Bildungserfolg von Kindern in Abhängigkeit von der Stellung in der Geschwisterreihe

Based on grades in school and on parental educational aspirations the article investigates the influence of siblings’ birth order on educational opportunities and educational success of elementary school pupils. It is examined whether this influence varies by social strata, i.e., whether it is moderated by the socio-economic status of parental households. Theoretical background are the resource dilution model which focuses on siblings’ rivalry for scarce family resources, the confluence model which refers to the intellectual environment within families, and the family niche model which postulates effects of siblings on personality traits of children. Furthermore, status maintenance motives of parents are used to explain birth order effects. Empirical analyses are based on a study of 1369 pupils—4th graders of elementary schools—in the city of Wiesbaden, Germany. It can be shown that the birth order has negative effects on the chosen educational indicators (grades in school, parental educational aspirations). In accordance with prior research, grades of children get worse with their position in the birth order, other things being equal. The birth order also affects educational aspirations which parents hold for their children. In this context, the crucial result of the article is: When older siblings already guarantee the social status of the family in an intergenerational perspective, parents with high SES reduce their educational aspirations for younger siblings (elimination of the status maintenance motive). In families with low SES, however, parental educational aspirations for younger siblings increase, when older siblings successfully have reached higher educational credentials (social learning from role models).     

Die Anwendung von Introvision zur Verringerung der Belastung durch Tinnitus und Verbesserung der Hörfähigkeit

The following article describes the first empirical study of the effectiveness of Introvision as a pedagogical – psychological intervention for tinnitus. Introvision is based on the theory of subjective imperatives and the theory of mental introference. The intention was to ceace dysfunctional automatical selfregulation- strategies. Studies of the past have shown that dysfunctional selfregulation- strategies are a cause of increased subjective strain of tinnitus. The following pilot study, accomplished within a bigger project was conducted with 13 elder persons suffering from light to moderate tinnitus in a six-week-intervention with Introvision. Comparison to a control group without intervention showed a significant reduction of the tinnitus in the introvision group (STI, p ≤0.022). At the same time the audiometrically measured hearing ability of the Introvisiongroup increased significantly compared to the controlgroup (p≤0.001) while a decrease of the subjective loudness of the tinnitus could be only partially ascertained.     

Der Einfluss der Gruppengröße auf die Aktivität von Parteimitgliedern

In this paper, we aim to test Olson’s (The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1965) assumptions of group size effects on free-riding tendencies in political parties. Multilevel analyses of the Deutsche Parteimitgliederstudie (German Party Membership Study) 2009 reveal that for members of the CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, the assumed negative relationship between the number of party members in the district association and their individual level of activity can only be shown for the eastern states of Germany. Moreover, we show that selective incentives are not suitable for reducing the negative impact of a increasing membership figure, while normative incentives are associated with an increasing free-riding tendency with increasing number of members in the western and eastern Bundesländer. Our results only partly support the assumptions on collective action problems and point to a need for further theoretical and empirical research on group size effects and on the role incentives’ play in explaining the activity in political parties.     

Auswirkungen von Downsizing-Maßnahmen auf das organisationale Commitment der verbleibenden Mitarbeiter: Ein Vorher-Nachher-Vergleich

This study examines the consequences of downsizing efforts on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and work motivation of the remaining workforce (?survivors“) in a middle-sized telecommunication company. Employees were surveyed five months prior to the downsizing process (n=150) and eleven months thereafter (n=160). The assessment of organizational commitment was based on a questionnaire that was developed by Allen and Meyer (1990) within the scope of their three-components-model which includes affective, continuous and normative commitment. Although layoffs — as one part of the whole downsizing process — were not implemented in the investigated company, but only in a sister enterprise, which is part of the same holding, the affective commitment of employees towards their corporation dropped. On the other hand, the normative and the balanced commitment remained constant. Moreover, every second survivor showed reduced job satisfaction and work motivation. It should be noted that although the results of reorganisation and restructuring did not directly affect the employees of the investigated company, the emotional linkage between employees and employer was affected in a negative way. Additional findings from qualitative interviews suggest that restructuring was perceived to cause a crack in the prevailing corporate culture and the psychological contract. In addition, a deterioration of work conditions through work overload resulted.     

Jenseits der Regelbarkeit? Nutzung Informeller Dynamiken von Kommunikation und Gruppenrollen zur Steuerung virtueller Gruppen

Communication and team structure are of fundamental relevance for the guidance of virtual collaboration: for diagnosis and analysis of existing structures, surveillance and evaluation as well as deliberate intervention and solving conflicts. In particular for managing pending changes, knowledge about internal group dynamics is utterly helpful, to take the interests of all participants within the realm of possibility into account, utilise internal synergies und minimize efforts and resistance in this way. In this study communication- and group structure of teams in virtual inter- and intraorganizational networks have been investigated. Besides the formal roles, the informal roles within the teams have also been identified with the aid of sociometric items. These have been related to both formal and informal communication to analyse possible correlations between the team roles and its communication.     

