Culture and leadership: women in nonprofit and for-profit leadership positions within the European Union

Research has shown that women commonly hold positions of leadership within nonprofit organizations, while men typically hold the leadership positions within for-profit organizations. However, little research on women's leadership roles has been conducted within European Union countries. The purpose of this article is to examine women's leadership positions within nonprofit and for-profit organizations within the European Union and, using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory, to further investigate a potential correlation between national culture and female leadership. Fifty-one companies were examined based on type, country characteristics and gender dominance. A significant difference was found between organization type (nonprofit/for-profit) and organizational dominance (masculine/feminine). The findings suggest that the European Union has patterns of gendered leadership positions similar to patterns found previously in the USA. However, countries that were characterized as feminine had more than expected nonprofit organizations, while masculine countries had more for-profit organizations.     

The Single Assessment Process in Primary Care: Older People's Accounts of the Process

Recent government policies have been active in addressing socialinclusion and active participation of older people in many aspectsof societal life. Independence and well-being animate thesedevelopments and are evident in the emphasis on person-centredservices within the single assessment process for older people(Department of Health, 2002b). Drawing on a feasibility study of the Single Assessment Processas a ‘case-finding’ approach, this paper presentsfindings drawn from older people’s accounts of this experience.These accounts indicate the potential of the process for identifying‘low-level’ need, whilst raising issues of accessto formal services and resource constraint; also they underlinethe importance of understanding how older people seek ways ofmanaging their own health and well-being, whilst continuingto contribute to the social cohesion of society by providingsupport to their peers and to younger generations. Interdependence, it is suggested, rather than dependence shouldunderlie any approach to assessing older people’s needs,if we are to appreciate and build upon the complexity of olderpeople’s strategies for actively managing their lives.