‘Contestation,negotiation, and resolution’: The relationship between power and collective leadership

The relationship between power and collective leadership (CL) has been theoretically understood and empirically addressed in many different ways. To make sense of this diversity, we investigate and diagram the role of power in CL. First, we identify six representations of power—six ways in which scholars have found that power shapes the emergence and enactment of CL. These representations include: Even in CL, individual power matters; Leaders can devolve power to their subordinates by empowering them; Contextual characteristics related to power can influence the possibility and enactment of CL; CL can create the collective power necessary for people in marginalized positions to challenge embedded power dynamics; Power is intrinsic to the co-construction process; Attributions affect who can enact CL, how they are viewed, and whether they have power. Second, we offer a conceptual framework that provides a comprehensive way to understand the relationship between power and CL. The framework includes two dimensions, one related to power (that runs from episodic to systemic) and the other related to CL (that runs from entitative to emergent). Third, we create a conceptual map by placing the six representations within this framework. Based on our research, we make the case that we cannot understand CL without understanding the ubiquitous, complex, and even contradictory role of power. We also suggest avenues for expanding and elaborating discussions of power in the CL literature.     

“Unexpected and Distressing”: Understanding and Improving the Experience of Transferring Palliative Care Inpatients to Residential Care

The survival of patients with advanced cancer, coupled with the increased presence of end-stage chronic illnesses in an aging population, is leading to a demand in palliative care. Due to the ongoing need for acute-pain and symptom control in hospice/palliative care units, few are able to offer long-stay admission for those whose symptoms have stabilized. When a patient no longer requires specialist palliative care services, transfer from an inpatient palliative care facility may then be necessary. A core component of the role of palliative-care social workers involves working with patients and their families/carers when the care pathway shifts and the option of residential aged care facility (RACF) needs to be considered. This research explored several issues, including the impact of this transition on the patient and their families and on the interdisciplinary health care team treating the patient. An investigation was undertaken to identify concerns and barriers regarding the transition from hospice care to RACF and opportunities were highlighted to improve clinical practice in this area. A tripartite approach was adopted conducting face-to-face interviews with patients, their families/carers, and health care professionals. Members of the interdisciplinary team were interviewed and social workers working in similar inpatient palliative-care facilities undertook telephone interviews to gauge their experiences. A thematic analysis discerned a number of themes highlighting the impact of this transition on key stakeholders and incorporated recommendations to improve or best manage this process. The research has highlighted the difficulties that patients/families encounter in this transition, as well as the emphases of protecting the integrity of the patient and family. This is achieved by holding open and ongoing dialogue, particularly through family meetings and working in collaboration with the patient, the family, and the team. Understanding the experience and impact of this transition on key stakeholders is helpful in building up a knowledge base and to ensure a more effective relationship occurs. This research incorporated the voices of terminally ill patients, families, and members of the health care team in order to understand their views and recommendations for best managing the transition from a hospice/inpatient palliative-care facility to a RACF. This enables their input to have some real impetus in clinical practice and service delivery.     

Editorial

This article compares the outcomes of the 1996 and 2001 research selectivity exercises in respect of their impact upon the discipline of social work in the United Kingdom. Material in respect of the 1996 RAE is principally derived from the study by Lyons and Orme; in respect of the 2001 RAE the material is derived from the study conducted by Salford Centre for Social Work Research. Key findings of the comparison between the RAE 1996 and 2001 reveal the continuation of an upward drift in gradings; that pre‐1992 universities have improved their position by achieving higher results; and a reduction in the gap between pre‐ and post‐1992 universities. The findings also suggest that institutions have become better players of the RAE ‘game’. There is also evidence of an increased dissatisfaction with the RAE process and outcome between the two RAE exercises.     

银行贷款、商业信用融资及我国上市公司的公司治理

本文讨论了银行贷款以及商业信用融资对我国上市公司公司治理的影响.通过对1995到2000年间上市公司CEO更换的研究,我们得到两个结论:第一,在经营业绩为负的公司中,银行贷款与强制性CEO更换存在负向关系,而商业信用融资与强制性CEO更换存在正向关系;第二,在盈利能力一般的公司中,商业信用融资与强制性CEO更换仍为正向关系,但银行贷款与强制性CEO更换却不存在明显的关系.以上结果表明,商业信用融资在CEO强制性更换中起到了积极的作用,改善了上市公司的公司治理,而银行贷款却没有起到相应的作用,甚至有负面的作用.     