Zur Bedeutung von mikropolitischer Kompetenz für den Aufstieg von Frauen in Führungspositionen – am Beispiel der Handlungsfelder Unternehmenskultur und Selbstdarstellung

The appropriation of micro-political competence affects the promotion of women into executive positions in a positive way. Evidence for this conclusion was found in the intervention study ??Micro-politics??. The study involved a research approach of Micro-politics-Coaching that was carried out on 30 female junior managers. As an introduction to the topic this contribution presents the Micro-political Competence Model (MCM) that was developed during the research project. The importance of micro-political competence for a successful carrier development is explained, based on the relevant action fields ??corporate culture?? and ??impression management??.The results of the research are made explicit by presenting two example cases of the coaching intervention study and by structuring the empirical evidence along the MCM. The conclusion clarifies why micro-political competence can be viewed as a partial area of carrier development competence and moreover provides implications for consultancy practice, for enterprises and for science.     

Gestaltpädagogische Konzepte und Praxen von Beratung und Förderung sozialer und personaler Kompetenzen in der Aus- und Fortbildung von Erwachsenenbildnern und -bildnerinnen

The article describes pedagogical Gestalt concepts of consultancy and professional development of adult educators. The focus change of the adult educators from teachers to consultants is outlined at the beginning. The changed role demands concepts of consultancy and professional development that can reflect and strengthen the self and social competence of the actors. It is shown that the design pedagogical concepts are particularly suitable because the promotion of the conscious perception of one owns’ body, needs, feelings and imagination and their integration into the self image of the learning person (client) are in the center of such approach. The concept and practice of ‘role-playing’ as part of the course instructors’ further professional training related to the design pedagogical concepts are documented in details using case-studies. It is furthermore detailed where the learning opportunities lie, related to the perception, self reflection and enhancement of one owns’ action potential for teaching and consultancy activities. The summary emphasizes one of the most important axioms of the design approach: It is not about a somehow newly defined nice person but about the paradox of change through precise perception of the actual situation.     

Soziale Beeinflussung in Mikronetzwerken am Beispiel der Erhebung von Markenpräferenzen mit dem „Tischmodell“

Brand preferences in a homogeneous student milieu are analyzed in order to model how social influence affects people’s views and opinions. In this study the individual person is not considered as unit of analysis, but rather the people eating together at a table in a canteen. In classical surveys the opinions of the respondents should be independent from one another. In contrast to standard surveys the study presented here explicitly aims to examine the influence of a micro network on the attitudes of the constituent actors. To measure this effect an overall degree of conformity is calculated based on all table communities. Simulations are used to estimate the influence of the relations constituting the table community on the agreement of brand preferences among the table companions. Similar to the well-known bootstrapping procedure, the respondents are randomly grouped into table communities, where the distribution of group sizes matches the observed distribution for every resampling. By controlling for the socio-demographic structure of the table communities it is possible to estimate the effect of the micro-networks on the agreement of brand preferences. It turns out that the relevance of the “network effect” remains, even if the distribution of socio-demographic factors such as age, gender and field of study were held constant within the table communities. The presented “table model” can be applied to many problems.     

III. „Generationenbeziehungen — Innenansichten von Familien“? oder „Kein Krieg der Generationen!“

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Was bewegt weibliche Führungsnachwuchskr?fte? – Typische berufliche Anliegen aus der Mentoringpraxis anhand von Fallgeschichten

The present work aims to illustrate mentoring processes for future women executives. Typical concerns of future women executives and how female mentors provide support in coping with these concerns are presented. Based on qualitative interviews with 5 female mentors, 18 mentoring cases were reconstructed. The analysis led to the identification of four categories of concerns: 1) job starting, job changing or career advancement 2) compatibility of job and family 3) acquisition of leadership skills 4) handling a disadvantage in the career evolution due to the gender. Nine functions were observed, which the female mentors take into consideration by handling such a case. At this juncture, it became clear that they support the mentees primarily with concrete and direct advice.     

