A review of the effectiveness of empowering leadership

Based on a review of empirical literature on empowering leadership, given incongruent and mixed results, the current work suggests reconsidering the effectiveness of empowering leadership. We propose a framework for examining the effectiveness of empowering leadership that considers: 1) feasibility of non-linear main effects of empowering leadership on work-related outcomes, 2) possibility of reverse causation between empowering leadership and work-related outcomes, 3) potential contradictory mediating mechanisms through which empowering leadership influences work-related outcomes, 4) consideration of boundary conditions which could alter the relationships between empowering leadership and work-related outcomes, and 5) consideration of levels-of-analysis and multilevel issues in empowering leadership. Our framework considers the multifaceted nature of empowering leadership and offers a guiding tool for advancing future research in this area.     

Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Health Programming for Adolescents Living with HIV in Uganda

Despite revising their reproductive health policies in line with the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, a major challenge facing many developing countries is the inability to fully implement the policies owing to lack of funds, bureaucratic delays, and limited awareness among various stakeholders. In some countries, the policies fail to adequately address sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of vulnerable groups. This study examines the barriers to SRH programming for adolescents living with HIV from the perspectives of key stakeholders involved in SRH issues in Uganda. The data are from qualitative interviews conducted in 2007 with 23 key informants from bilateral institutions, government ministries, and civil society organizations. The study findings confirm that policy and programmatic gaps exist in addressing the SRH needs of HIV-positive adolescents. This is attributable to: (1) lack of clear guidelines on how to address the SRH of HIV-positive adolescents; (2) challenges of dealing with adolescent SRH in general; (3) HIV/AIDS treatment, care, and support services that are either pediatric- or adult-oriented; and (4) limited institutional and provider capacity to offer SRH services to HIV-positive adolescents despite recognizing that this is an emerging area that requires intervention. These results suggest the need for: (1) clear guidelines on dealing with SRH of HIV-positive adolescents; (2) establishing transition clinics or youth-friendly corners to cater for the needs of adolescents who cannot fit in either pediatric or adult clinics; and (3) providing training and reorientation on SRH of HIV-positive adolescents to service providers/counsellors.     

A 25-year perspective on levels of analysis in leadership research

The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive 25-year review of the incorporation of levels of analysis into conceptual and empirical leadership research published within Leadership Quarterly throughout its history. We assessed the population of Leadership Quarterly's research (790 research articles) on four key levels of analysis-based issues: (1) explicit statement of the focal level(s) of analysis; (2) appropriate measurement given level of constructs; (3) use of a multi-level data analysis technique; and, (4) alignment of theory and data. Prior reviews regarding levels of analysis incorporation into leadership research have been limited to major research domains. Results revealed that while both conceptual and empirical articles only explicitly state the focal level of analysis in approximately one-third of the articles, appropriate levels-based measurement and alignment between theory and data are relatively strong areas of achievement for the articles within Leadership Quarterly. Multi-level data analysis techniques are used in less than one-fifth of all articles. Although there is room for improvement, there is evidence that Leadership Quarterly is a premier outlet for levels-based leadership research. Given the increasing complexity of organizational science with regard to groups, teams and collectives, Leadership Quarterly has an opportunity to model for organizational research on how to build and test complicated multi-level theories and models.     

Basic needs in rural Nigeria

Rural poverty which persists in Nigeria despite the prosperity created by the country's oil wealth is evident in the difficulty experienced by many in satisfying their basic needs for food, water and shelter. The lack of these basic needs has held up rural development in Nigeria. This paper highlights the need for adopting a basic needs approach to rural development. It suggests that the basic needs should be identified for each community in recognition of the fact that the priority of needs differs according to the people's socio-cultural conditions. It is observed that if the priority of needs is not sorted out with the people, the government may be involved in spending money on rural development projects that least satisfy the people's needs. The phases of determining the basic needs with the people are examined. The paper concludes that at every stage of development people do know what their needs are and they can be relied upon to determine their own priorities of development and then work for them.     

Online tree node assignment with resource augmentation

Given a complete binary tree of height h, the online tree node assignment problem is to serve a sequence of assignment/release requests, where an assignment request, with an integer parameter 0≤i≤h, is served by assigning a (tree) node of level (or height) i and a release request is served by releasing a specified assigned node. The node assignments have to guarantee that no node is assigned to two assignment requests unreleased, and every leaf-to-root path of the tree contains at most one assigned node. With assigned node reassignments allowed, the target of the problem is to minimize the number of assignments/reassignments, i.e., the cost, to serve the whole sequence of requests. This online tree node assignment problem is fundamental to many applications, including OVSF code assignment in WCDMA networks, buddy memory allocation and hypercube subcube allocation.     

THE WAGE EARNERS' WELFARE STATE REVISITED: REFURBISHING THE ESTABLISHED MODEL OF AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL PROTECTION, 1983–93

This article sets out to give an overview of the most significant policy changes and developments influencing the development of social protection in Australia in the past decade. Rather than focussing on an assessment of gains and losses within the narrow confines of the state welfare system, it looks at what has happened to the broad configuration of policies which have come to constitute Australia's highly distinctive wage earners' welfare state. Overall, the conclusion is that the institutional forms and normative goals of the wage earner's welfare state have proved far more resilient and adaptable than critics have assumed likely, with targeting, award-based superannuation and women's welfare singled out as the most interesting areas in which Labor has contributed to the refurbishing of the established model.     

Estimating survival rates from recoveries of birds ringed as young: a case study

Models for analysis of survival rates from recoveries of birds ringed as young were evaluated for lesser snow geese ringed on the breeding grounds at La Perouse Bay, Manitoba from 1970 to 1992. Analyses of birds ringed as adults and young indicate recovery rates were lower for young than for older birds and varied independently in the two age classes. Adult survival increased over the study, while that of immatures decreased. Using only recoveries of birds ringed as young, models incorporating observed variation in recovery rates were not identifiable. Many sets of constraints could be selected to make the model identifiable, but there was no objective way to distinguish among them, and each could lead to different conclusions. The observed changes in survival rates could not be estimated. Previous analyses have shown that models for birds ringed as young can be used to test even complex variation in survival rates, provided that recovery rates do not vary with age. Unfortunately, as shown by the geese, this assumption may often be violated and can only be tested with additional data, preferably from birds recaptured or ringed as sub-adults or adults.     

Measuring rural development in Nigeria: The place of social indicators

The use of economic growth indicators for the purpose of measuring rural development has for a long time been in practice in Nigeria and in many other developing nations. The inadequacy of this measure in depicting development in the area of societal well-being has suggested that social indicators could be a more meaningful tool to monitor and evaluate the level and conditions of rural development. This paper highlights the information needs for, and problems of incorporating social indicators in the measurement of rural development in Nigeria. It is recognized that for social indicators to be a useful tool in a place such as rural Nigeria, they must reflect the sociocultural peculiarities and the life style of the country's rural population. The paper finally suggests an improvement of the quality of social statistics in rural Nigeria to enhance their functional values to planners and policy makers.