Changing Strategy Processes and Strategy Content in Public Sector Organizations? A Longitudinal Case Study of NPM Reforms’ Influence on Strategic Management

New Public Management reforms have been argued to intensify the use of strategic management in public organizations, but there is a need to understand how reforms influence specific aspects such as strategy processes and strategy content. The NPM reforms are expected to formalize and professionalize strategy processes and strategy content towards greater competitiveness, but this may counter cooperation between organizations, which is essential in many areas for overall service provision. Research has provided little empirical knowledge about the simultaneous competition and cooperation in the public sector. This study offers such knowledge via a panel case study of five Danish upper secondary schools over a ten‐year period during a large NPM reform. The study includes three rounds of interviews with school principals before, during and after the reform, combined with secondary data. The study shows that, during reform implementation, strategy processes become more formalized and professionalized, and that teachers, in particular, lose influence. Regarding strategy content, the authors find an increase in external focus and competition, though schools maintain a focus on cooperation. The results suggest that NPM reforms can significantly change strategic management in public organizations, and that this is not necessarily at the expense of cooperation, at least in the short run.     

The minimum vulnerability problem on specific graph classes

Suppose that each edge e of an undirected graph G is associated with three nonnegative integers \(\mathsf{cost}(e)\), \(\mathsf{vul}(e)\) and \(\mathsf{cap}(e)\), called the cost, vulnerability and capacity of e, respectively. Then, we consider the problem of finding \(k\) paths in G between two prescribed vertices with the minimum total cost; each edge e can be shared without any cost by at most \(\mathsf{vul}(e)\) paths, and can be shared by more than \(\mathsf{vul}(e)\) paths if we pay \(\mathsf{cost}(e)\), but cannot be shared by more than \(\mathsf{cap}(e)\) paths even if we pay the cost for e. This problem generalizes the disjoint path problem, the minimum shared edges problem and the minimum edge cost flow problem for undirected graphs, and it is known to be NP-hard. In this paper, we study the problem from the viewpoint of specific graph classes, and give three results. We first show that the problem is NP-hard even for bipartite outerplanar graphs, 2-trees, graphs with pathwidth two, complete bipartite graphs, and complete graphs. We then give a pseudo-polynomial-time algorithm for bounded treewidth graphs. Finally, we give a fixed-parameter algorithm for chordal graphs when parameterized by the number \(k\) of required paths.     

Estimating non-simplified vine copulas using penalized splines

Vine copulas (or pair-copula constructions) have become an important tool for high-dimensional dependence modeling. Typically, so-called simplified vine copula models are estimated where bivariate conditional copulas are approximated by bivariate unconditional copulas. We present the first nonparametric estimator of a non-simplified vine copula that allows for varying conditional copulas using penalized hierarchical B-splines. Throughout the vine copula, we test for the simplifying assumption in each edge, establishing a data-driven non-simplified vine copula estimator. To overcome the curse of dimensionality, we approximate conditional copulas with more than one conditioning argument by a conditional copula with the first principal component as conditioning argument. An extensive simulation study is conducted, showing a substantial improvement in the out-of-sample Kullback–Leibler divergence if the null hypothesis of a simplified vine copula can be rejected. We apply our method to the famous uranium data and present a classification of an eye state data set, demonstrating the potential benefit that can be achieved when conditional copulas are modeled.     

Sociological conceptualizations of compassion fatigue: Expanding our understanding

Compassion fatigue has been primarily studied at the micro level and framed as a psychological “personal trouble” that results from one's personality traits, demographic characteristics, or life and work stressors. In addition, compassion fatigue is used to predict other psychological outcomes such as burnout, depersonalization, and stress. This literature on compassion fatigue has been reviewed, in order to illustrate areas where sociologists can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. In this article we conceptualize compassion fatigue as a sociological concept and overview the potential ways that sociological approaches can enhance our understanding. We draw on the literatures of emotion work, social exchange theory, and macrolevel sociological theories to facilitate the use of compassion fatigue from a sociological perspective. For example, we use concepts such as social integration and anomie to stimulate thinking about rates of compassion fatigue.     

