The impact of child support on child health

The broad goals of child support policy are to keep children in single-parent families out of poverty and to make sure that their material needs are met. One potentially important, but relatively understudied, set of measures of child well-being are health outcomes. A fixed-effects analysis of data from the Child and Young Adult file of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth shows that, conditional upon receipt of some amount of child support, higher payment levels are associated with significantly greater odds of having private health insurance coverage and significantly lower odds of poor or declining health status. These effects persist even after controlling for other factors that are likely to be correlated with child support payments, including total family income and paternal visitation patterns.     

The impact of organizational culture on men's use of parental leave in Sweden

This article examines the impact of organizational culture on men's usage of parental leave in Sweden, a society that promotes men's sharing of childcare. Results from a mail survey of 317 fathers in six companies suggest that men's use of parental leave is significantly affected by organizational culture, including the company's commitment to caring values, the company's level of 'father friendliness', the company's support for women's equal employment opportunity, fathers' perceptions of support from top managers, and fathers' perceptions of work group norms that reward task performance vs. long hours at work. These effects were independent of the influence of individual- and family-level attributes previously acknowledged to affect men's participation in early childcare. While findings support the social constructionist perspective on gender arrangements, men's advocacy of shared parenting and perception of partners' advocacy of shared leave remained strong independent correlates of leavetaking. Fathers can become agents of change within organizations, as they become more supportive of equal parenthood and as they gain rights to longer periods of parental leave that do not need to be negotiated with mothers. Éste articulo evalúa el impacto de la cultura de organizaciones sobre el uso de la baja por paternidad en Suecia, una sociedad que promueve la involucracion de los hombres en el cuidado de niños. Los resultados de una encuesta por correo de 317 padres de familia en seis empresas sugieren que el uso de la baja por paternidad está afectado por la cultura de la organización, incluido la obligación de la empresa en cuanto a valores humanitarios, el nivel de apoyo a los padres (father friendliness), el apoyo por la igualdad de oportunidades por el empleo de mujeres, las percepciones por parte de los padres del nivel de apoyo desde la gerencia alta, y las percepciones por padres de normas de labores de equipo que recompensan el rendimiento de tareas vs. horas largas de trabajo. Estos efectos eran independientes de la influencia de atributos de individuos y familias que anteriormente han sido reconocido por influir la participación de los hombres en el cuidado de niños pequeños. Mientras los resultados apoyan la perspectiva del construccionismo social, el apoyo de los hombres a la participación conjunta en el cuidado de los niños, y sus percepciones de la medida del apoyo por parte de sus parejas acerca del compartir la baja por paternidad/maternidad quedaron en correlación fuerte con la medida de la baja por paternidad. Los padres pueden hacerse agentes de cambio dentro de las organizaciones, mientras apoyan cada vez más la paternidad/maternidad igual y mientras ganan derechos de periodos de permiso mas largos que no tienen que negociarse con las madres.     

The impact of the economic crisis on the practice of social casework

ABSTRACT

What is the impact of the economic crisis on the practice of social casework? How is the economic crisis reflected in the professional practice, when social services have to cope with depletion as a result of an increasing attendance pressure? This study analyses the way in which social workers in community services face the understanding of the problem situation jointly with their clients. The aim is to uncover the items that professionals prioritize when they formulate and analyse the problem situation together with their clients. Data show that there is a discrepancy between the intervention criteria that have been considered important and their level of accomplishment. This difference points out that the understanding of the problem situation seems superficial, showing a low level of practice of the intervention criteria that assess the meanings which clients give to the incidents, strengths, solutions attempted, and larger systems involved. Data show that the implementation of fundamental analysis instruments is not sufficiently trusted and the use of the professional’s own knowledge is not regarded as important. This situation does not provide a context of intervention that is suitable and consistent with the problem situation and, consequently, the interventions for change will probably not match the clients’ needs.     

The impact of unions on job satisfaction,organizational commitment,and turnover

Conclusion The research on the exit-voice hypothesis, both in the United States and abroad, shows convincingly that most of the variance in the negative union effect on job satisfaction can be accounted for by job quality, industrial relation climate, and wages. Union members see their jobs as less attractive than do nonunion workers in terms of skill requirements, task complexity, the amount of autonomy or discretion available, and opportunities for promotion. Union members also perceive the supervision they receive and the labor-management relations they experience as less satisfactory. They are, however, clearly better off with respect to wages, benefits, and pensions. But when it comes to job satisfaction, the economic advantages of union jobs are not sufficient to compensate for job content and work environment factors. It comes as no surprise to the job satisfaction researcher that job content — the nature of the tasks people are given to do — weighs heavily in overall job satisfaction scores. While there are individual differences in the degree to which people prefer intrinsically interesting jobs, there is ample empirical evidence showing that autonomy, skill variety, complexity, challenge, and advancement are important determinants of people's affective reactions to their jobs (Deci, 1975; Hackman and Oldham, 1980; Kanfer, 1990). The relative importance of job content factors to overall job satisfaction is also mirrored in the most commonly used measures of job satisfaction (Weiss et al., 1967).     

