Management und Teilzeit? – Eine empirische Analyse zur Verbreitung von Teilzeitarbeit unter Managerinnen und Managern in Europa

Part-time work helps organizations to ensure flexibility and allows employees to combine work and family duties. However, despite their desire to work reduced hours, many individuals work full-time – particularly those in leadership positions. This article therefore examines which factors contribute to the use of part-time work among managers. By analysing a data set that combines individual-level data from the European Labor Force Survey (2009) with country-level information from various sources, we identify the circumstances under which managers reduce their working hours and the factors that explain the variations in part-time work among managers in Europe. Our multi-level analyses show that normative expectations and cultural facts rather than legal regulations can explain these cross-national differences.     

Klassenführung und Gruppendynamik in der Grundschule – Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Popularität und Trivialität von Klassenführung

Teacher surveys indicate continued intense discipline problems in elementary school classes. What can you do about it? As the teacher behavior has a strong relationship with active cooperation and misbehavior of students, a skillful group or classroom management of the teacher for an undisturbed instruction is important. However evidence suggests that some in the research literature as particularly relevant documented behaviors hardly appear in teachers’ subjective theories of reducing discipline problems. It is therefore presumed that the level of awareness regarding these insights is low in elementary schools and that it is difficult for teachers to recognize their extraordinary relevance solely by teaching practice. The present study tests this hypothesis on a sample of 101 elementary school teachers. The potentially far-reaching implications of the results are discussed.     

Das Deutschlandbild chinesischer Manager – eine empirische Untersuchung von Aspekten interkulturellen Lernens

The author summarizes the outcomes of a survey conducted in 2007 behalf of Carl Duisberg Centren gGmbH in 2007. The surveys topic was the image of Germany seen by Chinese executives that attended a management-training program in Germany. During the survey, the author analyzed what kind of image Chinese executives have, when they get in touch with Germany or Germans. Furthermore the question whether attending a management-training program in Germany will change this image or not was a topic.     

Eine neue Methode zur Untersuchung von Mikroprozessen in Lerndyaden: Eine Videostudie unter Berücksichtigung von kognitiven Grundfähigkeiten und Zielorientierungen

The study at present uses a new video method with individual audio tracks to investigate micro processes within learning in a simulation based learning setting. Visible and listenable behaviour was coded with regard to peer tutoring and problem solving. The frequencies and durations of these categories were summarized and used as dependent variables in regression models with cognitive abilities and goal orientations as predictors. Results showed that variation in the dyadic interactional behaviour was systematically related to these properties of the partners. For example, while overt problem solving behaviour is related to goal orientations there was no such effect for the cognitive abilities. Implications for the composition of dyadic learning groups and for further video study arrangements applying the new method will be discussed.     

Internationale Mobilit?t und soziale Selektivit?t: Ausma?, Mechanismen und Entwicklung herkunftsspezifischer Unterschiede zwischen 1990 und 2005

In the course of educational expansion social inequalities in access to upper secondary education declined, while the differences in transition to tertiary education increased. In the light of these changes the assumption arises, that the patterns of social selectivity in access to higher education have changed. While in the past status maintenance was mainly due to differences in access to higher education, today it is to a greater extent a question of kind and place of study. Because of the growing importance of international experience for labour market success, students of privileged classes might increasingly opt to study abroad in order to preserve their privileged position. Drawing on a series of panel-datasets of upper secondary graduates in Germany, we estimate the extent and development of social differences in international mobility behaviour between 1990 and 2005, and apply a decomposition method in order to single out the underlying processes and mechanisms. We find remarkable social differences in the intention as well as in the decision to study at a foreign university. Students from privileged classes more often decide to study abroad, while students from underprivileged classes stay close to their hometown. These differences can partly be explained by school performance, language skills, social costs and institutional differences. Furthermore we find that these differences have rather increased than decreased.     

