Poking a sleeping bear: the challenge of organizational recruitment for controversial topics

ABSTRACT

Researchers often approach employers to investigate employees’ work and family experiences. Organizational willingness to grant access to employees can vary, especially when the research topic is seen as controversial or contentious for the employer. This paper explores this methodological challenge using a research example from Manitoba, Canada, which explored the use of parental leave by male employees and the impact of managerial attitudes and corporate culture on usage. Sixty large employers were recruited with only seven of those organizations agreeing to participate. In this paper, the reasons organizations gave for declining to participate and the implications of their decisions for the research are examined. Although the final sample included 905 managers and employees, participating organizations tended to be employee-focused and family-friendly employers. Organizations declined participation for a variety of reasons: avoiding raising the issue with unions, awareness that their policies unfairly benefited female leave takers, and simply not seeing the relevance of a topic relating to men’s work–family experiences. A dialogue often absent from the literature, it is important to understand how employers can limit researchers’ access to employees on controversial topics. The existence of such barriers suggests alternative avenues to recruit participants directly when topics are contentious for employers.     

‘The house belongs to both’: undoing the gendered division of housework

This article studies 28 dual-income Spanish childless couples who were undoing gender in routine domestic work. We understand ‘undoing gender’ as defined by Deutsch [(2007). Undoing gender. Gender & Society, 21, 106–127, p. 122]: ‘social interactions that reduce gender difference’. The dual-earner couples came from different socio-economic backgrounds and were interviewed in four different Spanish towns in 2011. The analysis shows that resources in a wide sense, time availability, external help, ideas about fairness, and complex gender attitudes are key interdependent factors that can weave together to form different configurations leading to a non-mainstream division of housework. All configurations were based on principles of gender equality: some couples found it fair to have a 50/50 division of domestic work, others a 50/50 division of all work (paid and unpaid); and a third group showed conflicts in practice. These couples’ ways of undoing gender illustrate the external, individual, and couple circumstances under which spouses are able to achieve a non-traditional construction of unpaid work.     

The ‘digital glimpse’ as imagining home

This paper proposes the concept of the ‘digital glimpse’, which develops the existing framing of imaginative travel. Here it articulates the experiences of mobile workers digitally connecting into family life and everyday rituals when physically absent with work. The recent embedding of digital communication technologies into personal relationships and family life is reconfiguring how absence is experienced and practiced by workers on the move, and through this, new digital paradigms for life on-the-move are emerging. This paper explores how such social relationships are maintained at-a-distance through digital technology – using evidence from qualitative interviews with mobile workers and their families. Digital technology now enables expressive forms of ‘virtual travel’, including video calling, picture sharing, and instant messaging. This has implications for the ways in which families can manage the social and relational pressures of being apart. Experiences of imaginative travel created through novel media can enrich the experience and give a greater sense of connection for both those who are at home and those who are away. While technology is limited in its ability to replicate a sense of co-presence, ‘digital glimpses’ are an emergent set of sociotechnical practices that can reduce the negative impact of absence on family relationships.     

中国地方政府债务问题探讨

中国地方政府债务问题形成的主要原因,一是政府过多地、直接地参与经济活动,二是城市化加速导致地方政府举债。对于中国地方政府债务问题,总体判断仍为风险可控。一是地方政府加上中央政府的债务占GDP的比例在40%以内,远低于60%的债务率标准。二是中央政府有非常强的控制能力,在各级政府间平衡债权债务,使得中国加总的净债务率较低。三是中国整体的资产负债表仍然健康,尤其是中央政府保持相当健康的资产负债表。对地方政府债务问题,体制性的解决办法是治本之道。要从根本上解决中国地方政府不规范借债问题,须建立规范化的地方政府举债融资机制。     

Parents' Family Time and Work Schedules: The Split‐Shift Schedule in Spain

This study used data on couples from the 2003 Spanish Time Use Survey (N = 1,416) to analyze how work schedules are associated with family, couple, parent–child, and non‐family leisure activities. Spain is clearly an interesting case for the institutionalized split‐shift schedule, a long lunch break rooted in the traditional siesta that splits the workday between morning and evening. Results showed strong negative associations between the split shift and both family and parent–child activities. The evening shift was negatively associated with couple and family time, but not with parent–child time. Women spent much more time than men in parent–child activities for all work categories, and they were more responsive to the spouse's work hours. Men were substantially more active than women in non‐family leisure, considering both individuals' and their spouses' work schedules. Altogether, this study has important implications for scientific and public policy debates.     

平衡记分卡在政府绩效评估中的适用性研究

平衡记分卡是目前国际上流行的战略管理工具,已经在西方发达国家的公共组织中得到了广泛应用,将这一战略管理工具引入我国政府绩效评估中,存在着如何转换的难题.采取加大平衡记分卡与政府组织适应性研究等措施,是在我国政府组织中大面积推广、使用平衡记分卡的必由之路.     

发达国家议会预算监督的制度化实践及对我国人大的启示

公共预算是政府的血液和民主政治的核心,随着公众预算民主意识的觉醒．肩负公众受托责任的人大如何确保行政预算向公众负责是我国当前预算民主治理面临的重大挑战之一。以回应纳税人预算民主诉求为起源的发达国家议会预算监督经过多年的发展已为这一问题的解决树立了典范,把民主责任作为制度设计的起点、在完政层面进行预算权的民主化配置和操作层面控制技术及辅助资源的提升是其主要特征。以发达国家预算监督制度折射出的民主责任逻辑反观我国目前的实践,理念的更新、预算权的均衡化配置、中期财政预算控制的加强、多元监督合力的发挥等制度要素对于增强人大预算监督责任尤为关键。     

西部地区社会保障体系的模式设计与理论创新

西部地区的经济发展需要社会保障制度为其构筑一道“安全网”。回顾西部地区社会保障的发展历史,从社会保障中几个重要指标出发对西部地区社会保障制度作出绩效评估、分析其原因,并且提出西部地区建立覆盖城乡居民的社会保障体系的基本框架、实现路径、步骤与措施。     

论异议股东股份回购请求权制度

现代公司法作为调整公司组织和行为的规范,在追求效益的同时,也更加注重对处于弱势地位的中小股东的保护。异议股东股份回购请求权制度作为一项保护异议股东尤其是中小股东利益的基本法律制度,现已被多数国家所采用。我国在2005年新修订的《公司法》中也引入了该制度,但相比发达国家而言,显得并不成熟,仍存在诸多问题。对该制度的概念和理论基础进行深刻分析,并从比较法的视角对我国《公司法》中存在的不足提出相应的完善建议。     

基于博弈模型的“罪刑均衡”思想分析

罪刑均衡思想由来已久,作为刑法理论中最基本的刑罚原则,在对犯人进行科处刑罚方面具有的重要意义早已得到承认,而在预防犯罪方面具有的作用却长期被忽视。犯罪行为实质上是犯人和政府之间的博弈。政府先制订刑法,犯人在观察到刑罚后才选择是否犯罪以及犯何种性质的罪。经济分析表明,改变刑罚的确定性和严厉性就能影响博弈的均衡,从而影响犯罪,刑罚之外的其它措施如果能改变犯罪的成本和收益,也能实现同样的目的,这为预防犯罪提供了一种新的思路。