When is a goal rational?

In decision theory goals are usually taken as given inputs to the analysis, and the focus is on finding the most efficient means to achieve the goals. But where goals are set with the purpose of achieving them, it is important to know what properties they should possess in order to be successful (or achievement-inducing). Four such properties (or rationality criteria) are discussed, namely that goals should be precise, evaluable, approachable and motivating. Precision and evaluability are epistemic properties that concern what the agent may know. Approachability is an ability-related property that concerns what the agent can do. Motivity is a volitional property that concerns what the agent wants to do. Goals may satisfy the rationality criteria to a greater or lesser extent. Some goals are achievement-inducing mainly because they guide action towards the end-state well, others mainly because they motivate the agent to act towards the realization of the end-state.     

EXPLORING THE PARADOX

This paper explores work-to-family conflict among 77 managerial fathers in Sweden by focusing on flexible working arrangements. Sweden provides a unique setting for the study of fathers’ work-to-family conflict as it has a 30-year-old social policy tradition of promoting gender equality in the workplace and in the home. Our results show that managerial fathers experience high levels of work-to-family conflict, despite high access to flexible working arrangements. Using a border theory perspective, hierarchical regression analysis shows the importance of gender egalitarianism in the family (taking responsibility for children and being in a dual earner family), as well as flexible working arrangements (satisfaction with job flexibility and access to flexleave) in explaining work-to-family conflict for managerial fathers. Organizational time demands (time pressure at work and average work hours) and use of flextime were less important. Our results imply that gender egalitarian managerial fathers with access to flexleave have a win–win situation. They experience less work-to-family conflict and set a good example for their employees.     

Wie die Mutter, so die Tochter?

In analyses that deal with occupational mobility the question as to how the mother’s occupational status influences the process of occupational status attainment usually is passed over. Here we formulate hypotheses on over-time and life course dynamics of her influence: mothers’ (and fathers’) status transfer for cohorts of daughters born between 1927 and 1965 and additionally for labour market careers. Sons are excluded in the analytical model because the mother’s job appears not to be important for their job status locations. The hypotheses are tested in a cluster adjusted regression analysis. The German database contains 4043 job spells of 1760 women and the two pooled Dutch sets of data include 4513 job spells of 1623 female respondents. Our results show that in recent decennia the influence of the occupational status of both parents on their daughter’s job status has decreased in a similar fashion. We conclude that a continuing trend towards a decrease of social inequality in the process of occupational status attainment is applicable to the influence of the father and the mother. Over the course of the daughter’s career, however, her occupational status becomes increasingly related to that of her mother. This result indicates that the occupational role model of the mother seems to be important for understanding patterns of female occupational immobility.     

Hier ist dort – Coaching auf dem Weg in virtuelle Beratungswelten

When it comes to Online Coaching in its different forms, there is now an increasing number of publications to describe possible fields of application, concepts and prerequisites. In contrast to that, the following article focuses on the coach-client encounter, and how it changes in virtual coaching formats as opposed to face-to-face coaching. The article presents ideas on how big a role changes in sensory and communicative aspects might play, and reflects upon the consequences these changes imply.     

Die „ganze Person“ im Coaching — Ambivalenzen und Optionen

As a specific type of counselling, which focuses on the individual and his/her personality within the professional context, coaching has to strike constantly a balance between looking at the ?whole person“ and looking at one facet of this person, i.e. his/her professional role. This leads to ambivalent attitudes towards coaching from the client’s point of view, which should be discussed and turned into beneficial factors during the coaching process. The following article illustrates the construct of the ?whole person“-approach in coaching and argues for an understanding of coaching based on comprehensive methodologies and concepts.     

Teaching history in a postwar social context—the case of the Croatian Danube region

This paper discusses the results of empirical research examining history teachers’ opinions on teaching recent history, and on the revocation of a moratorium on teaching former Yugoslavia’s recent history in Serbian minority schools in the Croatian Danube region. The research was conducted in 2003, involving a sample of 29 primary and secondary history teachers in both the majority and minority programmes in the two counties affected by the moratorium. The post‐war divide is evident from the differences in teachers’ opinions regarding the moratorium’s revocation and the presentation of minority history in history teaching. On a general level however, when the history of the Croats and Serbs was not discussed, most of the teachers advocated a liberal concept of history teaching.     

Effect of the use of a national information brochure about fetal movements on patient delay

Background

Perinatal audits in the Netherlands showed that stillbirth was nearly always preceded by a period of reduced fetal movements. Patient or caregiver delay was identified as a substandard care factor.

Whitewater: Decentralization of river basin water resource management

This paper focuses on empirically assessing determinants of river basin management decentralization, which is growing in popularity among water resource managers world wide. Measuring decentralization as a shift of decision-making responsibility to water users or governments at the river basin level or below, the analysis sheds light on the decentralization reform process and its success, using primary data from 83 river basins world wide. Contrary to common perception that primarily emergency situations trigger reform, persistent water scarcity is found to be a major stimulus to reform. Similarly, financially well-endowed or -developed basins do not necessarily outperform poor and underdeveloped basins. Conditions improving decentralization performance include: existence of dispute resolution mechanisms; greater financial responsibility of users; and as opposed to traditional thinking, government financial support to basin budget.     

The Subjective Well-Being of Immigrants: Pre- and Post-migration

In recent years, migration studies have increasingly shown that subjective well-being carries considerable weight in immigrant integration. Yet little is known about the subjective well-being of immigrants in their origin country (pre-migration) or its relation to their well-being in the host country. This paper examines the relationship between subjective well-being, both pre- and post-immigration, among North Americans who arrived in Israel during the past two decades. The study combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods. According to our quantitative findings, the labor market performance of North American immigrants in Israel is lower than in their origin countries. Further, we learned from the qualitative analysis that although the immigrants’ positions in the labor market were better in their origin countries, the immigrants perceived their standard of living in Israel to be the same as in their origin country—if not better—due to the low cost of services in Israel. The importance of the immigrant’s satisfaction from the current job in Israel was apparent in the findings of both methods. We also found that the subjective well-being of North American immigrants in Israel is relatively high, and most immigrants did not consider leaving Israel. The subjective well-being of the immigrants in Israel was found to be related to their social networks in their origin country, to their religious immigration motive and to their work satisfaction in Israel. The more supportive the immigrants’ families were of their decision to immigrate, the less the immigrants tended to consider leaving Israel. Immigrants with a religious motivation for immigrating to Israel were less inclined to leave, and the same was true for immigrants who were satisfied with their work in Israel. The qualitative data added important perspective on the immigrants’ social networks, this time in Israel. Interviewees reported having more supportive social networks in Israel, and a greater sense of community, although most of their contacts were within the Anglo community.