collection of books and materials. Total enrollment is approximately 3,300.

Fritz Strassmann was a German physical chemist who, with Otto Hahn, discovered neutron-induced nuclear fission in uranium (1938) and thereby opened the field of atomic energy. Strassmann received his Ph.D. from the Technical University in Hannover in 1929. He helped develop the rubidium-strontium

Fender Stratocaster, model of electric guitar created by American inventor and manufacturer Leo Fender and known for its elegant design and tonal versatility. The Stratocaster, or “Strat,” as it is known by guitar aficionados, is easily recognized by the two horns that highlight the guitar body’s

baseball: Fantasy baseball: A similar game called Strat-o-matic first appeared in the 1960s. Having purchased the APBA or Strat-o-matic board game, players annually ordered cards that listed the statistical data for the ballplayers from the prior season. A combination of data given on these cards and the rolling of dice determined the…

stratum, sedimentary rock layer bounded by two stratification planes, the latter being produced by visible changes in the grain size, texture, or other diagnostic features of the rocks above and below the plane. A stratum that is less than one centimetre (0.4 inch) in thickness is termed a lamina,

statistics: Sample survey methods: …into relatively homogeneous groups called strata and a simple random sample is selected from each stratum. The results from the strata are then aggregated to make inferences about the population. A side benefit of this method is that inferences about the subpopulation represented by each stratum can also be made.

inland water ecosystem: Permanent bodies of standing fresh water: This type of lake stratifies in summer as the surface water (epilimnion) warms and ceases to mix with the lower, colder layer (hypolimnion). Water circulates within but not between the layers, more vigorously within the epilimnion. The boundary between these layers is the metalimnion, a zone of rapid temperature…

Earth sciences: William Smith and faunal succession: …Smith published a companion work, Strata Identified by Organized Fossils, in which the organic remains characteristic of each of his rock units were illustrated. His generalization that each formation is “possessed of properties peculiar to itself [and] has the same organized fossils throughout its course” is the first clear statement…

materials science: Diamond drills: This limitation was overcome by Stratapax, a sintered diamond material developed by the General Electric Company of the United States. This consists of synthetic diamond powder that is formed into a thin plate and bonded to tungsten-carbide studs by sintering (fusing by heating the material below the melting point). Because…

Strasbourg, city, capital of Bas-Rhin département, Grand Est région, eastern France. It lies 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the Rhine River on the Franco-German frontier. The city was originally a Celtic village, and under the Romans it became a garrison town called Argentoratum. It was captured in the

Polyaenus: …author of a work entitled Strategica (or Strategemata), which he dedicated to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus on the outbreak of the Parthian War (162–165).

Sextus Julius Frontinus: His Strategematicon libri iii is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history; a fourth book, the plan and style of which is different from the rest (more stress is laid on the moral aspects of war, such as discipline), was probably…

strategus, in ancient Greece, a general, frequently functioning as a state officer with wider functions; also, a high official in medieval Byzantium. An annual board of 10 strategi was introduced in Athens during the reorganization of the tribal system under Cleisthenes (c. 508 bc), each of the 10

strategus, in ancient Greece, a general, frequently functioning as a state officer with wider functions; also, a high official in medieval Byzantium. An annual board of 10 strategi was introduced in Athens during the reorganization of the tribal system under Cleisthenes (c. 508 bc), each of the 10

Anthony Mann: The 1950s: westerns of Anthony Mann: Strategic Air Command (1955) was about a ballplayer (Stewart) who is recalled to active service in the air force to fly bombers; the film was one of Paramount’s biggest moneymakers that year. Mann collaborated a final time with Stewart on The Man from Laramie (1955),…

Strategic Air Command (SAC), U.S. military command that served as the bombardment arm of the U.S. Air Force and as a major part of the nuclear deterrent against the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Headquartered first at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and then, after November 1948, at Offutt

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union that were aimed at curtailing the manufacture of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The first agreements, known as SALT I and SALT II, were signed by the United States and the

Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), arms control negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union (and, later, Russia) that were aimed at reducing those two countries’ arsenals of nuclear warheads and of the missiles and bombers capable of delivering such weapons. The talks, which

