The composition of public sector compensation: The effects of unionization and bureaucratic size

This paper examines the effect of the political power of public sector unions on the composition of public sector compensation. Public employee unions provide a relatively low-cost vehicle for organizing workers’ political activity in support of the rent-seeking behavior of local politicians. The unions also provide a conduit for employees to capture part of these rents as payment for political services. Since the public has little interest in paying for the political activities of public workers, these payments are most likely to be made through fringe benefits so as to minimize public scrutiny. The authors would like to thank an anonymous referee for helpful suggestions. Any errors remain those of the authors.     

Ethnic Conflict and Healthcare: Cultural Dimensions of the Healthcare Delivery Crisis in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

The internecine conflict that erupted in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 was only one episode in hundreds of years of ethnic tension that also produced culturally rich communities. The city of Mostar once known for its interethnic tolerance is now torn between Croatians and Muslims living together in what has been described as an armed truce. This is especially well demonstrated in the failure to rebuild the regional healthcare system, even as the health status of the population continues to deteriorate. Nonetheless this failure provides an opportunity to begin a dialogue that can lead to well being through both improved healthcare and enhanced civility.     

No hiding place: on the discomforts of researching the contemporary policy process

It has never been easy to conduct research into currently sensitive policy issues, but there is now accumulating evidence to indicate that various forms of resistance to scholarly investigation are on the increase. Such a climate handicaps all social policy research, but may have the greatest impact on ethnographic projects. Yet, it is argued, ethnography is increasingly widely recognised among academics as having a particularly valuable contribution to make to the study of the policy process. Unfortunately, many policy practitioners (and occasionally some academic colleagues) perceive ethnographic research as being of questionable validity and low helpfulness. This behaves policy-oriented ethnographers to demonstrate that they do indeed have procedures for assuring validity, even if their style of investigation is never likely to be popular with government.     

The relative career advancement of men and women engineers in the United States

Abstract

Despite the fact that women engineering students perform as well as their male classmates during college, women engineers report lower salaries and supervisory responsibility levels after about five years in the labour force. Several hypotheses concerning the reasons for the differences in career advancement of men and women engineers were investigated in a national survey of engineers in the United States. The gender differences in career advancement could not be explained by differences in education level or in self-perceptions of ability. The fact that women were more likely to have taken a career break than were men did decrease their salaries and supervisory levels. However, gender differences were still apparent even when this factor was controlled. The careers of both men and women were affected by conflicts arising from the multiple roles of worker, spouse, and parent, but many women engineers avoided such conflicts by remaining single and childless. These results challenge several popular explanations for the differential advancement of men and women, but the actual causes remain unknown.     

Reactions of leaders to 360-degree feedback from subordinates and peers

The current study examined factors related to leaders' reactions to 360-degree feedback. The total sample consisted of 220 supervising managers from a large public utility. We collected data in three waves which involved pretest, performance rating, and posttest surveys (49 leaders had valid data from all three waves of measurement). We hypothesized that overall ratings, organizational support, and perceived rater ability would be positively related to four reaction criteria (acceptance and perceived usefulness of subordinate feedback and peer feedback). Results showed that overall ratings were related to acceptance of peer and subordinate feedback, but were less consistently related to perceptions of feedback usefulness. For perceived usefulness of subordinate feedback, organizational support accounted for unique variance beyond overall ratings, and perceived rater ability was marginally significant. None of the predictions for perceived usefulness of peer feedback were significant. The authors discuss limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research.     

Supervising Social Workers in Involuntary Contexts: Some Considerations

ABSTRACT

This article outlines areas for reflection for those providing supervision to social workers working in involuntary and semivoluntary contexts. This includes clinical implications, impacts on social work identity, and potential impacts on the supervisory relationship itself. It suggests that there are some areas that could be considered for discussion and exploration that may be different in focus to other types of supervisory practice, encouraging supervisors to consider their own approach in response to the issues raised.

IMPLICATIONS

• Working in involuntary contexts raises specific challenges in relation to power and authority in practice, as well as a range of ethical dilemmas.

• Supervisors might wish to consider the issues raised with a view to exploring with their supervisees how working with involuntary clients changes their framework or approach.