Familienpolitik, Bildung und Berufskarrieren von M��ttern in Deutschland, USA und Schweden

This article compares the duration of and consequences for employment interruptions for mothers with distinct educational qualifications in cross-national perspective. We analyze the duration of mothers?? employment interruption and the relative quality of the job after childbirth, for high and low qualified mothers in Germany, Sweden, and the United States. Analyses are based on harmonized national longitudinal data sets (GLHS-West, NLSY, LNU), which allow us to study mothers?? careers over the past 30?C35 years. We apply event-history analysis to study how long mothers with distinct educational levels interrupt employment after childbirth, and how the patterns of return to work differ with respect to mothers?? educational level. In all three countries the highly educated display a greater labor market attachment. In the US, almost half of the mothers with some college background, compared to only a quarter of high-school dropouts stay employed continuously after childbirth. In Sweden, basically all mothers take time-out for at least half a year. In Germany, 25% of mothers with university entrance qualification do not claim parental leave. In Germany and Sweden consequences of leave extensions seem to operate independent of mothers?? educational levels. In the U.S. medium and highly educated mothers tend to return more slowly after the enactment of the FMLA.     

Arbeitsteilung,Berufsorientierung und Partnerschaftsstabilität – Ehen und nichteheliche Lebensgemeinschaften im Vergleich*

The central finding of this paper is that the link between the division of labour and the risk of separation differs depending on the type of relationship. Marriages tend to be destabilised by the wife’s participation in the labour force and stabilised by the traditional division of labour. Empirical evidence of this is manifest in a positive effect of the wife’s income and a negative effect of the husband’s relative income on the likelihood of separation. In contrast to this, unmarried long-term relationships are stabilised by egalitarian division of labour. This is evident from the absence of negative effects of an employment of the female cohabiter on stability of relationship. Furthermore, in unmarried cohabitations the relative income of the man increases the risk of a separation. In addition to the income ratio, homogamous attitudes have explanatory value. Cohabitations are stable when both partners are career-oriented. This finding points to an egalitarian gender-role-orientation among unmarried men. It also implies that an egalitarian orientation has an impact on the living arrangement which needs to be accepted by both partners – for instance when family planning and timing of marriage are concerned.     

Virtuelle Arbeitsstrukturen durch Vertrauen,Zeitkompetenz und Prozessfeedback fördern

The article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) deals with challenges of virtual structures of cooperation and of the team. It focuses especially on effects of personal characteristics, individual competence and team competence on team work and team performance in particular. Apparently, trust emerges in a different way in virtual working structures than in face-to-face teams. The discussion of the term ?trust‘ leads to a broader understanding of the development of trust and its importance, which helps to classify it in a process. Time competence is classified as particularly relevant to the emergence of trust, as teamwork becomes more flexible and team members take higher responsibilities than in face-to-face-teams. Control and responsibility move towards the members of the team, which in turn corresponds with a necessity for trust. Consequently, process feedback and transformational leadership can be identified as recommendable instruments for the enhancement of time competence and trust, which can lead to better team play. When taking a closer look at the role of leaders and team members in virtual environments, it becomes clear that reciprocity cannot be taken for granted in virtual teams. Differences in team structure as well as differing priorities in team goals throughout the team are similarly important as the frequency of contacts, the availability and reliability, or trustworthiness, of the individual team members.     

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.     

Das internationale Führungsparkett – Herausforderungen,Haltegriffe und hilfreiche Schrittfolgen

Managers and executives are increasingly facing the challenge of being successful in an complex international context. This article explains the specific demands international co-operation poses on leading executives. It offers encouragement as well as methods which could be used as ‘helping grips’ when observing and coming to terms with situations in this special working environment, with the objective of offering the involved players a larger spectrum of possible action. The first part describes concrete action fields of international co-operation that managers should pay attention to in their daily international work. The second part of the article dedicates itself to the fields of intercultural competencies that are helpful for leading executives. The concluding part deals with some highly demanding general challenges of international co-operation, which managers sometimes describe as surprising and overwhelming, and which are therefore good and quite helpful to know in advance.     

Finanzialisierung,Demokratie und Gesellschaft – zehn Jahre nach Beginn der Finanzkrise

This introduction to the special issue—ten years after the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers and the beginning of a worldwide financial, economic, and debt crisis—reflects on the extent to which the economic crisis affected a turning point in society overall. The current state of research into the relationship between financialization, democracy, and social conditions strongly suggests that while the processes of financialization that favored the emergence of a crisis were influenced by the financial crisis, they were not completely reversed. In fact, the financial market regulation, which was changed in response to the crisis, did not exert any modifying pressure in terms of a restructuring of the financial system. An epochal shift in financial market regulation therefore cannot be identified from the steps taken in the reform process. Elseways there is clear evidence that the financial crisis has had a lasting impact on the European integration process, confidence in democracy, and political culture. The financial crisis is therefore likely to be perceived as a historical watershed, mainly due to its impact on societal areas beyond the financial system itself.     

Neue Arbeitswelt,Führung und organisationaler WandelNew Economy,Leadership and Organizational Change.

