Coaching im Spagat zwischen Praxis und Wissenschaft

Coaching between practice and science. Coaching theory and -practice are two sides of the same coin. As contrasted with the successful practice the theoretical and scientific explanation of coaching is still unattended despite the fact that serious coaching conceptions are to base on epistemological and scientific premises; and this only for the sake of practice. The text at hand will point out the limits and the possibilities to approach the task for answering to the questions of differences between science, theory and practice.     

Bindungsdimensionen und Studieneinstellungen

Hazan &; Shaver (1990) relate the emotional attachment and the working attitude of adults to the effects of emotional attachment and exploration experiences in early childhood.The present study analyses this question and relates the emotional attachment dimensions of anxiety and avoidance (Grau, 1994) to education oriented attitudes, e.g. interest in studies contents, satisfaction and priority in and of studies vs. private life and career orientation. 126 teaching profession and psychology students answered a questionnaire including the following concepts: Attachment dimensions, attachment types, study related attitudes and life-orientation. Attachment dimensions and attachment types showed the expected convergent validity. Results confirm most — bot not all — of the predicted relations between relationship’s dimensions and study oriented attitudes.     

PARTIAL TAX HARMONIZATION THROUGH INFRASTRUCTURE COORDINATION

In this article, we analyze the role of infrastructure coordination in facilitating partial tax harmonization within a coalition of asymmetric jurisdictions. Two main results are obtained. First, productivity asymmetries represent a serious handicap for partial tax harmonization that can be remedied by coordinating nontax instruments when they allow to reduce these asymmetries. Second, infrastructure coordination through the choice of a common investment level is particularly indicated when asymmetries between potential members of a tax coalition are large. The current usage of European Union (EU) structural funds orientated to reduce regional infrastructure deficits is therefore suitable to facilitate tax harmonization within the EU. (JEL H87, H54, H21)     

Motivating teammates: The leader’s choice between positive and negative incentives

Team leaders often provide incentives for cooperation. A challenging question is how different incentive schemes and their actual choice by the leader shape the team’s culture and contribute to the team’s success. To shed light on this issue we investigate how a leader chooses between rewards or punishment in an experimental team setting and how teammates’ contributions are influenced by this choice. Leaders show a clear initial preference for rewards, which diminishes over time in some teams. Leaders who observe more free-riders in their teams tend to switch to punishment incentives. A change from rewards to negative incentives results in an immediate and enduring increase in contributions. On the other hand, contributions show a decreasing trend in teams with a leader who sticks to rewards.     

Implementing Box–Cox Quantile Regression

The Box–Cox quantile regression model introduced by Powell (1991 Powell , J. ( 1991 ). Estimation of monotonic regression models under quantile restrictions . In: Barnett , W. , Powell , J. , Tauchen , G. , eds. Nonparametric and Semiparametric Methods in Econometrics . New York , NY : Cambridge University Press , pp. 357 – 384 . [Google Scholar]) is a flexible and numerically attractive extension of linear quantile regression techniques. Chamberlain (1994 Chamberlain , G. ( 1994 ). Quantile regression, censoring, and the structure of wages . In: Sims , C. , ed. Advances in Econometrics: Sixth World Congress . Vol. 1 . Econometric Society Monograph . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . [Google Scholar]) and Buchinsky (1995 Buchinsky , M. ( 1995 ). Quantile regression, Box–Cox transformation model, and the U.S. wage structure, 1963–1987 . Journal of Econometrics 65 : 109 – 154 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) suggest a two stage estimator for this model but the objective function in stage two of their method may not be defined in an application. We suggest a modification of the estimator which is easy to implement. A simulation study demonstrates that the modified estimator works well in situations, where the original estimator is not well defined.     

Doppik und Produkthaushalte als Instrumente strategischen Managements in Kommunen – Eine vergleichende Fallstudie

This study aims at answering the question whether currently adopted approaches of accrual accounting and product-based budgeting are appropriate for strategic management in local government. A comparative case study is undertaken in Nordrhein-Westfalen as one of the leading federal states in Germany to reform its municipalities?? financial management. Generated insights allow deriving determinants of a successful change to accrual accounting and product-based budgeting thus contributing to a research framework for strategic management in local government. Furthermore, implications on how to deal with this paradigm shift are generated for public managers.     

Changes in Union Membership Over Time: A Panel Analysis for West Germany

Abstract. Despite the apparent stability of the wage bargaining institutions in West Germany, aggregate union membership has been declining dramatically since the early 1990s. However, aggregate gross membership numbers do not distinguish between employment status and it is impossible to disaggregate these sufficiently. This paper uses four waves of the German Socio‐economic Panel in 1985, 1989, 1993, and 1998 to perform a panel analysis of net union membership among employees. We estimate a correlated random‐effects probit model suggested by Chamberlain (Handbook of Econometrics, Vol. II, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1984) to take proper account of individual‐specific effects. Our results suggest that at the individual level the propensity to be a union member has not changed considerably over time. Thus, the aggregate decline in membership is due to composition effects. We also use the estimates to predict net union density at the industry level based on the IAB employment subsample for the time period 1985–97.