Success and failure in management buyouts

This paper outlines a model for examining the process of formulating a successful management buyout, taking the viewpoint of all concerned, viz., buyers, sellers, advisors, investors and employees. It arises out of the observation of, and involvement in, a number of buyout negotiations: some were completed but continue to falter; some were aborted; others are currently successful. The paper suggests that eventual success is a function of two main factors. The first is the probability of conflict, as defined by the buyout typology, and the second the decisions made, and not made, during negotiations. The latter includes such questions as, for the company: what to hive down: which management to involve; future customer relations; and for the deal: the setting of the price: the future role of investors; choosing advisors.     

Children's protective services and law enforcement: fostering partnerships in investigations of child abuse

Although collaboration in child abuse investigations has been emphasized since 1974, barriers, including role conflicts and organizational differences, have often been reported. This study describes the process of collaboration based on the perceptions of investigators working with a Child Advocacy Center. Telephone interviews were conducted with 290 child protective service workers and law enforcement officers from 28 child advocacy centers in 20 different states. Respondents identified barriers to the process of collaboration such as conflicts over case control and facilitators including co-housing and cross-training. Conditions that should contribute to successful collaboration are discussed.     

钓鱼岛问题的历史与现状

钓鱼岛问题,是历史遗留在中日之间的领土主权归属问题。钓鱼岛自古以来就是中国领土,日本对钓鱼岛的实际占领,以及日方在钓鱼岛问题上所持的强硬立场,使钓鱼岛问题日益复杂化,已成为中日关系中最为敏感的问题之一。它不仅关系到中日关系的发展,而且涉及亚太地区战略格局发展的大局。中日必须从21世纪两国关系发展大局出发,妥善处理分歧,和平解决争端。      

Structuring injustice: partisan politics in the making and unmaking of James Madison University's equal opportunity policy

This analysis contributes to LGBT campus climate research on the quality of campus life in higher education in the United States. We argue that public education institutions in different states face divergent impediments to improving campus climate, and that more research is needed identifying structural factors affecting campus climate. Using a social systems analysis of policymaking at one university as a case study, we illustrate how partisan politics and state regulation make Virginia colleges and universities more vulnerable to political scrutiny and control. Finally, we propose a social justice-oriented policy agenda to address structural inequalities.     

Transforming conflict: mediation and reparation in a staff team

Working with the aftermath of child sexual abuse places the individual practitioners, teams and organizations involved at risk of re‐enacting the abusive dynamics of dominance and submission. An example of an effective intervention into a dysfunctional team illustrates how an alternative pattern of supportive companionable relating can be promoted. The team were enabled to re‐evaluate their relationships and to rebuild in six stages via a process of mediation and reparation. Theoretical concepts informing a framework for change at personal, professional and organizational levels are drawn from attachment theory and research, trauma work, advocacy and groupwork. Reflections are offered on the wider need for transformation and repair as the millennium approaches after a decade of painful controversies in the professional and public domains. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managing Contradiction: Stockholder and Stakeholder Views of the Firm as Paradoxical Opportunity

Stockholder and stakeholder perspectives have been positioned in the literature as being in tension, and thus a potential source of innovation and change. However, researchers have overlooked a systematic examination of this presumption in theory and in practice. This study explores the ways that stockholder and stakeholder assumptions are presented by theorists and compares these with expressions of stockholder and stakeholder perspectives used by firms in practice. We argue that theoretical entrenchment dichotomizing these perspectives has disrupted the ability of researchers to leverage this tension. While scholarship remains trapped in a vicious cycle, we also argue that firms in practice express only the acceptance dimension of a virtuous cycle. Our empirical research demonstrates that firms accept and accommodate the paradoxical tension between managing for stockholders versus balancing the interests of stakeholders. This is evidenced by strategies we identify as book‐ending, cadence, continuous and simultaneous co‐mingling, and hybridization. We find that in practice these tensions are more integrated whereas in theory they are treated as more distinct and, often, in conflict. We suggest ways in which both scholarship and practice can better leverage tension as paradoxical opportunity.