Looking for Public Administration Theories?

Since the sixties, a number of Western countries have conducted a lot of NPM type reforms in order to improve their public administration (PA). However, more than forty years of NPM type reforms raise questions about whether these reforms consist in an improvement of PA or if alternative theories could find their place in the field of PA reforms. In order to answer these questions, the five main public administration theories (New Public Administration, New Public Management, Public Value Management, New Public Service and New Public Governance) have been selected, and based on an original analysis of their incipits, some guidelines are proposed for practitioners and students in PA.     

The Use of the Partnering Concept for Public–Private Collaboration: How Well Does it Really Work?

This paper critically scrutinizes the key success factors and tools described in the partnering literature by exploring how they are implemented in a public–private partnering collaboration. In addition to this the paper investigates to what extent these tools facilitate the relationship between the parties in a partnering process. The empirical data consist of two longitudinal case studies. Both cases are large and complex urban development projects in the Swedish water and sewage industry. The results from the cases were ambiguous and positive; as well, some negative outcomes were present. Further, the processes were in both cases far from easy and it required a lot of effort from the parties in the collaboration to make the collaboration work and establish a culture based on trust, especially higher up in the organization. As could be expected, the reality is thus far more complex and cumbersome than previous studies indicate.     

Can Private Donations Help Public Universities Build Bridges Over Troubled Waters?: Practical Lessons for Administrators and Donors

With decreasing appropriations, some public organizations seek donations, often from large donors who may want to generate a return on investment by transforming the institution. As such, an interesting question emerges about institutions’ ability to meet donors’ expectations. Long fundraising histories, combined with a political and decentralized nature, make state universities an interesting venue to study the use of donations to create institutional change. Based on two single-state case studies, this research argues that real and perceived organizational barriers must be overcome. It concludes with implications for both administrator and donors.     

Coaching für japanische Migranten in Deutschland

Compared to other minority groups, Japanese migrants in Germany are regarded as privileged and homogeneous. The author argues against the stereotype of homogeneity and closely analyses this particular migrant group and its situational, heterogeneous necessities and objectives which motivate the use of diverse coaching methods. In addition, the author discusses traditional hierarchical values in the home culture which tends to project a role model in a coach. The mixture of Japanese migrants’ heterogeneous needs in coaching and their hierarchically homogeneous values cannot be adequately addressed by the application of conventional coaching methods in Germany.     

Serious Games und ihre Anwendung im E‑Coaching

Compared to Internet and mobile communications, computer and video games are little used for psychotherapy, (psychosocial) counseling or coaching. This also applies to Serious Games, i.?e. interactive computer games that train cognitive or behavioral skills in a digital learning environment. Avatar-based coaching can be relevant for the coaching practice which includes design features and functional principles of Serious Games and whose example can be used to derive usage potential and risks for both coachs and clients.     

Interkulturelles Coaching – eine komplexe,systemische Herausforderung

Intercultural coaching takes place in the highly complex reality of a globalized world. The coachee is an individual acting in the situational context of his assignment and his corporate culture. He has been socialized in his own culture, but is communicating and interacting with people who have been socialized in different cultures. In order to identify and solve problems, all three aspects (person, situation, culture) have to be considered. Some aspects may have more influence than others may, but they combine in a closely interwoven system. The authors outline the theoretical background of intercultural coaching and illustrate the process with case studies.     

Der Team Power Profiler – ein Analyseverfahren für virtuelle internationale Teams

Globalization and contemporary technology have made international virtual teamwork a routine aspect of daily business. The requirements are very complex; the results often disappointing. We have identified nine critical success factors that are crucial to successful international cooperation. Our Internet survey tool, the Team Power Profiler, analyzes both the strengths and weaknesses of international virtual teams, and in doing so offers a framework for effective coaching.     

Bollwerk Zivilgesellschaft? Der Drang zum Extremen und Fanatismus in diesen unsicheren Zeiten

International studies show that the globalization and liberalization of modern societies often are experienced as a profound self-confusion. As an answer to these fundamental attacks on their self-esteem, many people develop extreme belief systems, which help them to regain self-confidence and self-assurance. Based on two examples of radicalization – xenophobia and veganism- some underlying psychological processes are discussed. As some consequences of radicalization for societies can be expected, e.?g. a strong hostile social polarization, a growing incompetence to adjust to a world of permanent change, or the total refusal to engage in dialogue. However, some hope offers the civil society in their resolute concountering radicalism to defend the virtues of democracy.     

International coopetition for innovation: Are the benefits worth the challenges?

International coopetition has rarely been studied in relation to innovation. Further exploration of effects of international coopetition, i.e. the pursuit of simultaneous cooperation and competition, on a firm’s innovation performance is especially important as such a relationship is challenging with a high propensity to fail. This observation formed the point of departure for this study, which aims to increase the understanding of the effects of international coopetition on firm innovativeness and how these effects are conditioned on the magnitude of the organizational adjustments a firm introduces. We use an unbalanced panel of 9839 firms that participated in four waves of the Swedish Community Innovation Survey between 2008 and 2014 as our empirical base. We illustrate that firms that cooperate with competitors internationally are more likely to exhibit higher propensity to introduce radical innovations, yet this effect is conditioned upon the magnitude of organizational adjustments. Overall, our study contributes to the understanding of the implications of international coopetition and what a firm needs to benefit from it.