Inspiration Across Cultures: Reflecting Teams among the Métis in Canada

Métis Community Services on Vancouver Island exists to serve the Métis, one of Canada's three aboriginal peoples. I went there, hoping for an exchange of thoughts and ideas that I could apply to my work back home in Sweden. I was welcome to observe and participate in the work. I was asked to talk about something that I wanted to share with them. The result was a workshop about how to apply the reflecting team mode of working when counselling aboriginal families. The outcome of our exchange was a blend of the ethics and rules of behaviour among aboriginal people and the Scandinavian reflecting team mode of working.     

Gender differences in team work and team competition

We study whether the gender performance gap is affected by the gender composition of teams. A real-effort experiment is employed with wages based either on the team’s performance, or on the outcome of a competition between teams. We find that, relative to a single-sex environment, gender diversity increases the gender performance gap with team pay whereas it decreases the gap with team competition. The results show that there can be a tension between the objective to maximize overall performance and to minimize gender inequality.     

Driving complementarity in interdisciplinary research: a reflection

ABSTRACT

The value of interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognised by the research community. Funding bodies are nowadays specifically encouraging that research they fund is interdisciplinary in nature. However, what is often branded as interdisciplinary research is in fact a network of researchers working to deliver a research output. In this research note, we share our experience of what we think can be labelled “truly interdisciplinary”. We share some best practice tips for those who are interested to go through a similar metamorphosis as we did as a team, learning from each other’s ways of working. Overall, it has been a very positive experience and a revelation that has had a big impact on each author’s view on how to conduct research as an integrated multidisciplinary team, as it has shifted our mental models and broadened our thinking, capacity to reflect, and critical analysis. We hope that our research note clearly shows the benefits of truly interdisciplinary research and motivates other researchers to follow our pathway of transformation.     

Declining Share of Small Firms in U.S. Output: Causes and Consequences

We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model, with large and small firms, to examine possible causes and welfare implications of a declining trend in small firms' share of U.S. output since 1958. Numerical experiments indicate that recent technological advances and government tiering policies that have reduced fixed setup costs of production benefit the emergence of small firms, but lower their output share due to competition for resources among firms. However, this outcome is welfare improving. Therefore, if the policy objective is to raise small firms' output share and economic welfare simultaneously, it is desirable to concentrate on increasing antitrust and deregulatory efforts.     

Beratung virtueller Teams im interkulturellen Kontext – ein Bericht aus der Praxis

Tasks are nowadays increasingly assigned to teams composed of members from different cultures who have to work together regardless of country borders or time zones. This causes special challenges for all parties involved in such work settings. Consultancy has accordingly to face the resulting increase of complexity: within the scope of an intercultural consulting process it becomes vital to take into consideration the often postulated focus on both differences and commonalities as well as to consider the dynamics within team processes. This article tries to reflect our work with “virtual teams” which consist of members having different cultures. We try to combine popular intercultural models with a systemic-constructivistic approach as well as with knowledge about group dynamics in order to make sure that a productive outcome is possible in a consulting process. In doing so we work on three levels: individual reflection with the participants’ own culture which is then combined with those of the other team members and then finally the group’s specific team culture is addressed and discussed. At the end of the article we summarize implications for consulting and management when working with virtual teams in an intercultural setting.     

Therapeutic Alliance; A View Constructed by a Family Therapy Team

Therapeutic Alliance is a construct which may have value for a family therapy team and influence its day to day practice. This paper discusses whether family therapeutic alliance can be observed, described and measured, and gives an account of the development of the Family Therapeutic Alliance Scale (FTAS) by a brief strategic family therapy team. Our focus is on the use of statistical technique as a means of clarifying the team's construct of therapeutic alliance, informing the team process without being the final arbiter in development of the scale. The second stage outlines the investigation of the usefulness of the construct with a wider group of family therapists. In individual psychotherapies measures of therapeutic alliance have been shown to predict outcome. Our early work suggests this is also true for family therapies and the FTAS may be a predictor for outcome in family work.     

Team incentives and leadership

We study, experimentally, how two alternative incentive mechanisms affect team performance and how a team chooses between alternative mechanisms. We study a group incentive mechanism (team output is shared equally among team members) and a hierarchical mechanism (team output is allocated by a team leader). We find that output is higher when a leader has the power to allocate output, but this mechanism also generates large differences between earnings of leaders and other team members. When team members can choose how much of team output is to be shared equally and how much is to be allocated by a leader they tend to restrict the leader’s power to distributing less than half of the pie.     

