Stressmanagement und Führungskräfte

The state-of-the-art in worksite stress management interventions (wSMI) with focus on the executive staff is shown through meta-analyses and reviews. The field is dominated by cognitive-behavioral, multimodal and relaxation trainings. These methods are effective on the individual level, however interventions with executives are rarely evaluated. New developments in wSMI are described where target-group and condition-focused methods are integrated on the basis of stress analyses. For executives, a coaching concept based on the specific demands, stressors and resources is developed with emphasis on the promotion of self-leadership and transfer plans.     

Sektionen Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie und Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Sektionen Kultursoziologie und Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Modellvergleich und Ergebnisinterpretation in Logit- und Probit-Regressionen

In the social sciences logit and probit models are often used multivariate data analysis procedures for binary dependent variables. Both procedures can be thought of as resting on a linear model for an unobserved variable y* from which a nonlinear model for the probability of y?=?1 is derived. We first show that compared to linear models this nonlinearity leads to problems of interpreting results from such analysis. In particular odds ratios (exponentiated logit coefficients) often used in logistic regression are problematic in this respect. Instead we recommend using graphical procedures and reporting (corrected) average marginal effects (AME). Based on a series of Monte-Carlo simulations we next demonstrate that the regression coefficients from logit and probit models should not be compared between nested models. Because model building in the social sciences often employs a stepwise procedure a method allowing valid comparisons of effect sizes between models would be advantageous. Results from our simulation study show that average marginal effects and regression coefficients corrected by a method proposed by Karlson et al. (Sociological Methodology 42, 2012) lead to satisfactory results in many different scenarios. In contrast, y*-standardized coefficients are of limited utility and coefficients from a linear probability model should only be used with normally distributed variables.     

Mentoring und soziale Netzwerke — Theorie und Praxis

In a permanently changing environment measures for staff development always win more importance. This article demonstrates with theoretical bases first, that mentoring and active networking represent suitable solutions for it. Furthermore the practical realization and the necessity of networking are explained and discussed with the results of an empirical study in the form of expert interviews.     

Fremdheit und Unterschied als Hürde und Chance

This paper is based on the personal experience of persons who have been strangers themselves and discusses the effect of (actual and attributed) strangeness on a person’s identity within a group, the subjective perception people have of others who are different, and also the way groups handle this strangeness. The attempts to explain these experiences and the observed social phenomena within groups serve to introduce the issue of what role ‘difference’ plays in organizational development. Difference is perceived both as barrier and opportunity, a window to self-knowledge, learning and further development.     

Kommunikation und Kooperation in Team und Großunternehmen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Spielarten des Kapitalismus und Kompetenzen von Hochschulabsolventinnen und -absolventen

The assumption that differences in Higher Education (HE) systems can be related to Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) is the underlying hypothesis of this article. Drawing on the example of skills and competencies of HE graduates in the UK and Germany, complementarities between the educational and economic system are analysed. First, hypotheses about differences in competencies are deduced on a theoretical basis from the VoC-approach. Second, the analysis of data from an international comparative survey (REFLEX) confirms that these differences indeed can be found empirically: German graduates put more emphasis on specific skills, while UK-graduates stress more general competencies. Additionally, the fit between study and later job is closer in Germany. These results show, first, that the complementarities postulated by the VoC-approach can also be found for the field of HE. Second, the recourse on the relationship between economic and educational system can stimulate research in comparative and international education. Third, these findings are also relevant for the current HE reform discourse.     

Arbeitsmarktsegregation und Einkommen

What mechanisms link horizontal labour market segregation and the gender gap in wages? One explanation is based on the cultural devaluation of typically ‘female’ skills and work contents which are held responsible for lower earnings in these occupations. In the present study the idea of devaluation of ‘female’ work is contrasted with other possible explanations such as occupational differences in specialized human capital requirements or unpleasant work conditions. Based on a large sample of employed persons in Germany (IAB-Beschaeftigtenstichprobe 1975–1995) and on a survey on work conditions (BIBB/IAB-Erhebung 1991/92), the influence of ‘female’ work contents and other occupational variables on individual earnings is modeled for East and West Germany separately. The results of multilevel analyses accounting for the embeddedness of individuals in occupations and industries show that some ‘female’ work contents — typing, cleaning and selling — decrease income, and thus are culturally devalued. In contrast, occupational differences in specialized human capital requirements and work conditions do seemingly not affect individual wages. In East Germany the results in regard of devaluation are less pronounced. In both parts of the country there is an unabatedly strong effect of individual sex on earnings which cannot be explained by the introduced occupational characteristics.     