A Note on Dual Internal Labor Markets and Wages of Temporary Workers: Evidence from Linked-Employer-Employee Data

I use linked employer-employee data from the German Federal Statistical Office to estimate within-firm wage differentials between temporary workers with fixed-term contracts and workers with permanent contracts in the context of dual internal labor markets. Wage-tenure profiles of permanent workers are estimated separately for each firm to obtain a proxy for the prevalence of internal labor markets. Temporary workers earn significantly lower wages in firms with steeper wage-tenure profiles. This finding is consistent with the segmentation in a primary permanent workforce with high wages and a secondary temporary workforce with low wages, if internal labor markets are more prevalent.     

Estimating free-roaming cat populations and the effects of one year Trap-Neuter-Return management effort in a highly urban area

Free-roaming cat populations are increasing in urban areas around the world. Management strategies remain controversial, as attempts to rapidly minimize the impact of cats may conflict with finding an ethical means of population reduction in this domesticated species. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is a non-lethal strategy which can theoretically lead to population decline with an ethical approach. The present study aimed to estimate free-roaming cat populations and also to measure the efficacy of a one-year TNR campaign in a highly urban area. Using a sight/resight methodology, we examined free-roaming cat populations in four sites across two neighbourhoods (Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant) in New York City. Sampling was repeated after 1 year, during which an intensive TNR effort occurred in each of those areas. Results from this study found population estimates range from 2.6-4.1 cats/km. Additionally, we found between 78-98% turnover in each study area. After one year of TNR, the proportion of sterilised individuals in our treatment sites increased to 50%. Model results suggest there is no evidence that sterilised individuals are more likely to be encountered, indicating that sterilisation may not affect movement patterns of cats. Free-roaming cats occur at high densities at all study sites, though populations varied, even within the same neighbourhood. We found evidence of considerable migration within study sites, which further complicates the application of a sterilisation management strategy. Management strategies directed toward free-roaming cats, such as TNR, may require a broad-scale approach, involving different facets of the community and should occur over multiple years.     

Resilienz im Arbeitsleben – Eine inhaltliche Differenzierung von Resilienz auf den Ebenen von Individuen,Teams und OrganisationenResilience in the workplace – A conceptual distinction of resilience on different levels: Individuals,teams, and organizations

The ability to recover from adverse events (“resilience”) is crucial in coping with increased demands in the workplace. Resilience facilitates adaptation and development even under demanding conditions and hence ensures psychological well-being. The notion of resilience has not only been used on the level of individuals, but also applies to teams and organizations. Despite its importance for well-being and effective functioning of teams and organizations, the concept of resilience has not yet been sufficiently clarified. In order to deepen the understanding of resilience on different levels, the present article describes and distinguishes individual, team, and organizational resilience. Finally, the article describes guidelines for an organizational resilience management system.     

A liberal paradox for judgment aggregation

In the emerging literature on judgment aggregation over logically connected propositions, expert rights or liberal rights have not been investigated yet. A group making collective judgments may assign individual members or subgroups with expert knowledge on, or particularly affected by, certain propositions the right to determine the collective judgment on those propositions. We identify a problem that generalizes Sen’s ‘liberal paradox’. Under plausible conditions, the assignment of rights to two or more individuals or subgroups is inconsistent with the unanimity principle, whereby unanimously accepted propositions are collectively accepted. The inconsistency can be avoided if individual judgments or rights satisfy special conditions. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the LGS-4 Conference in Caen, June 2005, and at the World Congress of the Econometric Society in London, August 2005. We are grateful for the comments we received at both occasions as well as from anonymous referees. Franz Dietrich acknowledges financial support from the European Commission-DG Research Sixth Framework Programme (CIT-2-CT-2004-506084 / Polarization and Conflict Project). Christian List acknowledges the hospitality of the Social and Political Theory Program, RSSS, Australian National University.