Case workers in family court: A therapeutic jurisprudence analysis

This study explores interactions between judges and caseworkers in child maltreatment cases. We examined the extent to which judges demonstrated therapeutic jurisprudence principles (TJ) in their courtroom interactions in light of past findings linking such practices with positive outcomes. Ninety-four child maltreatment proceedings were observed over a one-year period between 2012 and 2013. We found that while some judges created respectful, empathetic, and supportive environments that included caseworkers, other interactions were more negative. Although caseworkers had the most knowledge of, and experience with families, their participation was limited, and conversations were often directed through the attorneys. Shaming rituals also occurred, with judges criticizing workers for the quality of their work, the slowness of the bureaucracy, and other deficiencies. The findings highlight the importance of applying the principles of TJ to all court actors, especially in the family court milieu, where courtrooms are populated by a team of professionals who share the common goal of rehabilitating families when appropriate.     

A Quality-of-Play Model of a Professional Sports League

Assuming that consumers value both the absolute and relative quality of play, I compare the choice of ticket prices, team qualities, and number of games played in a noncooperative outcome versus that chosen by a social planner. I find that the nature of consumer preferences regarding the quality of play determines whether the demand for talented players are strategic complements or substitutes. A strong preference by fans for a superior team makes players strategic substitutes, and a concern for a high quality of play and competitive balance make players strategic complements. Moreover, when fans only value the relative quality of play, there is an overemployment of talented players in the noncooperative outcome versus the socially optimal outcome; when they only value the absolute quality of play then there is an underemployment of talented players in the noncooperative outcome.     

Using feminist ‘reflexive practice’ to explore stress and well-being of local researchers in South Sudan

ABSTRACT

This article discusses using feminist methods of reflexive practice to support and learn about the well-being of researchers working on gender-based violence research in South Sudan. In particular, we focus on the experiences of South Sudanese researchers undertaking this research in their own country. We share key findings and offer personal reflections on and suggestions for improving fieldwork. As feminists ourselves we placed a high value on sharing personal reflections on emotional challenges that the research team faced. However, our South Sudanese colleagues did not find these approaches very useful, preferring to discuss technical challenges, and placed emphasis on the importance of professionalism. This experience suggests the need for more culturally diverse feminist research tools, and for better recognition of the crucial role played by national researchers in international research projects. We end with recommendations.     

中国女子越野滑雪队期待历史突破

为迎接2022年北京冬奥会,本刊特别推出“冬奧之星”栏目,重点展现优秀女性冰雪运动员为国争光的巾帼风采。本期,让我们一起走近中国女子越野滑雪国家队。     

‘Sitting on the Mourning Bench’: Mental Health Workers and an Elderly Client

Abstract

The present article documents the experience of a first year social work student on fieldwork placement in an Aged Persons Mental Health Service. The student was part of a team providing service to a long-term client of the service when he was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. The student's compassionate response to the client raises questions about grief and professionalism, which she explored through a journal and in discussion with her supervisor and other team members working with the client. As part of their reflective practice, the student, her supervisor and the client's mental health workers formed a collective to document their experience and present a staff education session. This article is the outcome of these processes and explores important grief issues in Aged Psychiatry and demonstrates the valuable contribution made by a student to the work of the team in the rich learning environment of a fieldwork placement in aged psychiatry. It is published with the kind permission of the client's next of kin.     

A Survey of the First Five Years' Work of a Child Sexual Abuse Team

This paper describes a survey of the first 5 years' work of a specialist NHS child sexual abuse team (CSAT), which provides a post-disclosure treatment service to young people aged between 13 and 19. Information was obtained on the demographic characteristics of young people referred, the nature of their abuse and its perpetrators, and the type, length and outcome of the treatment provided. The survey was also used to ask four questions. Was the team providing a service to its target population, young people whose sexual abuse had been severe? Did the severity of abuse predict the intensity or length of therapy provided? Were there differences in the service provided to boys as opposed to girls? Finally, did experienced therapists achieve different results when compared with non-experienced therapists? It was found that the service was being used by its target group and that severity of abuse was associated with longer or more intensive therapy. The service did not appear to be adequately meeting the needs of boys. There was some indication that experienced therapists achieved the same treatment outcome as inexperienced therapists in a shorter period of time.     