„Neue Berater braucht das Land?“ – Eine empirische Analyse der Charakteristika potenzieller Nachwuchskräfte in der Finanzdienstleistungsbranche und Konsequenzen für das Employer Branding

Demographic change and associated shortage of skilled labor as well as changing values in future generations of employees are omnipresent. In addition, financial service providers are facing further challenges such as impacts caused by the financial crisis and the commission remuneration model in order to reach suitable employees, so that a target group oriented employer branding strategy plays an important role.Therefore, this paper investigated characteristics of potential employees who are interested in the financial services industry and also in salary models based on commission rather than fixed pay. To that end, we conducted an online survey with students as representatives of future employees. The questionnaire investigated expectations of potential applicants regarding their employers, their information seeking behavior (especially regarding online media), values, and personality characteristics. Results give insights into successful media use and corporate presentations of employers, but also illustrate the low attractiveness of the financial services industry and also commission remuneration models. Therefore, the importance of a successful employer branding strategy is emphasized.     

Warum werden Arbeiterkinder vom Studium an Universitäten abgelenkt? Eine empirische Überprüfung der „Ablenkungsthese“ von Müller und Pollak (2007) und ihrer Erweiterung durch Hillmert und Jacob (2003)

Why are the working- class children diverted from universities? In spite of the educational expansion, the decline of inequalities of educational opportunities in schools, and the institutional reforms in vocational training and university education, the access to tertiary education at university remains still remarkably unequal across social classes. In accordance with the ?diversion thesis‘ suggested by Müller and Pollak and extended by Hillmert and Jacob working class children are lead away from the direct path to university to non-academic education institutions because of both the impact of institutional structures of the educational systems on individuals‘ educational choices and the attractiveness of alternative education and training in non-academic areas. In order to investigate how does the diversion work the mechanisms of socially selective educational choices have to be analyzed from the perspective of rational action theory. For the empirical test of the theoretical approach data about school-leaves with the ?Abitur‘ (high school degree) in the East Germany federal state Saxony are employed. Subjective evaluation of the former educational performance, the expectation to be successful at university and the subjectively expected costs are the mechanisms mainly responsible that working class children more likely choose the vocational training than education at university. In particular, the subjectively expected success at university has the greatest impact on working class children‘s educational choices leading them away from the university.     

Ausgrenzung,Klassenzusammenhalt, Kooperation und Selbstbehauptung. Eine quasi-experimentelle Untersuchung der personal-sozialen Kompetenzen bei Schüler/-innen mit einer erlebnispädagogischen Intervention

With a classic quasi-experimental design (two measuring points, treatment and control group) the two questionnaires have been raised in the 2nd/3rd school week and after the first quarter with the constructs “class cohesion” and “exclusion” and “cooperation” and “self-assertion”. The treatment took place in the fourth week of beginning secundary classes (Switzerland). After the treatment the students showed significantly less exclusion ambitions and a better class cohesion than the control group. This finding should take into account the disturbing variables which must be meaningfully interpreted. And with respect to the sample the treatment group was – compared to the German standard – either socially more competent or biased.     

Nicht nur Gesundheit! Zusammenhänge zwischen psychischen Belastungen und Mitarbeiterbindung

Aim: Psychological risk assessments at work serve to identify psychological risk factors and their relation to health and well-being outcomes. Objective of the present study is to investigate which work characteristics predict commitment and turnover intentions of employees.Design: Based on the guidelines of the GDA (Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy), a questionnaire was developed that captures psychological risk factors at work. Additionally, people were asked to indicate their commitment and their turnover intentions. Based on the guidelines of the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy we assessed four domains of psychological job demands (job content, work organization, social relationships and environmental demands) as well as affective commitment and turnover intention in a sample of 453 full-time employees. Using hierarchical regression analyses, we tested the predictive power of the psychological demands for the different indicators of employee retention.Results: Work content and social relationships were found to be significant predictors for commitment and turnover intentions, whereas work organisation and work context did not predict the outcomes. A detailed analysis of the single risk factors identified autonomy as the strongest predictor for both commitment and turnover intentions.Limitations: The single predictors are not independent and the cross sectional design does not allow for causality interpretations.Practical implications: Based on the assessment of critical psychological risk factors, it is possible to take individual and structural measures to promote commitment and to reduce turnover intentions.     

