Mediation und Coaching — ein Vergleich

Mediation and coaching — A comparisonMediation and coaching — two terms which have generally gained familiarity in the last decade. Nevertheless, it is still mostly experts who know what is inherent in these concepts. This comparative analysis will therefore first explore and compare the origin and development of mediation and coaching. With reference to the relevant literature, the methods and strategies of these two forms of intervention will subsequently be presented. After discussing these topics, the paper will examine the personal prerequisites, i.e. the competencies, knowledge and skills that should be required of a mediator and coach. The author hypothesises that the highest degree of correspondence and congruency found in the comparison will be in regards to these prerequisites.     

Studying at-home income generation: Issues and methods

Methods used to locate and study 899 home-based workers and their households in nine states are described in detail, with emphasis on the rationale behind the decisions about the definition of home-based work, sampling, the development of the interview schedule, data collection procedures, and data preparation. More than 10% of all households in the nine states include someone who is engaged in home-based work; 7% of the households have a member who has been engaged in the activity for more than 1 year and who spends at least 312 hours annually in the activity. The respondents have a mean age of 42.5 years, and have completed a mean of 13.8 years of education. More than half live in communities of 2,500 or over, and have lived there for more than 10 years. More than 40% of the sample consist of individuals who are married and have children living in the home. The average household income in 1988 was just over $42,000.This article reports results from the Cooperative Regional Research Project, NE-167, entitled, At-Home Income Generation: Impact on Management, Productivity and Stability in Rural/Urban Families, partially supported by the Cooperative States Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Experiment Stations at the University of Hawaii, Iowa State University, Lincoln University (Missouri), Michigan State University, Cornell University (New York), The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Utah State University, and the University of Vermont.In addition to at-home income generation, her research interests include divorce settlements and time use. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1978.Her current research interests include family resource management in Mexico, determinants and consequences of intergenerational co-residence, as well as family management in households in which there is at-home income generation. She received her Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University in 1970.Her dissertation involves the estimation of a reservation age for home-based workers.She has had 15 years of experience in survey research, 10 years as Projects Coordinator, and served as Project Manager for this study.     

When should there be which kind of technology assessment? A plea for a strictly problem-oriented approach from the very outset

Technology assessment (TA) is generally classified as problem-oriented and thus transdisciplinary research. This is due to the fact that the aim of TA is to work out solutions for problems outside science in order to offer advice to its addressees, namely those working in politics and science and members of society in general. In this paper, we propose that the problem-oriented approach also be used as the basis for the decision regarding when a TA should be conducted in a particular situation, and which TA should be used. As a first step to this end, a broad range—almost like a kind of coarse radar—and large number of topics or problem sketches are created, which then serve as a basis for a discursive process of negotiation, during which topics are to be carried over into a detailed problem analysis (“fine radar”). These detailed problem analyses, which are important for transdisciplinary research, represent in themselves small research projects (pre-projects). They provide, in addition, some initial indications for a methodologically promising project design. The methodological approach described here is currently being tested in a procedure in which TA topics are being monitored for the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF).     

Demographic change and the labour share of income

Despite similar levels of per capita income, education and technology, the development of labour income shares in OECD countries has displayed different patterns since 1960. The paper examines the role of demography in this regard. We first use a standard overlapping generations model to derive the mechanisms by which demographic change can affect the labour share. It turns out that demographic change can affect the labour share either by altering the domestic capital intensity, by causing factor-biased technological change or in a small open economy framework by creating a gap between domestic savings and investments. The latter affects the country’s investments abroad and in return its net foreign asset income which directly leads to changes in the labour share. Empirical estimations based on these insights, provide evidence that an increases in the expected retirement durations and old-age dependency ratios as well as declines in labour force growth rates have indeed been major forces behind the decline in labour shares that took place in many countries. These effects tend to be larger in open economies and pension reforms towards a funded pension system seem to have accelerated the effects.     

Guns,Money and Justice

In late 2005, Suzette Nicolas, then known publicly only as ‘Nicole’, alleged that on 1 November of that year she had been gang-raped by US Marines in Olongapo City in the Subic Bay area on the island of Luzon, site of one of two former large US military bases in the Philippines. Thus began what was to become an internationally notorious rape case, involving the US and Philippine governments, the US military, the Philippine judiciary and a broad feminist-led activist coalition. The case, played out against the backdrop of the US state's Asian front in the ‘War on Terror’, has become inextricably linked with the ongoing Philippine campaign against the US–Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement. This article looks at the case, its background, its symbolism and the current political debate on the ongoing connections between militarism, globalization, US imperialism and violence against women in the Philippines.     

CLASH OF CAREER AND FAMILY: FERTILITY DECISIONS AFTER JOB DISPLACEMENT

In this paper we investigate how career considerations may affect fertility decisions in the presence of a temporary employment shock. We compare the birth rates of women displaced by a plant closure with those of women unaffected by job loss after establishing the pre‐displacement comparability of these groups. Our results reveal that job displacement reduces average fertility by 5%–10%, and that these effects are largely explained by the response of women in more skilled occupations. We offer an explanation of our results based on career interruptions of women.     

Management Support for Portfolio Companies of Venture Capital Firms: An Empirical Study of German Venture Capital Investments

To date, there is a dearth of research on strategic antecedents and consequences of management support activities which German venture capital firms (VCFs) provide for the portfolio companies (PCs) they have invested in. This article provides insights regarding such support practices, their main determinants and impacts on the economic performance of PCs. Hypotheses were derived regarding usage of various types of management support, typical functional foci of management support and the influence of VCF and PC characteristics on management support practice. Hypotheses also cover relationships between type, intensity, and frequency of management support and PC performance. Data for 103 PCs of 12 German VCFs indicate the VCFs can improve the performance of their PCs by providing consultative management support, including active involvement in key functional decisions.