Massive Migration and Elections: Evidence from the Refugee Crisis in Greece

This article explores whether the massive arrival of refugees at Greek islands has had an impact on natives’ voting behaviour. Our results show a positive and significant effect of refugees’ presence on votes for the Greek extreme‐right party Golden Dawn. More precisely, we find that a 1 per cent increase in the share of refugees is associated with an increase of 5 per cent in the share of votes for Golden Dawn. This outcome is robust under different estimation methodologies and placebo regressions.     

Preserving dominance relations through disaggregation: the evil and the saint

This article investigates the circumstances in which stochastic dominance relations at any finite degree at the household level can be assumed to be preserved at the individual level. We find necessary and sufficient conditions on the common sharing function adopted by households to divide the cake among a “strong” and a “weak” individual. The sharing function which maps the household income into the outcome of the weak individual must belong to the class of utility functions which supports the stochastic order. In addition, the household must follow a compensating rule, meaning that the share of resources devoted to the weak individual increases with household income. Applications to fiscal federalism are also proposed. “All inequality is a source of evil - for by the inferior more is lost in the account of happiness than is gained by the superior” J. Bentham, First Principle preparatory to Constitutional Code, 1822.      

Moral hazard and stability

Economists perceive moral hazard as an undesirable problem because it undermines efficiency. Carefully designed contracts can mitigate the moral hazard problem, but this assumes that a team is already formed. This paper demonstrates that these contracts are sometimes the reason why teams do not form. Formally, we study the team formation problem in which the agents’ efforts are not verifiable and the size of teams does not exceed quota \(r\) . We show that if the team members cannot make transfers, then moral hazard affects stability positively in a large class of games. For example, a stable team structure exists if teams produce public goods or if the quota is two. However, these existence results no longer hold if efforts are verifiable.     

OUTCOME UNCERTAINTY,FAN TRAVEL,AND AGGREGATE ATTENDANCE

The uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (UOH) informs economists' understanding of consumer decisions to attend sporting events and team revenue generation. We develop a model of fan behavior based on standard expected utility methods which incorporates fan heterogeneity in terms of decisions to travel to away games and strong preferences for wins. The model reflects aggregate attendance outcomes across local and visiting fans, generates predictions consistent with the UOH, and gives rise to concave league-wide revenue functions. Empirical analysis of game outcomes and attendance at regular season National Basketball association games from 1979 to 2013 supports key predictions of the model. (JEL L83, D12, Z20)     

Staff & client perceptions of unit quality: a pilot study

This pilot study compared psychiatric health care team members' perceptions of unit quality with discharged clients' perceptions of quality of care received on the unit. The staff members were from four different service units in one acute care psychiatric facility. The study used the Perceptions of Unit Quality (PUQ) scale, a valid and reliable outcome measurement instrument, developed by Cronenwett. Most quality assurance instruments that exist have focused on individual caregivers' or service-specific views of quality, but the PUQ scale allows quality assurance data that represent team performance to be described through team perceptions of quality. Results of this pilot study suggest that use of the PUQ scale, in conjunction with clients' perceptions of unit quality, may be a legitimate approach in continuous quality improvement efforts in psychiatric-mental health care centers.     

Decision under psychological pressure: The shooter's anxiety at the penalty kick

The paper analyses sequences of penalty kicks during football shoot-outs in French cup competitions. We consider in detail the psychological effects to which the kicker is subject: the fear of winning, the fear of losing, the expected outcomes and how much is at stake. Our main conclusion is that the performance (the probability of scoring) is negatively affected by both what is at stake (the impact of my scoring on the expected probability that my team will eventually win) and the difficulty of the situation (the ex ante probability of my team eventually losing). We find no advantage for the team that takes the first kick.     

Parent and Child Therapy (PACT) In Action: An Attachment‐Based Intervention for a Six‐Year‐Old With a Dual Diagnosis

This case study explores Parent and Child Therapy (PACT), an attachment‐based intervention for mothers and children experiencing intractable relationship distress originally developed by Heather Chambers (a Child Psychotherapist and Family Therapist working in New Zealand). We describe the use of PACT with a mother—child dyad presenting a history of severe abuse and neglect. The child had been diagnosed with Conduct Disorder and co‐morbid Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We consider the themes arising in the therapy, the emotional process experienced by the mother and child, the initial outcome and 10‐month follow up. The case study indicates that PACT can be learned and used by practitioners outside of the team that conceptualised and developed it. The case highlights the links between externalising difficulties and attachment disorganisation and points to PACT as a promising treatment for the chronic sequelae of early interpersonal childhood trauma. The need for research and possible directions of this research are discussed.