Emotional Integration across Immigrant Generations in Baden‐Württemberg,Germany: the Role of Discrimination

Immigrants’ integration is a multi‐faceted process, involving structural, cultural, social, and emotional dimensions. This study focuses on the emotional dimension of integration, investigating immigrants’ emotional attachments to their national origin and their host country. Specifically, we ask what role perceived discrimination plays in shaping identification preferences among immigrants and immigrant descendants in Germany. The contribution of this study is twofold: First, we present results for three generations of post‐WWII labour migrants of Turkish and Italian descent. Second, we estimate the consequences of perceived individual discrimination for national and ethnic identification separately. The findings indicate that while discrimination is not related to ethnic identification, it is negatively correlated with national identification. Regarding future challenges, we believe that our findings suggest that the German society can come closer to achieving integration of migrants by reducing perceptions of rejection by the immigrant population, or better yet, fighting off discrimination against immigrant minorities.     

SYNSEG – Eine Methode zur <Emphasis Type="Italic">syn</Emphasis>taxgeleiteten <Emphasis Type="Italic">Seg</Emphasis>mentierung von Kodiereinheiten für die Analyse von Gruppenprozessen

Observing group processes allows for obtaining insights into what successful groups do differently than less successful groups. In doing so, observational data is typically transcribed or integrated into coding software, coding units are identified, and coding systems are applied to code these units with regard to the respective content. While there are systems available for transcribing and coding observational group data, the segmentation of coding units is mostly left to the coders’ intuition. Standardized and tested procedures for identifying coding units are not available for group research, limiting the reliability of coding group data. We introduce a method which aims at systematically identifying and segmenting coding units to enhance coding reliability. SYNSEG – syntax-based segmentation of coding units – suggests ten rules to segment coding units based on German grammar. To test for reliability, two coders applied SYNSEG for segmenting a 60-minute group discussion. A normalised Levensthein Distance of nD = 0,19 indicated satisfying coder agreement. We discuss the relevance and applicability of SYNSEG in applied group research.     

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day: The Concept,the Reality,and the Promise

This commentary traces the origins and evolution of the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) initiative and provides recommendations for increasing WEAAD’s impact as a catalyst for a coordinated movement within the United States.     

Beyond the Matrix: Visual Methods for Qualitative Network Research

Network research remains dominated by approaches involving the analysis of numerical data stored in data matrices with the aim of identifying the effects of hidden social structures. While such research has advanced our understanding of social networks at the inter‐personal, inter‐unit and inter‐organizational level, repeated calls have been made for network research to attend to the situated meanings attached to both relationships and network structures. In this article, we advance a nascent literature on qualitative methods for social network analysis by drawing together developments in visual network research from across the social sciences. We introduce a typology of three visual methods for the collection of network data using network maps: participatory network mapping, network map interviews and visual network surveys. Drawing on three empirical examples from our research in the inter‐organizational domain, we demonstrate how these methods can be used for the collection of qualitative and quantitative relational data, and how they can be triangulated with other qualitative methods and social network analysis. We evaluate the merits and limitations of the methods presented and conclude that visual network research is a useful addition to existing methods for network research in business and management studies.     

Functional Assessment and Intervention for Organizational Behavior Change: Improving the Timeliness of Staff Meetings at a Human Services Organization

We implemented functional behavioral assessment (FBA) at a human services organization to reduce the tardiness of scheduled staff meetings. Following baseline, FBA focused on antecedent and consequence conditions that affected staff arriving on time to scheduled meetings. These data were subsequently presented at a staff meeting in which staff planned an intervention to improve the timeliness of meetings. The intervention, composed of premeeting reminders, positive reinforcement for arriving on time, and meeting termination criteria (to facilitate meeting-to-meeting transitions), was implemented in a multiple baseline design across 3 types of meetings. As a result of the intervention, the number of minutes late that meetings started decreased. We discuss FBA within organizational behavior management that targets performance improvement objectives.