Managing from the Inside Out: Drawing on 'Receptivity' to Explain Variation in Strategy Implementation

With the rise of 'New Public Management' (NPM), government policy has encouraged public-sector organizations to downsize and outsource their services. There is, however, local variation in the use of outsourcing – this is 'managing from the inside out'. This paper draws on the notion of receptivity for organizational change to explain variation in strategy implementation. Four receptivity factors are identified which seem to explain the success of two contrasting English local government outsourcing strategies: ideological vision, leading change, institutional politics and implementation capacity. The organization level of change is interconnected with two other levels of change (the public service and environment levels) to illustrate the dynamic nature of change.     

Ebert. Wolfgang (2001): Systemtheorien in der Supervision — Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The web proxy location problem in general tree of rings networks

The Web proxy location problem in general networks is an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we study the problem in networks showing a general tree of rings topology. We improve the results of the tree case in literature and get an exact algorithm with time complexity O(nhk), where n is the number of nodes in the tree, h is the height of the tree (the server is in the root of the tree), and k is the number of web proxies to be placed in the net. For the case of networks with a general tree of rings topology we present an exact algorithm with O(kn ²) time complexity.This research has been supported by NSF of China (No. 10371028) and the Educational Department grant of Zhejiang Province (No. 20030622).     

Moving in or Breaking Up? The Role of Distance in the Development of Romantic Relationships

Most romantic relationships start with a living apart together (LAT) phase during which the partners live in two separate households. Over time, a couple might decide to move in together, to separate, or to remain together while maintaining their nonresidential status. This study investigates the competing risks that partners in a LAT relationship will experience the transition to coresidence or to separation. We consider the amount of time LAT partners have to travel to see each other to be a key determinant of relationship development. For our statistical analyses, we use seven waves of the German Family Panel Pairfam (2008/2009–2014/2015) and analyze couples in the age group 20–40 years. We distinguish between short-distance relationships (the partners have to travel less than one hour) and long-distance relationships (the partners have to travel one hour or more). Estimating a competing risks model, we find that couples in long-distance relationships are more likely to separate than those living in close proximity. By contrast, the probability of experiencing a transition to coresidence is lower for LAT couples in long-distance than for those in short-distance relationships. Interaction analyses reveal that distance seems to be irrelevant for the relationship development of couples with two nonemployed (unemployed, in education or other inactive) partners.     

Investigating Possible Effects of Ethnicity and Age on Gambling as an Escape

Previous research has shown that there are a number of risk factors for disordered and problem gambling, including an individual’s ethnicity and age. Endorsing gambling as an escape has also been shown to contribute to and maintain disordered gambling. The present study examined potential interactions between ethnicity and age as they relate to disordered gambling, as well as if ethnicity and age would be predictors of endorsing gambling as an escape. Three hundred fifteen adults from the United States completed measures relating to gambling. Participants were grouped into ethnic categories of Caucasian and non-Caucasian, and age groups of 18–25, 26–35, 36–55, and 56 years old and above. Non-Caucasians reported more gambling problems than Caucasians. A significant interaction was found between ethnicity and age for 36–55 year olds. Overall, participants were more likely to gamble for positive than negative reinforcement. However, only gambling as an escape was a significant predictor of disordered gambling. Implications and limitations are discussed with the thought that these results are informative to practitioners treating disordered gambling.