Vertrauen als Merkmal von Beziehungsqualit?t: Modellentwicklung und explorative Interviews im Kontext sportpsychologischer Betreuung

A model is developed, defining interpersonal trust as the consequence of the individual??s evaluation concerning personal conditions and task conditions of counselling. Regarding evaluation, a situational, contextual, and global orientation is distinguished. Five expert-interviews are presented, aimed to test the structure and applicability of the given model in the practice. Goodwill and esteem for the athlete, both situational and contextual connected, were stressed by the experts as important for trust building so as the attribution of a trustful personality was. The interviewed experts ranked expertness as a factor of lower significance for trust building. Discrepancies between the theoretical model and the experts?? opinion refer to future research and opportunities to optimize counselling.     

Extending health care coverage: Potential linkages between statutory social security and community-based social protection

Abstract   The extension of social health protection in developing countries is widely recognized as a priority. Various financing and institutional methods can be used in pursuing this objective, but none of them can achieve universal coverage in the short term. Based on an analysis of the respective strengths and weaknesses of social health insurance and community-based health care schemes, this article demonstrates the high potential of coverage extension strategies that use a pluralistic institutional approach to establish linkages and exploit complementarities optimally. A typology of potential linkages among different methods is presented and their value added illustrated using country examples.     

STENO:an expert system for medical diagnosis based on graphical models and model search

Causal probabilistic models have been suggested for representing diagnostic knowledge in expert systems. This paper describes the theoretical basis for and the implementation of an expert system based on causal probabilistic networks. The system includes model search for building the knowledge base, a shell for making the knowledge base available for users in consultation sessions, and a user interface. The system contains facilities for storing knowledge and propagating new knowledge, and mechanisms for building the knowledge base by semi-automated analysis of a large sparse contingency table. The contingency table contains data acquired for patients in the same diagnostic category as the intended application area of the expert system. The knowledge base of the expert system is created by combining expert knowledge and a statistical model search in a model conversion scheme based on a theory developed by Lauritzen & Spiegelhalter and using exact tests as suggested by Kreiner. The system is implemented on a PC and has been used to simulate the diagnostic value of additional clinical information for coronary artery disease patients under consideration for being referred to coronary arteriography.     

What is sociological about economic sociology? Uncertainty and the embeddedness of economic action

Conclusion This article argues that the problem of uncertainty represents the central limitation of efficiency-based approaches to the explanation and prediction of economic outcomes. The problem of uncertainty reintroduces the Hobbesian problem of order into economics and makes it possible to connect questions of economic decision-making with social theory. The emphasis lies not, as in the behavioral theories of the Carnegie School, in the influence of uncertainty on the actual decision process, but in those social devices that actors rely on in decision-making, i.e., that structure the situation for the agents. If agents cannot anticipate the benefits of an investment, optimizing decisions become impossible, and the question opens up how intentionally rational actors reach decisions under this condition of uncertainty. This provides a systematic starting point for economic sociology. Studies in economic sociology that argue from different theoretical perspectives point to the significance of uncertainty and goal ambiguity. This contribution reflects theoretically why economic sociology can develop a promising approach by building upon these insights. It becomes understandable why culture, power, institutions, social structures, and cognitive processes are important in modern market economies. But it should be equally emphasized that the maximizing paradigm in economics will not be dethroned without a causal theory of the relationship of intentional rationality and social rigidities.     

Pietät und Profit

Under what conditions do new markets emerge? This question is usually answered by referring to technological innovations, price changes, and political interventions. We take the historical development of the funeral market since the seventeenth century as an example to show that cultural changes are an equally important prerequisite for market formation. We distinguish three stages of market development, each coming about with far-reaching cultural, demographic, and institutional changes that created the precondition for the emergence of a market for funeral services. Market formation cannot be explained solely by technological, economic, or political changes, but relies on cultural preconditions that evolve historically.     

Aus dem Büro in den Wald

CHANGE OR DIE. The competitiveness of business companies continuously demands innovative ideas and the willingness to implement these from executive managers. Thereby their own personal needs are often neglected. The consequences range from stress and overload up to burnout symptoms. To support an appropriate handling of the imposed work load by managers, a scientifically grounded stress-tolerance-training will be designed and evaluated. For the first time, certain outdoor exercises will be used specifically among conventional elements as active experiences of challenges outside the office can deeply strengthen the constructive handling of stressful situations.     

Inter-organizational governance: a review,conceptualisation and extension

Abstract

Although the concepts of relational and contractual governance in inter-organizational relationships have attracted academic and practitioner interest over the last decades, to date there have been limited comprehensive and systematic efforts to review, analyse and synthesise extant literature. We review and analyse 1,415 publications identified from a wide range of management disciplines and journals from 1990 to 2018. We deploy bibliographic and content analyses to offer a comprehensive literature analyses and synthesis and subsequently develop and position a multidimensional framework of exchange governance. The proposed framework covers existing conceptualisations of exchange governance and its diverse mechanisms, environmental dimensions influencing the use of exchange governance mechanisms and performance implications. We uncover areas that are currently under-studied and draw out fruitful future research avenues.