Orphanage caregivers' perceptions: The impact of organizational factors on the provision of services to orphans in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Adding to the growing body of literature on outcomes for children living in orphanages and children's homes, this qualitative study explored the perceptions of institutional personnel – caregivers, staff members, supervisors, and administrators – about organizational factors affecting their ability to care for orphaned and vulnerable children living in institutions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The participants in this study consisted of 59 caregivers, 7 supervisors, 10 administrators, 4 cooks, 4 teachers, 1 social worker, 1 security guard/driver, and 6 women classified as house helpers. Individual interviews were conducted using an English-written and stated semistructured interview guide the researchers had created. The data from the 92 interviews were transcribed and coded using inductive methodologies. The results revealed concerns from the personnel about their institutions' lack of adequate funding for essential items, including food and medicine for the children. The personnel were also concerned about the lack of appropriate workplace standards to ensure the sustainability of a viable workplace environment, including inadequate training, supervision, communication procedures, and staffing patterns, and collaborative partnerships and associations with other public or private community-based institutions. The findings from this study have considerable policy, practice, and research implications for social workers.     

Using hybrid models to support the development of organizational evaluation capacity: a case narrative

The ongoing need for public sector organizations to enhance their internal evaluation capacity is increasingly resulting in the use of hybrid evaluation project models, where internal evaluators work with external contracted evaluators to complete evaluative work. This paper first seeks to identify what is currently known about internal evaluation through a synthesis of the literature in this area. It then presents a case narrative illustrating how internal and external evaluation approaches may be used together to strengthen an evaluation project and to develop the evaluation capacity of the organization. Lessons learned include the need to integrate internal and external resources throughout the evaluation and to clarify expectations at the outset of the project.     

Design of educational artifacts as support to learning process

The aim of this paper is to identify utilization schemes developed by students and teachers in their interaction with educational workstations in the electronic measurement and instrumentation laboratory at the Department of Electrical Engineering in the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. After that, these schemes were used to design a new workstation. For this, it was important to bear in mind that the mentioned artifacts contain two key characteristics: (1) one from the designers themselves, resulting from their experience and their technical knowledge of what they are designing and (2) the experience from users and the means through which they take advantage of and develop these artifacts, in turn rendering them appropriate to perform the proposed task - the utilization schemes developed in the process of mediation between the user and the artifact. The satisfactory fusion of these two points makes these artifacts a functional unit - the instruments. This research aims to demonstrate that identifying the utilization schemes by taking advantage of user experience and incorporating this within the design, facilitates its appropriation and, consequently, its efficiency as an instrument of learning.     

Co-ordinating learning: The future of practice teaching

Traditional models of practice teaching have usually assumed the superiority of a one-to-one arrangement. However, ‘long-arm supervision’, often used in group care and other settings as a way of providing placements in units without qualified practice teachers, could provide the basis for future models where the accredited practice teacher takes a management responsibility for planning and co-ordinating a range of learning experiences involving a variety of staff. Some of the issues and advantages of this model are briefly explored.     

The impact of right-to-work laws on employer unfair labor practice charges

The expected impact of right-to-work (RTW) laws on employer unfair labor practices is discussed within a resource allocation framework. How RTW laws affect the relative prices of different organizing tactics is also considered. Empirical analysis based on cross-sectional data for 1970, 1975, and 1980 shows that the impact of RTW laws on employer unfair labor practice charges is insignificant. Other variables that affect charge activity are also discussed in terms of their effect on employer/union organizing resource allocation decisions.     

Networks of organizational learning and adaptation in retail TNCs

Abstract In this article we contribute to a growing body of literature concerned with the socio‐cultural dynamics of learning and adaptation inside firms. Specifically, we apply a ‘competence‐based’ view of the firm to a newly emerging breed of retail‐industry transnational corporations (TNCs). We situate these firms within the context of ‘relational networks’ and then consider – from a geographical perspective – the complex interplay between ‘extra‐firm’ networks and ‘intra‐firm’ networks, and between store‐based learning and organizational adaptation. We argue that the competitiveness of the retail TNC increasingly rests upon its ability to adapt the portfolio of retail formats to different and rapidly changing business environments by mobilizing and blending knowledge from multiple locations. This, it is suggested, is leading to the emergence of a ‘reflexive’ or ‘hybridized’ model of retail globalization.     

