Adopting the Municipal Enterprise Form in Finland: Core Dilemmas in the Transformation of Public Healthcare Organizations

Using a combination of institutional and dilemma theory, this article maps the core dilemmas underlying the transformation of three public healthcare organizations into municipal enterprises. The results concerning the expectations and outcomes of the processes of change show that identified dilemmas affect the isomorphic institutional process by either diminishing or enhancing isomorphic forces. Further analysis reveals the unconscious use of the dilemma reconciliation method among the senior managers and other decision-makers in the organizations. The discussion illustrates how dilemmas, together with isomorphic forces, are connected to decision-making. It highlights the need to investigate strategic dilemma management as a tool for resolving contradictory aims in the public healthcare sector.     

The Voice,Language, And The Gendered Self

This paper examines the intersubjective cocreation of gender ambiguities, identifications, and defensive disidentifications as they emerged out of the vicissitudes of an erotic transference–countertransference in the analysis of a man who stutters. The author posits that the patient's ruptured speech provides an entryway into exploring the problematics of gender. For this man, embracing his masculinity placed him in severe conflict with powerful feminine identifications. The author experienced transferentially the embodiment of different gendered states: receptive preoedipal mother, castrating “phallic” mother, sensuous lover, sadistic penetrating male, benevolent father. She suggests that the stuttering can be understood as an emblem of the sacrifice of the lost primordial union with the mother that accompanies the transition into language.     

The influence of different dimensions of social comparison on performance measure choice and team composition

Empirical research in the economic literature is increasingly addressing the implications of social comparison on incentive contracts by using analytical principal-agent models. Contrary to the existing investigations, which are primarily based on the assumption that individuals exclusively compare monetary income, theories of behavioral science suggest that monetary income and effort represent different dimensions of social comparison, which are weighted individually. Using a LEN framework, the present study focuses on this aspect of social comparisons and discusses how these dimensions and their individual weights affect optimal contract design and contract efficiency. I consider status-seeking agents who compare themselves to each other and differ with regard to their intensity of social preferences and the specific relevance of dimensions. Finally, I draw conclusions for the drafting of contracts with respect to (1) the choice of performance measures and (2) an optimal team composition.     

Subclinical Psychopathic Traits and Romantic Attachment in Treatment-Seeking Couples

Subclinical psychopathic personality traits have been associated with multiple indicators of couple distress and romantic attachment insecurities but essentially in community samples. This study examined dyadic associations between primary and secondary psychopathy and attachment anxiety and avoidance, assessed with self-reported measures, in 183 French-Canadian cohabiting partners seeking couple therapy. Two Actor-Partner Interdependence Models were tested: Model 1 considered psychopathic traits as independent variables and Model 2 treated attachment insecurities as independent variables. Analyses revealed that in both partners, secondary psychopathy was associated with attachment anxiety and avoidance (Models 1 and 2), while primary psychopathy was not only associated with attachment anxiety (Model 2; actor associations). Partner effects between primary and secondary psychopathy in men and women's attachment anxiety were also found in both models. These findings complement those reported in community samples and have clinical implications for treatment-seeking couples.     

Did UEFA’s financial fair play harm competition in European football leagues?

Review of Managerial Science - When introducing UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) it was argued that as a beneficial side effect competition in European football leagues should become more...     

Quite an encumbrance? Work-related obstacles to Finnish fathers’ take-up of parental leave

ABSTRACT

An ideal of involved fatherhood has become popular in the developed countries, but even countries like Finland that have introduced an individual father’s quota to parental leave are far from gender equality in parents’ leave practices. Lack of support and negative attitudes at workplaces or pressure at work are among the obstacles to fathers’ leave take-up. The study used survey data from fathers and interviews at workplaces to explore the role of work and workplaces among the many aspects related to fathers’ possibilities of taking leave. The results showed that fathers’ income and workplace characteristics were associated with taking leave. Few fathers mentioned employers’ objection as a hinder. Father’s recent unemployment and anticipated difficulty of taking a long time off played a more important role. At workplaces, the obstacles to taking long leave were related to fathers’ ideals about a committed worker and to the nature and organizing of work. Additionally, the leave exceeding fathers’ quota might not be understood as ‘for fathers’. The spouse’s situation and fathers’ gendered perceptions about parental responsibilities were also important for leave practices. The findings suggest that policy development towards a longer father’s quota could make fathers’ care responsibilities visible also at workplaces.     

Antecedents and effects of individual ambidexterity – A cross-level investigation of exploration and exploitation activities at the employee level

For long-term success, companies need to adapt to technological and environmental change. Organizational ambidexterity, which balances the exploration of new opportunities with the exploitation of existing capabilities, is increasingly viewed as a promising approach to tackle this challenge. However, despite the important role of individuals for firms' ambidexterity and performance, evidence on how exploration of new opportunities and exploitation of existing capabilities are triggered at an individual level and on their subsequent effects on overall performance is still lacking. Accordingly, the present research shifts the focus from organizational ambidexterity to individual ambidexterity. Based on data from 415 employees, the results of structural equation modeling show that both organizational architecture and organizational context can be used to induce individual ambidexterity. Furthermore, positive performance effects of individual ambidexterity across different organizational levels, namely the team and department levels, are confirmed.