Manufacturing strategy

New market demands and new technology point to the need to include production as an integral part of corporate strategy. This paper first presents a method for defining the role of production during a constructive dialogue with parts of the firm. Development of a production strategy is seen as a parallel determination of strategies for (i) production technology, (ii) plant lay-out, (iii) production planning and control and (iv) organization. Finally, the paper discusses practical applications and results achieved in a number of Danish firms.     

New technology,work organizations and industrial relations

This paper argues that the effects of the new microprocessor technology such as FMS, CAD/CAM, CNC systems and so on, on industrial relations are relatively indeterminate, given that new production-systems may permit a range of organizational and manpower solutions. Examples are cited from a number of cross-national empirical studies, relating to selected countries in Western Europe. The first deals with the impact of technology on industrial democracy; the second, with the effect on skill-polarization and hence on employee-involvement. The problems of assessing causal relations are then discussed and the paper concludes that whatever the impact of technology on industrial behaviour, the impact of formal participative norms appears to be greater.     

Teaching theory in an empirically-oriented graduate program

The role of theory is to facilitate cognitive integration, both for sociology and for sociologists. Integration has a vertical dimension (abstract to concrete) and a horizontal one (across schools and substantive fields). Attention to these dimensions of integration competes for time in sociology courses, with the result that trade-offs are required. Teaching theory in an empirically oriented graduate degree program, the author has decided to stress horizontal integration over the upper level of vertical integration.     

网络传播者的道德教育研究

在虚拟的网络世界中,构建网络道德,很大程度上要依赖于网络传播者的道德和素质.本课题试图通过探讨网络传播者的思想道德素质状况,分析如何加强传播者的网络道德教育,提升其道德自律能力,从而促进网络道德体系和网络文明建设.     

Environmental change and migration: methodological considerations from ground-breaking global survey

In recent years, policy makers and scientists have become interested in the dynamic links between migration and environmental change (Döös in Global Environ Change 7(1):41–61, 1997; Adger et al. in Living with Environmental Change: Social vulnerability, adaptation and resilience in Vietnam, 2001; Gunderson and Holling in Panarchy—understanding transformations in systems of humans and nature, Island Press, Washington, DC, Gunderson and Holling 2002; Scoones et al. in Dynamic systems and the challenge of sustainability, 2007; Galaz et al. in Ecosystems under pressure. A policy brief for the International Commission on Climate Change and Development, 2008). Recently, scoping activities have emerged to produce empirical observations about the role of environmental change in decisions about human mobility, including a range of movements from voluntary to forced migration and displacement. One notable recent attempt to contribute to the base of knowledge about the links between environmental change and migration has been the European Commission co-sponsored the Environmental Change and Forced Scenarios (EACH-FOR) project. The EACH-FOR project was created to assess the impact of environmental change on migration at the local, national, regional and international level. This paper shares the methods and fieldwork experiences of a first-time, multicontinent survey of environmental change and migration from the research project supported by the European Commission: Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios (EACH-FOR, Contract Number 044468, http://www.each-for.eu). This paper has three purposes. First, the authors explore issues related to how EACH-FOR designed its methodological approach for the first global survey of environmental change and migration. The paper then describes how the project attempted to create a method that would produce comparable results in a challenging context of multiple scientific challenges and trade-offs for research design. The second purpose of this paper is to examine how field researchers implemented and used this methodology in the EACH-FOR project. This paper takes a closer look at the fieldwork approach applied in investigating the 23 EACH-FOR project case studies. These case studies presented diverse local conditions and social contexts and different types of environmental changes. The paper discusses some of the practical considerations and shortcomings of the method in practice and illustrates how local researchers from selected case studies managed the challenges of their complex assignment. The third purpose of this paper is to explore lessons learned from the initial fieldwork experience and fruitful directions for future research.     