BASE als Programm zur Pr?vention von (Rücken-)Beschwerden in der betrieblichen Gesundheitsf?rderung

Common occupational health problems, especially low back pain, are associated with physical demands of work, like lifting heavy weights. The study examined a multidimensional methodological approach (BASE) to reduce physical stresses in a logistic company in three stages: (1) theoretical background and implementation of the program, (2) evaluation of outcome-effects of a box lifting training (10 weeks) and (3) learning and lasting effects of workers?? knowledge and behaviour with regard to ergonomic box lifting. Video analysis and questionnaires were used for breakdown analysis. Stage (2) and (3) collected intervention effects with a controlled pre?\post test design (N?=?41 males; 37.8?±?10.8 y.). The breakdown analysis revealed low back pain (65?%) as a result of repeated manual lifting processes. Participants of the intervention showed a more ergonomic movement initiated by a more functional cognitive representation in long term memory. We suggest that especially this group of employees, with little motivation to participate in health promotion, benefit from the whole methodological approach of the BASE-program.     

Determinanten der Sportaktivität und der Sportart im Lebenslauf

This paper investigates the impact of social class, occupational and family life-course, relocation, age, generation and gender on exercise. Longitudinal, life course-oriented analysis enables identification of the (often diverse) conditions for (re-)uptake and discontinuation of exercise. The paper takes a detailed look at different types of exercise, enabling exploration of the various motivating influences and barriers involved. The database is a retrospective representative survey of the 50 to 70 year old population of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The results show that higher educational qualifications are associated with higher levels of exercise, whereas manual labor and – among women – childcare are associated with lower levels of exercise. With respect to the impact of education, cultural rather than economic capital seems to be the determining influence. Other factors – (un-)employment, partnership, relocation, age and cohort – tend to have more complex effects on exercise. Though being a member of the workforce reduces the likelihood of starting to exercise, it also reduces the likelihood of dropping out. Though partnership encourages the dissemination of exercise, initiation of a relationship is also associated with a higher incidence of discontinuation. Relocation prompts both initiation and discontinuation of exercise. Surprisingly, up to the over-50 age group, increasing age is associated with an increased prevalence of physical activity, especially among women. The results of analysis of social differences in terms of types of physical activity can be used in health programs to provide scientifically founded recommendations for the promotion of specific types of physical activity for lower educational groups, seniors, and other social groups whose lifestyle tends to be inactive.     

ZURUECKGEZOGEN: Veränderungen in der Mitgliedschaft der DGS

DGS-Nachrichten

ZURUECKGEZOGEN: Ver?nderungen in der Mitgliedschaft der DGS     

Die Entwicklung von Organisations- und Teamstrukturen zur Integration von Flüchtlingen: Zwei Fallbeispiele aus der SchweizThe development of organization and team structures in institutions for refugee integration: Two examples from Switzerland

The article is concerned with the organizational and team-related challenges of integration of refugees in Switzerland from the perspective of the actors in organizations who assume this task in their daily work. Based on interviews with employees of the Zürcher Fachorganisation AOZ and the Fachstelle Integration Graubünden the development and functionality of different organizational structures will be discussed and analyzed with regard to their adaptation to structural conditions of the region as well as specific requirements of the arriving refugees. Particular consideration is given to measures of social and professional integration. The two organizations were chosen because the former is well established in Switzerland and has been active in the integration of refugees for more than 30 years and the latter has been particularly successful in assisting refugees to get a placement in the primary labor market. Numerous challenges of newly arriving refugees in Switzerland require different targeted services (language training, cultural integration, psychological support, etc.). In order to meet these requirements coordinated, balanced team structures are required. The results show that the two organizations differ considerably in their structure, distribution of tasks and integration into networks despite almost identical remits.     

Wie wirken „Subkulturen der Gewalt“? Das Zusammenspiel von Internalisierung und Verbreitung gewaltlegitimierender Normen in der Erklärung von JugendgewaltHow do “Subcultures of Violence” lead to violence? The interplay of internalization and prevalence of norms legitimizing violence in the explanation of youth violence

Both the internalization and the prevalence of violence-legitimizing norms are empirically related to acts of violence. The action-theoretic processes, though, that generate these relationships are not well understood. Based on subcultural approaches to violence formulated in social psychology, ethnology and sociology the current study identifies two action-theoretic processes that relate violence-legitimizing norms to acts of violence: conforming to internalized norms in applicable situations on the one hand; and status considerations on the other hand. The model of frame selection is applied to integrate these processes into a general theory of action. Hypotheses are tested using data from a school-based survey in Germany (N?=?2635). Multi-level regression models on measures of violent intentions in a factorial survey, as well as on response times to this factorial survey, are reported. The results confirm the expected interplay of internalization of violence-legitimizing norms, prevalence of these norms, and situational provocation in explaining violent intentions and the time respondents needed to answer the factorial survey.