Performance Related Pay in Practice: A Critical Perspective1

This paper discusses the use of performance related pay (PRP) as a means of control over the relationship between effort and reward. Taking a critical perspective, it describes how the implementation of PRP in a UK-based electronics company has been used as a device to remove trade union influence in wage-setting arrangements and to effect changes in employee behaviour. The opinions of supervisors, line managers, personnel managers and shop-floor staff are discussed and the implications for management control are assessed. The paper concludes that from management's perspective the PRP system appears to have been a success, for it has in some cases ‘commercialized’ the relationship between effort and reward, and has pre-empted expressions of employee resistance.     

Estimating the Predicted Environmental Concentration of the Residues of Veterinary Medicines: Should Uncertainty and Variability Be Ignored?

European directives require that all veterinary medicines be assessed to determine the harmful effects that their use may have on the environment. Fundamental to this assessment is the calculation of the predicted environmental concentration (PEC), which is dependent on the type of drug, its associated treatment characteristics, and the route by which residues enter the environment. Deterministic models for the calculation of the PEC have previously been presented. In this article, the inclusion of variability and uncertainty within such models is introduced. In particular, models for the calculation of the PEC for residues excreted directly onto pasture by grazing animals are considered and comparison of deterministic and stochastic results suggest that uncertainty and variability cannot be ignored.     

Realisierung von Cross-Selling Potenzialen durch das Management von kundeninitiierten Kontakten

Existing research has not sufficiently addressed the question of how to cross-sell additional products and services to customers and what the behavioral consequences of cross-selling are. Moreover, these cross-selling-related questions have not been investigated in the context of customer-initiated contacts.The contribution of the paper is the empirical analysis of metrics which can be used to predict cross-selling success, e.g., in a call-center. The results show that two metrics, namely first contact resolution and reason for contact, significantly predict cross-selling success. Another contribution is the analysis of behavioral consequences. Here the results show that usage intensity significantly increases the time directly after the cross-selling took place but relapses to the original level within a few weeks.The results of the study can be used to derive managerial implications for managing and controlling cross-selling initiatives and for increasing and stabilizing cash-flows.     

Using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination for Bachelor of Midwifery students’ preparation for practice

BackgroundContemporary midwifery practice needs a rigorous and standardised assessment of practical skills, and knowledge to ensure that safety is maintained for both women and neonates before, during and after childbirth.AimTo evaluate the use of Best Practice Guidelines (BPG) for Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) as a standardised tool to develop clinical competence of Bachelor of Midwifery students.MethodA pragmatic mixed method approach with surveys, focus groups and interviews was used to evaluate the OSCEs for first year students. Quantitative and qualitative data were combined to understand student and academic perceptions of students’ confidence for clinical practice following the OSCE.FindingsThirty-four students responded to surveys (response rate 94%); and 13 participated in focus groups. Two academic lecturers participated in an interview (100%). Two main themes emerged (1) the OSCEs improved student confidence (2) the OSCEs were relevant and prepared students for practice. Most students indicated that they practised for the OSCE using an integrated approach (70%), and that this assisted them in their approach to the assessment of the neonate or post-partum mother.ConclusionThe use of BPGs to ensure that OSCEs focus on important aspects of knowledge and practice helped students to learn and to perform well. Students’ confidence in their ability for the imminent professional experience placement was high. OSCEs designed with the BPGs should be implemented broadly across midwifery education to enhance students’ competence and provide rigorous meaningful assessment.     

Behavioral health service use and costs among children in foster care

This article compares behavioral health service use and cost for foster care versus nonfoster care children; children before, during, and after foster care placement; and successfully reunified versus nonsuccessfully reunified foster care children. Behavioral health service costs for children in foster care were higher than for children not in foster care. Children in foster care used more services during their foster care placement than before placement and after discharge. Nonsuccessfully reunified children received a significantly larger quantity of services than those successfully reunified.     

Designing for diversity: incorporating cultural competence in prevention programs for urban youth

Low-income urban youth of color frequently confront a wide variety of challenges and hardships that other young people never experience. The offering of prevention programs represents one strategy to help urban youth avoid the risks associated with substance abuse. In this chapter, an alternative program strategy is posited-one that places diversity with respect to culture, class, and environment at the center of prevention efforts. Such an approach, the authors argue, is more effective not only in appealing to the sensibilities of urban youth but also in altering their behavior.     

From the new left to the new enlightenment: the methodological implications of public attention on private lives

Research on Rajneeshpuram was partially supported by the Center for the Study of Women in Society and a Summer Research Grant from University of Oregon. Research on the fate of Santa Barbara activists was partially supported by grants from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the Graduate Division of the University of California at Santa Barbara.     

Servers and providers: the distribution of food within the family*

We examine the nature of decision-making surrounding food provision within families and the patterns of food distribution established. The analysis draws upon detailed interview material and dairy records gather from 200 women currently bringing up young children. The sexual divisions and power relations which characterize families are found to have an impact on the choice of food for family consumption and on women's theories concerning the food needs of family members. The manner in which these theories are given concrete expression in the differential distribution of meat both between the sexes and intergenerationally is revealed. Variations in the extent of such inequalities are assessed with reference to the nature of the work undertaken by the marital partners and their relative control over money.