Multinationals’ political activity for institutional change: Evidence from Spain during the international crisis of 2008

International crises generate uncoupling between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the institutional environment. In these settings, industry associations of MNEs have an incentive to engage in institutional change by taking a role as institutional entrepreneurs in order to generate change within the existing, unsuitable institutions. However, MNEs can also try to avoid such institutions or try to adapt to them. Because the antecedents and outcomes of these three forms of engagement in institutional change (institutional avoidance, adaptation, and entrepreneurship) have been scarcely studied in Europe, this reflection examines the case of Spain during the international crisis and analyses the coordinated action of MNEs through their associations in seven industries. The discussion of 30 pieces of evidence regarding the engagement in institutional change in Spain suggests a model that proposes relevant antecedents of different forms of engagement and the expected outcomes resulting from the chosen forms, among them: co-evolution and co-involution.     

Social welfare grey zones: how and why subnational actors provide when nations do not?

In an era where even citizenship is not a guarantee of access to the welfare state, can non-citizens gain access to social protection? Using health care as a lens, and the United States and Spain as cases, we find that non-citizens do have access to social protection via what we call ‘grey zones’, namely points of disagreement between national and local governments that create opportunities for non-citizens. Grey zones are possible due to processes that are often seen as disenfranchising: the denationalisation of policy and the disaggregation of citizenship. In addition, they tend to open up regardless of the nature or intent of national reforms. That said, we find significant variation in the extent to which subnational governments take advantage of them. While differences are somewhat explained by partisanship, significant outliers warrant further investigation.     

Ethnic Prejudice and Intergroup Contact in Prospective Adoptive Parents

While ethnic prejudice is considered a key factor in parental cultural socialization strategies, there is nonetheless a lack of research about this topic among prospective transracially adoptive parents and the extent of their contacts with members of minority ethnic groups. Participants in the current study were 175 couples: 102 prospective adoptive parents pursuing international adoption in Italy and 73 couples who at the time of the study neither had children nor were involved in the adoption process. Results showed, first, that prospective adoptive parents reported lower levels of ethnic prejudice and more positive intergroup contacts than the comparison group and, second, that adoptive status, together with a more positive intergroup contact, predicted lower levels of negative prejudice. Implications for pre- and post-adoption interventions are discussed.     

Influence of Perceived Maternal Psychological Control on Academic Performance in Chinese Adolescents: Moderating Roles of Adolescents’ Age,Gender, and Filial Piety

Existing studies with East Asian samples have reported inconsistent findings on the association between parental psychological control and academic performance in children and adolescents. A moderation effect is present, when the magnitude or direction of the association between two variables significantly changes with another variable called a moderator. This study explored moderators for the association between maternal psychological control and academic performance. A total of 338 Chinese secondary school students aged 14–20completed self-report measures of perceived maternal psychological control, academic performance, and attitudes toward filial piety. Structural equation modeling suggested that adolescent age moderated the association of interest: the influence of perceived maternal psychological control on academic performance significantly varied between middle adolescents aged 14–17 and late adolescents aged 18–20. Based on the findings, this study offers a possible rationale for the inconsistent findings in studies with East Asian samples and proposes that parenting effect should be assessed developmentally.     

Community e-gateways: locating networks and learning for social inclusion

The provision of community e-gateways (community-based facilities providing public access to computers and the Internet) has been seen as a way to address the 'digital divide', particularly for people from deprived neighbourhoods. In the UK, policy and practitioner literature has stressed that for these centres to be successful they need to have strong social connections and be able to provide opportunities for interactive learning and content creation. Through a detailed analysis of one community e-gateway, which formed part of a wider study of public access provision, this article analyses the strengths and weaknesses of this advice drawing on broader sociological literature relating to social networks, network mapping and communities of practice. It concludes that greater attention needs to be paid to the significance of weak ties, two-way boundary spanning and the resource requirements of social networks for the policy objectives to be fully achieved.     

Promoting youth purpose: a review of the literature

This article reviews the research literature on teaching and supporting purpose in adolescence and young adulthood. An extensive search revealed that most studies on youth purpose examine psychological correlates and neglect instructional and social supports. School is an effective context for fostering purpose, yet reported approaches for explicitly instructing for purpose are rare after the early 1990s, reflecting a trend away from a language of purpose as a discrete endeavor in education since at least the 1960s. Furthermore, research on the outcomes of early purpose instruction curricula is not present in empirical journal articles. Nevertheless, a concern for fostering youth purpose has not disappeared from education; rather, it is subsumed under approaches that foster more comprehensive positive student outcomes, such as character, civic engagement, and positive youth development. Key curricular approaches to these outcomes are therefore also reviewed and examined for insights into how purpose can be fostered.