Vom Übergeben und Übernehmen: Zwei Beispiele aus Familienunternehmen

By means of two case studies the special dynamics of family enterprises’ organizational development is explained, focusing on the phases of handover. Thereby it is shown how family dynamics determine the understanding and the behaviour of those involved. Advisors in this field have to know the diverse rules and dynamics of both social systems: family and enterprises. These networks demand sensitive and equal management.     

Ranking policy options for sustainable development

Sustainable development calls for choices among alternative policy options. It is a common view that such choices can be justified by appealing to an evaluative ranking of the options with respect to how their consequences affect a broad range of prudential and moral values. Three philosophically motivated proposals for analysing evaluative rankings are discussed: the measured merits model (e.g. Chang), the ordered values model (e.g. Griffin), and the permissible preference orderings model (Rabinowicz). The analysis focuses on the models’ potential for making transparent how an evaluative ranking can contribute to a justified choice among options, particularly in situations that involve diverse values as typically found in debates on sustainable development. Such transparency plays a crucial role when policy rankings are going to be used as arguments in political decision processes. The measured merits model is found to have questionable consequences for the concept of sustainability, while the ordered values model calls for an axiological framework that cannot plausibly be spelled out for sustainability. The permissible preference orderings model is more promising. Its formal structure and its ability to deal with value-pluralism provide an interesting re-structuring of the problem of justifying choices in sustainability issues.     

Positive Social Support,Negative Social Exchanges,and Suicidal Behavior in College Students

Abstract

Objective: Risk for suicide is often higher among college students, compared to same-age noncollegiate peers, and may be exacerbated by quality of social support and interactions. The authors examined the independent contributions of positive social support and negative social exchanges to suicide ideation and attempts in college students. Participants: Participants were 439 volunteer undergraduate students, who were primarily female (71%). Methods: Cross-sectional, survey design. Participants completed measures assessing positive social support, including emotional, informational, and tangible support; negative social exchanges; and suicidal behavior, including ideation and attempts. Results: Positive social support, particularly tangible support, and negative social exchanges were significantly predictive of greater suicidal behavior. Conclusions: Practical manifestations of support may buffer against suicide risk for college students, whereas conflict-based interactions may contribute to increased risk. At the institutional, parental, and peer levels, promotion of supportive relationships may be an important suicide prevention strategy.     

Written on the Body

The author considers two recent prize-winning films by women directors (one British and one American) with similar, if not identical themes. Placing them in the category first defined by David Considine as “the cinema of adolescence” the author considers the filmic traditions from which they arise. In both of the films under consideration—Fish Tank and Girlfight—the young female protagonists attempt to resist or subvert socially imposed restrictions. The author considers the way the entrapment of the working-class teenage girls at the centre of these films is represented by non-professional “actresses” selected because they come from the same milieu of run-down sections of cities as their on-screen characters. She explores the way in which these two writer-directors use their actresses to embody on screen issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and culture, and the near-impossible routes out of poverty. To do so, the author utilises theories from sociology, feminist theories of the body, as well as theories derived from film studies to examine these politically driven films.     

Privatization of government services: Pressure-group resistance and service transparency

Even when efficiency gains can be expected from contracting out municipal services, it surprisingly rarely occurs. Political pressure by interest groups, especially unions, is usually assumed responsible. We argue that the effectiveness of such pressure is actually a function of a service’s “transparency,” which determines voter’s knowledge of the quality and cost of the service as well as the tax burden. A model is presented of the interplay between union opposition to contracting and service transparency. Policies are offered to increase transparency and make contracting optimal for governments.     

Marketable job skills for high school students: what we learned from an evaluation of After School Matters

This article summarizes findings from an experimental evaluation of After School Matters (ASM), a paid, apprenticeship-based, after-school program in Chicago for high school students. Analysis of quantitative data from a mock job interview revealed that ASM participants did not demonstrate more marketable job skills than youth in the control group. Qualitative data suggested that the nature of interpersonal interactions and the degree of professional orientation in apprenticeships contributed to variation in marketable job skills across apprenticeships. The article considers the perspective of human resource professionals who participated in the evaluation and describes an interviewing skills curriculum developed in response to the evaluation findings.