Going It Alone Is Not an Option: …Treaty in 1963, and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991, among others. To generate such global cooperation, the United States and other world leaders should accentuate areas where they share similar goals, such as curbing global terrorism or coordinating scientific research that benefits the world. At the same time,…

environmental economics: Sources of bias: …a range in survey), and strategic bias (where the respondent wants a specific outcome). Because any bias can hinder the usefulness of a contingent valuation survey, special care must be taken to ensure that bias is minimized.

strategic bombing, approach to aerial bombardment designed to destroy a country’s ability to wage war by demoralizing civilians and targeting features of an enemy’s infrastructure—such as factories, railways, and refineries—that are essential for the production and supply of war materials. Some

strategic bombing during World War II, the mass bombing of military targets and population centres during World War II. Large multi-engine bombers operated in formations (sometimes numbering 1,000 or more aircraft) that were intended not to evade enemy defenses but to beat them back or simply

marketing: Strategic control: Strategic control processes allow managers to evaluate a company’s marketing program from a critical long-term perspective. This involves a detailed and objective analysis of a company’s organization and its ability to maximize its strengths and market opportunities. Companies can use two types of…

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), proposed U.S. strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks—as originally conceived, from the Soviet Union. The SDI was first proposed by President Ronald Reagan in a nationwide television address on March 23, 1983. Because parts of the defensive

embargo: In contrast, a strategic embargo restricts only the sale of goods that make a direct and specific contribution to a country’s military power; similarly, an oil embargo prohibits only the export of oil. Broad embargoes often allow the export of certain goods (e.g., medicines or foodstuffs) to continue…

Vietnam War: The conflict deepens: …extensive security campaign called the Strategic Hamlet Program. The object of the program was to concentrate rural populations into more defensible positions where they could be more easily protected and segregated from the Viet Cong. The hamlet project was inspired by a similar program in Malaya, where local farmers had…

intelligence: Levels of intelligence: …is conducted on three levels: strategic (sometimes called national), tactical, and counterintelligence. The broadest of these levels is strategic intelligence, which includes information about the capabilities and intentions of foreign countries. Tactical intelligence, sometimes called operational or combat intelligence, is information required by military field commanders. Because of the enormous…

Michel Thomas: …of California’s so-called anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) law, which required the plaintiff in a civil suit that arises from the defendant’s exercise of the right of freedom of speech to establish by “reasonable probability” that the plaintiff would prevail should the case go to trial.

strategy: Strategy in the age of total war: Only the British attempted large-scale maneuvers: by launching campaigns in several peripheral theatres, including the Middle East, Greece, and most notably Turkey. These all failed, although the last—a naval attack and then two amphibious assaults on the Gallipoli Peninsula (see Gallipoli Campaign)—had moments of promise. These reflected, at any rate,…

marketing: Strategic marketing analysis: The aim of marketing in profit-oriented organizations is to meet needs profitably. Companies must therefore first define which needs—and whose needs—they can satisfy. For example, the personal transportation market consists of people who put different values on an automobile’s cost,…

strategic missile, jet- or rocket-propelled weapon designed to strike targets far beyond the battle area. Strategic missiles are either of the cruise or ballistic type. Cruise missiles are jet-propelled at subsonic speeds throughout their flights, while ballistic missiles are rocket-powered only in

biological weapon: Civil defense: …a biological emergency is the Strategic National Stockpile program, which has created 50-ton “push packages” of vaccines, medicines, decontamination agents, and emergency medical equipment, which are stored in a dozen locations across the country in preparation for emergencies. Furthermore, every U.S. state has bioterrorism response plans in place, including plans…

nuclear strategy: Conventional strategy: The Soviet Union preferred the offensive because it would make it possible to defeat the enemy quickly, before the full weight of its power could be brought to bear. Soviet doctrine during the 1970s suggested that a key aspect of that offensive would be the neutralization of NATO’s nuclear assets…

arms control: Recent efforts: …the two countries signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, which committed each side to reducing its store of strategic nuclear warheads. Russia subsequently announced that it would no longer be bound by the START II agreement, which its parliament had ratified in 2000.

strategic planning, disciplined effort to produce decisions and actions that shape and guide an organization’s purpose and activities, particularly with regard to the future. Strategic planning is a fundamental component of organizational management and decision making in public, private, and