This article of the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation.” analyzes and discusses current changes in the working environment with regard to the associated opportunities and risks. Due to the growing dynamism of the markets, digitization, the demographic change and the change of values the importance of flexibility and changeability as central prerequisites for organizational survival is rising constantly. At the same time organizations and employees make higher demands on each other. This shift in the “psychological contract” between employees and organization is discussed in the light of the characteristics of “generation Y”. The article concludes by summarizing consequences of these developments for work in organizations, leadership, change processes and consulting.     

Geburten aus geplanten und ungeplanten Schwangerschaften – Die Relevanz von Bildung,Arbeitslosigkeit und PartnerschaftChildren from Planned and Unplanned Pregnancies: The Importance of Education,Unemployment and Partnership

Micro theories on fertility such as the economic theory of family frame fertility behaviour in industrialized countries as a decision. Predictions of these theories have been tested in numerous empirical studies. This research widely ignores that childbirth may also result from unintended pregnancies. We discuss how education, educational and labour market participation as well as partnership status influence unplanned and planned pregnancy in Germany. To test our hypotheses, we use data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study, collected between 2001 and 2013. The focus is on the planning status of pregnancies leading to a first or third birth. Data on women are analysed with event history models for competing risks. Contrary to arguments of high opportunity costs, graduates show an above-average probability of planned pregnancies. Unemployed women, who should have lower opportunity costs, do not have an increased probability of planned pregnancies; instead their first children are more often unplanned. Consensual unions, which are less serious but offer the same opportunities for sexual activity as marriages, have the highest rate of unplanned pregnancies. The overall findings make clear that future surveys and empirical research might benefit from taking intentions into account, which would enable more rigorous testing of fertility theories.     

Die Dynamik von Führung, Vertrauen und Konflikt in virtuellen Teams

The importance of virtual teams for collaboration of globally networked organizations has long been debated. But although this new form of division of labor appears in nearly all companies, which poses special challenges to managers and team members, scientific findings and recommendations have not sufficiently been integrated into practice so far. This article discusses on the one hand the challenges and opportunities of virtual teams, on the other hand wants by the presenting of scientific findings both provide food for thought, as well as concrete recommendations for implementation in practice.     

Zur Entwicklung christlicher Religiosität in Deutschland und Westeuropa, 1900–1960

This article does, firstly, offer a critical assessment of the available quantitative data on key parameters of ritual practice in Germany, i.e. the number of church-goers and communions. Such a critique of the underlying evidence is necessary as the compilation of statistical data was part of the organizational routine of the churches, and thus a benchmark for organizational “success”. These data are then, secondly, used to chart the development of ritual practice in Germany from around 1900 to the 1960s. Apart from differences between Protestants and Catholics, emphasis is placed on the relative decline and inner fragmentation of confessional milieux before 1945, i.e. well ahead of the 1960s, which are often interpreted as a watershed towards increased secularization. These empirical findings are, thirdly, interpreted in the context of recent debates among historians and sociologists over the validity of the secularization paradigm, leading to a revised insistence on secularization as a concept, also in a broader comparative perspective that looks at developments in other Western European countries.     

Informationsüberlastung bei digitaler Zusammenarbeit – Ursachen,Folgen und Interventionsmöglichkeiten

In this article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) we analyze current research on influencing factors and consequences of information overload (IO) in team information exchange mediated by modern information and communication technologies (ICT). We consider, which underlying mediating mechanisms cause information overload in team information search and processing, as well as team decision making and communication information, and discuss possible interventions. We focus both on empirical research and on the differentiation between causes, resources and on team level interventions. Based on existing findings we draw implications for future research and practice. In particular we show, how leaders can avoid IO and can contribute to efficient ICT mediated team communication.     

Teamarbeit und Gesundheit – Der Einfluss von Teammerkmalen auf Stressbewältigung und Gesundheit bei Un- und Angelernten

To date, research on teamwork and health is sparse. This accounts for teams with low-qualified workers in particular. In this paper a work psychological model for resource and stress management in teams and a study with teams of low-qualified workers are presented (N?=?265 in 33 teams). Results of multi-level analyses show, that team resources in the social work system and understaffing in teams as a team stressor have significant influence on collective coping and explain team differences. Further, team resources in the technical work system, i.e. the quality of teamwork design have significant influence on psychosomatic complaints. These influences go beyond the influences of socio-demographic variables and individual job stressors and job resources.     

Verbindliche und unverbindliche Grundschulempfehlungen und soziale Ungleichheiten am ersten Bildungs��bergang

While the influence of numerous individual and family characteristics on social disparities in educational achievement is examined in several studies, the relevance of institutional conditions on the attainment of different social groups is comparatively unclear. The present study adds to this debate and analyses the effect of mandatory and non-mandatory teacher recommendations on social disparities in educational participation after primary school. This is done by using unique data from North Rhine-Westphalia, where the degree of obligation of the teacher recommendation varied in terms of a natural experiment. Two transition cohorts are considered, one before and one after the change of a non-mandatory to a mandatory setting of the teacher recommendation in 2006. The results reveal that a mandatory teacher recommendation reduces the influence of social origin on the transition from primary to secondary school. This effect is especially apparent when families choose between the medium and the highest track in the German educational system, the Realschule and the Gymnasium.