Zeit und Mediation

The idea to go into the relationship between time and mediation comes from practical experience. (Mediation in industry, commerce and trade ist dealt with here.) As I am a mediator in medium-sized and large companies, I have to trace the often hidden reasons for conflicts and confront the conflicting parties with them. They can then try to overcome them through their own resources expressed in a long-lasting consensus. Both, the process of conflict counselling through mediation as a whole and the causes which create and escalate conflicts in the world of work, depend on and are determined by the time factor in my experience. However, when causes and solutions dealing with the conflict process, mainly, but not only, depend on the time constellation. This being the case then the opposite can apply. Thus, time-management in production and personnel leadership which is based on the human principles of mediation serves to prevent conflict from developing. Furthermore, it operates prophylactically where conflict is pre-programmed when the way people cooperate is sometimes at odds with successful management geared to market conditions not primarily concerned with the human needs of people working in these structure.     

Kunst und Preise

How are prices established in the market for contemporary art? Buyers in this market are confronted with fundamental uncertainty since “quality” is only difficult to determine and the development of prices is non-predictable. Since the emergence of a market for contemporary art presupposes at least the possibility for intentional rational decision-making, this uncertainty must be reduced. We argue that the value of a piece of art or an artist is established in an intersubjective process of granting reputation by experts and institutions in the field of art. This is achieved primarily through the institutions of the art market and the training of artists, i.e. through galleries, curators, critics, art dealers, journalists, collectors, and art schools. They participate jointly in the making of artistic reputation of the artist’s work that provides, in turn, the basis for the determination of its economic value. For testing this hypothesis we assembled and analyzed two datasets with data on the biographies of artists and prices for their works.     

Bindungsdimensionen und Studieneinstellungen

Hazan &; Shaver (1990) relate the emotional attachment and the working attitude of adults to the effects of emotional attachment and exploration experiences in early childhood.The present study analyses this question and relates the emotional attachment dimensions of anxiety and avoidance (Grau, 1994) to education oriented attitudes, e.g. interest in studies contents, satisfaction and priority in and of studies vs. private life and career orientation. 126 teaching profession and psychology students answered a questionnaire including the following concepts: Attachment dimensions, attachment types, study related attitudes and life-orientation. Attachment dimensions and attachment types showed the expected convergent validity. Results confirm most — bot not all — of the predicted relations between relationship’s dimensions and study oriented attitudes.     

Nachrichten und Mitteilungen

Nachrichten und Mitteilungen

Nachrichten und Mitteilungen     

Handlungszuschreibung und Situationsdefinition

Action as meaningful behavior and action as an attributional category are usually understood to represent competing concepts of action. In contrast, the present paper argues that the sociological theory of action should include both views. One main reason is that the concept of social action does not only rely on the social actor’s own meaningful behavior but requires him or her to interpret the behavior of the other(s) as action and thus implies the attribution of action. Attributed actions are not just imagined actions. Rather, when attributed actions become the social actor’s reference point for his own actions, they gain a reality of their own. Especially when the attribution of action takes place within the frame of reference of intersubjective definitions of the situation, attributed actions tend to gain such a reality of their own. This effect is connected with two different forms of intersubjective definitions of the situations: those who are commonly shared and those who are effectively enforceable. Additionally, the paper distinguishes between two modes of attributing actions: attribution of reasons and attribution of causation. Using these both distinctions, the paper analyses different ways of how attributed actions come into effect within social action.     

Nachrichten und Mitteilungen

Nachrichten und Mitteilungen

Nachrichten und Mitteilungen     

Macht und Gender

What prevents women, who wish to pursue a career, from gaining power???If organizational micro-politics, which means using and developing power, is conceptualized as an acting competence, the acquisition of cognitive competences and also the willingness to act micro-politically will turn into focus, which can be regarded as an indicator for the integration of micro-political acting into a self-concept. According to common models of competences this illustrates self-competence. The interviews conducted with female young executives revealed that the willingness??more than the ??pure motivation to advance a career????represents a key factor to be successful in advancing a career. The willingness seems to be even more marked, the less the self-concept is linked to female gender-stereotype. With regards to this result it is discussed what this means to the development of micro-political competences for women.