Der Einfluss von Systemischen Strukturaufstellungen auf Koh?sion, Kooperation, Koordination und Kommunikation in Teams: Eine L?ngsschnittstudie

This article deals with the evaluation of structural team constellations (STC)??a special form of organisational constellation. 67 team members from 14 working teams carried out an STC and were surveyed at three time intervals, by means of a questionnaire, on their estimation of cohesion, cooperation, communication and coordination in the team as well as on their satisfaction with the relationship to the constellator. Stable chronologically increases were noticed in the variables of cohesion and cooperation. For the variables communication and coordination, however, improvements could only be established, between the first and second measurement. Participants who better evaluated the team variables over time were also more satisfied with their relationship to the constellator. Given the low time requirements involved, STCs can be rated as recommendable compared to other team training and team building processes.     

Das vereinte Deutschland — Eine lebenswerte Gesellschaft?

This paper focusses on the question how people measure the quality of life in the German society. The analysis shows that citizens perceive a number of problems: lack of equal opportunities and social justice, insufficient protection from crime and deficits in social security. Some people even hold that elementary rights of freedom have not been realized. Against this background, the citizens’ overall evaluation of the German society is presented as well as the importance of the aspects of freedom, security, justice and wealth. Finally, the question is discussed why east Germans regard the social conditions in the Federal Republic in a far more critical way than west Germans. It becomes obvious that neither an interpretation based on the theory of socialization nor an interpretation based on the actual situation is apt to provide an adequate explanation of this phenomenon. For this purpose, an alternative model of explanation has been introduced that integrates objective and subjective aspects and gives them a historic dimension, following Koselleck’s definition of “experience” and “expectation”.     

Ein Experiment zum Einfluss der Situation auf physische und psychische Nähe

The influence of the social situation on the physical distance and, as measured by a questionnaire, emotional intimacy between participants was experimentally studied (N = 90) in a cooperative, a competitive, and a neutral social situation. Results indicate that the physical distance was greatest under neutral conditions. The cooperative condition produced the strongest feeling of intimacy. It is argued that the neutral condition is irrelevant to the participants’ behaviour and level of attention to other persons. Further, intimacy can only arise if an interaction is both positive and relevant. The correlation between physical and emotional distance turned out to be relatively small, in accordance with the range usually given for attitudebehaviour correlations.     

Wo lernen Kinder mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf besser? Ein Vergleich schulischer Kompetenzen zwischen Regel- und Förderschulen in der Primarstufe

Promoted by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, there is a trend towards the inclusive education of students with special educational needs (SEN) in regular classrooms. The present study addresses the question if achievement differences emerge between SEN students who attend a regular primary school and those who attend a school for special education. Based on data from the IQB-Ländervergleich Primarstufe 2011, a national assessment in German primary schools, the achievement of SEN students in regular schools (n?=?658) was compared to the achievement of students in special schools (n?=?413). Propensity score matching was applied to control for differences in achievement related characteristics between the two groups. After matching, SEN students in inclusive educational settings showed significantly higher test scores in German reading and listening comprehension as well as in mathematics than comparable SEN students in special schools. The effects were more pronounced for students with a special need of learning support than for students with speech and language-related special education support. Possible explanations for the higher achievement of SEN students in regular schools and for differential effects with regard to type of SEN are discussed.     

Der Fu?ball und seine Entproletarisierung

Since the 1950s, in Germany football has been characterized as a proletarian or working-class sport while in our days football is gaining credence and social acceptability. But how could this decrease of proletarianization??described as a shift of the social focus of football from an especially proletarian to an increased higher social classes interest??be explained? Has the transformation of football which is largely caused by television to an event and show sport made it more attractive for higher social classes (transformation hypothesis) or does the change of the interest in football only explain the similar change of the structure of Germany??s social society (similarity hypotheses)? The empirical analysis of the mostly traditional readers of the German Kicker sports magazine as an indicator of the interest in football using the data from Media-Analyse from 1954 to 2005 leads to a clear result: The decrease of proletarianization of the Kicker-readers can only be explained by the socio-structural change in the past fifty years.