Risk, Mental Disorder and Social Work Practice: A Gendered Landscape

Whilst the importance of gender for social work practice, riskand mental health has been recognized theoretically for sometime, few attempts have been made to explore this area empirically.This paper presents findings from a mixed-methods study of socialwork practice in relation to mental health service users perceivedto be ‘high-risk’. Findings suggest, first, thatthe concept ‘high-risk’ was gendered because theprimary focus in social work practice was on the risks posedby male service users to others. Second, female social workersin the present study were found to have more female serviceusers from their caseloads who had been defined as ‘high-risk’compared with their male counterparts. The paper goes on toexplore this apparent congruence between female social workersand female service users and highlights how the management ofrisk could be considered gendered because it reflects a worker’s(perceived) capacity in cultural terms to ‘decode’the nature of the risks that their clients face as genderedsubjects. The paper demonstrates how the intersections betweenrisk, mental disorder and social work practice can thereforebe understood as a gendered landscape. It concludes by highlightingthe implications of these findings for social work practiceand research.     

Effects of chronic illness on daily life and barriers to self-care for older women: A mixed-methods exploration

This mixed-methods study examined the subjective experience of living with chronic illness and identified barriers to self-care. Community-dwelling older women with chronic illness completed an initial (N = 138) and follow-up mailed survey 6 months later (N = 130). On average, participants reported four comorbid health conditions and the corresponding physical pain, activities curtailed or relinquished, and time and energy focused on managing health. Only 34% of participants practiced all 10 key self-care behaviors. Reported barriers to self-management included pain, lack of financial resources, and worry. In the regression analysis, having more depressive symptoms was a significant predictor of challenges with self-care behaviors.     

The social context of disablement among older adults: does marital quality matter for loneliness?

Prior research has not adequately considered that disablement occurs within a web of relationships that provides socioemotional resources to and/or places demands on older adults. Drawing on the stress process and life course perspectives, we considered the social context of disablement by examining the influence of marital quality on the association between disability and loneliness among married older adults. Using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, we found (1) functional limitations were associated with higher levels of loneliness; (2) neither positive nor negative marital quality mediated this association, contrary to the stress-deterioration hypothesis; and (3) positive (but not negative) marital quality moderated this association, consistent with the stress-buffering hypothesis. These associations were similar for women and men. Our findings indicate the importance of the social context of disablement, as interpersonal resources offer protection from the deleterious socioemotional consequences of disability.     

Sustainability and Disaster Planning: What Are the Connections?

In this article, we examine the connections between resiliency and sustainability by asking: Can disaster planning lead to more sustainability actions? In a survey we conducted of 1,899 cities, towns, and counties across the United States in 2015, we found that disaster plans are three times more common than sustainability plans. Our regression models find both types of plans lead to sustainability action as does regional collaboration across the rural‐urban interface. However, we find that hazard mitigation planning may be done without including sustainability staff, citizens, and other officials. After controlling for motivations, capacity, and cooperation, we find that rural communities are more likely to have sustainability plans than suburbs, though their level of sustainability action is lower due to capacity constraints. Our models of multilevel governance find local motivations balance sustainability’s concept of environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—and are more important drivers of action than grassroots or higher‐level government funding and policy. This bodes well in a context where federal government leadership on sustainability is absent.     

Classroom learning environments and the mental health of first grade children

Sociological research focuses on how poverty, family, and neighborhood dynamics shape children's problems, but knowledge about how school is related to children's mental health is underdeveloped, despite its central presence in children's lives. Using a social structure and personality-stress contagion perspective, the authors use a nationally representative sample of first graders (N = 10,700) to assess how the classroom learning environment affects children's emotional and behavior problems. Children in more negative environments-such as classrooms with fewer material resources and whose teachers receive less respect from colleagues-have more learning, externalizing, interpersonal, and internalizing problems. Moreover, children in classrooms with low academic standards, excessive administrative paperwork, rowdy behavior, and low skill level of peers have more problems across one or more outcomes. Some school effects vary across race and ethnicity.