How human resource outsourcing affects organizational learning in the knowledge economy

Adaptability and knowledge management, key elements of organizational learn-ing, are critical to organizational success as a result of a fundamental shift towards a knowledge economy. HR outsourcing and the growth in contingent work can result in a significant loss in learning capital through a breakdown in the psychological contract. We explore how to preserve HR's strategic role in facilitating organizational learning in the new outsourcing and offshoring con-text. The problem is compounded if outsourcing is introduced for cost control rather than strategic refocusing reasons. We suggest that managers can posi-tively influence the relationship between outsourcing and organizational learn-ing through internal marketing tactics and enriched psychological contracts. A previous version of this paper was presented at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, June 2005.     

Service learning with First Peoples: a framework to support respectful and reciprocal learning

This article outlines a framework for working with First Peoples. The framework supports respectful and mutually beneficial learning partnerships and culminates from 6 years of practice and research in arts-based service learning with Aboriginal communities in Australia. We begin by looking at synergies between global service learning and service learning with First Peoples. We then position this work within an international context, focusing on Indigenous frameworks for practice identified in service learning with First Nations communities in North America. We next describe the Australian context and touch on the multilayered intercultural processes and outcomes associated with the programmes across three universities. Finally, we introduce the framework and elaborate on its dimensions.     

Employee participation and assessments of support for organizational policy changes

We examine the effects of participation, profit sharing, and participation program structure on managerial assessments of employee support for policy changes. Evidence suggests that managers perceived greater support from employees covered by participation or profit-sharing programs than from other employees. Findings also suggest that managers perceived greater support where a larger percentage of employees were involved in the participation program, where employees had input on a larger number of issues, and where employees had a greater amount of authority to implement their recommendations.     

A good fit: the contribution of action learning to supervision practice

This paper discusses the value of action learning for social work supervisors. Recent years have seen renewed focus on supervision as a reflective space and some indications that the tide may be turning in regard to the dominance of managerial priorities within the supervision of direct practice. It is less evident that a similar shift is taking place for supervisors themselves and, anecdotally, many describe their own supervision as having a business focus with limited scope for reflective dialogue. While the traditional functions of supervision need to adapt to fit the responsibilities of those in management positions, it remains true that these staff provide a vital containing role within the organisational hierarchy. For that to be sustained, it is important that supervisors have space and structure within which to process the emotional, intellectual and practical challenges of their work. The integration of action learning sets within post-qualifying courses for supervisors has demonstrated a useful dual function. Firstly, they provide an effective model for group supervision, facilitating in-depth reflection on complex practice issues. Secondly, they offer managers a peer supervision forum; a safe place to explore dilemmas and share the vulnerabilities which belong to management roles as well as practice.     

Anti-discriminatory practice in practice: Student placement experiences as an aid to learning

The role and nature of anti-discriminatory practice continues to be a key issue in social work education. This article examines the findings of a questionnaire conducted in one university department regarding the placement experiences of two sets of DipSW students in this area. The paper examines both how they found the treatment of these issues in their placements and how they experienced putting theories of anti-discrimination into practice. It evaluates what contribution such student experiences can make to the current debates in this area.     

A mixed-methods study of the impact of organizational culture on workforce retention in child welfare

The recruitment and retention of a stable, qualified workforce has been an on-going challenge for the child welfare system. Prior research has identified both individual and organizational factors influencing retention and turnover in child welfare. The current study uses mixed methods to examine the impact of perceived organizational culture on workers' intention to remain employed. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed that perceived organizational culture, as understood as being comprised of both relationships and values, could be related to worker retention. Based on the qualitative findings, the researchers selected quantitative measures to operationalize the various aspects of organizational culture. Results from the logistic regression indicated that intention to remain employed was significantly related to organizational culture. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Product recalls and organizational learning: ConAgra's responses to the peanut butter and pot pie crises

This study focused on ConAgra's communication strategies utilized during its peanut butter and pot pie product recalls. A content analysis revealed that ConAgra handled each recall differently, with little evidence of organizational learning. The use of strategic ambiguity during the peanut butter recall enabled ConAgra to respond more successfully to consumers than during the pot pie recall.